Women in Red Racers - West Region

[DVM gone riding]

the end of the year...so sad and excited about this next year. Hope all of my wirr friends make it over here safely from MSN. I look fwd to traveling with you again this year.
shanendoah I loved reading through your goals. since we joined at the same time and both have huge SL debt I always follow your posts closely. Hope the newyear brings great things with DH schooling and your new budget.

[mtntigger]

Hope all of my wirr friends make it over here safely from MSN.

Me too! At least the previous board will be up and running for another week and the beginning of the month & year are when posters are likely to stop by.

Just so everyone knows that the captains are on top of everything, attached is the current smileys along with the new members and the all-time winners (as of this a.m.). I'm not sure how we are going to do this in the future, but it seemed like an easy work-around for now.

I already posted this on the old board, but these are the week's shout-outs...
Cran.vodka - Way to go on your cc debt reduction and I hope by the time I post this, all of your credit cards bills are now gone.
Stormysix – Great update and I noticed that you have really increased your debt payment speed in 2010. Terrific!
Cannot-wait – I hope the posting goals on your fridge helps. I put my stretch goals up a couple years ago for the then next three years. Although I don’t pay attention to the list, I made both of these goals the last two years. Now I’m contemplating stretching my stretch goals even more.
One Step Closer – Welcome! I’m so glad that you found us and the new proboards. I know this group has helped me quite a bit in figuring out what I want to achieve and how to get there. One thing that I’ve noticed in over two years here is that if you take too big of a bite, then you may feel overwhelmed and give up. Based on what you said about your situation and your starting balance, I strongly suggest restarting with a smaller goal… a race with only 3 or 4 debts instead of 10 (for example) that you hope to pay off in 6 months or by the end of 2011. Yes, you are still paying on the other debts, but you aren’t concentrating on them. You don’t have to run a marathon to feel a sense of accomplishment. The reason? We want you to stick around and if you concentrate on 2 or 3 debts instead of 10, you will see results quicker, be more enthusiastic and you will find the $ to make the next small leap.
Mini4me – Whoo Hoo! You are now at 8.88% pay off. Did you plan that? You are doing amazing at your race!
Climbergrl/alpinista – You’ve been updated! Thanks for letting us know.
Brianna – Whoo Hoo on making your goal! And more importantly, congratulations on your little one!
Shanendoah – Happy WIRR anniversary! You did amazing on your 2010 goals and I know you’ll succeed in 2011!
Dragon – Wow, just Wow! That was ½ your year-end payment? Good for you since I know you’re facing a balloon-payment not that far away. You are doing fantastic!
Alrighty all… that’s the end of 2010. The old boards are going to be closed on January 7th. If you have any other updates between now and then, please post your updates to the permanent WIRR West Region board when it is started. If it isn’t set up yet, please post to both the old board and this temporary board. I don’t want to miss you!
Also, if you can, please double-check the smiley list and send me a personal message (click on the envelope below my name) so I can check and make corrections before the old boards totally disappears.

Attachments:

WIRR west latest smiley posts010111.docx.jpg (36.42 KB)

[esteroid]

Hoo boy, glad I checked on WIRR today. I'm just not a very tech-savvy person, by any means, and any change like this is a big challenge. But I THINK I got it and am ready to roll with you. Will go back and try to figure out how come you're making this change. Don't leave without me, please, please! :-)

[laramik]

My first time on this new board. Just doing some playing. How does one attach something?

[mtntigger]

Jan 1, 2011 18:05:44 GMT -5 laramik said:

My first time on this new board. Just doing some playing. How does one attach something?

Hit reply on the bottom right (no quick post) and for new posts only (not modified posts), you will see an attachment line right below the subject line.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Update:

entlzha: $2162.51 (03/13/10, $5173.10, WU94)

[rosebud30]

Update

Here's my first posting on thee new boards, so hope this works. I did meet my 2010 goal of getting below $25,000; I'm at $24,715, and 39% debt paid off. I also get my second 0 (thanks to a balance transfer of most of the card a few months ago). For 2011, my goal is to get below $16,000 by the end of the year.

rosebud30: 1/3/11 $24,714.73 (8/7/08 $40,810 W349)

Best wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year! ;D

[sealy]

Update
I'm finally going to race my 2nd car loan.

