International Region, Women in Red Racers

[el1504]

Ok so the dust has settled from our trip and buying a new house and it turns out we have new credit card debt of $3,400

I know thats small by some of the numbers on this board but it does freak me out a bit. I still have my temporary promotion, which will hopefully be advertised permanently soon (and hopefully I win it) which gives us around $400 odd per fortnight to pay off the debt and I am about to get a pay rise of 3% (regardless of what job I'm in) so if I remain in this job and get the pay rise we should be able to put $500 a fortnight into getting rid of the debt. 7 pays that actually doesn't seem to bad. As long as murphy doesn't come to visit and I can make DH stop wanting new things!

[Deleted]

Hi El!

How is your savings doing? Could you contribute one pay's worth of debt payments just to "kickstart" things?

Does that include the money you owe your family (sorry can't remember who)?

In any case, take a deep breath, because it could have been a LOT worse! You will be fine!

But, as you know, better to take the bull by the horns! There will be a million wants, get that paid off sooner rather than later, you won't regret it.

AND CONGRATS ON THE NEW HOUSE!!!

[Deleted]

I know I'm not "racing" but after next month's payments, we will owe less than 30K for Rental 1! That's for the reno loan and the mortgage (ie lines 1 and 2 in my signature.)

[redruby]

50-100K Club Update as of 6/25/2012.

notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=redracers&thread=11190&page=4

[el1504]

Hi DH - This is actually our only (non-mortgage) debt . At the moment we have about $8,000 in the bank for the bills, insurance etc and I don't really want to touch that - I allocate money to all items every fortnight inculding yearly bills like house and car insurance. But you did remind me that in August it is a 3 pay month so one of those pays I can put towards the debt.

In reality the amount of debt that I am stressing about is just over what we give to the bank every month for the mortgage (remember Australia's housing market not like everywhere elses!). So If I pay $500 a fornight for 4 pays then $1,500 the last pay in August we have actually paid off the debt compleately by the end of August...

We then have 8 pays to save up to change the water heater hopefully at the beginning of january when our water provider has to assist homeowners to change to energy efficient appliances.

This could work!

[shanendoah]

The 25-50k List has been updated
notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=redracers&thread=11191&page=3

We had TWO more graduates- twinmama85 from the West and jerseyGirlinFlorid from the South. That takes us to 17 graduates in the last year- almost a complete turnover of the list! Way to go.

This update also has ravenhaired from the Northeast working her way onto our list. She's already paid off almost 1/3 of her debt. We can't wait to see even more of it disappear.

[Deleted]

Sounds like a plan El! August is JUST around the corner!

[el1504]

Thanks for listening DH!

And way to go on soon to be under 30k. Thats a great milestone to reach and you have done it through some very tough times.

[bankergurl]

$100K Club updated as of 6/28/12! $27,054.95 paid off this week!
- Congrats to Nasagreen from the South for GRADUATING from the $100K Club! YEAH!
- Congrats to Banker Gurl from the Midwest for paying off over $45K!
- One Leapfrog this week, Wudnit from the Northeast!
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=redracers&thread=11187&page=3

[Deleted]

I just applied for an AMAZING job, to complement my main job.

There were three options: regular classes in Paris (no can do because I'm fully booked for regular classes), regular classes in an eastern suburb 2h from me (ditto, plus the commute).

OR, seven-hour days in Paris and / or suburbs, or in Brittany, or in the north of France. I CAN do that, occasionally.

But, the ad wasn't clear about whether they needed somebody to do those seven-hour days FT, PT or just occasionally, so I called to ask. The woman said they are looking for three or four people who can do at least one day per month each. I can definitely do that, and even a second day.

So I applied! However, so did a LOT of other people on this post-grad English teacher mailing list ... she told me she got 30 responses in less than 12 hours! That's no surprise, they pay 400e (about $500) per day! But we had a good rapport on the phone, and she told me to be sure to mention that we had spoken on the phone in my email. So I did.

Fingers crossed! If I could do a day there once a month, it would be AMAZING!

[el1504]

That would be great if you get it DH. How many hours are you working per week these days?

