$26.67 for employee day (given every year on the company's anniversary...equal to one day payment)

I've taken out goal #2, as it was achieved last month! Goal #3 will not be included in next month's update!! woo-hoo!!



1. keep better track of my spending- I need DISCIPLINE!! I've been tracking everything since 060511 though...so I'm hoping this time I stick to it...It HAS been an eye opener!...this is more an on-going goal for all 2006, so I guess this will remain througout the year!

Car expenses so far = $109.37
School expenses (from MY pocket!) so far = $100.00
"other" expenses =$119.39 (I need DISCIPLINE!!)


3. FINALLY decide on a school for Alejandra, AND save money for her enrollment fee, uniforms and school supplies Enrollment, books and uniforms paid for!!...still have ~$39 for her shoes...tracking expenses and saving, still...I think I might be able to pay the Technokids for the year ($54) and still pay for at least 1 month in advance (so, pay August and Sept at the beginning of August...that way I have some breathing room during the school year/ have time to save for next year's enrollment fee during the vacation months!) This goal should hereon be considered "achieved"...

4. continue to lower my overall debt - I started Jan 05 with ~$17K (out of which ~$4K were for a loan and the rest -~$13K!-pure cc debt) and, am starting Jan 06 with $~11K (with ~$8K for a loan and ~$3K in cc debt)... expect to be able to end Dec '06 with ~$7K, which I expect to be purely for the loan... to come partly from the English classes/$20 challenge. ...current situation is: $7.7K (refinanced) loan, $3K car loan, $1K personal loan, $1.5K cc's ...a work in progress...

5. Help Ale find a way to earn those $3 she's missing to open her account with HER OWN money...Nature is helping: she lost 2 teeth and the Raton Perez brought her $0.90 for each one, so she's only $1.20 short now!

**2005** 2006
level of satisfaction with my life, on a scale 5-10, with 5 being "sucks" and 10 being "perfect", looks like this:

Family : **6 (DD "boosts" the score! so you can imagine!) With my sister sick, I'm chauffer, messenger, administrator, cook, maid and even provide moral support (who's giving ME moral support??)** We're doing much better, I'd give it an 8 now
Spiritual: 6 - **have not had a prayer meeting/attended my praying workshop in ages!!** The praying workshop ended and, the prayer meetings sort of got cancelled - the others didn't come anymore!...so, I'm going to church to pray every Thursday, to thank God for all his mercies and ask for some more blessings! I'd give that a 9!
Work: **-3....right now, I like my job, I just hate everyone around me!!** LOL! I definetely don't hate the people around me anymore...hmmm, I'm still overloaded, though, but, still retaining my sanity...mainly due to the fact that I HAVEN'T got a raise - nor will I get one! - I'd give this a 7...financial considerations aside, it would be more like an 8+
Physical: **6 - I'm not exercising, I'm not eating too well, I'm always tired...I try to get 3 meals a day, though, and remind myself to breathe often!** er...no progress here!...except, I'm less stressed!
Financial: ** do I REALLY need to score it?? or can you guess? -4 Creditors keep calling and things seem to be looking down, rather than up, lately!** I'd give it a 5...I'm less than happy, but, it's a HUGE improvement from last year...no creditor calls, no late payment fees, several cc's paid off...there's still a lot to be done, though!

As you see, all areas show significant improvement! Yay!

now I KNOW why I kept "ignoring" this!!...my spending for the Other expenses category (and I started seriously with this on May 11th!!) is $110!!!...and, this is higher than my "Supermarket" expenses ($100) for the same period!!...the worst thing is, there really aren't many "big" items there...well, except for the new fan at $18.50 and the new shoes at $21.00 (needed for work, my old pair of black "dress" shoes died!)...so, even if you add THAT up, that's ~$70 in "nothing"!!!! -- somebody hit me! HARD!...oh, well, at least, now I have realized just how bad the situation is and, can start doing something to correct it, right?...I guess I'm going to have to give myself an (very limited) allowance per week...and stick to it!

