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!!

well...parts of it, anyway!!...which, believe me, is a HUGE step in the right direction...now, if I can stay clear of any storms, this could be decent by the end of June! LOL!

...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!

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)

Now that we know each other a bit more, we are getting along better!...I can now park it without problem in our garage (even when our neighbor across the street parks his monsters in our -very narrow- street!)...the strong smell of solvents (used to take off about 1,000,000 stickers on the dashboard) is starting to go away...and, thanks to a more "normal" driving week (no trips outside the city!) we only spent about half a tank of gas (less than half, actually! yay!)...I still have to make a real attempt at parallel parking in it, though...I did park it at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the other day, but, the space was so large, it was embarassing to think about the effort it took for me to get that car in!...
There's a couple of things I need to check...the left front light is sometimes on, sometimes off...a lock needs to be lubricated.....couple things like that...I'm taking some time off this Thursday to take it for a check up...

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!!!

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!

LOL! I was in a panick today, thinking that it's already the 15th and I hadn't processed the payments for the domestic employees at the (expat) houses...and hurrying to get them ready for signature/submittance today, so that at least they'd be paid on Friday, when I noticed...the forms I was updating said from May 1st through 15th....so I was like: hmmmmm....I called accounting and they told me the cheques are ready!! (which means I submitted them either last Monday or the one before last, in preparation to the crazy week of training logistics, and I didn't even remember!!)...I amaze myself sometimes!!

Of course, the fact that I didn't remember gives you a clue as to how "spaced out" and disorganized I can be, too!

I checked Sertracen's website (about 1,000 times) today...finally:

Su trámite ha finalizado, Puede retirar la tarjeta o la documentación que ha solicitado. No olvide traer su tarjeta anterior si no fuese matrícula.

woo-hoo! I can go get them tomorrow (it's 3pm, and they close at 4pm!)

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!)

On Monday, while filling the tank, the guy at the gas station cleaned my windshield and, one of the wipers nearly fell off!!....soooo, today I went to Siman (local dept store) to check how many "diamonds" (= reward points) I had and, I had 750 (500=$5 gift certificate), so I took the $5 and bought the wipers ($2.75) and an air freshener ($2.00)...the lady at the register mentioned that I would be "wasting" $0.25 and asked if I wanted to add something else (believe me, there is NOTHING at that store that is $0.25!!) and I said NO, thank you!...so, I "wasted" $0.25, but I didn't spend $0.01 out of my pocket!! ..I'll "install" the air freshener this afternoon when I leave work and, the new wipers tonight! (rainy season is starting, I cannot afford to delay this!)

My cousin went with her and, she just called....right now the Doctor is checking my sister, but, my cousin was present at the pre-check interview they had and, he said the swelling might be caused by live cysticercos...he also mentioned that the Doc my sis saw yesterday is famous for scaring his patients....He did mention the possibility of a spinal tap, but will wait until he has checked my sis/the MRI's before making a decision on whether to order one or not...
Turns out THIS Doctor is the father of a boy that used to be one of my nephew's best friends (before nephew started doing drugs)...believe me, in a small country like this one, IT DOES MATTER!...

Will update as soon as they get out of the Dr's office!

in an effort to make people go to the supermarket everyday, a local chain is having 2X1 days...yesterday was shampoo and conditioner (I had just bought a bottle of shampoo on sale last week, and I have a HUGE bottle of conditioner that I bought at a flea market, so I didn't need any)...today it's insecticides (sp?), so I bought "plaquitas" (plug ins to keep mosquitos away) and some roach/mosquito spray...(rainy season is here....there WILL be plenty of mosquitos and, Ale has already had dengue...we cannot afford for her to get bitten again!)... I'm proud of myself, I ONLY bought the insecticides and nothing more!! and, yesterday, I went with my cousin, but I didn't buy anything!

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)

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!

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!!

1. keep better track of my spending- same situation!..I need DISCIPLINE!!

