out of debt and into house Part Deux
It occurs to me that I never got to the house in the last post, so
After knocking off the credit cards, I took a look a my options. It turned out that the special rates on my credit cards were lower than my student loans and car payments. Yup, I paid off my car with a credit card. This actually gave me some options about adjusting my car insurance, and lowering those rates.
I had gotten pretty aggressive with paying off the debt. I was managing to put about 1/3 of my paycheck towards paying things off. When they were paid off, I didn't stop. I turned around and started putting that money in the bank to be my down payment for the house.
It took two years to find the house, which had to do with the housing market in NJ and not the actual finances.
After all that when they reviewed my credit scores, despite the numbers of cards and the available credit that I could have probably bought a house or a yacht with -- A+ scores because I was debt free and I had paid my bills on time.
When I bought the house, I didn't sink everything I had into the down payment. People told me I'd want cash to fix things up and yeah, I did some of that. My house was in really good shape despite poor choices in paint colors by the previous owners. Still, there were things that I needed to do. What surprised me more was the shift in billing that I wasn't used to coming from apartment living.
The only economical way for me to pay for oil the first winter was to shell out for 500 gallons at once -- not a small bill
I had to pay quarterly sewer bills (taxes were included in the mortgage)
I know lots of people that have to do bills for garbage or water or any of number of services that don't come cheap. I knew about these when I bought the house, but balancing the budget to get them paid on time is taking some work. Fortunately, I did have the money in the savings account so I could pay some of these bills and then pay myself back.
And then I was bad -- I suppose I should admit this. After living for about 3 1/2 years debt free (not counting the mortgage) I got carried away.
I bought furniture for the living room on 0 interest financing for 6 months -- no big, it was planned and I'd pay it off during the six months and no interest. Except... those big expenses kept creeping in. Oil was a lot more expensive this year and oh yeah, that quarterly sewer bill and Christmas and
...I might have gotten too comfortable with spending money again...
So the furniture did not get paid off as planned and worse, I had a credit card bill that would not seem to go away and, and.
And I moved the furniture bill and the credit card bill to a 0 interest card until July.
I've cut back on my spending.
I've stacked up my security blanket cash in the bank account.
I've set the goal to pay off the credit card before they start charging interest -- I've marked my calendar for June, in case I'm off about that
I have canceled all sorts of wild plans for my big tax return as it will spend a brief time in my account and then go to pay off credit card
I didn't cancel my plans to go to connexions and I'm contemplating another convention late in the summer, because it's not about giving up everything. It's about choosing. Tempted as I am with Netflix, I won't be signing up. Besides, I've got DVDs still in plastic, just waiting. This is the perfect time to think about those low-cost hobbies that I've got plenty of supplies for, like the yarn and the fabric and the other stuff that's filling the closet sized room.
Now instead of a part time job, I can dive into every homeowners part time job -- fixing the house. And believe me, there's always stuff to do there.
Oh yeah, and there's also writing ;-)
Most of the last part of this was a pep talk for me -- but for anyone who got this far I hope you caught onto the idea that even those of us who have found solutions still manage to get caught up in life and forget about managing the money. It's a matter of picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and plugging away at it.
After knocking off the credit cards, I took a look a my options. It turned out that the special rates on my credit cards were lower than my student loans and car payments. Yup, I paid off my car with a credit card. This actually gave me some options about adjusting my car insurance, and lowering those rates.
I had gotten pretty aggressive with paying off the debt. I was managing to put about 1/3 of my paycheck towards paying things off. When they were paid off, I didn't stop. I turned around and started putting that money in the bank to be my down payment for the house.
It took two years to find the house, which had to do with the housing market in NJ and not the actual finances.
After all that when they reviewed my credit scores, despite the numbers of cards and the available credit that I could have probably bought a house or a yacht with -- A+ scores because I was debt free and I had paid my bills on time.
When I bought the house, I didn't sink everything I had into the down payment. People told me I'd want cash to fix things up and yeah, I did some of that. My house was in really good shape despite poor choices in paint colors by the previous owners. Still, there were things that I needed to do. What surprised me more was the shift in billing that I wasn't used to coming from apartment living.
The only economical way for me to pay for oil the first winter was to shell out for 500 gallons at once -- not a small bill
I had to pay quarterly sewer bills (taxes were included in the mortgage)
I know lots of people that have to do bills for garbage or water or any of number of services that don't come cheap. I knew about these when I bought the house, but balancing the budget to get them paid on time is taking some work. Fortunately, I did have the money in the savings account so I could pay some of these bills and then pay myself back.
And then I was bad -- I suppose I should admit this. After living for about 3 1/2 years debt free (not counting the mortgage) I got carried away.
I bought furniture for the living room on 0 interest financing for 6 months -- no big, it was planned and I'd pay it off during the six months and no interest. Except... those big expenses kept creeping in. Oil was a lot more expensive this year and oh yeah, that quarterly sewer bill and Christmas and
...I might have gotten too comfortable with spending money again...
So the furniture did not get paid off as planned and worse, I had a credit card bill that would not seem to go away and, and.
And I moved the furniture bill and the credit card bill to a 0 interest card until July.
I've cut back on my spending.
I've stacked up my security blanket cash in the bank account.
I've set the goal to pay off the credit card before they start charging interest -- I've marked my calendar for June, in case I'm off about that
I have canceled all sorts of wild plans for my big tax return as it will spend a brief time in my account and then go to pay off credit card
I didn't cancel my plans to go to connexions and I'm contemplating another convention late in the summer, because it's not about giving up everything. It's about choosing. Tempted as I am with Netflix, I won't be signing up. Besides, I've got DVDs still in plastic, just waiting. This is the perfect time to think about those low-cost hobbies that I've got plenty of supplies for, like the yarn and the fabric and the other stuff that's filling the closet sized room.
Now instead of a part time job, I can dive into every homeowners part time job -- fixing the house. And believe me, there's always stuff to do there.
Oh yeah, and there's also writing ;-)
Most of the last part of this was a pep talk for me -- but for anyone who got this far I hope you caught onto the idea that even those of us who have found solutions still manage to get caught up in life and forget about managing the money. It's a matter of picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and plugging away at it.