Well, well, well I have survived another month. Hard to believe it. I have had some major stress this past month.
Once again things have been rocky between my mother and I. I understand parts of her side, I really do but the parts of me that she doesn’t understand make things very tense at times. In the end, I really need to find a way out of here.
Still no jobs substituting. Which I guess doesn’t matter because I can not find a child care provider to help me out should I receive a call for a job.
My fabulous Marquis Mark has me a bit worried. He was acting up a bit last week. The transmission felt like it wasn’t changing gears. This is very worrisome right now as there is no way to replace him. If I’m wrong about the transmission going out, that will be great but he needs four new tires before the weather turns bad. There is no way I can transport my children in this car with tires that are over eight years old.
I had a few added expenses this month that I hadn’t worked into the budget. This is a good time to remember to add them in and put a little away for when they pop up, because they do each year. I had to register my car for the next year, $55.00. The boys both had school pictures $25.00 each. (Their dad and I are splitting the costs so I’ll receive $25.00 from him on Friday) And the boys both needed some pants and long sleeve shirts. I did VERY well with the shopping. I set a budget of $80 and that included $10 for each boy to buy something for themselves. I had promised them a used cartridge for each of their Leapsters but Once Upon a Child didn’t have any they didn’t already have. Instead the boys both bought used Heely’s at another consignment shop. They are so excited to learn how to Heely. I stuck to consignment shops and even managed to purchase a warm hoodie for myself for the fall since I don’t have a jacket (Abercrombie & Fitch, retailed for $45.00 purchased at a consignment shop for $15 and paid for with the $11.00 I received from the consignment shop for selling some of my clothes plus $4 of my own money!). I’m proud of our shopping trip.
The good news is that I started marketing the greeting cards this month (If you haven’t seen them, please check out our Etsy Store . They are great cards, IF you are the Totally Inappropriate type!). I made about $65.00 and for it only being September, I’m not worried. Each month should bring me more and more money.
I would also like to thank the individuals who sent out donations over the past month. There always seems to be someone around the corner who steps in just when I’m not sure how I’m going to make it through the month. Thank you! I’m so very grateful to each and every one of you who have wanted to help us out. So many of you have sent me emails letting me know about a person who helped you out and only asked that you pay it forward. Those of you who have chosen to pay it forward to me touch me in a way I didn’t think possible. It is so good to know that there are people like that out in this world. I can’t wait for the day that I can do the same thing in return.
With that being said…Here’s where the debt is for October 4, 2010
I am happy to have two more cards completely paid in full and cut up. I will never use them again! Chase 1 has been an issue this past month. I did not make a payment in August due to a lack of money. I contacted Chase to make sure this was ok because I am in a Balance Reduction Plan. The terms of the plan are that I can not miss 2 payments in a row or I am removed from the program. I was assured that things were fine. This month I started receiving calls from a collection agency. Turns out, Chase sold this account to them. Now my balance is back up over $7,000 and Chase doesn’t know why it was sold. They are looking into it. Meanwhile, they still managed to take my $112.00 for the payment on September 30th, for the account they no longer own. I’m going to follow up today to see if it’s been resolved. Therefore my total credit card debt isn’t completely accurate.
Since I began this blog, I have paid off $2,890.41!! That is just since March and on about $500.00 a month. Not too bad. But I want to do better!!
I’m confident that October is going to be a great month and I can continue to do this for another 30 days.
Thanks for checking in with me.
DP
Hi. I'm a fellow member of the Mufasa group on SITS. Wanted to drop by and check out your blog. Getting out of debt is a monetary balancing act where you eventually catch up and finally, one day are debt free. You're doing good!
Marcia(Quote)
Hello from Mufasa! I love what you are doing with your debt reduction. You are up front and open with your debt, and I think it is very inspiring!
Sara R.(Quote)
Hello my dear Mufasa Tribe members. Thanks for the compliments. It's not all sunshine and rainbows over here but I'm working on it.
Jessica(Quote)