1.  Chase Bank

Yes, I hated Chase Bank. Yes, I said they raped me because of the credit limit and interest rate slam. But that was yesterday and all I can do is move forward. I am still paying the monthly payments that were set up as part of the Hardship Program and even added the other Chase card to the program as well. The card was already closed and it doesn’t affect my credit score negatively; in fact if you’re having problems paying your bill I would actually recommend a Hardship Program. It lowered my interest and payments and the balance owing on the second card was actually lowered as well.  So although we’re not dating, we’re at least friends. Not BFF’s but at least I don’t break out into a rash when I think of them.

2. Canceling Satellite

I still think canceling Dish Network was a great decision. I’ve saved $70 a month for quite a while now (almost a year) and have lived just fine on DVDs. I will admit that once in a while when at my parents’ house or a someone else’s normal homes, I do miss cable television shows. Never enough to add it back though and pay the monthly fees.

3. Canceling the Land Line

What land line. I’m about to throw away the land line phone actually because I don’t ever plan on having one again. Saved at least $30 a month and this I can say I don’t miss it at all. In fact, I will go as far as saying that I think land lines in homes will become a thing of the past. Cell phones are more than capable of handling phone needs. It almost doesn’t make sense to have a phone at home AND a cell phone. I never did try a pay as you go phone, which would probably be cheaper, but since getting the iPhone I’ve become way too reliant on it to change anything.

4. Savings

I am still adding money every month to my savings account with ING. Ever since they had that contest that I didn’t win and I signed up for the automatic monthly transfer, the savings has been growing. Let me tell you, even though I forget about it, when I do think about that savings account it feels good. Knowing that you are saving instead of wishing you would each month is almost as awesome as finding free money. Almost but not really.

5. Debt

Things are getting paid off so I can see a light at the end of the financial tunnel. My medical bills are almost paid down as well as the dental bill (after setting up payment arrangements and asking for discounts). My credit cards need more work but I’m paying those down as well. Nothing is in collections and nothing has late payments so my credit score is well on its way back up.

Other News

I bought a pair of tall BearPaw boots. Kind of a cheaper version of the Uggs that I wanted, but now that I have them I don’t even want Uggs. These BearPaw boots are awesome and comfy and the warmest boots I’ve ever had. I can wear them with leggings and not freeze to death even though I live in American Siberia. I’m considering getting some for my daughter also.

I’m back in school to finish a couple degrees. I need to not only reduce my debt, but I need to make more money as well and furthering my education can only help. I know what you’re thinking. School loans are going to bring me back down into a black hole in a few years. I plan on having everything in order by then though so all I have to focus on is the school loans. I’m confident it’ll be okay.

Am I still bankrupt? I pay my bills, I feed my child, I’m happy, she’s happy. Yeah, I am kind of still bankrupt but I really can’t complain. It’s getting better for us and it’ll get better for you.

Really.

Are you surprised? I’m the same person that first blogged about making my own dryer sheets out of coffee filters. Another shattered dream caused by laziness and self diagnosed dementia.

Well, now I have no excuse to parlay on the savings account. I received this email from ING:

Dear Miss Bankrupt:

Since you’re a such a loser at keeping up with your savings account, we’re going to make it easy for you and further, we really really hope you win this boatload of cash.

Love always,

ING

Okay, not really. But the email still spoke directly to me, in an unintentional and indirect way that normal people wouldn’t think was directed to them.

This is the real deal: From now until September 30, if you enroll in ING’s Automatic Savings Plan or Direct Deposit with your Orange Savings Account, you have a shot at winning a monthly prize of $5,000 or a grand prize of $50,000.

I included the photo because I know you think I’m playing. I set up an Automatic Savings Plan so a fixed amount of money is transferred directly from my checking account to the ING savings account every month. It’s just a couple clicks, unless you have no idea what your PIN is and have to go through the entire process of getting a new PIN. Hint:  It’s at least 6 digits. Which I didn’t notice until I tried the same 4 digit PIN a number of times. I guess I thought I was at the ATM machine.

Anyway, if you have a hard time getting your money into your savings account, I’d guess $50,000 is as good a reason as any to try out the automatic options with ING.

Wish me luck! (And good luck to you too. We can share.)

My boss scheduled it on our calendar and then went through my files himself, while I piled up all of the mustard, ketchup and butter packets onto my desk. “What happens if I need hot sauce one day?”

“Yeah,” my boss said. “Because not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had a packet of hot sauce.”

I think I annoy him. Anyway I threw it all into the trashcan after he made a comment about how hoarding starts.

I did hoard all of those packets of sauce. I also hoard money except not in a good way. I have found that lately I’ve been afraid to spend any money, like on bills. I’ll wait until the last possible second to pay just because I don’t want to pay. Yet, if something at the store is less than $10, I’ll probably buy it. Which is stupid, because an electricity bill of $200 is way more worth paying than a bunch of gadgets at multiple times that cost less than $10 but by the end of the month total $200. See what I mean? I’m so afraid of not having any money that I neglect to pay larger bills but waste money on a bunch of smaller ones.

