I feel so torn...Part 1

Hello fellow readers (all two of you) :)!

Greetings to LBC Teacher thank you for your nice comments! I'm definitely a fan of your blog. I wish I was as good with updating as everyone else. Sorry, I've kind of been lazy and not really inspired to write lately. Ok, well first I'll post the spending that I have done lately from what I can recall even though it will be guesstimates since the receipts are in my purse downstairs and I'm too cozy in my bed to get up and get them...at 3 p.m. on a Friday. Have I mentioned that I only go to school two days a week and Wednesday was closed for the Snowpocalypse that we had here in Chicago? Moving on, next I will do my best to explain why "I feel so torn" as mentioned in the title of this post.

Spending Report January 24-Feb 4
Monday-no spend
Tuesday- Starbucks- 2.32 (giftcard) and 2 notebooks-5 dollars
Wednesday-Starbucks-2.32 (giftcard)
Thursday-Saturday-no spend
Sunday-heavy cream-4.50-which we didn't even use to make our delicious chocolate coffee cupcakes with bailey's frosting-omg! It was heaven! We took the rest of the Bailey's frosting and just dipped strawberries into it. Yum!
Monday-no spend
Tuesday-coffee 2.32 and Walgreens-8.50
Wednesday-present-no spend

I'm the most upset with Tuesday's spending because my spending was on candy and junk food at Walgreens. It was completely unnecessary and a waste of my money. Oh well. I don't plan on spending money for the rest of the week but I do need to order my fiance's Valentine's Day present this week. I need to stop procrastinating and get on that! I have absolutely no excuse not to get it done.

Ok..well here is why I am feeling so torn and I guess it started all with a phone call at 3:55 a.m yesterday. Did I mention that there is an hour time difference between Illinois and North Carolina? Also, the fiance gets up by 5 a.m. his time-----gross gross gross! As I was in the middle of typing this my dog just threw up. Poor Dudley!----Alright, so he called me at 3:55 a.m and let me tell you how happy my sister was when he called (not) because we share a room. He called to say good morning since we had talked for less than a minute the day before. Then he told me that he had a four day weekend from February 18-22 and asked me to think about flying down there.

I actually got a little upset/frustrated after I got off the phone with him for two reasons.
The main reason is that I don't have a job right now because I thought originally that I would be a lot busier with school-also I wouldn't have a way to get to the job during the day. Don't even get me started on the 1966 mustang that stays in the garage all winter or the 1986 camero that no one touches. Sigh. Anyway, I don't have a job so I'm not making any money, so no money should pretty much equal very little spending? Right? He doesn't seem to get that. I have probably at a very close guesstimate-1,000 to my name not counting some savings bonds. That 1,000 goes towards my credit card and birth control every month. I can't afford a plane ticket right now. Do you know who can though? The fiance. He is making around 3,000 a month plus another 1,000 which is meant for housing. So basically, the army pays for his housing. He also doesn't really have any expenses except for gas, food, and cable/internet. I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I am NOT the type of girl who expects for the man to pay for everything. I am extremely independent and I hate even going to my parents to ask for money. I know long distance is hard but I just don't have the money to do it right now.

The second reason I was upset is that I have been telling him nonstop that my interviews for internships will be starting soon. This is a huge deal for me. I told him over and over again that I needed to find out what would be going on with my internships. I just sent in my cover letters and resumes, and the school said that we should be expecting calls for interviews in the next couple of weeks. Ummm yeah. What am I supposed to do if I get a call for an interview and I have to tell them that I won't be able to make it since I'll be in North Carolina that day? Absolutely not. I have worked my ass off for my grades and I will not jeopardize a huge opportunity for myself (even though they aren't paid internships). Basically, you need legal experience of any type if you want to get your foot in the door and even be considered for jobs.

A third reason, look at that I guess I had more than two reasons. A third reason is that I have sacrificed a lot in this relationship. I've counted it up and although it isn't consecutively, we have spent over a year apart in the 20 months that we have been together. I'm not even making that up. And apart from the time we haven't been able to be with each other, there is also something else. I know that we would never move somewhere because I have a job opportunity. It's the army. They tell him where and when to go somewhere. If we were to move it would be because of the army. I'm not bitter and I can handle that type of lifestyle...it's just I feel like this internship is something for me-and call me selfish-but I don't want to sacrifice something when I don't have to.

Wow...this turned out to be a lot longer than I originally thought. I haven't even gotten to the actual part about why I am feeling so torn. I think that I'll make this part 1 and put part 2 up soon. OMG!!!! Just as I was typing this....I got a call for an interview!!!!! I can't believe that I already got a call! That's crazy! I just submitted my letters two days ago! Yay! That just made my day!

Ok..well I'm in a much better mood now....but part 2 will still come soon!

Learn a little bit about me.

Last Movie I Saw In A Movie Theater? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

What Book Are You Reading? Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand-it's amazing so far!

Favorite Board Game? Hmm...probably Sorry!

Favorite Magazine? Glamour or Cosmo but I don't read them that often.

Favorite Smells? Coffee...I always need to have some if I can smell it being made.

Favorite Sounds? Hearing my fiance laugh and hearing my dog walking throughout the house...and flute music. I'm partial because I play the flute. :)

Worst Feeling In The World? Feeling like I forgot something or feeling like I can't find my phone in my purse, backpack, etc. I practically have a panic attack every time even though its always in there.

First Thing You Think of When You Wake? Why did I stay up so late? What the &*(^ was I thinking?

Favorite Fast Food Place? Chik-fil-A- I became a believer when I went down to Fayetteville and tried it for the first time.

