Stressed Out

I drive for at the very least two and a half hours a day. I'm one of those people who flips between Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, music stations, and my own CDs. I have heard "Stressed Out" by twenty one pilots so many times I should start keeping a tally sheet going for the week.

I have a lot of time to think. Lately that means Adele hits home a little too much, but I cannot stop and think about this song too. "Stressed Out" is really a song about life before we had to be responsible. The time when we could choose "tree house homes" and be completely content, but now we have a choice. That choice is between irresponsibility and "adulthood" (or whatever that actually means). It says that, "Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter." It is those memories that only our siblings and childhood best friends will remember. These lyrics, "Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days, When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out" show that people are really affected by their student debt. 

I keep wanting to ask twenty one pilots if they would really give everything back to return to that state of innocence. I wouldn't. It would be fantastic to be rid of my roughly $65,000 in debt, but I happen to be proud of my education and the job I now have. Yes, I wish my college years didn't have to set me back so much. Yes, I like to curl up in bed with my sister every now and then. Yes, it's great to rely on others for support. But the thing is, I wouldn't want to go completely back. If having my own experiences, thoughts, and developed critical thinking skills means that I have this student loan debt, then it's my job to get it paid off. This stress many of us feel can be eliminated, if we only keep a positive frame of mind.

Timelapse

A lot has changed for me in a year. Thanks to Facebook's addition of memories, I see where I was last year, and multiple years before that. I used to be pretty lame on social media and studied (or talked about studying) a lot.
Now, I work hard for a company and people I'm starting to love. I have friends and family who are still around from the good old days. I also have changed a few of my habits.
Last year, I bought myself a necklace with part of my tax refund money. It is the first "real jewelry" I've ever bought. It is real pearls and real white sapphires. It's a classic piece and I adore it. I'm glad that I did it in the long run, because I got it for about $200 and it was originally priced at about $1,000.
This year I resisted the urge to splurge, but today I was even more proud of myself.
 I saw that mint.com updated my transactions and there was a deposit for $835.00 from the IRS. I spent the morning running some numbers of what I need to have in my account before payday on Friday. I decided to put $478.89 to my auto savings account and $300 to my student loan savings account. It feels so liberating to have money built up again for my car emergencies. Yes, I know that $800 is the minimum I should keep in that account with all the driving I do, but if an emergency came up I could not put extra towards loans that month.
I'm getting anxious to pay off more of my loans again. I may pay off this almost $4,000 loan in $1,000 chunks. It would be great to see the progress quickly.
What's changed the most is how I feel about my decisions. I'm excited and addicted to making right financial decisions. (Now I'm hoping I can start tricking myself in other aspects of my life.) The nights I spend a little too much out with friends or splurge on spring flowers I have a tinge of heart beak, since I know my debt will be around just a little bit longer. When I bought that necklace a year ago, I knew I shouldn't really do it, but I felt exhilarating. Now, when I was in the same situation this year I made a more productive and successful choice.

How have you grown in your decision making? What makes you excited to keep going?

Tax Time

It’s Tax Time America! No, this isn’t an add for a tax return service. Actually it’s a few helpful hints on how to best file your taxes and use your tax return.

I will admit that my dad still does my taxes for me. I am completely satisfied with him buying the software, badgering me for my paperwork, and letting me know the end result.

I had heard that you could write off the interest you’ve paid toward student loans in the past year. It was about less than $2,000 in my name, but that amount reduced my total income. I wasn’t able to claim more since the Parent Plus loans I’m paying on are in my dad’s name.

Also, when filing your taxes, always take the free option. It may cost a chunk of your payout to file and receive your check quickly. Really this should be extra in your pocket rather than something on which you are depending.

I’m sure other financial blogs will tell you right around now that having a large tax deduction is actually a bad thing since you didn’t get to use that money all year long. Maybe I’ll consider changing from a 0 to a 1, but that won’t really change much for me right now.

Instead, I will gladly take back my almost $1,000 dollars and spend it wisely now. I plan to put about half of it towards rebuilding my auto repair savings account. That way I can focus more on my student loans. The rest will be towards my loan pay off. I’m trying to decide if I’ll make an extra payment towards my lowest loan with the highest interest, or if I should add it to my savings account towards that goal. Either way, I won’t be spending my extra money on a new Kate Spade watch like I really want to.

Resist the urge everyone! How will you wisely allocate your tax return funds?

