Mint is it refreshing?

Ok let's face the fact I need a software like Mint.com! We need to get our financial and family life's back together. Is it cool and refreshing like a mint always is?

I've been trying to get a hold of the early beta realease from Mint.com for awhile now with no success then I notice SavingExplained is running a contest to win one of 5 invites into the refreshing world that is Mint.com.

Now my post isn't unique or filled with images or creative images and video's to get one attention. It's strickly a post of need. Reading the information from the Mint.com page I believe this would be nothing but a handy tool in our adventure to reduce debt and improve our finances.

Definitely not a good start to the morning!

I am so frustrated right now, one because I was woke up at 7 a.m. by a raving lunatic by the name of my wife yelling at me where's the money! So here's the deal I get home last night from work at about 12:30 in the morning and the house was dark everyone asleep so I decide to have a bite to eat and a beer. I hear her voice come from the bedroom all sweet sounding, clearly not asleep can I have some money for the States tomorrow?

She's going to finish up the back to school shopping and I already gave her $100 U.S. and she asked if she could get another $100 earlier in the week just in case. So I said fine but remember the initial budget was $300 and that she already spent $210 on back to school last time she went to the States.

So I grabbed a $100 and placed it next to my wallet. In her sweet sounding voice can I have some more? Uh no that's $200 US for you it should be more than enough, to make a long story short this went on for about 15 minutes till I finally said no this time I'm putting my foot down that's it your not taking anymore!

So back to the raving lunatic this morning 7 a.m. where's the money? She's checking our bank account online there's only $116 left in our account what happened to the rest of the money? I reply back half asleep I don't know your the one that makes all the cash withdraws that I can't track you can see everything I spend it's right there in detail. She replies back with while I checked your wallet and there's no cash in there so where did it all go, we still need to pay the babysitter $180.

Oh ok she's not worried about the finances she's trying to grab more money to take with her to the States, so this is where the argument gets into full swing because somehow everytime were without money it's all my fault. Which of course is on a bi-weekly basis and I'm so sick of having the finger pointed at me. I always use the debit card so everything is documented as to my purchases which usually is a case of beer and a tank of gas I'm such a bigger spender on myself. Everything else goes to the bills.

Now if you've been reading my blog you'll remember the post earlier this week Nothing better than completing your goals about how finally I was getting out from behind the financial black ball. So you might be asking what happened with that, while basically it's starting to fall apart apparently I put the horse before the carriage.

I haven't been completely honest as I was embarrassed to admit 2 weeks ago I went back to the 2nd Paycheck Advance place that I got out of, read Victory against payday advance . I thought no big deal I knew I was going to get paid out my vacation pay from my former employer, I would get the money and be back out of it and the other one as well in two weeks.

While granted that hasn't happened now, I did reduce the amount significantly but I'm still stuck with the two of them. And the $1000 that was to go to repay the loan of $1200 while now it's down to $900 and I still have to pay the sitter the $180 which is clearly not in our bank account as well as we still need groceries for the week. So that $1000 payment is quickly starting to dwindle down! What a great way to start my morning off as well as my financial week!

If the raving lunatic and myself can't start working as a team here nothing is ever going to change as we've been going through this for the last 7 years. It's really time for it all to stop.

3 New financial goals for the future.

As promised I would lay out three new financial goals for our family to replace the 3 goals completed as of this week. Here are the two financial goals that still need to be completed:

4) Pay off another personal loan in the amount of $3060 by August 08'
5) Pay back money that was withdrawn from children's account of $1000 by December 08'

Which of course moves to #1 & #4 (reason follows later) here are the following three.

1) Pay off another personal loan in the amount of $3060 by August 08' 14 months ahead of schedule.
2) Pay off car loan of $7600 by December 08' 8 months ahead of schedule.
3) Another personal loan of $5000 + interest that hasn't been paid in quite sometime I can't even imagine what the total is now, by December 10'
4) Pay back money that was withdrawn from children's account of $1000 by December 08'
5) Have an emergency savings fund of $5000 by December 10'

Now upon review I noticed I need to go back and make some adjustments to my NetworthIQ.com profile as well as my NCN profile which at the current time I can't seem to find. As my debt listed is incorrect, apperently I'm deeper than I thought that's what I get for not listing each item down on paper and going off of the top of my head. The children's account has been shuffled to the #4 spot as right now I think it's more important to get the interest baring accounts taken care of first.



