Bought my Wedding Dress!

After countless hours searching online, five trips to various bridal salons, two minor meltdowns, and dozens of dresses tried on, I have found THE DRESS.

A lot of brides start thinking about their wedding dress as soon as they get engaged (or even before!) but I was not one of them. This process was long, hard and frustrating. In the end I think I found a beautiful dress I am excited to wear on one of the happiest days of my life to come.

Note: it is not the dress I have included in this post as I don't even have a picture of it yet and I wouldn't want my fiance to see it even if I did. But trust me, it's gorgeous!

So how much did it cost? Under (amended) budget!

When I first was detailing our wedding budget I optimistically (and unrealisticly) estimated I would only need to spend about $500 on my dress (haha, falls down laughing on the floor). Sample sales, David's Bridal's $99 dress sales, used dresses, etc. were on my mind. However, as I learned, finding a dress in my size that wasn't poorly made or wouldn't require costly alterations was going to cost quite a bit more. Therefore, my fiance and I decided to up the budget to $1600.

The base price of my dress is $1100, plus planned alterations of $150 and taxes of $104, the total comes out to be $1354. This does not include other alterations, which have been capped at $300. Hopefully my alterations will not cost the full $300 but even if they did I would end up only slightly over budget. It does make me a little dizzy thinking I have to work a full two weeks just to pay for a dress that I will wear for one day, especially since my second choice dress only cost $550, but I decided it was worth it to have the dress that I loved.

I paid $600 down as a deposit so the store can order the dress, which I will have in (crosses fingers) four months. I can't wait to wear it!

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

I can't believe November is already over and soon 2009 will also be ending. It's been a long, crazy, but wonderful year. (More on that later of course.)

Right now I bring you my monthly student loan debt roundup.

On my way home from visiting family over Thanksgiving, I passed by many cars jammed with college students (and their stuff) heading back to campus and thought to myself "enjoy it now!" when contemplating the fact that I am still paying for the education I recieved as a freshman. And with only a few more weeks until my 30th birthday, my goal of paying off freshman year before I turn 30 is about $5,000 off (or about 3 years away at the current rate of payment).

But in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I remain thankful for my education, as well as my family, my fiance, our home, my career, and of course my furry friend.

Here are the numbers:



Private Undergrad Loan I must have messed up the totals last month when I reported them late so it shows no change.

And even though I managed to accidentally pay too much to Law School Loan, it and my Perkins loan do not reflect the amount of interest that has accrued this month as the website wasn't finished computing their totals. Hopefully that's an accident that can happen again as it will help me knock out my highest interest robbed-on-the-side-of-the-road loan at 8% so graciously given to me by my law school.

Budget 11/25 - 12/08

Three more paychecks until the holiday that shall not be named. I'm not so worried though. No one in our families expects us to give expensive gifts this year as we are saving for the wedding. And...my smart fiance has amassed himself a Christmas fund by saving a little every month all year long like I told myself I would do almost a year ago.

The next money failure I'm about to report is actually a happy accident.

Since I paid off my laptop I decided I wanted to start snowballing the $43 payments I was making towards my highest interest student loan. So today I logged into my account to do just that, except when I computed the total I confused the amount I usually pay ($54; the minimum is $40) with the amount I usually pay to my Perkins loan ($93), since they are serviced by the same lender. As I result, I ended up sending $136 to the loan ($93 + $43). Yes I didn't do it deliberately but I'm still glad I did. This is also my smallest loan (~$1400) and I really hope I can knock it all out soon.

So here's my budget for the next two weeks, in which we actually purchase and use groceries, and I just may buy a present or two.

Starting Balance = $1280

Credit Card - 200

Wedding Savings - 500*

Groceries - 75

Christmas - 150

Law School Loan - 136

Perkins Loan - 93

Misc. - 126

*I already made this transfer so I will not fall short of my wedding savings goal once again!

They Increased My Credit Limit!!!

As I've mentioned before, I have been charging small amounts on my credit card and paying the balance in full each month in an effort to try and get the card company to raise my limit, thus improving my credit score. It's been a little over six months since I finally paid off the whole balance for the first time, a balance that I at one point had let climb up to $650 including late charges and fees on a card with a $500 credit limit. This was during my ostrich phase before I started the blog.

I log in to make my monthly payment today and voila, I see that I now have a credit limit of $5,500!!!

