12 Charities in 2011 - February

I almost forgot to post my February charitable donation. I donated $25 to my local public radio consortium.

In case you haven't heard, public radio stations are in danger of losing their federal funding - television's P.B.S. is at risk too. I can't imagine a world without P.B.S. but figured my donation would have a greater impact at the local level.

I rely on public radio to give me some of the more nuanced local news that the newspaper can't deliver on such a timely basis. They're also always hosting community events and bringing the arts to the people, so I felt it was time for me to give a little back for all that I receive.

You can give to National Public Radio or your local public radio too if you want to preserve this important public resource.

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

I took a mini break from blogging as I've been so busy with work and some side hustles as my friend J. Money over at Budgets Are Sexy calls them. Hopefully a few will pay off. I'll keep you posted. :-)

Also there's some family financial news in the works (no we're not having a baby!) that I will share when it becomes official. Cross your fingers for us.

But I couldn't not do my monthly student loan debt roundup as I so look forward to seeing the numbers go down every month. Right now my current student loan balance is $121,418.12 - the lowest it's ever been!





I'm also happy to report that Defaulted Student Loan's balance is now at less than what I borrowed - woot woot! That makes three loans out of six that I've actually beaten back the capitalized interest they don't seem to tell you too much about when you take out the loans. Hopefully the Private Undergrad Loan will hit this milestone this year as well.

Getting married meant I lost most of my interest deduction on our taxes (boo) so out of the thousands of bucks in interest I paid last year, I think I got to deduct $400.

Where it Went 1/19 - 2/01

I'm Sallie's Niece and I like clothes. This is actually a new thing. An inspiration to lose weight. Turning 31. The doldrums of winter. Anyway, I hate most of my wardrobe and have been working to systematically replace all of it. If only the budget were limitless.

So with that small caveat in mind, here's how I did with my money compared to the budget I set:

Budgeted/Actual

Perkins Loan - 200/200

Mexico Trip - 630/630

Credit Card - 200/300*

Health - 85/46

Groceries - 0/22

Misc. - 153/168

This spending includes $58 in half.com payments from my decluttering project.

*So yes I sent $300 to the credit card but that was basically the amount I charged on it. :-(

I had this business idea to bring in more money so I spent $35 on exploratory costs for that. It's on hold now as I'm too busy and broke to devote to it what it needs.

I also spent $90 on my new niece, $30 of which I will be paid back for. Damn cute baby clothes.

The rest was spent on clothes for me, which sounds like a lot but since I was at the outlets I got some great deals. And it's all clothes for work pretty much so I can get a lot of use out of them.

Anyway, since the credit card balance didn't go down I sent another $300 to it today, which will be detailed in my upcoming budget post.

Net Worth January 2011

January was a pretty good month. I increased my net worth by over a grand, woo hoo. My current net worth is -$$108,441.

Cash: This has stayed the same. I do have some cash sitting in my bank account I need to send to the credit card but I'm waiting until payday.

Retirement: My 457 account balance stands at $8,920. I have approximately $5147 in my pension (refundable until vested). And finally I have contributed $1000 in my Roth I.R.A. and I am waiting to see my first statement. This makes for a grand total of $15,067 saved for retirement.

Student Loans: These are at the LOWEST THEY'VE EVER BEEN at a whopping $122,218.97.
Credit Card: The extra paycheck pay off plan will soon be in effect.

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

Wow, January flew by. Snow, work, snow, fun, life, snow.

All the while, reducing my student loan balance. As of today, I owe $122,218.97!




Here's hoping 2011 means the end of the Perkins loan! It's getting smaller and smaller!

Budget 1/19 - 2/01

Woo hoo, my paycheck is $16 higher than the even higher paycheck I got last time. Still not sure why they decided to reduce Social Security contributions when they probably need them most, but that's not for me to decide.

And....we booked a trip to Mexico! Mexico here I come, baby! We have a family member's destination wedding to attend, and I'm excited because I've never been South of the Border. To go, however, we need diligent budgeting. Luckily, with this paycheck I should be able to pay the balance of our must-pre-pay room for four nights. We got a suite for a great price! It even has a jacuzzi and was only $20 more a night than a smaller room.

So far we can only afford to go for four days but the airfare may make more sense for us to go for a whole week. Still, we have a few months to figure that all out. Here's my budget with Mexico on my mind:

Starting Balance = $1268

Perkins Loan - 200

Mexico - 630

Credit Card - 200

Health - 85

Misc. - 153

I've already paid $500 towards Mexico today, plus the credit card and the Perkins Loan. The challenge is to not exceed $153 in two weeks of miscellaneous spending. I think I can do it! It will be worth it when I'm on the beach. Also I have $25 in my wallet from last paycheck (hee hee).

