Advice from an Albatross

I’ve been trying to think about what to post, and the Holidays come to mind (particularly those celebrated that involve gift giving). I’ve been worrying about what to do for the holidays since I’ve barely enough money to feed myself (and when I do buy groceries I usually end up having to neglect a bill for a bit longer). Traveling is expensive, and even more so now that the gas prices have exploded once again. So here are some ideas, most of which involve a bit of planning ahead.

1. Pennies in a Jar
We’ve all done this at some point or another. Whether inadvertently in a cup holder in our car, or purposefully in that special piggy bank in our bedrooms. Saving change is an easy way to save up a good chunk of money. That is why certain credit cards are now doing it for you. The one problem with this method is that money can be dug into just as easily. I’ve used saved change to put gas in my car, even fairly recently. When you are so low on money that ‘emergencies’ happen often, it is hard to save even the smallest amount. And I know a few people who have their penny jars for specific items, generally in the form of a cigarette habit.

2. From Piggy to Real-y
At my bank they have what they call a Christmas Club account. It is a savings account, you don’t have a high minimum to start it. Here are its details: “$10 minimum deposit to open account. You may deposit a total of $250 per month. At the end of the club period, the 5th of November, the funds in the account will be issued by check. You may not make withdrawals from this account until the maturity date. Interest is paid at maturity. Penalty for early withdrawals.” My bank is a very localized one, but you should check with your bank, and if they don’t have something similar you should suggest it to them. This way, what goes into your piggy bank and then into a real bank is a lot harder to get a hold of. As a bonus, you’ll earn interest.

3. Pay-as-you-go
No I’m not talking about a phone. I’m talking about whenever you’ve got a bit of extra spending money pick up a gift. If you can mange it once a month, that is 12 people you’ve got taken care of. Sales don’t only happen at Christmas time. In fact you can probably get a better deal outside the increased prices of a high demand that happens at Christmas. And you can probably pick up something better than a cheesy prepackaged set of something or another they always have out a Christmas time. I think this is a really good plan. In fact I plan to implement it starting next year. The problem with the first two is that you save until just before Christmas and then you have to run out, do that hustle bustle shopping with everyone else which is just a nightmare for me. But I know some people enjoy that… So its just a preference sort of thing.

And last but certainly not least!

4. Get Creative
This has a wide variety of implications…. Go crazy! Get Creative!

See, I had seen in a store a Decanter and a set of 4 glasses. My Brother’s Fiancé collects decanters. B and I thought about getting it but then decided she’d be just as happy with something we’d find in a charity shop, and it would probably cost a lot less than $25. So knowing what people like is always helpful. Collectables can be tricky though, you never know when they’ll get to the point of having collected too much.

In the end actually we never made it to Goodwill. Instead they are getting priceless artwork. Priceless because B drew it… We did spend $10 to put it in a nice frame though. But giving something of yourself can mean more than another useless knickknack. And by combining the gift for the both of them saves us more. See people who love you aren’t going to disappointed if you don’t get them much for Christmas, they’d actually be more hurt if they found out you overdrew your account or racked up a large credit card bill just for them. Or at least they should be if they are good people and do love you. By hurting your own lively hood just to get them something they might not even need is not going to gain either of you anything.

My brother always gives out music for Christmas… It didn’t cost him that much to buy blank cassettes (CDs now), put music on that he’d already recorded and hand them out in bulk. My favorite one is when he’d put songs relevant to each of my family members. There is a song about how my parents met, and even a song about me… It is called “So Weird.” So if you have talent with music or art or anything really that you can turn into something. Do it… People like those things. Even if it is making your own card.

This Christmas another present to family members is the delivery of other family members. We told them we couldn’t afford much for Christmas, but what we could do was pick up some nieces and get them there for Christmas. That works for yourself too. If you don’t get to see your family that often, or can’t really afford much else, you can tell your family that your present to them is you being there. And sometimes their present to you is helping you get there.

So hopefully you found something useful out of all of that. Remember that the holidays aren’t about material things. In fact the need for material things are what got some of us into debt, and all it has caused since then is heartache and grief. And don’t feel bad about receiving gifts either, gifts aren’t meant to cause guilt, sadness, jealousy or any bad feelings, that isn’t the point. If you find someone ‘guilt-ing’ you, it might be best to disassociate with that person. And have some Happy Holidays (no matter what you celebrate).

Gift Idea for me: Someone, some real person, I’d appreciate a real comment on my site!! I’m tired of all the spam….

With all the job possiblities recently B and I decided that it would be best to go into the red a bit and get her driver’s license. See she owed $100 to Alaska in order to reinstate her license. Because of this all the money and effort put into it previously had left us disappointed. But that meant everything was paid for, her tests all taken and once we paid AK she’d be good to just go pick it up.