February Net Worth

I’ve mentioned a couple times that this month was rough for me. Now that I’m on the other side of things, I’m happy that I’ve still made progress towards my goal of paying off $10,000 in debt this year. I’ve paid off $786.57 so far. I’m also excited that I am +675.92 from last month. Of course, I’m still in the negative net worth camp, but I’m making progress and at -61,165.82. As you can tell by my fancy chart, I’m on that upward trend.

I’m so proud of myself for sticking to my goals.

Hopefully, next month is less of a challenge and I can get back to really enjoying my savings. I have started the single lifestyle again, so if I come up with any good tips for the other ladies out there, I’ll certainly share.

You’ve probably noticed the ads on my blog by now. I’ve been active and viewed enough for Google Adsense to accept my application. Yay! I have never done anything like this before, so I have pretty low expectations. I know that, as of now, this won’t be my official “side hustle”, but I’m sure that’s how a lot of popular bloggers started out. So who really knows.

Here’s to starting fresh in February.

Productive Sunday

I spent the day vacillating between watching trashy TV and trying to be productive. Overall, I would like to say that productivity won, but you can be the judge of that.

Three women live at my parents' house. We turned an extra spare space into a "closet room" in our old house. Really, it's just a catch all for the purses, shoes, and clothes we can't fit in our small rooms.

We've been needing to clean for months now. It finally was a good day to buckle down and do some cleaning. I definitely will not take the credit for cleaning that room. My mom spent hours up there and made some headway on the project. I helped organize my shoes and choose what should go to the consignment store. I also took on the "purse project."

In a bin were purses I've had for over eight years. Since they're all smashed in a bin, you can tell I haven't used them in quite a while. I narrowed it down and threw out the overused items and put some aside to try and consign.

The best part of the project was finding lost goodies along the way. Here's what I scored:
$5.00 x 1= $5.00
$1.00 x 4 = $4.00
$0.25 x 4 = $1.00
$.10 x 7 = $.70
$.05 x 2 = $.10
$.01 x 8 = $.08
Coldstone Giftcard = $.11
Boston Market Giftcard = $.68
Panera Bread Giftcard = $7.40
Panda Express Giftcard = $1.77
Forever 21 Giftcard = Unknown

Total Found = Over $20.84

I was also excited to find an old Coach wallet I used back in the day. Its only a few years old and still in great condition. We were out shopping over the weekend and I really wanted to buy a new one, but I was able to find and re-purpose an old one.

Cleaning out a closet can be a productive day - both in appearance and in budget.

Making Headway

Since July I have paid off $7,079.46 in loan debt. This is the first month in my “pay off $10,000 this year” goal. I have figured out that with just my base payments I pay off $532 each month. That means I only need $3616 extra this year or about $300 a month. Breaking it down like this has me super motivated. When I made my $10,00 goal, some people balked that it would be too hard on the little amount that I make. I know that I can do it, but I wish I had more of the data since my very first loan payments a year ago.

It’s been tough this month. Now that I’m out more with my friends and trying to eat better, I’m finding that my money goes quickly. I’m starting to become the person who only brings enough cash for the night with her to an event. I’ll be close to my $300 savings for this month. Next month, I hope to do a little better and get above that to even things out.

I’ve been spending my newfound free time at the gym and taking my cockapoo to the dog park. Eating healthier and exercising more were part of my “new year new me” resolutions and a result of getting my heart broken. My mom has so helpfully volunteered to exercise with me. She put our venture in a great light, “Any exercising I do today is more than I typically would have done.” It’s such a positive spin on the effort we put in towards our goals. The penny I find in the street or the coupon I use on milk are all more than I have done the previous day.

Who is supporting you on your journey? What are you doing extra today?

Piggy Bank

With all of my troubles this month,  I wanted to put any extra cash I have left over from nights out into my trusty piggy bank. My granny has slipped me a few bucks here and there, so those have all gone into the piggy bank too. If I have cash, I will spend it frivolously.

Now, my question is - do I keep this piggy bank theory, or do I start depositing it into my savings account every month to put toward my loan pay off?

My piggy bank offers great convenience. It is right on my night stand, and I can drop in my change or extra bills right away. The reason I’m hesitant on this option for the long run is because I can hear those bills calling to me every night. They are asking to be spent on cheese curds and movies.

I don’t really earn a whole lot in interest for my credit union savings account. It still is more than just sitting in my room. The debate lives on, but it would be an interesting challenge to see exactly how much I can stash away. I want to take it into the bank next year to see how well I did. As long as those bills stop calling my name, it should be a successful way to stash some extra cash.