Never Ending Battle with Education

I have been going to college off and on since I graduated from high school. Due to the amount of hours I have to put in at work to get all my bills paid off this year due to the failing economy, I have flirted with the idea of taking this year off from school. I am only 28.5 credit hours from getting my Bachelors and very close to my Associates with only a couple of general required classes to take since I have already earned enough of the credits required. I figured that since my work is paying for my education I really must learn to do both. I am currently taking Business Ethics which is required for both my desired degrees. I figure if my work starts laying off this year, I will have something to take away from the business aside from my experience there which will help me to find a job where I will make as much as I make now since I can't afford to make less with a mortgage and in an attempt to get all my interest accruing bills paid quickly.

The idea is that by the end of this year I will be out of debt and saving about 700 dollars a month toward my 8 months of required spending for my emergency account. For those of you following my financial advice (which is really not mine and is a collaboration of Suze Orman, MSNBC, Ben Stein, and other financial guru's advice I put together in one post) here is how I calculated what I need to survive an 8 month period when laid off:

Mortgage 722.50 (monthly)
Utilities 300.00 (high average monthly includes cell phones, internet and cable t.v.)
Groceries 200.00 (high average monthly)
Total Monthly exenses 1222.50 X 8 months = $9780

Then I add the yearly bills in case I need to pay them when I get laid off
Car Registration 250.00
Car Insurance 500.00

So my total emergency expense should be $10,530.50 which is my goal to attain next year. By then if I keep my education going, I will also be worth more in the market since I will have finally gotten my Associate's just by taking at least one online class a term or semester slowly accruing credits until I make it. I will have also protected my credits in earning my Associate's since it is transferrable in its entirety to any accreditted university in Utah. (I have checked with the U of U and BYU, I am sure Weber State is the same.)

So by the end of next year, I'll be debt free, prepared incase my car needs a new transmission or engine and be ready to save up for things like another property which will become my home and I will consider my current townhome an investment property which I will be either be renting my portion out to pay the mortgage on it as well as to make a small profit on the side, or selling to Jeanette completely and cashing out on the equity to help finance my new property.

This type of planning and execution is a long term commitment so for most people it's easier just to focus on paying off the bills this year since interest and credit is going to be taking some, not so great for the consumer, changes. Once you pay off bills focus on saving as much as you can as often as you can because a rainy day will come when you will need it. I know, I've had a few and thanks to my supportive family and friends I have come out of it decently but I would rather be covered so I don't have to ask for help when the next emergency hits.

It will probably take me several years to get the remaining credits I need, rather than dwelling on the fact of how long it will take, I focus on the steps I have to do now. I am a type B personality so I know if I just keep doing my best on the small steps, I will eventually achieve my greater goals. It may seem insurmountable at first but the longer you focus on it, the easier it becomes, the less of a mountain you have to climb. My education may be a long time to complete since I don't plan on stopping at a Bachelor's but I will get there eventually and when I do, I will be in a much more stable financial situation with plenty of money saved up so if and when I go to Law School, I will be able to stop working long enough to finish my education and still be able to afford my current lifestyle. All of that by taking the small steps and sticking with it. If I loose sight of my goals, I will just return to my small steps which will keep me on the direction I want to go.

Working Myself to Death

So I work long hours at Verizon Wireless to pay the bills. The last three days I have been working 12 hour shifts with minimal lunches and it's been really taking a toll on my attitude. I try to be positive and friendly at work since I work a very stressful job where you can plan on being pissed off most of the time and I figure my co workers could use as much friendliness as they can get. Instead of being smiley and happy Jess I have been grumpy and sleepy Jess. I did this to myself since I want to pay off my debt in a hurry.

