Friday, June 27, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 11

Day 11 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 11: $102,400 spending spree:
Condo for B in Clearwater in retirement community 1/1 ($60k)
Fund for upkeep, maint, taxes, etc ($42,400)

I am grateful for:
- being completely, 100% moved out!
- finding $593 today, woo manifesting
- B can speak after surgery :)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 10

Day 10 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 10: $51,200 spending spree:
Veneers ($15000)
Birthday vacation for bf and I to LA to see bff then on to summer boarding in South America! ($17000)
New gear for bff, new boots from Cosmo ($2000)
Pink Pasha ($4000)
Cleaner, organizer, storage space rental ($3000)
Honda VFR 2000 Yellow + shipping ($5200)
Chanel shopping spree ($5000)

I am grateful for:
- The yummy dinner I cooked for myself (chili lime tilapia, brussel sprouts, tomato and mozzarella salad)
- being a little more unpacked
- my job

ps - Looks like my manifesting is working! Placed several items for sale on ebay today, the most expensive sold in 2 hours for $699!!! Boss and I worked out a new bonus plan today also!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 9

Day 9 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 9: $25600 spending spree:
Alaskan Cruise with B + flights, excursions booked for Sept ($15000)
Used Car downpayment ($10,600)

I am grateful for:
- B survived her corpectomy this am. No complications! So relieved.
- Having someone to lean on.
- Found photos of great grandma as a little girl

Monday, June 23, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 8

Day 8 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 8: $12800 spending spree:
Payoff all debt cc debt! ($11669)
Weekend getaway to Calistoga, including 2 nights hotel, food, and mud bath/massage ($1131)

I am grateful for:
- Being 95% moved! Only 2 trips in the car left
- Summertime fruit from Trader Joes
- Shoes! Dunk collection, Christian Lacriox, St John...oh how I am grateful for my shoes. :)

Friday, June 20, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 7

Day 7 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 7: $6400 spending spree:
Car service and home care assistance for B, 4 weeks.

I am grateful for:
- sleep
- end of the work week
- release nearing an end

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 6

Day 6 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 6: $3200 spending spree
Louis Vuitton Richard Prince Weekender Pulp Jaune Ltd + shipping +ins ($3200)

I am grateful for:
- pictures of ebaying stuff taken beautifully by bf
- email from my cousin with good news
- new opportunities arising today x 3

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 5

Day 5 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 5: $1600 spending spree
2 tix to Marc Bamuthi Joseph's break/s performance Saturday + parking + dinner at Salt House ($300)
Donation to Youth Speaks and the Living Word Project ($1300)

I am grateful for:
- Lifted spirits of a loved one
- Her positive outlook on manifesting her own good health
- A heart as healthy as it was last year and hence cleared for surgery


**edit** - Turns out I received a promo code to get 2for1 tix for break/s! Woo for manifesting ;)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 4

Day 4 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 4: $800 spending spree
Hauling, packing and moving of remaining stuff ($500)
Massage for 2 instead of hauling, packing, moving ($300)

I am grateful for:
- epic fail not really being so epic at all
- 73% cc debt paid off as of today!
- snores and snorts, oh the love

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 3

Day 3 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 3: $400 spending spree
Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Ice Cream ($4)
Malo Cashmere slippers ($300)
2 tix to unannounced Mos Def show tomorrow + drinks + parking ($96)

I am grateful for:
- successfully cooking salmon and brussel sprouts for myself tonight
- a safe trip on two wheels
- bf back in town

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I want a car.

I havent had a car in several years. Sold my last one when I moved back to San Francisco, as there was no need (or desire) to keep it.

Well, Ive moved to the East Bay and I find myself greatly dissatisfied with public transportation. M-F I spend about $10 a day on 3 modes of public transport round trip. The journey takes about an hour and I have to stand for most of it, which aggravates a health issue. Weekends are much worse, it can take up to 1.5 hours to get to the city. Driving it would take about 20 mins.

I cant actually make the to buy or not to buy decision until mid-Sept. Lease is up here Oct 1 and maybe Ill end up back in SF? Also, I must pay off all cc debt, and also save a decent down payment.

