Trip to the Mall

I had a good experience at the mall today.

 

First of all I walked there from work since it's relatively close. saves me gas and headache of finding a parking space and it's good exercise.

 

Second I went there and felt relief of not feeling any urge to buy anything. I could've gone with my credit cards and I don't think I would've used them. I actually went there with a bunch of cash from a payment I couldn't make.

 

I roamed the hallways and looked into the stores and as usually the ones with low prices had a lot of people in them, the ones with expensive stuff had no one inside but the employees, how do those store survive?! I guess they can still make a good profit even when they put a 50% discount on stuff.

 

I went to the Tigo store and it was closed for remodeling. Crap, I wanted to remove my mom and dad's cellphones from automatic debit from my Amex BAC credit card. My dad and mom pay their cellphones but sometimes they time it wrong and Tigo ends up charging me and I don't have the hard to ask them for the money back. This last time they charge me AND my dad paid too. It was one of those rare days when both things go thru into the system. That was a month ago, this new bill my dad was expecting to pay nothing since the bill came about the same. But it was charge on my CC again! So Tigo explained to him that they send the bill amount to the CC company and that credits stay there until my dad would go pay manually to the bank, then it would be posted against his next bill. This was too much and he didn't want to cause me more trouble and asked if he could be removed from auto debit AND stay in the good plan we have. I had done this one time before with a cousin and apparently it had worked so I wanted to try it out.

 

The usual place where the Tigo store is located was being remodeled. I roamed around and made a note to get an ice cream cone when I was ready to walk back to the office. Suddenly a huge rainstorm could be heard outside so now I was sorta trapped in there.

 

I've been looking for a bluetooth headset for a while trying to get the lowest cost one with good sound quality. So I went into the many cellphone stores looking for prices. I found one headset that seemed good. I wasn't going to buy today but I asked if they would take credit card points. They said yes, and they also told me they took Tigo points!

 

Cool! I know my mom and dad's cellphones have a bundle of those under my name so I could use them. However I told them the Tigo store was closed. "Oh no, they moved to the first floor while this place is being repaired" , they said.

 

Even cooler, so I went down and I first took care of the cancellation of auto debit from my mom and dad's cellphones. That will help me kill that balance off now. I called them both and they said they were happy to finally have this fixed, AND they stayed in the plan which means I still call them for free.

 

Then I went on to gather my Tigo points and I had about Lps 1,300 worth, which was the price of the headset. I know I had used a ton of those points before getting cellphones from Tigo for free so I was happy the balance had gone up so fast.

 

So I did the usual paperwork and got the good headset I wanted. Most of the points came from mom and dad's cellphones which they were ok with giving to me since they only use their phones to talk so they don't need the latest one each year or any fancy accesories.

 

Then I went to the ice cream store, and I was about to pay when I noticed I had only a bunch of 1lps bills..I managed to gather the 20lps to pay (didn't want to break the other money I had for the payment I couldn't do).

 

I toured a little more but now I was a bit itchy to get my headset charged and start testing it. So I walked back to the office under a light rain and got here all soaked. I'm still drying up.

 

Cancelling my mom and car auto debit from my credit card was a good thing. Getting a BT headset for points (no money) was good too , no more hiding from the police when I talk and drive! And the ice cream cone was 20lps..so trip to the mall , window shopping, improving my debt burden, getting a nice bluetooth headset and an ice cream cone was a total of 20lps , about $1 . :-)

 

Still I meditated as I was walking thru the hallways how in the past I would've charged the headset first and would worry about how to pay it up later. This time I wasn't in a hurry to buy it, actually I have been shopping for one for months now. Only because I was able to use the Tigo points, which are good only for cellphones and accessories, did I actually buy it today. I had seen the same headset in another store there and was only comparing prices and was ready to walk back to the office without it with no remorse. I even actually had a credit card with me because I needed to bring my CC to cancel the auto debit. At no time was I thinking of using it to pay for the headset today. I did asked for a CC points balance and I had about 2500 points on it. That's when they told me I could use the Tigo points.

 

I'm putting the credit card back in my desk drawer now. I'm not tempted to use it but it's too bulky on my wallet now and it feels uncomfortable.. :-)

 

This for me was a good experience, how do you think I did?