I have mixed feelings about this new development. I am very excited that in all this time of thinking about my money and trying to make up for past mistakes while being treated like a deadbeat by my own bank, debt collectors, student loan servicers, etc. that someone on the outside, i.e. "the man" has taken notice and had a little faith in me.

On the other hand...I know this wasn't an altruistic move on the part of the credit card company. They assume that since I have been charging a few things and then paying for them that given more credit I will charge more things. And frankly, I'm a little nervous about that too. Sure, I have been an authorized user on my fiance's Emergency Credit Card for months now with a similar balance and never ran amok, but it feels a little different when it's just "my card," you know? I am being completely honest here so take it easy on me.

Anyway, I am excited about this news and dedicated to not let it tempt me to spend. Wish me luck!

Where it Went 11/11 - 11/24

Sorry for the lack of posts. I was dealing with an unexpected health problem that is now (mostly) resolved. And then work/life got in the way a bit. But of course, payday always reminds me to be accountable to myself, my readers and my budget.

It was a spendy two weeks in addition to the $50 in health care costs I incurred (2 $20 co-pays, $8 in prescriptions, and $3 on the bus to the doctor, and yes I realize that totals $51 but I like round numbers). Mailed out our Save the Dates for the wedding. Went out to the movies with friends once and the bar three times.

Another budget buster was our inability to grocery shop which means I purchased about 9 lunches in ten work days and more than a few slices of pizza. Bad S.N., very bad. After the holiday we will remedy that problem.

So here's where my money has gone over the past two weeks compared to the budget I set:

Budgeted/Actual

Wedding Savings - 220/40

Wedding Spending - 0/30

Sallie Mae - 407/407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260

Nice Collection Agency - 125/125

Sprint - 74/74

Groceries - 75/0

Healthcare - 0/50

Beauty - 0/20

Misc. - 119/180

I still haven't done any Christmas shopping, haven't found my wedding dress and need to be saving more for the wedding. To tell you the truth, I am pretty overwhelmed right now and I hope it gets better soon.

Budget 11/11 - 11/24

Time for a new budget! Need to catch up on my wedding savings a bit as December and January means we need to deplete most of the money we've saved so far paying installments to the photographer and band.

I've said it before and I'll say it again (at least for the next 8 months) but I can't wait until (saving for) the wedding is over! Soon enough I guess.

Without, further ado, here is my budget for the next two weeks. You'll notice it includes absolutely no Christmas shopping. I'm sort of in denial. :-0

Starting Balance = $1280

Wedding Savings - 220
Sallie Mae - 407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260
Nice Collection Agency - 125
Sprint - 74
Groceries - 75
Misc. - 119

And that's how the cookie crumbles.

I should note that I thought my payments to "Nice Collection Agency" were almost done by now but a recent statement from them indicated otherwise. I need to figure out what the balance is so I can nip that payment in the bud and free up another $125 a month towards other goals.

Where it Went 10/28 - 11/10

I had the day off work today (thank you Veterans!) so I'm posting my budget a bit late. But alas, here it is, time to face up with all the $$$ I spent in Sin City.

So here's how I did with my budget the past two weeks compared to my projections:


Budgeted/Actual

Credit Card - 100/100
Groceries - 75/0
Dentist - 25/25
Perkins Loan - 93/93
Law School Loan - 54/54
Laptop - 43/43
Vegas - 200/460
Wedding - 500/380
Misc. - 165/160



So yeah, Vegas was expensive. Where were all the cheap buffets and free entertainment I've heard about? Who knows. I had a good time, but my fiance was so busy with work that it was a lot of wandering around by myself. After a while I just felt guilty about spending money so I hung around the (very cool) hotel. I'm glad we got our flights and room for free because everything else in Vegas was pretty expensive.

And for the record I only bet about $10 on the slot machines as I don't care for gambling.

The good news is about $150 of the money I spent in Vegas was on clothes and a cute new clutch so at least that money wasn't simply wasted.

No more vacations for a while....well, for a short while at least. I love to travel but next time I will wait for a trip where my fiance doesn't have to work.

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup!

I planned to publish my monthly student loan debt roundup on Halloween, complete with a scary pumpkin and something about how "spooky" it all was. Alas Halloween brought wedding dress shopping, partying and packing for our flight to Vegas and it never got done.

So here it is 8 days late, but the totals are from today, meaning miraculously more debt looks like it's been "paid off" since the lenders have yet to compute this month's interest. Frankly the math of it confuses me every month but as long as the totals continue to go done a bit each month I am satisfied (for now).



