Debt Archives - Page 45 of 46 - Making Sense Of Cents

I want my student loans to be GONE

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 34 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Over at Girl with the Red Balloon, she announced that she just recently paid off the rest of her loans, and she’s now completely debt free! Go over there and congratulate her. I honestly can’t stop thinking about this, because I bet this is such a great feeling. I am extremely jealous, but I know I am close (ok I am not close when it comes to my mortgage though).

She talks about how she did some extreme things to save money and pay off debt faster, such as eating very cheaply. But she was also super determined in paying off all of her loans. I’ve always admired how determined she was with the whole process, and I wish I would buckle down more and do this.

I do wish I would’ve graduated without debt. I worked full-time in high school and while in college I worked full-time the entire time as well. I also had to live on my own due to my dad passing and this ate up a significant amount of the money that I made. I also had to (and I still am) support my mom and help her with bills. I did manage to pay off around half of my tuition bill each semester, so of course I would have more loans. The university I went to was around $30K a year (without room and board) and I also am attending an MBA program right now, so I’m not too down about being around $33K in debt for student loans when I have 2 business undergraduate degrees and I’m about to have my MBA as well. [Read more…]

Analyzing My Job and What matters to you?

Last Updated: December 7, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 39 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hopefully this week isn’t going too slow for you. I don’t have too much planned today except for the normal work and then boring classes.

I thought I’d join in with the others who have participated in From Shopping to Saving’s How to Analyze Your Job. It’s a very good way to look at your job and how you perceive it. Below I marked in red what I thought was important to me. I also thought this post would be interesting because I’ve noticed that a lot of readers and bloggers are currently looking for a new job. This might help steer you into the direction that you want to be in.

Here is a direct quote from her post:

“Here are the 7 factors that we like to take a look at to analyze our job as a whole. Work is not something that we all love to do but it’s something that pays for what we really want to do. Some of us are fortunate to have work that we do enjoy wholeheartedly and would possibly do for free, but sadly I’m not one of those people. “

My Job:

Salary – What are all of the benefits of your job? This includes salary, insurance, pensions, etc.
- My salary is pretty good, especially for the Midwest. Of course it would be on more average if I lived in an area such as LA or NYC, but it’s pretty decent around here. I also get bonuses, a retirement plan, free health insurance and other benefits. I would say that I’m pretty good in this area.
Job Duties – What do you do? Is it difficult?
- I enjoy what I do. Of course I would rather be laying on a beach and get paid for that, but I’m not a VS model, so that’s not possible. My job can be difficult at times but it’s something I enjoy doing and the time passes pretty quickly. I work mainly independently and I like that.
Location/Commute – How is the drive? Is it really long? Horrible? Are there other ways you can commute?
- The location is good. It’s in a nice suburb and only less than 15 miles from my house. I cannot take public transportation there (unless I want to spend around 2.5 hours on a bus). I don’t pay for parking and it’s located near a bunch of other places to eat and things to do.
Co-workers – Do you like the people you work with? How are your work relationships?
- I enjoy the people that I work with. I work at a pretty small firm, and we all get along. This is much different than a retail environment, where everyone is really catty.
Atmosphere – How stressful is your job? How is your workplace?
- The atmosphere is pretty nice at my work. Not too crazy. Pretty quiet and relaxing also.I listed to Pandora all day at work so that’s pretty nice too.
Flexibility – Can you take a day off easily? Or is your boss/employer one of those people who denies all vacation requests?
- I don’t have to clock in. It’s pretty easy to take off. I just have to put my name on the calendar. My boss pretty much lets me take off whenever unless it’s during a busy time of the work season.
Advancement – Is it easy to get a promotion, or are you stuck?
- There is definitely a path for advancement in my position. I was hired and told I was on a path for management/VP/President. So they flat out told me this in the interview.

If you couldn’t tell, I like my job. My job is pretty stable and reliable. I work in a very specialized area in the financial services industry as well, and there will always be demand for what we do, so I’m not too worried about our services and business tanking.

How does your job compare?

A lot of people would say that money is the #1 motivator for when they look at a job. I would say that a combination of happiness, money, stability (especially stability), benefits and opportunity for advancement.

I know many people who work at a certain big billion dollar company in my city and they all hate their jobs. It all started out nice because the money was very attractive for them, but they are terrified everyday that they might lose their job and the environment is very hostile. Would you work in an environment where you would trade your sanity and happiness for money?

I don’t think I could. I am a person who likes stability and I enjoy not having to worry everyday about whether or not I will have a job the next day. I try my hardest at my job and of course I expect at least not to lose my dignity everyday as with the example in the above.

I also have some friends who I think are being entirely too picky. Some graduated awhile ago and are still waiting for the perfect job and still haven’t found anything. I believe you need to gain some sort of experience instead of just waiting around. Not many jobs are going to score a 100% for you. Yes yes I know, I’m probably a depressing person and I’m sure there are many people out there who love their jobs, but I’m just being realistic in my point of view.