 

 

budgets and goals

I've made a budget, two actually. I made a budget for the money I receive from my morning job, most of which goes to paying debt, another part goes to my emergency fund and to my freedom account. And a small part goes to my wife, my girls and me to feel some reward from this job.

 

The other budget was a quick one I made for a one-off job that I got paid for and again most of it, about 80%, went to debt payment, 10% went to the accounts and 10% to us.

 

The sad thing about making the budget is realizing that the first fantasy budget doesn't cut it. Going thru the bills and looking at the minimum payments and writing a permament number (not the minimum otherwise I would never get out of debt) really cuts off the money left over for savings and for self-reward.

 

The good thing is that following the budget is a good way to remember to pay all bills and stop the collector's calls when I get behind on payments. It's also good because on a separate sheet I write the balance, the payment i make, the interest's i'm charged and the new balance.

 

So last thrusday I got paid on my morning job and othe one off job! Wow a ton of money in my hands. On previous years I would've blown half of it probably and paid with the rest and then would be getting calls for other payments that forgot to make. Not this time, I got all the money into my bank and made the payments online whenever possible and the using free ATM withdrawals took out the rest of the money to pay other cards and deposit on the accounts.

 

I have some money left that haven't paid yet. Unfortunately I still had forgotten about two bills, a small one and a larger one. Got called for both today, so i'm reviewing the remaining money and due dates, etc. to try and cover the minimum payments. It's sad to have to work it this way because I know I might pay both bills on monday but another bill will be left behind.

 

The good thing is that this bill left behind will be paid in parts from my morning and day jobs until I get it to date, probably by end of september.

 

 

Another good thing, looking at my balance on my Bac Platinum card I realize that my dollar balance is about $230. Strange because I thought it would be lower. I looked and they charged me $150 for the membership renewal. I'm going to ask them to reverse it, I did that for my citibank account and they reversed it even though my credit rating with them wasn't that good. Please wish me luck, or pray or send good fortune to me in the hopes they drop that $150 charge.

 

IF they do drop it I will be left with $80 to pay. And my budget for that balance is $100 that comes from the second payment of the month from the morning job. SO, on october 4th or 5th I should be putting that balance to ZERO! not yet but I can see it comming. IF they don't drop it then it will be another two months (I might get the $30 elsewhere just to get that thing to zero right away) but still within sight.

 

Next up is making the budget from my day job, which will include the house expenses and all the stuff I pay for which is not debt. I feel this is much easier to do now that i've done the first budget.

 

On the political front the US has put more pressure on our country to return the ousted president. They've cut all non-humanitarian aid, are not issuing any more visas to enter the US, are not willing to recognize the november elections at this point and might cancel visas to some 1,200 honduras liked to the interim government.

 

I hope that my morning job doesn't get affected by this, so far it hasn't been. I hope november comes quickly and we get elections. I hope the US at least recognizes those elections so things can return to normality on January with a new president.

 

Tonight Honduras has a soccer match with Trinidad and Tobago. I hope they win and raise our demoralized spirits. We thought the US was our ally and right now it doesn't feel that way, but I still have hopes they will eventually help us again. OR we learn to stand up on our own feet and fend for ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Back to School

The good: Paid for all of my girls school supplies and tution fees with money saved, no credit card put on it. Cool!

 

The bad: Emergency fund almost wiped out, at least i'm rebuilding it as fast as I can. I didn't pay 2,400 lps due on the Bac Loan, I will pay it all next quincena.

 

The bad bad: Wife flunks another of her master's degree classes. Another Lps 2,600 down the drain. She is upset about flunking the class but says she doesn't deserve that grade and that it's everyone else's fault. In any case the school will probably let her take the class again with a simple online course, no test but they will sure want the $$.

 

Back to 6:30am drives to drop girls at school. Wife won't help because at that time she says she is not alert enough to drive safely.

 

Another good: I'm back on schedule with the Promerica loan which was the biggest payment.

 

Another bad: I'm behind on the Bac Loan, see above.

