Wondering and Wandering

I am a soda drinker. Not the best habit. But I am spending $1.08 on a soda almost every morning. $1.08 doesn't seem bad until you figure it multiplied by 24 days on average. That is $25.92 a month. That's some gas, or some groceries, or almost my vision insurance premium! So I think it will be a lot better for my body and my bank accounts if I can do something about this. I know I can't go cold turkey, so I bought 8 little bottles for $3.33. So that makes them 0.42 each. So I have already saved $5.28. I can drink free water and coffee at work. And we have water and I can make tea at home. Hopefully I can slow the sodas down and keep the money.

I also am spending money on breakfast and/or lunch. I know I don't have the money, but I do it anyway. So I am really trying this week. I know this is why I am not making progress! But I packed my lunch today and I have my meal plans for dinner. I also have 3 English Muffins that I can have for breakfast with some peanut butter this week. I think this will be better for my body also.

I am really trying to look at every dollar we are spending. When you really look at it, it can be really shocking. The change is hard, but I'm trying.

I have goals for the weekend.
#1 - Finish Taxes (should owe very little)
#2 - Meal prep
#3 - Housework
#4 - Plan garden layout
#5 - Sat and Sun = no spend days

Hopefully I do not have to leave the house after I get home tonight.

Happy Friday!

I am finding that my mindset is starting to change. Although my numbers aren't changing a whole lot, it feels successful to be able to pay all of my bills on time this month, including my credit cards. I know I only paid the minimum, but being able to pay the minimum on time is a win this month. I am still in the red as far as my bank account goes. Luckily it doesn't actually go into the negative because of the way things clear (which I am grateful for), but I sure would like to get in the black. I have been able to do small amounts of money and get it down to ($331.85). The changes to my cell phone and Satellite should take effect this month so that will be a little help.

I have 10 dinners and lunches figured out. I have been working to turn off lights and electronics when we aren't using them. I am just trying to be more aware.

For my birthday I got everything to start my garden. Soil, landscape fabric, lots of seeds, and more. I usually have more produce than we can consume, so maybe I can sell the extra? And we will can some for later.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but I feel like I am starting to evolve.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Since I can't pay for any birthday fun, I am hoping to find some birthday freebies in my email. So far I have found a free package of berries, a free Redbox rental, 10X points at Walgreens for the whole month, $20 off at one of my fav restaurants (that is still too expensive to eat at), and a free item at Starbucks. Hopefully something pops up for a free lunch! But if not, I have one planned so I don't have to buy one. The best gift I can give myself is dedication to getting out of this hole.

My Grandmas were very different. Especially when it came to finances. My dad's mom was very frugal. She stockpiled, couponed, had rental homes, and was financially secure. But she lived very modestly, although she did buy cartons of cigarettes. (But she could afford it) She made her clothes. She did not have expensive things. It had to be really hot to run the air conditioner. But she never had to worry. My mom's mom was very different. She struggled, and lived off of social security. She wasn't a spender or a saver, but I wouldn't say she was financially secure either.

My parents were never financially secure. My dad died when I was 12 years old and my parents divorced when I was 5 or 6. But even separately they never had a lot. I received death benefits when my dad died, but it wasn't until I was 16 I realized that my mom did not save any of that benefit. She said it went towards providing for me. $980 a month? I did get an allowance of $20 a week, and I never went without. But I also know that I had to pay for my own class ring and invitations and other graduation expenses and college expenses. And our utility bills were always late or almost turned off. Even with her working full time and my step dad working full time. Maybe I wouldn't have been in debt in my early 20s if I would have started with a little cushion. I received over $52K in benefits by the time I reached 18.

I need to channel my inner Grandma. Learn the difference between wants and needs. Real needs and real wants.

And here is to April being a new Financial Beginning.

The further I go, the more wine I need. I can't afford wine....so....water it is or whatever I can dig up at home.

My mom is giving me a spiral so I can start recording all of my spending for April. She has some extras so that is nice.