One of my 2009 goals was to eliminate the smallest loan, which is also the one with the highest interest, but even though I increased the payment I haven't been able to meet this goal and save for the wedding. I think I am going to start sending my recent raise towards this loan from now on. Stay tuned for next month's update which hopefully will be on time!

Thirteen Years in the Workforce?

I got my Social Security annual statement and it's the first year that I've been pretty excited about the results. It's funny looking back at my teenage earnings, summer and after school jobs, when compared to my three years of post-law school salaries.

What is not included in this statement are all the "under the table" jobs I've had over the course of my life, mostly babysitting jobs, and (I think) my work study as both an undergrad and law student. My first job was when I was 12 years old. I pushed a boy in a baby carriage for one hour a day over the summer, while his mother, a friend of my mother's, took a tennis class. That boy is now in college. Yikes I'm getting old!

I also got a sizable grant from my law school to do work for the school, which doesn't seem to be included in this statement either. Most of this grant went towards my tuition but the remainder I used to pay living expenses.

Anyway, here it is, a snapshot of 13 years of what the Social Security Administration considers my lifetime income:

1995: $942
1996: $904
1997: $1,974
1998: $3,250
1999: $3,350
2000: $6,210
2001: $7,112
2002: $0
2003: $13,707
2004: $0
2005: $5,000
2006: $8,084
2007: $38,680
2008: $42,634

Wow, finally my earnings don't seem so pathetic. I look forward to the day when my latest earnings seem as meager to me as my earlier earnings do now.

And, just for historical purposes, the statement includes my "estimated benefits" if I were to continue working until my full retirement age of 67 with my current earnings, I would earn a monthly benefit of $1,568 a month. If I continue working to age 70, my benefits would increase to $1,944 a month, whereas retiring at 62 I would only earn $1,102 a month.

I have been working long enough to be eligible for disability benefits of $976 a month.

The SSA also threw in a nifty little insert for young workers to learn about saving. That was nice of them, if not a little intimidating. If you're a young worker in the U.S. I bet you'll see yours soon, if not you can read it here.

Budget 10/28 - 11/10

I finally got my COLA!!! Woohoo, $34 more after tax. I'm excited, particularly since I was hit today with an unexpected $25 fee to have my cavity filled with a white filling instead of a silver one.

As for the remaining $14 I don't have much of a plan for. I have a feeling this will be a spendy two weeks because....

I'm going to Vegas!

No, not to get married, unfortunately (wouldn't that be so much easier?). My fiance has a business trip and I'm tagging along. Everything is mostly free since the hotel and flight is paid for. Yet I am going to need to amuse myself during the day while he is busy.

More on that later. Here is my "rough" budget for the next two weeks.

Starting Balance = $1280

Credit Card - 100*

Groceries - 75
Dentist - 25

Perkins Loan - 93

Law School Loan - 54

Laptop - 43**
Vegas - 200
Wedding - 500

Misc. - 165

*I have been putting a few things here and there on the credit card and then paying it off every month but I should stop doing this soon as it gets way too tempting. I thought maybe they would increase my measly $500 credit limit if I did this but it ain't working.

**Now paid off!

I have the feeling I'm forgetting something. But this seems to be right. I will be posting more about Vegas on a budget soon. And don't worry, I don't gamble! I've just never been and I'm excited to go.

457 Gains 40% This Year!

Seriously, I'm not a math person. My 457 quarterly report came in and I just kind of stared at it for a while. But the one figure that stood out to me was that my account had earned a rate of return of more than 40% for the calendar year.

I guess what they say about investing in a down market is true.

Anyway, I still see my retirement savings as kind of lacking since I'm pushing 30....but if I play my cards right I will also have my pension to fall back on (not that I'd ever rely on just that but it's good to know). I keep telling myself I didn't enter the workforce until 26 so it's really the best I can do right now.

But anyway, remember a little over a year ago when I posted this? I only had $611 in my 457. And now here's what it says:

Woohoo for growth! Hopefully this will keep up. My fiance says it's time to diversify. I need to look more into that.

I Paid Off My Laptop!

Ahem.

Notice the sidebar update. I have just finished paying off my new laptop courtesy of Best Buy's 0% financing, which is still in effect.

