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Ticker update, other ideas and plans

March 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm

I made a decision earlier this week to turn in some investments and receive the money so that I can use them to pay down debt. Between the $4500 I have received thus far and the $1200 I have monthly from my budget I was able to pay off quite a bit this month. This is reflected in the ticker to the left. I have one more investment for which I am awaiting the payment which should be about $3500 or so which means I will pay off one more card and a piece of another. This means that by the beginning of April I will have only 1 cc with a debt of about 9k left. Totally do able by the end of the year.
This means that I will have $1200 out of my budget each month plus the amount I pay in rent ($465) to consider for a house payment. Now realistically I want to pay less than $1665 each month for a house but at least it is something I can seriously consider. Here in Sacramento the housing market is bad and getting worse which while horrible for those who made the decision to buy high and sell low or to move into a house they could obviously not afford it is good for me. I am scoping out the market and area to see where I would want to purchase a house and have two specific areas in which I look. Obviously I want it to be in a safe neighborhood as I am going to be living alone (hopefully). I want to be able to afford the house on my own but I would consider taking in a renter to share the house and expenses keeping my expenses as low as possible and trying to pay extra to the mortgage each month.
I am astounded at the government’s ideas to try and help those who cannot afford their homes now. Why purchase a home that you cannot afford and expect that in the future you would be able to afford it? Especially in CA where the COL goes up every year and inflation costs are not met with the raises people receive? Stockton which is less than an hour away has the highest rates of foreclosures in the nation and will decimate the economy in the middle portion of this state. I know the decisions to help are done because to allow more foreclosures would mean an even worse economy but really. I could have qualified for a home 4 years ago even with my debt and that would mean I would receive the assistance of the government now but I made the decision not to put myself out in such a way that would be bad for me in the future. It just drives me nuts.

I am considering trying to find a part time job, even loading groceries or working in a cafe, to pay off everything faster and get to a nice down payment faster but I am seeing homes in the nicer neighborhoods where I want to live come down a lot even to the mid 150k or so region and still dropping.

There is the possibility of taking a contract job for a univ down south trying to start a certificate program in the field in which I work. That would be helpful and rather a large contract. There is also the possibility of once I find a new job doing some contract work with a contractor providing services on the project I currently work. I know the project, indeed I wrote the scope of work and have worked on this project for three years but I can't do any part time work for her because it would be double dipping into grant funds the currently pay my salary. Once I leave this department and move to another then there is no problem of double dipping or any kind of impropriety.
I really hope I can get a new position. I have applied for many and interviewed and been offered but all of them are lower than I currently am so the raise I get as a state employee at one year would be about 1% with no chance of going higher. There is a new position being advertised that I will apply for tomorrow. It is slightly higher but I can move into it laterally so that is good. The best part is that the next level which I would have to promote into off an exam list is one of the highest paying jobs with the state that is not a management role. To be able to get to that area in a couple years is such an exciting idea. I will see what happens with the application and interview. I do have a favorite job that I want to get but if that fell through then this next position would be my back up. We shall see how it pans out.

So far for March I have two survey checks for $5 and one check for $50 to deposit. I am waiting until then end of the month before I deposit them to better track how much I earn in surveys each month. I house sat for two days this week netting $60 which I already deposited. I have another evening later this month as well as several nights this spring and several weeks this summer. All of that will be put toward debt to try and to get out of credit card debt faster.

I loved the movie Becoming Jane. If you get to watch it I highly recommend it. Simply Lovely!

edited to add: checked mail from Saturday and received another survey check for $2 for a total of $62 to deposit at the end of the month.

1 Responses to “Ticker update, other ideas and plans”

  1. baselle Says:
    1204511849

    With the buying of a house: Keep on saving for the down payment. I'm with you - it makes me hopping mad that I'm being penalized for being responsible and understand what being 500K in debt actually means. Bugs me also that real estate industry assumes we supposed buyers are all vultures and don't want to buy out of spite. I'll give you spite! Big Grin The prices here in Seattle are coming down a bit, but it will take a long time.

    Anyway, prices will come down in a couple of years, perhaps with a higher interest rate (you want to get an ARM *maybe* at the stage because you want the interest rate to adjust down, not up), but easy money is over - you'll need a down payment and a stellar credit rating...as it was in days of yore.

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