At the new school they have a small store where they sell food and snacks...
Ale will be staying there for lunch, which means I'll have to pack a snack and a lunch for her...I have been thinking about givin her a small allowance ($2.50/week)...she can decide whether she spends it all on one day or whether she uses a bit every day...($2 seems adequate since that would be $0.50/day...)...she has never really managed money on her own...apart from when I let her buy her own stuff at the marketplace or at the flea-market...but I'm always around to see that at least they give her her change right and stuff like that!...
Yesterday, I gave her $0.50 for school...and, she told me "Mom, I was lucky that I found something that I wanted to buy and it only cost $0.25, because I lost the other coin you gave me..." ...(EEk!) I told her it was a shame that she had lost the other coin, because she could have 1. used it to buy something else some other day or 2. bought some more of whatever it is she liked at school...I told her she should be more careful with money...but, unless I GIVE her some, how can she really learn to take care of it??...
So, this is the plan: Starting August, Ale gets $2.50/week...if she's responsible with it (doesn't lose the money, manages to save some), then in 3 months she can get $3.00) if not, she'll have to wait longer to get "a raise"...

Took Ale today for her evaluation...they LOVED her!...she integrated with her class very easily and even participated in the rehearsals for the end-of-shool-year pageant! LOL! ..."unfortunately", because of the rehearsal, they couldn't fully evaluate her in math and motor skills (she's inverting her numbers and is having difficulty distinguishing left and right...we are working on that!)...so, she didn't get evaluated on her "weak" issues! ...
Anyway, I paid for the following today:
$230.00 - complement of enrollment fee
$160.00 - English books
$25.00 - Spanish books
$45.86- set of uniforms (3 daily, 3 PE)
=======
$460.86 total

(to be discounted from the $500 my boss gave me for Ale's school!) =)

which means the total cost to me is $100 (that I had previously paid) ...The remaining $39.14 will go towards shoes! (she needs black shoes for daily and white tennis shoes for PE...will get those end-of June or beginning of August, as Ale's feet DO grow much faster than the rest of her! LOL!)

$319.56 has been "converted" from 37% annual to 5% annual via the loan...woo-hoo!!... $1.5K in cc to go!!!

$16.87 for 4.84 gallons of gas, due to more "normal" driving this week!

My old umbrella died at the end of last rainy season...so did Ale's...and so did the one that we kept at the house (they were cheap ones!)...so, I just bought 1 large umbrella for the house, and 1 small one for myself...I didn't find one for Ale yet... $10.49 for both umbrellas...stupidly enough, I didn't have them budgeted...(It's not as if I didn't know the old ones had to be replaced!!)...oh, well

woo-hoo!!...now, this debt did not "disappear", but got "converted"...
this is one of the cc's I paid off with the loan from one of the directors...so, while the $555.10 debt still exists, it has gone from 36.72% annual to 5% annual! yipeeeee!!

LOL!...the people at the co-op made a mistake...I reduced (or thought I had!) the amount going to my savings account from $90/month, to $65/month, thus "cancelling" the increase from the old loan to the new one...the guy misunderstood me and he deducted $65 per pay period! (or $130/month!)...fortunately, it's all sitting in my savings account! oh, well, I already sent an email correcting it and, will try to live without it! (this fund is to be used towards Ale's school expenses anyway!)...no wonder my salary seemed so low!!

...I keep an extra worsheet detailing all the cc's that have been cancelled....I was looking at it today and, back in August 2005, the total balance for all these cc's (only for the ones that have since been CANCELLED, mind you!) was $10,684.27 ....I feel so happy with myself!

Aval Card is the worst!...when I took an extra-financing about a year ago, they told me that: 1. this would be a fixed amount to pay each month (true) 2. the interest rate on it was also fixed and would not be increased (ture) and 3. that if mid-way through the term established for repayment I could pay a SUBSTANTIAL amount towards the principal, I could either continue paying the same fixed amount until all was paid off or ask them to re-work the payments for the same amount of time (and, obviously, a lower monthly payment!)...well, someone just loaned me $1,000 at a 5% annual rate (considerably better than the 22% I'm currently paying THEM)...but, since I'm practically converting all my cc debts into loans, I'm left with "fixed" monthly payments, as opposed to decreasing ones...so, I thought paying the $1,000 towards this one would be a good idea...but, since I know them so well by now, I went and DOUBLE CHECKED before making the payment...guess what?... you cannot rework the payments!!...if you pay off the whole principal, then they'd knock off the interest...but that's the only deal you can get (and, no, the $1,000 doesn't cover it!...)so, I opted for paying off 2 cc's with a lower balance and putting the remainder towards THE LAST cc!!...

I still havent made those payments, but will post as soon as I do!!

The moral of the story??...ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS re-check any info given to you that's not in writing!! (and, these companies here love to send you to their call centers as opposed to having someone talk to you directly!...i WENT to the bank...the lady in customer service sat me down and dialed the call center for me!!...how's that for avoiding accountability!)

