The New Steps for July For Me and For Others

Step one, use some sort of money tracking software.

Here is the insane part. I did a very sketchy budget spending plan based on my income and you know what, I'm supposed to have an additional $200 left over each month AFTER I pay my monthly bills, put money into my E-fund, and I have given myself liberal amounts of money to cover things like food and hobby. AND this is on my reduced income. WHY don't and did I not I save more? Because as I've pointed out before, I'm not an aggressive saver at all. I'm barely a passive saver. I could have fully funded my E-fund on the money I spent on wants this past spring, but I've decided to stop beating myself up over this and move on.

I can hear you all saying, but Betty aren't PF blogger supposed to use things like Quicken,Mint, or some fabulous spreadsheet. The truth of the matter is there is a segment of us that don't. I fall into that segment.

Part of me just did not or could not face up to my spending. I had all my bills paid, had my needs taken care of, and was able to get some wants. It was the excessive wants that did me in this past May.

The Mess of May did disturb me. I took out my frustrations in my life by spending money and even by keeping all my receipts and looking at them, I still really did not have a true sense of where I spent my money. Actually, I did not want to admit to myself where and what I spent my money on. I was keeping my head in the sand, so to speak.

I need to take the next few giant steps in my bouncing back from bankruptcy stage. The next steps will make or break my progress.

I need to become more aggressive about saving money. It could be paying myself first, it could be curbing my spending and then taking the extra money and putting it into my Credit Union account.

I need to be better about a budget spending plan and sticking to it.

I need to stop rationalizing my choices and not just talking the talk, but walking the walk.

Maybe, just maybe, this will be one way to stop feeling so stuck and to continue to bounce back.

Why It Pays To Double Check Your Bank Account

I had one unhappy surprise this am. I logged onto my bank account to check the status of my income tax return (yeah it made it) only to see this bizarre amount for a check deduction. Like I had no recollection of ever writing a check in that amount nor did I have a record of a pending payment that might have gotten sent in early. I clicked on the check image only to discover that somehow my mortgage check had increased by $300. Yup, $300. My mortgage for my small space is $550. I saw a deduction in my account for $850. My hand writing is not that bad and it's my understanding that bank tellers use the handwritten line as the actual amount to be paid out.

The dollar amount written out is correctly and clearly, somehow there has been a teller or bank error. I have a copy of my mortgage payment receipt, a copy of the check front and back and a copy of the online statement. I'm not really happy about a $300 error. Not happy at all. No where on my payment receipt does it indicate an overpayment of $300. That $300 is earmarked for something else, not my mortgage at this point in time!

Take my word on it, I'll be at the bank's door first thing tomorrow to get this straightened out....

The Bank Update-How does yours Compare?

Last week I posted about banking in local banks vs. banking at larger multi state banks (or on line). Interesting to see that many folks have opted for the local bank or credit union.

On Saturday, two of the local banks had ads in the papers affirming depositors and potential customers that they do in fact have lots of money and are fiscally sound. At least according to their PR they are performing satisfactorily, but how do they really stack up?

Bankrate.com has a place on it's web site you can look up your bank or credit union. Click here at this link and then follow the easy to use prompts. I looked up both my regular bank and my credit union and was happy with what I saw via bankrate.com. I'll be keeping my money where it is for the time being.

Where Do You Bank?

The state of Banks in America is big news. Seems every time I turn on the news, another large bank is having a problem (Wa Mu, Indy Mac, Wachovia). I'm leery of "big banks". Always have, much prefer small local banking institutions. They are insured and covered by the FDIC just like the big ones and I've consistently gotten better service from them year in and year out. I have this philosophy that I won't bank at an institution with more than 10 separate locations. The only time I deviated from that philosophy was when the Ex boyfriend insisted we bank at what is now Bank of America and we had nothing but trouble and declining customer service with each takeover/acquisition (three times in six years). When I left the relationship, I got a new bank.

GMA did a story today on The Burke and Herbert Bank, located in Northern Virginia. When I lived in the DC area, I banked at that bank. I chose Burke and Herbert for the reasons outlined above, a good small local bank, well funded, a location close to my office did not hurt either, and most importantly, the excellent customer service I received. The CEO of Burke and Herbert told GMA that he has opened new accounts this past two weeks totalling 50 million (USD) in deposits. Fifty Million, not five million. In two weeks. All I can say is wow, but I'm not surprised. Burke and Herbert is a great bank.