Not racing the debt but we now owe $2761 down from $3400.
* We have $16000 in the bank $6500 of which is savings for some house renovations;
* We are paying $700 per month off the balance of the mortgage

After some times when I was very anxious about the money stuff I am feeling that we are in much better shape.

We need to save:
* $2,000 by January 2013 (water heater)
* $5,000 by May 2013 (heating)
* $4,000 by July 2013 (roof repairs)

[Deleted]

Hi El

It seems like you are doing great! That 2.7K will be gone in no time! And the way you are going, you should definitely be able to save those amounts by the time you need them! And WELL DONE on 16.5K in the bank, that's fantastic!!!

My work hours went down radically after 15 June, because it's the end of the school year. Happily my Admin students are happy to continue through mid-July, at which point I have to stop for the summer (per my boss). It's only about four hours a week, but it's very well-paid. Most of my colleagues stopped their Admin hours in early or mid-June but if I can continue to earn 150-200e per week obviously I am thrilled!

Unfortunately one student cancelled me two weeks in a row. Yesterday I sat on a Jury for five hours and I'll be paid for that too (although the hourly rate is much lower for that than for teaching).

This new, occasional job would be as of September. I REALLY hope they call me.

I've been busy catching up on medical appts for DH / DS3 / me. DH is scheduled for more surgery for his hand at the end of September. It will be his sixth operation, and there will probably be more. DH is no longer progressing with the PT, so it's time for more surgery. We knew this was coming. We are happy and grateful that Gd willing DH's hand will continue to improve. He and the surgeon always greet each other like long-lost friends, it is very moving.

[Deleted]

Message deleted by debthaven2.

[Deleted]

OK, less than six months later, here we go again ... one of our bank loans didn't go through. I had some cash at home so I deposited it. It will be credited on Mon or Tues so the loan will go through then.

I was hoping to hang on through the summer because I will get a very good paycheck at the end of July, and come September I will be working more. But I will probably have to access my very last savings account, the one I swore I would NEVER touch.

We have exactly 3.5 years left on the expensive rental. DH says we have managed to "wing it" this far, we can "wing it" for another 3.5 years. I am really torn.

[el1504]

Does your DH have a plan other than wing it? will you both be able to make enough in July to cover August and September?

[Deleted]

In July, yes. In August, I will not earn enough, DH will.

ETA: Hence the fact that I'll probably need to dip into that savings acct.

[bankergurl]

$100K Club updated as of 7/8/12! $13,463.01 paid off this week! Great job! I am sad to say we are down to under 20 members now, when I started doing the $100K updates back on the MSN boards we had nearly 60 members...and only 9 have graduated. I know it's tough, I am on the list too! But don't give up!! Keep moving in the right direction and even if you go up, just keep posting. It will help you keep your head in the game, and stay focused on your goals!! Keep up the great work!
- Congrats to Lark from the Northeast for paying off over $25K!
- Congrats to DebtFreeRedux from the South for paying off over $25K and for paying off over 10% of their debt!
- Congrats to pay-no-interest from the South for paying off over $260K!
- One Leapfrog, pay-no-interest from the South!

www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=redracers&action=display&thread=11187&page=3

[Minnesotagirl7]

Lex- Keep up the great work!
ZsDebt- Can't wait to see your numbers going down again!

[Minnesotagirl7]

Smiley update!!!


=$100, ;D =$500, =$1,000, =$5,000, = $10,000, =$25,000, = $75,000, = $100,000, =$200,000, = Location Needed

Lexpenguin: 5/21/12 $375,911.27 (2/22/12 $399,438.93 IPT41) ;D
ZsDebt: 6/1/12 $36,441.18 (1/7/2010 $59,198.18 IU16) ;D



debtheaven[4]: 2/23/11 $0 (11/25/2009 $11,500 I257) ;D
financiallyfreeinbc: 12/24/10 $0 (1/5/2010 $28,343.05 IU13) ;D
EL1504[2]: 5/26/11 $0 (3/19/2010 $6,751.42 IU62)
Idawngirl: 12/1/11 $0(1/4/2010 $27,993 IU10) ;D
InDebtYogini: 11/14/11 $0 (9/19/2007 $14,490.83 N559)
Writer88: 1/4/11 $0 (12/21/2006 $27,917 IU51) ;D

[Deleted]

Just to say that today I got my list of classes for next year (but not my exact schedule). I will be doing 16 hours a week at my school over 3 days (compared to 10.5 this year over 2 days). Plus 2 hours a week private lessons, in the same place (brother and sister). So a total of 18 regular hours a week instead of 12.

