Breaking Up is Hard to Do.... or is it?

Dance along with me?  It's a dancing kind of day.  Here's why...

GOOD BYE CREDIT CARD # 2!!!
And yes, last student loan, you should be quivering in your boots cause you are next!  In fact, I already called the bank on you and started cutting you back!
Credit Card # 1, that's fine, you sit there and keep collecting your $30 in interest a month for another little bit longer but don't get comfortable cause I got my eye on you too! 

Here's how the current debt looks:
Student Loan - $960
Misc Loan - $2250
Credit Card # 1 - $3715
and the car loan

What do I do with my credit card?

Ok so if my pay goes into my bank account tomorrow (I say if because I haven't had a payday fall on a weekend since my switch to ING so I am hopeful it will be the same schedule as TD and be there in the morning) I will be paying off Credit Card # 2.

But then what do I do with it?  Should I cut it up?  Should I call and reduce the limit?  Should I save it for an ice scrapper for my windshield come winter? 

The plan in my head is to keep it because there is no annual fee, unlike my other card.  The interest rate is crazy at 19.9% but I don't plan to ever carry a balance again.  I want to lower the limit because I don't feel comfortable having it as high as it is.  I would think I would only use it to book flights or car rentals and such.  Perhaps to pay for an emergency until I could switch my funds to my chequing account and pay it right off.

What do you think?  What have you done with your credit card(s)?

Attention Southern(ish) Ontario Bloggers

Hey Friends!

I haven't forgotten about planning a little get together.  I was just waiting for things to settle a little for some of our blogging friends.

So, do you prefer a summertime get together or after school starts?  Maybe mid-Sept while its still nice and after the children are settled back in a routine? Any dates that are good or bad?

Will a Saturday or Sunday work?  And what time of day?

Which city or area would you prefer to meet in?

I'm not sure what will be the best/easiest way to plan this but I figure we can give it a shot and see how it turns out.  My email address can be found on my about me page if you prefer to email me and maybe that is a better way to plan out the details? 

Anything I left out?

Digits and Stuff

You guys are the greatest!  Just sayin'

Ok here is my budget for my upcoming pay at the end of the month.  And can I just say, I will be paying off my credit card!!!  Oh yes!  Ok on to the numbers.

God's Money	$120.00
Car Payment	$362.69
House Insurance	$11.42
Car Insurance	$107.33
Gas for Car	$55.00
Groceries	$20.00
Animals	$110.00
Entertainment	$20.00
Bank Fees	$3.95
2nd MC	$300.00
Nephew Birthday	$20.00
Xtra on Student Loan	$40.00

My grocery budget is so low because I was blessed to receive a gift card for $50 from my wonderful friends (as well as 2 bags of organic dog treats for my Bella).

Also I will be starting to pay down my remaining Student Loan this pay.  This is next on the chopping block!  Feels great to see the debts disappearing. 

Thanks for coming along on my journey!  I couldn't do it without you all!

Do I have "it"?

 Dave Ramsey says that he can tell by talking to a person if they what it takes to pay off their debt.  He says it's in their voice.  I wonder if I have it?

I think I do.  I'm feeling really good about my determination to pay off my debt.  At the same time I know that I can't really continue at the same rate I have been going.  I've had a very tight budget in lots of areas.  I don't mind doing that but at the same time it's not possible to do it all the time. 

I just have to keep my sticktoitiveness strong and not slack off!

On a different note, I know I don't post my numbers on here much.  Do you think I should?  Should I be more accountable to you guys?

Do you have any questions for me or anything you are itching to know?  :)

Are There Any Honest People Left?

Wow, what a weekend!  As I was telling you the other day my brother was heading for an overseas deployment this weekend.  He flew into Canada's busiest airport on Sunday and proceeded to lose his wallet! (This isn't like him at all!)  Now this isn't just like any other losing your wallet, which is horrible on a good day.  This was a "I have no ID and am leaving for another country across the world in few hours and I am thousand of km's from home" kind of lose your wallet.  With out proper ID he can't board the aircraft!  We have literally hours to replace the cash, bank cards, ID and everything if we don't find the wallet.  UGH!