When I moved back to New England, I spent a decent amount of time researching the local banks, number of branches, services offered, community involvement, strength of assets, etc. I narrowed my choice down to two banks and ultimately chose one bank because it had a branch not to far from my work. Like so many banks, it eventually got gobbled up by a larger corporation (and eventually we had a loss of service, and the bank became more impersonal).

I went to my second choice bank about two years ago (It has 9 locations in eight towns) and not only am I offered all the same services as those big impersonal banks (BOA, Chase, WaMu), I am more than an account number, I am a person. I chose my local credit union for many of the same reasons, it's small, well funded, very personable and I am more than just an account number. When the time comes to refinance my car loan, my credit union is willing to work with me. Can't see BOA working with a post BK person, not in this economy! My local bank manager has already said she can try to work with me being post BK, the bank has programs for folks like me. I just can't see BOA working with me right now. I get all the benefits of the larger more impersonal banks without the fear that they may be taken over by the FDIC if they fail.

Where do you bank ?

Joining Me in Bankruptcy Is....

Sherson Lehman Brothers, the big Wall Street investment bank. You can read about them and their decision to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy here.

Merrill Lynch has "announced a new partnership with Bank of America" You can read about that deal here.

Merrill Lynch and BOA are hosting a webcast of their press conference, today at 10 AM. If you so desire, you can click here to get the link.

It's a good think I keep telling myself that my little investment account is set up for the long term, not the short term....

Lovely Monday Morning news, just lovely,

But Seriously, hope you all had a great weekend.

A Couple Sidebar Changes and Some Money Updates

I did a little fiddling with my sidebar changes. I lumped together the ING, Credit Union and Emergency fund as one account. For all intents and purposes, it is one Emergency Fund, just broken down into separate accounts. Plus I needed the psychological lift of seeing me so close to my E-fund goal of $2,000. I have a $50 check from my elderly friend that she gave me for Poochies vet care (I will just roll Poochies upcoming visit into my dog care fund) and I have $50 coming into me for some photo shoots. That will put me over the goal of $2,000 in the E-fund (provided I don't keep my debit card in my wallet and er, have an "emergency").

I also added in my horrendous car note and my mortgage. In a few months, I think I'll be able to go to my credit union to refinance the car (which gets paid early each month) and hopefully get a better rate. I got a letter from my bank with an escrow account update and it looks like for the rest of 2008 and until this time in 2009, my mortgage payment will be reduced by $10 a month. I've been paying an additional $2 (yup that's $2) to my mortgage each month, that $2 rounds me up to a nice number of $555 each month for my mortgage. I will continue to pay the $555 each month with the additional marked towards my principle.

If I add up the house, car and student loan, I have about $85,000 worth of total debt. I consider my student loan good debt, I would have never been able to afford my college education unless I had a loan. I've actually worked in the field I went to school for, unlike some of my friends. I'm not thrilled with the car loan debt, mainly due to the interest rate, but I knew going into the car loan process that my rate post BK was going to be high. I still consider myself lucky that I got a car loan period.

I will continue to fund my emergency account once past the $2,000 mark. I won't make it an official goal, but I'll work towards socking away three months of basic expenses, which would be about $4,500. I'd like to make a big dent in the Student Loan or ramp up the Emergency Fund, but I have some home DIY things I need to do and will be budgeting out some funds in the next couple months for that. The needs/must do list is starting to grow....

Why I Don't Automate My Fiscal Life

Lots of people in the PF world are big into auto payments and auto debits. I'm not. Maybe it's my generation, maybe it's me, but I'm not really into auto payments that I don't have control over. The one time I set up an auto payment, it was a disaster. I did it with my old mortgage company and one month they triple debited me. Let's just say the chain reaction of bounced checks was insane. My bank was good enough to realize the error was the fault of the mortgage company and paid a number of checks without increasing my overdraft, it took three days for the mortgage company to refund the extra debits. Actually if I remember, they just asked if I wanted the extra debits credited for the next two months. I remember shrieking NOOOOOO. They did pay the overdraft fees as well, but needless to say the whole experience left me a little jaded on the auto debit feature.