There was a bunch of negative comments when I first made the purchase. And I admit, it's best to save up for big purchases, but sometimes life just throws a curve ball at you. I am working on building my emergency savings in addition to the wedding savings but really the 0% interest offer really helped out a lot.

Is this a lesson that credit can be used responsibly? I hope so. I'm just glad it's paid off so I can free up another $75 a month towards other goals.

Where it Went 10/14 - 10/27

Man am I busy these days! Wedding planning, dieting, working out, work, life, etc. I have to get my wisdom teeth removed. We're going to Vegas! Oh lots and lots of things going on that I can (and hopefully will) write about.

But for now...here's where my money went for the past two weeks compared to the budget I set:

Budgeted/Actual

Friend's Birthday Party - 110/120
Sallie Mae - 407/407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/125
Sprint - 73/73
Groceries - 75/75
Misc. - 193/220
Clothes - 0/100

Ok so I got some clothes but that is more of a neccessity then a luxury as I got rid of a lot of stuff that didn't fit me anymore. And I had to buy some "accessories" to try on wedding dresses, which was a major FAIL by the way.

I got the heels on a few of my shoes reinforced, which hopefully will end up saving me money in the end.

I got a Halloween costume.

That's about it.

Look for a post on the evil evil wedding gown industry in the near future!

Part Time Blogging and Unemployment Benefits

This article from Forbes caught my eye and I figured would interest many of my readers:

Does writing a blog constitute work? That appears to be the position of the New York Department of Labor, which recently declared a laid-off attorney ineligible for unemployment benefits because she was bringing in $1.30 a day from blog ads.

It seems this woman, a 2008 law school graduate, was laid off from a New York firm after only six months on the job, moved to St. Louis and started a blog about restaurant deals. She was collecting unemployment from New York State when she received her first check from Google AdSense for $100. Like any good lawyer, she thought New York would like to know about this financial development. Nope. First they reduced her benefits by $100 and then they stopped them entirely while they determined whether she was unemployed.

The good news is as of yesterday the situation was remedied. I'm thinking the attention from Forbes might have helped. Ruling that the blog was more of an online portfolio for the blogger to search for work and the income residual, New York restored her unemployment benefits.

I'm glad the situation worked out for her. It sucks she was laid off so soon from graduating law school. I have heard so many similar stories of lawyers who graduated in the class of 2008 and 2009 either being laid off or unable to find work. I can't imagine having to pay back these kind of student loans and not having a job. Well actually I can imagine it, but it wouldn't be good.

Budget 10/14 - 10/27

My friends are starting to turn 30! I guess this should come as no surprise as my own thirtieth is just around the corner. And, like the celebration of other milestones, this one comes with a price. Not that I mind SO much....it's just one more thing to budget for.

So this weekend we are hitting the town with a friend. Renting a limo and going bar hopping. I'm excited to celebrate with my friend but I always regret leaving my night in the hands of other people. First, it's hard to control what you will spend when every move is dictated by others. Second, this group of friends loves to stay out late and I just can't party like I used to. Oh who am I kidding? I haven't been able to stay up late for about a decade.

I'm going to pay for my share and my fiance's share of the limo, about $85, and my fiance will pay for our drinks. I don't think there's a dinner involved (phew!) but I also want to get a small gift. So my total will come out to be $110.

And here's where the rest of my paycheck will be going over the next two weeks:

Starting Balance = $1246

Birthday - 110
Sallie Mae - 407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Nice Collection Agency - 125

Sprint - 73

Groceries - 75

Misc. - 193

Out of miscellaneous I may finally get a hair cut and buy some new pants. And to get wildly optimistic I may buy an early Christmas present.

Easy come, easy go. The good news is this will be the last paycheck before my raise kicks in!

Where it Went 9/30 - 10/13

I am happy to announce that over on Her Every Cent Counts, I was listed as one of the Top 100 Female Personal Finance Bloggers! Check out the list, you will probably find a few new blogs to add to your reading list.

And now time for some accountability. Here's where my money went over the past two weeks. Nothing too exciting. Mostly saving for the wedding. Two family birthdays and traveling to a friend's wedding. Really want a hair cut and some new work clothes but haven't had the time nor the money to get them.

These are the numbers compared to the projections:

Ticket - 135/135

Credit Card - 100/100

Groceries - 75/70

Perkins Loan - 93/93

Law School Loan - 54/54

Gifts - 75/100

Wedding - 500/400

Laptop - 0/75

Misc. - 214/240

I think I only have about $50 more to pay on my laptop so I may take care of that today.

