So the strangest thing happened to me over the weekend. I got a hand-addressed envelope in the mail! You may think it's odd that I find that interesting, but really, how often does that happen? I told my friends about it, and they were all like, "Are you sure it wasn't auto-penned?" Nope, this was genuinely hand written.
It was from a bank too, a bank that I have dealings with actually. The bank my car loan is through. Inside this hand-addressed envelope was a printer advertisement for a mortgage special they have going until the end of February. Stapled onto the page was a business card from a local banker with them, and the (I'm assuming) national phone number that was printed on the sheet was blacked out.
Now, the deal actually seems really promising, something I'd be very willing to consider. The only real problem is, it has a deadline that comes before I'm going to be ready to actually buy a house. I'm sure there are some strings attached that they don't disclose on the form, or some other downside I didn't see (This is one of those larger national banks), but for the most part it seemed like a good deal.
The deal is actually so good, I've almost considered contacting the guy, just to see if they would be able to extend it till my deadline.
But what I find most interesting about this whole thing is, why did this guy feel like it was worth his time to hand-address an envelope to mail it to me? Is it possible he googled me and found this site and decided I might be a good candidate for a mortgage? Or is it just one of those random things where there is no meaning?
If I do decide to contact him about the deal, I'm going to ask. . . .
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday already?
So, it's Friday again, and it's time to give you guys an update on where I am.
I still have that $358 in my FSA from last year, and I have been lazy about spending it, but I have until March, so I've got time.
I've now have $703.54 saved for the house fund.
Turns out that my tax refund is now expected this upcoming Wednesday.
My credit sesame score is holding steady at 772, but that's partly because it only updates once a month.
I have not contacted any lenders about a mortgage, or any realtors about finding a house yet. I did talk to a friend about the upcoming process and gained a little insight.
I have also been able to use the sharing option on Credit Sesame, you can see my badge at the bottom of the column on the right.
I still have that $358 in my FSA from last year, and I have been lazy about spending it, but I have until March, so I've got time.
I've now have $703.54 saved for the house fund.
Turns out that my tax refund is now expected this upcoming Wednesday.
My credit sesame score is holding steady at 772, but that's partly because it only updates once a month.
I have not contacted any lenders about a mortgage, or any realtors about finding a house yet. I did talk to a friend about the upcoming process and gained a little insight.
I have also been able to use the sharing option on Credit Sesame, you can see my badge at the bottom of the column on the right.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
My Financial Past
So, I've alluded to this a little in previous posts, but I figure I should give you guys a rundown on what has brought me to where I am now. I have worked for as long as I can remember. My parents were avid sci-fi fans and we went to conventions to sell merchandise in the dealers rooms, and many times I'd be left in charge of the table. Outside of that, I had a paper route and in my off time I would help my mother collect UPCs and coupons.
We were a very thrifty family. My mother had coupons for everything, she would trade with people through the mail even. We had filing cabinets full of UPCs saved in case there was a future rebate. I was taught at an early age the value of a dollar and how to stretch your money, but it never really sunk in.
At around 10 years old, my family moved down to Georgia. Things worked differently here, kids didn't have paper routes. It wasn't until I was 15 that I really started working again. I would go and help out at the local comic book store in exchange for credit I could use to buy comics with. It was good work, I loved the people and had a great time.
A little while later, when I got my own car, I had bills to pay, so I needed real money. After that I worked a few different jobs; I worked at a few fast food restaurants and even did a stint in retail. After high school, it was time for me to move out on my own, and like every other grown-up, I got credit!
That was a bad idea. Eventually, I was maxed out on all my credit cards and overdrafting my checking account all the time. In the end, at age 21, I was near bankruptcy, although somehow I never quite got there. I defaulted on 3 or 4 different credit cards, and eventually had no credit and only lived off what I made each paycheck.
You'd think I would have learned from that, but it wasn't until 2-3 years ago that I finally changed my life. I found Quickenonline, and it saved me. The feature that let you put in recurring bills and estimate your bank account on any given day was all it took for me to stop overdrafting. I would estimate that over the course of 10 years, I paid at least $9,000 in overdraft fees. Not to mention all the other fees on credit cards for being over the limit and only paying minimum payments.