1/3/11 1/3/11 Total paid off

Car loan #2 $14,118.44 $14,118.44 $0,000.00

sealy (race #3): 1/03/11 $14,118.44 (1/03/11 $14,118.44 WU220) difference $0,000.00

I'm having trouble making this look neatly.

[sealy]

WAY TO GO rosebud

[Salalsal]

UPDATE

SalalSal 12/31/2010 $202,951.21 (11/15/09, $260,244.16, W784, WU50)

Debt	Date	Current Value	Starting Date	Starting Value	% Paid off
CC#4	12/31/2010	$43	11/15/2009	$114.39	62.51%
CC#6	12/31/2010	$81	11/30/2010	$289.29	72.13%
Truck	12/31/2010	$44,952	4/30/2010	$49,112.47	8.47%
HELOC	12/31/2010	$18,097	7/31/2010	$22,890.84	20.94%
Mortgage	12/31/2010	$139,824	11/15/2009	$146,601.94	4.62%
Total	12/31/2010	$202,995	12/1/2008	$258,446	21.42%

[Salalsal]

dvm07

The cutie avatar is 'Smokey'. He is now 7 months old and about 70# but I liked this photo.

[jsancomb01]

Here just posting to see how this new system works! I am thinking it looks easier to post and read than MSN. Guess we will see what happens.
Sounds like the volunteers may have more work to do. I really hope it does not end up that way!
Happy New Year to All!!!!

[FemaleSam]

I've been on a one week staycation (I go back to work tomorrow). The week has been great. I only did what I felt like doing which usually was only cleaning the house or reading or playing with the dog. It was really relaxing. One of the things I did do, since I had so much free time, was start going back and reading my old posts on the MSN boards. I am in the process of printing copies of my updates. It's been great to get the sense of my emotions when I started and how much better I feel about my finances now. If you have the chance (time) I recommend going back and at least reading some of your old posts before they become unavailable in a few days.

[shanendoah]

Update: shanendoah: 1/4/11 $47,262.95 (12/30/09, $71,761.03, WU7, WU73)

LOC	Current Balance	Starting Balance	Total Paid	% Paid off
Chase CC	$-	$2,171.85	$2,171.85	100.00%
BofA CC	$-	$432.55	$432.55	100.00%
LaZBoy CC	$-	$882.58	$882.58	100.00%
Care Credit	$-	$3,196.57	$3,196.57	100.00%
Car	$-	$4,771.88	$4,771.88	100.00%
GSL	$30,211.48	$42,150.85	$11,939.37	28.33%
USL	$17,051.47	$18,154.75	$1,103.28	6.08%
Total	$47,262.95	$71,761.03	$24,498.08	34.14%

Rant: 4-6 weeks ago, I called citibank, who holds my graduate student loans, to find out why my auto-deduct payment for my minimum payment didn't go through. They told me that because I had already made a larger than minimum payment during that billing cycle, they automatically cancelled my minimum payment. I told them that I never wanted them to cancel my auto-payment unless I told them to. The rest were extra payments. They said they understood my frustration, but that was how their system worked. I asked that they register my complaint higher up and then adjusted all of my additional payments accordingly.
Fast forward to today, when I log on to my bank account to find a debit from citibank for a little over $360. There are 3 problems with this.

• It is not my minimum payment amount
  
• It is not the difference between my old minimum payment and my new minimum payment
  
• It is not the amount I had scheduled to come out of my account today
  

I log on to their website to see that they still show that I have a $1500 payment scheduled for today. I changed it to $1200 because I can afford the extra $60, but not an extra $360. (Auto-payments are deducted at the start of the day, online payments come out at the end of the day.) Then I get on the phone to call citibank. According to their phone system, the $360 was my minimum payment due today.
I should note, that my billing cycle runs from the 12-11. I made a payment of $1000 on Dec 17. According to what they told me a month or so ago, that should have prevented any auto payment from being taken out of my account today (because its bigger than my minimum), which was why I had the other payment scheduled for today.
This means that they listened to my prior complaint (yay) and did not stop my auto-paymnet. Not so yay was the fact that there was no communication about this change in their policy.
And, of course, I still have to figure out where this $360 number came from.
At the moment, I am choosing to have a sense of humor about this, and to simply be glad that I check my bank account daily, especially when I am expecting charges to come through. However, changing billing/autopay practices without notifing borrowers doesn't exactly seem kosher.

