Layout:
Home > Archive: June, 2012

Archive for June, 2012

My mother & finances

June 28th, 2012 at 07:54 pm

First off, let me say that although I am writing about my mother in a somewhat negative light, I love her. And I am using this as a learning experience and to help with my own self realization.

I found out that my family members purchased the house my mother and her husband are living in. They took money from their retirement and a bonus to pay cash. My mother and her husband are financially unable to buy or finance a house. They are only charging my mother $700/ mo for a 3 bedroom house in a nice area. (Said family members also paid for more than half of a new car for my mother.) But I found out that they aren't making them pay "rent" until JANUARY 2013! Nice, right? Well their 2nd vehicle is having A/C problems, but my mom asked my husband to look at it because they didn't have money to fix it. This is before I found out that they aren't paying any bills right now. How can you be living rent & bill free but you don't have money to pay to get a car fixed. No rent for 2 months???? They should have at least 1000 bucks put away.

My goal is just to learn from this. I've said it before, but I don't want to be 60+ with no house, no reliable car, 2 bankruptcies under my belt, and no retirement. She is a good woman, but financially she is lost.

Today's high...104

June 27th, 2012 at 03:24 pm

I live in Texas....and I love it. But boy, summer is in full swing and so is the heat. Today's high is 104. Sunday we will get a break and it will only get up to 97. I don't really want to complain about the heat, I just want to find ways to beat the heat. When we moved I bought the black out curtains for most of the rooms, hoping that would help. We are thinking about doing solar screens. And I try to keep the thermostat at 75-76 during the day and no lower than 72 at night. (I can't sleep when I'm hot). Not sure what else I can do, but I better come up with some ideas before this summer kicks my butt and my wallet's!

So this is where I'm at

June 25th, 2012 at 06:41 pm

Ok, last post I was a little disheartened by my lack of financial responsibility/control lately. This is where I'm at.

Was/ Now
Credit Card 1: 527.55/ 515.66
Credit Card 2: 493.94/ 508.25
Credit Card 3: 216.84/ 259.38
Student Loan: 3421.59/ 3433.27 -missed payment

Retirement: 1235.00/ 1306.00
Savings: 1900.00/ 1750.00

I had some payments scheduled while this was going on, so luckily it helped soften the blow. I put $100.00 back in savings because I need it to get back to $1900.00. But now I have to come up with my student loan payment because somehow that got missed! I cannot take the money from savings, so I may have to do some rearranging and change searching to come up with it.

I know that overall its just a change of about $60.00 on my cards and $150.00 in savings, but I feel bad that I let myself do it. Its like when your parents tell you they are "disappointed in you." I feel sad and disappointed in myself. I should have more self control. Soooo..with my tail between my legs I am dusting myself off...and hopefully moving past this.

And I'm still looking for ways to make some extra money...if anyone has any ideas. (FYI - all my free time goes to working at our new business, so I can't work a second job at the moment.)

So now what?

June 20th, 2012 at 02:43 pm

I never thought the name of my blog would be so fitting. When I say I have messed up...boy have I messed up. I used credit cards, took from savings, took from my household account, and I am so far beyond the lines of my budget. People, I messed everything up. So now what? Do I just try to start over? And how do I get the money to catch up? And further more, how could I let this happen? (Head in hands) I feel defeated.

The Coin Jar

June 15th, 2012 at 04:55 pm

So my husband and I started a coin jar a couple of years ago. Since the move, it sits proudly on our breakfast bar....glowing from the shades of silver and copper. I love this jar. Although we take from it sometimes for special laundry mat trips or money for camping showers, it pretty much just continues to grow. It has hundreds of dollars in it and I don't know how I would feel if we ever cashed it in. Its like a savings account that I can't touch. I love my jar.

Summer is sooo expensive

June 13th, 2012 at 08:34 pm

So its summer time. During the month of June, my step daughter stays with us exclusively. So there are some added expenses there. And I am trying to do some activities so she has some fun. So I'm taking her to a concert at 6 Flags and I invited a friend who has a season pass. So I'm buying her concert ticket and she is letting me use her free friend pass. So that will save me $20! But just summer in general is so expensive. I buy more food and water and it seems like we drive more and we entertain more. I think I am going to do a "fiscal fast" for at least 2 weeks in July...just to recover.