In addition to that I have:
- my occasional adult ed job (definite)
- an occasional job teaching / testing French primary school teachers who teach English (supposedly definite)
- The end-of-year Oral Interviews at my school and another school (definite)
- I applied for that monthly one-day training session job ()
- I JUST applied for another occasional job (Oral Examiner) ()

So Gd willing financially I should be fine! I hope I get at least one of the two jobs I applied for.

[zsdebt]

ZsDebt: 07/10/2012, $35,467.90 (1/7/2010, $59,198.18, IU16)

Starting debt (1/7/2010)	Current (7/10/2012)
Loan 1: 8,381.28	0
CC 1: 1,935.71	0
CC 2: 3,312.03	0
CC 3: 2,948.52	0
CC 4: 5,926.85	0
CC 5: 0	8,162.13
LoC: 9,928.32	5,760.21
Student loan 1: 19,852.79	15,849.55
Student loan 2: 6,912.68	5,696.01
Total: $59,198.18	35,467.90

Total paid: 23,730.10

Yah! It's going down now! So we've moved in and SOME renos are going on. So I suspect these numbers won't go down too much, given all the expenses we have to incur. (ie. The toilet was disgusting when we moved in, so we had to replace it! Our washing machine… the tenants/owner put paint thinner in it. Essentially ruining our washer. I feel like expenses keep piling up!! I hope July will be a better month.. Fingers crossed!!!

[ldawngirl]

Well, unfortunately I'm back in the race! Here's the damage from the past few months with the house purchase and what not:

ldawngirl: 07/11/2012, $8,328.57

VISA (1.9% balance transfer) - $616.27
Mastercard (18.99% interest) - $7,712.30

(It's been a while... let me know if I did the tag wrong or anything).

I've decided not to race the car debt, as I don't really have an issue with that loan, but it's the credit card debt that kills me.

But, we are finally all moved into the house and things are going well. There are a few little issues that we have noticed since moving in that hubby can fix easily enough. So hopefully here on out we can buckle down and start paying off the debt. I haven't done up a plan yet as to how much we can pay towards the debt each month though. Until we've been in the house for a month or two, I won't know all the various bill amounts and when they come out, so until then, we'll just put what we can towards the debt and live frugally.

We will be getting our damage deposit back from our apartment (about $500), and the lawyer said we'll be due to get some money back from him as well (he has to take a certain amount for interest, but then once everything is paid and done, he pays us back the amount that wasn't needed for interest - could be anywhere from $200 to $800). We also made sure to pay off my mom first thing, as we owed her $2,000, so that's done.

I have been walking to and from work (about 35-40 minutes each way), which saves us money on transportation, plus it's great exercise!

I'm also going to phone and see if I can get my VISA limit increased, as I can do a balance transfer with 1.9% interest, so the debt isn't sitting on the Mcard, which has stupid interest.

Anyhoo, that's all the news here. Hubby loves the house and I'm still adjusting. It's a much bigger adjustment for me, as I'm going from a 3 minute walk to work, to a 35 minute walk (he drives), so it's a bigger change for me. Plus the cc debt is driving me nutso, so I'll feel better and able to enjoy the house more once that is gone.

Hope everyone else is doing well. I'll read through all the posts and comment later!

UPDATE: We have been able to get a lot of stuff for cheap or free. My mom moved from her house to an apartment in February, so she gave us a ton of tools and a ladder for free. We got a lawn mower and weed eater off kijiji for cheap, and garden hoses for free from someone on freecycle. I've been watching freecycle like a hawk!

We did wind up getting new bedroom furniture for full price, as DH and I are both picky and we wanted something that would last us for a long time, so while we got a good deal on the dressers, there was that added expensive. Plus, we couldn't get our queen box spring up the stairs in the new house, so we had to buy a new split box spring. Thankfully we sold the old one to partially cover the cost of the new one. And my friend's dad was able to get us a good deal on that (we have to wait until it comes in though, which should be any day now, but we saved over $50 versus going to the store that had one in stock).