If I’m going to be a hoarder, I would prefer to hoard savings accounts. I don’t see how I could go wrong with a bunch of savings accounts or a bunch of money in savings accounts. I think I’m going to make a point of paying my large bills early (and not when faced with disconnection) and stuffing everything else into my savings account at ING.

Would make more sense. Until then, I’ll refrain from saving hot sauce packets and spending my money on cheap things just because they’re cheap.

I decided to give it a try because I like the idea of having subaccounts so I can save for the unexpected expenses as well as building up an account that I don’t touch. I also like that it can be transferred so easily from my checking account at the bank.

The Orange Savings Account with ING also offers an auto savings plan that will automatically debit from your bank account every month (which may not be a bad idea in my case). I’ll wait a couple months I think before I enroll in that.

I am also considering opening a checking account with ING since they’re offering a $50 bonus (code FEELESS). I already have 2 checking accounts and a paypal debit card, plus the savings account at the bank and the new one I just set up with ING. I think adding another checking account would only add to the banking confusion. BUT, the ING Checking account is paying interest and neither one of my checking accounts is paying me anything. I do have some kind of cashback thing with the Paypal account. It might be worth it for me to close one of the other checking accounts and move my banking with ING. Not sure yet.

I am going to start my loose change challenge Monday and whatever change I come up with I’ll be adding to the savings account.

A big thank you to everyone for all of the savings suggestions. I think as soon as I get that emergency fund going, I’ll be able to worry less…and relax more. Peace of mind is a great savings account.

Have a great weekend!

Usually unexpected expenses consist of emergency room charges, car repairs, or your sister’s wedding. Luckily, my sister’s already married so I’m not worried about that one.

This just enforces the fact that we actually need two savings accounts. One for unexpected expenses and the other for actually saving. How in the heck does one manage such a thing? It’s difficult enough (for me, anyway) to get something into one savings account, and now surprise…I realize I need two.

So I guess my main question is, how much needs to go into the unexpected expenses account? How much is enough to save per year to cover these phantom costs enough that it doesn’t hurt so much. Financially, February was not good to me. Great in all other respects (it’s even finally getting warm here) but money-wise I pretty much crashed and burned. I don’t want to save just enough in this fund to pay my car tabs, that would only be around $15.41 a month which is definitely do-able. But, how much needs to go into it to feel comfortable and not worry that a bill or expense is going to jump out and attack me? Or does everyone just use their regular savings accounts for those expenses? I know that a lot of people keep an account for taxes and insurance payments, but I don’t have that kind of stuff right now that I need to save for. Right now, I’m looking for an amount to save each month for emergencies.

I have read that an emergency fund should have 3-6 months worth of wages. This is a smart idea, but the concept is based on the possibility of losing a job and being able to still survive. I think if I had this kind of savings or an emergency fund, I would’ve charged a lot less on credit cards that I’m paying off now. So for savings my goal is $50 a month for just saving and I’ll start with $20 a month for emergency in the same account. Not the greatest plan, but for now it’s better than nothing.

I’ll keep you posted on anything I find out. Otherwise, things are moving along smoothly. I need to get groceries this weekend which has already started causing anxiety attacks. Or maybe that’s because we only have ramen and kidney beans in the cupboard. Not sure.

Have a great weekend and as always, thanks for reading!

Well, my household is far from average and not counting the actual jar filled with change, I doubt I have 90 bucks just laying around. Maybe $50 if I collected it all and counted it, which I’m not going to do. The point though, is that there is extra money in my home that isn’t doing anything significant except smelling funny and jamming up my garbage disposal when I try to wash gum off it. (That’s another story, though.)

I am considering a loose change experiment to fund a savings account or when I have enough, to buy a savings bond or to invest in flying cars or something (it’s going to happen, I saw it on the Jetsons).

Here is what I think I need to do:

1. Allow myself a certain amount of cash per week. I don’t carry cash very often and this affects of course how much change I have left. You don’t get back money when you use your debit card at McDonald’s. This will also help me track better what I’m spending on frivolous stuff, which to my knowledge isn’t very much.

2. I need a deadline or date that I will cash in the change so I can kind of guage what I’m actually saving. Maybe I’ll try 6 months? So, this Friday I’ll get my allotted cash and dump all of my change each day until July 26, 2010.

3. I’m starting completely new so I won’t be adding to the change in my daughter’s jar.

4. I need to find a free place to cash in the change or see if one of my banks will cash it in without any fee, which I think they do. Some of the random machines charge a small fee which is a total waste of money.

5. In 6 months if it isn’t enough to do anything significant with, I’ll deposit the cash into my savings account until I’ve acquired enough and gathered enough information to figure out something better.

As my mom mentioned, I’m not getting any younger and I do need to take my savings seriously and like a child, I’m more interested if there’s some kind of game involved. I do have an IRA at work, but I have a feeling that most of that will go to my daughter’s college tuition. What then will I live off of in 20 years when I retire?

I’ll keep you posted, but I’m interested in what other people do to prepare for retirement. What do you do with your loose change?