I am also traveling with my fiance to a business/pleasure trip at the beginning of November so I want to put aside a little cash. I'll pontificate on all this for a few hours before I post my next budget.

Six Months at the New Job!

Today marks six months since I took my new job. I wouldn't say the time has flied by but I'm happy nontheless to reach this milestone, especially since it comes with a pay increase!

When I first got the job they told me my new salary would be $47,500 but that statement turned out to be slightly off. My starting salary was $47,000, which was $3400 more than I was making when I left my old job. Now with a 3% cost-of-living increase, my salary is $48,410. Overall this represents an increase of $6,410 more than I was making when I started my old job in May of 2008 and $9,077 more than when I started my first job after law school in September of 2006.

And luckily due to the way things work in my position, my salary will continue to rise in the years to come. After I have been here for two years (18 months to go!) I will earn around $55,000. I can't wait until my salary is more than $50,000. Even though it's close now, being in the 50's just seems like a lot more money than the 40's. Do you know what I mean?

It feels great to be in a job where I have some security with (almost) guaranteed pay increases on the horizon.

Thanks to the handy calculators at Paycheck City, I was able to figure out that this raise amounts to about $30 more per paycheck. Sure that seems like a small amount, but it also means I will be contributing $100 more per year to my 457 retirement plan.

Budget 9/30 - 10/13

Figuring out this budget was harder than usual as the Extra Paycheck meant I have already paid all of the bills that come at the end of the month and I'll get paid again before the litany of bills that are due on/around the 15th are due. But I guess that's a good problem to have.

I decided to pay my two smaller student loans again even though they're not due for several weeks. That way I have two less bills to pay with the next paycheck. I am also shopping for a present for my little sister's 17th birthday. I like buying her gifts because she's such a great kid.

So here's where money will be going for the next two weeks when I swear I really will pay the old ticket (fourth times a charm?).


Starting Balance = 1246


Ticket - 135
Credit Card - 100
Groceries - 75
Perkins Loan - 93
Law School Loan - 54
Gift - 75
Wedding - 500
Misc. - 214

Some of the money out of miscellaneous I may use to mail out the Save the Dates for our wedding.

Hey, speaking of weddings, Stacking Pennies and I are both thinking about wearing blue shoes under our dress. (Granted I haven't even looked at dresses yet but that's a whole other story.) What do you think?

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

Howdy Debt Cowboys! It's time for my monthly student loan debt roundup! Nearly $700 worth of debt was cleared in September of 2009 from my rather large and scary student loan debt. The total is not as much as it was in August, which is odd since I paid the same amount on all of the loans that I usually pay....AND Aunt Sallie Mae told me signing up for automatic bill pay would mean I paid more of the principal.

Anyone have an expensive Math degree and think they can solve the riddle? Compare this post to last months and tell my why the Stafford loan principal didn't go down as much. August may have been a weird fluke I guess since July's total show the Stafford loans going down the same amount and I hadn't started automatic bill pay before that.



So that's where I stand right now, just chugging away with my expensive brain.

Where it Went 9/16 - 9/29

I won the office football pool! I know most of my readers frown on gambling and I generally don't like it myself but office pools are kind of fun and I love having a reason to read up on football. And since I correctly guessed all thirteen games this week (and the score of the Monday night game!!!) I was declared the winner! Sure it's only $16 but it will pretty much subsidize my weekly $2 buy-ins for the rest of the season. And maybe, just maybe, I will win the grand prize too. Anyone got any picks for Week 4?

Anyway, back to budgeting. I once again managed to not send in my friggen late ticket money. I don't know why. I have just been pretty bad keeping myself accountable lately. I took my fiance out on a date and that came to about $70. I spent $40 on an Avon order I placed with a co-worker. It all adds up I guess. (All of this spending is labeled under miscellaneous in the budget breakdown.)

Luckily today is payday and I get a fresh start. I will have a little more money to throw into Wedding Savings as well as the ticket due to the Extra Paycheck Month. So here's where my money went for the past budgeting period:

Sallie Mae - 406/406
Perkins loan - 93/93
School loan - 54/54
Sprint - 73/73
Old ticket - 135/0
Laptop - 75/75
Groceries - 75/70
Wedding - 200/200
Misc. - 135/240

So stay tuned because I have my Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup coming up, my new budget, and a friend's financial dilemma to ponder.