I have been looking for many other ways to achieve my financial empowerment goals. One important thing I am looking at is decreasing my expenses in order to increase money available to paying off my credit card debt. Here are the following expenses I can manipulate to achieve this:
Rent:
I currently pay $800 for a 2/1 in Orlando, Fl which is pretty good when the average is $950. My lease ends on April 30th so I have been apartment hunting for the last month or so. After many rental search engines I started looking at some of the apartment ratings websites. I found an apartment complex who had the highest rating I have ever seen. Out of 30 rating only 1 was negative. I called them and they were renting their 2/1 for $650. WHAT!! I gotta see this place! The complex is made up of beautiful single story apartment homes. The landscape is awesome and they have 3 pools. How can they rent so cheap?? They don't speed ANY money on advertising. None. This allows them to have lower rent. They only had one 2/1 available. So you know a sista filled out an application and put a deposit in fast. I know all will go well so I have no worries. $150 off my monthly expenses. $1800 saved over the course of a year lease.
Utilities:
I am contemplating not having any cable when I move into the new apt. I have done this before while in college and went a whole year without cable and had no problems. This will in turn save me $60 dollars a month. Over a whole year it would be a savings of $720. I cant really do anything about electricity, water, or sewer except use all three efficiently. As for my home phone, I currently have Vonage and I only spend $30 a month with there unlimited package. I researched my past year's usage history and have used an average of 400 minutes a month. Vonage has a lower package for $15 dollars a month that give you 500 anytime minutes with all the features. If I took this package instead I would save $180 over the course of a year.
Debt:
I have a personal loan with my Credit Union. I called to inquiry about getting my APR for the loan lowered since my credit score had increased so much. Guess what I found out?!? I can request that my loan be recalculated based on my higher credit score. And if the score lands in a lower APR bracket they will basically refinance the loan with the lower rate. And I can do this as many times as I want. Are you kidding me!!! And why wasn't I told this a year ago when I first took out the loan?? Anyways.....based on my new credit score I can get my current APR of 16.5% lowered to 13.5% which in turn lowers my monthly payment by $40. Thats $480 saved for the year....at least for now....cuz you best believe I am having it recalculated as soon as I reach the next lower APR bracket. MOFOS!!! :-D Now in terms of my other debt (credit cards, car loan, and student loan) I am going to wait until my credit score is above 700 to try to work on those. Or maybe I should give it a go just to see........I dunno.....I'll look into it.
Sooooo....
All together that is about $3180 that I could either save or direct to my credit card debt. All that and I really won't be cheating myself. My daughter and I will live in a beautiful neighborhood that is actually better than were we are currently staying. I own over 50 movies and can trade around with my friends. My daughter has too many to count. Having no cable also opens up an opportunity to be creative and do some projects with my daughter or take her to the park or even get my reading done. It opens much more opportunity to live life and not be glued to the t.v. My home phone wont be an issue. I have my personal cell phone and a work cell phone. So minutes can be juggled between the three. And any hustling on my current debt I can do and benefit from is ALWAYS good.
Once everything is finalized (i.e. secured place at apt complex, lower APR on loan, etc) I will recalculate my budget and credit card debt payoff plan. Shoot I maybe able to reach my goal earlier than expected! Now that would be awesome.
Just to give a lil insight for the folks who don't know me: I don't do this on my own. I don't have good luck. I have blessings. I have a rewarding and loving God who is always by my side. I know that if I want to succeed I will need him by my side. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Dimps Out
Rent:
I currently pay $800 for a 2/1 in Orlando, Fl which is pretty good when the average is $950. My lease ends on April 30th so I have been apartment hunting for the last month or so. After many rental search engines I started looking at some of the apartment ratings websites. I found an apartment complex who had the highest rating I have ever seen. Out of 30 rating only 1 was negative. I called them and they were renting their 2/1 for $650. WHAT!! I gotta see this place! The complex is made up of beautiful single story apartment homes. The landscape is awesome and they have 3 pools. How can they rent so cheap?? They don't speed ANY money on advertising. None. This allows them to have lower rent. They only had one 2/1 available. So you know a sista filled out an application and put a deposit in fast. I know all will go well so I have no worries. $150 off my monthly expenses. $1800 saved over the course of a year lease.
Utilities:
I am contemplating not having any cable when I move into the new apt. I have done this before while in college and went a whole year without cable and had no problems. This will in turn save me $60 dollars a month. Over a whole year it would be a savings of $720. I cant really do anything about electricity, water, or sewer except use all three efficiently. As for my home phone, I currently have Vonage and I only spend $30 a month with there unlimited package. I researched my past year's usage history and have used an average of 400 minutes a month. Vonage has a lower package for $15 dollars a month that give you 500 anytime minutes with all the features. If I took this package instead I would save $180 over the course of a year.
Debt:
I have a personal loan with my Credit Union. I called to inquiry about getting my APR for the loan lowered since my credit score had increased so much. Guess what I found out?!? I can request that my loan be recalculated based on my higher credit score. And if the score lands in a lower APR bracket they will basically refinance the loan with the lower rate. And I can do this as many times as I want. Are you kidding me!!! And why wasn't I told this a year ago when I first took out the loan?? Anyways.....based on my new credit score I can get my current APR of 16.5% lowered to 13.5% which in turn lowers my monthly payment by $40. Thats $480 saved for the year....at least for now....cuz you best believe I am having it recalculated as soon as I reach the next lower APR bracket. MOFOS!!! :-D Now in terms of my other debt (credit cards, car loan, and student loan) I am going to wait until my credit score is above 700 to try to work on those. Or maybe I should give it a go just to see........I dunno.....I'll look into it.
Sooooo....
All together that is about $3180 that I could either save or direct to my credit card debt. All that and I really won't be cheating myself. My daughter and I will live in a beautiful neighborhood that is actually better than were we are currently staying. I own over 50 movies and can trade around with my friends. My daughter has too many to count. Having no cable also opens up an opportunity to be creative and do some projects with my daughter or take her to the park or even get my reading done. It opens much more opportunity to live life and not be glued to the t.v. My home phone wont be an issue. I have my personal cell phone and a work cell phone. So minutes can be juggled between the three. And any hustling on my current debt I can do and benefit from is ALWAYS good.
Once everything is finalized (i.e. secured place at apt complex, lower APR on loan, etc) I will recalculate my budget and credit card debt payoff plan. Shoot I maybe able to reach my goal earlier than expected! Now that would be awesome.
Just to give a lil insight for the folks who don't know me: I don't do this on my own. I don't have good luck. I have blessings. I have a rewarding and loving God who is always by my side. I know that if I want to succeed I will need him by my side. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Dimps Out
Comments
I like what you doing here, Im kind of on the same path except that I'm a man and not single :)
Im trying to better myself financially to make a better life for my wife and daughter. We comin up girl. Check it out when you get a chance. I just added a link to your blog cause I think we are going the same route. Paying down debt is no fun, but it feels good when you finally do.
Living in NY, its hard to find a 2/1 for that cheap, but more power to you.
Thanks for the good reads so far