Anonymous Mess

We make the progress. Slowly. Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% -556.24 Chase Visa 26.49% 0.00 JetBlue 22.24% -95.92 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% 0.00 Barnes and Noble 16.24% 0.86 Chase Slate 13.74% -75.00 Chase Freedom 18.99% 0.00 CU Signature Visa 2 11.24% -429.15 Bank A Signature Visa 11.15% 0.00 HELOC 8.50% -86,631.68 CU Signature Visa 1 8.40% -827.49 Car loan 2.90% -42,720.98 Bank A Balance Transfer 0.00% -3,746.58 BankAmericard Platinum 0.00% 0.00 BestBuy 0.00% 0.00 Citi Diamond Preferred 0.00% 0.00 CreditFirst (Firestone) 0.00% 0.00 Lowe's 0.00% -526.05 Total CC Debt -6,255.17 All Debt -135,738.20 The Great Job Search is off to an unsteady start... still, it's a start, right? Had lunch this week with a friend I haven't seen in months. She's been plagued with money problems since I've known her, partly the result of unwise decisions made from ignorance and emotional need. She told me she'd been working with a financia...

Well, we inched a little further along this month: Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% -696.24 Chase Visa 26.49% 0.00 JetBlue 22.24% -95.92 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% 0.00 Barnes and Noble 16.24% 0.86 Chase Slate 13.74% -36.81 Chase Freedom 18.99% -61.01 CU Signature Visa 2 11.24% -576.15 Bank A Signature Visa 11.15% 0.00 HELOC 8.50% -86,631.68 CU Signature Visa 1 8.40% -827.49 Car loan 2.90% -43,403.57 Bank A Balance Transfer 0.00% -4,163.58 BankAmericard Platinum 0.00% 0.00 BestBuy 0.00% 0.00 Citi Diamond Preferred 0.00% 0.00 CreditFirst (Firestone) 0.00% 0.00 Lowe's 0.00% -622.05 Total CC Debt -7,078.39 All Debt -137,113.64 The contract job is over. I've already committed to A Holiday Thing for the next week, but will have to hit the job search trail hard afterward. O, big fun!

Wow. I nauseated myself with that title. So, until a week ago I was feeling rather proud, and prudent. I had dialed back the debt pay-down in order to maximize cash on hand for when my contract expires at the end of June, but still had managed to bring the total down by about $1,000. Not bad, I thought, while paying for a new (gulp) car and the rest of our responsibilities. And then the water heater went. The imaginary friend who reads all my posts and gets all my jokes no doubt remembers my post from the beginning of the month about covering rental repairs. If that's not you, then (1) Yes, we do that and (2) Why? Reasons and (3) Yes, we've done that this time, too. It's on an interest-free-for-six-months card from Lowe's, but it's still an additional $844.80. And that leaves us at this: Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% -403.99 JetBlue 22.24% 0.00 Chase Visa 22.24% 0.00 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% 0.00 Barnes and Noble 16.24% 0.86 Chas...

Net result: barely budged -- Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% -453.67 JetBlue 22.24% 0.00 Chase Visa 22.24% -144.00 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% 0.00 Barnes and Noble 16.24% 0.86 Chase Slate 13.74% 0.00 Chase Freedom 12.74% -471.60 CU Signature Visa 2 11.24% -486.96 Bank A Signature Visa 11.15% 0.00 HELOC 8.50% -86,960.98 CU Signature Visa 1 8.40% -1,341.21 Car loan 2.90% -44,762.00 Bank A Balance Transfer 0.00% -5,216.67 BankAmericard Platinum 0.00% 0.00 BestBuy 0.00% -20.00 Citi Diamond Preferred 0.00% -0.00 CreditFirst (Firestone) 0.00% -204.75 Lowe's 0.00% 20.32 Total CC Debt -8,270.98 All Debt -139,993.96 This was partly a conscious decision on our part. With my contract ending soon and without another lined up, I wanted to hold on to cash. We also had some biggish expenses, with a few more to come. Possibly unrelated factoid: in the last almost-seven years, we've spent over $80,000 on direct medical expenses, close to $1,000 a mon...

