Know your student loans.

My first act of getting my loans paid back is sit down and go though them and know which are government and which are privet.

You can not accomplish anything until you know what it is you have to do and how much its going to cost.

Find help with questions when you need it. Here is one facebook page that people join to get some help and support and answers. https://www.facebook.com/groups/forgivestudentloandebt/ Also it lists any new information out there that is happening with student loans.

I"m going to look into 2014 with new hope and new goals. Who knows I might even get to use that almost degree I almost got to make some money to pay back my load. A non degree in Graphic Design because I ran out of money?? Wonder how that would look on a resume. I did well in school I almost graduated but darn it the school was a scam and I ran out of money. Go figure.

Until next year.

I know its a little early for a blog break but life here has become a bit of a mess with my family situation and I need to focus on my family and getting to the end of 2013.

I'm excited to be researching about student loans, fraud, paying them back and how to reduce my debt as quickly as possible. The biggest thing will be getting a brand new budget in place and making it work on what we make. And also find a small bit of money so that we can also enjoy a little of our lives. At this point it seems as if we will never get though this, never go on another trip, or fix our house or buy a new car. All normal things people look forward to. But I"m not discouraged. If there is a will there is a way.

So until next year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Finding myself with no extra money. And it sucks.

Basically its Christmas and any time of year finding myself with no extra cash for a few days would not bother me. We have grocery's, gas for the car and heat for the house. A few days with out spending money will not hurt us at all. But its Christmas and this sucks. I have gifts to buy and I"ll be out this weekend like a crazy woman figuring out what to get people. Thankfully we do not have many to buy for. But just the thought of buying stuff at all sucks some. Not that I do not like giving gifts. I do. But its the smaller things I cant do this year. Stuff or my co worker, something for friends, you know the little things. If I"m lucky I"ll be able to pick up a few cards and lottery tickets for a few people. I budgeted myself 50.00 a person in my family. It will be challenge. I have mostly men to buy for. One a gift card will work. But the other two is harder. I'll be window shopping online in search of the perfect cheep gift that looks like something special.

I have to call Sally Mae also yet so I can get into my account. This really pisses me off right now. And I do not have time to sit on the phone with them waiting for a person to pick it up. I think I"ll try email again and see what happens. I do wish I could remember my user name and pass work. Darn sites that make you think of a pass word and user name that is so confusing that you can not even remember  it. Very secure in deed those sites.

To the end of 2013 to make new goals for 2014.

There is much to do and goals to make. This is good because in order to pay off debt you need goals. 2014 is fast approaching. The end of this year is not looking pretty. Car needs inspected and is sitting at the garage. I dread what the bill is. Christmas needs bought yet. Although I did tell everyone that its a tight year lets not go over board. I have a budget of 50.00 a person. I do not have many to buy for so I think I can manage this. By the time the new year rolls around I"m going to start new. I have already taken a look at my bills and I"m working on working with the student loan people. So I hope to have progress made by the end of 2014. I want to make a reasonable goal. I need to think about this during Christmas break. 

For now this is what I know. 1. My car payment will be paid for. 2. I hope to have small eBay business going, 3. I need to work on my art and crafts to sell this summer into fall. This is something I wanted to do this year but we have a family situation that needs my attention more right now. So its on hold with lots of pins on pintrest waiting for me to get back to and work on. :) 

Small things for now. I want to see where I"ll be on some of my loans, what I can pay this year. If all goes well I hope to have a good bit paid on. OR a little bit. Anything is better than nothing.  

Sallie Mae frustration!!

I can tell this is going to be a frustrating time with our lovely Sallie Mae Government loan people. They been calling. I get that I had no time to get back to them. Yesterday I finally called. We made a deferment arrangement which oddly enough was really easy???  hmm. All I want to do is log onto the site and look at my account information. I tried every possible user name and pass work I can think of that I use and cant not get in. I also tried using the email option of them sending me my user name and after several attempts it has yet to show up in my inbox or my junk mail! I figure since I had these people on the phone I could get someone to help me. Nope I get put on hold, send to several people to the point that I hung up.

Now how am I suppose to do what I should do if I can not get into my accounts! I even found my user name and pass word and that did not work either. So what is the deal??

