Tag Archives: broke

The (50% off) Descent

12 Jan

Well, it finally happened.

I resisted as long as I could.

I told myself I didn’t need them.

That I was just fine without them.

My life was complete.

…

I’m so ashamed.

That’s right, I’ve become…

A couponer.

Just now, I started a Google search for pictures of crazy couponers, and I lost 20 minutes while looking for cheddar cheese coupons (that stuff’s expensive, you know).  Earlier today, I spend 45 minutes trying to get around another website’s print limit when my printer decided to eat the page mid-print.  (It turns out Coupons.com is surprisingly easy to beat, but that’s beside the point here).

The point is I’m sitting at my desk with a stack of papers and a grocery list, ready to do battle with Wal-Mart over retail prices on gluten-free spaghetti.  I tell myself that it’s because gluten-free foods run $2-3 more than their gluten-containing counterparts, and I’m just ensuring my dietary needs don’t run me into the poorhouse.  But that’s just the surface reason.

What I’m pretty sure has happened here is that my need to save money hasn’t evaporated along with my student loans.  The debt is gone but the penny-saving mentality remains.  Now it has gotten me lost in the land of anti-retail, searching for that elusive unicorn of coupons: the buy one, get one free.

BOGO sign

Sshh, don’t make a sound. You’ll startle it away.

So far, I’ve managed to stay to the light side- only using coupons on items (and quantities) I already plan to purchase, not trying to sneak expired or illegally doubled coupons by the cashier, and keeping my total number of coupons to under 7.  I fear the day may come when I let the sales dictate what I’m eating that week.  From there, it’s only a short slide until I find myself in a dark pantry surrounded by 1500 packs of paper towels, 16000 rolls of toilet paper, 3 camping stoves, and 17 gallons of ranch dressing, defying the government to come take my preciouses away.  (Someone promise me you’ll do an intervention before I reach that point.  Like, maybe after the second camping stove purchase.)

Until I reach that point of no return, I’ve got errands to run.  I found this great coupon for air fresheners that stacks with a coupon for ranch dres…. I mean, I’ve got 50 cents off Glutino-brand cereal.  Yes, that’s the coupon I meant.

Anyone have a good couponing story they’d like to share to make me laugh/feel better about my new habit/warn me off the path of addiction?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

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New Year, New Blog

31 Dec

Here we sit at the end of the year.  12 months ago, I was sitting in the same chair on the same rug in the same room, but yet in a totally different place.

In January, I was working five part-time jobs, living at home, and $12,000 more dollars in debt.

Now in December, I am working one full-time job and four part-time jobs, will soon be living in a new apartment of my very own, and my credit report lists a dozen more “closed- paid in full” accounts.

Since I accomplished my goal, I’ve been trying to decide what to do with this blog.  After all, even though my undergraduate loans are gone, my graduate loans still loom large and forboding on the horizon.  I’ve decided that I’ll keep blogging here about money, loans, and life, but less frequently.  I do enjoy writing this blog, and I’ve heard from several people that you enjoy hearing about my constant battles with the student loan companies.

But, a new blog project is demanding my attention.  This is a project that I’ve been working on for a month or so now, and I’m excited to finally share it with you.  I hope you’ll check it out, and I hope the Americans among you will take in interest in it.

The new blog is called What The Health, and it’s being written by myself and a former classmate (this means we both hold Masters Degrees in Public Health).  We’ll be going page by page through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Healthcare Reform) and explaining in plain nonpartisan language what it means for the public.  We’ve also included a Cuteness Clause, for when the project becomes too tedious for our readers.  You can learn more about the project by clicking here:
http://saywhatthehealth.wordpress.com/about/

I wish you all a very happy New Year’s Eve, and a wonderful New Year.  Thank you for supporting me on this journey through your comments, your subscriptions, and simply your page views.  You kept me going when I felt like there was no way I’d ever make it though my mountain of debt.  Cheers y’all.

 

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Tallying It All Up

14 Dec

In case any of you missed it, I accomplished my goal on December 3rd.  I paid off my undergraduate student loans, and I have the picture to prove it:

zero balance

After I finished dancing around the room and texting everyone I’ve ever known, I sat down to total all my payments for these loans.

