Just a quick update on financial stuff.

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Balance Transfer Drama.

I still have not seen that balance transfer I applied for a month ago go through. Which means I will pay the minimum on the original card. And then when the balance transfer does go through, who knows when?, that card will be in the negatives and I guess I'll have to have Target National Bank cut me a check. Who knows how long that will be.

I should have just taken money out of savings and paid it off instead of trying to save and BT and pay it off when I get my next parking reimbursement in 3 months. I just figured, it would be better to save the cash, transfer the debt (under 1100) to a 0% card for 3 months and pay the mins at 0% then pay it in full once I get the reimbursement. Plus it's a good limit $5K which helps my available credit to debt ratio.

But now I regret it. It was a big mistake. Sovereign Bank sucks. I have my checking through them and not really many problems. But this… yikes. They told me the day I applied that I was approved and they would start getting things done immediately. 2 1/2 weeks later, I get a call from them saying they need to review my app. Um? WTF? They wanted to close a 23K line of credit I have (that is through BOA but apparently also the same bank that controls Sovereign cards). I said no. That is an old, open line of credit that I don't use, don't even have a card for and is just sitting there in good standing on my report. Again, available credit to debt ratio. That 23K line helps too.

I finally let them cut the 23K to 18K as long as they left it open and in good standing and did not lower the limit on the Sovereign card. So that is what they did. WITH THE PROMISE to do the balance transfer immediately.

Well, now it's almost 2 weeks later and unless it's done tomorrow, I can't hold off paying the minimum on the Target card any longer. It's just aggravating. When I did a BT with Discover once to get a better rate, it took 3 days. THREE DAYS. Why is Sovereign taking a month??

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Selling My Belongings.

On the Ebay/Selling My Stuff front, I've mostly done trips to Bullmoose Music to sell cds and dvds this month. With a little bit of Ebay thrown in.

Last Month total : $433.38
This Month Goal: $400.00

April so far:
Week 1 - $112.45
Week 2 - $135.30
Week 3 (still tallying up til this Saturday the 17) - so far $26.96.

Total (so far) for April: $274.71
Still needed to get to my monthly goal: $125.29

Week 3 is pretty dismal. I will likely make a Bullmoose run Friday night. Most of my current auctions end Friday evening. Hopefully they will go up.

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Other. I am going to have to buy new clothes soon. I will try to buy from the thrift store. I hate clothes shopping so much. I got really fat the last year and nothing I own fits me. I have three old, mildly office acceptable pairs of pants and only 2 acceptable short sleeve shirts. 2 of the 3 pairs of pants are courdoroy. They barely fit and hurt because they are too tight. I feel ugly. I've wasted the last 2 years of my life scrimping and saving for a future that, as it turns out, is not going to happen. I was thin and pretty when I first met him but I guess I got so busy trying to save money for us that I just let myself go. Now I am just a fat tub. I hate it. I know losing weight is going to be hard and a long journey. I just don't want to spend a lot of money on new clothes in the process. Hopefully, I can find something okay at Salvation Army or Goodwill.

My goal for 2010 was to save $6000.00 cash. Prior to Dec. 2009, I had only had around $500 cash so this dollar amount seemed like a really huge undertaking.

Once I get my tax return, my cash savings account will be up to $5312 or only $688 short of my goal for the entire year. It is currently at $3597. I am getting back $298 from state and $1417 from federal. Should have those checks by May.

I am saving at a much faster rate than I initially anticipated, mainly because my Ebay sales are going so well. All of my Ebay earnings go directly into this account and I've been aiming for $400/month but on average doing slightly better than that.

I think I need to raise my goal but I don't want to go crazy.

I do want to start pounding away at my loan and be rid of it within 2 years. $6000 is half of what I owe on my loan. I'm wondering if I should just stop with the aggressive savings now and pound away at the loan? Clearly, it is not that difficult for me to save $6000 since I did it so quickly.

I am also very proud of my fiance because he told me that between Dec and now he has managed to save $2600 and now has that in savings. He has almost no disposable income or "fun" money at all so this was much harder for him than it was for me.

April is going to be a good month for me.

I have not done my taxes yet but I should be getting back around $1000 or so with my income tax refund. I will be doing my taxes this weekend. I'm getting money back so I have no idea why I waited this long but it will be done this weekend. I will likely make a large payment on my loan with that money.

My Ebay/Selling month is off to a fantastic start. I aim for $100/week (or $400 a month) and I am already almost there for the first week of April and April hasn't started yet. But since all the auctions don't end until April 2, technically they will be the first week of April. I find that 99% of the time people pay within minutes of the end of the auction.

There are 3 paychecks that fall in April. Because I budget my bills per paycheck, this leaves me with one paycheck that I do not need to pay any bills out of. (In fact, my bills are currently paid through April 17) and I still have more $$ than usual left my "monthly needs" checking account. Aside from what I need for food & gas, the extra April check will go into savings.