Suze Orman has said that now is the worst time to have credit card debt because the credit card companies are going to be lowering limits, raising interest rates and causing lower credit scores. Currently, I have an almost 30% interest rate on my Dell laptop account. (Which is beyond ridiculous.) I agreed to let a friend of mine buy a laptop on my credit since he has crappy credit from his divorce. I understand that since I had bad credit I have climbed from under due to my divorce. He has been late in paying me so I have been paying the payments and he pays me back. The only problem is that he's paying only slightly more than the minimum payments so it will take years to pay this damned laptop off if I don't make bigger payments due to the interest accruing. My work has been stingy with overtime lately so I haven't been able to bring in enough pay to cover this debt I wasn't expecting to have to pay. Now that the Blackberry Storm is launching, they are handing out the overtime and I am taking all I can get my hands on. Here's the reason why:

40 hours are paid at 17.84/hour (at my current pay rate)
hours 41-51 are paid at 26.76/hour
hours 51+ are paid at 35.68/hour

Next week we have a holiday that I automatically get paid for on both Thanksgiving and the day after. My call center is open both holidays so that means that on both those days I will be making double time and a half (44.60/hour) and up to triple time (53.52/hour). I am going to be working 12 hour shifts both of those days and what will happen is in one pay period of 2 weeks, I will have enough in just overtime to pay off the laptop.

I bring this up to show how a little extra work can surmount huge obstacles. Not everyone can stomach this kind of schedule and it's down right impossible for people with daycare issues. So my advice is this, pay your highest APR credit off first, use coupons (yes it sucks to have to coupon clip and remember to use them up but saving 20 dollars a month can be another 20 dollars to financial freedom), and pay more on your bills so you have very little play money left. That way anyone can get out from financial duress. I left my divorce with a 540 credit score and today it's near 700 just from learning not only to spend less, but to spend wisely.

Toilets, Sinks and Very Large TVs

I would have posted this yesterday, but it wasn't nearly as funny then. Braxton and Jaren were happily engrossed in some program on Noggin. Jeanette and I thought it would be safe for her to take a shower and I started to clean my bathroom. It only took maybe 20 minutes before I had a knock on my door and a very frustrated voice asking me if I had towels she could use. I started grabbing all the towels I had as Jeanette explained the boys basically threw water everywhere with a nice inch or so deep puddle on the kitchen floor. We weren't sure if some of the water came from the toilet or not but there was obvious touching of the toilet happening with the seat up, some toilet paper hanging half in and half out of the toilet and the water level being a bit low.

That being said, the Clorox and disinfecting began. Jeanette took the boys upstairs to a bath right away while I worked on the towels and mopping the kitchen floor. We soon switched jobs and I got the boys washed from top to bottom, dressed and in bed for a slightly earlier than normal nap. I joined Jeanette in the disinfecting of the toys she had started after mopping the kitchen floor. We soon found out that the TV was now not working at all. (The poor old thing was on its last legs anyway.) Apparently, bathing your TV is not a good idea. That's a lesson Braxton taught us. I used my last ESN (Emergency Short Notice) day for a short notice half day off worth of vacation so I could help get things ready before we needed to be off for work and to also allow for the things I was hoping to do that day. I added a new item to the list... buy a new TV.

After doing the minor shopping and getting lunch for the boys, I went to my favorite furniture store anywhere to buy the 32" TV with a large scratch on the side I saw last time I went in to make a payment on my new split queen sized box spring (since the full sized one wouldn't fit in our now finished basement where my bedroom is). It was very reasonably priced at about 400 dollars after taxes. I walked in and realized that the TV was now replaced with a 51" that had a chip off the corner at 1800. I decided, nope better ask where their other 32" TVs were. By the time I found someone to help me she explained they had such a good sale on the TVs that she couldn't find anything smaller than a 42" and even called the other store to see if they had anything smaller. The remaining 42" TV was their floor model since they didn't even have any others. So I bought it since I love this store, I already had credit here, and I knew I didn't have to worry about interest since it was 12 months interest free and I could pay for the 1088 dollar TV after my overtime on all the holidays coming up.

Next we tried to put the monstrosity into my car, no go. If we were allowed to put it face down it would have been fine but they were worried that the LCD would break laying it down like that. So I called my dad who was less than enthusiastic about helping me take a big screen TV to my house. While talking to the poor kid who had to lug this monster out of the store, the store owner's wife comes out and offers to follow me home in her SUV since in the truck we probably wouldn't be able to keep it right side up but she could put it right side up and pin it that way between her back seat and the escape hatch out the back. I tried to call grumpy and got the machine, left a message and we all got to wait for him to show up only to have him show his not so friendly side in front of the very kind store owner's wife. (I still don't know why he won't carry a cell phone, oh well...) We got the beast home and my mom helped me lug it downstairs. We tried all kinds of contortions of body and furniture to be able to hold up the TV to mount it on it's swivel mount. It wouldn't go farther than 1/4th of the way down no matter how I pushed, twisted, turned. I called the store they felt so bad they were going to offer me a new one for free when I decided to ask if they could tell me the trick to mounting the monster. Moments later, I had an epiphany and turned the mount completely around so the mounting screw was in front instead of in back. 'Lo and behold, it slid right in no problem.