Future Child’s Name? Boy: Michael Girl: Allison

Finish This Statement—“If I Had a Lot of Money,” I'd pay off my credit card, student loans, not worry about my wedding, and make sure that my parents are ok for retirement.

Do You Drive Fast? I kind of drive fast but after getting a warning this summer, I now pay attention to my speed a lot more!

Do You Sleep With a Stuffed Animal? Yes, embarrassingly enough-two. One is a bear dressed as a paratrooper in ACU's that my fiance got for me.
It has a pair of jump wings on it and a set of his dog tags. I figure it's safer for the bear to wear them than for me to stress over losing them esp. since they have his social security number on them. The second is a penguin-I love penguins.

Storms—cool or scary? Cool, unless I'm waiting for someone to come home.

What Was Your First Car? 1966 Ford Mustang

Favorite Drink? coffee, followed by raspberry lemonade

Finish This Statement—“If I Had the Time, I Would…” I do have the time...plenty of time. Probably just visit friends more often

Do You Eat the Stems on Broccoli? Like the long stems? no. I usually eat them when they are already prepared.

If You could Dye your Hair Any Other Color, What Would It Be? I have red hair so I've never dyed it but when I was younger I wanted to dye my hair black...yeah that would look awesome with my pale skin and freckles...not.

Favorite Sport to Watch? I don't really watch sports...I root for whoever the majority is rooting for if they are watching a game...I do love gymnastics though during the olympics.

What’s Under Your Bed? Carpet? Tons of books, suitcases, school stuff. Mostly books though!

Would You Like to Be Born As Yourself Again? Umm...yes?

Morning Person or Night Owl? hard core night owl. I feel like my day is wasted if I go to bed before midnight.

Over Easy or Sunny Side Up? hardboiled for sure.

Favorite Place to Relax? Definitely in bed

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? coffee flavored-big surprise!

It's update Sunday...well for 30 more minutes at least...

Well it's been a nice week off and it's crazy how fast time flew by. I can't believe I go back to school on Tuesday. Sadly, I'm a nerd and I'm really looking forward to starting up new classes...Civil Law and Commercial Law...can't wait! And if you are new to this blog...no I am not in law school. I'm getting my post baccalaureate certificate in Paralegal Studies.
Anyway, I didn't really spend too much money because I was a homebody this week but I did spend in total under 5 dollars because you have to spend money to make money.

Monday:
NO SPEND

Tuesday:
NO SPEND

Wednesday:
bubble mailer envelope-2.17

Thursday:
Media Mail postage- 2.30

Friday:
NO SPEND

SATURDAY:
NO SPEND

SUNDAY:
NO SPEND

I sold a book on half.com this week for 10 dollars! When you factor in commission, postage fees, and materials- I made 6 dollars. But...I'm still grateful for the money. The book was literally just sitting in a backpack not doing anything for me and taking up space. I had to get the book for one of my literature classes in undergrad but I didn't really enjoy the book. Anyway, turns out the person that ordered it lives on the same street that I go to school at in Chicago which I thought was funny.

Well my keyboard is acting up for some reason I think it is stuck on sticky keys which are the DEVIL seriously...whoever thought that that was a good computer idea...I'm like not even able to use my shift key right now so I keep using caps lock to capitalize something.UGHH. Well I'm going to figure out this problem before i go crazy. Good night blog world.

It's update Monday! Jan 9-17

It's update Monday! Happy MLK day! I hope all of the federal employees and school teachers/students are enjoying their day off! Both of my parents are sitting downstairs so they must be happy. Although my mom is working on bills for the Daycare Program at her school, but I digress. For me, MLK day is not just a reminder of Civil Rights but it is also a reminder to NEVER let anyone stop you from accomplishing your dreams. This applies to any part of your life.

Alright, enough with trying to inspire everyone. I was supposed to post an update on Sunday because as much as I tell myself to try to post everyday, I know that it won't happen. However, my fiance came into Chicago this weekend so I was a little preoccupied. Anyway, I don't even really want to post what I spent this week because it just makes me mad with myself. But...wow I can't believe I'm starting off my sentence with a but (way to go English major...sigh). Ok. However, the point of this blog is to keep myself accountable and so that is what I am going to do.

JANUARY 9
Dunkin Donuts- medium french vanilla coffee with just cream-2-3 dollars. Definitely under 3-I need to find the receipt. oops.

JANUARY 10
NO SPEND!

JANUARY 11
Copies for final assignment @ library-1.40
Grocery Store-43.92

JANUARY 12
Starbucks- grande peppermint coffee-2.32
Pizano's- medium cheese pizza and 1 goose island- $25

JANUARY 13
NO SPEND

JANUARY 14
NO SPEND!

JANUARY 15
Beer at Bar-12.50- I bought a round for three people, had another beer, and tip

JANUARY 16
Breakfast for two and tip- 28.89

Needless to say...my goal is to not spend a dime this week. That won't be hard to do because I have no plans, no school, and I need to get my resume and cover letters ready for my internship program that I will be starting soon.

Oh God..I just did a calculated guesstimate and I spent 117 dollars in 8 days. Have I forgotten that I'm not working? Well...I should be getting some money back from going grocery shopping because I baked homemade cookies for my sister to bring to her boyfriend's mom house since she well...is kind of incompetent when it comes to cooking and baking. lol. She said that she would pay for the ingredients and I bought some groceries that my parents told me to pick up. So, we'll see. I just need to remember that because I have no income next to nothing should be coming out of my wallet. I have a credit card to pay and I need to remember that.

