Living thrifty

I feel like I’m loaded lately. I do make a decent salary and now that I’ve cut back on some of my expenses, I’m realizing how much money I do bring in. Imagine how much I’ll have once I am free of my credit card debts!

I recently read in Newsweek about the proliferation of blogs on living thrifty. One blog mentioned in the article is http://bethriftylikeus.blogspot.com. I checked it out–these people are serious. The wife (the blog features a couple) saves all kinds of money by using coupons she finds on the Internet and taking advantage of sales–often she ends up getting things for a ridiculously low price or even for free. Her weekly grocery budget is $30 (for her, her husband and their baby). Wow!! She’s not above trash-picking either. I think I have much to learn. 

Anyway, I feel that I made some good progress this month. I just got my tax refund ($2100) and used it to pay an extra $1000 on my Sears card (the interest rate is so high on that card–so this payment should help). I also just put my last payment to my sister in the mail. Yeah! I met some of my other goals for this month: my Banana card balance is now below $2000 ($1953.99) and I transferred one of my recurring payments from my Sears card to my debit card. I’ll pay my Macy’s card off this week too. I can’t wait to add up my new balances and see where I stand.

Today’s horoscope (Libra)

Hmmm… this seems to be in conflict with yesterday’s horoscope. Now I’m supposed to throw all caution to the wind, budget be damned?

Commandeer plans to expand your financial base. Do not hesitate to take a chance on a highly speculative or creative venture.

Today’s horoscope (Libra)

I have noticed that my horoscopes often are money- and debt-related. Is it common for Libras to have money issues? Here’s today’s horoscope:

Follow decisive steps to get out of debt and balance your budget. Welcome advice from knowledgeable friends who can help you achieve this goal.

A breakthrough?

Ironically, I go to a mall for my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. I’ve been doing this (with a few breaks) for almost a year now. I find it amusing that while finding help for one obsession (food) I am totally setting myself up for failure with my other obsession (shopping). This setup, I’m sure, is one of the reasons by Banana card exploded this past year. Before 2007, it had never been over $1,000. It is just too easy to stop into Banana and pick up a few things after my WW meeting.

Today, after my WW meeting, knowing that Banana had just marked down a bunch of its early spring clothes, I stopped in. Just to look. It’s funny how you have a different mindset when you know you can spend only cash. Before, I would have probably grabbed a bunch of stuff and quickly checked out with my Banana card before heading back to work. But today, I browsed a bit, thinking maybe I would buy a top to supplement my existing spring wardrobe… and I ended up buying nothing. As I looked at the price tags, I found myself hesitating. It wasn’t because the merchandise wasn’t cute. I just didn’t want to spend the cash. Wow.

Swedish Style

I found out last week that the Swedish purveyor of cheap home chic, IKEA, has opened a new store in Cincinnati. That’s a quick, easy 1.5 hour drive for me. Oh, I want to go!! I went to the one in Chicago probably about six years ago–I was broke then, too, so I held my purchases to just $50. Not easy when you’re surrounded by a warehouse full of cute, stylish stuff! Maybe I’ll allocate a small amount of my tax refund to an IKEA run.

Making progress

I just added up my new balances and I’m down $900 since I began this project at the beginning of the year. Not bad, although I wish I could make bigger dents in my cards. I still haven’t moved the recurring charge from my Sears Mastercard to my debit card, so the payment I made last month was offset by the $75 in new purchases and the $106 in new interest (ulp!). This past month I generated over $260 in new interest–that just kills me. It is so true that when you carry a credit card balance you end up paying for the items you purchased perhaps multiple times over. Many times I have used my Banana or Macy’s card to get a discount. Well, you don’t really get a discount if you don’t pay off the balance right away. This clever ploy is just a way for these companies to extract more money from poor suckers’ wallets. Lesson engraved on my brain!

Goals for March:

• I still owe my sister over $500. Get most of that paid off.
• Pay off Macy’s.
• Get Banana balance under $2000.
• Call Sears and request interest rate to be lowered.
• Move recurring payments to debit card!