Broke In The Suburb

Ohhh! It is so fantastic to be back!! That’s right, your girl PJ is back again! It was a fantastic summer, with so many incredible changes I am thrilled to get to talk about and share (with anyone who will still listen…)

Holy Ballslap!! The past 4 months were a whirlwind. Here is a little recap of what I have been up to and what not (personally and financially) :

This girl is going BACK TO SCHOOL! Ow ow!! (I got my lunch packed up…my shoes tied tight…I hope I don’t get in a fight…ohhhhh!!) One last year and I will be finished! That’s right. I’ve been working my butt off, and by August 14th, 2010, aka graduation day…it will hopefully all pay off!

Remember my moving dilemma with the roommate? I wanted to move home, she wanted to still live together. Well…we decided back in April that we would move home, and then in August, move back home again. Just have a few months of saving. July came around, and I was sad because with the option of going back to school becoming more and more feasible, I was hesitant to move out. Then my Ex Roomie informed me that she was wondering if I would be upset if…get this…she got HER OWN PLACE! I was ecstatic! Of course I will spend many-a night on her couch…but this was great news for me financially!!

Yours truly is now seeing someone new. He will most definitely be talked about in many posts. He is a full time student and soon to be working full time as well (like me), so we are going to have an interesting time this coming year balancing work, school, relationship and everything else in these crazy years. (One post to come soon…is it cheaper to be in a relationship or single??)

Holding on to my current debt. ehhhh I wish I could be all super awesome and get to say that my debt is gone..but that is not the case. While I am proud that I did not accrue any more debt during this summer, the truth is, I only paid off a TINY amount of debt. That is why this girl is back online. Its time to get down to business!!

My computer finally turned over to the dark side. It still turns on, but the thing is beyond sick cat noises. It is evil. We don’t associate much anymore.

So that’s a bit of where things are at with me!! I’m excited to get back into the swing of things and get to elaborate more on some of the above (and even more excited to get back into my google reader and see how the heck everyone else is doing!!!)

Where does this all leave Broke In The Suburb? Well, I have a few changes in mind for BITS that will take a little bit to take place! But it's be good to be back!! :)

When I started this blog, I was such a confused girl. The problems with where my life was at were so much deeper than the number in my bank account. I don't think I was happy. But the funny thing is through this writing and meeting all the amazing PF bloggers online, I was able to realize where things were going wrong. I was able to stand up for what I really want out of life, and I learned to get my bank account in check in the process.

I still have debt, its true...and I'm not work a million dollars...but I have a plan. A vision. and I am enjoying the ride of getting to whatever my final destination will be.

So it is hard for me to announce that I have decided that (for now...) this will be my last post. I feel like I got what I really needed from this and now its time for me to live my life. I considered trying to give advice, but thats not really me...I could keep the blog open and keep everyone on my path to eliminating debt, but thats kinda boring after a while.

And in the past couple months I have been finding it soooo hard to get time to come on here anywhoo! With a new relationship taking place, training for 2 races this summer, preparing for school to start again in the fall, and just enjoying the weather as much as possible..I just don't find myself jumping on the computer any more. When I do its a quick in and out!

So - I want to say a HUGE thank you to those who followed along on my short but totally great journey as a small time PF blogger. Thank you to those who continued to encourage, put up with my bitching, and offered advice when it was much needed! I will all of you the best of luck!!!

and who knows...maybe when cold weather rolls around again, I just may pop back up...but until then...

keep it real, never give up, and know that this girl is rootin' for ya!

*I was once told the world hates to fast but loves to slow...lets change this*

Thank you!

Signing out...your one and only PJ

When living with my roommate, we knew we needed to make a few changes/cut some costs, because we were both very nervous about our financial positions. We could make all of our bills on time, but it was hard to find any extra money to go out and do anything. It was a pain living paycheck to paycheck.

One of the first areas we looked at, to cut costs, was our cable. We were paying close to $60 per month, before tax, on cable. So for me, $30 per month doesn’t seem like a lot at first…but was I wrong! I had no idea I was paying for so many shows I don’t even watch!!

Now at first, we were really hesitant to cut this part of our bills – it was one of our only entertainment and nice to have around the house on gloomy days. That was until we calculated our “CPS” (aka cost per show). Kind of like cell phone minutes, we figured out how much each hour of TV was costing us each month.

After making each of our TV lists for a month, we figured a total of 12 shows were watched (on a regular basis...not including those random TV movies and such. All of this was just an estimate of costs)

Each show runs for 1-2 hours each week, depending on the show. This gave us an approx total of about 63 hours of TV each month. So, if we were paying $60 each month for our cable, it would cost approx $0.95 for each hour of shows. Not too shabby I guess. But the more I let this sink in, it started to irk me. That $1 per show really can add up!

So we took our CPS calculation a bit further. Of our 12 shows, only 4 were “cable” television. Everything else we would tune into each week was on the basic network channels! So...breaking our $60 in a different light…separating the amounts we pay for basic TV and for cable TV. Each month, of our $60, $42.75 was put towards basic TV, while only $17.25 went for cable programs.

After seeing this, we knew we wanted to change our plan. It was that month we switched to the $10 package of only local channels. Our new CPS came to an amount of $0.22 per hour of shows!! Granted, we had to give up 4 shows – but lucky for my roommate and me, all 4 of these shows are offered to be viewed online!

So really, we don’t have to miss any programs – we just save about $50 per month…$600 per year on our cable package!

