Category Archives: budget

How To Build Credit Using a Bank Secured Credit Card

plan of action
// Learning your credit scores will enable you to monitor your credit health. If you need to build credit, one of the easiest ways to do so is to apply for a bank secured credit card. It doesn't matter if you have no credit (which can sometimes be worse than bad credit), this option works because you provide the money in advance to the bank and they hold it in an account. In the meantime, you still have access to… Read the rest

Blast From The Past – 2000

budget
I thought it would be an interesting comparison to look at our expenditures while we were living below the poverty level, and now that we have a lot more money coming in. I took the totals for six months in the year 2000, added them together and divided them by six. I did the same with six month from 2007. Compared side by side, 2000 vs. 2007. Sometimes I wish we could go back to living that tightly. We could… Read the rest

Excel Can Help You Calculate

credit cards, plan of action, Tech Stuff
I know there are hundreds of online calculators to be found, but I grow weary of the delay in response due to my Internet connection. I have satellite internet — it is the only “fast” Internet available out in the country. I pay for the cheapest connection, which is rather expensive at $50/month. I would rather deal with the slight delay in pages loading, than pay an extra $20 or more a month. Besides the delay, I'm a huge Excel… Read the rest

Update on the Child Support Saga

plan of action
As I shared in an earlier post Past Due Child Support, in spite of the fact that Mr. A and I have remarried, he is still liable for child support due to the state of Arizona. I called my child support caseworker and explained that we had been unable to come up with the entire $6000. She was sympathetic, but said there was nothing that could be done to lessen the amount. I told her we could come up with… Read the rest