Anchor milk advertised a sale in the newspaper (full page, full color ad) at $9.95 for a can of 1.8 Kg (13.8 liters)...now, this generally sells for $12.52...I have been buying the Australian (which is good, and much cheaper...their 1.8 Kg, USED to be $9.98... now sells for $11.00...)
I went to one supermarket and asked them to check the price before ringing it up, and, they said $12.52!!!...I told the cashier about the ad on the paper, and she went to get it and showed it to her manager, but he refused to grant the sale price! (needless to say, I'm not going to THAT branch anymore!...not that I ever went regularly before, it was just on my way to church that day!)...so, after church we went to a different supermarket (different chain), and they DID give us the special!!... I bought 2 cans, and, since the sale ends on the 25th, am thinking about getting 2 more (the way Ale drinks milk, believe me, they're worth it!)...of course, this is not on budget, but, it will "even out" over time because we won't have to buy milk for a couple of months (If I get the other 2 cans)

I went and requested a debit card from my bank yesterday...I don't know if I blogged about this or not, but, back when I was so loaded with problems, I decided to go without one because I LOST 5 in a period of 6 WEEKS!!...and, the last one I lost the same day I got it!!!...Now that the situation has changed so much, I decided it was time to give the debit card another try!...so, I requested a new one on Saturday...and already used it at the supermarket on Sunday...I'm happy to report that #1. I still have it! and, #2, I spent $66, which is "on budget" - my budget USED to be $40/week, but, things are so expensive, now it varies between $60-$70....depending on whether I have to buy things like shampoo or deodorant or hair color...this time I had to buy a shampoo for Ale and a flea collar for Fiona...so that was $5.53...I also gave in and bought Ale 2 yogurts at $0.49 each, so that's $6.51 total "above" what I would have normally paid...

I'll keep you updated on my progress ref use of the debit card!

Woo-hoo! I had forgotten to blog about this!...I put it in automatic pay for the 14/may/06 and, I called today and, my new balance on the Master Card Webcard is $0.00!!!

...the tank in my car is almost empty!!..it took me a little over a week to use up 10.27 gallons...or $35!!!...but, we DID go out of San Salvador (went to Suchitoto, which is about 1 hour from here, on Sunday, and then yesterday used my car to go pick up my sis at the airport - approx 45 minutes...plus, I had to pick up my niece, too, so I didn't go straight from work!)...oh, well...it's not like I plan to use the car like this EVERY week!

Since this is the amount in interest that the cc company refunded me (over the payment that I disputed, which had been missapplied), I figured I'd add that to my $20 challenge...and, just think, it has already been applied towards the CC!

last Sunday, as I wanted to use my car and didn't have cash, instead of waiting until Monday (I don't use debit cards) I whipped out the credit card and put the $35.87 on it...when they brought me the voucher, I noticed they were giving me a credit card and ID that was not mine (I didn't really look at the voucher), so I refused it and sent it back...they then brought my cc, voucher (which I read before signing) and ID...turns out now there are TWO charges on my cc for that gas station on that date...one for $35.87 and one for $30.07!....needless to say, I'm already disputing the charge!....

On the bright side, they did reimburse me for interest on that payment I disputed! ($10.58)

To be honest, I feel I haven't done this because then I will discover that A LOT of my $$$ is going down the drain for stupid things..
Soooo....yesterday I created another excel file...has several worksheets: car, school, supermarket, others...
for every worksheet, I have these colums:
date, concept,type (initial, annual, recurrent, unbudgeted, etc) amount, cash, other form of payment (ideally should only be gift certificates!!)....the first thing on my "others" today??...lunch, $2.50 (didn't pack!)

Filled the tank: $35.80

Again, since I have to be more careful, I want to know what I'm REALLY spending on Ale's school (notice how I am staying away from the grocery bill, where I might have REAL opportunity for cost cutting??...don't worry, I've noticed, too!)

2006-2007 school period

enrollment fee: $330
(paid $100 on21/apr/06)
books: $160
(based on last year's brochure, not listed for this year)
uniforms: $??
monthly tuition: $137 ($1,507/year)

total, without uniforms, SHOULD be $1,997.00

Woo-hoo! I called the police this morning and they said the reports for 28/april had been sent in late on Saturday...so, I went during my lunch hour (took 34 minutes!) to submit the documents...I have my invoice proving that I have paid for my license plates and registration card...so, now I can drive and, in 3 days, I can check on line to see if the license plates are ready!