So I think now we're done buying stuff. We want to paint some rooms eventually, but I got a Groupon deal for paint awhile back, so we'll use those.

[shanendoah]

The 25-50k List has been updated.

In the last two weeks, the ladies on this list have paid off over $9,000
We had one graduate- One Step Closer from the West
We welcomed new member ilkh from the Midwest
We had three leapfroggers-mcreal, cherit and Zsdebt

[Deleted]

Zs
Congrats on moving in, and the debt going down despite all the mishaps and renos!

Idawn
I'm sure you will knock that out soon! Well done for getting so many things cheaply or for free!

It would be great if you could do a BT because that's a pretty steep interest rate. I know the debt won't hang around for long but every little bit helps!

Job update
Tomorrow is my last day for the summer.
I was accepted for the Oral Examiner job I just applied for! But the training day won't be till Jan or Feb. In exchange for the free training, I have to work a half day for free during each of the exam periods (Dec, March, May-June). But it's easy work, close to home, a good hourly rate, and it will look good on my CV. And some extra money is better than none!

I haven't heard from that fantastically well-paid one-day-a month-job. At this point I probably won't.

[ldawngirl]

DH - Congrats on the oral examiner job! You never know - you may still hear from the other job! Sometimes these things take longer than we expect.

I got paid today and was doing some math and I think we can even have the MasterCard debt under $5,000 right away, plus the balance transfer, so I think by the end of July we can get it to $3,500 (but then of course, more debt will be on the Visa, but at that interest rate, it's not as big of a deal). I know it'll be tight, but I will feel sooooo much better once it's gone.

[Deleted]

That's great progress Idawn! I'd still look into lowering the rate on that card though, and increasing the amount on the other, low-interest card. Even though you are now in paying off debt mode, it could come in handy down the road.

Sometimes these things take longer than we expect.
This is very true! Some people put out job ads right before they go on vacation. I hate not knowing though. I'd rather hear "no thanks" than wait for a response that may never come.

I also find that sometimes employers don't respond so they can keep their options open. I applied to a couple of carpy jobs in Feb when I was very worried about work. I got two emails / phone calls in May and June asking me to come in for an interview the next working day! Um, thanks but no thanks, I'm no longer free, I applied three / four months ago. Of course I was polite.

I was tempted to contact the woman from that job to see where things stand, but given the above example, I probably won't.

ETA: Not sure if I mentioned this, but I put another set of books up on amazon. I've sold three so far, three more to go. I bought a LOT of books a friend recommended when I started teaching but never used them. Thankfully I bought them used. I just want to get what I can and have the extra space on my shelves. I'm trying to get rid of them before new editions make mine obsolete.

[ldawngirl]

Too funny DH - just before we moved I posted a bunch of old textbooks on amazon as well! I sold two on amazon and one on kijiji. I'm still waiting for amazon to pay me, but that's an extra $120 or so. Plus, I was reimbursed for some of those textbooks from work, so it's kind of bonus money!

[Deleted]

That's a nice chunk of change Idawn! My books were all much less expensive!

Today I got the schedule for two of my "extra" jobs for next year. One is significantly more hours than I thought it would be, which is sort of worrying me.

[Deleted]

Hi Chef!

He's gone as far as he can go with the PT now, hence the next op in Sept. They want to "free the tendons" to "unhook" his fourth finger, and give him a better grip / "fist".

His palm is partly paralyzed though, so in another year or so once all the nerves have grown back, there will probably be another op then to redirect the nerves (if they can, they're not sure).

It's a long, slow, ongoing process, but at least there is hope that his hand will continue to get a bit better.

Thanks for asking.

[bankergurl]

$100K Club updated as of 7/15/12! Just one update this week, but it was a great one from CrazyLady14 from the MW! $4,478.00 knocked out this week! Awesome!
- Congrats CrazyLady14 for paying off over $35K and for paying off over 25%!!
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=redracers&thread=11187&page=3