I called my credit card company a month or two ago asking for a balance transfer... I was always getting offers for 0% transfers so I figured I'd just call and get one. They said the transfer would be 14%. that was higher than my normal credit card rate at the time. I couldn't believe it. I hung up.

This month I called them to ask about lowering my normal rate, and they gave me another number/time to call for that, but before they asked if I'd like to get a 0% balance transfer.

wtf? the girl on the phone said those offers come up randomly at the end of the call, she couldn't explain why they wouldn't just give me one when I needed it two months ago.

So apparently if you want to transfer a balance at no interest and can't find one of the junk mail offers they've sent you, DON'T call and ask for a balance transfer. Call and ask for something else random, and hope that you get one on the Wheel Of Offers that comes up at the end of the call.

go figure.

Driving through our neighborhood to work this morning I went past all these kids waiting outside for the bus on, oh yeah, the first day of school. awwwwe! and I secretly laughed at them because they're in middle school or whatever, and I am a grownup. sucks to be them! my clothes actually fit me. I have my own car. my boyfriend is cooler than anyone they even know. I can drink, vote, and buy porn (in whatever order I feel like). I am not waiting for a bus to take me to hang out with 13 year olds all day.

sadly enough I am facing my own first day of school, because classes start tomorrow. can't win em all, huh?

things to do before classes:

1) Pack my bag, and don't forget it.
2) Hit up the bookstore and if the line is short, buy the microcontrollers book that I decided was too pricey on amazon, even used.
3) Shake off incurable addiction to Dr. Mario (evil NES emulator will be the death of all that is productive in me)

Final goal, and it's more a short term one, is to pay my tuition off in a reasonable amount of time this year. Last year I put it on my credit card and then got stuck carrying a balance ALL SEMESTER, it was horrible, I freaked. My solution was to create a budget, scary as that may be. But it actually worked... eventually, I had the card paid off, and I kept sticking to the budget because, well, it worked. Basically I listed things that were sort of weird and flexible for me all the time (groceries, meals and entertainment) and estimated what I needed for those and vowed only to use cash for them, not the credit card. The card was for gas, bills, insurance, etc. Every week I took out a set amount of cash, and when it was gone, I'd find a way to live on what was around the house. And yes, I've had weeks when my Friday cash was gone by Sunday at 3:00, and that makes lunches out the rest of the week pretty boring, but at least I knew what my limits were. And I also liked it because I no longer felt guilty about going out to eat or whatever, it was in the budget. The only thing I didn't budget was gifts. I don't think you should ever cheap out on that stuff, you should always buy whatever wedding/birthday/christmas present you think the person would appreciate without feeling constricted by cost. I should probably shake the philosophy that large liquor purchases are "gifts" though, just because I invite like two people over for cinco de mayo.

Anyway... paying off 7 graduate credit hours is still not an all-in-one-payment thing, but I have a low-rate card and a plan, and hopefully this year it won't take me until February. Incidentally, this whole budget idea came from the lj people, I think. I did a poll to ask them if I should take savings money to pay stuff off or just try to discipline myself, and discipline won out. so thanks, guys.

oh, final final goal before tomorrow: I have to plan out my outfit. it's the first day of school, after all.

My finances are not good.

I'm not entirely sure when they got to the "not good" stage... it started at the beginning of the semester, when tuition was $1200, and I just threw it on my credit card, figuring I'd carry a balance for a month or maybe even two but then be okay, because I hate carrying a credit card balance. When I got my first credit card, my parents looked me straight in the eye and said, "NEVER use this to spend money you don't have. Don't put a single dollar on there unless you have that dollar in the bank." I did a good job of that all through college.

then again, they paid tuition all through college. tuition and insurance and everything else big.

It's not like I'm buying fur coats... sure, I go out. I bought some computer stuff. What's killing me is really the big stuff. My outstanding balance right now is over $2000... I do not have that in the bank. What's worse is that two bad things are due: car insurance, which went up to $650 since I'm a bad driver now (fuckers) and tuition for next semester, a little over $800 (graduate credits are teh evil). It's all got to go on the card. There's no place else for it to go.

Every month, I have a chunk of my paychecks automatically deposited into my "house fund"... a special savings account that I never touch. When I first started working it was the "in case I get laid off" fund, now it's sort of evolved, but I still feel terrible about the idea of dipping into it because I've been irresponsible with the credit cards. I feel like I should disipline myself to get this shit paid off... I should stop going out, stop throwing parties, eat ramen noodles, wear last year's clothes. whatever it takes. If I dip into savings now, what will stop me from just doing that over and over until I have none?

then again, with Christmas coming, this is not a good time to be in "i'm poor" mode.

I used to really hate it when people with above average salaries complained about getting in debt... how the hell did they do it? Now I'm seeing it... it's sort of like in college when you have all this free time, you have to really concentrate on using it properly, you know? I have a regular job and money, and money comes in, and money comes out, and I'm clueless as to what I'm doing here. I suck at money.

if anyone here doesn't suck at it, I'd love some advice.