But my story doesn't end there, because eventually, those defaulted credit cards drop off your credit report. And what happens then? You can get more credit cards. And I did, and I wasn't smart the second time either. I never let the cards go over the limit, but I carried balances, for a long time. And I'm sure I've paid my fair share of interest these past few years. But then something changed, I got to claim a dependent on my taxes, and my return was HUGE! And I paid off my credit cards! And now I barely carry any balance from month to month, and pay off most of my cards each month.
This all goes to show that no matter how bad you are financially now, there's always hope. You just have to be willing to make changes. I could have fixed all my problems sooner, if I had only tried. All it took was being able to estimate my bills and see where all my money was going for me to realize how to fix it. If I had just started keeping a paper ledger so many years ago and actually kept on top of it, I would have been fine. But I was lazy, and didn't do it. But now I check my bank accounts every few days, watch my bills and make sure they're all paid on time, and you can too.
We were a very thrifty family. My mother had coupons for everything, she would trade with people through the mail even. We had filing cabinets full of UPCs saved in case there was a future rebate. I was taught at an early age the value of a dollar and how to stretch your money, but it never really sunk in.
At around 10 years old, my family moved down to Georgia. Things worked differently here, kids didn't have paper routes. It wasn't until I was 15 that I really started working again. I would go and help out at the local comic book store in exchange for credit I could use to buy comics with. It was good work, I loved the people and had a great time.
A little while later, when I got my own car, I had bills to pay, so I needed real money. After that I worked a few different jobs; I worked at a few fast food restaurants and even did a stint in retail. After high school, it was time for me to move out on my own, and like every other grown-up, I got credit!
That was a bad idea. Eventually, I was maxed out on all my credit cards and overdrafting my checking account all the time. In the end, at age 21, I was near bankruptcy, although somehow I never quite got there. I defaulted on 3 or 4 different credit cards, and eventually had no credit and only lived off what I made each paycheck.
You'd think I would have learned from that, but it wasn't until 2-3 years ago that I finally changed my life. I found Quickenonline, and it saved me. The feature that let you put in recurring bills and estimate your bank account on any given day was all it took for me to stop overdrafting. I would estimate that over the course of 10 years, I paid at least $9,000 in overdraft fees. Not to mention all the other fees on credit cards for being over the limit and only paying minimum payments.
But my story doesn't end there, because eventually, those defaulted credit cards drop off your credit report. And what happens then? You can get more credit cards. And I did, and I wasn't smart the second time either. I never let the cards go over the limit, but I carried balances, for a long time. And I'm sure I've paid my fair share of interest these past few years. But then something changed, I got to claim a dependent on my taxes, and my return was HUGE! And I paid off my credit cards! And now I barely carry any balance from month to month, and pay off most of my cards each month.
This all goes to show that no matter how bad you are financially now, there's always hope. You just have to be willing to make changes. I could have fixed all my problems sooner, if I had only tried. All it took was being able to estimate my bills and see where all my money was going for me to realize how to fix it. If I had just started keeping a paper ledger so many years ago and actually kept on top of it, I would have been fine. But I was lazy, and didn't do it. But now I check my bank accounts every few days, watch my bills and make sure they're all paid on time, and you can too.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The urge to spend is strong.
Saving money isn't just about not spending it. One mistake a lot of people make when trying to save money is to outlaw all frivolous spending. What that does is make the urge to spend even stronger. When creating a budget, it is important to not just leave a little wiggle room, but to also budget in money you can spend freely with no worry, Mad Money.
When you have money you don't have to account for, not a lot, but $5-$10 per week, it makes it easier to stay within budget. You're able to buy the small things you like, and more resistant to the urge to buy things you don't need. Of course, adding in an entertainment budget can help too. Setting aside a segment of your budget to do fun things, like go the movies, play mini-golf, or whatever, will help you feel less restricted, making you less likely to want to "fight back" against the restraints of your budget.