So, in the last two months, we've paid down over $4,000 in credit card debt. Check it out! -- Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% -731.24 JetBlue 22.24% -333.82 Chase Visa 22.24% 0.00 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% 0.00 Barnes and Noble 16.24% 0.86 Chase Slate 13.74% 0.00 Chase Freedom 12.74% -454.26 CU Signature Visa 2 11.24% -18.85 Bank A Signature Visa 11.15% 0.00 HELOC 8.50% -87,190.28 CU Signature Visa 1 8.40% -762.99 Car loan 2.90% -44,762.00 Bank A Balance Transfer 0.00% -5,929.57 BankAmericard Platinum 0.00% 0.00 BestBuy 0.00% -44.20 Citi Diamond Preferred 0.00% -0.00 CreditFirst (Firestone) 0.00% -75.38 Lowe's 0.00% 62.52 Total CC Debt -8,286.93 All Debt -140,239.21 Yay us! Oh, and also (cough, cough), we added almost $45,000 in vehicle debt. Sigh. We haven't completely lost our minds. The interest-charging credit cards are being used for convenience and points, and are paid off at the end of the month. The focus for the res...

The post from two weeks ago was actually written late October/early November. Blur the footage to simulate time zooming ahead three months and here we are in  mid-February. And where is "here", exactly? Well, here are the end-of-January numbers: Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% 0.00 JetBlue 22.24% 0.00 Chase Visa 22.24% 0.00 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% 0.00 Barnes and Noble 16.24% 0.00 Chase Slate 13.74% 0.00 Chase Freedom 12.74% -209.89 CU Signature Visa 2 11.24% 0.00 Bank A Signature Visa 11.15% 0.00 CU Signature Visa 1 8.40% -4,176.45 HELOC 8.40% -87,619.58 Bank A Balance Transfer 0.00% -7,597.33 BankAmericard Platinum 0.00% -0.00 BestBuy 0.00% -204.20 Citi Diamond Preferred 0.00% -0.00 CreditFirst (Firestone) 0.00% -425.38 Lowe's 0.00% -27.48 Total CC Debt -12,640.73 All Debt -100,260.31 Yay, down $4,500, right?  It's not much, but it's progress. Despite more veterinary bills, and a new battery for the car, and expens...

So, these are the things that have happened since my last post -- Elderly Uncle passed away. For the best really, his pain is no more, I got to say my good-byes, all the comforting cliches; but also, so sad, so much worry for Elderly Aunt, so little clarity about where she's left financially, such a flurry of things that must be attended to at a time when attending to anything feels pointless, endless, and overwhelming: all the negative cliches. Funeral, travel, and lodging costs of $3,160, plus several unpaid days away from work. Poor Caterwaul, the feline malign, was diagnosed with cancer, after a series of examinations, blood tests, biopsies, and long waits in veterinary anterooms. (She is not yet feeling the effects, and we will do our best to keep her comfortable as long as possible, but we do not expect her to recover.) Costs to date of $670. Recommended testing not covered by our insurance policy was, well, recommended. Out of pocket cost = $570. For Brother-in-Law...

Our numbers are worse. It seems like I simply don't understand the point of this enterprise, doesn't it? The debt is supposed to go down, not up. I've attempted to post figures several times over the last six weeks, but the hits just keep coming. In addition to the Great Mold Adventure of May, we've incurred the following -- We had two, possibly three, computers pass away in the last two months; I'm using my laptop in place of my desktop PC, and Spouse will be giving our media server intensive care before calling for last rites, but my elderly aunt needed a durable tablet, tout de suite , to replace her defunct device. (Elderly Aunt is on the most fixed of fixed incomes, dealing with a journal's worth of medical issues for herself and dementia-diagnosis Uncle, and has no one else with resources: our assistance to her is non-negotiable.) This expense is on an interest-free* credit card, but is nonetheless an additional expense.  Spouse's phone d...

