I was a good girl. I set up the bill pay to my IRA for $20, an additional $20 to the student loans, bought myself a can of salted cashews and a coke for $5.09, and put the remaining $14.91 in the vacation savings for Dominican Republic.
As for the vacation savings - a girl's gotta have goals. Generally, I'm pretty happy with where we are financially. But the whole daily grind thing has to have some highlights or it gets old really quickly. So the next major vacation will be Dominican Republic for a week of sun and sand for our 10th wedding anniversary in 2010. It took me four years to save for Cancun. I'd like to save for DR in half that time since I'm now working full time. Cancun was paid for in full, in cash before we left (airfare, all inclusive resort, plus planned day trips, plus spending money.) It ran me just over $3000. It was the best Christmas we've had since we got married.
There isn't really a whole lot of stuff that I want that I don't already have. A 4 wheeler or golf cart to get around the lake would be nice. Michael wants a new car (and we've agreed to use our tax refund and his bonus next year as a large down payment on a new Saturn Aura for him with the fancy 8-way adjustable seat for his bad back.)
Monday, August 27, 2007
Impatience rules the day
I finally turned in my receipts for parking at work (along with one for gas, and another for a bookcase I bought for my office.) Total was just shy of $70. No wonder I feel broke all the time! I paid cash for about $30 worth of parking over the last three weeks. Sigh... I want my money back NOW. I didn't care about the money I was due until I totaled it up. Now I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on the reimbursement check.
I hope my boss feels like cutting checks soon. Once I pay the Visa for the gas charges, the rest of it goes into the vacation fund. The Dominican Republic will be $50 closer, once that check clears the bank.
Not a clue how long it will take me to get there, but it would be nice to afford the trip around when I get either my car loan paid off, or the smaller of my two law school loans paid off. So, I'm looking for about 2-3 years from now. I paid for Cancun last December through saving itty bitty reimbursements over time... but somehow it seems to be taking much longer this time around. I'm not making much progress on that front at the moment.
I hope my boss feels like cutting checks soon. Once I pay the Visa for the gas charges, the rest of it goes into the vacation fund. The Dominican Republic will be $50 closer, once that check clears the bank.
Not a clue how long it will take me to get there, but it would be nice to afford the trip around when I get either my car loan paid off, or the smaller of my two law school loans paid off. So, I'm looking for about 2-3 years from now. I paid for Cancun last December through saving itty bitty reimbursements over time... but somehow it seems to be taking much longer this time around. I'm not making much progress on that front at the moment.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Happy Dance
Who'd have thought I'd get this excited (or stressed) over $60? I just received a small bonus at work and now have to figure out how to spend it. I'm torn between wanting to go out and blow it on something fun that I have no need for, or actually applying it to my law loans and my IRA like I promised myself I would do with any bonuses I get. I know it should go where I planned it to, but it's only $60. The $30 that would make it to my loans is less than 10% of a monthly payment. It doesn't feel like it's worth it. It's a materialistic world out there and I want to have STUFF! Right now I have lots of DEBT. But DEBT is not really STUFF. Any one out there wanna trade your stuff for my debt? And if so, I know a bridge you could buy....
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Road to Recovery
Well... yesterday I turned 27. Somehow I expected to be a lot further long on the road to financial security at my age. So I'm starting to this blog to explore my journey from deep in the red realm of debt to the financial mecca of a positive net worth. I'm taking my cue from a couple others I've "met" on the WIRR message board.
December 2006 - graduated law school with a whopping $48517.91 in student loan debt... not including the balance left on the consolidation loan for undergrad, which in December was just shy of $24000 (which ironically, represents just over my half of our consolidation debt... it was $38K from our combined undergraduate educations... but his loans only made up about 18K of that number.) So all things considered I'm facing $72000 for the privilege of being where I am today... making less than $30K as an attorney working at a small law firm.
Additionally, I've got my car loan for my 2005 Ion, that we bought in April 2007. I owe a just under 12K for it, after the first few months of payments.
There are some bright spots... we bought our house before I went to law school. So we've built some equity (althought not much.) And my darling spouse has been steadily squirreling money away in his 401K since we got married in 2000 and now has almost 50K saved (which at age 30 is a pretty nifty sum.) I have about $5K in retirement accounts myself, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. To be brutally honest with myself... we would have a positive joint net worth if the market feels like rebounding anytime soon. But most of the debt at this point is my doing. It's a good thing I love my job, or I'd wonder why I put myself in this position.
December 2006 - graduated law school with a whopping $48517.91 in student loan debt... not including the balance left on the consolidation loan for undergrad, which in December was just shy of $24000 (which ironically, represents just over my half of our consolidation debt... it was $38K from our combined undergraduate educations... but his loans only made up about 18K of that number.) So all things considered I'm facing $72000 for the privilege of being where I am today... making less than $30K as an attorney working at a small law firm.
Additionally, I've got my car loan for my 2005 Ion, that we bought in April 2007. I owe a just under 12K for it, after the first few months of payments.
There are some bright spots... we bought our house before I went to law school. So we've built some equity (althought not much.) And my darling spouse has been steadily squirreling money away in his 401K since we got married in 2000 and now has almost 50K saved (which at age 30 is a pretty nifty sum.) I have about $5K in retirement accounts myself, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. To be brutally honest with myself... we would have a positive joint net worth if the market feels like rebounding anytime soon. But most of the debt at this point is my doing. It's a good thing I love my job, or I'd wonder why I put myself in this position.
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