Of course, even with an money built into a budget for entertainment, and some extra mad money will still not keep the urge to spend down, and that's where my previous entry comes in, Saving more, spending less. It's important to be able to determine if a purchase really is worth the money in the long run.
What happens when you find one that doesn't fall in your budget that really is worthwhile? Change your budget, simple as that. Part of having a good budget is the ability to change it so that you can get what you want and what you need without resorting to bad decisions.
When you have money you don't have to account for, not a lot, but $5-$10 per week, it makes it easier to stay within budget. You're able to buy the small things you like, and more resistant to the urge to buy things you don't need. Of course, adding in an entertainment budget can help too. Setting aside a segment of your budget to do fun things, like go the movies, play mini-golf, or whatever, will help you feel less restricted, making you less likely to want to "fight back" against the restraints of your budget.
Of course, even with an money built into a budget for entertainment, and some extra mad money will still not keep the urge to spend down, and that's where my previous entry comes in, Saving more, spending less. It's important to be able to determine if a purchase really is worth the money in the long run.
What happens when you find one that doesn't fall in your budget that really is worthwhile? Change your budget, simple as that. Part of having a good budget is the ability to change it so that you can get what you want and what you need without resorting to bad decisions.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
That's not good news . . .
So, I have this friend who works at a bank. I figured she'd make a great resource with the process, working in a financial institution and having gone through the process herself. So I gave her the rundown on where I was and how far along in the process I am.
So far I seemed to be right on the money, trying the credit union first for the mortgage, what kinda things will be required of me to qualify, the type of loan I'd need, stuff like that. But then there's the bad news. I'd need more like $6,000 and not the ~$3,000 I have. Closing costs increase the amount of money you need up-front to buy a house.
So here I am with cash to put down on a house, but not enough to pay those damned closing costs. Whatever shall I do? Well, I can try to find more money, but that might be tough. When it comes time to close, I'll have a little more money, but not enough to cover that wide a gap.
Can I just pay the closing costs and not put any money down? I'd heard of people doing that before, but that's part of what's caused the economy to go down the toilet, so you can't do that anymore.
How about rolling the closing costs into the loan? Not exactly. I can't do it myself, but if the seller were to pay the closing costs, then add that onto the sale price of the house, which will in turn roll it into the mortgage.
So it's not great news. Although I kinda expected something like this, I still feel confident that I'll make it through the process. And with this being a buyer's market, I'm certain I'll find a seller willing to work with me to get the house of of their hands and into mine!
So far I seemed to be right on the money, trying the credit union first for the mortgage, what kinda things will be required of me to qualify, the type of loan I'd need, stuff like that. But then there's the bad news. I'd need more like $6,000 and not the ~$3,000 I have. Closing costs increase the amount of money you need up-front to buy a house.
So here I am with cash to put down on a house, but not enough to pay those damned closing costs. Whatever shall I do? Well, I can try to find more money, but that might be tough. When it comes time to close, I'll have a little more money, but not enough to cover that wide a gap.
Can I just pay the closing costs and not put any money down? I'd heard of people doing that before, but that's part of what's caused the economy to go down the toilet, so you can't do that anymore.
How about rolling the closing costs into the loan? Not exactly. I can't do it myself, but if the seller were to pay the closing costs, then add that onto the sale price of the house, which will in turn roll it into the mortgage.
So it's not great news. Although I kinda expected something like this, I still feel confident that I'll make it through the process. And with this being a buyer's market, I'm certain I'll find a seller willing to work with me to get the house of of their hands and into mine!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Free Money! Free Stuff!
Part of my mantra is free is always good. There are a lot of ways to find great deals on things, but sometimes it can be a bit harder to find it for free. There are a lot of sites out there that offer free stuff, and a lot of scams too. So I'm just going to cover things I personally use.
The biggest best way to get free money or free stuff? A rewards credit card. You got one? No? Well, if you get approved, the Amazon rewards card from Chase is pretty good. That's the one I use mostly. Now, how does a credit card mean free? Simple. Every month, you have bills you pay. Insurance, water, electricity, whatever. These are bills you pay every single month without fail. So, since you're already forking out that cash every month, why not pass it through your rewards card first?
