So my ebay account was hacked and someone tried to sell a ridiculous amount of stuff using my account. I am super pissed off right now. I know it's only ebay, but I feel violated nonetheless.
Stupid Hackers!!!!!!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Month 3...
So it is now the 20th of the the 3rd month of this rollercoaster. Luckily for me I have made my extra $100 (yeah me!) and I don't think I have as much derailment with the credit cards as in the prior month (but the truth will come out next week).
Currently looking forward to maybe, just maybe, having my net debt balance go down.
Fingers crossed!
Currently looking forward to maybe, just maybe, having my net debt balance go down.
Fingers crossed!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Taking care of the pennies...
So on my hiatus I engaged in a conversation with some friends regarding my debt journey and my blog. One thing someone mentioned (or mocked) was my $100 a month project. This person said that in my current situation I shouldn't be worried about finding hundreds, but I should be concerned with obtaing thousands. Well my response, of course but how easy is it to come up with a thousand dollars every month when I am struggling with $100. If I found a way to come up with that amount of money in a month, don't you think I would take it? I like to think that I am smart enough for that.
One comment I did pick up on, however, was a flip remark about how "you probably could find more than $100 from pocket change within one month?" I thought this was interesting. Do we actually encounter $100 or more in simple pocket change within one month ?
So for my December $100 plan, I will be accumulating all my pocket change until the 15th of December (30 days) and see what I can come up with. This may seem simplistic, but I feel the need to prove (or disprove) this theory. Have to admit, I am a little curious.
One comment I did pick up on, however, was a flip remark about how "you probably could find more than $100 from pocket change within one month?" I thought this was interesting. Do we actually encounter $100 or more in simple pocket change within one month ?
So for my December $100 plan, I will be accumulating all my pocket change until the 15th of December (30 days) and see what I can come up with. This may seem simplistic, but I feel the need to prove (or disprove) this theory. Have to admit, I am a little curious.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sorry for the downtime...
Sorry for being away, but I had some family business to take care of. But I am back and will continue with the posts. To anyone who stumbled across in my absence, I am sorry and hope you will continue to follow my progress.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thanks, but no thanks...
So as I promised I looked into the Quicken Online program. It looks great!! There are plenty of great features and appears to be very user friendly. The reports are great and populate a whole lot easier then if you tried to do it manually as all of your transactions are already uploaded and categorized for you.
However, there is one small drawback. To set up the software you need to provide your account nunbers to the program so that transactions can be downloaded. I researched the company's security measures and was impressed, but I decided to call my bank anyway. I was assured by the bank manager that if I were to provide my account number to the program and it was somehow accessed by another party I would have no protection on my bank accounts as I had volunteered the information which explicitly goes against my banking agreement.
I know I don't have much in the bank right now, but I don't think it is worth the risk. The tour of the program, however, has given me some ideas on how to track my finances better myself.
Oh well, at least I learned something!
However, there is one small drawback. To set up the software you need to provide your account nunbers to the program so that transactions can be downloaded. I researched the company's security measures and was impressed, but I decided to call my bank anyway. I was assured by the bank manager that if I were to provide my account number to the program and it was somehow accessed by another party I would have no protection on my bank accounts as I had volunteered the information which explicitly goes against my banking agreement.
I know I don't have much in the bank right now, but I don't think it is worth the risk. The tour of the program, however, has given me some ideas on how to track my finances better myself.
Oh well, at least I learned something!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Paying to get out of bed...
So after completing that reconciliation of my credit cards, I went a little CRAZY and figured out how much interest I was being charged per day for the past month. The result...$41.
Yep, I am paying credit card companies $41 dollars a day to have the luxury to not own up to the purchases I have made over the past few years. Pretty hefty cost for denial.
I challenge anyone else to do this. Actually look at what your debt is costing you on a daily basis, I sure it will be more shocking then you realize.
Yep, I am paying credit card companies $41 dollars a day to have the luxury to not own up to the purchases I have made over the past few years. Pretty hefty cost for denial.
I challenge anyone else to do this. Actually look at what your debt is costing you on a daily basis, I sure it will be more shocking then you realize.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Making Sense of My Mess...
So as I posted on Friday I was blindsighted by the movement (increase) of my debt. So I created a reconciliation that groups all entries into categories and makes more sense of where the money is bleeding. What I found was suprising.
Sure enough there was interest charges and vehicle repairs, but there were two big shocks from the breakdown. First off was gas. I thought we were spending a couple hundred bucks a month, but it turns out we were spending just shy of $900. Can you believe it? $900 in just 30 days!!!! Gas is a necessity in my world as it is an 8km drive to the end of the line for public transit, but I never thought it was that bad.
The second shocker was the $700 that was spent on Miscellaneous stuff. Between 2 credit cards we managed to charge just over $700 on items that were not necessary (ie. going out for lunch) or that I didn't even realize I had charged. How pathetic is that! There were actually a few charges that I swore I had paid cash for. Ouch!
Being more cognizant will hopefully put an end to this one. If the misc. stuff wasn't charged and gas was more in line with what I thought it was we would have actually could out ahead, although meagerly.
Well we can only learn from our mistakes, and hopefully I will not be repeating this post in early December.
Sure enough there was interest charges and vehicle repairs, but there were two big shocks from the breakdown. First off was gas. I thought we were spending a couple hundred bucks a month, but it turns out we were spending just shy of $900. Can you believe it? $900 in just 30 days!!!! Gas is a necessity in my world as it is an 8km drive to the end of the line for public transit, but I never thought it was that bad.
The second shocker was the $700 that was spent on Miscellaneous stuff. Between 2 credit cards we managed to charge just over $700 on items that were not necessary (ie. going out for lunch) or that I didn't even realize I had charged. How pathetic is that! There were actually a few charges that I swore I had paid cash for. Ouch!
Being more cognizant will hopefully put an end to this one. If the misc. stuff wasn't charged and gas was more in line with what I thought it was we would have actually could out ahead, although meagerly.
Well we can only learn from our mistakes, and hopefully I will not be repeating this post in early December.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
