Well this is definitely not my first blog that I've ever had, and this is also definitely not my first personal finance blog either. However, in the past I have been so busy and usually do not end up updating. Well no more! It's December 30, 2009 and its almost the new year. I guess I'm not one for waiting so instead of starting this in 2010, I thought that there was no time like the present.
Some things about me:
Name: Sorority Girl (for now) I might reveal more and more about me as time goes on.
Age: 21
Occupation: currently full time student at a university in Illinois
Major: English major, history minor: I completed my history minor with a 4.0-all A's.
Job: I have a part time 10 hour a week job on campus where I work for the assoc. dean at one of the colleges on campus
Activities: Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society, I've been a member of a service sorority for 1.5 years and have held various executive board positions there, and I'm usually on the Dean's List at my school.
Well that's a little bit about me. I'm sure as I post more and more you will learn more about me and maybe you might figure out some things about me.
Ok...so why am I money-conscious? It might have something to do with the tens of thousands of dollars that I have taken out in private loans from Sallie Mae. Also, I have wracked up some credit card debt that I am trying to get rid of. What are the reasons for this?
Well in terms of student loans-I went to private catholic schools for 13 years of my life (K-8th) and then all throughout highschool I went to a private catholic all girls high school. My parents paid for our tuitions, but they couldn't afford to pay for college for me and my two siblings-thus I was introduced to my good old friend (yea right) Sallie Mae. If I'd have to guess without checking I have around 30,000 in student loans from Sallie Mae. This does not include my subsidized loans from the government. I went to a state school, and a pretty inexpensive one at that-however, college is expensive pretty much anywhere you go. There is one silver lining though, my parents help by paying the interest on our loans so that my siblings and I will only have to focus on more principal payments versus having to pay a ton of interest in years to come.
Ok....so that's my loans. Now...gulp....I only own one credit card and its from first financial bank. Originally, the limit was only 500 but its been raised to 3,750. Of that I have used 1,746.09. I have over 2,000 left to spend, but I've basically put my credit card on lockdown until I pay it off. I remember when I first got the card I paid off the balance every time and now I'm only paying about 20% extra or so on top of the minimum balance each month. It can't go on like this or I'm never going to get the card paid off. Also, and it might be waay too soon to tell and I don't want to jinx myself but if my relationship with my boyfiend goes up to the next level some day, I want to have a good credit score so I won't have to worry about being able to get an apartment, car, or house some day. Basically though, even if thats not in the near future, I want to have a good credit score.
Part of the reason that I am doing this now is because I'm graduating from college this semester. Following my graduation I will be going to what I guess is considered grad school for one year for paralegal studies. I want to have money put aside for that. My sister went to an excellent private college and she has the student loan debt to the tune of 80,000 or so to remind her. She is currently doing her year of grad school for paralegal studies so I am basically following in her footsteps. However, she has no job currently since school takes up her time and as a result...no money. I do not want to be stuck in that position. I want to be paying off debt now while I have a job so I won't be panicking next year at this time.
Well that's the beginning. I hope you will continue to come back here and see how I'm doing to tackle my debt and start an emergency fund.