I do have some savings though so I'm not completely destitute. I can't wait to finish my paralegal program and get a paying job. My parents told me that they didn't want me to work while I was doing the program. It's frustrating since I'd rather be working but I guess I respect their opinion. I know this blog is kind of boring since I'm not really working right now and I'm just considered a student. I can't wait for the day when I can make budgets, pay off student loans, and save for retirement and children's futures. I don't ever want my children to have to deal with student loans. Alright...off to read some PF blogs. I've been trying to come out of my shell and comment on people's blogs. I know how much I love it when people comment on mine! Thanks Lorelei: in the Red for visiting my blog!

Week in review Jan 2-8

Sunday
$25 Baggage Check
$15ish- BBQ Chicken Pizza and Diet Coke

Monday
No Spend

Tuesday
No Spend

Wednesday
$2.72 -grande coffee with shot of peppermint from Starbucks

Thursday
No Spend

Friday
$2.72 -grande coffee with shot of peppermint from Starbucks

Saturday
No Spend

I'm going to come back later and explain my purchases that I made. First though, I am going to check my grades and check out some new PF blogs that have caught my eye.

Edit: Well it's Sunday night and I told myself that I would come back on Saturday and update. Did I? Ha ha...no. God I really need to stop procrastinating. Anyway, I'm sure there might be a lot of people that might say "Sorority Girl why are you spending money at Starbucks when Dunkin Donuts is cheaper...or better yet you could make your own?!" Well bloggers...the reason behind this is that on Wednesday/Friday I have class downtown at 9am. What time do I get downtown? 6:30 a.m. I leave the house with my dad at 5:30am, drive with him to the L station that is by his work, hop on the train, and get downtown by 6:30.

What's open downtown when it is still dark out...not much. However, Starbucks is open and it's safer than the shady Dunkin' Donuts that is down the block. Don't get me wrong, I love Dunkin Donuts. In fact, I love it more than Starbucks...but since it's dark and creepy downtown in the morning, I stick with Starbucks. At first I just got plain coffee but it was making me sick, so for a while I was getting the *gulp* specialty drinks, my favorite being the peppermint mocha. Those drinks easily cost close to five dollars. Ugh! Finally though, I had a revelation. Plain coffee with a shot of peppermint syrup! It does the job, doesn't make me feel sick, and it's under 3 dollars...which for Starbucks is a miracle!

The semester ends on Wednesday though, so I don't start school back up until Jan 24-and I will be going Tuesdays/Wednesdays then. Same bat channel and same bat time though. Besides that though, I don't usually spend any other money downtown unless I get desperately hungry. However, that doesn't usually happen since the coffee usually fills me up for most of the day. Alright, back to exploring new PF blogs. New ones that I have never seen seem to be coming out of the wood works these days. Love it!

He proposed!

I'm ENGAGED!!!!!! He is the most wonderful man in the world. Yes, I know everyone says that about their significant other, but he is truly the love of my life. :) I have never met a man that is so caring, so selfless, funny, intelligent, sarcastic, and loving. He knows how to be the big strong knight in shining armor, the sexy army man, romantic, sweet, and then at the end of the day someone that I just enjoy snuggling up on the couch with while making fun of a B movie on netflix. He keeps me on my toes...literally. He's 6'3" and I'm 5'3". :) We met our sophomore year of college when we took the same class together. At that time it was just the occasional hi when we saw each other in the dorms or on the bus. When February 14th 2008 happened on my campus, we ran into each other and we exchanged numbers. He texted me that night asking how I was since he knew I was still stuck on campus until the following morning.

Sophomore year came and went-I started dating someone who I wasn't very happy with but I thought if I stayed in the relationship long enough I could eventually become happy. I wasn't. In the second semester of my junior year I was walking to my American Revolution class and a tall guy in an army ROTC uniform called out my name. I turned and recognized him. He knew and remembered my name, although I had no idea what his was. It took me a month of trying to see his name on his papers until I finally figured out. We were both in relationships at the time, but it turns out neither of us were happy.

I spent most of the semester competing with him for the best grades in class. He would show up, ask me what the article was about, I'd give him a two sentence overview, and then he would spend 20 minutes talking in class about the article, and the professor couldn't stop singing his praises.. Jerk. I was the one up until 2am reading, taking notes, and the professor would look at me like I was an idiot. Sigh... Anyway, we both ended up breaking up with the people we were dating, and one day after class he asked if I wanted to grab a cup of coffee. I told him no. I had a lot of stuff to do that day but with enough pestering he convinced me to go. After our coffee, we exchanged numbers (I lost his number when he gave it to me back in Sophomore year) and we started to text each other the next day nonstop. The semester ended and we had gone to the bar a couple of times together, went to dinner once, made out a couple of times (blush), but nothing was established when we both left school for the summer. We continued to text once break started and then he asked me to go downtown on May 26th. We went, had an amazing time, and he asked me out that day in the train station. Two weeks later he was gone for the entire summer. We communicated with letters and phone calls...it was hard, new love, but we made it work. We've been through a month in Washington, a month in Korea, training weekends away, 6 months in Oklahoma, and now a long distance relationship with him in North Carolina and me in Chicago. He is probably going to be deployed in October for a year, if we can make it through this, and we will I know we will make it through anything.
Flash forward to December 21st 2010-he proposed to me on the steps of the Chicago Art institute...which is where we had our first date on May 26, 2009. It was private and perfect. And yes...the ring is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. :)

Thanks for listening to our story. :)

I've done it again....

