My Financial Mess...

A few years ago, I made some dumb financial decisions. I was young and stupid, and though that is no excuse, I have learned from them and vowed not to repeat them again.

-- Credit cards -- Fresh out of high school and entering college for the first time, I had tons of credit card offers sent my way and I applied for several of them, promptly maxing out their puny $200 credit limits and paying the minimum each month for more than a year.

-- Fancy Car -- Of course, driving around in the family Camry was not high on my list of desires. So I went down to the local bank and was approved for a $10,000 loan and drove 400 miles to purchase the used sports car of my dreams. Of course, it was 6 years old, had nearly 100,000 miles on it and I didn't even get it checked by a mechanic - genius!

-- Bad budgeting -- I moved in with a friend of mine a few months after I bought the car. Of course, at this time I was barely making $6.00 an hour and working approximately 25-30 hours a week. How does one afford to split rent, utilities, cable, cell phone bill, car note, car insurance and credit card bills on that small on an income? There's a simple answer for that. You don't.

Oh, how I wish I knew then what I know now. After a few months, things started falling behind. Both my friend and I were unable to keep up with our expenses, and eventually had to move out of our apartment. I spent a couple months after moving back home making up the past due balance on the utility and phone bills.

Those credit cards that I was making the minimum payment on kept piling up with balances, and every time I'd make a minimum payment, I would find something else to charge up on it.

The sports car? I still have it, with 8 payments left to go before it is paid off. Though it is still a struggle to make the $275/month payment, I take pride in knowing that it will be paid for soon and that I will not have to worry about a car payment again for a long time.

The budgeting problem? That has been solved! I've worked at a bank for a little more than a year now, and seeing people day in and day out with financial issues worse than mine made me determined to turn myself around. All of my bills are set up on auto-pay to pay at least the minimum on the due date, allowing me to allocate more towards them as I am able. It will be a while before everything is paid off, but I am determined to be debt free before I finish school in 2 years.

Here is a breakdown of my monthly budget:

Rent - 425 (considering getting a roommate to help defray costs)
Utility - 150
Cable - 40
Cell Phone - 55
Car Note - 272
Car Insurance - 170

Then there's the credit cards...
$4,800 total debt - Total minimum $165.00

My goal is to put at least $300 toward the debt every month, as well as any found money, tax refunds, etc.

I've also taken on a few new credit accounts in order to get more positive history under my name, thanks to those at CreditBoards. I've seen my credit score rise by more than 50 points on all three bureaus in the last five months just thanks to lower overall utilization - I've learned the important lesson of not charging it unless you can pay it back when the statement cuts.

I want to know if any of you have any more suggestions on how to get this debt paid down faster -- any ideas?

The Flu Stinks...

So I have had the flu for three days now, and I have come to discover one thing - it STINKS!

This is the most time off I've had from work in weeks now, and I haven't been very productive. Of course, it's hard to be productive when you are running a fever and ache from several parts of your body. I've watched tons of TV, everything from the Golden Girls to Will and Grace, as well as every variation of Law and Order that there is.

I also signed up for Yodlee MoneyCenter (http://www.yodlee.com), in an attempt to make my financial life more simple and organized. It's a great tool -- you can place all of your different bills into the site, and it automatically logs you in to everything on one page. This page, also known as the dashboard, shows you all of your balances and provides a net worth calculation. Yodlee also has their own billpay, either from a checking account or from a credit card - it's great! Yodlee will also send you a reminder when the bills are due and provides a handy online calendar showing the due dates of each bill you have. If you are the forgetful type or just bad at keeping track of all the different bills you have, sign up for Yodlee today.

Also, a note on Yodlee - it allows you to manually input accounts that you do not have online access to -- for me, that is my utility bill. I entered in the amount from the most recent bill and the amount due, and it still gives an email reminder - between this and my Chase online billpay, I'll never have a late payment again.

Hello all! Welcome to Young and Making It, my own little spot in the blogiverse.

A little background on me...

I'm a 22 year old guy working to make it on my own while working two jobs and attending school full-time. This doesn't leave me much free time (or money, thanks to stupid financial decisions when I was younger) so I decided to create this blog to chronicle my steps toward more financial independence and solidity.

My main full-time job is at a bank, where I am the vault teller. I prepare cash shipments, currency and change orders, assist other tellers in maintaining their cash drawers, etc. I have been there for a little over a year and love it -- I want to continue a career in the banking field upon finishing school.

My part-time job is my former full-time job. I have worked at a local deli for almost six years now, which was my first job. I was promoted to assistant manager in January of 2003 and worked there full-time in that position until I was hired by the bank. Now I continue to work there on weekends in order to help make ends meet.

I also attend school full-time, working toward a degree in Business Administration. I am a bit behind in school compared to others my age (okay, a lot behind). This is the result of several stupid decisions made on my part when I was younger... not going straight from high school, taking too much time off, dropping classes, etc. I'm over that stage now and believe that it has made me a harder worker and more determined to succeed.

Making a blog has been something that I have thought of for a while now... now I'm at home from work on a sick day, and have decided to give it a go. I'm thinking I'm going to detail some daily events, odd happenings, my budgeting and financial decisions, etc. in order to give everyone an idea of what it is like to be a broke college student (lol). I hope that you all enjoy.

That's enough about me for now -- I want to get to know some of you all better. Bring on the comments, fellow bloggers!