Over this past year, I paid just over $12k.  Over the 8-year life of my loans, I paid just over $26k.  Since my original loan total was $23,300, I paid about 10% extra in interest.

I could have done a lot with $26,000: a nicer car, a bigger apartment, a lifetime pass to Dragon*Con (and ones for 5 of my friends as well), or a trip to any convention I wanted.

Instead, I have a college degree that informs my work life every day, and shaped my life in so many other ways.  I think I made the right choice.

Here’s hoping my graduate degree pays off in the same way.  Because really, there’s so much more I could do with $70,000.

One final note: this is the first New Year’s Resolution I’ve ever made and kept.  And no, next year’s resolution will not be to pay off my grad loans in a year, unless I win big on a lottery ticket in the next two weeks.  But I do have a new project starting on January 1st.  I’ll be posting more about that next week, so stay tuned.

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The Best Account SnapShot Ever

6 Dec

zero balance

I think that says it all.

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Preparing For The Purge

26 Nov

I realized something this week.  I have a lot of stuff.

I realized this after a) it took me the better part of an hour to clear off two tables so my office could double as a dining room, b) I found stuff on my desk that I’d forgotten that I had, and c) the idea of unpacking the boxes now that I have exclusive use of my office again is exhausting.

Today, I looked around my bedroom and realized that it too is full of stuff.  This is problematic because in just over a month, I will have to pack up all my stuff from around the house and move it to the next city.

That’s right- I am moving.  Last week, I put a deposit down on an apartment, and I move in January 1st.  (This means that somewhere, there’s a landlord who considers me a viable tenant.  My blog must not have shown up on the background check…)

Now I have 35 days to go through 21 hyears worth of stuff and decide what is worth keeping and what can be donated/recycled/trashed.  I’m actually looking forward to this project.  I’ve spent this past year cutting all of the extra stuff out of my budget, and it’s put me in the mood to streamline the rest of my life.

So starting tomorrow, I’m diving into the shelves, boxes, bins, and drawers of my stuff that are all around the house.  We’ll see how long my ambition for this project lasts.  I’m betting as long as it takes for me to reach the closet.  If I don’t show up here on Thursday, one of you may have to come dig me out.

In the meantime, please feel free to offer encouragement in the form of your successes in cleaning out all the clutter.  Tell me it’s all worth it, and that doing so will result in some grand epiphany (or the discovery of a hidden stash of cash).

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I Think Fate Reads This Blog

22 Nov

In Monday’s post, I said that I was thankful for times of ill health because they reminded me that good health is not guaranteed.

Boy, did that one come back to test me quickly.

On Tuesday evening, my roommate came into the living room complaining of abdominal pain.  Within an hour and a half, we were sitting in the Emergency Department with a plastic basin and a fairly judgmental audience.

Here’s the kicker- my roommate doesn’t have health insurance.  She’s stuck in that terrible time frame between being approved for a plan and the effective date.  If this had happened just nine days later, she would have been able to show her insurance card and get a mere $150 ER copay bill.  As it stands now, she’s likely to get a bill for over $6,000 (CT scans don’t come cheap, you know).

Just nine days later, and her kidney stone would have been covered by insurance.  Her prescriptions would have been covered too, and the $220 total for pain meds & six (six!!) anti-nausea pills would have been a tenth of that.  Instead, I have two unfilled prescriptions sitting on the kitchen table and a roommate taking pain medication left over from a separate injury.

Three months ago, it was me in health insurance limbo, praying that I didn’t get sick or injured in the six weeks between aging off my dad’s plan and the effective date of my employer’s insurance plan.  I just barely made it though.  I used my new insurance plan ten days after it went into effect, after a plane trip caused my ear drum to burst.  My insurance company covered my doctor visit and my two resulting prescriptions.  I won’t be seeing a bill for any of those.

I’m one of the lucky ones.  But it shouldn’t have to be that way.

So, maybe I’m not thankful for times of illness today.  I am not thankful for people having to wait for effective dates to get health care.  I am not thankful for people facing eighteen hour waits at inner-city EDs just to be seen by a doctor.  And I am not thankful for huge bills being levied on those least able to pay.