I've done it again. I told myself on November 17th that I would make myself more accountable and blog more frequently, have I done it? Of course now. Have I read lots of pf blogs lately? Yes, of course. Have I broken out of my shell and commented on them-nope.

Anyway, on the plus side I have been working a lot these past couple of weeks and although I only work for tips I've been averaging 80-100 a night-not too shabby. I worked tonight at made 147 dollars for just 5 hours of work! I wish this was a year round job instead of just seasonal :).

I've got some Christmas shopping left to do, but I am planning on keeping track of all the money that I made this month-it's all cash-and then depositing it into the bank. I've made a budget for Christmas so hopefully I can stick to it for the most part. Tomorrow I am going to count all of the money that I made and make an excel sheet to track money coming in and going out. I'll write more tomorrow-but I need to be up in 3 hours so....

Good night blog world!
Former Sorority Girl-I graduated in May lol (maybe it's time to rename my blog?)

I am such a hypocritical blogger....

I cannot begin to tell you the countless amount of times that I go exploring for new debt blogs by checking out everyone's blog rolls. It is something that I enjoy doing, and it allows me to find new blogs that I may not have been aware of at the time. I'll eagerly click on the link and start reading from the beginning of a new blog. What I love about debt blogs is the idea of transformation, renewal, and perserverance. Each month of posts that I read will begin to show people making progress, learning that their overspending is not bringing any happiness into their lives, and the way that they begin to change. It is truly a fascinating study of the human character. As I start to delve into that person's persona, as you will, and learn more and more about them, albeit they remain anonymous still in their own way, I begin to get attached. Not in a creepy way, I promise. Anyway, I can't tell you how many times my interests gets piqued, and then the updates just stop. It is in a perfectly unrational manner that I get upset with the blogger. I want to know what happened to them, if they incurred any more debt, or if they have been able to pay it off. However, when the last post is from December 2009, and it's November of 2010, I get an inkling that they will not be returning to update any time soon.
What is the point of this you might ask? Well the point is that I am a hypocrite. When was the last time that I updated my own blog? July. That's right...July. I make all of these promises to myself about how I am going to pay off all of my debt, start saving my money, and write down all of my spending, savings, debt payments, etc. Have I done any of that? No. Can I use the fact that I am in an intensive postbacaulaureate certificate program for paralegal studies? Not even close. For one thing, now that the first part of the program is over, I only have class two days a week because I am only going as a part time student. I have ample opportunity to write a blog entry. Secondly, if I have time to spend hours watching tv and surfing the blogworld, I have time to write. There should be no excuses. I read so many blogs where people have 9-5 jobs, three children, and a husband. They have to work, cook, clean, take their kids to activities, help them with homework, and everything else that comes with the mom job title. What do I have to do? Go to class from 9am-1pm two days a week. Yes, not very pressing or time consuming, I agree with you reader. I'm going to make a resolution of starting to write again. I actually really enjoy writing, so I don't know why I have felt like it has been a chore lately. I'm not waiting until New Years to start my resolution, because let's face it-New Year's resolutions last two weeks top and then people give up. The 6am workout might be great for the first week, and then you start to realize how much more tired you feel, how you want to go to bed earlier but you can't, and wouldn't it be ok to just sleep in for one day instead...yes. We all know how that usually ends up.
Anyway, I digress. A second resolution that I am going to attempt to make is to stop blog creeping. I am notorious for doing this. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I love reading blogs from the beginning to see all of the progress that people have made. However, I'm so thoughtless as to usually not leave a single comment. I should know better. I've only received one comment on this blog, and when I got my first comment it completely made my day. I felt like someone cared about my thoughts, as immature as they may have been. I should realize how much it brightens someone's day to get a message as simple as-"You are doing a great job, don't give up!" I for one, know that I would appreciate messages like that. However, you need to give in order to receive. Why should I expect people to comment on my blog, or for that matter, even be able to find it, if I don't give encouragement to others, or if I don't add them to a blog roll, of which is currently nonexistent. Hopefully, I will start to make progess on this today. My goal will be to write comments on at least 5 blogs a day. It truly isn't that hard.
Alright, well that said....I think that I am going to read through my blog, see where I left off, and then come back later and give everyone an update as to where I am at in my financial situation, etc.

New Card?

I just signed up for a new discover card. I'm praying that I will be approved so that I can do a 0% balance transfer with 0%APR for nine months. 1st Financial Bank has been the death of me for the past 3 years now. I can't wait to get rid of the debt on that card and never use it again!!!!! I've been working so hard to get this card paid off! I really hope that I get approved for the card. Fingers crossed! Almost all the money that I have made this summer has gone entirely to debt repayment. Sigh...I know it is worth it. I just wish that it hadn't gotten so out of control! I can do this though. I want my future to be better. I plan on starting to save money for my student loans as soon as the credit card is paid off in its entirety. Maybe I could start selling some books online? We'll see. I just wish I had a better paying part time job, or at least I could work more hours. The job I have right now is a complete joke! Maybe I should update my resume and see where it takes me. Alright, well that's all for now.

I'm really freaking proud of myself right now! As of right now my balance on my credit card is 1294. It hasn't been that low in well over a year! I haven't charged a single thing on my card since May when I had my one year anniversary! Since May I have paid over 600 off of my credit card. I recently applied for a new credit card and I'm praying that I'll get approved since I am in desperate need of a 0% balance transfer. No joke-I actually have dreams about getting it and being able to pay off my card even faster with no interest rates. My current apr is 23% it's ridiculous, however I've been doing everything in power this summer to get it paid off. I'm only working a summer job that I get paid 8.25 an hour for and I usually only get to work around 30 hours every 2 weeks. The money isn't coming in like I need it to. The only money that I have spent on myself this summer has been the tip money that I recieve-usually 150 per month. I've been so careful about spending, and it's finally paying off! The only problem is that I need to have some money saved for when school starts as well. Although I can do without as long as I can get this damn card paid off! I'm willing to sacrifice. It's totally worth it to me!


