WOMEN IN RED RACERS

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 6, 2024 13:19:14 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

What are all these big checks and where is mine!     

lol! Mine was from my Rukh, Inc. side biz. It is my biggest project, and only one from this client. I work nights and weekends on it for 6-8 weeks to complete, essentially doing 2 FT jobs for that period.
 
Have you considered an extra job? On the plus side, mine is all remote, exhanging data and reports, and then there are 1-2 conference calls at set time but otherwise I can organize the time spent on it to meet deadlines as I want. There are two hard and one soft deadlines for reports.


Could be time for MPL, Inc? 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Another job?  I don't even want the one I have! 

If I did want to earn more money working OT would probably be the best bang for my buck.  Things are going to be pretty slow here for 2024 though...which is not typical.

[ArchietheDragon]

May 6, 2024 14:40:23 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Another job?  I don't even want the one I have! 

If I did want to earn more money working OT would probably be the best bang for my buck.  Things are going to be pretty slow here for 2024 though...which is not typical.

you used to have a nice side hustle... didn't you??   

[debthaven]

chiver78 did the EasyPay stuff work out OK in the end? (They're clearly a misnomer LOL.)

nikiz628 I can't wait to see your update!!!

Yay Rukh O'Rorke !!!

[chiver78]

thanks for asking about that. it will be fine. there's 2 or 3 payments left, and I carried over enough last month to eat $75 in interest (I told y'all this card has a stupid rate if you carry a balance. but.......airline points for everything I do?) and after my payment clears next week, anything else I spend on the regular is at either 2.9 or 3.99% interest til next January if I do need to carry over again. I'd have paid it off per usual, but the landscapers got me in early for the sod part of the project and they don't take CC. so I ate some interest in favor of not wiping out the savings account, just in case. 

if there's something else I ever think I'm gonna put on another Easy Pay sort of installment, I'll throw it on the Amex that's clear about how it's all tracked. I almost had a stroke when I saw my statement balance last week on the airline card. it still included the total EP balance (almost $2400) instead of even just what was still outstanding on that. lesson learned, I'll never use that card again for any installment plans. woof. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 6, 2024 14:40:23 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Another job?  I don't even want the one I have! 

If I did want to earn more money working OT would probably be the best bang for my buck.  Things are going to be pretty slow here for 2024 though...which is not typical.

same.....someday I will quit and leave it all behind. Just not sure if that someday is next year or 10 years.....

[nidena]

Update:

nidena: 5/7/2024 $51,882.89 (8/22/2007 $223,361.20 N453,503,NE648,NPT25)

All my balances went down but my everyday card is still carrying a balance.  I received a letter from the PL bank that my balance is paid ahead and I don't owe anything until July 11th, 2024 but I shall press on with making payments.

I look at my Excel workbook and get a bit bummed but then I look at what it looked like back in 2007 when I started...when just my CCs and similar financing (Hello, Parkwest Auctions!) totaled nearly $38,000 and I feel a bit better.  So many store cards with their 20+% rates.  But I will feel better when the PL is paid off and I don't have that 14% rate to look at any more.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Apr 5, 2024 20:03:46 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

regular minimum payments again this month. Not sure I'll have any extra for a while! Waiting on a few extra $$ to come through but feel like more and more of it is being spent before it even gets here!


$95,889.29

Update:

Student loans:95,145.49

Didn't make it down to the next thousand this month....I like to see that thousand marker change....hopefully from here on out the thousand maker will always change......wondering if I should add a little to make it happen but I have other priorities for that 150 odd..... and it would pop up into 95k territory in a few days anyway with the daily interest capitalizing.....

I have other debts that I need to start tracking, so by next monthat some point I will be expanding the races.....Maybe a weekend project to get all that info together.

[nikiz628]

I haven't made any moves with the money yet because we've taken a few days to just bask in the bank account balance lol. We did have to cover some routine expenses (hotels for travel ball, lunch account refills x2 for the final month of school, DS2 blew out the toes in both of his tennis shoes so Adidas outlet for the win, and paying a few bills that our last paycheck didnt cover). 

Update coming soon! 

[chiver78]

I might stop checking in for a little while, FYI. I forget what the cadence was for checkins before we got dropped. Minnesotagirl7 - please just tag me and I'll check in for record! I just lowered my payment on that last card down to $200/mo which is min+interest+rounding up. I want to bank as much cash as possible this summer and pay off projects. I just threw all of my paycheck last Friday at my daily use card to cover the balance I'd carried over (at stupid interest, I talked about that already) and then some. I'm getting a little twitchy in advance of bonus season next month, and am hoarding resources. after the journey I've taken the last 10y, I fully understand Depression era survivors who hoarded everything til the day they died. whoo.... 

