Climbing Out of Debt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7476762

I received my financial aid offer yesterday for my MBA - it's going to take me a day or two for me to do some research and figure out what's what, but it seems like a pretty solid package.

The part time program will cost just under $20K a year and my loans - split between subsidized and unsubsidized - came in at just above $20K a year. So, while I know the plan is to borrow less money, it's nice to know that's it's there. Now I just have to figure out how to use it and what the best way to use it is. Either way, it's a big relief knowing that I have some help from Uncle Sam (regardless what some might say about him or his programs).

Also, thank you for all of the e-mails, comments and support that came with the news of my acceptance. It was nice to read and I really appreciate it.

So I don't know if you've seen this commercial or not, but I had to see it a few times until the tagline actually sunk into my head - "Chase what matters".



I'm not really going to go deep into this post, but I just thought it was a funny thing for a credit card company to say. Can't believe I didn't catch it sooner.

I closed my Bank of America account this week after being hit with yet another round of fees. You know the kind they dish out...overdraft fee due to an inter-bank scheduled transfer, then another fee for there not being enough to cover the overdraft, and another one for the fee that is added to the other fee...and what the heck...give us $20 for looking at our website...

(I try to keep my blog G-rated - even though in person, I may not be - so please view these links with caution as, depending on your personal sensibilities, one or two of them may be offensive either in text or graphics)

Anyway, I'm not when it comes to my feelings for Bank of America.

In fact, they even have T-shirts for the feeling...

A few years ago I bought Quicken in an effort to better track my spending and create a budget to save some money. I barely used it once I updated my account information. It was just too much and to be honest I didn't really find it too user friendly.

Years - and thousands of dollars deeper in debt - later I again decided to try some money management software. This time it was Microsoft Money Deluxe. I've been giving it some tries, but again I'm not finding it the easiest thing to work with.

I think I would like and really benefit from a program like this - you can only do so much from a spreadsheet. Am I just not getting it? Has anyone else experienced headaches with these programs?

I think I'm most interested in the debt reduction plan, cash flow analyzer and seeing my spending in a birds-eye view so I can see what I can cut back on and what I need to re-assess.

The slow and (hopefully) steady climb continues. Again the most exciting thing from my net worth report is that my car is almost paid off. I can't help but keep thinking how great adding that money to my debt payments is going to feel.

Within the next month or so, I should learn what my financial aid package will be for grad school - I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Even though I live on my own, I bring in a fairly good salary and personal debt isn't taken into account when deciding how much support a student will need. I've already begun to look at my budget to see how I can make it work harder for both my debt payments and in preparation for school in the fall.