 

Another good: I now have a budget for the money I get from my morning job, most of it goes to debt payment. a small portion goes to wife, girls and me, and the rest is now budgeted for Emergency Fund and Freedom account. Specially since my emergency fund is almost depleted.

 

 

 

Emergency fund refund and the Freedom Account

A week of vacation went by so fast and it really just meant working with a different window view as I worked the same hours but more on the morning job.

 

I had to do mayor car repairs and registration for the other car and unfortunately I had to dip into my emergency fund. So in order to re-fund it, I increase my automatic deposit into that account from 1000 lps to 1500lps.

 

Also this week i'm going to open my freedom account , which should be the one to have the money for the non-monthly expenses that I should know about. I'll start it off with 500lps and try to put 500lps into it every quincena.

 

I had a couple of tough love comments saying that I should face reality and put all my debts in one page, and keep track of my spending. Well I guess i needed that. I've opened a simple spreadsheet and the first credit card bill that came this month is already posted there and I will keep putting the others up as they arrive. As I'm covering for a coworker right now I can't go out to get some of the info I need to write it down faster (i'm writing this between tasks and calls).

 

I think I do need to write my debt down to make sure i'm actually moving forward to reducing it. I know that it's not increasing but on my HSBC card I'm not sure i'm reducing it as I would imagine.

 

Thanks for reading!

Freedom Accounts and recent events

I was reading this interesting article. One important point I got from it and it's so true with me is that when I add up my monthly expenses there is always a lot of money left and I wonder where it goes. Selective amnesia is what it's called. We forget the non-montly payments or those informal montly expenses (like hair cuts and daily grocery purchases).

 

They talk about setting up a Freedom account and I was surprised that basically that's what I was doing with an old account I have in Banco Atlantida. I was putting money in there to save for expenses on the big things that are comming like my girl's school tuition fees this August.

 

I will ask for another automatic deposit on that account. On my emergency fund I have authorized L 1,000 every 15 days. I will start funding my Freedom account with lps 500.00 every 15 days too. For some reason when it's under 1,000 I feel it is less of a hit.

 

Why did this jolted my mind? well I have to pay lps 3570 in registration fees for my wife's car by friday. this is a once a year payment. Then I have a lower one for my car in November. There's also the car repairs , actually maintenance that I've found out i'm not budgeting anywhere. In any case these are expenses that throw me a curve ball in my attempt to pay off all the money I owe. This time I will have to dip into my emergency fund to pay for the registration fees. But i've managed to put in more hours in my morning job (do you notice that i'm not here or even in twitter that much any more) and hopefully I will use some of that to take my emergency fund back to it's previous level in a month or two.

 

Other non-montly expenses are doctor visits, non-prescription and prescription meds not covered by my insurance. Books and other similars for my wife and kids. I hate to say etc because it means I don't remember other non-montly expenses, so i'll leave it at that and list more of those here when I have them in my mind.

 

On other topics the crisis in my country continues and even though we are living peacefully there is tension in the air on how this all will end. Directly to me it affects me because either my boss, my wife or myself make me waste time by talking about it. Who did what, what was discovered, another deep research article to read, etc.

 

As much as I support the cause, it takes about an hour or two of my day every day just to keep up with events, as I don't dare be in the dark about it. Just yesterday we had a meeting from 11am to 3pm, a four hour meeting we spend 75% of the time talking about the crisis, that's three HOURS, and about one hour actually talking about work stuff. I hate so much when my boss goes off in a tangent that way. I feel the minutes breezing away as he talks and the others talk back, probably just being polite. Then I had another meeting, and fortunately the work stuff was dealt with in the start and then the crisis talk took over and I excused myself and came to work...an hour later that meeting ended.

 

My morning job was delayed in sending my payment and I've had HSBC and Citibank calling me since last week about payments and until a few minutes ago I didn't have the money. So right now i'm off to keep both of them at bay.

 

I still haven't written down the numbers on the money I owe or the money I spend. I think sub-conciously I don't see the reason for it as I should know where my money is going. I know my credit cards are frozen. I know I don't carry then, they are cut up so I think deep inside myself I don't understand the reason to put up in a single page all the money I owe (once again), I think it might even discourage to look at the big number and feel that I can't overcome it. Same for the expenses, but I think that part would probably help me cut down (more!!) on them. My biggest problem is that my wife and to a lesser extend my girls are not on the same boat with me 100%, they are more like 50%. So it's hard each month because of that. How ironic, the oldest and the youngest women in my house try to get the most money from me. My oldest daughter doesn't ask me for money as much as my youngest daughter and my wife.

