Slow and Steady

It has been five months since my last post, and I have learned something in this time -- getting out of debt is a process. It is something you have to be patient with because you will be much better off in the end.

While slow, the last few months have been very fruitful. I was blessed with getting a new job that along with a significant pay increase allows me to work from home 100% of the time, letting me help out if the kids are sick. The new job has also freed Terra up to do volunteer work at a local charity that helps families that are struggling (just like we were a few years ago). Sure, she doesn't have an income to help us get out of debt faster, but she's playing a key role in helping families getting back on their feet, and that is much more important than shortening our timetable slightly :).

Doing our cash-only Christmas this year slowed the snowball down, but it is always nice starting the new year off w/o any extra debt :). Now that the new year has started, I've kicked things into high gear again. I'm about $800 away from paying my car off (which makes it really tempting to just take all the money I can one month and pay it off). So, in a few months, I'll have two paid for cars and lots of $$ back in my pocket -- all to knock out the next debt which is sitting around $2800. By year's end, I should have this one and possibly the next one paid off, freeing up an additional $500 or so in cash flow. I have to say, it feels good getting traction on this stuff :). Just keep at it, and you'll hit your goals.

And So It Begins....

It is February 16th, and already we have reached that magical time where our $3500 medical deductible has been met, our $1000 HealthFund is gone, our $2000 Flex Spending Account is gone, and we are now in our 80/20 period. That being said, we still haven't got all the bills yet for the $3500 already incurred :( (minus $1000 for the HealthFund). Dealing with THAT will be no fun.

From here on out, the girls meds should cost us around $400 a month. The thing I'm MORE worried about is the fact that around $2500 is owed to Aetna's pharmacy. I know they allow payment plans, but the little bit of info I've got so far indicates that those plans are spread over a term of around 3-5 months. That means we could be paying $600 per month to catch up, on top of the new $400 per month. Needless to say, that's not going to work :). Now the worry bit -- are they going to withhold their meds until we pay off the existing balance? I would HOPE not, but who knows with the state of the medical industry these days. That being said, I'll post more when I know more.

On to Happier news.

Terra's van will be completely paid off by the end of March (or the beginning if I can work it in) about 6 months ahead of schedule. Next up, Piper's hospital bill from all of our Cincinnati trips last year will be done in another 4 months (around July). After that, Makenna's Cincinnati bill should be knocked out in another 4 months (around November). Looking further out, my car should be paid off about this time next year - about 5 months ahead of schedule. THAT is the debt snowball in action :). Four medium sized debts being knocked out as you compound their payments.

In all, that represents around $7000 worth of debt. It's not as aggressive as I would like, but well, we have some pretty serious new expenses to deal with :). On the bright side, none of this is including Terra's income, so I should be able to accelerate things depending on how many hours she can get in the next few months.

The girls' doctor is also going to switch their meds, so I'm hoping the new one is somewhat cheaper :). I'll let you know how that goes later.

Whew... Can I get off this ride yet?

Ok, so I've been quiet on here for a bit, but that's because I've been holding on for dear life trying not to get flung off this marry-go-round of disaster. In July, our insurance reset, so we got another $500 put into an account and $1000 put into our Flex Spending account to last through the end of the year. By 7/31, all $1500 of that money was gone and we are just about through our deductible (of $3000). Granted, it started a bit lower because of the first 6 months of the year, but still :).

Then, to top it all off, Piper had to get some dental work done and because the Dentist lied about taking our insurance, we owe $591. Sure, they can "take" it and send the claim in, but for the things that are actually covered, it is at 60/40 instead of 80/20. Also, because they are out of network, other things cost a bit more. When I confronted them about this, they simply said "oh yeah, we're not in the network because they make us charge less." No kidding... you don't say?

So, here is my nastygram against "Pediatric & Adolescent Dentistry" in Carmel, Indiana. We saw Dr. Laura Brinson Grahm, who actually is a great Dentist, but her business practices are complete crap. The other dentist in that practice is Dr. Rebecca Stuart Donnelson. I'm not sure of her competency, but I still insist that no one do business with them, and if you do currently, please stop :). And for Google's sake, here's some more information in hopes this gets indexed: Address: 13450 N Meridian St. Suite 363 Carmel, Indiana 46032. Phone: 317-846-5893.