I collected my tips for this week and I have a jar of change. I don't know how much is in there but it will come in handy. It will go towards the money I need to dig out of my hole.

I'm in a lot of pain today. I'm clinching my teeth, probably from stress. The pain is so intense and the whole side of my face hurts. I am trying to take advil but it just isn't enough. I wish I could rest but I have stuff to bake over the next couple of days. Another time wine would come in handy.

Have a good weekend!

I don't know what to title this entry. I am really trying, but I can't seem to get ahead. I tried searching on Decluttr. With all of my books they only offered me around $5. Not sure if its worth it. Maybe I can get more for cookbooks? I am going to try to go through my old purses and see if I have any hidden change. I work 2 days this week so maybe I will get some tips? I do have the cakes that I will sell on Saturday. After supplies I will make about $80. But I feel like I am in a hole. I have to get my account in the black. I don't have any clothes worth selling. We don't have any big ticket items to sell. I have a few things on Letgo, but no responses. I'm working about 50-54 hours a week so I can't add any additional jobs. Ugh. No OT at my job. Anyone have additional ideas? Still not well enough for plasma and no family to borrow from.

I hate to sound so Debbie Downer. I really am looking for ways I could boost my income or make money quickly.

I have an extra $5 from tips last night. I did more food prep than waiting on customers. But I worked 3.5 hours so that will be $29.75. That goes towards the loan pmt.

I am still pondering ways to collect extra money. Hopefully I can use my time at home this weekend to come up with some ideas. I have taken some orders to sell 5 Carrot Cakes for Easter Weekend. That will be $125 - supplies.

I have to say, I feel a little envious while I read everyone's posts. I have almost forgotten what it was like to have money for a car repair or have $10K in savings. But I'm going to fix this. I know I can.

I worked last night and didn't make any tips. I worked with a new guy and he took some of my orders and I'm afraid that he inadvertently didn't give me the payments, so I was short. Which is why I ended up with nothing extra. We will see what happens tonight.

I am feeling under the weather. I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrendous headache and a earache. And I think all that together was making my teeth hurt. Maybe sinus pressure? Hopefully I can finish my full time job, work a few hours at my part time job and get a reasonable amount of sleep. I'm going on about 5.5 hours, which isn't enough for me.

I looked into selling plasma. Not my favorite idea, but its an option. I don't feel well enough to do it right now and I have to see if I can even get to the office before they close. I'm trying to collect books and DVDs to sell. I sent a message to family members to see if anyone wanted to donate some books or DVDs to the cause. We will see.

The dreaded ticket is sent in. I borrowed the $90.

So, I came up with $50 to put towards my ticket that I have to pay by tomorrow. I also got my direct deposit from job #2. It was a little more than I was expecting so I applied some towards the ticket and I put $40 in my bank account. So I need $90 somehow by tomorrow to cover the ticket and I now need $491 to keep my account from going negative at the end of the month. I am a little frazzled. And I am so angry at myself for getting this ticket. I could almost clean up my account with the money that I am wasting on this ticket. But I can't go backwards. I just hope I can continue to make some progress.

As of this morning, after putting in $60 to my bank account, I still need $531. I did spend money on the pets this weekend, $58. But they were out of food and I had to buy some supplies for our other animals. So $20 of the $60 I am putting in is money I had set back, but obviously not enough to cover it. I am also still struggling to find this money for the ticket. If I get paid from my second job and I can float the $40 I will get on 03/23 then I will still need $140. I am listing some things on Letgo, hoping they will sell quickly. I am also going to try Decluttr. Has anyone tried that? I am also looking for somewhere to sell some books. I hate to get rid of them, but I may be able to make a few bucks on ones I'm not reading.

We were gifted pizza last night for dinner. So that was wonderful. And I was gifted gas last night so I should have enough to get me through the week. Very grateful for these gifts.

Its not huge, but I made $15 in tips yesterday (And $25.50 in wages). And I remembered that I had a rebate to send out on some razors I bought. So I should get a check for $5.99 in 4-6 weeks. Every little bit helps, right?