Related post:
Nothing better than completing your goals
New goals for the future
NCN Network
NetworthIQ Full Review

Nothing better than completing your goals!

So I have an exciting update to our short term goals that I listed in the post titled New goals for future. Our short term goals at that point in time was:

1) Set up an emergency savings account by the end of August 07' with direct withdraw.
2) Pay off a personal loan in the amount of $1200 by October 07'
3) Get out of paycheck advances by October 07'
4) Pay off another personal loan in the amount of $3060 by August 08'
5) Pay back money that was withdrawn from children's account of $1000 by December 08'

As far as #1 on this list goes I'm still waiting for ING to cash the check to link my accounts together, but it should be completed by the end of the month. Goal completed.

2) I have $1000 of the $1200 in hand and will complete the transaction with the remaining $200 within the next two weeks. Goal completed.

3) This will be completed as of this Friday I will be finally free and clear from all paycheck advance establishments.

Now you might be asking how did you pull this off so quickly did you rob a bank? No changing jobs became a blessing in disguise not only from the savings of my time of travel each day to and from work and wear and tear on my truck.

My past employer released me earlier then my resignation letter was for, yet will pay me out till the date of notice. Bonus as I called my new employer and they had me start yesterday, job is going great by the way. So I'll overlap my paychecks by one week. Second I pulled my deferred profit sharing from my old employer which between the extra week of pay and my DPS gave me a great jump start ahead in our finances.

Now coming into extra money wasn't exactly the way I planned to achieve these goals but hey I'll take it anyway I can, as it's 3 goals down with 2 to go from current. And as I stated when I wrote the post New goals for future I will replace these 3 completed goals with 3 new financial goals tomorrow, so stay tuned as more is to come.

NCN Network

Pre-Warning as I am starting my new job and I have quite a bit to learn my postings might be a little irregular over the next month. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up while I continue to search for help on the debt-o-meter which I hope to feature on this blog. I have joined the NCNnetwork.com one of the grandfather and premier debt blog movement sites, as you'll be able to track my progess there as well as NetworthIQ.com and Wesabe.com

Savingexplained.com post on 7 Signs that your in deep debt trouble

This is the second post I have decided to feature from Savingexplained.com her blog is by far becoming one of my favorites out there. You can find the first post I decided to feature from Savingexplained.com on microsavings Post that caught my attention. This one I decided to list the full article here with her permission of course. Read and enjoy.

I have to give you a preemptive warning. This is not a fun read for those that may have an issue with growing debt but a necessary one. If you have debt sometimes its easier to sweep things under the rug instead of address them head on especially when things seem to be spiraling out of control.


1. You are spending more than you earn

If you are spending more each month than you earn then you need to seriously start taking control over your finances. This is not to say that you are necessarily being frivolous with your money but desperate times call for desperate actions so tighten your belt and get your expenses back under your take home pay.

2. You have maxed out all the plastic in your wallet

This is a sign of a looming debt disaster. The average America will carry between 5-10 credit cards in their wallet. Carrying that much credit around with me alone would send shivers up my spine but then maxing them out. If you are in the situation where you have maxed out your cards you need to go into debt reduction mode ASAP.

3. You really don’t know how much you owe and have very little desire to find out

This is a very bad place to be. Typically it means you are in denial and it is very hard to break out of that. You need to just realize that is not getting any better without taking some action and dig into your finances and find out what’s going on. I’d equate to ripping that band-aid off. Hurts like hell to do it but once its done it feels so much better.

4. You are beginning to receive notices about delinquent payments

This is not good. You need to act fast to get your payments made and then once again take a long hard look at your financial makeup and figure out where to go from here.

5. You get a sigh of relief after being approved for another credit card

You should never be relieved that you just got approved for another credit card. On the contrary, you should have that sinking feeling that something is not right. If you are feeling relieved about this it most likely means that you are strapped financially and serious debt problems are on the horizon.

6. You are paying down one credit card with another

This is another very bad sign that you have over extended your credit and need to get it paid down quickly. Eventually this tactic can lead to some serious issues and can/will snowball out of control before you know it. You need to stop paying off one credit card with the other and get your finances strapped down so you can start paying down the credit altogether.

