How I Got My Financial Life In Order

It wasn't always easy for me to deal with my finances. I used to be happy spending money every weekend on things I didn't need. It wasn't until my student loan payments were due that I realized that I needed to change my ways or I'll end up in a bad financial situation.

Here's how I got my financial life in order:

Financial Wake Up Call

To be honest, I don't recall the exact date that I became this personal-finance-obsessed person. It most likely happened in the fall of 2009, probably in September after I joined Mint.com. The grace period for my student loans was almost up and the thought of shelling out $800 per month scared me. I was a big spender back then and I knew I couldn't keep up with the payments if I didn't change my ways.

I remember looking at the MintLife blog and reading some interesting articles. After reading through most of the posts there I decided to search the rest of the internet. I came across a lot of PF blogs and websites like Wise Bread. There's definitely a lot of information out there. It can almost be overwhelming for a novice like me.

I started slow. Baby steps. Breathe. It's not the end of the world, but it felt like it. At the time I was still sending money home to my mom on a monthly basis. I felt like the Bank of Patti. I also felt like I wouldn't be able to pass the stress test should something big come up in the future. I didn't have a lot of money saved up and I was surely spending too much. That thought ate into me day after day. What to do? Where to start?

I knew I had to do something...

Where Have I Been? Where Am I Now?

It’s been a while since I last wrote on this blog – almost a year and a half. A lot has happened. Here’s a bit of a run down by year.

2010

•  In June I moved into a new apartment and gained 3 new roommates. We were all engineers, two guys and one other girl. Fun times there, good stories that I hope to revisit in the future.
• My college boyfriend and I broke up a few hours after my last post on August 28. I was a bit heartbroken, but knew we weren’t meant to be together for the long run. It was good while it lasted and I was grateful to have him in my life. Moving on…
• I started seeing someone I used to date back in college. There’s probably a reason why we stopped dating the first time but it took me 6 months to remember it all again.

2011

•  It was good for the short time we were together, but I think I choked a bit. It’s funny that in December 2010 I wasn’t ready to get married or at least get married to that boyfriend, but in December 2011, I was singing a different tune. Post-college boyfriend and I didn’t work out for the reasons it didn’t work out the first time we dated and our relationship ended in March.
• I was living the single life-style with my guy friends and it was very expensive. I don’t regret any of it, but boy, all that eating out at restaurants killed my wallet and my slim figure.
•  I started going to a knitting group in May. I love the ladies and everything they talk about. I get to learn from their wisdom on child rearing and get a glimpse of their life and adventures. One of the ladies lives in the UK a few months out of the year since her husband’s family is there and he travels there for work every now and then.
•  I met my current fiancé, C, in July. We hit it off right away and I just knew. He was someone I can see myself settling down with in the future. He had a terrier, I had a terrier. We both come from families with money problems. There were more similarities and I might get into that at a later date.
• We moved in together on Halloween. It was snowing!
• He proposed to me in December and I said yes! Some would say that we’re moving too fast, but I think it’s the right thing for us. Besides, he’s 30 and I’m 25. I can hear the clock ticking.
•  I bought a new car! I gave my 2001 Chevy Malibu back to my mom and bought a 2012 Mazda 3 5-door (aka Hatchback). I love the car, not loving the finance manager at the dealership. That’s another story.

2012

• C and I are preparing for our upcoming wedding.
• I'm still at my first job after college.
• I'm thinking about going to grad school (paid for by my company).
• I'm just trying to be in the moment and live life one day at a time.

I added another section to My Money History - Where Am I Now. It's a bit more in depth about my life so far in 2012. I plan to update it every now and then. I might edit it and make it shorter or move some things around. So much to do on my first day back on this blog. I hope you join me as I try to capture my life in this blog.

The College Years

First I want to wish my lovely little sister, Joy, a very happy birthday!

It's been a very long time since I last wrote. I've been on a hiatus due to work reasons. After sitting in front of the computer all day at work, I just wanted to come home and not jump back in front of another screen. So I apologize for the long silence.

I wrote a new section to My Money History. It's called The College Years. I hope you enjoy reading about it. I plan on writing at least 3 times a week on this site. I've had a lot of inspiration over the past months and I'm bubbling up with stories and achievements. So come back soon!

Lessons Learned: Traveling After Graduation

I believe everyone should travel after graduation if they have the time and money. I was lucky. I managed to negotiate with my job to have me start working a month and a half after graduation. This gave me time to travel back to Thailand to visit my extended family there. I had saved a bit of money, enough for airfare and that's all I needed since my family took care of the rest.

It was nice to be in Thailand. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or I have a very giving extended family. My dad gave me money, his wife (my stepmom) gave me money, and my "uncle" gave me some, too. My aunt took me sightseeing and my other aunt had arranged for us to stay with her friend in Hua Hin (their house was amazing and my boyfriend aspires to have an even better one than the place we stayed). Below are pictures from Hua Hin. It helps to stay with friends and relatives when traveling to cut down on hotel costs.

Little Mom vs. Big Credit Card Company

Being a dutiful daughter I am helping my mom pay off her credit card debt. For the past 11 months I've been sending my mom $300 per month. What I should have done was asked to see the credit card statement. Had I taken a peek early on I could have help reduce some of our payments, our headaches, and most of our heartaches.

Decision: High-Yield Savings Account

It's been a while since I last post. I had a few good topics to write about, but finding the time to write them is getting a bit harder. I might have mentioned that I'm moving to a new apartment at the end of the month. That's one step in the right financial direction - I'll be saving $237/month in rent. Yay! I've been packing some of my possessions and trying to assess what I should throw out. It's a very hard decision to make. Seems like I'm having a hard time making decisions this month.

I want to open up a high-yield savings account. After doing a lot of research over the past two weeks, I decide go with the Personal Savings from American Express High-Yield Savings account. I like that they have no minimum balance requirements and no fees. They're interest rate is currently 1.30% which is good, but not great. I think it's more for the piece of mind. It's definitely a high rate than the 0.1% I was getting at Bank of America (BoA) for my regular savings account. I hope this will be a good online banking experience without any hassles. I might put some of my emergency fund money in a CD through American Express in a year. We'll have to see about that.

Now that I made that decision I feel better. Okay, I'm off to make dinner.