[ners]

Update

47829.41 (1/3/2011 $97,382.42 MPT5)

Just plugging along.  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 13, 2024 17:21:43 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I might stop checking in for a little while, FYI. I forget what the cadence was for checkins before we got dropped. Minnesotagirl7 - please just tag me and I'll check in for record! I just lowered my payment on that last card down to $200/mo which is min+interest+rounding up. I want to bank as much cash as possible this summer and pay off projects. I just threw all of my paycheck last Friday at my daily use card to cover the balance I'd carried over (at stupid interest, I talked about that already) and then some. I'm getting a little twitchy in advance of bonus season next month, and am hoarding resources. after the journey I've taken the last 10y, I fully understand Depression era survivors who hoarded everything til the day they died. whoo.... 

[Minnesotagirl7]

chiver78- I try to do updates every three weeks or so. The old rules said you were dropped from the active racers list after two months of not updating. I'll keep you on there, and just ping you for the occasional check-in. I think saving for your projects is a great idea. 

[Minnesotagirl7]

Shoutouts!


chiver78- Nice update!

nidena- I love those little milestones too!

ners- Closing in on $50k paid off!


Smileys Link

[muffyinthered]

MuffyintheRed #2  05/23/2024 $157,438.42 (6/22/2020 $175,394.16)
Amount Paid - $1,646.79
CU Savings - $25,638.89

This was a good month. Paid off a BT and just put in for a new one on our bed. Should have that wiped out by the end of the year. Am paying our house insurance at the end of this month and the end of July is the second half of Property taxes, so need to put money away for that.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying better weather than we have been having.
Happy Memorial Day to all.

[Minnesotagirl7]

Update!

Able to throw some extra at the mortgage this month. Hit 60% paid off and the balance dropped under $160,000. Woo hoo!!


Minnesotagirl7 [6]: 5/29/24 $158,291.02 (3/18/20 $403,476.12 C220)

[nidena]

Fun with money stuff happening in my neck of the woods:

-- I opened a new savings account at a bank that I won't be linking to my USAA profile for easy viewing and access.  I want to save up some $$ while paying down whatever debt I have so that I'm taking on less debt when the time comes for the renovation I have planned.  The full amount I'd like to save up is $30,000 but we'll see where I am in a year or so at a minimum automatic deposit of $500/mo.

-- Admitted to myself said renovation is NOT happening this year (and likely not for at least 12 months) and that took some stress off of me that I didn't realize I was carrying.

-- I've got a call to make to my insurance broker about LTC insurance.  Dealing with the situation with my dad triggered me reaching out.  He's 60% VA disability and the Veteran's Home is no cost at 70% so we've put in for new claims and increases on items already in place.  While we're waiting for the VA to make their decision, we're also waiting for a spot to actually open up.  In the meantime, he NEEDS to go in a home.  His Alzheimer's has reached a point of being too much for his older wife to handle.  "Meets Standards" level of homes start at $5000/mo.  Should I encounter a similar situation in 30 years, I don't want to be worried about going destitute.  I already meet the required VA disability threshold for no cost to the Veteran's Home in my state but that doesn't mean I won't be waiting for a spot when it's time to become a resident.  (Please, looking for no input on this situation.  Merely sharing.)

-- Had an issue at one of the hotels I stayed at last week.  I changed the payment card when I checked in but saw, when I got home, they had charged that card and then credited it.  I called them to alert them to the situation and they took down the info for the intended card.  That was Wednesday.  Friday, while checking my bank accounts, I saw the charge had once again been placed on the wrong card so I called them again.  After I explained the situation to the person who answered, I got frustrated when they asked for my card info again

"I already gave the info when I called the first time."

"Well, ma'am, you didn't give it to me so I need it again so I can figure this out."

"Not figure it out.  Fix it."

"Ma'am are you going to give me your card info or not?"

That's the fairly abbreviated version.  At that point, I hung up and called the primary customer service number.  He tried to fix it but then said I needed to call the customer service number back during the time that the manager of the hotel would be working since they weren't on shift at that time.  He was so helpful, that I had no problem doing that.  I called back yesterday and relayed the whole situation again (which frustrated me a bit more because I had expected there to be notes input into the system but I didn't take it out on the person who answered after I was on hold for 20 minutes).  She came back on the line after contacting the hotel and told me they had taken care of it the previous night at 2am.  Amazing how they didn't need my CC number again since I hadn't given it to them the second time I called. /s 

Anyhoo, it's makes me think I should have just ignored the fact that I had stayed for free and not adhered to my integrity.

-- Reassessing the NEEDS vs WANTS purchases in order to trim some expenses in the coming months.

I hope your June is starting off well.

[seriousthistime]

nidena, I know you've heard me say before that saving is the other half of paying down debt.  There's no reason not to save for exactly the reason you say, being able to take on less debt for an intended purpose in the future.  