I know I want to look into the income based repayment plan. I cant do that if I can not get to my accounts! And I want to know the exact amount they show that I owe. Because the 600.00 a month payment they tell me I will have to pay just will not do! That is more than my house payment for one, that is  1/2 of my own income. So I have to see what I can do to make this more manageable somehow. I really cant send in more money to another loan yet. I need to see what my options are so I can move on to do what I hope will be what I want here. This is the big loan that I have to work an extra job for or sell like a mad woman on eBay for, or hope that someone will buy my art for  or I find freelance work. All of which I"ll be working on next year I hope.

This online stuff is nice once you can get to it. But really I am beginning to thing that the old snail mail system with paper bills in an envelope works just as good. At lest I can blame myself for screwing up if I cant find the bill in my pile.
Wish me luck I can get logged in today. I need to do this before the end of the year.

And the deferment thing being so easy. Yea I"m a bit concern about that. I need to see what they did also. Because I just do not trust these people all the time. How stupid I was to get into this mess. I could kick myself so hard. But it will not do me any good. Just have to follow the rules and work it out.

Keeping track of progress.

I found some cute tickers to keep track of any and small progress I"ll be making on my debts! This is a small fun way to see how things are going. And hopefully keep me on track. I might end up adding more tickers in the future. See how things go and how much extra money I can manage to make to be able to do this.

As I start this week another payment did go out into the mail!!! Oh joy oh bliss. lol. I would rather spend that money on Christmas gifts but I have to keep this going or it will be hard to start again. We will manage to get Christmas bought and paid for somehow. We always do.

Just do it!

I woke up this morning and made a decision. Life if way to short to regret things too often. While yes we all make mistakes even great big ones that seem like you can never recover from until you die. There is a small amount of hope that yes it is possible to fix those mistakes and move on before you die.

We are heading into a new year. Its a new beginning and new possibilities. Embrace it, make goal for yourself for 2014. Make a list and make the best effort to achieve those goals. But by the end of the year if you did not reach all your goals its OK. Take a look back and take note of the ones you did accomplish. And celebrate it! If its only one goal then celebrate. Because life is to short to not reward yourself for something you did that you wanted to do.

This year was a hard one for us. I had a sick mother, had a huge student loan dropped into my reality, cars breaking down, a dog died and we  need this and that and everything else.

But there are a few things that has happen too. I got a newer car that we needed, a another car was given to us that we also needed. Although they have some small issues they are not too hard to fix so that is also good. I got a full time job that I love. I never thought it would be possible but its true. Its not much but I realize I can do this until I retire. I discovered I can draw finally. This is also good. I'm excited to start an Ebay business as a second job. And I kind of like the possibility of taking the dreaded loans and taking on the challenge of working with our budget to pay those suckers off! I can do frugal really well when I want. And at a time when I was really watching our pennies I was happier then. So back to coupons, making gifts, finding free or very cheep entertainment, shopping the clearance racks like a crazy woman. There are lots of times when something new can cost as little as 1.00-5.00. lol. And I do not mean junk. Timing is everything when watching ever penny you make by the way. I"ll be looking at thrift stores in a new light now. Not for things I may need but what can I sell for a profit. I'll be learning how to create a great website too and getting it out there for everyone to see.

So as I say good by to 2013 here in a few weeks I'll be making my list and checking it twice. Doing my homework and finding out ever possible way to make my life here the best it can be with the dreaded loan knocking at my door. As with anything that is worth wile doing it will take work.

Working with the student loan people.

When getting into this life changing situation never did I stop to think about what will happen. It was a stupid thing on my part. I was focused on getting my degree but did not stop to think about what will happen if  I did not get that far. In my mind I was on my way and never stopped to think that with only 10 classes to go I would hit a brick wall. But I did.

I have family matters to attend to so I have not been able to answer the calls that have been coming or return the calls because by the time I'm ready they are closed. So they wait for now. I am able to go online to  sort some of this out. So I will. Thank goodness for online bills, statements and paper work because it does save a lot of time having to talk to a person on the phone who is reading from a script on a computer screen trying to get money out of you that you do not have.

We are talking about  what is going to happen in the future with all of this. So we are going to looking in to a few things concerning our home, tax's and what not. We do not want to lose our home over all of this first of all. Its a scary thought too. But its where we live and we work hard to keep this place. To lose it over this student loan stuff would be terrible. So we have to find out how to keep that from happening at all.

