Hi there,
Ok, so if nobody reads this but me that is o.k. at least I have a record of what I am doing with my life...such as it is. Had to come to terms with that little tidbit. Now onto the good news...I got more hours on the job starting in October. How did I do that in these trying times?? Well for one I got my education as requested by my boss. We work very well together and he suggested I get licensed, after all it was part of our initial conversation before he hired me. He had hoped ot hire someone who had an interest in getting licensed in the insurance game. So, he offered to pay, I offered to study and work really hard, and in the end he would promote me with more hours, some benefits, and more pay eventually on a gradual scale kind of thing. I would take over more duties and he would have more time to make the big bucks!! And no I don't mean going hunting more often!! So, done and done!! I got my license! I am officially a licensed Life and Health Insurance Producer! I am still learning exactly what that means and it was hard!!
During the time that I was in school for my license, which consisted of one week of school and months of self study and online testing, I also attended the academy for Search & Rescue. It was like attending two different colleges for two totally different degrees. Good news is...I graduated that also. It has been a busy year. If I add in all the fun and different places I went and the hours that I spent volunteering, it all adds up to I was a busy girl. I attended several outdoor concerts, went kayaking four times, went to a lake and camped, made a few roadtrips to Westfall, and Beaverton. All in all a great year and looking back at my success has been so worth it!
Lastly I have done one other thing to help my financial situation. I put an ad on Craigslist for a housekeeper for hire. I figure if I can secure a few side jobs then all the better financially. Within 24 hours (or less) I got a call and a job. Now it's only one day a week and it's only one hour but it is also $1040 more a year!! I just gave myself a raise! I also got more hours at work and am now at 25 hours a week which added $2860.00 annually. Now I am making $15,340.00 a year. Not great but not bad! Considering I moved here with nothing but a few dollars in my pocket, no job, no car, and some debt. I started out this job making $8320.00 a year, spoke up got more hours, worked hard got more hours, found myself a part time job, and now I make almost double what I started with a year ago. One year of hard work changed my fincancial well being!! Side note...I also got 50 hours paid vacation time!!
Lastly, my credit report. I recently went to a car dealership and gave them my story, filled out the application and the end result is of course, they ran my credit report! I am happy to announce that my credit score went from 462 to 595 in one year. Thats 133 points!!! I give myself the proverbial pat on the back!! It was that effort of paying off those little bills which added up to four things paid off and four things removed from my credit or showing as paid!!
I hope anyone who reads this finds it helpful and enlightening. It sure has helped me to see my success in life and how quickly it can happen. You too can make it happen!
Lady Alamo
Friday, September 21, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Story I Promised You
Storytime,
So, I had this company that I owed money to when I moved from Colorado to Oregon. I did not know I owed this company money. I thought I had paid all my bills when and before I left. After being here for a few months I got a bill for over $1000.00 I probably looked like one of those cartoon characters with my eyes bugging out of my head! I was shocked. Visions of my credit score dropping so low I couldn't reach it etc... So, I took my own advice and did not ignore the debt! I called the guy...he was always pretty workable in the past and I figured what do I have to lose?...nothing. Upon my first phone call to him I told him that I thought I had paid off all my debts in Colorado and that I had not received a bill from them in over a year. He understood and informed me that this particular bill had been getting returned to them. I do wonder how they finally got my new address though. Hmmm???