Where it Went 1/05 - 1/18

I am happy to report that in addition to joining a new gym, I joined Weight Watchers a little over a week ago and am already seeing positive results.

The ongoing process of getting rid of clutter in my apartment yielded an additional $80 this pay period, which helped subsidize the membership fee (I paid for three months in advance I think). It didn't help all the overspending as I really wanted some household stuff too. The challenge of living in a small space is sometimes you have no place to stash stuff but I hung up some shelves and bought those special space saving hangars (they work!).

In addition to my January charitable donation, I also made a political contribution of $28. Speaking of giving, Nicole over at The Budgeting Babe has also pledged to give to 12 charities in 2011! I've been a fan of her blog for years so I'm excited my post caught her interest.

So that's how the cookie crumbles. Here's how I did compared to the budget I set out two weeks ago:

Budgeted/Actual

Sallie Mae - 407/407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260

Sprint - 74/74

Credit Card - 200/100

Health - 85/65

Charity - 50/78

Gym - 33/33

Weight Watchers - 0/65

Misc. - 148/227

I plan to post a little more on my weight loss journey and hopefully share some tips that have helped for me. Right now all I can say is track everything you eat and get to the gym as much as possible and you will see results.

January Charity: The Smile Train

I just made a $50 donation to The Smile Train, which will be enough to cover the medication for one cleft palette surgery. In case you've never heard of The Smile Train, here's a statement from their web site:

Unlike many charities that do many different things, The Smile Train mission is
focused on solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate.
Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where there are millions of children who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak properly. Aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job. And face very difficult lives filled
with shame and isolation, pain and heartache.
The good news is every single child with a cleft can be helped with surgery that costs as little as $250 and takes as little as 45 minutes.
This is our mission:
-To provide free cleft surgery for millions of poor children in developing countries.
-To provide free cleft-related training for doctors and medical professionals.
Until there are no more children who need help and we have completely eradicated the problem of clefts.

I admit that I first heard of this charity years ago and felt very moved by what they do. Trying to choose which devastating problem of the world to send your money to is intimidating. I like how they isolated one very fixable problem and really make a profound impact in these children's lives.

Here are pictures of a girl named Angelica from the Phillipines, before and after she received her surgery at two years old. Thanks to donations from people like me, she is able to eat normally and is starting to talk. And what a nice smile she has!

Although I was only able to give a small donation, I still feel like I am helping kids like Angelica out there get the care they need.

And just because you always have to be dilligent when picking a charity, I was pleased to discover that The Smile Train only spends 18% of their budget on fundraising, 1.3% on management and 80.7% on program services.

Click here to like them on Facebook and spread the word about The Smile Train!

Budget 1/05 - 1/18

A new year means a fresh budgeting slate. You may have noticed I took a little hiatus from regular budgeting towards the end of the year. But as the saying goes, "when you fail to plan, you plan to fail." So here's me getting back on track,

Starting Balance - $1252 - even though I opened a Flex Spending Account and my federal taxes went up, my paycheck is only $5 less because the feds (for some illogical reason) decided to take less money out for Social Security.

Sallie Mae - 407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260
Sprint - 74
Credit Card - 200
Health - 85
Charity* - 50
Gym** - 33
Misc. - 148

*My first charity of 2011 will be announced soon!

**I'm rejoining the gym. Call me a Resolution Maker. Just don't call me unmotivated to get fit!

2010 Financial Goals Review

2010 was a year of saving and planning, all resulting in a beautiful (and paid for) wedding. But I managed to accomplish some other goals last year too. Here is my review of the goals I established for myself:


1. Get married without going into debt. Pass (sort of). Okay so we made it to the big day with everything paid off - rings, dress, photographer, flowers, music, transportation and accomodations. This was no small feat and really was a lesson in savings for us both. And then that lesson was briefly ignored on our fabulously unfrugal Hawaiian honeymoon.

2. Increase 457 Fund contributions. - Fail. I did increase my contributions for a while until I decided to focus on the Roth instead and lowered them. Overall, I contributed about 5% of my salary this year to the 457.

3. Max out Roth IRA. In progress but likely fail. I didn't start this goal until October since I was preoccupied with wedding stuff and have only contributed $1000 so far. I still have until April to make 2010 contributions and hope to double that number.

4. Buy back pension credits. Pass! Well I got the ball rolling and in 15 more pay periods I will have paid off my old time - just in time for vesting.

5. Eliminate law school loan. Pass! Finally done after being on my to-do list for two consecutive years.

Challenge: Twelve Charities in 2011

I don't give to charity nearly as much as I could, or as some would say, should. Although the "rule" of giving ten percent of my net income ($5k, yikes!) or 1% of my networth ($0, yay!) sort of gives me an out because I'm in debt, right? Nah, I'm pretty sure the rule is whichever is higher.

