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Budgets completed through February...

December 8th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

and things don't look any easier.

The insurance company settled with me for my daughter's car. I owe 7100. They settled for 5100 because their insured actually hit 4 cars including my kid. I've started paying them $125 per month. They call all the time and drive me crazy. I've asked a few money wise people what to do. Some of them told me to call and offer them a settlement others tell me just to keep paying them each month. I'm always scared that if something else should happen to me that I won't have any money to cover it. I barely have enough money to pay my bills and put a little money into savings for bills that don't come every month like insurance and propane. The only reason I can even pay them is because I got a $1.00 an hour raise a month or so ago. I don't know what to do.

My daughter is paying for the puppy that had parvo. I only paid $400. So I am thankful for that. She considers him her dog and feels responsible. Did I mention that she moved out again? Things are kind of stressful between us because I'm paying for that car and she's not. I was never going to mention it to her again, but she brought it up to me a few days ago and I told her that I was making payments on it. She asked about the settlement. At the time I didn't have it yet and I told her so. I'm almost afraid that if I mention to her that I got it she might ask me for money. When we argued about who's responsibility the car was, and I realized that she was not going to keep making the payments, I told her to never ask me for money again. She's never asked out right for money, but she has hinted at it. I'm not going to give her money.

My loan for my house is still in the restructure stage, but they told me it has been approved.

I still have most of the last couple of mortgage payments. I used the first mortgage to catch up on all my bills, pay the $400 for the dog, pay my car insurance for 6 months and the registration on my car.

I did take another $1,000 and get new tires (bald), brakes (90% gone), oil change, alignment and a couple of other things for the car. One of my tires was flat every morning. Lately I've been worrying about the car just holding out.

This means with the settlement that I have $8,500 in my bank account in my money market fund. So why am I still very, very worried?

I'll tell you why. I did my budget and I barely have enough money coming in to pay my bills and buy groceries and pay my mortgage which I was told would be increasing 'just a little' with the restructure. What the heck does 'just a little' mean anyway?

I figured out that to feel comfortable I would need to make $300 more every month. That means that I would have to earn 4% interest on $8500. I can only earn that in a CD, which would tie up my money for no less than 3 months at a time. I am not willing to put it into my deferred comp that invests it. I lost money there anyway and it is too hard to get to if something should happen. So there it sits in my money market earning 1.7 % interest each month.

I think I'm just tired. I do all I can and I just can't seem to make ends meet. Every month, it is something else.

Christmas is coming and my oldest daughter asked me to go in halves on a Nintendo video game for my son. Last year I didn't buy them anything, because I didn't have any money. This year I have $200 saved up. I have three kids at home. I told her "no". My share would be $125. I told her that I thought that was too much for my son to ask for. She said she told him that but that is all he wants. I still said "no".

I am also having Christmas at my house this year for the family. We always pot luck it so it's not so hard.

My youngest son who is seventeen, desperately needs to go into his second phase of braces. I'm hoping on getting just a little bit of income tax refund. I claim 14 and I haven't paid my mortgage in 4 months. I hope I don't end up owing money.

On the good side, I am now owe $10,899.41 on my credit card debt. I can hardly wait until that is gone. I thought about paying a big chunk towards this too, but if I was going to do that, I might as well pay on the car. I think I'm better off just making payments and saving the money for an emergency.

4 Responses to “Budgets completed through February...”

  1. ktmarvels Says:
    1197125682

    ING's savings account is earning 4.2% and I'm sure there are other online savings accounts that are earning at least that if not more.

    Also, have you thought about doing something like online surveys to bring in a little bit of extra cash?

  2. baselle Says:
    1197164981

    Unfortunately, 4% of $8500 is $340/yr, which only gives you $28 extra/month. Frown
    I second at least the ING account because it is liquid. Money moves between that account and your checking account - it takes a day or two to get it back into your checking for emergencies.

    Also, I don't have any ING invites, but if someone out there has an ING account invite and emails you one, if you start an ING account and put in at least $250, you get $25 and the person who invites you gets $10. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

    Another thought is PayPal, which pays 4.7% and is also linked to your checking account. The only bad thing is that you can only shove $500 into the account at a time. Its not meant to be used as a savings vehicle.

  3. koppur Says:
    1197172074

    Check ING and also EmigrantDirect.com

    I actually have savings with both of them, and their rates are pretty similar. I have some ING invites if you would like one. Just email me at koppurmoney@hotmail.com Smile

  4. barbara L Says:
    1197216340

    Oh what a huge calculation mistake Frown!. Thank you all for the invites but I already have an ING account. It is just pretty much empty.

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