Noxqsez's Personal Finance Blog

It really irritates me that when my husband and I PCS to a new base, we always manage to get ourselves into credit debt. It takes us almost three years to get out of it, one year to live debt free, and one month to get us back in it. It’s a vicious cycle.

Something needs to change.

A few months ago, we PCS’d to Ft. Carson, bought a house, and also managed to max out our credit cards – again. I’m contemplating on starting a blog about my journey to living completely debt free – this is including the mortgage and our Commissary Assault Vehicle (CAV). To start small, I think I’m just going to start with the credit debt first. Once those area fully paid off, I will concentrate more on the mortgage and CAV. I’ll talk more of it tomorrow.

The holiday season is just around the corner, and I'm freaking out! Last year, my husband and I overspent our budget for christmas shopping by $400. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.

My question to everyone is how do you keep from overspending, and how much is acceptable to spend on each child for christmas?

since I've updated my blog.

Lots of things has happened since my last entry. We got stationed to Ft. Carson, CO and bought a house! I got my Associates Degree in Accounting and was working towards my bachelors when a quarter-life crises hit me. I realized that Accounting wasn't really what I wanted, and decided to become a nurse instead. I'm currently starting my prerequisites before entering the nursing program. I was employed with AAFES for about a month and decided to quit since my entire income was going to daycare.

For those of you who are homeowners, what are the advantages of becoming a homeowner? Are we allowed to write-off the interest in our taxes? If so, how does that even work?

Helping others has always been in my nature, but now, I'm wishing I never agreed to help out.

My neighbor asked me if I could start babysitting her daughter since her and her boyfriend split and their original babysitter no longer wanted to sit. I agreed because I was told that I would only watch her when she had the kid, and other days, the boyfriend will have her.

Well, little did I know that I have her everyday except Sunday and Monday with 40 hours of babysitting a week, and was originally going to get paid $50 a week, but fought for $85 with the excuse of buying food and drinks for her. The mom fought me for awhile about $85 a week because she didn't find that necessary, but she agreed. I've never really babysat anyone's child before, but I feel that $85 is not enough for what I'm sacrificing from my daily routine. Plus, I don't even know why I have to watch the kid on her mother's day off from 5am-7pm? Why can't the boyfriend take the kid? Not to mention, the kid is eating me out of my house!

I need some serious advice on what to do. I don't want to be a prude and say that i'm going to do it and then later on back out of it, you know?

I'm NEVER doing my before the New Year's Tradition again!

We got kicked out of base housing a few weeks ago I really hate the Air Force with a passion now. I mean, common sense can go a long way, and they don't have any at all! But you know what they say, whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

Here's how it went. The husband went into the ARMY, and there was a two day break in service where he wasn't going to be ARMY yet and wasn't Air Force anymore. Well, the housing office called to inform us that their priority were Active Military Air Force, and we had turn in our keys my next week Friday. I was stressed out since we didn't have a place to stay, the short notice, and I wanted to strangle the lady who I talked to a month before explaining our circumstances, and was told that we could stay on base.

Anyway, long story short, we found a place to rent while the husband is gone until mid-November for some training.

I'm nervous about having to pay utilities (we don't pay utilities on base). We have to pay water, sewage, natural gas, and electric.

I'm curious to know how much other's pay on their utilities, and if you can offer me suggestions on keeping the bills low? I know the basics but any advice would be helpful for me.

with my Christmas shopping.

While the husband went on a road trip with his friend (to help him out) to Pennsylvania, I decided to do some online shopping. It beats waiting in long lines, and having the kiddos scream because they're bored. One thing I don't like about shopping online is that mostly everything I wanted were out of stock! I ended up having to buy presents from 5 different stores.

Wal-mart- $57.90
Target- $28.93
Toysrus- $85.94
Amazon- $27.83
Best Buy- $271.29
-------------------
Total - $471.89

Gifts left to purchase:

My 4 year old brother:
Transformers - $19.99
Incredible Hulk - $19.99
---------------------------
Total - $39.98 (no tax on base)

My 15 year old brother-in-law:
America Express giftcard - $50.00
-----------------------------------
Total - $53.00

I think that's pretty much it unless something else comes up.

Question for everyone who has kids! How much money is good to spend for kids on Christmas?

I don't know if i'm being a little immature, but I'm pissed off!

My husband went to a football game last night, but gave me a bullshit excuse that he had to meet all his single friends three hours before the game started so they can get drunk before the game. We agreed that I was going to pick him up after the game, but after the game ended, he decided he wanted to party w/them. Well, long story short, he didn't come home that night. It's 3:40 p.m. and he just came home.

To me, I don't think any married man should be partying w/his single friends by the college campus housing. I'm irritated that he screws me over all the time, and i'm tired of dealing with him. I'm contemplating a divorce because it's clear that he's not going to change. I figured that since i'm still young, I can find someone else to make me happy instead of waiting for him to change thirty years later.

Am I overreacting?

So, I know i'm only 22 years old, but i'm already thinking about retirement. I've been reading "Smart Couples Finish Rich" By: David Bach, and it's really got me thinking alot on how I want to live my life when I'm retired. The only thing is that I don't really know much about IRA's. My father-in-law was telling me that our best bet is to get a Roth IRA, something about taxes being taken out now rather than later. Now, with me being a SAHM, my husband can open me a Spousal IRA. Don't really know much about that except we have to make enough money for him to open me one.

Anyway, on the other hand, College Savings for the munchkins. I've been thinking about opening a savings account for them next month that way when they're older, we can give them the money. I've been told by my mother-in-law that that I had to be careful about it. She said that by saving them some money, it can disqualify them for financial aid when it comes to college. Now, is this true? I don't understand why it would disqualify them for financial aid.