Anyway, I asked him for an accounting of my account to show exactly what they had on record. This bought me a little more time. You see he gave me some information too...he let me know that his former secretary who was responsible for taking care of these bills had been fired. He let slip a few reasons which pointed to misappropriation of funds and overall doing a bad job of linking accounts to payments. This gave me a little wiggle room, in other words I was not completely at fault here!!! He also explained that the company was coming up on the time where they send overdue accounts to collections. OUCH!! Everything in my financial being yelled NO!!!! But I digress; so after reviewing the accounting of record that he had sent to me I noticed that first and foremost was a monthly finance charge to the tune of $172.00 total to date! So, I put that figure together, wrote it down on my notes to bring up at our next phone conversation. Then as I went through the bill I also noticed that there were two months worth of bills that I had record of being paid that they did not. Unfortunately for me I belonged to a bank that did not send you copies of your checks. The only proof I had that it had been paid was my constant habit of keeping my paid bills together monthly and writing down on the face of each bill how much was paid and when it was paid. Not to mention the fact that the stub was missing from the bill, which led me to believe I had paid that portion. The end result was that a bill that started out as over $1000.00 was now argued down to $648.00. A much more manageable number than the previous one. We came to an agreement that I would pay $50.00 a month. For him that meant it would be paid off in a years time and for me that meant I was keeping my word.
Lastly, I feel I need to mention here before I forget that there are some habits that seem to be helping me greatly. The aforementioned habit of writing things on my bills as I pay them and keeping them together monthly, but also making a quarterly budget! By following my budget I managed to pay off four small bills that had been haunting me. I sent some of them $5.00 a month! Bottom line is they got paid! I actually got a letter from one of those companies when the bill was down to $8.40 saying they were from a collection agency and the client had hired them. I had record of the bill being paid! I called the collection agency and they confirmed that the company called it in paid! Then I followed up with the company and found out that some but not all of them had the payment on record! We got it straightened out...the point is this...do the follow up! If you think a bill is paid in full...call them and find out! I didn't do that with the previous companies but I will add this to my list of good financial habits to get into!
I hope this story helps someone along the way to speak up, and follow through for their own financial good!
TTFN
LadyAlamo
So, I had this company that I owed money to when I moved from Colorado to Oregon. I did not know I owed this company money. I thought I had paid all my bills when and before I left. After being here for a few months I got a bill for over $1000.00 I probably looked like one of those cartoon characters with my eyes bugging out of my head! I was shocked. Visions of my credit score dropping so low I couldn't reach it etc... So, I took my own advice and did not ignore the debt! I called the guy...he was always pretty workable in the past and I figured what do I have to lose?...nothing. Upon my first phone call to him I told him that I thought I had paid off all my debts in Colorado and that I had not received a bill from them in over a year. He understood and informed me that this particular bill had been getting returned to them. I do wonder how they finally got my new address though. Hmmm???
Anyway, I asked him for an accounting of my account to show exactly what they had on record. This bought me a little more time. You see he gave me some information too...he let me know that his former secretary who was responsible for taking care of these bills had been fired. He let slip a few reasons which pointed to misappropriation of funds and overall doing a bad job of linking accounts to payments. This gave me a little wiggle room, in other words I was not completely at fault here!!! He also explained that the company was coming up on the time where they send overdue accounts to collections. OUCH!! Everything in my financial being yelled NO!!!! But I digress; so after reviewing the accounting of record that he had sent to me I noticed that first and foremost was a monthly finance charge to the tune of $172.00 total to date! So, I put that figure together, wrote it down on my notes to bring up at our next phone conversation. Then as I went through the bill I also noticed that there were two months worth of bills that I had record of being paid that they did not. Unfortunately for me I belonged to a bank that did not send you copies of your checks. The only proof I had that it had been paid was my constant habit of keeping my paid bills together monthly and writing down on the face of each bill how much was paid and when it was paid. Not to mention the fact that the stub was missing from the bill, which led me to believe I had paid that portion. The end result was that a bill that started out as over $1000.00 was now argued down to $648.00. A much more manageable number than the previous one. We came to an agreement that I would pay $50.00 a month. For him that meant it would be paid off in a years time and for me that meant I was keeping my word.
