The Odd, Tangled and Organized Life

I have been wanting to buy new living room furniture for awhile. My current couch and recliner are over 10 years old. My recliner is no longer safe for someone of my girth to sit in. Probably isn’t safe for my skinny son to sit in either, but he does. It is permanently in the recline position. It has lost so many screws and I think the springs are all shot. So, it’s time to replace it, at the very least.  My couch is too big for the space I have it in, and it doesn’t recline, meaning if I want my feet up, I have to put them on the ottoman or sit sideways. Neither way is very comfortable. I made the decision this past year that when I get my stocks from my employer, I’m going to sell them right away. I don’t have any business being in the stock market – I don’t understand it and knowing me, I’ll forget about the stocks. So I’m going to sell them and use the money to buy a new love seat that will fit in my living room and recliner. Now, before you buy something...

Good morning from snowy Minnesota! We had a snowstorm yesterday and now we have blowing wind and snow. Things have been up and down this week. My total debt is up a little because I got some credit card statements in and had to add interest charges. So I am up to $17,796.73 for total debt owed. Not bad. I have paid off $674.22 so far since Christmas. Which I am ecstatic about! My savings total is $75.65. I did sell an item yesterday (a stencil for Stampin' Up from my mom's collection). I also sold a pattern, but I'm not going to see that money until Tuesday at the earliest. And who knows, I may be able to list more items on my Etsy shop which will decrease the amount I got for the sale. Oh well. All a part of business. Got my student loan interest statement, so I was able to plug that number into my taxes. Still waiting for a couple of documents, but I should be able to file the first week of February. I have a lovely 3 day weekend this week. Means more time I can s...

Finally got my bill from my therapist's office - I'm adding $173.04 to my total. The new total is $18,223.51. I also added $.82 to my savings with Stash Your Cash. I had to go to the grocery store last night because we needed milk, pumpkin and Pringles were on sale and Mom needs more empty Pringles cans. Sold a Longaberger piece today and sent $20.35 to savings. New savings total is $22.15. I don't let the rises in my total debt to get me down. I know this amount is going to go up and go down. My goal is to have it go down each month. But on a daily basis, if it goes up because of interest owing on a credit card, or my therapist bills adding to my debt, so be it. I can't get discouraged, no matter what. I mean, look at it this way - my total is still less than when I started. And that's encouraging. Even with my recent draining of my savings - I know that number is going to go up. I am constantly learning how to be better with my money. How to improve my bil...

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...