Debt $ense

I can feel myself starting to slip back into old habits, and I need to focus to make sure I don’t derail my debt attack.

Challenge: Now that I don’t have to put as much on my CC, I find myself thinking “I can use the money I saved to buy those orthotics next week when I pick up my sneakers.
Error: I’m not saving money; I’m just borrowing less from my CC company.
Solution: Sure, maybe in a month or two I can squeeze out the cash to buy them now that the dental bill won’t take as long to pay off. But until I can pay cash, I haven’t saved anything. Instead of charging it, I’m going to set aside $10 every paycheck until I have enough.

Challenge: I’ve taken to eating out way too much in the last few weeks. It’s been fairly inexpensive - pizza slices - at $5 to $7 a meal, but it’s adding up and cutting into my budget. With all the money I spent on new sneakers, it’s actually pushed me over my budget.
Error: I’ve fallen into the trap of running out the door without eating, then stopping by the pizza place on my way to work. I also don’t always remember to bring my frozen meals from home, or don’t feel like eating them.
Solution: Juggle my morning schedule so I can run earlier, then nap if I feel like it. That builds in a bigger window after my run before work. Also, I need to bring five or six frozen meals in at the beginning of the week and leave them in the freezer so I always have one handy. Finally, I need to remind myself that the alternative to the homemade meals is the couscous I keep in my desk drawer.

I just got back from the dentist’s, and he just did the permanent filling today. We’re going to wait on the crown until next calendar year, when I can use FSA dollars. So instead of shelling out $500 today, I only had to pay $47 (plus the $30 from my last visit). That means by the end of August, I’ll have enough to pay cash for the second root canal and pay part of the crown for the second tooth in cash. (That one can’t wait.) So my CC balance won’t take the big hit I was anticipating, which is nice.

The only problem with rolling coins is that if you aren’t spending much money, you don’t have much change. I haven’t been able to get enough coins for a roll in a few weeks now, and it’s frustrating. But I have saved a bunch during the last week, and I’m hoping I’ll have enough tonight to get a roll or two, even if it’s just pennies.

In other news, my birthday weekend went well, even if part of it was at work. I now have a working toaster oven, thanks to my parents. They gave me a Target gift card for twice as much as I needed, so I took the chance to stock up on shampoo, conditioner and Gatorade, plus pick up a reusable drink bottle for my post-workout soy protein shakes. Since I have plenty of soy powder, the shakes should not only help me eat better and recover better from my runs, they’ll also fill me up for minimal cost and cool me down. (Milk, powder and frozen fruit mixed in a blender)

I enjoyed my meal out yesterday, and was so full from the appetizer that I brought most of the entree home, giving me lunch and dinner today. So that was a nice savings there. I still have most of the meals I froze at the begining of May still in my freezer, plus that pork loin is in there as well. Since I got a larger toaster oven, it will be big enough to cook the pork, which will save on the electric bill. It cooks remarkably quickly, probably because it’s a convection oven. (Well, everything but toast. That it does slowly.)

My dentist appointment is tomorrow, so I’ll find out what the damage is going to be there. It’s going to send my CC balance up again for several weeks until I pay it off from money that normally goes to my pinch-point account, but by the end of August I should be back on track.

Oh, and I have one gift card still unused (book store), one in the mail (craft store) and at least two presents that haven’t arrived yet. (I know one’s not a gift card, but I’m not sure about the other.) So I still have a couple of small splurges left from my birthday, and am thinking of ways I can use them to help me in my quest to vanquish this debt. More details to come once I know the final tally…

It’s a little frustrating to live in an area where the median household income is $45,000 and basically all the new residential construction is upwards of $250,000. There are one or two developments planned for the low $200s, and one just went in where the average price is $115,000. But all these new homes are driving up the prices of the 1950s ranch houses that make up the bulk of the non-historic-district stock. It’s frustrating to watch prices go up and know that if I had taken better care of my money when I was just out of college, I could be in my own house now and enjoying the price increases. *sigh*

On the other hand, the income to price ratio makes me think that this is partly a result of being overheated, and the market will settle back down. These price levels just don’t seem sustainable unless we get an influx of better-paying jobs to the local market, which is unlikely. We’re too far away from any major markets to get those nutty people who commute 90-plus minutes to work because it’s cheaper to live that far out.

We’re already seeing some signs of cooling in the RE ads - lots of reduced prices and builders offering to pay closing costs. So maybe it’s good that I can’t get into the market just yet.

I just have to trust that if I manage my money correctly during the next few years, I’ll be in the right place to buy at the right time. Until then, I’ll just be watching the ads to get a feel for the market.

The good news is I bought new running sneakers today and saved more than $20 on them. The bad news is that still meant shelling out $87. And don’t even think about new off-the-shelf orthotics - they would have been another $52, and that’s with the 20 percent discount.

On the plus side, the store manager gave me a “rain check” for the discount, so I can still save the $13 when I buy them. And he was very helpful tracking down the right size once we figured out which sneaker was the best one. (It also happened to be the least-expensive one I tried on, which was nice.)

I’m going to try a sturdier brand of the cheap orthotics (the ones in the grocery store pharmacy) and see how those work. If they’re not holding up well under my higher milage, I might have to postpone increasing my weekly payment another paycheck and use the $40 to buy the better ones.

I just have to keep reminding myself that this will save me money in doctor’s bills down the road, both by preventing injuries and by helping me lose weight, something my doctor thinks will mitigate another health issue. But it’s stinging now.

Starting in June, my weekly payments are increasing $32 ($20 for withholding, $12 for dropping broadband). That takes me up over $700 a month in payments - a nice round number. I’m hoping to hit $800 a month in July after my raise kicks in, but I won’t know for sure until my review next week.