So I made it to my half day of work on time only to feel really dizzy. I texted my mom and apparently Braxton and Jeanette were both very sick. I developed a fever and texted my supervisor to see if I could get meeting time to go off the phones to lay down during the last hour of my work or if I could go home and come in early the next day to make up time. No answer so I just suffered on the point of near blacking out until 11pm that night when I raced home and put my sorry butt to bed.

I felt much better this morning if a bit worn from fighting the fever all night and the amazing day I had yesterday. Jeremy came and steam cleaned all the carpets and washed the slipcover to the couch. Needless to say, it's nice to have a non-infected house with a bigger TV in my room so the boys could use my not so picture perfect old one, even if it did cost me using my credit right now when I should be paying it all off. Morale of the story? Never leave a 3 year old bored for longer than a minute.

School Conundrum

So I am closing in on getting my degree in business but I am thinking of getting A+ certified because I will get an automatic 5% increase on my pay at work. This class would require more time and energy than the other classes but also be worth more credit. It would only count as an elective toward my degree so I'm not sure if I want to take it at my current college, Strayer University which comes to my work and teaches classes or if I should elect for a cheaper college so I can save my prepaid tuition from Verizon Wireless for the more expensive courses from Strayer. Of course that means that I will be out of pocket the expenses for that course which also takes away from the 5% increase I will get automatically from getting A+ certified. But it may mean taking more time at Verizon Wireless and Strayer university if I put off one of the courses there.

I guess it comes down to economics. Though it would take longer, I think I will have Verizon pay for my class and let it take me another year to finish but before I'd be able to get a better paying job, I'd need to get my masters anyway which will take me a long time. So I guess as impatient as I am to finish my bachelors, I will just be more patient and take my time and get it done as I can.

Things You Need to Know to Protect Yourself During Economic Crisis

I wrote this blog off of my myspace page back when it was barely determined that the economy was in a slump as bad as (if not worse than) the Great Depression era. You may not trust my economic expertise since I'm not a business school graduate (yet) but I did a lot of research and have saved a few families thousands of dollars worth of interest, helped some individuals learn to start and maintain savings accounts and saved myself from financial ruin. Here is a little of what I have learned.

I have been researching things to protect myself and feel I should share the things I have learned from sources like Suze Orman, Mad Money (CNN), and other financial gurus. Here are some things you need to know to protect yourself during the economic crisis now affecting the world economy.

1. Make sure your bank is FDIC insured or your credit union is insured by the NCUA. If not, simply find a bank that you like that is insured and move your money there. If you have over $250,000 check at the www2.fdic.gov/edie to see how much insurance you are covered for and move whatever extra money you have in the bank to another institution (completely different bank not just another branch) that is covered so that you don't lose any money if your bank goes under.

2. Keep and do not spend enough cash at home only for two days of necessary funds. Plan that those days you will need gas or basic groceries so that you're not desperate for cash if your bank does go under and you are waiting the two days for the federally protected funds to be returned to you.

3. If you are planning to retire in the next 10 years move your retirement, 401(k), IRA/Roth IRA into government backed interest baring accounts like a treasury money market account, treasury bonds, etc. to protect your own retirement while stocks take a nose dive. (It will get worse before it gets better.) If you are not planning to retire that soon, continue to pay into your retirement accounts. Do not pull out money from the accounts and you will be fine with your money when this is all over. You will be very grateful when it does come time to retirement that you didn't cheat yourself out of the ability to retire by stopping paying or by pulling your retirement now.

4. If you are planning to retire on a pension within the next 10 years plan on that pension either being completely gone or paid at a smaller percent (at least 80% of full pension payments) since the pensions are put in place based on the assumption the company will continue to grow in value.

