Debt $ense

I’ve done a good job during the last couple years of cutting my expenses down to about as minimal as possible, though I still have some room in my food budget. I’m now putting about 45 percent of my money to either paying down debt or savings, not counting my 401(k) contributions. That’s a pretty big chunk. But it also means that there’s not a whole lot more I can do there, unless I get rid of internet at home, which I’m seriously considering.
So I’ve been looking at finding ways to make extra money.

One friend suggested I advertise at the local college to edit/proofread papers. Right now I’m debating whether I should try for summer classes or wait until the fall. I’m thinking summer would be a good trial run, plus students are more pressed for time because of the compressed semester.

You’d think freelancing would be an option, but there are some restrictions my paper places on me, so I’ve never pursued that option too seriously. But I think book reviews would be allowable as long as I cleared it with my boss first, so I’m going to investigate that.

I also have some nice clothes that no longer fit that I’m considering selling on eBay, since I’ve heard they can command decent prices. (Since I got a lot of them as good deals on sale, I could actually make money off of them.) I might also sell some of my books this way, in lots of four or five.

My favorite yarn company also allows you to advertise finished knit/crochet products for sale on their site, so I might try using up some of my yarn on simple projects and see if I can pull in money that way. Or, I also could eBay those.

Anybody else have suggestions? Also, if you’ve gone the eBay route, do you have any tips/tricks for success?

I just got some news that I haven’t decided if it’s good or not.

The head of our department has been trying to add a new position at a level higher than mine for about two years now. The way he wants to structure it would be a good fit for my interests, and it’s something I would like to do in the future. But it’s been cut from the budget twice now before he can fill it. He was hoping to add it in a few months, and I’m just close enough to the minimum experience requirement that I was hoping the improvement I’ve made in my skills would be enough to have a chance at it.

Why is this relevant here? Because it would be a lot more money - about twice what I make now. That would be enough for me to easily pay off my debt this year, plus start putting a bunch of money aside to buy a new(er) car and a house.

Unfortunately, he’s given up on getting it for now and has other plans in mind to address some of the immediate “need to handle daily work load” issues. He still hopes to get the position in the future, but it looks like that’s a year or two off. And that’s where the possibility that it’s good comes in.

When it first came up, I was nowhere near ready for a position like that, but since I learned a lot about what our department head saw as the skills he needed to fill, I’ve focused on developing those skills so I would be a candidate down the line. Now that it’s been postponed again, it’s reaching the range where I could apply for it without it being a stretch when it finally does come into play next year or the year after. Part of me has to wonder if it’s playing out like that for a reason.

The best part? I’m coordinating a project right now that has the potential to blow the right people away with its effects, if my team and I can produce the result we have in the plan. It hits a lot of the areas our department head wants to emphasize, plus involves working with difficult people and handling some tricky situations. If I can pull it off, it will be several “gold stars” I can point to next year.

Turns out I only have liability and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, which means I have no deductibles, so no savings there. At least I can console myself with the thought that I’ve only been paying the minimum for the last year.

In other news, I’m going to see if the other editors want me to report on places to go, things to do in Richmond while I’m there. Not only will we get some copy out of it, but I can get reimbursed for admission tickets and possibly even milage. (We’ve done stuff like this before when people are doing day trips in the region - I did one on the night monument walk in DC a couples years ago - so it could be a really good way to offset the costs of the trip.)

My annual review is in a month, which is when I find out what my annual raise is. One thing I need to work on is my self-evaluation. But more importantly (at least for this blog) is figuring out what impact that will have on my CC payments. Last night I did some math and figured out about how much more I would get a paycheck for every half-point increase in the range that’s typical, plus a point or two above and below.

Worst case scenario would allow me to increase weekly payments by $11; best case would increase them $22. My guess is either $15 or $19, though if it’s $19, I’ll probably round up to $20.

I’ll know the difference about a month before it kicks in (reviews are a bit early to allow time for the increase to process through payroll), and at that point, I’ll decide what I’m doing about Internet.

I still haven’t gotten this month’s bill, which will reflect the lower amount since I dropped cable, so I’m not sure exactly what it will be. Probably more than I’m willing to pay, given that I have access several other places for free. But I’m going to see, then call them to see if I can get them to cut me a deal if I agree to stay.

My next step is stopping by my insurance agent to increase my car insurance deductible to $1,000 for the rest of this year (until the end of July) and next year. I’m hoping that, plus no moving violations in the last three years, will drop next year’s premium down below $250 for auto and renter’s insurance. (Can you tell I drive an old, not-terribly expensive car?)

I’m getting checks this week and next from work expense reports, and the company CC bill won’t be due until the end of May, so I’m hoping that will help my temporary cash flow pinch because of the root canals and I won’t have to skip a weekly CC payment. (Especially not Tuesday’s, since that will drop my balance below $8,000 for the first time in about two years!)

I’m off to the insurance agent…