Happy Holidays!

Well, I have to be honest, my efforts for finding ways to pay off the student loan have stalled over the holidays. We are VERY short on money, probably the shortest we've ever been. The money from the treadmill unfortunately had to go on other things like the check that bounced, and the money I've saved with coupons I can't actually spare right now. I feel ashamed to say that! But what can you do. We are having a small Christmas this year, hubby and I are just getting a few things for our stockings and that's it, which is fine with me. I'd rather do that than start putting a pile of money on the credit card. I have faith that I will be able to figure something out that will help put some extra money on the student loan though. I have one idea that I will start in the new year. I think right now, I am just going to relax a bit and enjoy the holidays, without going into debt! Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!

Second Job maybe?

I have been thinking of getting a second job. I really don't want to, because it will take away from me and my family. I am trying to find something that would be after she goes to bed, or from home. I have found nothing that is legitimate in the work from home area of things.... I actually have a good paying job, but I can't work more hours because it usually gets taken off in taxes... So maybe a second job, that I will affectionately call my "student loan job" might be the way I have to go. I don't think my current job would let me work evenings only, thus taking DD out of daycare, and saving over $600 a month. I may try that too. But I know for certain they won't let me. The only thing is I'm not even back to work yet. I'll be going back next month. I don't even know what it's like to juggle being a mom and a wife, with work, daycare, etc. So I will have to get used to the new lifestyle first....

One step forward, two steps back.

Well, it turns out the money I got for the treadmill will not be going towards the student loan at all. :( It will have to go towards the check that bounced, and the NSF fees, and the few things that we will need until my next pay. I should be happy that I had the money, but I am a little disappointed that it couldn't get put towards the loan. That's what it was for :(

Well, I guess it's gotta get worse before it gets better!

I just got a call. Turns out for the first time in my life, a cheque I wrote, bounced!!! Omg. How did this happen?! Well, I had it dated for the 18th. There was more than enough money in there on the 18th... so what happened? They didn't try to take it out until the 30th. Thanks. But it's just as much my fault. I didn't look to see if they took it out on time, like I usually do. I got caught up in Christmas and whatnot. So, I owe the $ that the cheque was written out for, plus $65.00 in NSF fees! OMG. That is crazy. It's been an awesome week btw this and hubby's car quitting on us. Ugh. Oh well. Learn and move on. The worst part is I have no idea how I let that happen. I am actually very good with money and staying on top of payments, when they come out, checking to see if they have come out, etc. It just slipped my mind this time. Eek! What a costly brain lapse!

I have to get a hold of some packages that I can mail out things I sell on ebay. Apparently I have to measure them out in order to make a listing, so that the customer knows what they will be paying in shipping. Plus, if I get everything ready to ship before I list, it will get shipped faster. I have a tendency of putting things off, so if I listed and then got everything ready to ship, it probably wouldn't get shipped for a few days after wards.... and that's no good for ratings!

I came across this website called "The Giving Pledge." Have you heard of it? It's such a neat idea. Bill and Melinda Gates along with Warren Buffett have created it and it challenges America's richest people to donate at least half of their wealth either in their lifetime or after they pass on. If they want to partake, they have to write a letter (Pledge) and make it public. There are 57 billionaires on this list now. WOW! The site is www.thegivingpledge.org On the site is a list of the names of the billionaires who have made the pledge, along with a copy of the letter. I read through some of them and it's pretty impressive. Then of course my mind wanders and I think "Wow. $63,000 to them is like $0.63 to me" I can hardly fathom that. But I still believe something will change for me. I will never be a billionaire, or even a millionaire. But SOMETHING is going to click for me, and this loan will be history. I just have to work hard at it and be patient. The patient part is what I have issues with.....hehe

ok, feeling overwhelmed today :(

I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out ways to pay down this 60 some odd thousand dollar debt. I try to remain optimistic and positive, but today I just feel like its just not possible to pay it down. It's a pretty terrible feeling, because so much rides on getting rid of that debt. And its not like I could have avoided it. Actually, I believe that everyone has some fault in their situation, no matter what it is. My fault in this situation is that I didn't know anyone in the areas where I went to school, so I lived on my own. I didn't have any roommates. But this didn't cause me to borrow more. I would have gotten the same amount if I was living with roommates. It actually caused me to go without a lot more.... I only worked through part of my schooling, a very small part. This is my BIG fault. I wanted to focus on my studies and get good grades (which I did). By the time I realized how screwed I was going to be, I was in clinical 8 hours a day, and studying on top of that. I worked for a bit, but was forced to quit when I became so exhausted, I actually got sick. Lesson learned. Too bad I can't do anything about it now. Even a second job doesn't look too promising with my job's hours, and with a baby.



I think of everything I can, and some stuff is pretty freakin crazy. I even thought of trying to sell 60,000 different things for $1 each. People will buy something if they know its really helping someone out...right? Yeah, but then I have to ship it, $$, and I would have to come up with 60,000 things..... because I am pretty sure I don't have anywhere close to 60,000 things in my house.... unless I start selling squares of toilet paper.... *sighs and shakes head*

If I am able to make the monthly payments when I get back to work, I will have to pay over $500 per month, for 15 years. So at the end of it, when I pay it off, I will have paid over $103,000 back, even though I only borrowed $60,000ish. Not including the past years that I was only able to make interest payments.... Oh yeah. Isn't that pretty?