$3,750.00
Total Amount of Credit Issued to You by the Bank (Your Credit Limit)
$1,294.64
Amount Currently Charged to Your Account (Your Current Account Balance)
$350.40
Is Your Last Payment Received by the Bank on 08/02/2010 and is Included in Your Current Account Balance.
$2,455.00
AMOUNT NOW AVAILABLE TO YOU TO SPEND (Your Available Credit)
$1,618.79
Total Amount Billed to Your Account on 07/08/2010 (Your Last Statement Balance)

Waiting for the new credit card bill...

I can't believe that I even said that. I used to wait until the very last day to pay my credit card bill, sometimes only hours within the deadline. There has only been a few times that I didn't pay over the minimum balance, and that was when things might have been tough that month with unexpected fees for the sorority. Now, I am actually waiting in anticipation for my bill. I want to see if I will have a lower minimum payment, even if it's a dollar less. No, this isn't so that I can pay less on my bill. This is so that I can see that I am making progress on paying the credit card, and even the credit card company takes notice to that.

I have a fantasy in my head of calling up the credit card company and asking for a lower rate, but I'm terrified to do that. I've heard horror stories where people ask for rate reductions and then the company either slashes their credit down to the point where they max out their card in days simply from the interest that gets added on. I've also heard stories where the companies cancel their cards and remove their line of credit. The credit card company that I have is horrible, and I've heard pretty much nothing but bad things about them. I'm so scared that this would happen to me. Right now, I'm just toughing things out. I'm not going to call them, I'm just going to get this balance paid off. I know I can do it. Thank god that I will still be working at least on the weekends when school starts. Any extra income will be so helpful, especially since I probably won't be able to be making 200 payments each month. Don't worry, that's not my minimum payment lol. My minimum payment right now is 42. Alright, well enough about that. The new billing cycle doesn't start until July 8th so I am just going to have to be payment. Wow. I meant to type patient, and instead I said payment. I guess I know where my mindset is at.

Spenditures from this weekend

At first I thought I only bought two things this weekend, and then I realized it was three. It's funny how easily it is to forget things. Ok here's what I spent.

Friday: Bingo cards-13

Pop during intermission-1

Total: 14- I love nice even numbers. :-)

Saturday

Dunkin Donuts Large Iced Coffee-2.32. I had a gift card-so I'm considering it to be free!

Dinner-

I got a lovely text from my dad saying that he was going to a car show and that my mom was out with a friend still so that I was on my own to pick up dinner for myself. I did this, and I got home and my mom had left over chinese food from her dinner that she said I could have. I wish that I had known that sooner-oh well. Those are the breaks. So...dinner.

I went to this little drive in food place and got: A chicken pita with extra moz. no onions-they are amazing!

fried zucchini with ranch dressing

I paid a total of 9.50 for the two items, and they even threw in a bag of french fries...that I didn't order. Maybe they thought I was looking to thin..lol right...or maybe there was a deal that I didn't know about-either way I got free fries. Fries from there usually cost 2-3 dollars, so that was nice!

That was my spending. I do have to say though that to pay for the food I used money from the 20 that I received in tip money that day. Sometimes it pays off to go the extra mile for people. I learned that they really do appreciate it and will reward you for it!

Total Spent:

14

9.50

______

23.50

Not bad for an entire weekend! I guess it helps that I have absolutely no life and bingo was the most exciting thing that I did all weekend. Ha ha. I guess it's a good thing because the boyfriend is coming home this week and I have a feeling it's going to be expensive. Thank god for tip money!

By the way...what's the shark pool for you might ask? Free entertainment! I have this exact same kids pool and I throw it into our actual pool, and use it as a raft to tan. It's perfect for floating in the pool, getting a tan (in my case a little sunburn today..ouch), drinking a beer, and reading a book. Not even kidding. It's awesome. It's also a huge money saver because spending time in the pool means I'm not out shopping or buying things that I don't need and can't afford! Love it!

Payday! Gotta love that word! Yes the image is cliche...thanks!

I got paid 210 and some change for two weeks of work today. I worked a total of 29 hours in two weeks. This is completely pathetic, and believe me it's not my choice. I would work everyday for fifteen hours if it was up to me. Alas, it is not. Technically I would consider today a no spend day although I did spend fifteen dollars. However, I am going to be reimbursed for it. My manager at work makes jewelry and she made a gorgeous pink crystal breast cancer bracelet with a pink breast cancer ribbon charm. I told my mom about them and she wanted to buy one, so I paid my manager today that way she would get the money right away and I got the beautiful bracelet. I really feel for my manager because she is struggling extremely financially, so any little bit of extra income is really helpful for her. She's also been wonderful so far and we have even gone together to play bingo. Anyway, my mom is going to be paying me back. Which is wonderful because I usually spend 15 at bingo so I'll break even.

Reasons 1 why I am proud of myself today:

I am working so hard to not spend any of my money from the checks at work. All of the checks are used for debt repayment/saving for the upcoming school year. I get tip money once a month and use this money for fun money/any small purchases I might make. Last month I got 75 in tip money. I had 17 left over and it's the end of June! I'm actually really really proud of myself. This month (June) I already know that I am going to get over 100 in tip money for sure. This is great news since my day in Chicago is coming up and I know that money will be spent.