If I just keep making the new weekly payments - no extras, no increase with my raise - my CC will get paid off by mid-March. That’s better than my original date - the end of August next year - but still a few months shy of what I’d like.

Still, I’ve increased my weekly payments by almost $50 in two months. If you’d told me I could do that, I would have laughed. And yet I haven’t really missed many of the things I’ve cut in the name of debt reduction.

The raise is the one last major change I can make in the weekly payment this year, barring an unusual lifestyle change. Now I need to focus on finding new income streams, either for ongoing income or one-time chunks (like a yard sale).

The paper-editing is one I need to move on. If I can design a flyer this weekend, I can start posting it on campus next week or the week after for summer session students.

I’m also going to try a slightly different take on the card-making option and see if the city parks and rec department would be interested in me teaching classes in the fall. That would let me make some money from teaching, plus build word-of-mouth about the cards and hopefully sell some that way. The county offers similar classes and they have so many I assume they must be popular. I could teach them how to make one card with maybe one or two variations, and give them the supply list if they want to replicate the card at home to make more than one. I’ll have to e-mail the person in charge of the classes Tuesday and see if that’s an option. That means spending part of the weekend designing and making cards in case they want to see some.

My goal is to be able to make one extra payment each month equal to my weekly payments, but that means finding another $50 a week, on average. Let’s see if I’m up to the challenge.

Usually I post about my big goals. But I have a few mini-goals, like the running sneakers, that I need to stash money for.

- Buying iLife for my laptop so I can get iWeb: $66
- Paying my fine at the library (books are returned) so I can check books out again: $10
- Replacing my current running sneakers (not adding a second pair, which is Saturday’s trip) this summer: $105 (hopefully $75 if I can find a discount online)

I’m trying to get in the habit of taking this money out of my spending money, rather than my pinch-point account, which I’ve managed to do with the first pair of sneakers.

I expect to need iLife in seven pay periods, so I should be stashing $10 for that. The library fine is getting paid next paycheck. Sneakers are 10 paychecks, which is $10 for that. So of my $100 every two weeks, $20 is spoken for already. That’s going to pinch some. But I need to get in the habit of setting spending money aside for the little big things so I have the money available in savings for the really big things.

My earlier post about the specific benefit I’m taking advantage of reminded me that those can be a good way to save money. If you aren’t sure what benefits your employer offers, check with the HR person for an updated list.

Some companies offer tuition reimbursement, some have discounts on gym memberships, others might offer good deals on computer supplies, cell phone plans or other consumer items. Mine even has a special deal with my bank, which means I get a much better checking account than I normally would for somebody with my balance.

Just be careful that you don’t sign up for stuff you normally wouldn’t just because it’s a “good deal.” As an example, I can get about 40 percent of a YMCA membership reimbursed through work. But since I run in the park near my house, I can get by without it. (I do miss lifting weights, so when my debt’s paid off, I hope to rejoin the Y for that, as well as the indoor track for bad weather.) But I digress.

A good deal’s only a good deal if you save money from what you would be spending normally. Buying something you wouldn’t normally buy or don’t need just because it’s a good deal is usually a waste of money.

One of the benefits of working for a big company is, well, the list of benefits. I’m sure there are ones I don’t even know about. Several of them provide discounts on goods or services purchased for personal use, which is a nice way to save money.

One that I’ve used before is a discount with Apple. I’ve been debating over what to do about internet at home because a Web site I maintain is done in FrontPage on my PC desktop. Meanwhile, my laptop and other computers I use are all Macs.

It finally occurred to me today to check out pricing on iLife, Apple’s software suite that includes iWeb, its home Web publishing software. (My laptop pre-dates iWeb, so my iLife suite doesn’t include it.) Then I could just transition over to the new program (and do a much-needed redesign of my site).

The price is reasonable - $79. Then I remembered my discount. Turns out I get 17 percent off (the amount varies by product) and it’s only $65. That’s only six weeks of internet service - definitely worth the cost. So I’m going to cancel my broadband and start stashing money for the software so I can buy it by the end of the summer. (I won’t need to update before then, which gives me some flexibility.

I know how much that will let me add to my weekly payments, but I’m still waiting for tomorrow’s paycheck to figure out how much I can adjust with the change in withholding. Check back tomorrow afternoon if you’re curious to see what my new repayment schedule looks like with the adjusted amounts.

One regular assignment at work is a feature on a neighborhood. It’s a weekly series, and several of us rotate through. It can be a pain, but it does have one nice side benefit - I get to check out neighborhoods and find out what people living there have to say about them.

My latest one is right near my apartment, but it’s self-contained (for now), so I’d never been down there. So far I’m liking what I see. The smaller houses are in my price range, it’s near the park where I run and it’s a friendly place.

I’ve found a couple other neighborhoods I like through this assignment, though one is out of my price range. Another is not only in my range, but within walking distance to work and to another park I could run at. The downside there is the grades in the roads, which my little four-cylinder car isn’t as happy about. One I haven’t done - somebody beat me to it - but is on my list is within walking distance of work, close to the grocery store I shop at and not yet a hot commodity. But it might get historic district status in a few years, which could make ongoing maintenance and renovations problematic.

As the date to actively start searching gets closer, I’ll be taking even greater advantage of the opportunities to check out neighborhoods and talk to co-workers who write about neighborhoods that look promising. My goal is to find sections like the one with the steep grades that are undervalued by the community at large, yet have potential to improve. That would let me more easily afford something when I’m ready to buy, but not leave me stuck in a neighborhood where it will be tough to sell.