Car-related expense - $9/taxies

License plates and registration card: $99.44 (although, technically, this is part of the price of the car,and was already budgeted as such, so I will not count it as "additional")

This would be me, except: the car is NOT a convertible, it's green, not red and, I'm not a blonde! ha,ha,ha,ha!

So, my first drive will be to the gast station ((gasp)) to fill up the tank ((faint)), so that I can start seeing how much I really will be spending!

Now I'm free of the inconvenience of rides (and back into the inconveniences of having a car, like: finding a parking space- eek! this car is way more difficult to handle then my old one...I have to get used to the new size!)

Just checked the status on line:

El estado de su declaración número 111020358644 presentada el 08/03/2006 es:

ABONO ENVIADO : La devolucion ha sido enviada al banco para que sea depositada a la cuenta solicitada en la declaracion, el banco esta pendiente de confirmarnos si se efectuo el deposito, puede pasar a verificar su deposito

I then checked my bank account, but the money hasn't "landed" yet...but, it should be deposited today!!! wooo-hoo! ...this goes to my $20 challenge! ($282.55)

As I mentioned the other day, I'm going to have to be more careful with money from now on...so, I thought I's list down any car-related expenses, so I can keep track...

My first entry is going to be: $12 for transfering the car to my name...

Tomorrow, I need to have copies of the keys cut, too...don't know how much that is going to cost (I think it's $5, but not 100% sure)

This will also help me keep track of preventive maintenance needs...

1. New bed for Ale... Pending, not urgent yet

2. New bike for Ale...Has dropped even lower in priority

3. new(er) car strike off the list!

4. Ale's birthday party!! - She wants to have it at the Children's Museum...Events are suspended indefinetely at the Museum, as they are still trying to decide how they are going to revamp them...no info on prices or anything, so I have no way to make a comparison...

5. Renewal of my car registration card....Included with expenses for "new" car

The new status of my income tax return is:

El estado de su declaración número 111020358644 presentada el 08/03/2006 es:

PROCESO : La devolucion esta en proceso de autorizacion de fondos



It should be deposited in my account by next week! woo-hoo!! Aval Card, here I come!

Well...according to my (very) preliminary numbers, the difference in living expenses from April 06 to August 06 should be about $67....I can "make" that difference by twitching the payments...I hope....it will take longer to get out of debt, but...

Things are definetely looking better...My sister is in full recovery from the neurocysticercosis (sp?) and we are only pending the results from her last MRI (THAT deserves a separate entry!)...and, eventhough money is still my major source of worry, my situation is veeeery different than what it was last year...I got the cc issue under control, am not getting any creditor calls, and, despite the additional expenses from the new car loan, I think I can handle things so that I don't default on anything...I'm still overworked...still love my job...but, right now I don't feel like I hate my co-workers...none of them!...not even the annoying ones! LOL!...
((contented sigh)) I definetely don't hate my life (the way I did last year!)
Oh, and the "frugality" thing, while still a challenge, is not as hard anymore!

Thanks to all for your continued support!!

This month, I will receive the last $250 from the sale of the farm...so, as of June 1st, 2006, I will have to make do without...I have managed to bring the cc's down to where I THINK I'll be able to handle at least minimum payments every month...I'm going to have to be a lot more careful... what might throw me off-balance is the combination of new loan for the car (paying about $30 more now than for the previous one, which I finished paying last month, and the new gas prices/new car fuel consumption (previous prices/car meant $36 a month...that's soooo NOT going to be the new quota!...gas prices were just below $3 then...they are about $3.49 now...and this car has a bigger engine!- las one was an 800cc)...AND Ale's school expenses (luckily, to start in August, so I will have some time to adjust to the two first ones!)...a variation of $60/mont...

so...let's say the new car spends about 30% more gas, and factor in the new prices...I could be spending about $60 - $70 in gas + $30 additional for the loan + $60 additional for Ale's school....this is $150-$160 MORE a month...ouch! ...not counting car insurance....hmmmmm...

Oops!...can you spot the mistake?? $70-$36 = $34...so $34 + $30 + $60, total ADDITIONAL per month ~$124, not $150!...

I have to work this number into my current estimated budget....(well, the $60 additional for Ale's school were already factored into my "adjusted" budget for August '06...)

Back to the excel file!!