Please consider joining the WIR Savers thread.

[nidena]

Jun 2, 2024 9:18:50 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

nidena , I know you've heard me say before that saving is the other half of paying down debt.  There's no reason not to save for exactly the reason you say, being able to take on less debt for an intended purpose in the future.  

Please consider joining the WIR Savers thread.

I've been on there before.  It's just not my primary focus.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Update:

Student loan balance $94,381.20. The usually minimum monthly victory!

Still planning to break down all my debt for the races, have to work a bit this weekend, so not sure when I will get around to it......in the meantime, still have a bit of extra money in checking and making payments, so as ners would say - going in the right direction. At least for now!

[Minnesotagirl7]

Shoutouts!


muffyinthered- Great update! Almost $18k paid off!

Rukh O'Rorke- Nice work, keep it up!


Smileys are updated:
Link to Smileys

[ners]

Update

47,410.65 (1/3/2011 $97,382.42 MPT5)

Did make a larger than usual extra payment.   

[nidena]

I paid a little extra to my HELOC and now it, too, is down in the next thousand.  From 24,XXX to 23,999.68.  

[muffyinthered]

MuffyintheRed - 6/23/2024 $155,766.12 (06/22/2020 $175,394.16)
Amount Paid - $1,646.79
CU Savings - $25,679.75

It has been an interesting month. Paid off one BT and used another to pay off our bed.  That will be paid off before the end of the year.  I am down to just over $9,000 in credit card debt and working on that.

What has happened to our board?  Nobody writes on it anymore. I used to love to see people making progress and airing their problems. We need some new members.  I am sure with the inflation we all are experencing there must be some people out there that need to get rid of debt.

Hope everybody has a fun 4th of July weekend.  That is when my husband and I celebrate our anniversary.  I will be adding to my debt for us to stay overnight and have a wonderful Italian dinner at our favorite restaurant.

[nikiz628]

Apr 5, 2024 12:44:53 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

Update 6/26/2024 


Boy, has it been a crazy (checks date of my last post) *almost* 2 months since my last post. 
We have been non stop since April, but thankfully it's finally slowing down.... just in time to leave Sunday for my son's travel baseball tournament in Pensacola. I wanted to post a quick update before I drop off the map here (if I haven't already because 4/5 was my last update). My last update was that my H had received his big check and we were enjoying the checking balance. 

We didn't pay off any cards in full *yet* but made good dents in several. With the check I also paid off a $2536.00 hospital bill from my surgeries (knocked off 30% of the balance because I was paying in full AND got rid of a $200 a month payment doing this). I had to pay $200 for a stupid traffic ticket lol. Indiana is a hands free state and I got pulled over for "being on my phone"...which had been sitting in my cup holder the entire time. My 13 year old was with me, so I was polite and just took the ticket. Chalked it up to a life lesson on respecting police and how sometimes you get accused of stuff you didn't do, so play it safe. I am 37 years old and have never had a ticket in my life. Up until this point I had only been pulled over once, when I was 19-20 and just got a warning. I was going to go to traffic court to contest it but decided it wasn't worth the time and paid to have it deferred. We held $3500.00 back for the Pensacola trip to pay for lodging, gas, and food. Hoping we stay under that budget but the condo was pricey thanks to the 4th of July holiday. We plan to do a lot of cooking in said condo to save money. We also have another trip at the end of July because my son was selected to play for 13U Team Indiana in the National All State tournament in Kansas City! As much as I hate paying for another week away from home so soon, we cannot deny him this honor. Out of all the 13 year old baseball players in the state, they picked 12 and he was one of them. We haven't booked any lodging yet because they are supposed to be blocking rooms at specific hotels. We should get that info in the next few days (I hope!) Finally, we put some of that check into HYS for tax purposes. We still have about $5,000 leftover. Once we get done with traveling I will move it from our savings back to checking to make more debt progress. I am hesitant to do anything with it prior to all of this driving after what happened last summer. If you remember, my Acadia crapped out in the middle of no where Georgia on our way to Sarasota. It ended up costing me $3000 to get it fixed and us home. And then another $30k for a new van lol. Just a little PTSD running through me as we prepare for 2 road trips. 

So here are the numbers right now- QS only went up because interest was just tacked on for July's payment. We haven't touched a CC in quite a bit and I am proud that we are cash flowing both of these trips.  