Lastly, I feel I need to mention here before I forget that there are some habits that seem to be helping me greatly. The aforementioned habit of writing things on my bills as I pay them and keeping them together monthly, but also making a quarterly budget! By following my budget I managed to pay off four small bills that had been haunting me. I sent some of them $5.00 a month! Bottom line is they got paid! I actually got a letter from one of those companies when the bill was down to $8.40 saying they were from a collection agency and the client had hired them. I had record of the bill being paid! I called the collection agency and they confirmed that the company called it in paid! Then I followed up with the company and found out that some but not all of them had the payment on record! We got it straightened out...the point is this...do the follow up! If you think a bill is paid in full...call them and find out! I didn't do that with the previous companies but I will add this to my list of good financial habits to get into!
I hope this story helps someone along the way to speak up, and follow through for their own financial good!
TTFN
LadyAlamo
My Progress!
Hello,
It has been quite a while since I blogged. Somehow, I don't have any followers except myself. What? Are people really not interested in securing their financial future? If only I had known a long time ago what I know now, I would probably already be half way if not all the way to my goal of $500,000.00 in the bank!
So, if you just became a follower and you read my blogs then you know I have been giving out some advice about different topics on financial stuff. Since I haven't written in a long time I figured it was time for an update on how I am doing financially and a few things that I have been learning and studying.
I believe I mentioned that I was studying "Tax Lien" and "Tax Deed" certificates in a previous blog. Well come to find out there is so much information that you need to know about those two things that I couldn't possibly begin to tell you. Bottom line for me is "it takes money to make money" and currently that means I put that investment idea on hold. I will be tackling it but only after I have secured my income level.
Basically my plan goes like this, I was broke, unemployed, still in debt. I want to have $500,000.00 in the bank..my goal! So, where am I in relation to where I was and where I am now? Well I have a job, I had two jobs (did some seasonal work) around the holidays, and that provided me with some nice holiday spending money. What did I do wrong with that?...I didn't save any of it!!! I get that now. Hindsight and all! So, I still have the one job. I was working 16 hours a week @ $10.00 an hour. I went to my boss and asked him about our original conversation of 20 hours a week. We did an employment review (after all it had been six months) and I passed with flying colors and he granted me the extra hours and I got a raise to $11.00 an hour! Perfect! So, I paid off some bills with the extra money...remember paid off bills actually equals more income. However, I still have a lot of debt to deal with. I have a story for you on that for the next blog to follow. I also used the life insurance rollover option and bought myself a life insurance policy. It's not much $50,000.00 but should something happen to me my kids will have a little something and cost of burial is covered! Something they actually add to your estate when you die! So, by that one task I went from being worth about $1500.00 liquid to $51500.00 Lastly, I had joined the 401K program offered by that seasonal job and although it was only $61 and some change when I was relieved of my job, I took that money and rolled it over into an IRA. So, with some of the money I got from my raise I am contributing to the IRA $50.00 a month. Not a lot of money but now I have $106.00 in it. Add that to my total and I am now worth $51,606.00
Last mention here is another opportunity that came into my life recently. I have a friend who makes money on the internet. Now the old adage "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is" comes into play here. Basically it is a word of caution. So, I spent 45 minutes on the phone with my friend and asked her as many questions as I could think of. She told me she was making $100.00 a day within 60 days of joining this program. It was a goal she set and she is doing it! I was very interested at that point. So, the bottom line is this..I am going to join her program and I will spend $10.00 a month for three months ( she went in @ $200.00 a month and later put in $1000.00). If the program does what it should do then I will have almost made back my money by the end of the third month and by the fourth month will see a very small profit. That being the case I would be willing to invest more money because like I said before "it takes money to make money". I am a see it to believe it kind of girl and I am willing to risk $30.00 to try it out. If it doesn't work then the worst that has happened is that I spent $30.00 and a small amount of time...a loss I am willing to risk.