I auto debit on two payments, one is my EZ Pass ($25 at a time and maybe once every couple months depending on my travel) and my mobile phone bill. Everything else is either paid by check or with me having control over processing the payment from my checking account to the merchant.

I am very leery about giving any one my bank information, even another bank. I make the time twice a month to sit down, look at my bills write out the checks, and mail them. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to write out the checks and send them off. Lest you say "Betty aren't you afraid that you mail might get lost and not make it on time?" Yes that is always a real possibility, but anything of great importance (like my car note right now), I send with a tracking number. I'm a little leery of my car loan bank, they don't have the best reputation, so I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've had freakier things happen with auto debits than with the US Mail.

It's Been a Heck of A Couple Days

At my real, full time job, I wear many hats. I answer phones, work on projects, go shopping for office snacks, deal with clients, etc. It is the nature of my job. We have a couple bank accounts, I take care of the petty cash one. Quicken and I are best friends forever. My petty cash account has not been "off" or "wrong" or whatever since I arrived. In fact, our company accountant is very happy with the Quicken files. My boss is happy the accountant is happy.

I was given the task of doing almost 18 months of account reconciling on one of our other bank account, 18 months. It had been in the custody of my now long departed boss, one of her best work buddies took over her some of responsibilities and the account, she then left in February. My boss asked me to assume the duties of keeper of that checkbook a couple weeks ago, so I did.

Imagine my horror when I went to her files only to discover, opened, but unbalanced statements going back to December 2006. She kept a check register but never balanced the account. I think she did it all in her head. She never even wrote down a running balance in the check register. She had Quicken on her computer, she never inputted any information into it (and neither did my former immediate boss a supposed computer savvy person). She also did not enter any of the financials in the Excel spreadsheets that are set up either. I have no idea what information went to the accountant, probably all of it in a paper format. I remember we specifically bought Quicken to streamline our banking work and the transfer of information to our accountant. it was time for our small company to go beyond paper. I was hired because I can navigate around a spreadsheet (don't ask me to make a complicated one, but I can work with them.) My boss went through the roof when I told him that nothing was in the computer, nothing.

Since the accountant never raised a red flag, I can only guess they inputted all the information and did a reconciliation at tax time (costing the company $55/hour) when all they needed to do was download some files and see any back up they asked for. That account does not get used that often, so maybe it takes two hours a month to maintain, maybe? I know she got paid a lot less than $55/hour. I did find her lazy at times and would always complain that she had "so much work" (no more and at times a lot less than the rest of us). My company has used the same accounting firm for a number of years, sends it's financials out every few years to an independant auditor to make sure all is good (and our accountant encourages that, it's a double check thing) has been slow to computerize it's finances, but is slowly getting there as my boss realizes the savings by becoming automated. I know our accounting firm probably regrets the loss of income, but probably is not happy having to do all the company's accounting the old fashioned way, on paper.

It took me four days to input all the information, reconcile the accounts, find my errors (I would get tired and input numbers wrong) as I was doing my other work. I'm happy to say we are "off" by $15 and I found out where that error is. I'm really glad it was not $15,000. And I'm really glad I won't have to be on the computer as much. My eyes hurt. I've just sent the accountant an e-mail to expect our 1st and 2nd quarter bank reports no later than July 15th (earlier if I get all my bank information) and I've already told him I will have as much as I can on Quicken and in Excel for him. I'm going to pull the statement from the accountant on Monday and see just how much work we paid his office to do at $55/hr that could of, and should of been done in house.

Tell All Tuesday~Who The Heck Am I-Part 2

A couple weeks ago, I gave you my dissertation on the first part of my life, how I grew up and what I did and did not learn about money. Here is the second part.