Debt	Interest Rate	Starting Balance	Last Update	This Update	Difference
Citi Best Buy	0% promos only	4663.23	4672.90	3950.00	-722.90
Quicksilver	28.24%	6482.19	5944.71	6100.00	+155.29
Discover	28.24%	15124.49	14569.71	14500.00	-69.71
Menards	30.24%	2340.05	2247.58	2000.00	-247.58
Citi Diamond	0% BT until*	2715.27	4450.00	4283.00	-167.00
Discover Loan	12.99%	9432.97	8704.77	7955.42	-749.35
Sofi Loan	22.9%	8507.08	8129.50	7663.40	-466.10
Van Loan (Ally)	9.29%	31082.93	30210.28	29379.00	-831.28
Truck Loan (CU)	4.8%	8265.87	7222.91	6512.00	-710.91
TOTAL		88,614.08	86,152.36	82,342.82	-3,809.54

NikiZ628(7): 6/29/24 $82,342.82 (1/4/23 $88,614.08 WIR302)

[Minnesotagirl7]

muffyinthered- I know what you mean about the "traffic" here. I tried to bring in new racers using social media, but I just don't have the skills. And as someone pointed out, there are so many more online groups and chats nowadays. Not like when WIRR first got started. We'll have to stick with our smaller community, and hope people will come back. Personally, there are so many previous racers I'd love to hear from and know how they're doing!

[Minnesotagirl7]

Update!

	3/18/2020	5/29/2024	6/28/2024	Total Difference
Mortgage	$403,476.12	$158,291.02	$155,509.88	$247,966.24

Diff Last Post	$2,781.14
Total Amt Pd	$247,966.24
Total % Pd	61.5%

Minnesotagirl7 [6]: 6/28/24 $155,509.88 (3/18/2020 $403,476.12 C220)

Regular monthly payment.

[Minnesotagirl7]

Shoutouts!


ners - Woo hoo, $50k paid off with your next update!

muffyinthered - Great update and happy anniversary

nikiz628 - Good update, you made a nice dent!



Smileys are updated
Smileys Link

[chiver78]

I hear you too, muffyinthered. the board in general is lower on traffic than it was when we first moved over from MSN. between losing some of the older posters (and sadly some younger ones) and just not having the same level of visibility as we did back on MSN? yeah, it all adds up. the vast majority of new account requests I see as a moderator are spam accounts from the Middle East and SE Asia. how or why that's a thing, I don't know. but we do our best to vet out potential spammers to keep this board safer, and ban folks that slip through the cracks as soon as they reveal their true selves. 

HTH
-chiver mod

[chiver78]

I know I said I wasn't going to post updates while I turtled down that last racing balance, but I can still check in here and there with my thought process as I go. actually, I've got a call with my financial planner (and by financial planner, I mean my contact with the IRA I opened ~8y ago. there's not much else to manage at this point) on Tuesday next week, where I want to talk to him about how best to balance paying down what's left against cash flowing projects, saving, and optimizing things where I can. I'll put some details out here, and see what y'all think at this point as well. I'm gonna just also say that these are the numbers in my industry, and I recognize that I'm a lot blessed to be in this spot. this is a HUGE part of why I was so resistant to the posters that were imploring me to file bankruptcy just a few years ago. I knew I'd be okay once I finally got some traction in my paydowns. 

summer is bonus season at my company, our fiscal year goes July-June. the standard bonus hit at the beginning of June, as a percentage of my salary. I paid off a few small things, kept some fun money, and threw $10k into my HYSA to get the balance back where it belongs as my EF. I've got a second bonus coming in, early August by the time the stock posts, vests and sells, etc. the whole process is a huge PITA, but it's a nice bump for sure. looking at my compensation statement for the next year, I'm expecting 100% of this 2nd bonus for this year. this stock vests over three years, so I get 1/3 each year plus 1/3 from each of the previous two as well. anyway, last year, this number was a little over $12k.  my thought at the moment is to put another $10k into the HYSA and use the balance to buffer my pretty basic checking account a little more. 

 current remaining debt - $5500 on the last racing balance, at 6.99% for the life of the balance. there's another $30k <ducks the flying shoes> from various house projects and pup medical expenses that's been hanging out at 0% on promo cards for the time being. these balances have been moved around a couple times so far, while I've been paying down the race. I'm at the point now where I can wipe out a big chunk if not all of it, depending on that optimization discussion. with all the uncertainty still with work and the RTO, I'd rather keep as much cash in hand as possible until things stabilize. 


 my thought is that I'm going to keep turtling on the cards and banking cash in the HYSA until just before the promos reset. at that point, I'll pull out a chunk and pay off one of them. I feel like I want to BT the other one more time unless I know work is more stable. I picked up $34 in interest in the HYSA the other day from having that additional $10k there for not even a full month. it's only going to go up as I keep piling on. interest on that ~$5500 is tiny at this point, and the other balance isn't seeing anything. 

after I finally wipe all of this out, I think the general plan in my head is to put a $2k buffer (it's $1k now) in the checking account and set up automatic transfers for every other paycheck to just get dumped into the HYSA or wherever the financial planner thinks is best. I feel like the end is definitely in sight.