Tag Archives: debt

Jan23

Unsubscribe!!

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One of my hoarding habits is keeping emails, especially the ones that offer discounts or coupons from retailers and online stores.  You just never know who may be offering a great deal right when you need that perfect birthday present for a friend or just need a new door mat.

New front door mat I bought from zulilly.com. Just arrived!!

I read on my new favorite blog, Daily Worth, that one way to help you save money is to avoid being inticed by sales and new products from emails.  I probably spend an hour of my day shopping online simply because of these emails.  In the back of my mind I’ve always known the emails made me spend more than if I never received them but I couldn’t stop receiving them because WHAT IF I MISS A SALE?!?!  This time I made a deal with myself.  I will give up all the emails until I pay off my debt and then I can subscribe to those that I really make purchases from.  Over the weekend I worked on this project and unsubscribed from all the notifications I receive except for two and the Groupon and Living Social sites (they are coupon sites, after all!)  Today the number of emails I received was minimal and I didn’t even go into withdrawl!  I feel a little liberated, too, like I’m no longer a closet shopper.  I’m another step closer to paying off my debt sooner!!

Just don’t unsubcribe me!!

 

Jan22

Dollar bills, y’all!!

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We all want more money and sometimes the best way to get more of it is by changing our spending habits and paying off debt so we have more cash.  I wanted to share a couple of financial websites that are easy to use and will help you with any financial goals whether it’s paying off credit card debt, saving for a trip, or just budgeting better each month.  Both sites are free to use.

The first one is www.mint.com.  Mint.com has been promoted by TurboTax and another blog I read called Daily Worth.  When you sign up it will ask you some basic questions and then you provide all of your financial information.  You have to have  online access to your financial institutions in order for this to work.  It will also pull any savings including your 401k and if you own your home it will put a value on it, too.  It will pull every single transaction made on your checking account and credit cards and then itemize it.  You have the opportunity to change the itemized category the way you want and then it will put them in pie graphs or bar charts, whatever you want.  There is an opportunity to have your credit report run but I did not do that because you have to pay for both the experian and transunion reports each month.  The site will also give you credit card offers that may have a lower APR% or offer rewards.  One last piece is you can set your own budgets and goals for the month, year, or whatever you want.  Check it out!

The other website is www.creditsesame.com.  I signed up for Credit Sesame about two months ago and it does the same thing as mint.com but not as well.  It shows you ways on saving money on mortgages and credit cards and you can do some budgeting.  What I love about this site is it monitors my credit score for free and sends me notice once a month so I can see if there have been any changes.  My score went down one point this month thanks to the Christmas shopping so I paid off the debt quicker than I probably would have in hopes it will go back up next month.

If you decide to use these sites, or already are, comment back on your two-cents when using these websites.

Jan18

What? A new year?!

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Oh man!  My last post was before the Thanksgiving holiday.  How time flies when you’re working overtime, finishing projects for school, shopping for the holidays, and taking care of your broken husband.  I can’t even believe we’re more than half way through January already.  So, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my followers.

This year I will be talking about weddings (and all that comes with that), scuba diving (a current fear of mine), school, and new goals and changes.  I’m not making any new year’s resolutions this year.  Instead, I’m making goals that are reasonable.  The first is paying off debt. I even applied to write about my story to a financial blog that helps women get ahead in their finances.  They only need 2 and over 1,000 applied, fingers are crossed.

The second goal is to watch my weight, not focus on losing.  That said, I want to figure out how to get my mind motivated to run or at least workout.  I have to stop using every excuse in the book.

The third goal is to just be happy.  With every decision I make and choose to do, I want to make sure I’m still happy.  Nothing too hard about that but I’m a pro at letting the little things get to me.  No more!

And now, my first thought for the blog this new year:

I am going to just be a social drinker this year.  This includes: when I talk to myself, talk to the dogs, and read facebook posts.  Cheers!!