I graduated from college with a respectable gpa, a ton of student loans, a car, a dog, and still not a heck of a lot of common sense about real money management. I could balance my checkbook, I shopped for clothes on sale, I was sensible, but not terribly informed. My grandmother surprised me during my junior year and bought me a car. It was not an expensive or fancy car, but it was a car. This was my grandmother who never seemed to enjoy her money, but she turned around and bought me a car. I remember my mother being really angry. Angry because she was not the one who bought the car. Angry because my grandmother made it very clear the car was bought for me and needed to be in my name and my name only, angry because I took the car, and even angrier that I quickly agreed to pay for the insurance and all repair bills so I could have the car at school. She called it my multiple birthday, Christmas, graduation present. My mother muttered that she never had a new car, only used ones. To put it mildly, things were a bit tense at my house for a while.

What I was discovering as I grew up was that my mother was a money manipulator. As I stated before, she made a lot of promises to me about money that she never followed up on or changed her terms and conditions with money. I know now a lot of her anger about my car was due to the fact that my grandmother had taken part of her control over me away from her. In retrospect, I have to give my grandmother a lot of credit. She knew I was a responsible person and I would live up to the agreement of valid insurance, no friends driving the car, no drinking and driving, pay for my own gas, etc. I lived up to my end and my mother was very bitter about it. She liked and still likes failure in other people. She did not like losing her control over me.

After working for a year, I went graduate school. Based on my undergraduate experience, I was determined to put myself through graduate school all on my own, and I did. I went to the local State University and did it again on grants, loans and scholarships. My mother's offers of financial help were taken with a grain of salt. I did not count on them and when they came, she would have her usual terms and conditions attached to them. I was getting tired of having conditions attached to money. I stopped asking for it, even for birthdays and Christmas. In fact, one Christmas I asked for a vacuum cleaner. It was easier to ask for things than for money. The money I could have used for things like food and car insurance, but even gift money had conditions. The fact I was putting myself through grad school without any parental help seemed to really make her mad. I took any money I was given, but I just stopped asking for any help. It was easy this way. I did not have to deal with what ever condition was being given with the check. A good dose of guilt and manipulation with each check, I did not need it anymore.

Graduate school wasn't easy. I can remember being really poor in graduate school, eating oatmeal for breakfast and lunch and ramen noodles with frozen vegetables for dinner. My boyfriend would occasionally come up to visit with a bag of real food, I'd ask him to bring food with color, most of my meals were beige or white. My university had an Ag school and at the Ag School Diary Bar for $5 I could buy half gallon of milk, a block of cream cheese, a half gallon of ice cream, and a pound of butter and occasionally a dozen eggs if they were in stock. Twice a month I shopped at the Dairy store, I ate a lot of dairy and I drank milk, I don't even really like milk, but milk was cheaper than soda and OJ. I can remember coming home from classes one morning all excited to have my oatmeal for lunch. I opened the sugar bowl to put a spoonful of sugar on my oatmeal, only to find it full of ants. I dumped the sugar out and cried. That was my last cup of sugar until the weekend when I would get my small paycheck from my part time job. I spent the next three days eating plain oatmeal, tea with no sugar, and plain ramen noodles. The only upside to this all was I was really skinny, my hair was falling out because of poor nutrition, but I was skinny!

During this time I had and used credit cards. When I realized that I could not afford credit cards, I just stopped using them and slowly paid them off-I had a couple gas cards, a couple store cards, and a Master Card. Some months I paid the minimum, some months I was able to pay more, I did use my Master Card sometimes-like when I was desperate for a tank of gas to get to and from class and my job, but I did pretty much stop using credit while I was being a student. I just did not have the money, it was hard enough to make ends meet as it was. I also was an expert in getting the most out of a tank of gas. I am proud to say the only time I ran out of gas was when I literally was pulling into the gas station one day. I pushed the car the last few feet.

After Graduate School I started to applying for jobs in New England and just not getting a job, a bunch of job interviews, but no job offers. I packed up my life in a small U-Haul and moved to Northern Virginia with my boyfriend. He had moved down about 6 months earlier, I followed. Life was pretty good. We had a small, but OK apartment that took dogs (I supported myself and my dogs while in grad school). He had a job, I had a couple job interviews and somehow I managed to find a job on my second interview and in my field as well. I started to earn money and put money away. My boyfriend and I opened a joint checking account and we each had our own separate checking account as well. We used the joint account for household expenses and our separate account for our own fun expenses. Somehow it evolved that my boyfriend became the one who managed our money, he paid the bills, he gave us each an allowance, we both worked on the budget, it was pretty easy for me to allow him to just take control of the money. Plus I think his ego was a bit bruised. It ended up that I was the one in the relationship that earned a better salary and had better benefits. He kept saying it did not matter, but I think it did matter, nay, no later on it really mattered when I eventually moved up to a better job with more money and he did not. Since I never learned how to really manage my money, it was also easier for me to let him take care of our finances. He was actually very good at it. It was at this time that my mother started getting really weird about money. This in and of itself is a whole other serious of posts that can be lumped in with families and money.