I guess that is worth a mention too...don't risk anything that you can't live without! If you loan money to family or a friend consider it a gift and don't expect to get it back. All the promises of paying it back are just that...promises, and life happens, and circumstances come along, and promises get broken!!! Make sure you are in a position that if it didn't come back to you it would cause no hardship on you...just don't loan it to them again expecting it returned if it didn't come back the first time! You will have friends for life and less family squabbles when it comes to money if you take this "this money is a gift and if you can pay it back I would appreciate it" outlook on the whole situation!
Wishing you peace and prosperity!
LadyAlamo
It has been quite a while since I blogged. Somehow, I don't have any followers except myself. What? Are people really not interested in securing their financial future? If only I had known a long time ago what I know now, I would probably already be half way if not all the way to my goal of $500,000.00 in the bank!
So, if you just became a follower and you read my blogs then you know I have been giving out some advice about different topics on financial stuff. Since I haven't written in a long time I figured it was time for an update on how I am doing financially and a few things that I have been learning and studying.
I believe I mentioned that I was studying "Tax Lien" and "Tax Deed" certificates in a previous blog. Well come to find out there is so much information that you need to know about those two things that I couldn't possibly begin to tell you. Bottom line for me is "it takes money to make money" and currently that means I put that investment idea on hold. I will be tackling it but only after I have secured my income level.
Basically my plan goes like this, I was broke, unemployed, still in debt. I want to have $500,000.00 in the bank..my goal! So, where am I in relation to where I was and where I am now? Well I have a job, I had two jobs (did some seasonal work) around the holidays, and that provided me with some nice holiday spending money. What did I do wrong with that?...I didn't save any of it!!! I get that now. Hindsight and all! So, I still have the one job. I was working 16 hours a week @ $10.00 an hour. I went to my boss and asked him about our original conversation of 20 hours a week. We did an employment review (after all it had been six months) and I passed with flying colors and he granted me the extra hours and I got a raise to $11.00 an hour! Perfect! So, I paid off some bills with the extra money...remember paid off bills actually equals more income. However, I still have a lot of debt to deal with. I have a story for you on that for the next blog to follow. I also used the life insurance rollover option and bought myself a life insurance policy. It's not much $50,000.00 but should something happen to me my kids will have a little something and cost of burial is covered! Something they actually add to your estate when you die! So, by that one task I went from being worth about $1500.00 liquid to $51500.00 Lastly, I had joined the 401K program offered by that seasonal job and although it was only $61 and some change when I was relieved of my job, I took that money and rolled it over into an IRA. So, with some of the money I got from my raise I am contributing to the IRA $50.00 a month. Not a lot of money but now I have $106.00 in it. Add that to my total and I am now worth $51,606.00
Last mention here is another opportunity that came into my life recently. I have a friend who makes money on the internet. Now the old adage "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is" comes into play here. Basically it is a word of caution. So, I spent 45 minutes on the phone with my friend and asked her as many questions as I could think of. She told me she was making $100.00 a day within 60 days of joining this program. It was a goal she set and she is doing it! I was very interested at that point. So, the bottom line is this..I am going to join her program and I will spend $10.00 a month for three months ( she went in @ $200.00 a month and later put in $1000.00). If the program does what it should do then I will have almost made back my money by the end of the third month and by the fourth month will see a very small profit. That being the case I would be willing to invest more money because like I said before "it takes money to make money". I am a see it to believe it kind of girl and I am willing to risk $30.00 to try it out. If it doesn't work then the worst that has happened is that I spent $30.00 and a small amount of time...a loss I am willing to risk.
I guess that is worth a mention too...don't risk anything that you can't live without! If you loan money to family or a friend consider it a gift and don't expect to get it back. All the promises of paying it back are just that...promises, and life happens, and circumstances come along, and promises get broken!!! Make sure you are in a position that if it didn't come back to you it would cause no hardship on you...just don't loan it to them again expecting it returned if it didn't come back the first time! You will have friends for life and less family squabbles when it comes to money if you take this "this money is a gift and if you can pay it back I would appreciate it" outlook on the whole situation!
Wishing you peace and prosperity!
LadyAlamo
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