Thanks to the wonderful freedom of speech we all have, they can't force me to take this down either, so eat it :). Stating that you can process Delta Dental isn't the same as being in network, and you need to make that clear to patients in need of semi-emergency work.

I've officially got the Vibe listed in hopes of selling that and paying off another year old hospital bill. I've actually got someone coming to look at it tomorrow. They've contacted me before and from the first email I'm sure they are going to low ball me, but we'll see how things go.

What I really need to do is stumble into about $30,000 somehow. That would make things much easier to deal with (and get a few predatory lenders out of our lives). I'd still have a ways to go, but it would be at least a bit more doable. At least my beater is running strong, and I got the AC somewhat fixed too -- so I'm not losing 20 lbs of water during my drive home everyday :).

Let this be a lesson -- Debt is bad, and even worse when you don't have an emergency fund and actually have a couple long term medical conditions to take care of. Cut the cards... live within your means.

Bills Are From Mythology

I swear, bills are really a new form of Hydra. You cut one head off, and three more grow up in its place. Things have been rather interesting around here lately :).

First off, I'm driving the Grand Am as my daily driver (finally), and am getting ready to prep the Vibe for sale. I've even managed to pay off one of the many medical bills we had laying around. The downside, however is that I've incurred about twice what that one was (on another payment plan), and will be having to pay for a MRI soon. THEN, the Max (one of our dogs), began trying to scratch his brain out of his cheek, so we had to take him to the vet. Some shaving, treatment, antibiotics, lamp shade, and $160 later, he's all better. Poor guy, he looked so pitiful for the first day :).

The icing on the cake is the wonder that is increasing property taxes. Due to the recent changes around here, our house payment is going to go up about $200 -- effectively undoing some of what I've been driving toward with freeing up cash flow. If I can sell the vibe and use the proceeds to pay off another medical loan, then I'll be back up $300 a month. With the Van edging in on the $3000 mark, it should be one of the next things to go. Speaking of the Van, I had to get some work done on it which cost a bit. The good news is that I got the Tires for Life deal on it when I bought it, so I'll be getting a new set of tires here soon. The bad news is that to keep the deal, I've got to get it aligned (understandable), which will run about $150. :)

I did get a letter in the mail today from a Pontiac dealer, however. They are looking for Vibes (I guess people have been asking for them). Since they know I have one, they are offering to buy it because they are low on inventory. They're also offering more than what I owe on it, and I could possibly get more out of them -- so that is kind of cool. It would be nice to be able to sell it and get pretty close to what I want without the hassle of actually having to deal with people :).

Anyhow, I'm off for now. The next update will probably be what happens with the car. Stay tuned :)

More Car Voodoo

I've had some time to really check out the car that I talked about in the last few posts, and have discovered some pretty cool things. The main gem in this is the exhaust problem I had I was able to fix with a $5 roll of JB Weld putty. Turns out that when they put the exhaust on the car, they only welded the bottom half of it to the flange that connects to the header, not the top half. So, a little bit of putty crammed into that joint later, I've got a sealed exhaust system :).

I spent some time cleaning the interior too and it is in surprisingly good shape. I imagine if the previous owner took the time to actually clean it, he could have gotten a lot more out of the car. I'm going to be getting some seat covers here soon, but the seats really don't need it -- they just look a bit dull. After I do some more little cosmetic things to it, it will be a pretty nice little car.

Mechanically, I need to recharge the AC ($30 kit), and at some point the wheel bearings may need to be replaced (I'm noticing some odd vibrations when coasting). Even without doing the usual tuning I do to the intake, ignition, and exhaust systems, this car is getting 32-35mpg -- not bad for a 13 year old car. I'm really curious to see how well it does after I play with it some more.

Now, all I have to do is get the vibe cleaned up and listed for sale. I'll let everyone know how that goes soon. Hopefully it will sell quick :).