Reason 2 Why I am very proud of myself:

This morning I woke up at 5am and went to work at 6 after having gone to bed at 3am. Ouch! I need to stop reading pf blogs all night long, but they are so addicting. This one blogger is probably going to think that I am stalking her. Once I find a blog of interest, I like to start from the beginning at their very first entry and see how they have evolved, and how much debt they started with and how much they have paid off. It is so inspiring. However, I'm on their page for hours upon hours and some people have meters that show where the person is from and how long they have been on the page. At least the meter didn't get the right city that I'm from. Ha ha silly meter. Wow...I've completely digressed. Sorry. Ok second reason that I am very proud of myself, this morning I dragged my sorry self out of bed and my first thought was coffee. I'm totally going to need coffee to function. At first I was going to hurry up and get ready and stop at the drive thru dunkin donuts that is conveniently right on my way to work. However, I went downstairs looked in the coffee pot and found coffee from yesterday, still fresh. I zapped a cup in the microwave added some peppermint mocha creamer, put it in a travel mug, and I was out the door. I saved myself 2.32 for a large iced coffee that I probably would have drank half of and thrown out the rest. Also, don't worry. I'm not the type of person that goes to starbucks and orders the 6 dollar white chocolate mochas (anymore) I used to be completely guilty of that. Now I'm happy with plain coffee hot or iced, as long as there is a tiny bit of cream. I've saved a lot of money that way. It's actually gotten to the point when I get a specialty drink from starbucks i feel sick because I'm not used to all of the sugar crap that they add into their drinks. Finally, there is coffee at my work everyday, so if I don't have a chance to grab coffee at home, there's always free coffee at work. I no longer have any excuse for buying coffee for work. Savings from that have really made a difference. Those 2-3 dollars a day really add up!

Reason 1 Why I am very happy:Also, here's some good news. I was talking to my friend and she said that her mom would pay for our hair on her wedding day. I've got to be completely honest, I was thrilled when I heard this because I was already trying to budget the cost of getting my hair done. I knew it would probably be around 60 at least. I'm going to see if her mom will at least let me pay the tip though to the stylist or maybe pay half. I feel a little guilty. Although, i'm the only one in the wedding party besides the bride so I guess it won't be too expensive.

Alright, well I'm off to do some more pf blog stalking...hope I'm not creeping anyone else out. See you latter my fellow bloggers-even though no one reads this but me-I have hope that someday I will get a comment on one of my posts. Fingers crossed!

The Bank of Mom and Dad

I spent a very interesting, albeit very long day watching the show the Bank of Mom and Dad on hulu. I think in all I watched ten episodes. The show, if you haven't heard about it yet, is about 20 something year olds and in some cases 30 year old women who are living way above their means and have a ton of credit card debt and other debt to their name. This is where mom and dad come in. They move into their daughter's house/apartment and take complete control over their child's finances, with the help of a financial expert. The first thing that they do is write down how much they think their daughter owes, the daughter then writes down what she thinks she owes, the numbers are swapped, and then finally the true amount of debt is revealed. A break down is then given of how the money is being spent each month. Usually in many cases an astronomical amount goes to clothes, shopping, and food. In some cases these women have had their bills go to debt collectors and they are still spending money that they don't have like it is going out of style. I honestly couldn't believe it. The show goes on to have some scare tactics to try to help the women create new budgets and a new way of living.

I watched episode after episode of this, and it was just astounding to see the audacity of some of these women. I have 1500 worth of credit card debt and it keeps me up at night. I've basically put my spending on complete lockdown until it's paid off. How in god's name did these women feel like they had the right to shop when they were over 10,000 in credit card debt. This wasn't medical debt, or student loans, car loans, or anything-this was pure-I want it so I'll buy it. In most of these cases I had a little trouble identifying with some of these women. Most had an income of 2500 a month. Right now my income is a paltry I'd say 400-500 a month depending on how many hours I work and how much tip money I get.

I'm living at home so I'm not paying for food, utilities, rent, or anything. It's just a part time summer job that I've had for the past 6 summers. Not very glamorous. I am going to school in August though for a post baccalaureate certificate to become a paralegal. My goal is to get a good job and pay off my student loans off as fast as I can once I'm done with the program. Any way, I digress. I guess I was just trying to give myself some justification. I know what everyone is thinking, I can pay off my credit card in one summer and be done. Ideally, yes. Realistically, no. I need to have money saved for the year for when I'm at school. I'm not going to fall into the credit card trap. I'm also not going to depend on my mom to foot the bill like my sister did this year. She went to chicago every single weekend to see her friends and go to the bars pretty much. How did she afford this? Well she had some money saved, but as I've found out recently, much of it has come from my parents. I'm not going to do that to them. My parents also pay my sister's credit card bill I think. Wow...I'm really bad at digressing, sorry everyone! Ok let's get back on track!

As I was saying most of these women seemed to be living a different lifestyle than me...all but one. There was one girl whose income was around 800 a month. She was over 30,000 in debt at the ripe age of 22. MY AGE! 30% of that was from credit cards! She spent 200 a month on clothes for her freaking dog! Another part was from a car loan which who grandma cosigned on with her, and she wasn't making car payments. Yet she had a hissy fit when her parents wanted her to sell her car to pay off some of her enormous debt. The final part of her debt was from student loans. Granted this was a small amount, only around 6,000. Get this, she never even finished college. Twice she took breaks from school. I thought to myself, what was wrong with this girl! I finished college in four years with a major and a minor. I had a 4.0 in my minor and I graduated cum laude. I went to a state school and here I am with already over 30,000 in student loans because my parents couldn't afford to put me through college. I didn't take out maximum amounts of money on my loans, I took only what I needed to get me through the year. I was in a sorority and I paid for all of my dues and misc. fees with the income that I made from my part time job at school.

