2 posts tagged “personal finances”

Okay, I haven't exactly paid off a credit card in full but I am darn near close.  Today I sold the remainder of my gold jewelry for a cool price of $1070.  Which will go right to the $1385 balance currently on my Gap Visa.  I get paid on the 15th and so the remainder of the balance will be paid off the 15th.  I think I may actually have enough to cover it now, but I don't want to mess around with my loan deduction.  That leaves 2 credit cards, one with about $7,000 and the other with about $2500.  I may do a balance transfer on one of them, depending on whether I can negotiate anything. 

The morning got off to a great start, too.  I won a $10 Amazon gift card just by posting at wise bread forums.  I'll save it for now - it'll come in handy if I have to buy any gifts.  Today I ran down to the nearby consignment store and sold a Cynthia Rowley dress for the price of....$24.  UGH.  But, that dress doesn't fit, it's been sitting in my closet for 3 years, and it's ugly.  $24 more dollars that I didn't have that will go to the credit card company.  I also sold another item on ebay for $25.  I'm trying to think of the combined effect of these little sales rather than just the individual low price...At least the rest of the clothes that I can't sell can go to charity for the tax deduction.

I also ran over to the ING cafe today to donate a winter coat.  And they gave me a free coffee!

I cannot tell you the amazing weight that has been lifted simply by finally admitting the problem and doing what I need to do to fix it.  I am so excited to feel what it will be like to owe nothing to the credit card companies...and to know that part of any excess income I have afterwards can go to the principal on my student loan...

I've also subscribed to the Dave Ramsey podcast.  I've learned some interesting things.  Especially that comparatively speaking, there are people out there WAY worse off than I am.  I think the biggest lesson I'm learning is that so far I'm really not missing all of the needless spending...like on the "treats" or the Starbucks or makeup.  I know it's only been about 2 weeks, but I really thought that the withdrawal would be much worse than it is.

Okay, I did buy a dog bone today (for the dog).  But that's been my only expenditure since last week!  That's huge!

Did I mention this in my last post?  I can't remember, so I'm going to post about it anyway because it makes me so happy. 

I was a gold freak back in the '80s.  Yeah, think Mr. T.  Me and my gold rope chains and gold hoops.  Well, all good things come to pass - now I HATE gold and the price of gold is high.  I haven't worn gold since 1980 and I never will ever again.  Blech.

So, last week I gathered a few old 14 K gold rope chains and 4 rings that ex-boyfriends gave me.  Tacky, tacky, tacky jewelry.  I saw that a nearby jewelry store was buying gold, so I figured I'd sell it.  I thought at most I'd get $30-40.

I walked out with $430.  Cash.

I immediately crossed the street to the bank, deposited it, and transfered that $430 over the my Gap Visa credit card, which had a balance of $1700.  Wahoo!

The good fortune didn't end there!  I then called my cable company to downgrade my cable.  Basic cable in Philly starts at about $60.  I also have internet and On Demand.  My bill was $130 a month.  I was going to downgrade to the most basic of basic packages.  Fortunately for me, however, the employee on the phone couldn't figure out how to enter the right codes into the computer to downgrade my package.  After a few minutes, he gave up in frustration and gave me a new 6 month promotional package -- for only $69 a month I'd have the EXACT same package that I was paying $130 for!  Wahoo!

I then hiked over to Urban Outfitters to return a sweater I'd gotten as a Christmas gift.  I only wore it once and the seaming had come undone.  Normally, I probably would have stashed it in the back of my dresser and forgotten to return it until it was too late.  I took it over, made my exchange, and got some $ back because the sweater was now on sale!  Wahoo!

Then I darted on over to ING and got a free coffee.

I went home over the weekend to collect the rest of my gold.  Based on what I sold last time, I think I have well over $1000 in jewelry.  Well, let me rephrase that.  Chase Visa will have about $1000 in jewelry.

I've also been putting up some things on ebay  - yarn, computer stuff, crafting supplies.  I'm making quite a return on the yarn.  Stuff that has been sitting in the attic for the last 2 years.  I never realized the amount of EXCESS I engaged in....It's kind of disgusting.  There's just so much STUFF.  Stuff I don't need. Stuff I bought to feel better but never really felt any better after I had it for a while.  Kind of like how gum loses the flavor too quickly.  I'll post more on this later - my tendendcy to engage in retail therapy.

It's a new way of living for me.  Bringing my lunch to work, not eating out, not buying 2 starbucks everyday.  I thought it would be really hard, but it's kind of liberating.  For the first time this month I won't be panicking when my student loan payments are deducted from my checking account - there will be at least $300 left over so they won't bounce.  That feels a helluva lot better than any new pair of Steve Madden shoes feel.

By the way, these  things really do work.  (Just saw an informercial on them, thought I'd pass on some good $$$ saving advice).