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Archive for July, 2008

Major stubhub sales!!

July 29th, 2008 at 12:26 am

Sold two sets of tickets (2 rows behind home plate at Wrigley Field in Chicago) for $1200 and $1018.30! Jackpot! The money will take about a week to get here but I'm thrilled they sold.

Updating a now awesome July:

$1320.32
+$2218.30
----------
$3538.62

More money to throw at Card 3 when it's all said and done!

Another ebay item sold

July 28th, 2008 at 01:23 pm

Sold an old, old PC for $61 so a little bit more of a bump before the month ends. Here's the number for July:

$1259.32
+$61.00
--------
$1320.32

Not bad for a month of ebay!

More debt kicked to the curb

July 28th, 2008 at 01:18 pm

Well not a huge dent but a small bite as I paid the minimum on Card 1 (I'm throwing excess at Card 3 until it's gone...makes sense as its the lowest balance and the highest interest rate.)

So they hit me with an interest charge of $332.86 but I hit back with the $700 payment. So here's the update:

Debt tracker 07/28/08
Card 1: $42750.68 (8.99%)
Card 2: $30038.25 (9.99%)
Card 3: $13763.11 (11.24%)

Paid $1100 over minimum on CC

July 23rd, 2008 at 01:05 pm

Well I was happy to make a payment on the card that hit me with a $153 interest charge yesterday. $1390.81 ($1100 above the minimum payment...take that Card 3!) I also have $700 put away for the minimum on Card 1 when the statement closes. I had to sock away about $1200 for Hawaii otherwise I would've put more on 3 but I have to stick to the plan. I'm still pretty happy with my progress so far!

Updating the tracker:

Debt tracker 07/23/08
Card 1: $43117.82 (8.99%)
Card 2: $30038.25 (9.99%)
Card 3: $13763.11 (11.24%)

Total CC Debt: $86,919.18

Interest Charge

July 22nd, 2008 at 07:03 pm

Card 3 hit me with a $153.93 interest charge today. I logged into the website to check the payment due date but it's not up yet. Not that it really matters with payday coming tomorrow I will be hammering out a decent payment to knock it down a peg. Here's the updated numbers:

Debt tracker 07/22/08
Card 1: $43117.82 (8.99%)
Card 2: $30038.25 (9.99%)
Card 3: $15153.92 (11.24%)

Total CC Debt: $88,309.99

Big sale!

July 21st, 2008 at 10:15 pm

I sold even more baseball tickets today to the tune of $915.51! I'm so glad they sold since the game is on Sunday. Here's the updated info:

$343.81
+$915.51
New total: $1259.32 (Whoo hoo!)

I have to wait a week for them to actually put the money in my Paypal account but I know it's coming. I'm psyched!

A couple more sales

July 21st, 2008 at 01:34 pm

Well I sold a couple of things to boost the income a bit. One was parts for an old laptop (netted $82) and I sold tickets to a baseball game on 7/24 for $185.32 so that will help a bit!

$76.49
+$267.32
=$343.81 so far for July!

Yippie! More $ to the bottom line. Smile

Card 2 payment

July 15th, 2008 at 04:20 pm

I paid $1 over the minimum for Card 2 (this is so I can allocate the remaining funds to Card 3 when it comes due.) The Mrs. and I sat down and did our budget all the way up to the trip to Hawaii. We adjusted all the numbers so that we will be leaving with $5500 in cash to spend on the island. Thanks to this I was able to pay the mortgage and Card 2 today with what's in the bank. So even though they socked me with a $241.19 interest charge I did pay $614 back at them. So here's the updated tracker:

Debt tracker 07/07/08
Card 1: $43117.82 (8.99%)
Card 2: $30038.25 (9.99%)
Card 3: $14999.99 (11.24%)

Total CC Debt: $88,156.06

It took all my energy to NOT pay the extra $38.26 to put Card 2 under $30k but I'm following the plan to the letter so that extra $38.26 will go right into Card 3 when it's time to pay it (next week!)

I at least feel better seeing every penny up to Hawaii spent on paper before we actually spend it. At least I know where it's going!

