Busy six months

It has been a busy six months in our household. I had canceled our credit cards and we were going without, we had a cash only Christmas, AND I was able to pay off two large debts. Lots of sacrifices were made to make this happen, bit it was all worth it. We sold a car and replaced it with a cheap cash-only alternative, canceled all extra utilities, didn't go out, didn't eat out, worked extra jobs and finally pulled through a big win. Granted, we still have a ways to go, but are in a much better position than we were six months ago.

The biggest lesson learned - FILE YOUR HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION! I waited too long to do this and got burned by my mortgage payment for the last year. That, however, has changed and our new payment is $300 less than it was before, freeing up that much more in the budget for the debt snowball. It is probably good timing because of the ongoing medical treatments the girls will need, but with insurance hopefully covering everything, we should be in good shape.

The next thing on the radar is a couple small medical debts and the Van being paid off. I'll be sure to update this more frequently as we knock down more debts. It CAN be done people.. you just have to have discipline.

Finances are Spooky

Ok, that was a lame attempt at Halloween humor, but things were a bit scary there for the last couple months. We had built up quite the backlog of medical bills, but I am glad to say that I was able to work out payment plans with ALL of the providers without having to incur any new debt to do so.

I also got some decent news over the last couple months -- the big one being getting a rather generous staged raise between now and January 1st. The first part of it was effective this month, and while I've only had two paychecks with the extra money, the effects are already starting to become apparent. In January, the next phase kicks in. This is awesome not only that it is extra money, but the total between my raises and all of the money that I've been able to free up by cutting lifestyle equates to about what our old house payment used to be :). The realization that you have managed to gain basically a mortgage payment is a very good one indeed.

With the payment plans I've got in place and the extra money coming in now, I've got a great outlook for how the rest of 2009 will go and how 2010 will turn out. I'm already starting to get panicked calls from creditors about my balances going away. I've got a 0% interest medical loan that I've just about paid off. When it got to be about 5 months away from being paid off, they have been calling me once a week with "good news" that I've got money available that they will gladly give me -- at 24% interest. No thanks :). By the way, making sure they only have my Google Voice number is awesome. It makes it easy to ignore them :).

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 :).

Forum Credit Union = Awesome

A few posts back I was ranting about Chase and their aptitude for not being customer centric. With that in mind, I'd like to tell you what happened with my recent dealings with Forum Credit Union.

I had a few questions about a loan I have through them, so I logged into the online banking to get my account number to call. While there, I noticed they had an online chat option, so I decided to check that out. The app ran surprisingly well, and I got someone right away. We worked though the question that prompted the visit, then she asked the classic "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

"As a matter of fact, there is." I answered. I asked her what would be involved in setting up a checking account, because I was wanting to move my banking business away from Chase. She responded "I can do that for you right here. I just need you to accept these conditions. Agreeing in this chat is the same as doing it in writing." She then proceeded to paste a few paragraphs into the chat window.

That was all it took. She later asked if I wanted debit cards, so those are on the way now. It was by far the coolest experience I think I ever have had with banking. In contrast, most of the correspondence I've gotten from Chase was a small bit of actual content surrounded by auto-generated legalese and the typical "You are very important to us" nonsense. If I were so important, why is most of what you send generated by a computer?? :)

Anyhow, if anyone is looking for a financial institution that isn't going to screw you over (in service or financially), I would highly recommend Forum. They are quick, courteous, and well, they are a Credit Union. They weren't involved in the sub-prime shenanigans and have a decent financial position. Unlike Chase, I don't foresee Forum changing rates on anything to try to compensate for their bad decisions -- but I digress :).

Bottom line: Forum Credit Union = Awesome.

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... :)