Also, another question that I have is College Funds. What is the difference between Coverdell and 529 Plans? What if I invest all this money for the schooling, and they decide they don't want to go to college? What happens to the money then?

UGH! Maybe I should just cross my fingers and hope the girls will have a free ride to college?

I have this tradition that I do before the New Year, and it's to clean the house spotless, get rid of old/unused things, and reorganize the house. It's a little asian tradition that my family did for years, but the husband does not understand. We do it to rid the house of "bad" luck, and start fresh for the New Year bringing "good" luck.

I know, I know, it sounds stupid, but it's important to me, and the husband thinks it's silly. So now, I'm trying to do all this on my own. How could I? I have two girls who wants my attention 24/7, a dog who loves tearing shit up, and a husband who doesn't pick up after himself. To make things worst, I have to plan Christmas dinner, buy presents, and finish my finals for class. I feel like i'm barely keeping myself above water, and it's killing me!

I desperately wish I had the help I need to make all this go away.

I'm actually proud of myself because my Avon business is on its way of becoming somewhat successful. I had two customers order from my Avon website this week!! Which is exciting because they weren't family

This is my third time with Avon, and I truly believe that timing is everything. The other two times were just horrible because I was too busy with school, the kids, and dealing with my husband's deployment. But now, I'm more motivated to making this a success.

I'm naturally a shy person which is weird because i'm a Leo, but I'm not sure how to approach people about Avon and whatnot. I'm not sure if any of you do Avon, Mary Kay, or even Stampin' Up!, but I was wondering if y'all can offer tips on how to promote the business and get more customers?

One thing I hate about military life is you don't know who to trust. Being a military wife, I've always been open to meeting new people and becoming friends simply because i'll need the support when my husband deploys. Now, I don't even think having friends are even worth the time and effort. Most of them are frauds!

I had a "friend" who volunteered to watch my dog while I visited family in Hawaii, and when I got back, my house was trashed!! There were shoes thrown around in the living room floor, my curtains were all messed up, there were chewed up wooden coasters on the floor from when she let my dog in the house which I specifically told her not to let him in, my towels were thrown in the backyard for my dog to chew up, mud and dog poop on the floor..... it was a mess!! To make things worst, she had the nerve to say that I owed her $300 for watching my dog, and for her buying snacks, toys, and a collar for him. Now, the snacks, toys, and collar was all on her. I didn't ask her to buy anything for him. I was furious, so I responded that i'll pay her the $300 if she pays me for everything that was damaged in my house.

The thing that makes me more furious was that she was snooping in my bedroom. How would I know this? Well, I always clean the house spotless before I leave town, that way when I get home, I don't have anything to worry about. When I got home from my trip, there were boxes that I left inside my closet scattered on my bed. There was my credit reports, bank statements, all of my important financial stuff scattered on my bed. So much for that friend!

On the other hand, there are friends who just try to outdo you. When I got a car from my mom as a christmas present, my "friend" decided to trade in her car for a Lexus. She then started flaunting it saying how much her car is better than mine. I, personally, didn't care! I mean, in the end, it's really just affecting her since she's stuck with the payments...NOT ME! A few months later, I found out that she had to give the car back because she couldn't keep up with the payments.

It pisses me off that people can be so shady. All I want is a friend I can trust. Not someone who just comes to me for information so that they can outdo me or use me or whatever.

My husband lost his debit card, and to make things worst, there were charges made to our account. I'm not sure how much these charges are at the moment because they were used as credit. After noticing these charges, I immediately called the bank to cancel the card, and disputed the charges. The bank said that it'll take awhile because they have to investigate and determine if they were fraudulent.... So, we'll see what happens. It just irritates me that people actually do things like this.

There are days when I feel that things will never work between me and my husband. We are just two different people, and want different things in life. I like to save so that someday, I won't have to worry about money. The husband is all about living in the now, spend money now to feel good about yourself and worry about everything later. I just don't want to live like that.

Yesterday, he transfered money into his account from our savings, and I nearly had a panic attack. I thought we agreed we wouldn't touch the money, and just pretend the money didn't exist. I was WRONG!! The thing that pissed me off more was that he was using the money on alcohol. I don't know how to get through to him, and make him realize how all this money stuff is important to me.

I'm contemplating on enrolling my four-year-old in PreK so that she can have a feel of how kindergarten is going to be like next year. I have mixed feelings about it because it's $72.00 a week, and I don't want to lose out on $288.00 I can be saving a month. Then again, I keep trying to tell myself that it's never a waste of money when it comes to your child's education, but is PreK really needed?

from grocery shopping at the commissary, and I'm kinda irritated at myself for spending $150 on what's supposed to be a weeks worth of food.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cut down on grocery cost?

to be back in Hawaii with my family right now. I envy the life I could've had if I had stayed with my dad, but things happen for a reason. I don't regret having a baby and getting married at 18, moving away from family, and living on my own because I'm somewhat proud of the person i've become. Granted, that there are things i'd want to change like getting a degree, a great paying job, etc, but those type of things take time, and as long as I'm still going to school and working towards those things, it'll happen one day.

I just found out that my dad bought his second house in Ewa Beach. The funny thing is that he bought his first house back in July. He's going through all these crazy ventures to make sure my daughters can live a good life. He calls them "Trust Fund babies". I can't believe that my girls have a house, and they're under the age of 5. There's just a catch in order for the to inherit everything from my dad:

1) They have to finish college w/bachelors degree.
2) They can't be married or have babies until after college.

If they don't complete these two things that my dad asks of them, they won't get anything from him which is pretty understandable. My dad had high hopes for me when I was younger, and getting pregnant at 17 wasn't one of them. It was a major disappointment, and he cut me off of his life for two years.

Now, I'm just trying to make my dad proud of me by getting a degree, being successful in whatever I chose to do, and standing on my own financially.