Lost and Found at the airport is only open from 8am - 8pm, because of course, people only lose items between these hours, right?!  I live 2 hrs from the airport.  We called who we could and go no answers.  The best we could do was hope that at 8am we call and get good news.  But of course, it doesn't work that way, ever.  I started calling at 8am trying to find a kind soul to help me locate my brother's missing wallet.  No answer, no answer, answering machine....  Leave a message and we will return your call within 24hrs.  WHAT?!?!?!?!  I don't have 24hrs!!  Someone answer the freaking phone!!!  I leave a message, call my brother with the bad news (he was at the hotel) and tell him I'm on my way to pick him up so we can start replacing the missing items.  But I never accept the first answer I'm given if there are other options. 

I called the number I had originally gotten the lost and found number from and explain the panic situtation we are in and ask if she can help. 
- No I'm sorry that's the number for lost and found.  blah, blah, blah
- UGH!  Are you sure there isn't another number I can call and speak to someone who can help me? 
- We'll ma'am there are lots of department in the airport, who do you want to speak to?
- Umm, someone who can help me find out if the wallet was turned in?  What are my options?
- Well there are many companies and  departments....blah, blah, blah
- Ok obviously you don't want to help me, thank you.... CLICK!

I normally would never hang up on someone but I didn't have time for the foolishness I felt this lady was handing out.  If I were in her shoes I would have offered to personally go to Lost and Found and ask.  We are talking about a Military Member heading overseas to serve your Country!!!  Show some respect! 

I headed over to pick up my brother since I told him I would be right there.  At a stop light I grab my smartphone and start to pull up the webpage for the airport. There has to be another number!  Arrive at location, resume web search and find a customer service number.  Hopeful, I call.  Another answering service! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!  I scan through the list of number again.  Ok there's the one for lost and found, already tried that.. oh wait that doesn't look like the number I tried.  Hmm, look through my phone,  no this number is different.  Ok really hopeful this time, it's the last number I can find.  My brother gets in the car as I am waiting for someone to answer. 

- Lost and Found, can I help you?
(In my head - Thank you, Lord!)
- Oh yes, my name is Little Lamb and I am wondering if you have a black wallet with ID in it with the name Little Lamb's brother on it?
- When was it lost - (and a few other questions)
- Yesterday, blah, blah, blah
- Yes, I have it right here!
- Oh my, you have it?!  Oh thank you so much!  (We needed to know if X,Y,and Z are in it because if anything is missing we still needed time to replace it plus drive the 2 hrs there and 2 hrs back)

Can I tell you this was an answer to prayer, no doubt at all!  God is good!  Everything was in his wallet.  All his ID and cards along with over $300.00 cash.

THERE ARE STILL GOOD, HONEST, DECENT PEOPLE LEFT!!!  In an airport that pushes thousands of people through in a day, we held little hope of good news.  There was no name or anything but I tell you if there was, this person deserves something special.  They will never know the extent of thier kindness.  There is no way they could know that this wallet belonged to someone who was hours away from boarding a plane and travelling thousands of km's from his family to serve and protect this country for months.  To you dear stranger, we are eternally grateful!  Thank you for doing the right thing.

We drove the 4 hours to the airport and back and I got to spend some quality time with my brother just talking and laughing.  It was wonderful!  And then later I watched as he went through security at the military airport on to his next adventure (with wallet safely buttoned in his front pocket!).  Have a safe tour, my brother.  I love you!

I hope if ever faced with this situtation you would all do the right thing too.  You have no idea the impact it could have.

You Gotta run, Run, RUN, RUN!

I'm dropping suitcases all over the place!  Gazelle intensity, baby! 

If you didn't read yesterdays post you might want to have a little peak at that first so this will make sense.

Back the other day when I gave myself a mission to pay off  my credit card # 2, I said I wanted to pay $270 today.  Then I decided to up that goal a little to pay off half of what I owed which was $360.  Well instead I paid $410!!!  That's $140 more than my original goal!!!  I currently owe $324.27 on my card (they added the interest in there at $14). 

Soon I'll be running free! Catch me if you can, cheetah!  :)

You Can't Run When You're Holding Suitcases

Heard this song on the radio today, Suitcases by Dara MacLean.  And it spoke to me in a number of ways.  Go ahead and listen and then continue down the page to read my blabbering. 

Specific to this blog it got me thinking that carrying my debt is like holding suitcases.  This in turn reminded me of the reasons I want to get rid of my debt and why I am trying to do it with "gazelle intensity".  I think keeping those reasons fresh in my mind of why this is so important to me keeps the intensity strong.  On that note tune in tomorrow for a happy little note about my debt repayment. Surprises are fun to, right?