Are you currently searching for a job? What are some things that you are looking for in a job? What’s one thing you would not trade?

Some Frugal (and expensive) Date Ideas

Last Updated: November 18, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 35 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today is Friday! I’m finally feeling better. Having the stomach flu is the worst and I hated it so much. It was miserable having to work for 9 hours and then going to class for another 4.5 hours this week. 2 weeks down, 13 to go? I think that’s right. Like I’ve said, I have to miss the last 1-2 weeks of classes for work, so I’m not sure how much I have left really.

Anyways, me and the BF have been really lazy lately. We have been staying home a lot (and sleeping a lot). There is really no excuse for this except that I hate the cold and really don’t want to step a single foot outside. Once the weather gets better, there are tons of things that we like to do.

We really need to stop being lazy though! Of course we like to save money when we do things also. What are some frugal date ideas that you have? Below is a list of things that we like to do or would like to do.

Some date ideas:

Try new restaurants. We love using Restaurant.com certificates because we can try new restaurants without spending a ton of money. If you sign up for their e-mail list, you usually get e-mails a couple times a month for 80% or 90% off their certificates. So this means that I often buy these certificates for around $2. Since you usually only have to spend $10 to use the $25 certificate, that means that we get around $35 worth of food for only $12 (plus tip). But that’s a good deal! There are a lot of restaurants that we go to a lot that are on there also.
Have a picnic. We love going to the park and having a picnic, we haven’t done this in awhile. Last time we did this, we rode our mopeds (yes we have mopeds, and yes they are fun) and a photographer actually took our pictures for the newspaper (or at least that’s what he said)! This is relatively cheap and a lot of fun. Usually there are interesting people and we can people watch also.
Go skiing. Haven’t done this yet, but if it gets cold this weekend, then we plan on doing this finally! It’s expensive though, I looked up prices and it’ll be around $100 each for equipment rental and everything.
Order/make lots of food, watch scary movies, and stay in.
Go to the zoo. For some reason, the zoo always seems like a fun idea, UNTIL I get there and I want to leave. Parking is always horrible and it’s always hot. But, I do love going! The zoo where we live is free, so this is always fun! Parking is free also (they have paid parking but I don’t mind walking 1-2 minutes and park).
Take a weekend vacation. We’ve done this a couple of times. What we’ll do is take that Friday off and make it a 3 day weekend. Last year we went to Miami for the weekend. It was fun, but it was hard to pack in the flights, travel and everything into 3 short days.
Go to the movies. We don’t go to the movies a lot (because it’s like $13 a person and because I always fall asleep at the theater), but we do have $50 on a movie gift card, so we plan on using it soon. Nothing too good has been out lately though, but I’m definitely seeing The Vow with Channing when it comes out next month! Who else is excited for that?
Hike. We have a lot of hiking trails around us, and we finally went hiking a couple of months ago on the trail near our house. It was fun and interesting for us. FREE
Drive around. I know this isn’t eco-or-pocket-friendly, but the BF likes to drive around, and I like just sitting in the passenger seat. It’s relaxing. And we just talk about nothing and everything.
Look at the stars. The BF’s grandma has a lot of land, so sometimes we will drive all the way out there and lay out a blanket and just relax. It’s nice and very pretty.
Shooting range. We go shooting at least twice a month. It’s fun, but very expensive.
Hot air balloon. Haven’t done this yet, but would like to. I’m a little afraid right now though since there was an accident last month where everyone died. I’m not sure how much this cost? Maybe $150 a person? More? I don’t know…
Sky Diving. Haven’t done this yet, but would like to. He doesn’t see the need to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, yet he will do tons of scary things that I don’t get. I plan on going with his friend this spring, so this isn’t much of a date idea, but maybe the BF will join. This will be around $200 just for me when I do this in the Spring. I also want to get pictures from it, and that’s around an extra $75.
Paddle boat. Downtown there is a little man-made canal thing (yes I know I sound so smart) and you can paddle boat, get a canoe or a kayak. It’s a lot of fun, really pretty and pretty cheap. Only around $15 an hour (but they don’t really make sure that you’ve only been gone for an hour).

What do you guys like to do? Any new ideas?

P.S. Don’t forget to Follow me on twitter!

A little info about the BF and how we handle the cash money

Last Updated: May 31, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 50 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I don’t talk too much about the BF on my blog, but I’d like to. A lot of you said that you don’t mind that I blog anonymously, but that you’d love it if I shared more information about my life. I’ve never really said too much about the BF, I just tend to throw those letters around, but none of you really know anything about him. So you guys are lucky, today you will learn about him and how we handle our money.