Well worth it in my opinion!! Of course, this calculation is not perfect! But it was definitely a great starting point for the old roommate and I to reevaluate our priorities when it comes to joined expenses.

Today I'm so incredibly bored at work today..which is odd, I'm normally super busy! Sheesh, if J Money over at Budgets Are Sexy would award me those damn brochures, I could have had some fun making some paper planes.. ;) I kid I kid…
But! I did by chance come across a great article that was quite interesting. Its over on MSN.com titled What Your Wallet Says About You.

I thought it was pretty funny. Before all this writing stuff came about, I NEVER kept my purse in order. My debit cards were never in the wallet, change was falling all over the place…it was a mess. Amazing how much that reflected the rest of my finances.

In all honesty, I haven't really (until now) taken a notice of what my purse looks like, so by chance, I pulled it up to my desk and dumped the contents everywhere (good thing my boss loves me right…ha)

So, taking a look. Amt of change on the bottom - $0! All of my change is zipped away in my little…uh…change holder, or whatever its called…

All my dollar bills - well…there are none. I tend to blow cash wayyy. I stick to plastic, cuz it works for me…

My credit cards/debit cards - believe it or not are all tucked away in my wallet.
Its funny how that all works. The second I started to appreciate my money, and hell, even appreciate (I say that delicately) my …DEBT! All of a sudden, the rest of my finances start to come together and be organized.

If you look in my purse now, you will almost always see a post it note (slipped into my wallet) that lists my "financial to do's" things like paying those odd ball bills, get new tabs for my car, send in the check for that magazine I planned on getting..things of that sort.

It’s a good feeling. So take a look in your purse, how are you looking today??

Alright, that’s all for this girl…now I'm gonna go find some poor soul at my job who will occupy some of my time…aka give me some freaking stuff to do at work!!

OH - and dont forget to twitter me lovers!!

Yeahhh, so today was one long day. Lets see....I got my deposit back from my old landlord...stupid whores - they shorted my roommate and myself $150!! The statement was showing a smaller amount than what is A) written on our lease and B) what our copy of the check shows...sooooooo, granted I wont really have to argue, I am going to have to take the time to call again and ask for our money. Lame.

As much as I can talk about money, sometimes it sucks. I am getting so sick of always thinking about bringing money in, paying money out, blah-biddy blah-biddy blah. Sorry...this is not the most cheerful post haha.

But, thats okay!! Its an honest post. Do you ever get that way? Just sick of money in general? I mean, minus this shortage of money, and the fact that I'm stuck with another medical bill - I'm actually pretty happy with where I am at right now. Things are turning around and I am starting to slowly see the impact of not paying as much in rent anymore...but I'm just so tired of it all!!

Anywhoooo...thats all I have to say for now. So yep! Let me know your thoughts!! OH, and add me on twitter whores!

Gracias!

Happy Monday all!

For those that have not opened up a newspaper in a few days, today is the 10 year anniversary of the Columbine shooting. I was stunned to realize how many years it has been. I still remember hearing about this like it was yesterday. I was in 6th grade. I sat in the last row of my language arts class. The next day of school after it happened we had a group discussion of the events. I remember the sick scared feeling in my stomach as we talked about what and why someone would do such a horrible tragic thing.

Sadly, it sometimes takes moments like these, and anniversary's of these events, that make you stop for a moment to look at where things are. My world has turned up, down, and all around in the past decade.

This past week I have been having an internal dilemma (what a shocker...) with myself again and Chicago. I really really really want to go, and I still think I can budget it in, but with getting slammed with another $1200 medical bill (hopefully the end of that mess - stupid hole in the leg..) I am just all panicky.

I called the company to find out if they would offer me a payment plan. Obviously, if I can drag this one out for as long as I can, I really want to. Heck, no interest on these payments, of course I would rather put my money towards other debt first. But the lady would only offer me a 3 month deal, leaving me stuck at about $400 per month. Thats basically what I was paying in rent! So if that is all I can do, so much for paying off all my credit cards real fast. I asked the lady if I can run my numbers and call her back this week to see if I can afford this or not. She was cool with that.

Alot of friends and family have told me that I should call back and insist on something better. Ask for at the least 6 months (approx $200 per month) They advised me that if I stress that it was not my fault, and because I called and asked before just taking this money if it was available to me, that I may have a better chance at getting her to give me a better "deal". Just explain that this amount is all I can afford (okay thats a little white lie..but she doesnt have to know..)

See, I tend to be a pushover when it comes to calling and asking for better deals or things of that sort. Plus, I have also been told that this amount of $1200 is actually not that much compared to other people who have medical "debt" and its not really one they will jump at taking me to court (as long as I just start to send in regular payments) I may get a few phone calls coming in asking for the full payment, and they may get irritated, but since I would be paying still, they would probably just leave it at that.

But what do you think? I wish I could just send in this full payment, and I could technically pay the $400 per month now, but do you think its wise to get a better payment plan on this? Any advice on what I can or should say when I call this lady back in regards to this debt?

Honestly, after about 2 months of paying off credit cards, I could slam the rest of this medical debt out. I only started with $1200 in credit card debt, I just wanted to pay that off quick since I moved home a few weeks ago and This coming month is my first month rent free!!!

I just don't want this to go to "collections" and take a hit on my credit score...ugh, did I mention how much this sucks!! (note to self, next time I play softball...I am wearing bubble wrap the whole game...no more injuries)