Keeping Good Records

With so much financial hustle n' bustle in our daily lives, it helps to have a guiding light to keep us on track. About.com's Jeremy Bowinkle has 10 tips to help you solve and manage your financial troubles.

We'll be counting down to one from number 10. Start the drumroll, please.

10. Keep Good Records

If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.

This is true. While as a 24-year-old in-school-individual, my taxes are fairly simple, I have a huge amount of paperwork and receipts piled up carelessly in a file folder dating back from 2003. While it's fun to have all that all neatly stacked up, the hording must stop. If you're just an individual, not a business, you only need to keep records for the past three years. Any more than this and you're becoming a pack rat. I'm going to go clean out my records now in preparation for coming tax season, I hope you do the same, and good luck to us all.

Update

Money I have in debt so far is about 12000 in student loans and about 1000 from Millwood Hospital. Plus the 5000 they are going to give me. It's looking like I'll be focused on putting that 5000 into a CD, which will double it in a years or certain amount a months time. Therefore, making me money, with which to pay back my student loans.

While I do this there is the MAV Promise which I'm not quite sure I'm eligible, I will use to further fund my education. After tax season comes the FAFSA. Things are moving pretty smoothly, with the exception of me overspending my monthly budget. Ah well, things will work out in the end.


Thanks for following. Tip of the week: Use your money to make money, invest in CDs.

Sniffles of June

Seems people are getting sick (use those tissues!) and my debt keeps getting paid. I'm now the proud owner of a 10,709.35$ debt. Which is fantastic comparing it to last year. All I have left to pay is Millwood Hospital and my student loans.

The things you can do. Get creative with your debt. Are there any skills you could trade to pay your debt? I'm considering teaching a knitting class at Millwood Hospital in exchange for my debt. This is a way of making debt fun and manageable for you.

Sorry Folks

For not posting in such a long time. It feels like quite a long time. But my bills have only tripled in number. I have $72.00 from Questcare, then 2 times $146.36 from Quest Diagnostics, $100 from the Outpost Apartments (yes, I still owe them). I have $186.97 from Medical Center of Arlington, then $1,046.38 from the Medical Center in Arlington. Lastly, I owe $839.93 to Millwood Hospital and then a bunch of student loans.

What am I doing to pay these bills? Nothing! Ha, ha, ha.

Actually, I'm working at Kroger, which I hate. And I've applied for another job. Which makes twice the money in half the time actually doing something that I like, taking pictures of people.

Everyone who reads this, I encourage to check out my other blog, www.UTAstudent.blogspot.com.
Where I dish out lifestyle advice and comment on stuff that goes on around campus.

Other Things in Life

237 dollars just for tuition today.

When am I ever going to get the money to pay my other bills? There's bills from the hospital, and bills from the emergency room and bills coming out the wahzoo. I'm a wreck financially.

But there is a job and my dad sends me money on occasion.

It's easy to look at these disgusting bills and get discouraged. But, generally, there's more to life than bills. Like school and hanging out with others, and relationships and life in general brings.

Things like reading the Bible every night and the footnotes. Learning that Issac was a picture of Christ and all he had to do was to receive the Bride.

Exercising that extra 10 minutes. And it being worth it.

Then getting that morning cup of coffee, which is what I'm about to do.

The Way Things Are

Ok, I got another bill yesterday for bukos of billions of dollars. Really just about a thousand dollars more. The upside is that I received a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico. Not really, I got one hundredish back from some hospital who I had sent money to.

Also thought I had a millions dollars won in prize money, but my dad and brother both told me they were scam artists so they must be scam artists. They could be wrong, right? I wish I had the money, but know in the long run it wouldn't help me, as an individual, grow.

I could have all the money in the world and yet bad spending habits would get me in the end. Like the money I got from that hundred dollars, I may spend on a birthday present for my brother, and not on bills so sorely needed.

That's life, I guess.

2008

Here we are in 2008. I can't believe and I'm just bursting with what the new year has in store for us.

My debts are still as follows: $100 to the Outpost Apartments, $186.97 to the Medical Center of Arlington, $939.93 to the Millwood Hospital. Finally, $10,304.00 in student loans.

What my true assets are: my health, my family, and my enthusiasm for life.

No matter what my debts are, I can always look at the benefits and life and weigh the pros versus the cons.

Life is worth it. So are you.

Here we are in 2008. I can't believe and I'm just bursting with what the new year has in store for us.

My debts are still as follows: $100 to the Outpost Apartments, $186.97 to the Medical Center of Arlington, $939.93 to the Millwood Hospital. Finally, $10,304.00 in student loans.

What my true assets are: my health, my family, and my enthusiasm for life.

No matter what my debts are, I can always look at the benefits and life and weigh the pros versus the cons.

Life is worth it. So are you.

Benizar Bhutto, again.

Bhutto was freed recently from house arrest. She believes the arrival of Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is the cause. He did speak out against the arrests of political figures and does stay abreast of the game by recommending to Musharaff that conditions are they are, are not conducive to democratic elections.

Democracy has no place in the hard black and white of the number crunch. Debts off my shoulders, I worry no more for them, for jobs are easier to get than I think. I just remember that money is but money is but money. Then forgetting my troubles by watching a last year's soap opera.

Hillary takes Iowa.