We were doing well. I picked up a part time job that required some travel (and subsequently got me re-hooked on travel), I used the money from the part time job to pay for additional part time study for an advanced certification. I worked a full time job, a part time job and was studying for an advanced certificate. I got a new job and I learned a bunch of new skills, one of them was budgeting and money management for my department. I found out I was really good at budgeting and money management. I was able to increase income, decrease expenses and turn a profit. I got a couple credit cards. We used the cards for everything from gas for the car to school books, to family presents, to clothes shopping. We usually carried a balance, not a high one, eventually, I paid off the cards, but kept them. I liked having my plastic, I was able to shop without having to answer to my boyfriend for each debit on our debit card.

After a long time together and divergent interests, the long time boyfriend and I split up. We were having issues and part of the issues were money issues. That too is another set of posts, relationships and money. The issue was I was trying to take control of my money and it did not go over too well with my boyfriend. I had for a number of years (almost nine), let him handle our money, how it was budgeted, how it was spent, what it was spent on. Now I was taking control of my own fiscal life. I had a 401K, I wanted to donate to charities more than we were doing, I wanted us to buy property (we lived in a nice and inexpensive rental), he did not.

After I left my boyfriend, I lived happily in the WDC metro area for about 2 years until an internal transfer in my company came up and I had the desire and urge to move back to New England. After 11 years, it was time to go 'home". As Yogi Berra said, it was Déjà vu al over again. I packed up my life in a U-Haul and moved to NE. I bought a very small house and worked at my company for about another year. The company was changing and I did not like the direction the company was taking. My new boss was a very difficult person (and in hindsight, I should have realized something was wrong when she went through 12 managers in her division in less than one year), I was hating the commute from my house to work (about 40 minutes on a good day, the work did not have regular hours, a lot of long time employees at the main office were leaving and I wanted out.

I read the local paper and saw a job announcement for an office manager in a local business. I interview and took the job despite a cut in salary and benefits. It had regular 9-5 hours and I figured I'd be able to get a part time job. I had a couple part time seasonal jobs, I had money in the bank, I had no great demands on my time or life, or my bank account. I was slowly paying down my credit cards and enjoying the change of pace while I tried to figure out my life. I thought I would just have an epiphany and get a new life and go back to my slightly workaholic way of life. 'Twas not to be. 9-11 happened and as we all know, the world changed.

In retrospect, I made several mistakes. I changed jobs and took a salary and benefits cut. I made the mistake of not having a decent emergency fund. I made the mistake of not realizing until it was really too late that I was pretty much underemployed, but at least employed and did nothing to change my situation until it was too late. I still used my credit cards, but not as much as I had. I did not plan for or anticipate various house expenses-new roof, new exterior paint job, the various DIY projects that always crop up that occur with home ownership and life expenses. I had a semi serious long distance relationship that started to drain me not only monetary, but emotionally as well. I made a bunch of pretty stupid decisions, many of them financial. I made the decision at one point to stop using my credit cards and just starting paying them off. I literally just stopped using them, lived on cash and made the effort to pay of the cards. Even with good advice and careful research, I was having money issues. I needed a better paying job and I needed to get my act together.

But what really got me in trouble was my lack of understanding of the Universal Default. It was Universal Default that eventually pushed me over the edge. I will admit I made some bad choices with my money, I had one car payment go missing, I made a double payment the next month and a couple months later I missed a payment. This was all it took for the Universal Default to kick in and that was all I needed to go into fiscal hell.

The next installment

How the Universal Default kicked my butt, how my family still managed to make me crazy, how my very fragile fiscal life fell apart, how I ended up Bankrupt and how I am "Bouncing Back".