By the end of April, my e-fund/savings will likely be at $4000.

I do have to buy my fiance a birthday present. He's taken up 8-bit art as a hobby recently so it should be an inexpensive b-day. I was thinking about getting him a nice set of colored pencils ($17) that he said were "awesome" while we were at the art store over the weekend. I also picked him up an old Gamecube game he wanted used for $13. (most of the games he likes are old and only available used). I found a t-shirt for his favorite obscure band on ebay. $30 incl shipping). That was a bit pricey (the band is from Japan) but I know he'll love it and probably wear it until it falls apart. He wants me to make steak tips at home for his b-day dinner. ($20 for everything) I am making him a cake shaped like Pac-Man. ($5) I'm downloading a $10 album off itunes of an orchestra playing old school video game music to play while we eat. I'll burn a copy of it for him as an "extra" gift. So far I'm at around $95. I planned $150 for his b-day so I still have some $$ to play with if I see anything else good.

My niece also has a birthday but she is 5 years old and easily amused by a $6 My Little Pony.

My other niece (well, second cousin, technically) just got accepted into Cornell University's summer program to earn college credits towards her dream of becoming a vet when she graduates from high school next year. That has nothing to do with money, I'm just proud of the kid.

April is going to be a good month for me.

I have not done my taxes yet but I should be getting back around $1000 or so with my income tax refund. I will be doing my taxes this weekend. I'm getting money back so I have no idea why I waited this long but it will be done this weekend. I will likely make a large payment on my loan with that money.

My Ebay/Selling month is off to a fantastic start. I aim for $100/week (or $400 a month) and I am already almost there for the first week of April and April hasn't started yet. But since all the auctions don't end until April 2, technically they will be the first week of April. I find that 99% of the time people pay within minutes of the end of the auction.

There are 3 paychecks that fall in April. Because I budget my bills per paycheck, this leaves me with one paycheck that I do not need to pay any bills out of. (In fact, my bills are currently paid through April 17) and I still have more $$ than usual left my "monthly needs" checking account. Aside from what I need for food & gas, the extra April check will go into savings.

By the end of April, my e-fund/savings will likely be at $4000.

I do have to buy my fiance a birthday present. He's taken up 8-bit art as a hobby recently so it should be an inexpensive b-day. I was thinking about getting him a nice set of colored pencils ($17) that he said were "awesome" while we were at the art store over the weekend. I also picked him up an old Gamecube game he wanted used for $13. (most of the games he likes are old and only available used). I found a t-shirt for his favorite obscure band on ebay. $30 incl shipping). That was a bit pricey (the band is from Japan) but I know he'll love it and probably wear it until it falls apart. He wants me to make steak tips at home for his b-day dinner. ($20 for everything) I am making him a cake shaped like Pac-Man. ($5) I'm downloading a $10 album off itunes of an orchestra playing old school video game music to play while we eat. I'll burn a copy of it for him as an "extra" gift. So far I'm at around $95. I planned $150 for his b-day so I still have some $$ to play with if I see anything else good.

My niece also has a birthday but she is 5 years old and easily amused by a $6 My Little Pony.

My other niece, age 16 1/2, (well, second cousin, technically) just got accepted into Cornell University's summer program to earn college credits towards her dream of becoming a vet when she graduates from high school next year. That has nothing to do with money, I'm just proud of the kid. I would like to put aside $100 or so to give her as a gift before she goes. Knowing her, she'll put it in her college fund. I generally don't give monetary gifts but this is an exception.

I got approved for a credit card through Sovereign Bank, less than a month after getting my horrible BoA "loan" (which it wasn't…it was a line of credit w/a variable rate…it was at 22% but I digress) BT'd to a Discover loan (which is an actual installment loan with a fixed 10.99% rate).

I also got my line of credit on my Best Buy card raised (there is no balance on the card, and probably never will be, but more credit = better utilization scores).

So in less than a month I transferred $13,000 off the BoA line of credit… that line of credit is still open and is a credit line of $23,300. I got approved for a $15,000 loan from Discover which has since been paid down to $12,500 AND got approved for an $1800 increase with Best Buy and a $5000 Sovereign card.

My utilization has never been better.

I should be rid of unsecured debt within 2 years. Then I may or may not start overpaying my car loan depending on how much I have in savings. It will be almost done at that point anyway.

Unsecured debt and building up savings are my priorities right now. (The car is at like 2% interest so I'm just not that concerned).

@At this point my unsecured debt totals:
$12,500 on the Discover Loan at 10.99%

@My savings totals:
$3055 (I really REALLY need to work on this)

My March Ebay totals came to $387. Short of my $400 goal. I might take some stuff to Bullmoose (cds, video games) to sell on Saturday to try and make up the extra to get to $400 from selling stuff before April 1st. I don't need that much so it could happen.

April Ebay I am going to start off with a collectible item which I think could bring over $100 by itself. We shall see.

I might lower my goal for April to $350 but I hate lowering my standards.