Bill Day

Today is payday, which means today is the day which i need to pay some bills. Today's bills are the mortgage(510), credit card(50), credit card(150),and credit card(200). Tomorrow i have to go grocery shopping, ugh, which is another 100 dollars down the drain. And, im also going to be paying off my macys card, which i used to buy that suit. I really need to get on top of studying for my series 7, so i can do some day trading to help me get out of this rut.

Bills, Bills, BIlls

Well i had to pay a $90 garbage bill today. It had to be paid, since i was 6 months past due. Im still looking for a new apartment, and i have no idea what i can afford since the support figures are far from being finalized. Supposedly i could be liable for up to $1500 a month. When i make $2000 a month, that does not leave much to even live on. Now one proposal that has been tossed around is $1100 a month, which is doable, as that would leave 900 a month to live on. What i planned to do is put all my student loans on a one year forbearance and then i have money saved up(read below), to pay a years worth of rent. After a year, the support figure will go down, as the alimony will no longer be applicable, but then again, student loans will pick up and rent will be do again..but i have to take it one step at a time..So i have to focus on getting through 1 year first.

The Problem

Okay, here is all of my monthly bills as promised. Right off the bat you can clearly see the problem. My monthly expenses exceed my income by over $1000. I have managed so far by playing "shell games" with my expenses. On a side note real quick, i want to point out that the items marked "Not being paid", are bills in my wife's name, or soon to be ex wife i should say. Now, back to my shell games. One part of the shell games are the credit cards and the food cost. Separate, they are about $800. But, by buying food on the credit cards, and then shift my food budget to my credit cards, i lower my monthly bills by about $300 a month. That leaves $700. And this is what is finally going to be a problem this month. Typically what i have done in the past to overcome this, is take my income tax return, deposit it in a separate account, and pay two or three bills this way. What i did last year, was pay the two car loans and the 300 student loan out of this account. As you are doing the math, thats a yearly total of about 9600. I do not get that much back in taxes. Last year i got lucky. I took my tax return, invested it, and a month later took it back out 300% richer due to a sure thing. This year, i wont be able to do that. My tax return is going to be $5600. Out of the $5600, i have to pay 600 for car ins. Yes, its marked as a monthly bill, but i have not paid it in the past few months due to issues with getting all the bills paid. That brings down my tax return to 5000. I also need to pay my garbage bill which is 6 months past due, thats about another $100, $4900 left. My goal is to move out(im still living with my ex) by the end of june, so 800 * 4 = 3200. i will deposit that into my account for those three bills, and the remaining i will put into savings. I will discuss in a later post why its not going to bills or pay down bills, as i have a reason for this.

My Monthly Pay: $2000

My Bills:
Satellite TV................... 60
Cell Phone..................... 120
Car Insurance.................. 115
Food........................... 500
Electric Company............... 150
Student Loan................... 50
Student Loan................... 0 (other) Not being paid
Land line Phone/Internet....... 96
Student Loan................... 120
Student Loan................... 60
Medical Bills.................. 50
Student Loan................... 300
Credit Card.................... 55 (Capital One)
Credit Card.................... 0 (Bank of America)
Credit Card.................... 130 (Sears)
Credit Card.................... 150 (PNC)
Credit Card.................... 0 (Capital One,other) Not being paid
Credit Card.................... 0 (Discover, other) Not being paid
Credit Card.................... 0 (Citibank, other) Not begin paid
Credit Card.................... 0 (Macys)
Credit Card.................... 160 (Pool)
Mortgage....................... 510
Car Loan....................... 300
Car Loan....................... 200
Garbage........................ 15
Gas for car.................... 60

Total.......................... 3201

Bills

Well, i had to pay some bills yesterday. Of course there was not enough to go around. It came down to that i had to decide between car insurance, food, or a credit card. Obviously i did not have enough for all. Let me break it down:

My Pay: $1000

My Bills:
Satellite TV................... 60
Cell Phone..................... 120
Car Insurance.................. 115
Food........................... 150
Electric Company............... 150
Student Loan................... 50
Land line Phone/Internet....... 96
Student Loan................... 120
Student Loan................... 60
Medical Bills.................. 50

Total.......................... 971

In reality, this would be perfect. But Another bill that i just started paying on is a credit card. That bill is $175 a month. Obviously from above, there is no room for that, so i have to get creative. The $50 student loan can be paid later as they have a good grace period before its reported to the credit bureau. The Car insurance is paid every 6 months, and is actually due this Friday, but i am anticipating i will be getting my tax refund then, which i can pay for the 6 months worth of car insurance. So, by delaying the $50 student loan, and the car insurance, i freed up enough to pay the credit card. May ask what i am going to do with the tax refund, i have a plan for that which i will write about when i get it.