I did start up on eBay again. I have sold a few things. So I need to do a little more research on how to build this business up and work on it some more. I"m going to toss in my art here and there also. Since I did go for Graphic Design and learned art I need to make money off of it somehow. If there is a will there is a way.

I want to find a ticker to keep track of my progress. Because I am making some. Not fast but it is something so I"m not a total looser. But the amount of these loans are so bad that we cant make the total loan payments right now. I hope to make this eBay stuff a second job. I have enough inventory to keep me going for awhile. I just need to be able to get it out there in a way to make people want to buy it. lol.

I have a web site started also. So it will be something I have to improve on as well. I need it to be where I show case what I can do as an artist, tell my story, then figure out how to get people to like what I am doing. Other people have done it so why cant I right? I got into this to make a living somehow. This is not what I planned but I am going to make it work for the better. I"m not wasting the time I put into this school for nothing. I will not give up.

So I figure 25 more dollars went out yesterday. So that is more off the one loan I can pay on. And another 20.00 to the school also. So that bill is getting smaller also. As long as I do something it will make a diffidence in the end. I keep telling myself that. I want this gone in 5-7 years somehow.  To prove to myself that its possible to get rid of this debt and find my dream and to prove to my husband that while it was a huge mistake I can turn it around for the better and find a way to get out of this as well.

Here is something I"m selling on eBAy http://www.ebay.com/itm/171190205938?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 A chandelier that my dad needed to get rid of.  I have several Avon things listed as well.  So take a look. I"m learning about all the things that sell well also so I will be looking out for those items as well. Like clothing and shoes. I have already found stuff in my own closet to list. So decluttering and making a little money are good things.

I might look for a second job one or two days a week. But I"m still thinking about how to make it work. Right now with my family situation I cant work another job unless its from home where I can make my own hours. That is why eBay works right now. But I may end up finding something in the future. I think a sign company or something like that would be a good place to look into. My job now is a good one since I just got full time last year. But its only during the school year. So I have to plan ahead now to figure out what I will do this summer.

I'm doing the research when I can. Will call the loan people when I get a chance. I will at least check my accounts online this weekend.

Keep moving forward. I got myself into this I will get myself out of it. We can say how unfair this is but really is it?? If you are determined to do the work then it will all work out in the end. Never give up on your dreams. Or debt for that matter. It is possible to reduce it or get rid of it. But it takes a shit load of work to get it done

First Payment went out!

I"m a little excited my first student loan payment went out on Friday. Its exciting because that is one payment down many more to go.  I also checked in to make sure I have regular payments going to the school that I owe them. And they are getting their payments, the amount is slowly going down but its going down none the less. So two bill's on their way of getting paid off. Although the Art Institute is sending me bills for the total amount owed now. Either way I'm sending in payments and they do not call but to offer me 1/2 off the bill in which I can not even afford to take part in right now. Hopefully when it gets to be a few hundred I can then call and ask to make a deal. Or if I get a windfall at some point too. But that may or may not happen so I"ll just continue on doing what I am doing. Ending 2013 on a good note with at least 2 of the 3 or 4 things I need to take care of.

Sally Mae has called me now? So I have to return their calls as well this week. I thought I already talked to them and made forbearance arrangements but I have to check. I think for my own good I'll contact all the loans people and check base and determine what I need or can do if anything. A small paycheck can only go so far.

I'm going to see if I can get ad sense to work on this blog. Anything is worth trying right? And many people make money off their blogs so why cant I! Who knows I may end up somewhere in this journey help someone else out like me who did not know where to start and is stuck with that sick feeling of what am I going to do. If there is a will there is a way.

Ending this year I do have a lot to deal with. 1. A sick mother, 2. student loans and a ton of debt, 3 old cars that need fixed, and 4 the normal house hold bills and such. And last of all 5. Christmas. I'm not sad to say I'll be glad to see this year end. Its has not been the best for us. But good things might happen next year. I hope. Unless Obama has his way and we all might find our selves living in card board box's in the city. lol. OK just kidding.

I'm going to start a new blog too for my Ebay auctions and other sales. I love vintage finds, I enjoy selling vintage stuff so I'm going try something new again. lol. Wish me luck.