Finance Charge

July 15th, 2008 at 03:10 pm

Yep it was just about time for Card 2's statement to close and smack me in the face with $241.19 in interest charges. Ouch! Well I'm still on my plan to eliminate one card at a time and pay just slightly over the minimums on the other cards until one card is totally paid off. Sometimes it is hard to stay focused when you're waiting for the income (or in this case when you're holding onto income for this upcoming trip instead of paying down the debt.)

Ugh! Did I mention how much I hate paying credit card interest?

Debt tracker 07/07/08
Card 1: $43117.82 (8.99%)
Card 2: $30652.25 (9.99%)
Card 3: $14999.99 (11.24%)

Total CC Debt: $88,770.06

July Sales so far

July 12th, 2008 at 12:20 am

Well I thought I'd update my July sales on Ebay so far. Nothing close to June's but I have sold four items so far and today I sold one for $49.99 so total net income for July is $76.49!

I'll take it! I have two more items listed right now and will continue to list items this weekend that I can find around the house. I have some more old computer stuff so I just keep listing it when I come across it in my home office or in the basement. The more the merrier!

Smile

Closed three credit cards today!

July 9th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

Well that felt great! I closed three credit cards today because two were going to charge me an annual fee within the next 7 days (I figured it based on the past annual fees) and the third one already had (and I called to see if they would waive it...they didn't so I closed it.)

It felt good! I was told I will get confirmation letters in the mail for the accounts so I'm going to wait for those but I'm all excited to shred the shackles.

I'm not going to be shy about who:

Goodbye AMEX Hilton Hhonors Plat
Goodbye AMEX Delta Skymiles Gold
Goodbye Household Bank Mastercard

I saved $134 in upcoming annual fees and $39 in additional annual fees so now I wait (all the cards were zero balanced for months on end so I'm not worried about getting charges...though I will look over the statements like a hawk!)

I also used up just about all my Sky Miles so nothing went to waste. The Hhonors points went into a Silver plan (I talked with Hilton before doing this and they verified the points will stay.) I'm just glad I got to avoid the annual fees. When you're $88k in debt like we are the last thing you need is ridiculous charges like this adding to the problem.

OK well I thought I'd post to celebrate. I'm waiting for the wife to come home so I can shred these suckers (she'll enjoy this.)

Smile

Another chunk out!

July 8th, 2008 at 12:28 am

Well I thought I'd post that Weds we get paid but I have decided to take a chunk out of the ugly debt monster today (scheduled it for Weds.) I'll make the $700 payment on Card 1 and a nice plush $2269.14 payment on Card 3 to bring the total debt down!

Here's the updated debt tracker:

Debt tracker 07/07/08
Card 1: $43117.82 (8.99%)
Card 2: $30411.06 (9.99%)
Card 3: $14999.99 (11.24%)

$88528.87 down from $91498.01! Yippie. So since 04/30/08 the starting point was $109361.82 so we've knocked out nearly $21000 in 2.5 months! I love seeing that Card 3 under 15k Smile.

OK some payments made

July 2nd, 2008 at 05:54 pm

Well I ended up paying on some bills that were due. When I get paid on the 9th I'll be able to pay on some debt in the debt tracker and push that $5000 out to a savings account before we go to Hawaii.

Here's what got paid:
Maids $140
CC X $39 (Another Annual Fee!)
CC Y $60 (Another Annual Fee!)
Landscaper $130 (weed and fertilizer treatment for the grass)
Grass Cutting $79
Trash $84

So $100 wasted on annual fees (both cards will be closed right after the payments post) and $210 spent on the grass (it's growing and it does look good..but a ways to go.)

It's amazing how much money you can waste on fees. I'm loathing credit card companies more and more with each passing day.

Retained Earnings Check

July 1st, 2008 at 07:19 pm

Well I got my check that I thought was going to be $5401 and it ended up being $5590 so now I've got the Hawaii money in cash to use while we're out there. The Mrs. will be buying some luggage, some clothes and I may pay a bill or two in the next few days but I would like to earmark at least $5000 of it for the trip.

We get paid next Weds so 8 days away but this definately lets me rest easy knowing the funds are there to go. Hopefully we come away with some money but I'm not going to budget out any of it for anything other than this trip.