[salserabarby]

Update: salsera_barby: 01/04/11 $17,113.59 (07/01/10, $25,906.10; WU150)

Debt	Date	Current Value	Starting Date	Starting Value	% Paid off
Student Loan	1/4/2011	$14,014	7/1/2010	$17,226.21	18.65%
HSBC	1/4/2011	$0	7/1/2010	$2,973.87	100.00%
School Loan	1/4/2011	$3,100	7/1/2010	$5,706.02	45.67%
Total	1/4/2011	$17,114	7/1/2010	$25,906.10	33.94%

Glad to be able to make my first update for the year.

shanendoah: totally understand your frustrations. I've been doing a similar song and dance with Sallie Mae. Even though I specifically tell them to apply to the principal of one of the 7 loans, it takes 3 emails and 5 calls for them to do it correctly. It's their MO to make it impossible for us to pay ahead of time.

[coffeegirl]

Administrative update! Hey everyone! I'm sorry that I have been out of the loop so much during this transition. I was scheduled to be out of town where I knew I would have no internet, and then I came home to no internet either. A snow plow took out a pole and the temp connection was spotty for a day or two, but now appears to be back up and running.
Emails - I have received tons of email addresses, and I am updating the regional sheets with them now that I have internet access again.
ProBoards - I am guessing that we will be here for a little while (at least a few months, probably thorugh the summer). I am looking for a more permanent home for the Racers, one that will suit all of our needs, and also be a place where we can grow and expand! Please forward any ideas you might have for me to my email: cgwirr at gmail dot com. I know that we have PM here on the new boards, BUT it's easier for me if I keep everything in one place.
Smiley Faces - since I have not been able to spend time on proboards yet, I asked all the lovely volunteers to begin studying how we can work on this site, I should be catching up with them soon. We'll figure it out!
Updates - Please put your updates in these threads for the time being, and hopefully by next week we'll have "permanent" proboards WIRR threads that will be a bit more organized. Again, I'm sorry that this all happened as I was getting ready to go out of town, but we had a great response and will be able to work here for a while!
Thanks for all the patience and understanding!~CG

[sealy]

too bad we cant create our own boards like those facebook guys

[dragon2008]

That would solve our money problems!

[dragon2008]

Testing

New Balance		Previous Balance		Difference
$134,899.22		$142,208.18		     $7,308.96

		New Balance		Previous Balance		Difference		Total Paid Off		% Paid
Mortgage		$134,899.22		$142,208.18		$7,308.96		$27,850.78		17.11%

Trying to figure something out without using the code - it makes my spreadsheet ugly!

[sealy]

dragon2008 yes it would

[el1504]

Hey Everyone - Writer88 just won her race over on the international thread!

[mtntigger]

Here are some mid-week shoutouts for both this board and the old MSN money board.
NoMoreMrDebtGuy – Those are fantastic goals. Sounds like you are going to have a year of stretching in front of you. I know you can do it… just think of your ultimate goal of having your house paid off before you retire.
Entlzha – Thanks for understanding and posting at both places. Hopefully, the dust will settle soon one way or the other. I think you are doing marvelous - $3K in less than a year. You are well on your way to win your race!
Sealy – I have that your new race is #3. Could you please put that in your tag line just as a reminder? FYI, I have you down for starting on WU220 since I don’t know how CG is going to want to indicate pages on this. Oh, and would you stop winning your races? You’re making me look bad.
luckyinSF - I ditto sealy’s comment on the old MSN money board... You have made great strides this last year and some things (like your mom paying her portion of the debt) are just beyond your control. If you pay off all your cc debt this year, that would be a huge accomplishment.
Rosebud30 – Congratulations on meeting your 2010 goals and Best of luck to you on meeting your 2011’s ones!
Salalsal – I’m so glad that you are able to use the table. I’ll probably play with it a little more for my purposes, so if you have any suggestions on it, I will see what I can do. Oh, and WOW - over $57K paid off in a smidge over a year! Your payoff average is out of this world! Keep it up and you’ll be out of here in no time!
Shanendoah – I am actually really surprise at what Citibank did to you. I could see cancelling the minimum payment, but the weird value that they attached to it without any communication… Paying off school loans is extremely frustrating. Good luck with trying to figure it out and preparing for what they are going to charge you next.
Salserabarby – So, what do you think about the table? I’ll like your input too. I think I would want to see a total paid column and maybe the last row all bolded. I also dislike the date in the total row. What do you want to see differently?
Dragon – LOL! Yeah, I saw rovo over on SI use a better version of the table yesterday, which is why I was going to play with this table some more. Hopefully, I can find a way to incorporate his design into the WIR one. Besides, you know that we, as captains, don’t need a table; we need a tagline. I’m trying to figure that out too. What else was an issue for you?