I went home after work yesterday and made dinner. I'm so glad to have leftovers for lunch today. I spent $1.18 of some cash I had to buy 2 bagels. One for breakfast today and one for tomorrow. I wanted a Starbucks coffee so bad today, but instead I am drinking free coffee at work. Not the same but the end effect will be.

I picked up an odd job for the next 2 Fridays. It will pay $50 each day. Maybe I could split it between my bank account and my ticket. Unfortunately since I have already accepted probation, I cannot do community service or a payment plan. Apparently I had to request that before they finalized my request. Its the biggest waste of money. I'm never speeding again. But maybe since I will get $50 on 03/23 I could use a portion towards the ticket...if I can float it 2 days? I also should get a paycheck from my second job. It doesn't pay a lot... $8.50 an hour and minimal tips, but I am using this to go towards the $500 payment. I come up with half and my DH comes up with half. So we share the burden.

The other thing I was going to share is that 2 of my bills are credit card payments that I agreed to as part of a plan to catch up. I was getting behind so I agreed to pay $106 to one credit card per month and $112 to another. This is my 3rd and final month and they will go back to the minimum. And I am so anxious for that bad loan to go away. That is $244 I will have back a month!!!!

All over the place and trying not to drown. That is how I feel. I thought that over the weekend I could come up with some brilliant plans and globs of money, but I didn't. We are not ready to cut our Satellite yet, but I did get it reduced by $20 and we are probably going to cut Netflix. We are in a contract with Dish, so I would have to pay $190 to terminate early. I saved another $20 on our phone bill. Not including the other 10% I can save by taking my employer's information in. But I still need $500 by the end of the month to keep my account from going negative. And I still need $250 by 03/21 to pay my ticket. (My sister gave me $40 to go towards my ticket.) I did sell some jam, so I have $15. I'm guessing it should just go towards my account.

I also did some meal planning and food inventory. I can do 10 dinners without buying anything additional. So that seems pretty good. And we will have leftovers for lunches.

Hoping things will start to get better.

Thank you all for the information and support yesterday. There was a lot of great information and I'm so glad to be here. Although I am still a little overwhelmed by the task ahead.

I am getting a 10% discount on our cell phones through my employer. So that will help a little. I am going to look into other plans too.

Our car insurance is actually $70 cheaper than it was. I just changed to a new company and it was the cheapest I could find for full coverage on 2 newer vehicles.

Still need to look into the Satellite.

I've seen some posts before about no spend days. I am hoping to have a no spend weekend and see if I can organize myself, do a food inventory, and enjoy doing nothing. I'm also hoping to find some things I can sell online or through craigslist. I have to basically come up with $800 asap. $500 to keep my account from going negative and $290 for my ticket that has to be paid by 03/21.

You can call me Rose. I am married with one DD. Financial problems are not something I am familiar with until recently. I stumbled upon this place. Looking at other's posts gave me some hope and some motivation to fix the disaster that is my finances.

Why I am here - Until a little less than 2 years ago, I was in a good place financially. The only debt I had was less than $500 on my student loan and our mortgage. Today is a different story. I lost my job after buying a new car. We own a business but I work full time for substantially less than I was making. The business has had a rough year and we have found ourselves with some tax debt. We have made some changes and can see some brighter times ahead. But we owe roughly $17K. I have 3 credit cards that are all maxed out. I am working 2 additional jobs right now just to try to help make ends meet, but its not happening. I feel like I am in debt to my eyeballs. My credit score has dropped 100 points and I hate it.

I am trying to regroup. I want to go to minimal spending and a cash budget. I want to get this derailed train back on track. I would love advice or tips on what to do. Please know that we are not ready to close the business and we would like to keep the car. I have started an ebates account, although I can't buy much online right now. And I started using ibotta. I am clipping coupons and looking for deals. But I know there has to be more.

Thank you for letting me be here. I hope this is the beginning of something new. And thank you in advance for any help.