Id like to buy something with under 36k miles, that is sporty and fun to drive, and can take me up to the mountain in winter. And Id like to spend $18-$25k, with maybe $10k of that a down payment.

This leaves a pretty short list for my taste.
- Audi A4 quattro: I did a test drive in 04 before buying my last car and was thoroughly unimpressed. Maybe I drove a wimpy model and need a bigger engine?
- BMW X3: Also drove a model of this in 03/04. I similarly thought it didnt have enough power, but dont recollect what model I drove.
- Mercedes ML350: The styling seems a bit soccer mom, but Ive not driven it. They seem like an awesome bargain though. Great reviews and cheap, likely because of the gas mileage (and soccer mom styling!)

I thought about Subarus, the WRX specifically, but Im pretty meh on them. Id love an X5, S4 or Cayenne, but they are all too expensive...would be closer to 50k miles on it to bring it to my price range.

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 2

Day 2 of participating in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

Day 2: $200 spending spree
Platinum earring back from Tiffany - been missing for months and I really miss wearing those earrings! ($50)
Superfishal hoodie ($60)
Massage appt for my sister - she loves them but never books for herself! ($90)

I am grateful for:
- victorious trip to Trader Joe's and back! (first time driving the manual alone)
- a call from my sister
- 4 month celebration

Friday, June 13, 2008

Abundance and Gratitude - Day 1

Im going to participate in an exercise that is a great idea from Millionaire Mommy Next Door to re-focus on manifesting abundance thankfulness.

I strongly believe that we create our own reality and that we are responsible for manifesting the life we want, including the financial life. The idea of the exercise is two part.
1) Every day for the next 30 days, blog about how I would spend an ever doubling amount of money, with no duplication! $100 today, $200 tomorrow, etc
2) Be grateful, and record what I am feeling thankful about

Her post reminded me of a beautiful book I read called Ask and It Is Given. This book taught me a valuable lesson. Not only do I have t ask the universe for what I want, I have to be on the right frequency to receive it! In the book they have a great financial example: if you are feeling poor and focusing on the lack of wealth in your life, simply asking for wealth isnt enough. You are essentially manifesting a continued lack of wealth by focusing on the lack of wealth you feel. You need to pivot towards the direction of abundance and wealth to manifest abundance and wealth.

Day One: $100 spending spree
Flowers - an orchid for my desk and some gerber daisies for the house ($70)
Magazines - Utne, Blackbook, Tokion, Mass Appeal, Elle ($30)

I am grateful for:
- sunshine, the weather in SF is beautiful and warm
- music, listened to Graduation on the way to work this morning and it made my morning
- a lightened spirit, today I feel much better than I have in a couple weeks...my load feels lighter

Thanks again for the idea Millionaire Mommy!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Personal Finance Tipping Point

Free From Broke inspired me to write about my Personal Finance Tipping Point, thanks for the inspiration!

It was May 2005. At the time, I was suffocating under ~40k in cc debt. In an attempt to save money I had moved into a wretched, dirty, crowded four bedroom house with 6 people living in it (and 7 more in the illegal in-law!). I had been deluding myself for years and living beyond my means. It was only a matter of time before circumstances caused a disaster. I reached the point where I couldnt make the payments on 2 of my credit cards and both went to just beyond 30 days late.

I felt like I was falling into an abyss. I was fortunate to rebound from those missed card payments and catch up. I remember hiding in a conference room at work to make the phone payment on my late cards. I was so relieved, but also terrified at the thought 'what if this mess just snowballed?'

From that point I made the simple vow to stop using credit cards - a cash diet. Of course, I had a few slip ups in the next couple months, but I was on the right track. Its been an uphill battle since then, but I feel an ever increasing sense of freedom as each dollar is repaid.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

utilizing myfico free trial

Ive been pretty scared to take a look at my fico score! I was hoping the 68% payoff of cc debt would really help, but was afraid a couple late payments in 2005 and other issues would make for a poor score and totally break my motivation.

Being in financial denial for all these years, I had not paid great attention to my score. I knew that in 2004 it was at or slightly above 700, as I qualified for a good rate on my car lease that required >700. And I knew that in early 2006 it had dropped to the low 600s, ouch!, when I leased a new apartment.

