The Hustle of Sistah Ant

My family member is ill and has been hospitalized.  When you sit around in a hospital room for hours, you wind up talking about all kinds of stuff.  My cousin was talking about bank fees.  I chimed in with my recent switch to a credit union, because of not wanting to be charged to use my own money.  She told me that the fee for going under $100 is now $10 more than it was when I left that bank.  Another cousin told us that he doesn’t remember the last time his balance went under $100 dollars, since he usually keeps four figures in the bank. 

I said, that’s too much money to keep in the bank - if you got it like that, you should be making your money make money for you.  What about some CDs, or a money market account, or even an online brokerage account?  My mind ran over the many options he has.  I wondered if he had a retirement plan at work, or if he knew anything about having a Roth IRA.  He has a son - I wonder if he’s given any thought to a 529 college savings plan.

He said, I don’t know anything about that stuff, but I would be willing to do it if I understood it more.  

Broke my heart.  An over 40-year-old homeowner and father, not having any knowledge about money except to put it in a checking account and leave it there.   He told me we should talk, and I agreed.  I’ll recommend that he calculate how much he needs for emergencies and then we can talk about his goals to figure out what to do with the rest of the money.  If he doesn’t call me, I’m calling him!

On another note, because we’ve both been too busy to cook - my honey with his side hustle, and me with my hospital visits - I bought some fast food the other day on my way home from the hospital.  The convenience was just what I needed, but man I want that $10 back.   It did do one good thing for me, though.  At this level of brokeness, I’m no longer tempted to buy anything I don’t need.  It’s scary how a measly $10 was enough to shock my sensibilities of how low a balance I’m comfortable with. 

Sometimes it’s hard to think about how far I’ve come when all I’ve been thinking about is how far I have left to go.  For the record, since October of last year, I’ve increased my net worth by over $10,000, I’ve paid off 84% of my old credit card debt, I’ve started to save for retirement, I’ve rebuilt my small emergency fund, I’ve taken a major step towards increasing my earning potential, and I’ve crafted a plan for becoming a homeowner.  Stay tuned, but I’m almost positively certain that when I check my credit report again, even my credit, which was already good, will be better.  I think it’s good to look at things from that angle.  It’s so easy to say, "why eat out when there’s food in the fridge," because I’ve had to from necessity, in order to keep my spending under control.  It’s the be-thankful-and-appreciative-for-what-you-have angle.  I need to remember this about accomplishments as well:  the be-thankful-and-appreciative-for-what-you’ve-DONE angle, in order to keep my self-criticism under control.

Maybe this is the negative effect of a deadline.  I was so disappointed to see that it was less likely that I’d pay off the old cc debt by Dec. 31st.  That deadline was great, because it helped me push myself - despite my odds, I’m still reaching for it.  But the disappointment of possible failure feels rotten.  Rotten enough to make me feel like slacking off.  Rotten enough to make me resentful of my stingy frugal spending.

I feel like some kind of addict, always battling temptation lately.  I went home craving Chinese takeout.  But I was good (being broke helped with that), and I ate Thanksgiving leftovers instead.  Another thing that helped was keeping busy.  I found something to do and kept at it until it was time to go to bed.  It was a good distraction from the temptation.

Thanks to all you commenters for reading about my journey, and offering your encouragement.  It truly helps!  Some of you suggested that I get a small reward for myself, now, to beat away the blues, and later, after I pay off the old credit card debt for good.  Any suggestions?

After calculating my net worth this month, I’ve got a few good things, and a few bad ones. First the bad: I had to spend a lot on gas this month because it’s the holiday season and I’m traveling more. Also, energy costs were a little high. I don’t even want to talk about how I’ve been relying on using credit cards and paying off at the end of the month. That is so dangerous! But I am paying off my credit cards each time I get a paycheck with one exception. I’m allowing myself to leave $200 worth of Christmas presents on credit, to be paid back by the end of January 2008. The rest of the bad news is it doesn’t look like I’ll pay my loan off by December 31st. Oh - and I’m broke with almost two weeks until payday.

The good news is, I’ve started to withhold money for a 401K. I’ve been putting away a little bit of money into my saving account automatically (though I was tempted to use it to pay off my old credit card debt, like I’d been doing over the past several months). And I was able to pay off over half of my remaining old credit card debt this month.

I might be cutting it too close with the credit card usage to get by so I can use my available cash to kill debt.  I know I’m not right for doing that. I’m not scared, though. I will continue to pay my cards off continually.

I’m just getting tired, though. I’ll call it self-enforced-poverty-fatigue. I want to eat out. I want to buy clothes. I want to buy expensive presents. This last 2,000 is the most difficult to pay off. The temptation to abandon aggressive payments is getting worse and worse. I almost seriously considered making the minimum payment so that I could keep some cash for myself this month. I wanted to spend money on eating out tonight just for the sake of spending the money. This, dear reader, is trial by fire. I’m hanging on.

