Welcome to the Broke New Yorker Project

Change jar...

2007-03-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

Okay so I decided that my change and penny jar will have a better use elsewhere, for now anyway. It will now go towards my Josh Fund aka my bus ticket to Florida. Right now I have almost $15 saved between coins and pennies. Thats good! Ive been changing my dollar bills into quarters, because I'm less likely to spend it that way, and that way it's going towards Florida.

New bills?

2007-03-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

It seems kinda crazy to be considering racking up more bills right now, but what choice do I have? I cant be one of those people that doesn't do anything with their life. I need an education. Its the one thing I've wanted since I was a little girl. All I want is that degree from SU. In order to get that, I need to go to OCC and get an associates degree. That will make it easier to get into SU. Now I just need to apply for financial aid for the summer, and for the fall, and decide on a major. Once I decide on what I want to major in at SU, I can decide what to major in at OCC, and then decide what classes to take in the summer and then in the fall. I'm hoping to take 2 classes in each summer session, and a full course load in the fall and spring. Hopefully I get enough financial aid to be able to do so.

Things I'm doing to better my situation...

2007-03-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well, to start, I'm writing down everything I spend. I changed my cell phone plan from $49.99 with 1000 minutes to $39.99 with 600 minutes. I took off the internet capability, and that took off $5.98. So, that will take my bill down to $55. I didnt take off the unlimited texting, because texting is really the only thing I use my phone for. Its the only reason I got tmobile. That will cut roughly $20 off of my cell phone bill. Now, I just need to pay off the balance which is currently $113 and due the end of March.

Goals Part 3

2007-03-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

~Move out of this God awful place
I want OUT of this place. I want to move into a new apartment or house with Josh in August. I want to leave and never come back. I cant wait!
This is a short and long term goal. I want it to happen in the short term, but I want it to last long term.
What could get in the way? Lots of things. Laziness. If something bad were to happen with Josh.
The start deadline is when Josh gets home...end deadline is shortly after that.

~Get an apartment with Josh
Same as the above.

~Help Joshua start court proceedings for getting custody of his son Dylan.
Joshua's son Dylan is living in Florida with Dylan's grandparents. The mother is not in the picture, and Josh wants full custody of Dylan. They took him to court for custody when Josh was in basic, and he didnt even know about it until 5 months later. He didnt know about Dylan until Dylan was 3 years old. He's currently 4 years old. Josh writes to Dylan, the grandparents return all his letters. So, I want to do everything I can to help him get custody of Dylan. We'll get a house/apartment and Ill help decorate a room for Dylan, and help make it so that the courts can see that he has the ability to care for Dylan
This is a long term goal. It isnt something that will happen right away, it's going to take time.
What could get in the way? The grandparents. The mother.
Begin deadline is when Joshua gets home, end deadline is when Dylan is living with us, and everything is good.

Goals Part 2

2007-03-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

~Pay off all smaller debts and take a serious chunk out of the big ones.
I want to work really hard on knocking out the small debts. These include anything under $500. There are seven of them, in the amounts of $30, $63, $63, $80, $271, $457, and $435. I also want to attack the bigger ones and take out as big of a chunk as I can from them. There are nine of them in the amounts of $1082, $1317, $2705, $2777, $2498, $2535, $3614, $717, and $1751.
This is a short AND long term goal. Short because Its what I want to happen before the year is out, long because it's really a part of the big picture. It's the first step towards seeing all my debt go bye bye.
What could get in the way? Lots of things, really. Laziness, loss of motivation, not getting a car and not getting a job. Granted, a lot of things CAN get int e way, but I'm NOT going to let that happen. Ive been copping out and being lazy for far too long. I'm not allowing that to happen this time.
My start deadline is when I get back from Orlando. My end deadline is the end of this year.

~Successfully avoid bankruptcy
I want to do everything in my power to pay off my debt, I do NOT want to file bankruptcy. I told Josh this yesterday, and he said okay. I told him that if he gets home, and we both sit down and look things over, and decide that me filing bankruptcy is the best thing for everyone involved, then I will. He asked if I could wait that long, and I told him that being it costs over $1000 to have a lawyer file, it'll take that long to get that much $ saved anyways, so it'll be okay. As for now, I'm just going to do anything I can to avoid it.
This is a long term goal. I want to avoid bankruptcy in the short term, but in the grand scheme of things I want to avoid bankruptcy for the rest of my life.
Not paying my bills could get in the way. Accumulating more debt could get in my way. Being lazy, if I stopped caring and just started copping out again. Im not going to let that happen. I'm going to do this.
My start deadline is today and my end deadline is the last day of my life.