It may be Crap, but it's mine.

Project "find a beater" has been a success, and as of last Friday, I'm the proud owner of a 96 Grand Am. To be fair, it probably isn't that much of a beater. I mean, the interior is a bit rough, the engine is strong (recently rebuilt), and the body is in GREAT shape. The kicker is, I managed to pick it up for $850 :). It has 155,000 miles, which is low for a car that old.

The only REAL problem with it a small exhaust leak between the header and catalytic converter. Out of comic curiosity, I called a muffler shop to see what they would charge me to replace that section of pipe. Apparently "they would HAVE to replace the entire cat for that pipe to be replaced" -- at $600. I was trying really hard not to completely laugh at the guy considering the car is only worth $850 :). After some quick searching at Advanced Auto Parts, I found I can fix it for under $50. SO, that will be my project for this weekend. After that is done, I'll be able to start driving it as my daily, so the Vibe will be listed for sale soon. It will be good to finally get this debt snowball rolling.

If anyone is interested, it is a 2003 and in awesome shape, 88K miles, and I will be listing it for $6800 :).

I'm actually kind of excited about this in a sick sort of way. It reminds me of getting my first car. Even though it isn't all that great, you can enhance its value by accessorizing it :). I'm totally going to be getting an 8-ball shifter for this thing... :)

It has been a LONG month...

Indeed, it has been a long month. Nothing seemed to be going right in the midst of getting beat down by bills, but I have a plan that might do the trick.

Basically, I'm going hardcore and have been getting rid of services and picking things to sell to try to get extra money and to reduce monthly outlay. The latest victims? DirecTV and Vonage. Most of our entertainment comes from Xbox Live and network TV, so the DirecTV had to go. I dropped Vonage and went back to a basic line just so that the alarm has something to use.

The next step will be to get rid of my car. I'm currently looking to pay cash for something around $1500 or so. The idea is that by spending $1500, I can free up roughly $6800 in debt and get rid of about $300 a month in monthly obligations (depending on what I can get for the vibe, of course.)

I've also been working like crazy in a second job to help fund the car plan, so hopefully this will fall into place soon. I'll keep you updated on how it is going when I get the snowball rolling.

Incentives....Really?

A couple months back, I decided to dream a bit and took a stroll around a local Mitsubishi car lot, and even drove a couple. Out of my curiosity, I went ahead and let the sales guy give me his pitch, and run through all of the purchasing numbers and leasing numbers. I know it was a bit mean to get his hopes up, but I do find sick enjoyment from time to time letting people try to sell me something I have no intention of buying and watching them look at me dumbfounded when I walk away.

Anyhow, I've been getting marketing email from them off and on ever since. A couple things even caught my eye. One was if you bought one of the remaining 2008 models, they would PAY your car payment for 6 months. Nothing I heard or read had "fine print" so I was of half a mind to go get a 12 month car loan and let them pay for half my car :). I know that probably wouldn't happen (maybe with a fight, but not likely) so I didn't mess with it.

This brings me to the topic of my rant. I got another email today about the 2009 models. "Get dealer incentives of $1000." One thousand dollars? Really? That's like maybe 5% of the cost of a new car. What kind of incentive is that? Most grocery store sales give you a better discount than that. Buy one get one half off, three for one, etc. Incentives? That's not an incentive. That is insulting my intelligence to think offering $1000 will make me think I'm getting a great deal on something that has been marked up well beyond that.

You would think with the struggling auto market, they would have their own INCENTIVE to help spur interest in their products. How about having a Kohl's style sale. You know, things between 40-60% off. Cars on the "clearance rack" marked down to 75% off. You start doing that and I guarantee people will start flocking in to by cars. If I could all of a sudden buy a new Lancer for $6000, now you've got my attention.

Are you listening auto industry? You want to sell stuff -- then HAVE A SALE. Forget this 1-5% off crap, actually mark something down and maybe we'll come pay you a visit.

Not that I could afford to pay $6000 for a new car right now, but still :). AFTER I get this mess cleaned up, I'm much more likely to be buying a $6000 car than a $15000 car.