7. Your credit cards are no longer being used for convenience or rewards but because you are short on money

Another gut check time. If you are at this point you need to start looking into some serious financial help for cutting expenses. Using credit cards to sustain your necessities is the cusp of a growing debt problem that is sure to only get worse if left unchecked.

Like I said, debt is not one of the more pleasureable subjects related to personal finance but the fact of the matter is that the majority of Americans today carry a substantial amount of debt. We need to be actively reducing this and the only way to do that is to admit that it is a problem. If you need some added motivation you should definitely check out the post, 20 great things about being debt free.

Got any other signs that we missed? Do share.

Feeling Great for Once!

I have to admit for the first time in a long time I feel great. I notice myself smiling more, not worrying myself to death and most of all sleeping better. I'm not sure if it's the creation of this blog or the new job on the horizon but I finally feel like everything is going to work out fine. Anyone that has been in debt knows exactly the feeling I'm talking about, where you feel like the whole world is crashing in on you and you don't know what to do to stop it.

If your in the same position as us or want to avoid becoming like us. I think that having your own plan of attack is just what the doctor ordered, you have to be honest with yourself sit down with your significant other and go through all your finances and determine a starting point. List all your goals and keep them within view and then determine how you exactly plan on attacking them. Don't worry if your looking and going I don't have extra money to place on this and that account, I'm barely making it by as it is. You just need to re-align your finances with your priorities.

Trust me we live paycheck to paycheck right now but I determined to make it stop and create a future for my family. I know alot of people that are heavily in debt in credit cards and car loans. Few I know are actually in the boat we're in fighting just to keep our hydro and phone on and on top of that paying outside debt as well. As I spoke about in How Were To Going To Achieve Our Goals you need to decide whether your going to live below your means or find another way to bring in extra money each month or a combination of the two.

The time to start is right now, create a plan and then execute on it and re-evaluate it if needed. If you need some encourgement start your own blog I'm telling you it's a great tool to keep everything in front of you and hold yourself accountable for your decisions. Keep an eye on our blog and watch us get the monkey off of our backs for once and for all. Or write me my contact info is at the bottom of the page and we can work through it together, just remember I'm by no means a expert otherwise we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place but sometimes it's just feels good to talk to someone else in the same situation.

Savings Account

We have begun the process of opening up an ING savings account for our emergency savings as it was the first goal to be completed of our New Goals within the timeframe of August. I just need to mail away the check now which will be done on Monday in order to finalize setting up the account.

At first were going to only put away $50 a month but hey it's a start right. Will continue to monitor our finances and if were able to in a couple of months, probably closer to the new year will double up the amount for each month. I'm just excited to get the ball rolling and follow through with our plan of attack.

Second Job?

So earlier this week I applied for a second job as a server in a local restarant in our area to help bump up our money situation as spoken about in How Were Going To Achieve Our Goals item #3 was to bring in more money.

Reason being for applying for a server position was quite simple actually as I have previous experience although going back almost 10 years, cash money at the end of the day and even though the hourly wage is terrible if your good at it and have a good day in tips you can pull in a fair amount of cash in a short time. Personally I would rather serve tables as a second job then say working as a cashier only earning a straight hourly wage.

Granted I haven't heard anything back as of yet it's tough to find a second job when your current job is a management position it seems like no one wants to hire you, they either think your over quailfied or think that your after their job. As for right now though after getting the call back for my new job I think I'm going to put the search for a second job on hold for a little bit till I become more comfortable in my current role. If the restarant that I applied too does call back great but right now I'm not going to concern myself if they don't.

Wesabe It Is!

As I spoke about before I planned on joining a social money network budgeting site by either Wesabe.com or Geezeo.com to compliment my NetworthIQ.com account. Now I should note at this time I do not currently pay 2 post if your not familiar with it, it basically means I'll write post to endorse a certain company for X amount of dollars. You can check my bank account if you wish I'm broke :)! After posting today's earlier post How Were Going To Achieve Our Goals post I received a comment from the Jason Knight CEO of Wesabe.com of the following:

Knight said...
Hi, I'm Jason Knight CEO of Wesabe. First, congratulations on deciding to get control over your money.

I had a quick look at your goals and interestingly they map pretty closely to the most popular goals on our site. Paying off debt and saving an emergency fund are our members top priority.

I hope you will try out our service and connect with the thousands of people who share your goals and are actively working on achieving them.