Sigh. Yay, we don't need to replace the roof? Still: Miscellaneous repairs and refurbishments - $2,355 Exterminator - $70 Commission for finding new tenants - $2,038 Mold inspection - $350 Mold remediation + installation of mold-repelling superpowers -    $2,553 Tree removal - $550 Grand total -    $7,916 Amount available on-hand - ~ $4,500 Result: another $3,275 from the line of credit . Sigh. [Edited to add tree removal. Did I mention Sigh? ]

Our rental property continues to physically embody the reasons why people don't make money off of rental properties. Checklist for the last two months: Tenants not renewing  Downed branches (and possibly damaged tree) from windstorms need removal Possible leak in attic Probable mold in attic The management fee for finding/renting to a new tenant is much heftier, of course -- roughly equivalent to a month's rent. And of course that's in addition to costs from the usual refurbishing when putting a rental back on market: painting, deep cleaning, replacing anything that has aged out since the lease began (in our case, that includes at least a mailbox). Let's call that $1,500, though I honestly have no idea. No word yet on what the branch/possible tree removal will cost. Crossing my fingers that the tree is okay. The state requires a certified inspector to determine the presence of mold. (This costs us money but I approve of it. Mold can have a huge health impac...

Scary, scary numbers Okay, since I'm typing into a void here, I'm less concerned about posting numbers. Speaking them unto the universe, as it were. They're not good. As in six figures of not-good.  Yup. And now, without further waffling, the trauma and the tragedy: $104,966.38 . Yeah. Here's the breakdown: Creditor Interest Rate Owed Amazon Store 26.49% -31.99 Chase Visa 21.49% -123.38 Chase Amazon Prime 18.99% -127.30 Chase Slate 13.74% -420.18 Chase Freedom 12.74% -103.56 CU Signature Visa 2 10.49% 0.00 Bank A Signature Visa 10.40% -262.17 CU Signature Visa 1 8.40% -13,210.51 HELOC 7.50% -85,344.58 CreditFirst (Firestone) 0.00% -785.80 Citi Diamond Preferred 0.00% -2,055.43 BankAmericard Platinum 0.00% -2,501.48 Total CC Debt -19,621.80 ...

I suppose I should be grateful not to be losing ground, and even to be able to run, but I so want to move forward. I'm relieved we haven't gone further into debt since our job losses -- well, not since the fall, anyway -- but the inability to make progress frets me daily, even hourly. I need movement, not just running in place. My new consulting gig is going well, I think; at any rate, they haven't seemed particularly shocked by my ignorance, nor dismayed by my slowness. I believe my performance may be better than adequate, but I'm not feeling like it yet. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed, too, for Spouse, who's had two phone interviews and one in-person interview with an employer about an hour away. All went well (the recruiter's verdict: "It's your to lose"), but now we're waiting for a decision. The company allows -- even encourages -- telecommuting, so the actual commute wouldn't be daily, lessening its impact. On the other hand, ...

I could've sworn I left it right here .... It was a bit of a blur, between interviews and getting a new contract (yay! paycheck for a year!), trying to gather tax information (why did I schedule tax appointment for February 1?), and several new bills and obligations (boo...hiss... sigh). The contract is with a large employer in our city, and is located close to home -- I could take the bus if necessary.  The work is... a stretch. I'm having to use long-abandoned skills, and learn new ones, and while the client seems satisfied at two weeks in, I have moments and sometimes days of abject terror, wondering if I'll ever navigate my way through and get up to speed. This is only my second contract, and a major client of my agency, so I really feel pressure to not just do good, timely work, but to impress, maybe to wow.  Spouse maintains I'm my own worst enemy, none of it is beyond me, etc., etc. I have noted, however, that Spouse does not suffer from measured, bal...