The Odd, Tangled and Organized Life

The end of another year. I'm looking forward to 2020. Yes, I'm taking some radical steps in order to have money in my savings and reduce my debt, but these are goals l I have and I'm going to make. First goal: raise $5000 in savings. Shouldn't be too terribly difficult. I'm currently sending $25 a paycheck to my savings account and all my debit purchases are being rounded up to the nearest dollar and the difference is being put in my savings account. My credit union calls it "Stash Your Cash". Also, every bit of money I make off my side hustles are being put into savings and at the end of each paycheck, any extra money in my main checking account will be put into my savings account, effectively ensuring I only spend within the means of that paycheck. Yes - radical steps. But with these rules in place, I have the potential and the power to save money every paycheck. So far, I have $80.01 saved. Now, that amount is going to go up when I get my tax refund...

Great news - I added $.69  to my savings account thanks to using my debit card. That brings my total in savings to $80.01. I haven't spent any money today - Yay me! You may wonder why I celebrate every time I put something into savings or pay down the slightest of bills. The truth is I'm changing my mindset about money. Money is often seen as evil. Or the root of all evil. But, how can something that helps us buy food to eat and pay for the roof over our heads be evil? Why is it evil to want to buy something that will make us happy? Money is not evil! If we didn't use money to purchase the things we want, what would we use? The barter system doesn't work because it is the perceived value of one thing vs the perceived value of another thing. Jen Sincero explains it better. She's written a few books - You are a BadAss, You are a BadAss at Making Money and You are a BadAss Every Day. I haven't read the 3rd book yet, but I plan to. She is powerfully motivating...

I made some money today! I sold a couple small Longaberger items, so I was able to add $7.44 to my savings. And because of money I spent yesterday, $1.29 was transferred from my checking into savings. So my savings grand total is now $79.32. Only $4920.68 to go! I was also able to clean a large portion of my house today. I found a lot of things that can be put on Facebook to sell. One person's junk is another person's treasure. That's why garage sales are so successful. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the kitchen and my office. The living room is somewhat clean already. Maybe just some vacuuming. However, I will have an expense coming my way I was hoping to avoid. My downstairs toilet has been running constantly when you use it, unless you go in and pull up on the arm inside the tank. Well, I was planning on having a plumbing company come out and fix it, but when I was at Walmart, I found the piece I think I needed. And tried to install it myself with my son's he...

Today is payday! It is a day I love (because I get money), but also hate (because I have to pay bills). So, let's break it down. Good news - yesterday I finished an order for some planner stickers for a friend and she paid me. So, I have $27.89 going directly into my savings account. Yay! And I had $17.70  left in my bank account prior to today. So that's going into the savings account, too. My paycheck this week was $1035.33. $250 goes into the grocery account and $25 goes into my savings account. My phone bill was automatically debited - $71.45. I paid the monthly minimum on my Christopher and Banks Credit Card - $37.00 Paid off an overdue medical bill - $81.48 And other than my mortgage, that's all I have to pay off this paycheck. I'll make my mortgage payment on the 1st, after I get my VA benefit check. So, right now I have about $356.68 left. I'm going to get my nails done on Monday, so that will take out $35.00. So $321.68 to start paying next pa...

Have you ever wished for New Year’s to be the day after Christmas? This year, I wish it were true. I do not want to wait a week to get my life back in order. Which is why I published my first post before the first of the year. I simply did not want to wait. Plus, today is payday and I want to start putting my new plan into action. It's hard to be at work today. There’s a lot of stuff I want to do at home to get ready for the new year. Clean, organize, start posting stuff to sell. I have a lot of knit and crochet things I want to list on Etsy. I like starting off the new year with a clean house. I took New Year’s Eve off work so I could clean my house from top to bottom. I plan on re-organizing things and make better use of the space I have. I will probably also be cleaning this weekend. Not because my house is so big I can’t clean it in one day, but because I want to start going through cupboards and getting rid of things I don’t need or use. But this is a blog about ...

All the money saving gurus say that you need to have an emergency savings account. How much is in there depends on who you listen to. I'm going to start with $5000. So I've added a little tally of how much I have saved so far - $0. That's right! Like most Americans, I have no savings. Every time I get some money put away, it ends up getting spent on bills or the car, or sometimes just plain shopping. I even have it set up where I put away $25 every 2 weeks (on the day I get paid as a recurring transfer) and every time I use my debit card, the amount I spend gets rounded up to the next dollar and the difference gets put into savings. Have I mentioned that I'm not that great with money? It's all going to change, though. I have a set dollar amount set. Once I have that money saved, I'm going to start paying down these bills. Because what's the point in paying down the bills, if you have nothing squirreled away to handle emergencies? You then use the credit ...

Hi everyone in the blogverse! I don't know if anyone still reads blogs, but here goes nothing. If anything, this will be an online diary of my journey to keep me honest and moving forwards. My name is Jen and I turned 41 in 2019. My son is a senior in high school and will be moving to live with his father far away from me. So, I will be an empty nester. What better time to improve my life? I have not been good with money in the past. Straight out of high school, I got a credit card and thus started my downward spiral into debt. Oh, I enjoyed it. Just didn't enjoy trying to pay it off. Managed to make it through college without any student loans (I don't know how I did it) and joined the Army to get money to pay for law school. Never went to law school. Probably one of the best decisions of my life, honestly. While I was in the Army, I got married and had a wonderful baby boy. Who is almost 18. Left the Army and started working as a paralegal at a law firm. Got divorce...