In 2010 I think I gave about $200 to charity - and $100 of that wasn't really "charity" so much as it was a donation to my alma mater. This year, I want to give more. Not neccesarily $5k (sorry!) but more, know what I mean? And I want to use the blog to raise awareness of charitable giving.

So I will be picking one charity each month this year and give what I can and encourage others to do so too if they are so inclined. I'll announce the first charity soon, but in the meantime here's a bunch of info on charitable giving from mint.com


budget planner – Mint.com

Net Worth December 2010

Another month, another Networth I.Q. statement. As of this month, I am worth approximately:

-$109,493

This represents an increase of $1,761 from last month, which is pretty awesome considering that's way more than half of my net monthly salary. I like seeing it go up, even if I'm still in the negative six figures.

Cash: This has stayed the same. My husband is the one who manages the cash savings so this category won't be going anywhere for a while.

Retirement: My 457 account balance stands at $8,770.42. I have approximately $5037 in my pension (refundable until vested), including about $90 that I paid towards buying back old time. And finally I have contributed $1000 in my Roth I.R.A. and I am waiting to see my first statement. This makes for a grand total of $14,807 saved for retirement.

Student Loans: These are at the LOWEST THEY'VE EVER BEEN at a whopping $123,010.35.

Credit Card: December brought some unexpected expenses so this hasn't gone anywhere unfortunately.

I haven't been tracking my net worth all year so I can't really do a year end report but I'm satisfied with the way I'm ending this year and looking forward to a great 2011.

Monthly (and Annual) Student Loan Debt Roundup

Posting this a day early as New Year's revelry plans are taking us out of town to visit friends in a few hours. The numbers are a little skewed on the Perkins loan because I paid them $225 and they must not have calculated this month's interest yet because it is showing a reduction of $220. Wouldn't that be nice?

This time last year I owed $132,872.72. As of today, my current debt stands at $123,010.35 - a reduction of nearly $10k! At my current rate of payment I will have all of my student loans paid off in a little over 11 years....but I hope to have them paid off in 8 years.

In October of this year I paid off my Law School loan, a loan given to me straight from the school at a killer interest rate of 8%. Now that it's gone I am attacking my Perkins loan, which is my highest interest and lowest balance loan standing at a rate of 5% and less than $7k remaining. I hope to somehow figure out a way to kill this loan too in 2011.

Here are the totals:



I hope everyone has a great New Year's!

Where it Went 11/24 - 12/07

Sorry this post is so late in the day. Got stuck in mandatory training all day. Have some money news and general life musings to write about, but not enough time to write them.

In the meantime, here's where my money went the past two weeks compared to the budget I established:

Budgeted/Actual
Roth I.R.A. - 500/500

Perkins Loan - 200/200

Credit Card - 200/200

Groceries - 75/0

Health - 45/130

Gift - 100/160

Misc. - 151/140
Clothes - 0/110

This budget reflects $14 in additional income earned.

I managed to get some great gifts for my husband and brother (who is deployed for Christmas). And I got some new work clothes since it is freeeeezing out.

Health costs should be abating soon I hope. Can't wait for my FSA to kick in!

Net Worth November 2010

Now that November has come to an end, I am happy to announce I am worth $1228 more this month according to Networth IQ. That's pretty excellent, even though it only represents an increase of 1.09% from my October 2010 report.

My net worth is -$111,254!

Here's the breakdown details:

Cash: This has stayed the same. My husband is the one who manages the cash savings so this category won't be going anywhere for a while.

Retirement: My 457 account balance stands at $8164, which is lower than last month oddly enough, though the account isn't showing any losses for this period. Strange. Maybe I wrote down the wrong number last month. I have approximately $4835 in my pension (refundable until vested). And finally I have $1000 in my Roth I.R.A., or at least I hope I do since I sent in $500 more last month but I am waiting to see my first statement. This makes for a grand total of $13,899 saved for retirement.

Student Loans: These are at the LOWEST THEY'VE EVER BEEN at a whopping $123,863.

Credit Card: Still waiting to pay this off. It will happen soon.

So bring on December!

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

Where did November go so fast?! DH and I had a great Thanksgiving with our families. We had a great system this year where we were able to spend time with everyone we wanted to see and not feel rushed or spend half the vacation in traffic. We even baked our first cheesecake together. It's nice to be able to start new traditions now that we're officially a married couple. We're putting up our Christmas tree soon - I can't wait!

But now onto the juicy stuff.

My student loan debt is.....$123,863.06 - the lowest it's ever been since graduation! (That's my new saying - it's positive, right?)