Today's Snowflake Update and Account Changes

I have earned a whopping $5.19 from selling a couple really cheap paperbacks on Half.com this past two weeks. I'm opening up a savings account at the local credit union to do the following two things

1) Put any money I earn from half.com, photo shoots, and any money I consider snowflake money into this account, now called the Snowflake account.

2) Use this account as the car fund account.

I am keeping my ING account, but I'm not disciplined enough (read LAZY) to deposit money to my main checking account and then transfer it to the ING account. It means I to remember to bring my log in information to work to check my ING account. I can drop these checks off to the credit union at on my way to work.

The ING account is going to become my emergency account and I have already set up the direct debit from my main account. My old emergency account is going to be "frozen" as of this Friday's payday. I currently have a debit card on this account and it's been too easy to borrow from this account. I can't readily borrow against the ING account. No debit card access. :)

Plus, I have been told by a number of folks the credit union has favorable terms for car loans, even to folks with bad credit like myself. So I'm trying to plan a head for once!

Small Steps for Many of Us

I know from what I've been reading in PF blogsphere that folks are all over the map with respect to where they are with their finances. I've read a couple blogs where folks are too concerned with reducing debt, sticking to a budget, etc to think or plan about investments. A couple new PF bloggers wonder if they will ever get to the point where they will have investments to worry about. Some PF bloggers blog daily about how the stock markets ups and downs affect their net worth on a monthly basis. They voice concerns over interest rate drops, etc, all very valid concerns.

I currently have a 401K that I rolled over to a Roth IRA. I have not contributed to this plan in a number of years, mainly because the past few years have been fiscal hell for me and any money went toward debt and other bills. It’s in my plan for 2008 to start to contribute to it again. I can set up an auto deposit to it and I probably will in the next few months.

When you are in a debt reduction plan, contributing to an IRA or 401K may be the last thing on your mind. If you are lucky enough to work for a company that offers a 401K, I'd suggest signing up for it and contributing what you can, even if it's the minimum amount. It's an auto debit from your paycheck and after a paycheck or two, you will hardly notice the difference in your income, trust me on this one. I used to read my statement each quarter and fiddle with my shares in the various funds, I loved seeing my money make money, I hated seeing my 401K lose money. That was a different point in my life.

I can't be too bothered at this point to worry if my ING on line account has lowered it's interest rate again. Quite frankly, at this point I'm just dammed thrilled with myself that I contribute to the account and am creating a savings account for myself. Perhaps in time I'll worry about falling interest rates, but right now I have other things on my mind.

My new fiscal life means I currently have the following:

1) My main checking account-I pay all my bills (less medical) from this account.
2) An HSA account-for my share of my medical that is not employee covered-I deposit a certain amount of cash each month to this account.
3) A second checking account- that is earmarked as the Emergency Fund. Each pay period, I have a direct deposit of $100 to this account. My goal for the end of 2008 is to have $2,000 in the account, I currently have $250. It is an interest bearing account with no service charge if I fall below a certain dollar amount.
4) An ING online account-$25 every pay period is deposited to this account and any extra money made from second jobs, pay per post (sooo little at this point in time), etc goes to the main account then is transferred to the ING Account. I'm earmarking this account as the car and vacation fund.

The HSA and the ING account were both opened just around the time I had my Trustees meeting. I needed to become more in (or take back) control of my finances. They had just been out of my control for so long.

Sure I'm more than a little envious of those folks who have nice portfolios, they have worked hard to get there. Some PF bloggers have been working on their portfolios for while, in time the rest of us will get there as well.

Small steps, baby steps, the journey begins with the first step...

Becoming More Automated

Most of my 2008 goals involve using my money more wisely and setting my self up with an E-Fund and a savings account.

My E-fund is currently a small checking account that I have at a bank that is NOT my primary bank. I opened an account at this bank when I moved back to the Northeast. That particular bank was then bought out by a bigger, less customer friendly bank (although the staff is still the same and very nice and helpful).

I have money deducted from my pay check directly to my E-fund account. I have also taken the debit card to this account OUT of my wallet so I am not tempted to use it. I have also discontinued any direct debits to this account (my mobile phone) as I kept forgetting to transfer funds over.

