Shoe lust

I broke my resolve yesterday and bought a pair of shoes. That goes against my rule of not buying clothes, but Macy’s has all of their clearance shoes an extra 50% off, so I couldn’t resist. The pair I bought–trendy high-heel oxfords (see pic)–were originally $99 and I got them for $25. I’ve been sooooo good these past two months, I felt I deserved a treat. So there you go.

Today’s horoscope (Libra)

Your creativity will reach new heights. Explore different avenues of art or music that will allow you to express your individuality.

Clipping coupons

I used to clip coupons regularly, a la my mom, who was the coupon and refunding queen in the day. With life so hectic though in the past few years, I’ve gotten away from this practice. However, I recently took it up again and today during a major Target run, I saved $7.65 in coupons! A couple of the toiletry items are things that I don’t need right away, but the coupon was about to expire, so I bought them. I should be stocked up for a while. The key to coupons: look for coupons for things you already buy. I tend to be pretty brand-loyal, so I am always looking for coupons for my favorite toilet paper, laundry detergent, cat food, toothpaste, etc. And watch out for food coupons–it seems that most of them are for expensive processed foods. Again, I search for coupons for the items I always buy (yogurt, etc.) and leave the ones for the stuff I wouldn’t normally buy. This way, I don’t end up spending a lot more on expensive (even with the coupon) food products.

Minus $61!

I just got the hardcopy of my Sears bill and they removed the late fee that had shown up on my online account. (I didn’t even have to ask–wow!) So my progress from last month is minus $61, not $35. A little better! I’ve updated my current status to reflect this.

Vacation aborted

Well, as I previously reported, I was supposed to take a week-long vacation in Florida at the beginning of this month. But instead of squirting SPF 45 on my pale bod and sipping icy drinks next to the pool, I’m sitting in my home office in cold, rainy Indianapolis. This ain’t Florida. What happened, you ask?

Here’s the story: My sister and I were to fly out of Fort Wayne on a cut-rate airline. We got a great price on a hotel and flight package and the flight was to be nonstop. We were psyched. However, when we checked in with the airline Thursday evening, we were told that there would be a “slight” delay from the 7:05 departure time. No biggie. It got to be 8 p.m. and still no plane. The airline brought in pizza and told us that we should be outta there by 10 p.m.–the plane had some minor mechanical issues, but would be flying in from Florida soon. The plane arrived around midnight, but the departure time was reset to 1 a.m. Finally, at 3 a.m., with my fellow travelers getting more and more restless, the flight was cancelled. While waiting for the mechanical issues to be resolved, the weather had worsened so much (snow was coming down all evening) that the plane was grounded. To make a long story short, it was nearly impossible to get a cab (my sister and I really wanted to go back to her house and sleep) and by the time we got to my sister’s house it was 6:30 in the morning! The flight had been rescheduled to leave at 1:30 Friday afternoon, but we were so miserable and exhausted, we weren’t up for fighting through the snow again to get back to the airport at 11 a.m. So we said screw it. Our refund is in the mail.

The one good thing out of all this is that I’ll be able to pay my sister back more quickly for the money I had to borrow from her for my paint job! (Yes, I totally overextended myself with the vacation and paint job.) It was humbling, but I asked to borrow $1500 from her a few weeks ago. And it was difficult, because I haven’t borrowed any significant amount of money from anyone since college. Before, I probably would have just borrowed the $15oo against my credit cards. But I asked, and my sister didn’t scold me or make me feel like a loser. She was gracious and kind, and I realize now that it’s OK to ask for help.

Minus $35??!

I’m feeling a little disappointed now… after all of my hard work last month, I’ve only reduced my debt by $35.09!! The main reason: I charged some things right before the end of the year and those little sprees are showing up on my statements now. Also, I have two recurring charges on my Sears bank card ($40 and $35 per month) that I need to move to my checking account. On top of that, I had a $39 late fee tagged onto my Sears card (don’t worry, I’m going to call and get it removed). I just added up all the interest I accumulated last month: $313.75. I paid out a total of $984.99, so about one-third of my payments out was set off by $314 in new interest charges. Ridiculous. This is the perfect illustration of how insidious credit cards are.

On the bright side, I paid off my Kohl’s charge and haven’t used my cards at all since the beginning of the year (save for the two recurring charges). So far this month, I’ve paid off my J Crew and Ann Taylor cards. I would like to get my Macy’s paid off this month too. Then I can start tackling the big dogs: Banana and my bank cards.