So she talks with AK DMV, they inform her it will take 24-48 hours, so she gathers the info needed and I fax it to them yesterday. She calls later that day to check up. It is then that she is informed it will take 3-5 business days. At that point, like most people would do, she gets rude. It didn’t matter that it took a while, it was the fact it wasn’t disclosed at the beginning. After hanging up though, B starts to feel bad. So she calls back and aplogizes.

I checked the bank today and the charge went through. During lunch we went over to the DMV and now I don’t think I’ll ever drive my car again. Which I don’t mind actually, I don’t particularly enjoy driving, and I’ll be able to get some sleep during the longer drives.

So what is the point of my story? Other than the obvious Moral of “Do Unto Others”… which put even simpler is “Be nice to people.” Well I started thinking about PDLs and how they have no morals. It also makes me think of “killing with kindness.” So when you are having collection calls and are being harrassed you can disturb them the greatest by being as kind as possible. Be sweet even, it will bother those who do not practice the simple art of treating others like you’d like to be treated….

In my previous post about budgets I left out something very important. Pay yourself first!

Okay that is a line they use for those self-employed. But what I mean by it is don’t neglect yourself. In my ‘living paycheck to paycheck’ budget I always forget to put in food. I just assume I’ll live off of whatever is left. But I always overspend that because I’m neglecting how much I do spend on it. And then I end up going back to my spreadsheet and moving things around again because I didn’t have enough left over. It is tough when it comes to budgeting for meals. Even more tough when the person you live with has a restrictive diet, that tends to restrict itself to the more expensive foods. Diabetes is expensive in more than just the medicine for it….

So I thought I’d just add that little nugget. If you can cut back on how much you spend on groceries than good for you. Use coupons, buy storebrand, whatever… There are lots of ways to do it. But don’t neglect that important ‘bill’ when using my budget system….

I like comments. I like people to drop by and say ‘hey what’s up’, ‘I enjoyed that diatribe’ or ‘Thanks, I might actually use that’. But what do people usually get. Spam. They are smarter than they used to be but it is spam all the same. They leave a general comment and input their spamming url to be clicked on by unsuspecting people.

But like I said, I like comments. So this is your warning. If you are spamming, I’m going to keep your comment, but your url is gone. My comments are moderated so I’m not even giving you a single second where someone could come and click on it. If you have a legitimate blog or website then please leave your comments I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks….

I always try to do good things in life. I’m a big fan of “do unto others”, and “you get what you give”, and all those.

During my lunch break today, while taking in B to turn in an application at the same place as my second job, and then on our way to get a permit to cut firewood, we saw someone on the corner with a sign. The person appeared to be female and ’she’ had three dogs. I was forced to turn around in an effort to get a better look at the sign. We pulled up. It was a girl, and her sign said “low on funds, need fuel.” We asked her about it, and she pointed to her big yellow bus. So we told them we’d meet them at the truck stop.

Now since I’ve met B, we’ve picked up a few people and given rides (most of them kids), bought and given food to a few people, and parted with some change for fuel. And we can’t forget the time I had turn around and then pull over on a busy interstate ramp, to pick up a wallet which B found a business card and we called him up and gave it back. Why do we do it? Karma…. Ultimately it is selfish, I know, but we do good in hopes of getting some good back. You never know when you’ll be stranded without fuel, or homeless without food, or living in a situation that you need to get far away from, or have your wallet fall off your car because you had set it there…. And when those things happen all you can hope for is someone nice to come along and help.

So when it comes to money, especially when a lot of us are in a tight spot right now, sharing what little you have can make you feel good. I’ve been blessed recently with numerous helpings of assistance. Monetarily from DCC points, to a wonderful organization called Modest Needs, and Prosper Loans. As well as advice and mental support from DCC and various blogs (check out the blogroll). All of these things have helped me through my time of need, and I do what I can to give back. So when I have the funds I will donate what I can, loan to people in my similar situation and until then I provide advice on the forum, and keep updating on this blog.

And I wanted to thank all of you who have and will help me and other along the way.

Everyone knows how the power of positive thinking works. By thinking positively you are actively, even if subconsciously, doing positive things to improve your situation. Or that is how it is supposed to work.

Or maybe I’m just doing it wrong.

All of the “I think I can”s and “It will all work out”s have recently been replaced with “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” But then again, I haven’t always been positive. I’m more cyclic, as I’m sure many of you are. I have highs, where things are going well and I’m getting stuff done, and lows, where something comes out of no where and knocks me down a couple of pegs.

I’m currently riding the low.

But this current situation got me thinking. Was I being too optimistic? All the plans that we made when B would start her job, paying off the bills, being caught up, having money to put into savings, saving to buy a house, etc… Now we are to the point though that something needs to be done and done now. No more waiting. It is time to get realistic.