A little information about the BF:

The picture above is of him when we went to San Juan last year
He’ll be 23 in about 2 weeks (does anyone have any present ideas for him?)
He has a new habit pretty much everyday. And he’s obsessive about them. Whether it’s cars, guns, motorcycles, he goes absolutely insane and will read everything about it until I want to run away
Before last year, he had NEVER been on an airplane, but I definitely changed that last year once I had time for vacations
He comes from a GREAT family, and his family is the best thing ever
He’s very clean
He’s a workout maniac
He loves to drink tons of milk and it makes me want to barf
I tend to talk in my sleep (and it tends to scare him) and he will have long conversations with me because he thinks it’s hilarious
He eventually wants to graduate and have a career with something involving the environment and scientific sustainability research
Hmmm I’m obviously horrible at describing him so now I will resort to the physical (since I obviously don’t show pictures yet, I will describe him). He’s around 6’1″, blonde hair, blue eyes (can’t tell in the picture of course).

Now for some information about our relationship. We’ve been together almost 6 years, and we’ve lived together for almost 5 years. Yes, that means that we moved in together right after high school. We’ve lived in a total of 4 places (I think, I might be forgetting) and we bought our house at the age of 20.

Most would say that we’re crazy. But it worked for us. We also have joint accounts (nothing is separate). This doesn’t bother me though. After all of the problems that money brought in my family, I guess that caused me to not to get upset about money and relationships. And yes, most people will say that we are crazy since we live like this and are not married, but it doesn’t bother me (mainly because I don’t see how being married or not really affects us). This mainly has to do with the way I saw my parent’s marriage shrivel up as I grew up. I hope I don’t offend anyone with my thoughts above.

I’ve made a post on this before, but how does everyone else handle their finances? Joint accounts, separate, separate and joint? What do you think would work best for you? Tell me!

This leads me to the next little fact about us: Our lives are kind of similar to Erika’s. I also have a bigger salary than the BF, and because of the field I’m in, I most likely always will. I don’t see anything wrong with this. And I don’t understand why some people do think there is something wrong with this. We actually have had some people criticize him/us for that. Do you make more than your significant other? What do you think?

We are not married, we’re not in a rush for that and don’t want to go into debt for a wedding. We do plan on doing that soon (I know, not romantic since we’ve talked about it). Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to get married, but with school and work, I don’t have time to plan a wedding. I actually cannot wait until I can plan my own wedding. I’m having a blast planning my friends wedding. She similar to me and my BF. They’ve been together for 12 years (since they were 14, and yes they are high school sweethearts too), but because of schooling, she has her PhD from an Ivy League school, and so does he, so they never had time until now to get married. Looks like we’ll be on the same path as them 🙂

We’re high school sweethearts (Awwww right?) and I love him a whole lot of course. He’s very wonderful and we have a blast together. He’s someone that I can complain to (even though I know he’s not always listening), he listens about problems with my mom, he is actually nice to my mom, he was there for me when my dad passed, he’s my best friend!

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. Do you have any questions for me?

What habits keep you in debt?

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 25 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Most of us engage in habits that are keeping us in debt. I know this, because I do this. The little things (and of course the big things) add up very quickly, and if you don’t keep track, then that could be a debt payment right before your eyes.

Here’s a list of what might be keeping you in debt:

1. Banking fees. – We’re not Guilty.

Do you keep track of your daily balances? Going under by just a cent can drastically affect you. I read an article the other day about a teenager who was around $1 under (if any of this info is wrong, sorry I read the article and can’t seem to find it again). He was only under because his account was sitting at around $9 or $10, so the bank then charged him a $10 maintenance fee. He was then charged around $30 a day for being under and in less than 10 days, he owed around $230. He barely ever checked his account and didn’t notice.
Interest and late payment charges can also add up very quickly. We’re trying to pay off our debt so that we can get rid of all of this crazy interest that’s building up. It just builds up so fast.

2. Eating out. – Guilty. We’ve been bad with this lately and reverted to our old habits. I’m blaming it on the holidays and pure laziness.

Eating out can add up quickly. The other day we went to McDonalds for smoothies, the casino for dinner and McDonalds again for a snack. And we did something like this a lot of days this past week. Sometimes eating out can cost almost the same amount as a weeks worth of groceries. That’s where the savings of eating at home really come in.

3. Being house poor. – Not guilty. We bought a house that was much under what we were approved for. This has helped a lot, especially since when we bought the house, we made around half as much as we make now.

Definition of ‘House Poor‘ – A situation that describes a person who spends a large proportion of his or her total income on home ownership, including mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance and utilities. House poor individuals are short of cash for discretionary items and tend to have trouble meeting other financial obligations like vehicle payments. via Investopedia
A lot of people are guilty of this. Just because you are pre-approved for a certain amount, definitely does not mean that you should buy a house at that amount.