 

I've talked a little about this with male friends, coworkers and boss and they all agree that their wives are about the same, any money received they want a piece, a big piece (if not all of it). A bit of relief to know i'm not alone but no real help except facing the reality that I have to become a tougher husband and dad and say "NO" more often that i'm already saying now. I think that is the hardest part about my financial problems, having to face them mostly alone with little help from my family and thus I become a sort of enemy to them when I don't buy them what they want. Sad but that is my reality.

 

Anyway..I gotta go before they close. Otherwise I will get a call tomorrow. Off to owe less!

The Emergency Fund

Well, I can't live every day of this political crisis expecting someone else to come fix my problems. So back to talking about the money I owe and the progress i'm making.

 

I have a lot of ideas about stuff to write, like how i'm failing miserably at keeping records of my expenses or making a budget. I mean a detailed budget, because I already have a general budget. I will post my "general" budget soon I just have to copy it from my cellphone's to-do list.

 

One thing I had to touch on today was the emergency fund. I was read the debt kid's http://www.debtkid.com/why-you-need-an-emergency-fund article about it and I felt myself on his shoes.

 

Previous I used to think I was missusing money by saving it on an emergency fund when I had outstanding debt. I should put every penny I could towards paying debt.

 

Then as it happens to everyone the unexpected would hit, a car repair, a higher than usual bill, someone gets sick ,etc. Any unplanned or overbudget expenses makes one whip out the credit card if you don't have other way to pay for that thing.

 

So the emergency fund came to be after considering that it would take me several years to get out of this debt and probably the money in the fund wouldn't be missed so much compared to the satisfaction of self-financing in times of crisis.

 

Two things have made my emergency fund grow now to about L. 7,000.00 ($350) . One is the automatic payroll deduction that goes straight into my emergency fund bank account. Two is the help of a dear friend in keeping for me the ATM card for that account and thus protecting me from the temptation to use it in non-emergency situations.

 

I have done something else. Every time I take money out of the emergency fund to pay for some emergency I make a note on a sticky note I keep on the savings book for that account. I have made a strong effort to repay the fund and not just let it organically grow thru the money I normally put on it from my paycheck.  Right now I have 1000lps to repay. This is down from the highest of 2800lps some time back.

 

I think if I were to advise someone on things to do to get out of debt I would say that an emergency fund should be one of the first things to do, even if it sounds like going against the nature of paying up debt. It took a lot of meditation of my part to convince myself to do it, and now i'm glad I did it to keep myself from pulling credit cards (which I have destroyed anyway!).

 

Think about it and take my advice..it's free.

 

 

Hardship has it's privileges

It is strange, and then it's not.

 

Having a curfew makes one plan a lot more in advance. Having the curfew time change makes it hard to plan.

 

This week i've spent the most I remember. I didn't write down everything I spent but I know that I didn't spent much money because most stores where closed when I went home from work. That forced to cut on spending on snacks and stuff for my girls. I did buy medications for me and gas for my wife's car and 200lps on repairs to a manhole cover on the sidewalk of our garage.

 

My wife says that she spent more on groceries, but she hasn't asked me for money because she can't go around freely as she is afraid of driving into a protest either pro or against what is happening in our country.

 

And then today I got paid at my morning job. I immediately paid my loan with BAC and my platinum credit card with them too. Tomorrow I plan to pay my loan with Promerica and see how that leaves me. The other money I owe is my HSBC card and my loan with Citibank.

 

I haven't kept good records of my expenses, payments, income, etc. Trying to send messages to the world to let them know the truth about what's going on in my country in this time of crisis has taken priority.

 

However I have remained frugal even in times of urgency. Maybe not to the extreme but at least buying rationally and being creative.

 

I hope I can concentrate back on telling my finances to you as soon as possible. In the mean time I just hope that my country's crisis ends soon.

 

Thanks for your support