It was so hard to keep from busting my Christmas budget over this past weekend.  I want to give really fun and expensive gifts to the people who are closest to me.  I could have gotten them for great prices over the weekend.  But I still would have gone over my $200 spending limit, and then, like a compulsive fill-in-the-blank-er, I would have felt very, very guilty afterwards.  I did well.  I bought two Christmas presents and I spent about $60-something.  I still have about five more presents to get for people, but not one of them has to cost a lot.  I just have to look for good deals and be creative.

Folks have been asking me what I want.  I don’t really need or want anything except some clothes, and when I tell people to give me gift cards for shopping, no one wants to get me that.  They all want to give me tangible gifts that can be wrapped, and they don’t want to buy me clothes, because they don’t want to offend my tastes.  I understand their concern, but I don’t want tangible, wrappable gifts.  My honey and I are sharing a one bedroom apartment and renting a storage space.  Neither one of us needs any more stuff!  My only exception to the clothes thing is CDs or gift cards for stuff other than clothes.  That’s what I’d really truly appreciate, as I am about to start squirreling anting away money for the house.

Over the weekend, I visited my aunt and uncle’s new home.  I really like the place - the sunlight, the floor plan, the size, the neighborhood.  I’m hoping that when I get a second home it’ll be as nice.  It was inspiring.  My mom thinks that I should aim that high for the first home.  But I told her that in order to do that, it would take at least three or four years of saving while living in an apartment.  I refuse to wait that long.  I feel like I’ve already been waiting long enough, and a small, modest starter home requiring a more affordable down payment will work just fine for us.

Oh yeah, oh yeah!  I got a Blu.tooth headset for less than $20.  Oh yeah!

That was just before 6:30 this morning.  My crew and I tag teamed, doing line holding, circular scouring, and bargain scooping. I’m headed back out for some afternoon scooping.  If you’re reading this before about noon, you need to get out now, because the cheapest cheapest prices are gone after 1pm in several stores!  Have fun out there!

This year, I’m thankful for my right mind, knowledge of the Creator, good health, basic necessities, family and friends, my honey, career developments, all the perks that are above and beyond basic necessities, and all the lessons that I’m learning.  I’m thankful for the ability to be of benefit to others.  And I’m thankful for my financial wellness, and this blog.

My credit is great.  My old college credit card debt will soon be a thing of the past.  I’m in a position to make significantly more money.  I’ve started to save for retirement.  I’ve started to save for my own home.  According to my comments (which I’m always oh so thankful for) I’ve been able to inspire others to make moves in their lives that will increase their financial health.  

For all that, I’m truly thankful.

Have a blessed holiday weekend. 

I loved that Find.ing N.emo movie.  There’s a fish named Do.ry in it (voiced by Elle.n D.egen.eres) who is so silly - she has this song where she sings, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…" over and over again, almost like a mantra to let her move on if something doesn’t go quite right.

I wanted to put $600 from my current paycheck on my old credit card debt.  I’m trying to reach a milestone here - a less-than-$1,000 balance.  But after creating a spending plan for my next paycheck, it appears that I won’t be able to put any more than $300.00 on it.  I won’t reach the milestone yet.  I am so disappointed.  Whatever math it was that I did that told me I’d definitely be able to pay this debt by New Year’s was off.  And I just don’t know if I can meet my goal. 

But you know what, the worst case scenario at this point is that I’ll pay it off in January, which is no problem with me - the point is to get it all paid to zero.  But this doesn’t mean that January is the new goal!  I am still pushing for 12/31/07, whether I get there or not.  If using most or even all of my Christmas bonus will help, I’m doing it, even though that money was supposed to start my smell the roses account.  I’ll make adjustments.  I’ll just keep swimming.

I already have a few neighborhoods in mind for my house.  They’re both very different, but they each fit enough of my criteria to be worth consideration.  What are my criteria, you may ask? 

Well, I need to be able to afford the house and taxes, so that’s a big one.  I’m leaning conservatively while judging what I can afford.  That may be a little contrary to some folks’ reasoning.  I’ve heard (from a mortgage broker I know personally, no less) that because I’m at the beginning of my career, I should expect my income to increase, and so I should "reach up."  There’s some logic to that, but for all that, I could just wait until my income goes up to reach up.  That way, I won’t have to worry if for some reason my income stalls.  Reaching up is how people wind up getting foreclosures.  For now, a modest house that suits my modest income will do.

Another concern is safety.  I want to be able to walk to the store or to and from my car after dark without unnecessary fear.  I’m a city girl.  I’m not the type to hide from every bush and shadow.  But some neighborhoods are scarier than others.  Some neighborhoods are prey to random gunfire.  I didn’t go to college to get away from a bad neighborhood, just so I could move into one by choice after graduation.

However, when I say "safety," I don’t mean "stillness."  I hate suburbs, and I always have.  They bore me.  You have to drive everywhere.  Commuting to work is a pain.  It feels weird to walk in your neighborhood, ‘cause noone does, and there may not even be sidewalks.  You hardly see your neighbors.  You can’t walk a block to get milk from the store - you can’t walk to do anything interesting.  It’s bland and boring.  I like urban neighborhoods because they have a convenience and vibrancy that you just can’t get in the boondocks.  My new neighborhood has to have mass transit access located a short walk away from my house.  I’m not even sure if a park-and-ride is convenient enough for me, but I might settle for it.

