A couple of oops moments this morning.
I forgot about a payment I had made when calculating money available to spend. Leaves me with a lot less for basic needs until next Fri. Still enough, though. Just cut back on food budget and couple of minor frills until then.
The front yard timer got smashed during the winter. So, that zone only gets watered when I manually turn on that zone. That zone needs a lot less water than either of the back two zones, so not much of an issue. Except for the fact that I turned on that zone last night.. and forgot to turn it off. So, it stayed on all night. Bummer. Guess I won't have to water that area for a while.
I ended the game for the moment with Wells Fargo. Called them ("We can't process this request by email..") So, I spent 15 minutes on the phone to have the exact same thing accomplished.
I know what this entire game was about. Every June, any excess money collected for escrow is refunded. Otherwise, it kind of disappears. That refund only happens if you are current on your mortgage at the beginning of May. Since I had money they have documented as being received but not applied as of 4/20/14, what I have been trying to get them to do is apply part of that to an "inspection fee". They have been trying to avoid applying the money so they can claim the account was not current at the beginning of May. However, if they try that, I have documentation that the money was in their possession but not appropriately applied.
That issue was one reason I had focused on the time frame for getting the mortgage current. However, I had believed I was going to be current in January and tried for that until they screwed me. Would have brought it current much sooner than this if I could have. At least this time they knew they didn't have much claim to go on, so I didn't suffer the endless punk calling from their robot system.
The refund may not be much but will be laid aside. I want to have at least enough set aside for 2-3 months of mortgage payments and living expenses. I'm done paying anything toward principal on the mortgage unless I make an occasional lump payment to help bring the balance down faster. However, I will only do that if and when it will leave money in savings.
Instead, a better option is paying off the student loan as fast as possible. If I can, will pay that off in the next two years. I should be able to do that. I've defaulted on one large loan already. It will be on my credit for 8 more years. However, that does leave me with funds that I can apply to the student loan. If I can get to a good enough financial position, I can pay an extra $200 a month for two years and that will be gone. Finally.
Just ran a quick budget and that seems like a very possible scenario. My bills total about equal to 50 percent of my base net income. Not counting food and clothing. I keep those expenses down to low levels, any way. Can't cut those much more, as I often eat on $3 a day or less. I can keep most expenses down for 2 years and space different things out to accomplish that goal. That is, after I get a few last things done. Insulation (which will reduce the electric and gas bills). Vacation. Decent plastic sheeting. Last of the wiring supplies. I can get those supplies or save money for them in the next month or two and then start moving forward with that. At that level, it will still leave me with enough buffer to still be putting money aside. No need to get crazy with it. If anything happens, I can always put that on pause for a short while. But once I get it done, it will mean an extra $1500 a year net income. When you count the extra money I would not be paying out, it would mean a jump of over $6000 a year which I would not be paying out.
I forgot about a payment I had made when calculating money available to spend. Leaves me with a lot less for basic needs until next Fri. Still enough, though. Just cut back on food budget and couple of minor frills until then.
The front yard timer got smashed during the winter. So, that zone only gets watered when I manually turn on that zone. That zone needs a lot less water than either of the back two zones, so not much of an issue. Except for the fact that I turned on that zone last night.. and forgot to turn it off. So, it stayed on all night. Bummer. Guess I won't have to water that area for a while.
I ended the game for the moment with Wells Fargo. Called them ("We can't process this request by email..") So, I spent 15 minutes on the phone to have the exact same thing accomplished.
I know what this entire game was about. Every June, any excess money collected for escrow is refunded. Otherwise, it kind of disappears. That refund only happens if you are current on your mortgage at the beginning of May. Since I had money they have documented as being received but not applied as of 4/20/14, what I have been trying to get them to do is apply part of that to an "inspection fee". They have been trying to avoid applying the money so they can claim the account was not current at the beginning of May. However, if they try that, I have documentation that the money was in their possession but not appropriately applied.
That issue was one reason I had focused on the time frame for getting the mortgage current. However, I had believed I was going to be current in January and tried for that until they screwed me. Would have brought it current much sooner than this if I could have. At least this time they knew they didn't have much claim to go on, so I didn't suffer the endless punk calling from their robot system.
The refund may not be much but will be laid aside. I want to have at least enough set aside for 2-3 months of mortgage payments and living expenses. I'm done paying anything toward principal on the mortgage unless I make an occasional lump payment to help bring the balance down faster. However, I will only do that if and when it will leave money in savings.
Instead, a better option is paying off the student loan as fast as possible. If I can, will pay that off in the next two years. I should be able to do that. I've defaulted on one large loan already. It will be on my credit for 8 more years. However, that does leave me with funds that I can apply to the student loan. If I can get to a good enough financial position, I can pay an extra $200 a month for two years and that will be gone. Finally.
Just ran a quick budget and that seems like a very possible scenario. My bills total about equal to 50 percent of my base net income. Not counting food and clothing. I keep those expenses down to low levels, any way. Can't cut those much more, as I often eat on $3 a day or less. I can keep most expenses down for 2 years and space different things out to accomplish that goal. That is, after I get a few last things done. Insulation (which will reduce the electric and gas bills). Vacation. Decent plastic sheeting. Last of the wiring supplies. I can get those supplies or save money for them in the next month or two and then start moving forward with that. At that level, it will still leave me with enough buffer to still be putting money aside. No need to get crazy with it. If anything happens, I can always put that on pause for a short while. But once I get it done, it will mean an extra $1500 a year net income. When you count the extra money I would not be paying out, it would mean a jump of over $6000 a year which I would not be paying out.
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