5. Pay off credit card debt ASAP! This is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. With the economy the way it is, credit lines will be closed, lowered and denied for all of us no matter how high your credit score is. When your line is lowered and if you have a balance that can put you over the 50% mark of the lowered line of credit it will lower your credit score automatically and raise your interest rate since you are now a higher risk. Interest rates will be raised across the board for credit cards and lines of credit. If you can't afford the payments, call the credit card companies and talk to them about negotiating the payments to something you can afford on a monthly basis since it looks bad for them and you if you just miss or skip a payment here or there. Most companies would rather make arrangements to keep you paying on time every month so they can report their numbers of bad debt lower which makes them look more profitable to share holders. Start with your highest APR interest rates and work your way down no matter the amount on the cards. (Pay all of them at least the minimum payments but focus on paying off the larger APR ones first.) This way you can start to plug the hole of missing money faster the less interest you are paying.

6. Absolutely do not spend more than you make. It may seem like common sense but the majority of Americans are spending more than they make every month and continue to dig their own holes deeper and deeper until they get foreclosed and lose everything. Here is an easy way to find out how close you are to spending more than you bring home. Take a small notebook and draw a line down the center of each page. Each time you spend money, be it on a debit, cash, credit card, gift certificate, or however you are spending it, write what you bought, how much it was, and the date. On the left hand side of the page write the things you needed and on the right side put unnecessary things you just wanted or felt you deserved. For example:

Milk $1.49 10/10/08 Designer Shoes $540.00 10/12/08

After you fill a page, add the total up on the need side and the want side. You can then see how much money you have spent in one month on needs and wants and then check and see how much money you made that month and if it is less than you spent, it's time to start taking back things to the stores off the want side and reducing the things you buy from the want side next month until you're well under your earned income so you can have some wiggle room and savings. (If you need more help finding ways to save money so you're not overspending, feel free to contact me and I will be happy to discuss your situation and offer advice and suggestions.) Finally, if you can't get your spending under what you make, go cash only. Once the cash is gone, you will stop spending since you have nothing left to spend. Even if you are going cash only, you should be pulling some of the cash for a savings/emergency fund that goes into an account you do not touch.

7. Under no circumstances allow your health insurance or life insurance to lapse. Always make sure you and your family are covered under both these insurances. Plan on having Term life insurance (Suze Orman says you only want term life). 95% of bankruptcies are from medical bills. (That is HUGE!) You can't afford not to have these two insurances, no matter what.

8. Do not pull out all your money from the bank to keep it "safe". You are really shooting yourself in the foot if you're thinking you'll hold it all under your mattress. If you have a savings account, check and see if you can move it to a higher interest rate federally insured money market account since they tend to have higher interest rates and you can increase your money faster that way. Make sure you can still access your money whenever you want just like a savings account so that it just makes more money for you.

9. Keep your cars longer. You spend so much money on a car only to have it depreciate so fast that you can't sell it for near what you paid for. Keep your car until it's paid off and then keep it for at least a few more years. This will save you thousands in interest! Also buying American cars will help the U.S. economy so that as consumers we are helping our own country instead of Japan, Germany or Korea with their national debt/surplus.

10. Build an emergency savings fund. This can be held in a savings account or a money market account (make sure it's FDIC insured or a federally backed treasury account). Using your spending journal, find out what eight months of necessary spending is. Plan on having to pay your car registration or your home owners insurance and other bills that you must pay annually. That is the amount you need in your emergency savings fund. Do not touch this money for vacations or down payments. This is for when your car breaks down (the one that is now paid off that you've had for a few years) or when your son chips his tooth and you need emergency dental work done. This will keep you from digging into credit debt during a very bad time in the economy to be using credit. This can save you when you need the $175 emergency co-payment for the emergency room visit or when you hit your mailbox with your car and don't want to make a claim to raise your premiums. It can save you from financial disaster if you loose your job, it allows you to stay on top of your bills until you can find another job. In this economy where hundreds of thousands of people are being laid off, fired, hours cut back and such, don't think that you are the only one of us who will not be let go. It happens, and all of us may be victims to this critical time. Don't steal from your emergency fund, you're only cheating yourself from your own financial safety net. Save in a different account for things like down payments, vacations etc. so that you only touch the emergency fund when absolutely necessary.

About Me

For those of you who don't know me, I am a 29 year old single girl who bought a house with her 27 year old sister. My sister brought with her my two nephews and shortly after added her boyfriend to the mix. I am a B-type personality that knows that slow and steady wins the race and so I often get misunderstood by A-types. I am a caring, giving and passionate person. That amount of emotion can get me in trouble at times as well. I make a decent living but not enough on one income to afford a house on my own. This limits my abilities on multiple levels but I am only 28 credit hours from my Bachelors degree in business. I then plan on getting my Masters but I doubt I'd go in for a PhD. I'd be more likely to try to figure out how to afford law school.