My savings account is an ING account and I transfer money once a month from my checking account to the ING account. Any funds I got from taking photos for a mortgage company also are transferred to the ING account. I deposit the payment to my account and then make an on line transfer. I have asked payroll to do an auto pay to my HSA account as well. I have to pay part of my Health Insurance premium.

By setting up these auto transfers I am painlessly working towards my savings goals. I just deducted the amount auto transferred from my working capital. I know from past experience that I can't trust myself to do the transfers myself and this system seems to be working for me. I'm slowly feeling more in control of my finances. And that is a good thing!

Nobody's Fault But My Own

I logged back on to my bank account last night and took a closer look. Can't blame any one but me for the overdraft. I had pre-written out a couple checks (to be mailed today) and somehow I dropped them in the post early. They hit my account early, thus the overdraft. Sigh :(

I remember now the envelopes were in my bag, stamped and ready to go and being far too efficient last weekend, I mailed them 5 days early.

STILL-lesson learned, should have had a better cushion in my account.

First Bounced Check in over a Year

I logged on to my bank account last night to see if my direct deposit hit early (some times it does, sometimes it does not). Only to find my account was in the red. WTF? I did a quick scroll and saw a check I had written for a donation in July was finally cashed in November. Since I am pretty good about monitoring my account balance,balancing my checking account and noting what checks are outstanding, I'm not sure how this slipped by me. I was pretty sure it had cleared in August.

I've not had an overdraft in over a year. I knew my account would be low until payday,I paid all my utility bills, car insurance, those small bills we tend to forget with the last paycheck, but was not expecting an overdraft. The bank honored the check, but I got hit with a $29 overdraft fee. GRR. Live and learn, and the lesson is to keep a better cushion in the account so this does not happen again.

A Couple Changes and a Couple Goals

I've made a couple changes to my money progress tab. I opened an ING savings account, and I dumped the other monies I had into one account. I will set up separate accounting for them over the weekend. After the car issue, I had to dip into each account (since I did not have an Emergency Fund) to pay for the overdue and unexpected service.

Part of this process is re-organizing my finances, priorities and my life.

Goals for the next few days

1) Take on line course.
2) Re-evaluate needs and wants and make a list.
3) Set monetary goals for Emergency Fund, Car Fund, etc.
4) Get my hair done.
5) E-mail three people I have been neglecting recently.

I Can Now Breathe and Move On

I'm officially Bankrupt pending my final on line credit management course and an appraisal on some jewelry.

I am mentally exhausted and will write more later, but the Trustee only had a few questions for me:

1) Why did I open an HSA during my filing period? (Because my work was not paying 100% of my health insurance premiums and this was reccommended to me to help offset medical costs)

2) Can I get an appraisal on my three pieces of jewelry and send to his office, as I was right at/over the personal exemption on jewelry?

3) Was I expecting a tax refund ? (Not as much as last year)

I have three pieces of jewelery that are what I consider "good pieces". My grandfathers gold pocket watch, my mothers diamond/sapphire wedding band and my grandmothers pearl necklace. I explained to the trustee that I used a very old appraisal I had on file and I was not sure if the pieces would appraise out now to the same price. Truthfully, I lost two of the stones in the wedding band and the watch has not worked in years. He seemed to be sympathetic to me as I told him these items were left to me by my now dead relatives, but if I still needed an appraisal done and sent to his office, I would do so.

Other than that, he asked for my bank balance as of the filing date, he said the meeting was over, gave me a sheet on bankruptcy and moved on to the next case. My attorney told me send in the appraisal,take your last class and good luck.

Good luck, I'll need it, that's for sure.

Friday Can't Come Soon Enough

I logged on to my bank account and due to the car repair, the rental car, the bills not yet reimbursed for the trade show, I have a whopping $16.42 in my checking account.

I get paid on Friday and can't wait for my direct deposit to hit.

At least I have gas in my now newly repaired car, I have submitted my bills for reimbursement for the trade show (I'll get back about $250 which should cover most of the unexpected car rental).

Lesson learned, an emergency fund is a good thing. And it's become a priority for the upcoming months.