What you do is pay the bill with the credit card, then send the money you'd have have used to pay the bill to the credit card company instead. This way you're not carrying a balance (carrying a balance on your credit cards completely works against you) and you're earning 1-3% back. It's crazy simple, but I never thought about it until I read an article on doing this a few months ago.
Another site I use to get something extra for the things I do is MyPoints. This site is like a rewards card in that you earn points for things you do online. There are a lot of sites that you might buy something from, and if you go through the Mypoints link, you'll earn points that can be redeemed for giftcards at all sorts of different places. I have been a member of the site for over 13 years. Over those years I have earned hundreds of dollars worth of free gift cards. They even offer the option to earn points by answering a question everyday or even searching the internet with their toolbar.
Another option to get free stuff is old-school. It's as simple as writing a letter to a company. Not something I've done recently, but I'm tempted to start doing it again. Just write a letter (preferably snail mail, e-mail doesn't seem to work as well) and shoot it off to them. A great example of this is The $39 Experiment. The idea of mailing a letter to a company is just so rare these days I'd think you'd be even more likely to get something for nothing. Obviously, you have to pay for the postage, paper and envelope, but it still might not be much compared to what you get in return.
I'd love for you to share with me your favorite ways to get free money and stuff!
The biggest best way to get free money or free stuff? A rewards credit card. You got one? No? Well, if you get approved, the Amazon rewards card from Chase is pretty good. That's the one I use mostly. Now, how does a credit card mean free? Simple. Every month, you have bills you pay. Insurance, water, electricity, whatever. These are bills you pay every single month without fail. So, since you're already forking out that cash every month, why not pass it through your rewards card first?
What you do is pay the bill with the credit card, then send the money you'd have have used to pay the bill to the credit card company instead. This way you're not carrying a balance (carrying a balance on your credit cards completely works against you) and you're earning 1-3% back. It's crazy simple, but I never thought about it until I read an article on doing this a few months ago.
Another site I use to get something extra for the things I do is MyPoints. This site is like a rewards card in that you earn points for things you do online. There are a lot of sites that you might buy something from, and if you go through the Mypoints link, you'll earn points that can be redeemed for giftcards at all sorts of different places. I have been a member of the site for over 13 years. Over those years I have earned hundreds of dollars worth of free gift cards. They even offer the option to earn points by answering a question everyday or even searching the internet with their toolbar.
Another option to get free stuff is old-school. It's as simple as writing a letter to a company. Not something I've done recently, but I'm tempted to start doing it again. Just write a letter (preferably snail mail, e-mail doesn't seem to work as well) and shoot it off to them. A great example of this is The $39 Experiment. The idea of mailing a letter to a company is just so rare these days I'd think you'd be even more likely to get something for nothing. Obviously, you have to pay for the postage, paper and envelope, but it still might not be much compared to what you get in return.
I'd love for you to share with me your favorite ways to get free money and stuff!
Friday, January 20, 2012
My weekly update
So, it's Friday, and I figure it's a great time to give you guys an update on where I am.
I still have that $358 in my FSA from last year, and I plan on trying to use that up by the end of the weekend. My HR reps have confirmed that there is a grace period until the end of march to use that.
I've now got $678.54 saved for the house fund, just got paid today.
I have filed my 2011 taxes, and am expecting an estimated $3,000 refund next week.
My credit sesame score is holding steady at 772
I have not contacted any lenders about a mortgage, or any realtors about finding a house yet.
I suspended my exterminator today to save a little more money for a service I won't need.
I still have that $358 in my FSA from last year, and I plan on trying to use that up by the end of the weekend. My HR reps have confirmed that there is a grace period until the end of march to use that.
I've now got $678.54 saved for the house fund, just got paid today.
I have filed my 2011 taxes, and am expecting an estimated $3,000 refund next week.
My credit sesame score is holding steady at 772
I have not contacted any lenders about a mortgage, or any realtors about finding a house yet.
I suspended my exterminator today to save a little more money for a service I won't need.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)