2. Send out at least 15 resumes in January(best time of the year to find a new job in ES!) and, at least one more per week for the rest of the year until I find a job that pays better! done!...believe it or not I have a job offer...NOT from the resumes...from this site!
3. FINALLY decide on a school for Alejandra, AND save money for her enrollment fee, uniforms and school supplies Already paid $100 to reserve Ale's space. Someone from the office has offered to help with $500 towards Ale's education...this takes care of enrollment, books and uniforms!
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. Higher than last month, as now I have the loan for the car!!...BUT! I asked for some "extra" money so part of that is going to go towards the cc's (much lower interest rate!)...real situation is: $7.8K (refinanced) loan, $3.1K car loan, $2.5K cc's

5. Help Ale find a way to earn those $3 she's missing to open her account with HER OWN money...Pending...

Total for April

Challenge statistics:
invested:
$20 gas for cousin
$15 for taxies/April
=======
$35.00

Earned in April: $257.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$932.55

I got paid my remaining $10 yesterday!

The $170 appear credited to my account now...dated 15-Mar-06, too!!

Case closed! I'm happy now!!

This definetely has been a good day for finances!!!

(oh, and this is entry No 69 categorized as progress, vs 66 categorized as setbacks!!...the scale seems to be tipping in the right direction!!...)

This means: I almost have a car now!!! woo-hoo!!!...it feels sooooo great!!..No more rides!!!

...now, I need to work on my $20 challenge to be able to reach that $4,000 goal by 31-dec-06!!

Finished a $30-job. Got paid $20 already, missing $10.

These count towards my April challenge! yay!

I just logged onto the Ministry's website, the status of my return is now:

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

AUTORIZADA : La devolucion esta autorizada y en proceso de hacerse efectiva

Wooo-Hooo!!!..the money should be deposited by next week! (they only make deposits once a week!)....

::doing the happy dance::

well, I went and paid $100 to reserve the space. They gave me a list of the documentation they need, and told me to bring Ale by one of these mornings, so she can be with her would-be classmates and so they can evaluate her...At this, my sister almost had a heart attack: "she has to do a test??"...LOL! she thought they were going to sit Ale down to do a "formal" written test!...I already told Ale she gets to visit one morning at the new school and she's very excited about it!

Also, one of the directors offered to help with Ale's school (every year he and his wife try to help 2 kids with their education... unfortunately, one of the kids they were helping has gotten involved with gangs and is no longer studying, so they thought they might help me with Ale this year...the amount they set aside for this is ~$500 per kid...in Ale's case, that covers her enrollment fee, books and uniforms! yay!)

God is good and He's sending us help from many different sources!

I sent a follow-up email yesterday to the foundation and, they said the correction (reporting my donations to them) had already been filed (yesterday), so I'll wait a couple of days and re-check the status of my return on line...if nothing has changed, I'm going to call the Ministry again...
At least, we're moving in the right direction with this! (hey, it's $282!!)

Says they told her the application had been approved...she submitted it for $4,000 but she still doesn't know if the whole amount was approved!...

I'll keep you posted!!!

I called today to find out what the next steps are to enroll her...
I need to go and fill out an application and pick up some new information and leave a deposit to guarantee the space... They will let me know when I have to deliver the money to purchase the books she'll use...
I still have to decide what happens if, when tested, it turns out she should be in first grade as opposed to preparatoria...I lean more towards having her start in prepa, though, because school here goes to grade 11 now, instead of 12 (as it was back when I was at school) and, I don't know if I want Ale at University at 16!! ((faint!))...My niece will be out of school at 17, starting University at 18 and, I feel she's still a bit immature as it is...then again, maturity doesn't always go hand in hand with age...but still ...decisions, decisions, decisions!

The CC company wanted a copy of the payment voucher- again...so I resent it. "they're taking care of it"...now I'm trying to decide whether I want to spend the energy pursuing their deleting some of the interest charged to my account due the money being "lost" for 2 payment periods! ....

Income tax refund - sent a message to the foundation. They have the letter and will send it in tomorrow, so, in THEORY, this should be settled by Thursday (yeah, right!!)

((sihg)) PATIENCE!

They wanted a copy of the payment voucher (scanned and sent already!)...Hope this gets resolved today...that way this payment will be counted towards this month!!