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Late last month, I got a call from Global Credit & Collections offering to settle the balance on my Capital One debt. They termed it a “debt reduction,” but same thing. Based on my $6000 balance at the time of the call, they were offering to reduce it to $4800 if I could pay half of it on the spot, and then we would work out a payment plan for the remainder. I turned it down.
I knew this call was coming, and I knew I should have been saving for the day, but that just wasn’t happening, just like pulling $2400 out of my ass wasn’t happening. In the grand scheme of things, even if I had that much money in my account for other things, I’m not sure if a $1200 savings on an interest-free debt would have been worth screwing myself over for a few months. I’d basically be starting over from scratch.
I also nearly agreed to increase my monthly payment from $200 to $500. I had my budget open during the negotiations, so I knew I might be able to swing it, but would I really want to? Probably not. I finally told the guy that we should probably just forget the call ever happened, and to stick with my current payment arrangements for now.
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From April 3 to May 1, my net worth increased an average of $28.51 per day, or $798.27 overall, to -$51,221.81. This is a 1.56% increase, and results in a projected zero net worth on 9/9/2014.
This included scooter tire replacement and kickstand repair, so I’ll take it. More to talk about soon (oh boy!), and remember, patience is a virtue.
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From March 3 to April 3, my net worth increased an average of $28.92 per day, or $896.52 overall, to -$52,020.08. This is a 1.72% increase, and results in a projected zero net worth on 8/22/2014.
As recently discussed in last month’s comments, my financial situation is pretty damn stable right now, hence the lack of posts. I’m running on autopilot, and instead of staring at numbers and fiddling with things every day, I just don’t think about money much anymore. Which leaves little to write about. That’s a good thing, right?
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From February 2 to March 3, my net worth increased an average of $43.46 per day, or $1,260.20 overall, to -$52,916.60. This is a 2.38% increase, and results in a projected zero net worth on 8/1/2014.
Insert pretty table right here… or not.
A Pretty Table
Not surprisingly, since the majority of my net worth is debt, I hit the same milestone here this month, with an overall change from May 2009 of 10,010.22. Just barely.
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A couple of clicks here, a couple of checks written there, spread it out over about a year and what have you got? Ten thousand dollars less debt, that’s what! Only $54,000 or so to go.
Okay, when you put it like that, it sounds a little less exciting. One could also say 16% but that doesn’t make for much of a milestone. What’s more important is how I got here. Over the past month and a half I’ve been working on rule #1 of the YNAB way – to stop living paycheck to paycheck. This meant moving to a monthly budget, which I wasn’t really accustomed to. I thought my old system was better for me, because I was hanging on to my money longer by waiting until the paycheck before (or right on) the due date to make a payment. I also tend to see others ponder greatly over what to do with triple-paycheck months, almost as much as I see folks decide what to do with their tax refund, and figured I was avoiding that conundrum by living paycheck to paycheck.
I’ve been seeing my budget in a whole new light now, but one problem I ran in to is the fact that most of my payments are right at the beginning or the end of the month. End of month due dates aren’t so much a problem, because I have all month to pay them, but it would be really difficult to build a one-month buffer when you’re making payments a few days before the end of the month so that they get there by their due date… at the beginning of next month.
The solution? Somehow I managed to get all of my bills paid ahead by two months. Or one month, depending on how you look at it. On average, the due dates are now 65 days away. Through the magic of spreadsheets, that works out to a total of $1,300 ahead, which is actually a pretty useless number because I’m going to keep those due dates that far away. The lone exception is Capital One, which I have no control over, and as such can’t pay ahead. I still can’t figure out where I got the money to do that, but knowing that I somehow had the cash to do so makes me a little more optimistic about everything.
And, to top it all off, I have now achieved rule #1 of the YNAB way. My buffer is fully funded, and I am officially no longer living paycheck to paycheck. I have $84.81 left to budget in March, solely from February’s income, and that not only includes random minuscule savings here and there, but also $140 (just a guesstimate) for a new back tire on the scooter. The scooter that I hope to get back out on the road this week.
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