What I am thankful for is that after seven hours in the ED, my roommate was discharged and is doing well.  I’m thankful that in nine days, she will be covered by health, vision, and dental insurance.  I’m especially thankful that we live in an area where the local hospital can see uninsured patients who won’t be able to pay their bills, and still keep their doors open.

Heck, I’m even thankful for the intent behind the Healthcare Reform Act- that quality health care access should not be tied to economic privilege.  (I say intent, because I’ve read the Healthcare Reform Act.  I’ve read four incarnations of it, actually.  It doesn’t ensure quality health care access to everyone, not in its current form.  I am holding out hope that this changes through the amendment process and soon, which either makes me an eternal optimist or a masochist.)

I suppose my ultimate point today is the same as Monday- that I’m trying to be thankful for the good as well as the bad.  It’s sometimes harder to do this than others, but if I can’t accomplish it today, on the ultimate day of Giving Thanks, then there might be less hope for me than for Congressional consensus (oooh, political zingers.)

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Being Thankful

19 Nov

It’s the week of Thanksgiving here in the US, which means that everyone on my social media streams are busily posting about how thankful they are for all kinds of things: parents, kids, pets, houses, health, etc.  It’s lke a Thanksgiving feast for the soul over there.

However, there is something missing.  Everyone is thankful for all the good things in their lives, but no one seems to be thankful for the bad.  To me, that’s only being half grateful.  After all, without the bad things in our lives, how could we ever appreciate the good?  So, my Thanksgiving list is a bit different from everyone else’s this year:

 

I’m thankful for the times that I’ve been unemployed because they teach me that I am more than a paycheck or a job title.

I’m thankful for times of ill health because I realize that good health is not a given, and to treasure every second with those I love.

I’m thankful for student loan debt because it gives me empathy for those with financial stuggles, and hope for a brighter future.

I’m thankful for those who disagree with me because they keep me from being complacent and close-minded.

I’m thankful for cars that break down and electronics that fail because they remind me that I survived without them before and I can do it again.

I’m thankful for car accidents because pain-free days don’t go unappreciated.

I’m thankful for missteps in my spiritual life because they force me to reevaluate and strive to do better.

I’m thankful for the losses in my life, because they make the findings more joyous.

I’m thankful for the failures, because they make the successes sweeter.

But most of all, I am thankful for my less than perfect life because true perfection is incomplete.

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Quick Turnaround

12 Nov

I am home from my first business trip- five days in San Antonio, Texas.  It was pretty enjoyable.  The hotel was nice, the food was excellent, and I learned quite a bit more about the company and our clients.  Even after processing it all over the weekend, I still think it was a great trip, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to go.

Even if I did manage to burst an eardrum on the plane and develop a sinus/ear infection.

So, you know, pros and cons there.

On Saturday, I used my new health insurance (hooray new health insurance!) to go visit Urgent Care.  I got two medications for my ears, and I’m glad to report that they are definitely working.  I can hear almost properly, and more importantly, I can move without feeling the fluid in my ears slosh around like a kayaker in a hurricane.

Naturally, I have to get back on a plane tomorrow for business trip #2.  This time, it’s five days in Los Angeles.

Hopefully, the plane trip won’t mess with my ears, and I won’t get a seatmate who just has to share his newest virus acquisition.  Luckily, I’ve come up with a plan for the germs:

A) clowns totally belong in bubbles. Like, at all times. Bonus if they are steel-reinforced bubbles with no exits. B) This will also settle any armrest territory disputes that may arise with seatmates.