I had gotten used to seeing a four figure reduction in recent months when I was attacking the Law School Loan so this roundup seems lame in comparison, however I am working with a reduced snowball now that I am trying to max out my Roth I.R.A. Unfortunately I can't do everything at the same time.

At least the numbers are still going down. :-)

Another Pension Update

I have some good news about my progress on obtaining credit for the time I worked before joining the pension system.

Luckily it didn't take the pension people five months to figure out what my buyback costs would be as they predicted it may.

Not so luckily is that I forgot I would have to pay interest on the amount owed. That, plus finding out there's an outstanding balance of $67 that my employer was supposed to pay on my behalf but didn't brings my new total owed to $824 (not $660 like I predicted). I guess that's only fair considering that money had I paid it initially would be sitting in the state's pension fund gaining interest this whole time. I'm just glad I got off my butt and started this process now, not ten years from now when the interest would have been astronomical. $800 now means 8 less months of working before I can retire!

It turns out I was right that I could pay this money with pretax dollars (yay!). So I signed up to begin payroll deductions of $45 which will pay the balance off in 17 pay periods, just in time for my new vesting date of September 14, 2011 - only 290 days to go!

Budget 11/24 - 12/07

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, my job. I was just thinking back over the past two plus years since I started this blog and all the things that have happened.

Right around this time two years ago I was losing my job. And remember that time I wrote about my "rich" parents' Thanksgiving traditions and everyone yelled at me? (Good times)

But then I got a new job with a better salary, soon to be followed by a cost of living increase.

In the midst of all this, I got engaged, moved six months later, and married my excellent husband. We also saved a bunch of money for said wedding and honeymoon.

I paid off an old collections account that had haunted me for years....and I paid off one of my student loans!

Just two weeks ago my sister had a baby, the grandchild for my parents, and I became a proud aunt.

I have a lot to be thankful for, including this paycheck I will now spend:

Starting Balance - $1271

Roth I.R.A. - 500

Perkins Loan - 200

Credit Card - 200

Groceries - 75

Health - 45*

Gift - 100**

Misc. - 151

*This may be higher. I really won't know for a few more days but luckily there's my good old friend the miscellaneous category.

**We have a gift account with enough to buy presents for family but this money is allocated to buy my sweet hubby a present.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!

Where it Went 11/10 - 11/23

Here I am, still haven't left town yet to get on the road to see family for Thanksgiving. In fact, we probably won't get on the road until sometime tonight. I greatly dislike the highways in general, but especially at night before a huge holiday.

But at least it gives me some time to write up a budget review. So here's where my money went the last two weeks compared to the budget I set for it:

Projected/Actual

Sallie Mae - 407/407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Sprint - 74/74
Groceries - 150/97
Professional Fee - 155/155
Health - 45/160
Misc. - 180/183
Gifts - 0/50
Clothes - 0/120

Overbudget in a few categories and the health costs will continue to be higher than normal for at least a short time. It's not something I regret, as it costs money to make myself better (and yes I'm being purposely vague for the time being).

I did manage to bring in $47 in additional income the past two weeks which makes up for some of the unbudgeted expenses.

And I held off for the longest time on buying clothes but faced with the upcoming holidays and the Moth Massacre of my sweaters I gave in and bought some new stuff.

That's how the pumpkin pie crumbles. Stay tuned for a new budget post.

Budget 11/10 - 11/23

It's a girl!!!!!!!!!!! Sallie's Niece is now an aunt. This morning my niece arrived safely into the world, a few days late but healthy as can be. I get to meet her in a couple of days - the beginning of three weekends in a row away from home, but I won't focus on that just yet.

So here's the budget for the next two weeks. I will finally make it to the grocery store, even though DH will be out of town next week, so we'll barely be home together for the next couple of weeks. I still need to eat and we're running out of things I can make dinner out of!

Starting Balance = $1271*

Sallie Mae - 407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Sprint - 74

Groceries - 150

Professional Fee** - 155

Health - 45

Misc. - 180

*I upped my 457 contribution again. I'm a little schizophrenic about that sometimes, but I know I won't miss the $14 every two weeks and my retirement savings could definitely use a boost. I also started a FSA finally, but that won't kick in until the beginning of next year.

**As much as I would love to go out and buy Christmas presents or get my hair highlighted, I am spending some money to increase my professional certifications. I am hoping I eventually see some outside income which makes this expense worthwhile. And if not, it can't hurt on a resume.

And since I've mentioned Christmas....DH and I decided we're not going to spend a lot of money on gifts this year. We have savings that he's been putting aside all year for presents and we have a couple of things picked out for people...and that's it. No more overspending on the holidays! (Except maybe adorable baby things for my new niece.)