I follow many interests including writing (obviously), reading, playing video games and role playing. Some of these topics may pop up later in my blogs but I have created a section for video gaming and table top gaming called A Gamer Girl Takes on the World. I am also an animal lover who cares for 3 cats and 1 fish. I will admit I am a push over for my family and that has caused me more than a little grief over the years.

Personality wise I am a laid back person who tends to get along with most everyone. My views tend to be a little more forgiving of people who are different or who live alternate lifestyles since I feel it's not my place to judge. I am a harder critic of myself than most people are with only a few exceptions. That being said, I know I'm intelligent, definitely not Einstein level but I have always been known as the "smart" child. Not that my siblings aren't smart, in fact they are probably smarter than me, especially in certain things. I am just above the curve in learning so it makes college easy for me since I don't have to study much to pull off my "A" for the course. (That really bugs my classmates since I don't have any good advice for those that are struggling in whatever class I breezed through.)

I work full time in a call center which is one of the most stress filled jobs you can have. I spend 8 hours or more a day being yelled at and verbally abused which is why I absolutely do not tolerate mental abuse or name calling in my house. Most roommates are respectful of the absolute rule of dignity and respect but not everyone understands the basic guidelines of how to behave properly in society today. Especially during confrontation, which doesn't always have to be an ordeal. The same goes for my blog, it's fine if you have an opposing opinion to mine and would like to express it, but remember dignity and respect.

I am divorced from a drama filled life that consisted of me working many hours to support my husband that did nothing but look at porn and play Everquest all day. That may be another reason that decided me on the dignity and respect rule, but it's worked for me this far. It is also a rule I have to follow as well so I usually don't instantly discuss the things that bother me with people until I know I can handle discussing them rationally, calmly and without malice. This is something that takes time, patience and practice to be able to do.

I am also a "larger" woman. I find the term "larger" funny since most of the United States is overweight now so the majority of Americans are also part of the "larger" crowd. I get stereotyped a lot from my weight that I am lazy, depressed, etc. The funny thing is that I am fine with the way I look. I feel I am attractive and if others can't see it, then that is their issue to deal with. I am happy with who I am and am proud of how far I have come as a person and as a woman. I don't tolerate comments about my weight or who I am very well since I feel that people who need to comment on things like that have insecurities that they need to feel justified in by making others feel bad about themselves. My self-esteem is not controlled by the jerk who feels the need to tell me that women who "let themselves go" are worthless.

I feel no remorse or regret in planning my life as a single person. I don't mind dating but I tend not to be very forgiving of flaws in the guys I date. The older I get the more flawed the men available seem to be. Maybe I am just not giving anyone a chance to hurt me, but I am a woman who is an individual and doesn't need a guy to feel whole in her life. I won't pretend I don't get lonely sometimes but I would rather feel lonely sometimes alone than be in a relationship that is bad for me or going to impact negatively where I'd like to go with my life.

I am opinionated. I am patient and will listen to other people's opinions but if I feel they will just be offended by my own more liberal minded opinions, I'm more likely to keep them to myself since I have no desire to get roped into a heated debate about the presidency, the war in Iraq or the issue of abortion. I will be sharing them here but I may not respond to posts that seem too fanatical since I'm not interested in right fighting.

I am really not religious. Not even a little bit. I will support other people in their religions and will go to baby blessings or missionary farewells or weddings or whatever but I am not interested in finding Jesus or the gospel. I am agnostic and not interested in making a decision about God one way or the other. I graduated seminary so it's not a question of ignorance, it's simply that with so many evils on this world, even the ones I have faced in my own small lifetime, I couldn't imagine a God that cares for us that wouldn't intervene when someone gets raped or someone is about to commit murder. If you take the side of religion, be prepared for skepticism. I won't question your faith but don't try to force yours on me.

That is me in a nutshell. I am flawed but I am real about my flaws and I don't need other people pointing them out for me since I know myself far better than anyone else does. I hope that I can give some insight into myself through my posts and that in some way I can positively influence your day by the things I will be writing about.