Decided that I would utilize the free trial on myfico and wasnt too upset by what I saw, whew! 678. I am hoping to get it above 720 in the next couple months.

Reflections

A recent trip to Florida that was fraught with anguish and quasi-disaster has me thinking about a few things:

- responsibility. In financial endeavors, as in all parts of life, I realize (but need the constant reminder) that in order to make the most of each day *I must take responsibility for what I bring into my life and how I deal with it*.

- preparing for retirement. Im about to turn 30 and have no savings for the future, much less retirement. At our next 401k signup, I will definitely be opting in for the max.

- money spent on valuable experiences is always worth it. Seeing loved ones and other travel is one of the things I enjoy spending money on.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Goals

Goal #1: cc debt destruction!

As of Oct 07 by debt looked pretty freaking horrible:
boa1 4149.39 @ 32.24%
boa2 12659.56 @ 18.24% (952 @ 24.24%)
chase1 5510.45 @ 29.99%
chase2 10485.15 @ 29.99%
chase3 9582.95 @ 28.74%
capone 833.74 @ 14.4%
------------------------
total: 43221.24

My goal back in Oct 07 was to pay 30k toward by debt by the time I turn 30 in July 08. I figured that wouldn't really be equal to reducing my debt by 30k, because of the high interest rates, but it seemed achievable.

I am VERY happy to report that Ive already accomplished that goal!

As of today by debt looks not so bad:
boa1 3558.31 @ 1.99%
boa2 10092.53 @ 15.24% (952 @ 21.24%)
chase1 0 @ 29.99%
chase2 0 @ 29.99%
chase3 0 @ 28.74%
capone 0 @ 14.4%
------------------------
total: 13650.84

New goal here is to pay off all cc debt by Sept 15 08. Freedom! I can taste it.

Goal #2: emergency fund

I'm not sure if 25k is really the right amount. The cost of living is pretty high here in SF, so more than 10k seems wise. Not sure of the timeframe for this either. I have zero savings right now (decided I could tolerate the risk to get rid of high interest debt first).

Rough goal here is to save 10k by end of year.

Goal #3: pay off school loans

I'm not really in a huge rush here. Loans are at 4% and are all consolidated govt loans. After emergency fund is accomplished I will likely ramp up my payments on the school loan.

Goal #?: travel fund? fashion fund?

TBD when priorities are sorted :)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Beautiful disasterpiece

It is a beautiful disaster I have created over the last 10 years. Wouldn't change a thing, as it brought me to this very moment. But I feel empowered to change it!

How I got into this mess:
I come from a lower middle class, single parent family, but was spoiled to the extent I thought we were upper middle class my entire childhood (ha!). I left home at 17 and put myself through state school with far too much school loan debt as the result. After college, I moved cross country 3 times in 5 years and created a ton of cc debt in the process.

In the last 5 years, my financial situation worsened as I lost touch with the reality of what I could actually afford. While I take full responsibility for the reality I created, I know I allowed two factors to strongly influence me:
1) being in a relationship for 2 years with a very giving, generous man that came from a wealthy family. It distorted my idea of what 'normal' spending was and also caused lots of incidental costs to be encountered (if Im being flown to Paris, even if the flight, dinner and hotel are paid for, Im still going to buy *something*),
2) living in Los Angeles (Hollywood) - oh, the reality distortion field that city can create!

What I'm doing about it:
For almost a decade I'd been living slightly beyond my means, until I had a revelation last year that I needed to find financial freedom. I weaned myself off of CC use and on to a 'cash diet' for a couple months and in October 07 I set a goal of paying $30k toward my $43k of CC debt before I turned 30 in July 08. I hit that goal in May, and am now excited to eliminate ALL my debt.

Hello Blogosphere!

Ive been on my financial freedom mission for about 8 months now, and a consumer of PF blogs for a bit longer than that. In an attempt to self-motivate, I thought Id try to contribute the community of PF bloggers with my own contemplations, struggles and victories. Please feel free to drop me a line. I would love to hear from you :)

A bit about me:
Im in my late twenties, 29 actually! I'm 'single' in the financial/budgeting sense, but have an amazing boyfriend. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and absolutely love it here, though it does have one of the highest costs of living in the US.