Now I’m not saying to forget thinking positive. There is validity in it. But we need to be real. Bad stuff happens, and it seems to happen all the time to us. That is a realization and not pessimism. Being realistic keeps you open to these truths in this life. Being optimistic only leads to heartbreak when they do happen. And I’m not talking about things in life that you can control. I’m talking about those you can’t.

But it is always more complicated then that. Here is my situation as an example.

B got a job but had to wait 2 months for it to start. What was out of our control is that it is delayed another 2 months. Nothing we can do about it. Our optimism kept us waiting those first two instead of B looking for a temporary one to fill the gap. She didn’t want to get a job just to leave it. I could have taken a second job as well. She didn’t want me to because the job she was waiting for would have her gone for an extended period so spending as much time together while we had it was more important. Now that we are realistic, we realize what needs to be done to get us back in control.

So I guess my point is there are things in life you can’t control. Being optimistic all the time means neglecting that and getting hurt. So be realistic on the positive side. Understand that there are things in life you can change. It is hard work but you can do it. You can’t expect it to go smoothly, but you can do things to make the ride just a little less bumpy.

I’ve created a whole separate page for sample letters! So far I’ve put on an exampe of a revoking ACH authorization (with revoking wage assignment) to provide to a PDL if you still owe on the principal amount. Remember if you borrowed it I believe you should pay it back. But I feel you shouldn’t pay them the illegal fees they charge. If they wish to make money, then they should invest a little of it into getting licensed.

You can find the link on the right side under “Pages.” And please look it over and if you see anything off with it let me know. I hope to add a letter for those who have paid more than enough, revoking ACH and asking for a PIF. And remember this is just what I used, modify it to fit your needs.

And remember if you are looking into getting a Payday Loan or know someone who is, tell yourself or them “NO! DON’T DO IT!” Most of the operate illegally, and plenty of them don’t even follow their own illegal contracts when they say they’ll automatically start paying down your loan on the 5th payday. They will keep debiting your account til the end of time, even after you’ve paid them well enough and even after you’ve sent them a letter telling them they can’t do it anymore. They will be sneaky and submit ‘paper’ checks to your bank, which are hard to reverse, or take out money under a different name and an unusual amount to bypass a block on their name. It is not until you’ve called in the big guns (your state AG, the BBB and/or the FTC) and gotten that letter from the PDL stating ‘Paid In Full’ that you can feel safe again and not worry about it anymore.

I can’t wait for that day…

Because of my bankruptcy I was forced to take a class. And in this class we learned about budgets. I think I’ve got access to more budget resources than a buget analysist. Do you know where all of this information is located? In piles in the spare room with all of my other junk.

What is my biggest spending problem? I don’t have a budget. I don’t have any plans on what to do with my money and because of it I go and spend it willy-nilly. And when it is done spent and I realize I have more stuff to pay for, like important stuff… I panic.

If I had planned in the first place, especially when it come to prioritizing where the money goes first, I wouldn’t be in such a mess. My one problem with creating a budget is that I don’t know how much to plan for certain items. And some budgets get really specific. It is because it is so specific that I’m turned off. I can’t guess how much I plan to spend on clothes in a month, I can’t even think to the year and then divide by 12. I have no idea how much I’ve spent on clothes in the past…. The only time I get new clothes is usually at Christmas and usually from my parents.

The closest I’ve come thus far was when B forced me to sit down and at the very least plan out my bills and when they were do. See I love Excel, or any spreadsheet for that matter, I like merging cells and adding colors. So I created my months added my bills, their amounts and dates. I had static dates (those always occuring on the whatever-th day of the month) normal and changing dates in blue (unless I had actually figured out the cycle). I had installment payments normal and those that varied in blue. And when I was done with my little table/calendar I was very happy. I could print it and stick it somewhere and even create check boxes for me to check off when it was paid. This is an important part of being financially stable, getting those bills paid. Also assess your bills, stuff that you don’t need, or can at the very least cut back on, do that… Or make trades. If you really really want the internet then trade it for the cable instead of having both.

And then I got inspired. See there are many people who live paycheck to paycheck. It is not a fun way to live and it is even scary. Very scary. Because one little hitch can throw you so far you are tempted to just give up. So I thought I would budget my paychecks. See I already had a list of what bills were do when and I could subtract the ones that I needed to pay with each paycheck. This method also allowed me to see where my bills were uneven. I’d have a lot coming out of the first paycheck each month, but then not so much the next one. That made me aware that I’d have to save some from that other paycheck to go towards the bills on the next one. Or I could check with the bills that I had and see about different pay dates to help even it out more.

Here is an example, it isn’t the one I actually used because I don’t have it with me, but it is the general idea. I kind of just put it together and am not real proud of it. But please create your own, try stuff out and see what works best for you.

Also, here is a one stop shopping link to all you’d ever want to know about bugets: About.com