[Deleted]

UPDATE

alpinista: 01/05/11 $6,425.37 (08/05/08 $11,901.03 W343)

Debt	08/05/08	01/05/11	PTD	%PTD
Car Loan	$1,442.39	$0.00	$1,442.39	100.00%	since 12/30/08
Personal Loan	$3,500.00	$0.00	$3,500.00	100.00%	since 06/09/10
CC	$6,958.64	$6,425.37	$533.27	7.66%
Total	$11,901.03	$6,425.37	$5,475.66	46.01%

[sealy]

sorry slowbutsure its because of all the great support that I get from you all so my win is your win. ;D

I changed my update and put race #3 in the front of my tag line. I hope that was how it should be. I'll change it if you want me to.

[dragon2008]

I'm just grumpy, SlowbutSure - plus I'm probably spending too much time looking at my spreadsheet as it is! (just can't make up my mind on saving goals this year).

I'll need to check out Rovo's table - thanks for the tip!

[dragon2008]

Love Rovo's table! I can hide the coding columns until I need them to post, and I like the way he bolded using the coding columns. Oh yeah!
Of course, I need to get back to work now - darn!

[salserabarby]

slowbutsure: I love the table. It's really easy to use, although I managed to not make it work the first time I tried. lol.
I think a total paid column would be a good update.

[shanendoah]

I think I've mentioned before that I really need a plan. I accept that life is going to throw things at us that will require the plan to be changed. But in order to feel confident going forward, I need to have a plan in place, even if it is temporary. To that end, I once again have a new plan for paying off the rest of the debt that takes our current situation into account.
It would be nice to say- we paid off 1/3 of our debt in 2010, that means that its only two more years until we're all paid off. Not quite. With DH back in school (he started night classes last night), and UE running out at the end of June, we're just not going to be able to make the payments we were this last year. However, it looks like I should be able to pay off all my SL debt, WITHOUT accruing new SL debt for DH in 4 years.

For the GSL
We will pay $500 extra a month through June 2011
Then minimums through June 2013, at which point DH should graduate.
From July 2013 on, we'll be back to paying the $500 extra a month (affordable even if he doesn't have a job because we won't be paying for his college costs).
Also, on the months I have 3 paychecks, I'll pay an extra $1k toward the loan (which is a little less than half the take home from the check).
This plan pays off the GSL March 2014

For the USL
Maintain current payment (minimum should increase in Feb 2012 and Feb 2014, but not beyond the extra I already pay) until March 2014.
Take the money that had been going to the GSL and add it to the payment to the USL.
Pay $1k extra the one month I have an extra paycheck
This plan pays off the USL January 11, 2015 - 4 years and 6 days from today.

This plan doesn't take into account any raises I get, or any job/income DH may have while in school or once out of school. (I'd love for him to qualify for work study once he's enrolled full time this fall, but I make enough that he may not qualify.) And that's okay. If I finish my race before January 2015, I won't complain.

[stormysix]

So, I am freaking out just a little. I know, when things are going your way; one should expect otherwise.
I was refinancing my husbands house in order to pay off all my unsecure debt- it isn't going to work.
While I was going through the process, appraisals and other such events added up- not to mention, I still don't have a master bathroom.
Anyway, in reorganizing my finances to adjust for a major paycut coming my way, I am hoping to change my race up.
I want to race ALL my unsecure debt, some which isn't on my current race, and ditch the student loan for now. I need to see all the progress I can to keep my chin up-
How would I go about doing this, do I just readjust the table with the new additions and delete the student loan? Or do I have to lose my beginning date and tag line and simply start over?
Please let me know-I have the new table ready to post and just need to know what to do about the tag line, additions and student loan.

[stormysix]

Can someone send me a template for the nice looking graphs you have?
stormysixatmsndotcom