Demographics are important, too.  I don’t want to be the only black person on my block.  I’ve been there.  It’s uncomfortable.  In my experience, here in the north, neighborhoods are often even more segregated than they are down south.   I don’t like that.  I’d like to live in a place where diversity comes with the package.

What about schools?  I have no children, yet.  By the time I have school aged children, one of two things needs to happen if the schools in my new neighborhood aren’t great (which is a distinct possibility within the city limits).  Either I will be able to afford a home in a better school district, or, I will be able to afford a good private school.  I’m hoping for the former, even though a "better school district" probably means that I might have to give up on my urban and diverse neighborhood.  I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, but if I have to, it’s a sacrifice I’ll have to be willing to make for my kid(s). 

That said, resale value becomes even more important.  I’ll need to be concerned about the wellness of the neighborhood, as well as whether or not I’d need to invest a lot of time and money into upgrading the house for a possible resale.  You can’t divine the future.  So I’ll have to try to objectively make an educated guess and hope for the best.

I’ve pretty much listed these in order of how they limit me so far as neighborhood choice.  The money determines what I can do.  The other stuff determines what I want and in what order.  My first choice neighborhood (this week) fits all of these.  Other considerations are what I want in the house itself.  I want three bedrooms (standard in rowhomes here), a decent-size kitchen, a finished basement, and natural gas utilities.  I’m willing to do upgrades if necessary, if I LOVE the rest of the house, but only on certain things.  For example,  I’m willing to add a garbage disposal and dishwasher, but I’m not willing to finish an unfinished basement.  I’m willing to upgrade an antique water heater, but not to redo the plumbing.  I’m willing to rip off paneling to paint, but not to rip out drywall and start from the studs.

I’m always on the hunt, casually now, but as my savings grows, it’ll ramp up and get more serious.  I’ve been checking real estate websites, checking incidences of crime, following prices, and taking not-so-random field trips.  Over the next several months, I’ll be doing a lot of homework while I’m saving.

Today I’m imagining.  I’m imagining what it’s going to feel like when that last $1,504.00 of old credit card debt is no longer owed to my creditor.  I’m imagining how great it’s going to sound when I’ll be able to say, "I don’t have ANY credit card debt."  I’m imagining being able to say, "I’m a homeowner."  "My house."  "My home."

I’m imagining what it will be like to see a nice blazer on display in a store while passing by and say, "I want that."  I’m envisioning myself stopping in my tracks, walking into the store, picking up the blazer, looking at the tag, and then… smiling because I don’t care how much it cost, since I can afford it.  I’m imagining finding my size, trying it on, taking it to the counter, and handing the salesperson a credit card with a zero balance to charge it.  I’m imagining paying the balance from my checking account on my laptop, over a cup of chai tea, sitting in my own office.  The office with a cushy rug, and a cushy couch, with a warm throw and honey-colored bookshelves lining the walls.  I’m imagining me imagining my new blazer with 5 or 6 things I already own and love to wear. 

But I’m going to stop this foolishness right now, because that wouldn’t even happen.  Just because I can afford something doesn’t mean that I’m not going to care how much it costs.  If that blazer costs too much, I’m walking right back out of that store - I can find one just as nice somewhere else for a better price!

But the rest of that fantasy… I’ll keep it.

Y’all have a nice weekend! 

I don’t care how much I’ve paid for an umbrella, I cannot find one that lasts longer than a few uses.  Now I understand that if they were made so that the wind just really couldn’t destroy them, we probably wouldn’t be able to carry them for heaviness or something like that.  But you can’t tell me that we can put people in space, trace folks back to Africa using mitochondrial DNA, and take pictures of a fetus’ face while he’s still in his mama, but we can’t get somebody to engineer a decent and affordable umbrella with hinges that don’t rust, canopies that don’t leak through the seams, prongs that stay in the joint that connects the frame to the canopy, and some decent wind resistance.  That’s not asking too much.

It’s all just ridiculous.

I think it’s possible.  I am even tempted to think that most umbrellas are crap because the manufacturers know that way, you’ll have to buy another one, at the worst possible time - a rainy, windy, gloomy, messy day when you’re on your way somewhere and you can’t get there wet, and you don’t happen to have a spare on you, so you just buy another one on an unplanned, impromptu purchase.  I hate impromptu shopping.  There’s no time and often not enough selection to make decent comparisons, AND it’s not budgeted for or anticipated.

If I could boycott umbrellas, I would.  I’d lead a movement.

But um, it’s raining outside.  And what I’m really doing is hoping that this worthless excuse for an umbrella holds up on my way home tonight, with its broken hinge and floppy canopy.  ‘Cause I really don’t feel like having to buy another one. Yet…  

I know the umbrella manufacturers are just having their way with me.