1 down

Last week I paid off a credit card - hallelujah!.  It was an AMEX Gold card, which as most of you know is the infamous card that has to be paid off within the month it's used.  (Although, they do actually allow flex-spending on charges over $200.).  Our bill was due on April 28th and basically the ENTIRE amount of the card was due with this months payment.  So I crunched some numbers and decided we needed to just suck it up and pay it off.  It was a big hit to our pocket but it's worth it.  Hardy opened this card in 2004 and it's the "oldest" card we have.  We choose to keep it active to show our loyalty and history.  I had a lot of inquiries about how we did it, so I thought I would blog about it and share what little knowledge I think I have on paying off debt.
 
 
I have learned the best way to pay on credit cards / loans where you will actually notice a difference is possible in the following ways:
 
1. Make weekly payments -vs- monthly payments.  Even if you only make a $20 payment per month, make four weekly payments of $5.00 instead.  This throws off their calculation to charge you daily interest.  You will still be charged interest but not nearly as much.
 
2. Always pay over the minimum payment - - even if it's only by $5 or $10 - - eventually you will start to notice the principal balance drop.
 
3. If you have a student loan, always make an effort to pay off your government loans FIRST. 
 
4. If you have a large balance on one card and are offered a special 0% interest rate to transfer a balance, do it, BUT only if you know you can pay it off or pay it down as much as possible before the interest rate begins.  A lot of the 0% interest offers have some of the HIGHEST interest rates once the promotion has ended.
 
There's a big debate on which accounts to pay off first, if you have more than one.  The main three are: highest balance / highest interest rate / lowest balance.  For as long as we've had credit cards, we always make monthly payments on every account.  It is hard at times, but we got ourselves into this mess, so we're going to get ourselves out of it.  If/when we come across extra money and are able to either make a significant payment or pay off a card, we do have a selection process.  Hardy still has about $1200 left on his student loan from 2002, one would think we would pay it off immediately, but we haven't.  His student loan (as with most) has a very low interest rate, and the monthly payment has been the same for the last 9yrs so it isn't as unpredictable as our other accounts.  I personally like to apply extra whenever we can to the highest interest/highest balances. We still have a good bit of monies outstanding so we aren't perfect (far far from perfect), but we accept the responsibility.  I don't hate credit cards, they have been there for us when we really needed the help, but I do wish we made better choices before spending some times.
 
***One thing to also remember is that even if you don't have a balance on a credit card, you still have that limit available to you.  If you go to apply for credit anywhere, whether for another card or some type of loan - - they look at how much debt is available to you. 
 
Example : If you have 3 cards with no balance but their limits are $2000 each, it would appear to a creditor that you have $6000.00 worth of debt to your name.  Of course your credit report will show whether or not you have an open balance due.
 
I hope this is good advice, even if only to 1 person.  If any of you have good advice - I would love to hear it!! 

If all the rain drops...

(Isn't this an amazing photograph?  Some guy from Atlanta took it during one of the recent storms)

I've always had a fear of thunderstorms, I don't really know what caused it.  Sometimes if the storms got bad enough, I would always make a palet in the floor next to my moms bed.  Isn't it amazing how we think our parents can save us from EVERY THING??  I wish they could. 

As I've grown up I've been able to tolerate thunderstorms more, but I still get anxious.  Hardy gets aggravated at me because if we're in bed when a storm comes I will scoot closer to him, ha ha ha.  It's obviously tornado season and it seems like for the past 3-4 weeks we've had at least one good storm a week and quite frankly, I'm getting tired of it.

A. I don't feel comfortable going to sleep assuming there's impending doom headed my way.

B. I hate falling asleep and getting woken up by thunder, crazy lightning, wind or even hail.

C. I hate that the news/meterologists build up the suspense all day, telling us to prepare for the worst, but when it actually hits our city - they're too busy talking about other miscellaneous news reports instead of covering the weather conditions constantly.

D. I don't like not being able to SEE - you know because it's dark at night.

E. I worry I won't get to my cats in time.


I know storms are a part of nature but I just don't like their unpredictable-ness.

WILW

***After nearly 3yrs in our house, I finally cleaned out the hall closet

***I found my digital camera at the bottom of nonsense in the closet I cleaned

***I also discovered that we own 7 different versions of Scene It? board games (I'm a pro!)

***Even though the economy sucks and times have been and are still tough, I am able to smile, every day

***I've been feeling really good lately

***I had a great birthday and I'm ok with being 26

***I came across a slew of old photos. 
For those of you who haven't seen them on my facebook page...here's a few:

Me as a babe at Lake Hartwell

My 5th grade "prop" photo.  I was so proud of my little brother and just had to show him off :)

Hardy & I at Six Flags in 2004

But most importantly...
My #1 What I'm Loving Wednesday:

Catching a photo of the mysterious "monster under the couch"

Ahhhh, the paws are trying to attack me!!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Oh wait...it's just sweet little Flower :)

"Rawr"

...Getting Inked...