I guess it just irked me to see this girl have a total disregard for education and to not even care that her debts were all in collection. Anyway, this show just really motivated me to get out of debt as fast as possible, save money from my meager paychecks aside from debt payment, and start putting aside money for my student loans. I want to be financially independent. I don't want to have to depend on mommy and daddy.

Thank you Bank of Mom and Dad for opening up my eyes today.

Wordle-Here's the wordle that I created just using the link for my blog

goodbye 250 from my credit card balance

I just submitted a $250 payment to my credit card. I have to tell you, it feels amazing! I can't wait until it shows up on my account and I can see the lower number. At first I was only going to pay 200 which was the amount of dogsitting money that I made. Then I thought about it, and I really really want to get this card down. Just the other day my mom said how my sister sometimes has her credit card bill up to 600. I wanted to laugh. I would give anything for my card to be that low. My mom is also helping my sister out since until this month she was at school and didn't have a job. My sister made the decision last summer that she wanted the summer off because she was exhausted from four year of school with 2 majors, 2 jobs, and an internship. She wanted a break. She got a break, but then she had absolutely no money to spend during her grad school certificate program. I knew right away that I didn't want to be placed in that situation. That's why I decided to work this summer. I also knew that I would need income to pay off my credit card bill. I have worked very hard this summer so far to not spend any money that I don't need to. To date, the most that I have spent on fun money has probably been the 16 for when I went to bingo.

I decided early on that I would save all of my checks from work and not use it for fun money, so far I haven't. The money that I have used has been from tip money that I have received from work. However, for May I only received 75 in tip money. Here is where the money went:
16-bingo money
26-house warming present
15-gift bag, crossword puzzle book, and moisturizer
the remaining 18 dollars I spent was on coffee (no not $5 coffees from starbucks, more like 2.32 iced coffees from dunkin donuts, since I start work at 6am on some days. I need coffee to function.

I deposited my two work checks and from that I have only spent 60 of it for something other than credit card repayment/savings.

I had to spend 36.64 at Sprint for a loaner phone rental and a new case for my blackberry. There was something wrong with my charging port so I needed to get a new phone sent to me and I got a rental while I was waiting for my new phone to come in. It was well worth the money.

The second thing was 34.14 at Jewel. Again, this wasn't for me. I got my dad a card, $25 gift card, and two kinds of cookies that he really wanted for some reason for father's day.

4th of July is coming up, and the boyfriend gets to come home for the weekend! I'm really excited, but I also know that will mean that I will be spending a good amount of money downtown. We are going to the taste and then meeting up with some friends to go bar hopping that night. (train tickets, taste of chicago, bar tabs, dinner) On the plus side I only weigh 102 pounds, so it pretty much takes me two beers to get me at a good tipsy state. I won't have to spend a lot of money on alcohol at least. I guess there is a silverlining. I'm just excited to see the boyfriend!

Ok...well I do need to buy a new bathing suit soon, however this isn't an absolute necessity right now. I'm going to try to sell some books and see how much I get for them. Either the money will go towards a cheap bathing suit, or I'll use it for an additional credit card payment. I'm going to try to spend very little money for the rest of this month.

Dog sitting pays off...literally!

I got paid today for dogsitting from last week for...200 dollars!!!! Like I planned, it's all going towards my credit card debt! It's even more than I expected yay!!!!! This is a short post but I'll update later, after I pay my credit card bill tomorrow!

I haven't spent a dime in two days...yay. I did however make 75 in tip money. Unfortunately, I owe like 58 dollars in bills from my apartment back at school, even though I'm officially moved out already-it's just how the billing cycle works. Well tomorrow I'll send a check out so it is one less thing to get done. Money in-money out. Such is life. My goal is to go until at least next Wednesday or Thursday, heck let's make it Friday without spending any money. The exceptions of course would be if I have to buy gas for the mustang, or when I'm dogsitting if I end up spending the night at there house. Besides that...I'm not going to spend a dime. I'm also going to send two payments to my credit card this month and go above and beyond the minimum amount. Alright, well that's it for now. My life is extremely boring right now, work, reading, and tv. That's it. No joke. More later.
-Smart Sorority Girl

No money spent today! Money received and found though...

I didn't have work today. This meant that I didn't earn any money, but it also means that I wasn't tempted to go to Dunkin Donuts and spend close to 3 dollars for a large iced coffee. I honestly can't function without coffee. However, we always have coffee where I work and ice and cream, so from now on I am going to just make my own there. Money saved. Yay! On the plus side I cleaned out the shoe closet at my house and whatever change I found (just coins) I claimed as my own. I am going to start keeping track of all of the change that I find/receive and put it in a bag. At the end of the summer I am going to put it through the coin machine at my bank and see how useless change really adds up to. Also, my aunt sent me a check for $50 for graduation and the first thought that went through my head was...I can use this towards my credit card debt! I haven't cashed the check yet, but as soon as I got the card I wrote out a thank you card and it's going into the mailbox first thing in the morning.There are some other small windfalls that are on their way- Every two weeks we get tip money from where I work. I'm hoping to get at least 50. I made a promise to myself that I would use any tip money I got as my spending money and to try not to spend anything else. However, depending on how much I get in tip money, I might take a percentage of that and put it into savings.
Alright, well fingers crossed. By the way I paid 70 on my credit card yesterday and the minimum was 40. However, the 70 doesn't even cover the 78 bill that I paid to my university for health services...ugh. Oh well...one step at a time. Also,I will have to be paying over 50 in bills to my roomate though, and so I think I'll be depositing my paycheck and 80 that I have in other checks tomorrow after I get out of work. My goal is to spend absolutely no money this week. Let's see if I can do it.