Hillary takes Iowa by storm, sending out messages through campaigning, advertisements and sending her husband to speak. These out of the way mainly rural states support is super important for winning the democratic vote.

Just like this, I remember I need to take my debt by storm. Zoom in, if I may. Take another look at how much I owe this awful world. Paying off debt may seem insignificant, but take another look. When we mature and get out of college and have a steady job, we end up with loans which are just another part of life. Home loans, student loans, car payments, all of the above. So they are an important part of becoming a responsible adult. We pay them regularly and effeciently. Life goes on.

Separate but Equal

Around the time of the Black Revolution, Freedom Fighters, Rosa Parks and all that, separate but equal were horrendous phrases. They stood for truly unequal circumstances and all that remained of thinking people were differnt just because of a few genetic variations.

Nowadays, however, I believe we should resurface separate but equal clause in the terms of relationships. We hate hearing that phrase. It hurts us to hear that we are different from any other person. But it has to be said. We are different. And in our relationships we should be treated differently.

I'm sure you've run across one or more of these people who believe everyone (but them) should be treated in the same way. They use the same tired phrases and words to describe everyone and everything.

Seeing that people can work together but not be carbon copies of each other helps. That each person is unique and individual and should be approached in a different way is helpful. Our relationships with others will improve as we take a step back from ourselves and realize we can't treat our friends the same way we treat our mother. We can't treat our dogs the same way we treat our babysitter. There is no one formula we can use to treat every person that is important to us.

Relationships mean work and if you're not willing to put in the effort, then the relationship will fall apart.

Bhutto Under House Arrest

Benizar Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister came under house arrest today, after the suggestion of asking the general Pervez Musharraf to step down from his emergency rule. She says that the time
has come to decide to choose either a people or one man. Musharraf declares his rule is imperative to unify the government in skirmishes along the border with Afghanistan.

Like Benizar, I feel that time has come to choose either either myself or my debt. Just really who am I? So abandoning my job at Chuck E. Cheese and trusting to the fates or muses as the case may be, I venture into the world of writing. This road promises to be a rocky one, but my fingers typing furiously on the keyboard, I will come to more experience and hopefully wisdom about life.

Presidential Tweaks

Hillary has been blasted for "planting" questions among students to ask at various Q and A sessions. Edwards says, he would answer questions that were asked. So are democrats attacking democrats? Is it because she's a woman? Are we already having dirty politics this soon in the game? Maybe Clinton could stop planting questions. She insults our intelligence with her planted questions, as if we would not know when the wool is being pulled over our eyes.

Not letting us ask our own questions, speaks to the candidate not being prepared to have a ready answer, or not knowing her issues enough to speak out.

Knowing this type of planting now will give indications of future presidental debacles to come, so stay tuned.

The number 8

Nothing special about the number 8, except it is the last ball to go into the slots when playing pool. There is nothing special about it, except some people consider it lucky. It's that ball that you're playing for when getting rid of your debt. That's what you're aiming for, the last ball into the slot. If you can't get the other balls, fine, but when you're down to a tie, and it's the universe versus yourself, you can plainly see, that the number 8 is a very important number, indeed.

Treaties

Sometimes I wish it could be like the old days, where people were in serfdom and worked directly to pay off thier debts. Or in fairy tales where they wish their debts away. Either way, they were focusing too much on their problems.

Taking a step back and looking at the positives is the best way of reducing those worry lines. Soothing those backaches, and putting a positive spin on things. Releasing those fears could be a way to have what seems to be a big burden, be changed into something small.

Debts paid.

Paid off two debts yesterday. UT Southwestern and Dr. Dave.

Paying off one of my debts, is satisfying if nothing.

Stuck.

What do you do with an ostrich who sticks it's head in the sand? Drown it so the sand is washed away? Convince it with strange words and reasonings, Probably the best option is to ignore it. I personally have never seen an ostrich with it's head in the sand. Maybe it's an old wife's tale.

Peacocks are interesting birds, too. The males are the colorful ones and dress up, while the females are dowdy and quiet and demure.

What do bird's have to do with debt? If you make chicken feed, you don't have any eggs to count before they hatch.

Almost

Went to look at my pile of debts today, but refrained. The name of the game is ignorance. You just ignore your debts and they go away. At least temporarily. Perhaps not looking at them, keeps you from being so obssessed with them. Although they need to be paid they don't run your life.

Bills don't run your life. They are a part of life and they need to be taken care of like any other aspect, but they are not a huge all-encompassing gargantum creature who will devour you. They are simply an aspect.

That said...I'm only going to be able to pay my psychiatrist's bill and the hospital bill this month. But that's alright. Like I said, I'm pretty happy with the way things are.

Haiku #15

How small the world seems then
Compared to raspberry tea
And ice; I shan't complain.

Writer's Burnout

Writer's burnout is a serious malady complained of in writers. Similar to writer's block it happens when writers write all day and have no fruitful writings.

Symptoms include: dizziness, headache (from pounding head against the wall) hate towards all your writings, a burning sensation. Signs that your writer is suffering this condition are wadded up papers in the trash can and mixed up scribbling on whatever comes in handy: a tissue, napkins, toilet paper, you name it.

If you have writer's burnout, the cure is not to read other's writing as this may encourage a deeper depression than previously described above, but reminiscing in previously published items may help.