Goals Part 1

2007-03-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, here are my goals. ALL of them, not just financial goals. I'm going to follow each goal with an explanation, as well as if it's short term(within a year) or long term(longer than a year). I will also then put what could get in the way of that dream, and my start and end deadlines for each. Then I will put how I SEE myself, after accomplishing said goal. Here I go...

~Get a Car.
I want to get myself a car. A nice car, but something I can easily afford. Tomorrow I'm *supposed* to be getting a 1998 Nissan Sentra from Pat for $700.
This is a short term goal, because I want to accomplish it relatively SOON.
Really the only thing that could get in the way of me getting the Nissan is is Pat copping out on me. The things that could get in the way of me getting a car in general, are laziness, loss of motivation, if I stopped caring. I'm not going to let that happen. I'm GOING to make it happen.
My start deadline is today. My end deadline is April 1st. I really hope I get this Nissan this week, it's exactly what I need, and it's everything I've been hoping for.

~Get two jobs.
I want two jobs. I want to work at least 30 hours a week between two part time jobs. More hours would be ideal, because the more I take home the more I can save and the more I can apply to my debt. I can work from roughly 5pm till whenever M-F, and anytime Saturday and Sunday. I hope I can really maximize my time and get as much out of it as I can. That added to the $400 a month I make babysitting, and I could really make it happen.
This is a short term goal because I want to make it happen the second I get that car. It needs to happen ASAP so that I can start saving $ to see Joshua.
What could get in the way of this? Not getting a car. It's that simple.
My start deadline is when I get the car. The end deadline is two weeks from the day I have those car keys.

That's going to be all for now. I'll list more later.

Debt Owed

2007-03-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

Name of Creditor		Total Due

American Express		$1,081.79
Chase		$1,316.90
Chase		$2,705.00
Citi		$2,776.95
Citi		$2,497.91
Citi		$2,534.60
Direct Loans		$3,614.14
Dr. Zucker		$30.00
Gevalia		$62.38
Lifetime Health		$63.00
Lord and Taylor		$270.24
Niagara University		$457.21
Oswego Hospital		$716.56
SunTrust		$1,750.92
SOS		$80.00
Wal-mart		$435.00


TOTAL DUE:		$20,392.60

Laying it all out there...

2007-03-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Okay. Here goes...scary as it may be.

I'm done hiding from my debt. Ive been doing it for three years. I was irresponsible, immature, and I ran up a LOT of debt. I had about 9 credit cards. I bought NONSENSE. I now have NOTHING to show for it. Absolutely nothing. The aftermath of running up the debt wasn't (isn't) much better. I got the credit cards roughly two years ago. Summer of 2004. I went back to school at Niagara University, lasted about a month, and came home. I couldn't find a job (more like I wasn't barely even trying to find one) and therefor couldn't pay my tuition bill. At first I was paying my minimums. Eventually the money ran out and I stopped paying. I was living with my parents, and I didnt really even TRY to find a job. As more time went on, the more bills started to pile up, and still I did nothing. In February of 2005 I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I was discharged about 2 1/2 months in due to knee problems. Im able to reenlist if I so chose. I came home, and started babysitting my little brother(7) for no $. Thats the stipulation to me living here, and I have noplace else to go. I then started watching one of his friends, a little girl named Calista. I make $100 a week babysitting her. Its been over 2 years since I got home from the boot camp. Its been almost 3 years since I had an actual job. When I get paid every week, my money is gone fairly quickly. I dont even know what I do with it most times. Do I pay my bills? Nope, just my cell bill, and somehow thats almost always late. Im done doing this. Im done living like this. Tomorrow I'm supposed to be getting a car. a 1998 Nissan Sentra. Im going to get a job (not just pretend to try this time) and Im going to pay off my bills. End of story. I could file bankruptcy, in fact the local CCS told me I should. Im not doing that. Im not going there. I got myself in this mess, and Its up to me to get myself out.

The next few weeks of babysitting $ are going to have to go to the car. Im going to have to keep some $ in the bank for gas and such.

Im going to get at least one job, preferably two. I cant work during the day on weekdays, because I'm required to be here. The kids are in school all day, but I cant get a job during that time because if they end up with a snow day or something, or one of them gets sick in school, I'm the one required to be here, I'm the one that has to pick them up from school.

So, weekday evenings, and weekends. Im going to do this. I dont have a choice. Im done copping out. Im done avoiding my responsibilities. Im going to hit this thing head on, and Im going to prove to EVERYONE, that I can do this.

So today marks a new start. A new beginning. A new me.

Cheers