This will be another long weekend for me.  Yay!  I won't be able to be as lazy this weekend though.  My brother is coming into town on his way to Afghanistan.  Yes, he is deploying for 6 months.  Lucky for him, he will still be able to get his Timmie's coffee fix.   (My SIL went there last year as a Tim Horton's employee.)

 Hope everyone has a great Friday!  I'll be back tomorrow with my little bit of happiness to share.  :)

Waiting for Pay Day!

Oh it will be a nice day when I am not anxiously awaiting pay day (which happens to be on Friday!).  It will be a wonderful day when on pay day I don't have to transfer all my extra money to pay someone for all the "stuff" I bought but instead put that money into my savings or investing accounts.  That day is coming... eventually!  :)

Credit Card # 2 is going down this pay!  I am confident it will be going down by half of what I currently owe.  I owe $720 and am aiming to pay exactly half, $360.  This is $90 more than my target I set.  It really won't help me pay it down any faster per say because I don't think I can come up with the remaining $360 by the end of the month pay.  That's ok, it will still be less interest I pay and less money I owe!

A little recap from my lazy long weekend

I am finished with the Smart Cookies - Guide to Making More Dough book.  If you are already well on your way to financial freedom its probably not a book I would recommend.  It probably would have been a great book if I was just starting my journey but I didn't find too much useful, new information in it. 

The coconut M&M's were pretty good.  I would buy them again but they wouldn't be something I would buy all time, but they were nice for something different. 

I still haven't watched Julie and Julia yet but am planning to do that tonight.

Hope you are all having a great week, financially and otherwise!

Lazy Long Weekend

I decided to take a few long weekends this summer since I didn't have any big plans.  So this weekend I took Friday and Monday off.  So far the weather has been Bee-U-T-ful!  I did do a few little things that needed to be done around the house but for the most part I've just been lazying around, mostly outside.  I don't love being in the sun but I do enjoy sitting under the tree and enjoying a cool breeze.

Here's what I did while outside yesterday and most of today (I did go for a run with the 

girls this morning and enjoyed a coffee together in this beautiful weather as well)

This weather is just perfect!

 

Bella was curious so she came over to see what I 

was up to and decided she wanted a little bit of sun.

Also during my time outside I was doing some blog reading.  Carla at 

My Half Dozen Daily posted about some books she is reading.  I decided that the second time through Debt Free Forever was enough and I skipped (not literally although that would have been good exercise) on over to the library to see what I could find.

This is my friends/neighbours cat (General Tao) displaying some of the finds.  I'm cat-sitting 

while they are on vacation.

 I also took a peak through the movies since I refuse to pay to rent a movie. 

I've been wanting to see this for quite some time.

 

Of course,  you can't have a good movie night without some junk food so I stopped by Almost Perfect to see what I could find for cheap.  Cow Tales were .19 cents each, licorice was 0.99, fizzy skittles 0.57 and coconut M&M's (these must be American?) also 0.57.  Ok I went a little overboard but I'll be saving some for another time. 

How is your weekend shaping up?  Any good books on the go or to recommend?

Can I be trusted with my debit card?

Well I've been using my debit card for just over a week now (after months using the jars/cash).  I'm not so sure if I'm being good with it or not.  I've had a few things that have messed around with the numbers in my budget a bit so its a little hard for this week to be an accurate reflection.  I have found that I probably pick up items at the grocery store that I might not have if I was carrying X amount of cash. 

I think I will give it another pay period before I make a decision on staying with the debit or reverting back to the jars or some combination of the two.

I am convinced that Dave Ramsey (and whoever does the research) is correct about it being less painful to pay with plastic, be it debit or credit, and much more painful to pay using cash.  And therefore the tendency to spend more than you would when paying cash. 

How do you pay for items?  Cash, debit, or credit?  Do you think you spend more or less because of the way you pay?

This is Your Mission if You Choose to Accept it

Credit Card #2

Balance $820 - currently now $720

Mission - to make it go away for good

Plan of Attack:
$100 bonus for signing up for ING's Thrive chequing account - Paid on 6 July
$270 from mid-month pay July - Paid $410 on 15 July
$250 from end-month pay July
$210 from mid-month pay August

This is your mission if you choose to accept it.

I ACCEPT IT!!!

Flyin' High

The other day I had one of the best experiences of my entire life!  Here's a glimpse.  I'll let the photo's tell you the story.

 

HAPPY 144th BIRTHDAY CANADA!

I am proud to serve you.