4. Impulse shopping. Mostly Not Guilty. I definitely research most of my purchases, just to make sure that I don’t have any second thoughts after I get something (which I usually do).

Groupon is a major for most people. You see something that you kind of like, and it seems like a good deal, so you buy it instantly. Lots of people don’t use these. I am guilty of this, I have some Groupons that are expired. I can use these for the face value still though, but haven’t. Most of these places are too far away for me to willingly use.

5. Spending to make you happier. Mostly Not Guilty. I’m saying I’m mostly not guilty because usually shopping and spending money does not make me happier, but of course I have done this before.

Do you often go to the mall, Target, grocery store, wherever when you’re not feeling 100% yourself and buy stuff?
These things can add up quickly. And sometimes, maybe most of the time, you won’t even like these things after a couple of days. This adds up quickly, especially if you’re always not feeling 100%.

6. Spending because you say to yourself “I deserve it.” Guilty. I am busy a lot, so I always make myself feel better with my spending by telling myself that I deserve it for all of my hard work.

These purchases can add up very quickly. Just because I think I deserve it, doesn’t mean I should buy it. Don’t I deserve to pay off my debt as well?

What’s keeping you in debt?

Have you ever found an error in your credit report? I sure have.

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 19 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Have you ever found an error in your credit report?

I have found errors, and some of them are still not fully fixed. Someone bought a house in my name when I was 13, and for some reason no one believes that it wasn’t me. How the heck could I have bought a house at 13? The police think that someone must have sold my social security number when I was younger, because it keeps getting re-used.

Anyone know what to do when this happens? Am I stuck with this number forever? The police and lawyers that I have talked to are no help when it comes to this. For the most part the mortgage problem IS fixed, in that it is no longer affecting my credit (I think).

I don’t even know where this house is. They won’t tell me. They say that they can’t tell me. If it’s my house, I would like to know where I’m supposedly living. I mean if I went into the house, could I even be charged with trespassing since the house is technically mine?! Could I go in and just steal everything (is it even technically stealing if it’s all in my name?)

I remember reading this story awhile back (like 5 years ago) about how this woman had her identity stolen and she was at Starbucks ordering a drink. She has an unusual name, and the person before her had her name called out so that she could pick up her drink, and the name was similar to hers. This lady then followed her supposed identity theft person and rung out again behind her and noticed that this lady HAD HER CREDIT CARD. The lady then followed her outside and tackled her and called the police. The person who stole her identity is in jail, but I believe it was for a ridiculously short time (like a couple years).

Here’s what to do when you find an error:

You should be constantly checking items on your credit report, ESPECIALLY if you are like me and things like this keep on happening. I am “subscribed” to a credit reporting agency and I check mine every month.
When you eventually do find an error, contact the credit bureau where you found the error. You can call (to get more information on it) but make sure that you write. When you write, then include the date, your name, address and the problem.
If there is an error with more than one credit bureau, then do the same thing for all 3 credit bureaus.
Include a copy of your credit report and the page that has the error (make sure you don’t include any originals of anything). Originals should of course stay with you.
Include your proof that this is not you. It was VERY hard for me to find proof that the house wasn’t mine. How was I supposed to prove that? I WAS 13. Who the heck remembers what they were doing on an exact day when they were 13? I was probably at school when I allegedly bought this house.
And then wait for a response

If you never check your credit report, and don’t find out about it until you buy a house or try getting some sort of loan. This can greatly affect you. You might not be able to get the loan and your credit score will be affected.

Here are the numbers and websites to get a copy of your report.

Experian-1-888-397-3742 www.experian.com
TransUnion-1-800-916-8800 www.transunion.com
Equifax-1-800-685-1111 www.equifax.com

Have you ever found an error? How was the process for you?

Debt Traps

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Cash Money Life had a great article on 5 Debt Traps. I HATE debt, who doesn’t? I can’t wait until my house is paid for, my car is done and my student loans have completely vanished.

Here are debt traps that you should avoid:

Payday loans. I hope this trap is obvious. When I was younger, I distinctly remember my dad laughing at the TV whenever payday loan commercials would come on. The fees are exceedingly high, and you just fall into a crazy debt trap circle that you might not be able to get out of.
Having maxed out cards and only paying the minimum. You are ruining your credit and also falling into a hard to get out of trap. I pay all of my credit card balance completely off every month. I have ever carried a balance.
Buying too much house. You will most likely get approved for a mortgage that is too big. We were approved for a mortgage of around 33% more than what we could actually afford. You should definitely go under what you are approved are.
Having too much in student loans. Read my past posts on why I don’t regret my student loans, and also my other post on how student loans might be bad for you. Carefully consider your degree, the loan amount and the school you are going to and make sure it’s worth it.
Co-signing on a loan. Make sure you trust this person, or it will end badly.

What other debt traps do you think I left out?