If you have any questions about Wesabe please don't hesitate to contact me between 12-4pm PST 800.511.8544

Due to this I feel no other reason not to join Wesabe.com as I believe it shows how much he stands behind his site and the customer service that comes with it. In this day and age of the internet I think we've lost this personal touch so when someone comes out like Jason Knight has it only makes me sure that I've made the right choice and can only support his site that much more. Tomorrow after work I will finish setting up my account and you'll be able to find me under workingcanuck on Wesabe.com and thank you Jason for helping me make up my mind.

How Were Going To Achieve Our Goals

Day 3 and so far you've seen our Old Goals that were written several years ago that were forgotten about as well as our New Goals for the Future which we will follow right here on this blog. Now I know people are saying wait you have old goals which you didn't follow through on and forgot about, how do you plan on attacking your new goals and improve your personal finances. Quite simply I've come up with a plan of attack, here are the tools I'll put into place to ensure that we follow through with these goals:

1) Creation of this blog creates accountability to ourselves, everything is out in the open for all to see. In other words I'm calling myself out and knowing that if I get off the beaten track that the readers will have a field day calling me out on why am I not saving for this or your spending to much money on that. Much like the social money networking sites. I'm hoping that you guys will help us stay on track on eliminating debt and putting our money to work for ourselves.

2) As many of you are already aware I'm already part of the community at NetWorthIQ.com which is a great site at tracking your net worth but for budgeting I'm going to join the community at either Wesabe.com or Geezeo.com which were two of the sites I talked about in my Talking Money over the Net post awhile back about social money networking. As this will hold us even more accountable, as well as the ability to use others experiences to hold us much more in line with our goals. I'll let you know which one of these sites I join in a future posting as I haven't yet decided.

3) Finding other ways of bringing extra money into the house. This one is tougher due to the fact that I am on salary I don't get the opportunity to work more hours in order to bring in more income. So we have two choices either live below our means or bringing in extra money, preferably I would rather bring in extra money as Christmas is on the horizon and I want to attack these debts rather aggressively. So I'll look at opportunities such as Ebay, Craigslist and a second job.

So there we have it the ways that I plan on attacking our debts and hopefully at the same time improve our personal finances and do some investing in our future.

Part 1 Old Goals
Part 2 New Goals for the Future

New Goals For The Future

As promised here is my new list of goals. I decided to break it down into both short term (under 5 years) and long term (5 years +) to keep myself motivated. As one goal is completed a new one will be implemented to ensure constant progress. Drum roll please:

Short Term Goals:

1) Set up an emergency savings account by the end of August 07' with direct withdraw.
2) Pay off a personal loan in the amount of $1200 by October 07'
3) Get out of paycheck advances by October 07'
4) Pay off another personal loan in the amount of $3060 by August 08'
5) Pay back money that was withdrawn from children's account of $1000 by December 08'

Long Term Goals:

1) Our wedding by 2012
2) Mortgage paid off by the time I turn 45
3) Net worth of $500,000 by the time I turn 50

So that's the goals that have been set, some are more achievable than other's as some of them will make us stretch financially to achieve. If anyone knows where I can get one of those bar meters to place on my blog, so everyone can follow along with our progress it would be greatly appreciated. Tomorrow I will post on how I plan on us achieving our goals.

Part 1 Old Goals

Old Goals

It's funny today I picked up an older book I had by The Motley Fool flipping through I came across some old notes that I recorded in the pages. Including old goals I written for myself some accomplished some not. They are as follows:

1) New Home by the end of 2007 (I must have picked up the book a couple of months prior to purchasing my home as I purchased my home in 2002)

2) Getting Out of Debt by the end of 2007 (Still a work in progress)

3) Wedding by Sept. 2004 (We live common-law does that count lol? We have to finance our wedding ourselves and even though were planning to keep it under $10,000 luckily my I already call her my wife is very understanding and agree's that other things need to be taken care of first)

4) New Car by the end of 2004 (By new car I didn't actual mean new car I would never desire to own a brand new car, but I did pick up my truck in 2004)

5) Start a Business by the end of 2010 (Actually I did start a business back 2 years ago that I decided I wasn't going to quit my job prior to my own business being successful. Unfortuntly between the time and money commetments it wasn't in the cards at that time and only lasted just under a year I will give it another shot though sometime in the future)

So that's the five goals I had written down approx. 5-6 years ago I think that for tomorrows post I will follow this up with New Goals that I will set for myself.