Oh well! I will keep on doing what I am doing and keep on trying to come up with something to speed this process up. At least I still have excellent credit!

Oh no.....

So hubby's car is not working....again.... Merry Christmas! LOL Not really surprised. Oh well, at least we are not still paying on it. And really, it's done pretty well. Its a 1999 and we've had it for over 5 years. We only bought it for about 2 thousand dollars.... But now things are going to get really inconvenient. See, we live about 30 min out of town. So if I need to go anywhere, I am going to have to get the baby up and ready to go in the am so we can drive hubby into work, and then drive home, and then back again when we need to do our things, and then drive home, and then back in again to pick him up. Its going to be ridiculous. And it looks like we are going to have to park it until after Christmas. I'm hoping we can get it fixed before I go back to work (maternity leave is almost over), or it will be very disastrous! Just means its going to cost us more $ in gas, and car repairs. Great.

A few things I should clear up....

I have been searching the internet and reading about people's student loan stories. A lot of the stories involve defaulting, claiming bankruptcy, etc. I should say that I am in good credit standing with my loan. I have never missed a payment, I will not claim bankruptcy, I am not planning on leaving the country (that doesn't work anyways....), etc etc. In saying I've never missed a payment, I should say that I have arranged interest only payments a ton of times, which makes the payments more manageable. Usually around $300 a month. Still tough to make, but doable, although it means I will never pay it off..... So I am trying everything I can to make sure I can make the full payments, and have a chance to someday pay it off. Hopefully sooner than later, because as it stands right now, I will not be able to have the second child we want to have, or buy a home. (Right now, we own a small 2 bedroom trailer.) But I believe that somehow I will be able to do it. I am very determined!!! I think the day I pay off my student loan should be a national holiday :) I know it will be a family holiday for sure! BIG PARTY that day! :)

Ouch.....

I called the student loan office today to get a balance and to see how much interest I get charged per day. Why??!! Just to get a handle on things I guess, although at a balance of over $62,000 and interest collecting at over $9 PER DAY, I know I will not be getting a handle on it anytime soon. But I will keep on with the plan.

When the guy came and picked up the treadmill, I realized I could have gotten a bit more for it. But it is out of my kitchen, and I did get $400 for it. Which isn't awful, because it is 2 years old. But I probably could have gotten 5 or 6 for it, but oh well. You'd be surprised how much more of a home this place feels like to me now that the treadmill is not in the kitchen! Its amazing! I have a lot of other things to go too, but nothing that will fetch as much money as the treadmill. After the guy paid us, I told my husband that I would be putting the money on the student loan, and he said no no lets spend it on Christmas. But we talked about it some more, and its best to put it on the loan, even though putting $400 on a $62,000 loan seems like a waste of money really! But I said I would, and I will.

Still no offers on those jeans I put up on Kijiji, even though I reduced them by $10! Must be the size. I think I will list them in another city soon and see what happens.

I haven't been using a ton of coupons yet this month. I've only used one totaling 50 cents. So far the total that I will deposit on my loan at the end of this month is $400.50 At least I am doing something!

I am still using swagbucks, and will soon have enough to get a gift card. I hope it works!

Another thing I am doing is entering Ellen's 12 days of Christmas give-a-ways. I admire her so much. She does so much for so many people in need. I contemplated writing her a letter about my situation, but then felt silly because there are people out there who have no jobs, who's family members are sick or dying, who can't afford diapers, etc. and I am blessed enough not to have any of those types of problems in my life right now. Although I really don't know what else to do or where to turn when it comes to this student loan, I don't think it would be right for me to write to her. I hope to figure something out soon. The lottery has not been panning out for me as of yet..... haha. But I have faith something great will happen!

My first success!

I decided to sell the treadmill on a whim today. I thought 'oh I'll post it and see what happens.' Less than 45 min later, someone wrote in asking questions about it. We talked back and forth through e-mail and a few hours later it was sold! So I have $400 towards my loan! :) Provided he shows up tomorrow to get the treadmill, but I have faith that he will! Very cool. Now if only I could win the lottery, I'd be SET :) Funny that the treadmill sold faster than the jeans.... which I lowered the price on today.... and still nothing....

I love Swag Bucks!!!

WOW. I can't believe it. December already! Well, my listing is not doing well at all. Not sure if I should reduce the price, or just take it down and try again later. Something I have gotten into though is Swag bucks. I love this website. Basically, they award you swag bucks for searching the internet using their search engine, which is very good! You also get swag bucks for finding swag bucks codes (which I have only found one... haha), watching videos, performing tasks, using coupons (!), taking surveys (no spam!!) and much more. Then you can redeem the swag bucks for everything from gift cards, to video games, pretty much anything you want! It's really cool. And it really doesn't take that long to accumulate! You can even redeem your swag bucks for a pay pal card!!! This is where I'm heading... then I can put it towards my student loan. It's great! And if you get people to sign up under you, you will be awarded the swag bucks that they earn as well up to 1000SB! And, btw, 1000sb can buy you about $10 in Amazon gift cards :) Please sign up under me by clicking the link below! I've only been using swag bucks for a few days and I have 260SB!