Plans for next week aside, I’ve spent today doing all those tasks that need doing before you go out of town for a week:

  • doing laundry
  • cleaning out the bunny cage
  • cleaning the bathroom & bedroom
  • doing more laundry
  • deciding which books to bring on this trip
  • checking on why the dryer stopped drying halfway through the cycle
  • arguing with the bunny over possession of a sock that missed the laundry basket
  • answering personal emails, voicemails, etc
  • threatening the dryer with a monkey wrench when it stops drying yet again
  • catching up on a week’s worth of TV shows
  • giving up on the dryer and finding rope to make a clothesline
  • realizing it’s raining outside
  • realizing you packed for the trip without consulting the weather forecast
  • having to repack your suitcase
  • arguing with the bunny over possession of yet another sock
  • spending an hour consoling the bunny after you shouted at her over a sock
  • spending twenty minutes sewing the new holes in said sock
  • discovering that it’s 2 pm and the suitcase is not packed, the clothes are not dry, the books are not selected, the bunny is still pouting, and you’ve forgotten to eat lunch… and breakfast.

I never thought I say this, but thank goodness Thanksgiving is next week.  I’m off from the full-time job, and am looking forward to a comparatively relaxing week of working the retail job.

This is either a Wal-Mart on Black Friday or the boarding line for my next flight.  At this point, I’m not sure which.

While you all decide if you’d rather be stuck in the crowd or be the one holding the key on the other side of the locked door, I’m off to do battle with a clothes dryer.  And pack.  And, you know, eat.

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Being Fancy

6 Nov

I just did a very fancy thing.

I ordered over-priced salmon from room service, just because I could.

Have I mentioned lately how awesome my job is?

Let me explain a bit more.  This week is my company’s annual client conference, which means I’m in a swanky hotel in San Antonio (I consider any hotel with a soft bed and a cool shower/bath swanky though, so keep that in mind).  It also means I get a per diem to eat.

For me, eating away from home can be very troublesome.  Being allergic to wheat & caffeine means having to be very careful at unfamiliar restaurants.  Being allergic to alcohol as well means networking events can get real awkward real fast.  Luckily, my new co-workers have either been totally cool with my allergies or haven’t even asked.  I guess the fact that they’re mostly all nurses has a lot to do with this.

But back to the point of this post- my doing a fancy thing in a fancy hotel.  It got me thinking- what kinds of fancy things would I do if I either a) had an unlimited expense account, or b) had money of my own?  I’ve come up with a list.  I call it: “Katie’s List of Fancy Things To Do When The Money Finally Comes Rolling In.”  (I need to work on that title some more.)

Katie’s List of Fancy Things To Do When The Money Finally Comes Rolling In

1. Live in a place with a really cool bathtub.  I love water- bath water, sea water, lake water, pool water, even rain water- it doesn’t matter.  I just love the feeling of being in water, where everything seems a little bit lighter and a lot cleaner.  To that end, I am a big fan of a quality bathtub.  I’ve had to suffer most of my life with a functional-yet-flawed bathtub.  When I have money (and am living in a place where bathroom renovations are approved), the first project will be building the perfect bath.

Not saying it has to be exactly like this… but it’s not a bad starting point either.

2. Have a bunch of bunnies.  No, definitely not those kinds of bunnies.  I’m talking about the actual four-legged fuzzy-eared lagomorph-order-belonging woodland creatures.  I already have one.  I would like more.  Specifically, a few of the Angora-variety.  Let’s face it- I’m never going to be an exceptionally fashionable person.  I often go out in public with cat, dog, rabbit, or some combination of the three’s fur on my clothes.  So, if I had Angora rabbits, I could at least once be wearing an Angora sweater.  (That was a long way to go for a pretty lame joke, but there it is.)  Also, look at these things!  How could you not want one?

These are real bunnies. Seriously. I’ll give you a moment to stop squealing at the cuteness.

3. Stay at swanky hotels.  No more Holiday Inns for me.  When I have money, it will be only hotels with “plaza” in the name for me, because nothing says “I’m a swanky hotel” more than having the word “plaza” in the title.  It’s true.  In fact, no hotel can call itself a plaza hotel unless it contains at least one room with a view not obstructed by a building/parking lot/ dumpster (and I definitely didn’t just make that rule up.)

You can just feel the swankiness, can’t you?

That’s it for the list.  I could add a lot more, but my dinner just arrived.  At my door.  On a rolling cart.  Naturally, I can’t let my dinner just sit around and wait for me.  A dinner this nicely presented deserves to be eaten right away.  So, I’m going to be totally fancy and eat my room service dinner while watching TV.  You know, as the fancy people do.