It's been quite a while....

As you can see I have been gone for quite a while. I looked at my blog and the last time that I posted was in February. It is now June. Oops. To catch you up, if anyone reads this, I graduated college with a BA in English and I graduated cum laude. I finished college in four years with a major and a minor under my belt, and I didn't even need to go to summer school to get everything done on time. It was a lot of work and it was a lot of sleepless nights, but it was totally worth it. What's next you ask? Well I got accepted into a university in Chicago for a post baccalaureate certificate for paralegal studies. The program begins in August. Currently I am working at a summer job that I have been at for the past 6 summers. Unfortunately, I seem to be working very few hours this summer, and I am not making the money that I would like to, even though I know that it is only a part time job. I'm strongly considering looking for another part time job. As it is, I only work 2-3 days a week, and in the middle of the month I'll have eight days off in a row and I didn't even request them!



I'm trying really hard to watch my money and not spend any money that I don't need to. Alright, so here's the thing. My boyfriend recently commissioned into the US Army as a 2LT. (yes I'm still with him. We just recently made it to one year. I know it seems sudden, but he is definitely a guy that I could see as a long term thing.) Anyway, he is currently out of state and will be for the next 6 months, although it's probably going to be more than that. On the plus side, I will be saving money since we won't be doing anything together during that time, although let's be honest-he usually paid for everything anyway. Also, all of my friends are still back at school so I don't see myself spending any money really by going out. I'm trying really hard to save all of my money and put it towards my credit card. I REALLY REALLY want to get a good chunk of it paid off, so that it is one less thing to stress out over. However, I also want to put money aside to save for when I'll be at school in August. I want to be able to have money that I can spend, because I don't know if I will have a job or not while I am at school. Finally, I'm the maid of honor for my friend's wedding and to date I've already spent over 280 alone on the dress and her bridal shower gifts. Sigh. She is my best friend, so it's worth it, but I really can't afford to spend much more on her wedding. Thank God the wedding will be extremely small and low key, and I already have shoes that I can wear so I won't have to buy new ones.

My main goal this summer is to be as big of a penny pinching person as possible. I have over 1800 in credit card debt. It's completely unacceptable and it does nothing but stress me out. If I get married to my boyfriend I don't want to enter into a marriage with only 40,000 of student loan debt and 1800 in credit card debt. Yes....marriage is probably a long way away....but he has absolutely no debt to his name and I don't want to enter into a new life bringing a ton of baggage.

My long term goal is to get a good job once I am done with paralegal school. I want to eliminate my debt and student loans as much as I can, and have a good amount of money in the bank before I even think of having a wedding. I don't want to go about starting a new life the wrong way.

Due to this, I am going to keep track of every penny coming in that I am earning and every penning exiting. I'm back at home so I won't really have to spend any money for anything. YAY!!!

Alright, I'm going to make it my goal to update this blog everyday. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Losing a little control...

Ok, so it has been a while since I have updated. I have some good news and bad news.
Good news-I have not charged anything onto my credit card in over a month. Bad News: my APR rate is ridiculously high, so it feels like I am being killed with interest!!!
Bad news- Ever since I have gotten my loan money, I seem to have been spending money like it's my job. What's the really sad part? 90% of what I have spent has been on food. I only receiver 1999 in loan money and 1250 of that is allocated for rent. The rest is meant to be for food.

I definitely need to go to the grocery store soon so that I'll stop eating out so much. The hard thing about not buying food is that on Monday and Friday I am on campus from 8:30-5pm straight through. I usually end up getting something to eat on campus during my lunchtime, but lately I've just been drinking coffee and eating when I get home. Tuesday, Thursday I am on campus from 9:30-3 straight through without a break. On Tuesday and Thursday I usually never buy anything at least, not even coffee. On Wednesday, I am on campus from 8:30am-9pm almost entirely straight through, again only with a break from 12-2. It is usually on Wed. that I get something to eat after one of my classes that ends at 5. Otherwise, I would be going 12.5 hours without eating. Do you know what the sad thing is? I'm perfectly capable of going all of that time without eating, however, I force myself to eat some days. When I was younger, I suffered through an eating disorder. It was never diagnosed, and my family/friends never found out, however at times they may have been suspicious. I do a lot better now, but it is still a challenge to not think about every calorie that is entering my body. I used to go days without eating, and I know that it is sooo easy to fall back into old habits, especially when I'm very busy and under a lot of stress.

Anyway, I digress. I've decided that I am going to put any extra money that I make during the month, including any money that I make from working towards my credit card. It's kind of crazy, I have been reading this guy's blog who originally was 644,000 in debt and 50,000 of that was in credit cards!!!!! His monthly minimum credit card payments could entirely wipe out my credit card debt. However, I definitely would not want to be in his place. I must say, however, that I have read all of his blog entries and he has come an amazing way from when he first started out. Congratulations to him, I'll have to put up his link to his blog. Hopefully he will update it soon!

Alright, well I decided in order to stop spending so much money, I'm going to start keeping track of every cent that I spend instead of just swiping my debit card. Let's see how it works out! More later, but right now I have 200 pages to read for tomorrow, not to mention my Indonesian homework! (I'm learning the language).

I hope everyone is doing well!