Every one has their reasons for hating tattoo's or liking tattoo's.  I personally don't care if people have them...it's your own decision.  I have one on my right foot of a pink star - no bigger than a quarter.  I got it in February 2004, I love it, it's cute, it's "petite" and I know I will never regret it.  It can be easily covered up, not that I have to but it's perfectly placed in the same area a flip flop strap sits on my foot.

Why did I choose a star?  I have no idea...it just popped into my head and I went with it.  It has FADED terribly ** wished the artist would have said the top of the foot isn't the best place for colored tattoo's**.  I've been meaning to get it touched up all this time but never have the money (shop minimum is usually $55).  Over the years I've wanted another one but just never knew what to get....the pain is only temporary so I can see how people want more and more.

Me, myself and I don't want to be covered in tattoo's, I like the simple side.  I was thinking a few weeks ago about how much I love my fur-babies and how they won't be with us forever (bummer) but I always want to remember them.  I know that when the day comes when they do pass (hopefully not soon) I will not bury them in my backyard, in fact, if we're still in our current neighborhood, I'm pretty sure it's against HOA rules to bury a pet.  Not to mention, if we ever move, I would NOT dig up our pets and move them (another reason why when I die, I want to be cremated, but that's an entirely different blog post!)

Soooo back on topic, I want my next tattoo to be two small black paw prints,- basically like the photo above - diagonally on my left or right wrist.  I keep picturing it on my left wrist so I guess I'll go with that one.  A friend of mine said "Why don't you just put their pictures in a locket and wear it as a necklace".  Good point, however, I rarely remember to wear jewelry unless it's my wedding rings/earrings which stay on 24/7.  A necklace can get lost or broken.  I feel like having these two little paw prints on my wrist would be a constant reminder of our sweet Tinker Bell & Flower.  Would I get more paw prints if we ever had more cats???  I'm not sure, I can't honestly say.  But sometime, maybe soon if money mysteriously falls in my lap, I will be getting a tattoo as a tribute to these two felines who have brought me so much joy

You may think getting a tattoo to commemorate a pet is silly and that's fine - you're entitled to your own opinion.  I know they aren't human, believe it or not :)   but their unconditional ability to love is heartwarming.  They always know when to head butt you if you've had a bad day.  They make your heart melt with a begging "meow".  They do silly flips/flops on the floor and wrestle with each other.  They're our personal battery free alarm clock.  They are apart of our family.  I love animals of all kind, but these two cats in particular have "left a paw print on my heart".  They won't know what a tattoo is and because they're cats, they could care less.  I need to do this though, this is for me.

I've grown a lot in the last few years, even more so in the last several months.  I've realized you can't live your life worrying about pleasing other people - outside of the normal respect we as humans should hold for one another.  For too long, I've said/done certain things around certain people - - not to impress them, but just to make sure I was accepted.  THAT'S STUPID!!  Why shouldn't I be me?  What's wrong with Amanda?  NOTHING.  I hate that it took me so long to realize this simple fact of life, but some things you just have to figure out on your own no matter how many times it's beaten into your head.

LOL

I like to laugh. 
 
In fact, sometimes....
 
I laugh so hard I snort...(yes just like a pig)
I laugh so hard I cry
I laugh so hard it makes my tummy sore
I laugh so hard I can't breath
I laugh so hard I almost pee
 
I hear it burns calories, so I could live the rest of my life laughing
 
Anyway...occasionally, I come across something that seems to give me laugh after laugh and I like to share laughs.  Although, I can't take full credit for this...my good buddy and BFFLADYFI Tabitha texted it to me this morning....I've had non-stop fun browsing all these entries. 
 
Anyone specifically with an iPhone would know exactly how these people feel.  I'm always corrected when it's not needed and the phone doesn't correct when it should.
 
www.damnyouautocorrect.com

Also, this is a work-related funny.  As with most companies/customer's...the customer has an account number.  Well, we accept payments on our website and you have to have your account number in order to sign in and make a payment.  This morning, I was posting the payments from our website into our computer system and someone had used their account number as the amount to pay....so what should have been a simple $34.00 payment was actually submitted for $200k.  Ha ha ha ha ha.  I'm most certain it will come back returned but I would like to thank this customer for giving me a laugh today :)