My dinner showed up better dressed than I ever am.

The rest of you plebeians can enjoy  your non-fancy dinners and your election results on your non-fancy TV sets.

You fellow Americans did remember to vote today, right?  Fancy or not, it’s important.

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What November Brings

1 Nov

Here we are on the first day of November.  For some, the first day of a month is revitalizing, a chance to shrug off the struggles of the previous month and start anew.  For others, it’s a scary new frontier, full of unknown possibilities and a fair dose of fear.

For me, it’s a little of both.  On the good side, November is one month closer to paying off my undergrad student loans.  This month’s payment will be $9 short of my $1,334 goal, but next month’s (FINAL!!) payment will only be around $900, so it will be easy to make up this month’s shortfall.  When I started this process in January, I was sure that I’d have given up by April, especially since my loan balance actually increased in January (the interest was higher than my payment.  I was not yet the budget master that I am now.)  I figured the pull of the blog would keep me in it for a few months, but eventually I would fade out well before the end of the year.

Now that I’m two months and just $2,205.35 away from my goal, I can assure you that no one is more surprised than me.  I’m thinking of turning this past year’s blog into an ebook, if only to have something to remind myself of the fact that I did it.  In January 2013, the quest becomes paying off grad student loans, and that will be a multi-year (or multi-decade if we’re being realistic) project.

But good side aside, November is going to be a very busy month for me.  While I don’t mind being busy, as it helps me not turn into a ball of anxiety by keeping my OCD-brain occupied, this month’s schedule goes far beyond my usual level of busyness (random observation: busy-ness, busy-busi, busi-ness, business. Word origins. Ok, back to topic.)

Here, let me give you a rundown of the month:

  • 1st: Budget rollover and bills due, plus meeting for secret project (another week or so, and you’ll be hearing all about this, I promise.)
  • 2nd-3rd: Out of town. Not far out of town, but an overnight stay still requires some coordination.
  • 5th-9th: Business trip #1. I leave early Monday morning and return late Friday night.
  • 13th-17th: Business trip #2. I leave even earlier Tuesday morning and get home even later Saturday night.
  • 21st-25th: Black Friday weekend.  Since one of my part-time jobs is a retail sales job, it’s pretty clear what I’ll be doing all weekend.  Oh, and Thanksgiving is on the 22nd and that means family in town.  So there’s that too.
  •  26th-30th: Apartment hunting.  Since I’m moving in January, I need to find an apartment this month so I can put a security deposit down in December to hold it.  Also included in this activity is taking inventory of all my possessions so I know what I need to get before January (#1: a bed).

Oh, and somewhere in the midst of all this, I need to a) continue to work 40 hours a week, b) plan Christmas lessons for Sunday School, c) write 50,000 words because it’s NaNoWriMo and I need the drive to get back into writing daily, and d) find time to eat, sleep, shower, and do all the other little tasks that keep me presentable to the public.

So yeah, November is going to be a busy month for me.  Even with a jam-packed schedule, including back-to-back business trips, there’s a lot of room for anxiety.  What if a flight is delayed?  Or what if my car breaks down (like last month, when I had to empty out the car maintenance fund and pull from the emergency fund to cover the cost of new brakes)?  Or what if I get trampled in the Black Friday hordes (last year, I got elbowed twice. Once in the face. Protip: if you abuse the employee, you don’t leave with a Playstation)?

The good news is that once I hit “publish” on this post and open my budget tracking sheet, I’ll be far too busy for the rest of the month to worry.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Potentially.

While I go stare at my massive budget spreadshee (an example of which can be found here), why don’t you let me know how your November looks? Will you be super busy? Super relaxed? Sick of Christmas music by the end of it?  Throw in your two cents (hehe, puns on the blog name) and let me know.

Oh, and a huge WELCOME to all my new readers.  Over the two days I was on Freshly Pressed, I ended up with almost a thousand extra hits and 48 new followers. So, welcome, and I’m sorry there were no zombies in today’s post.

Oh wait, there’s one.  Spoke too soon.

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