Forest on Finance » Education

Bird’s Student Loan Got Deferred (Duh)

Forest — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:22:48 +0000

Maybe you remember that last month when I posted my net worth, I was a little annoyed because we supposedly put over $250 towards our student loans and they only went down $77.

Upon closer inspection of last month’s finances, I noticed Bird’s loan payment wasn’t automatically deducted like it usually is. I logged into Sallie Mae and that’s when I realized her loans were deferred because she’s back in school. I kind of forgot that happens. So really in February, we only paid my $115 payment and now it all makes a lot more sense.

After discussing the issue, Bird and I have decided that we will continue to pay her loans off as regulary scheduled. We already had them built into the budget and we don’t have a good reason to delay the payoff any longer than it already is.

Making an Extra Student Loan Payment

Forest — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:26:26 +0000

After moving around a bunch of money yesterday and thinking about the third paycheck I’m going to get on Friday, I was inspired to make an extra payment to my student loan.

This morning, I logged into Wells Fargo and my balance was $10,558.

When I make extra payments to my loan, I really like to make them in an amount that will change one of the numbers on either side of the comma. It’s probably a psychological thing, but rather than just making a nice even $50 payment and still owing $10,508…. I made a $60 extra payment because I really wanted to see that 5 turn to a 4!

Does anyone else do that?

Getting New Carpet

Forest — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:43:34 +0000

We’re getting new carpet at the house tomorrow (and the internet is finally back up). Specifically, the two upstairs bedrooms are getting new carpet, one of which is mine. So I spent tonight packing up a bunch of my stuff and moving it all into the living room. Once the carpet is in, I can “really” get settled in my new room at my new place. That is, until September when I get married. I feel like such a nomad. Hopefully, once I’m married I can settle down some place for a while, but that probably won’t happen either. Bird and I are planning on renting for a year or two before we start house hunting, so it doesn’t look like my moving is going to be done anytime soon.

In other news, I had a no spend day today. The first one in a long time!

Tomorrow night, Bird and I have plans to go out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. It will only be my second time meeting her and Bird’s very first time meeting her. I think this girl might be my future sister-in-law, so it will be nice to hang out with her and get to know her. I’m expecting to pay for Bird and myself, so I’m estimating about 30 to 40 dollars.

I Quit

Forest — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000

While prepping the house for sale last weekend, I ran out of boxes and knew that we had plenty of empty ones in the “book room” at my business partner’s house. So I drove over there to get some boxes and we ended up having an impromptu meeting where we basically talked over the future of the business and I essentially quit. As much as I love the book business, there are just more important things that are taking up my time these days.

We hashed out a quick plan on what the split was going to look like and we both left satisfied. I’m getting a payout and he’s going to continue on with the business with his wife taking over my spot. There were no hard feelings and it’s all good — we’re still great friends.

While it only lasted a little over a year for me and it didn’t make me rich (financially), I really treasure the experience I gained. In college, I was an English major which is close to the furthest away from a Business major (maybe Art is a tad further) that you can be. So I’ve learned a lot about “business” over the last year and whether you like it or not, it seems the world runs on Business and not literature. Sad, but true.

Still, I’m looking forward to taking all the knowledge I gained over the last year and applying it to my next venture, whatever that may be.

I Was a Boomeranger

Forest — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:45:00 +0000

When I graduated from college, I moved back home with my parents. I didn’t have a job lined up, I didn’t have any prospects, and I didn’t really have a clue of what I wanted to do. In fact, I thought what I wanted to do was go back to school for a completely different subject because my odds looked so slim with a Literature degree, and frankly, I didn’t want an Englishy job if they were giving them away. I was burned out, depressed, and moving back in with my parents wasn’t really going to help my state of mind. As my friends landed jobs and got their first places to live, I felt like a big loser. At the time, I didn’t know that I was part of a larger phenomenon that is still going on and has it’s own name: The Boomerang Generation.

It turns out it wasn’t so bad living with my parents after college. I continued to live with them as I enrolled at a different university that fall to study biology. Then I dropped out after a week. Then I returned to my alma mater and studied biology there. That lasted almost two months. Then I took the LSAT. Then I almost joined the Navy. While all this was going on, I was cleaning office buildings at night, living with my parents, and sinking into a feeling that I would never know what I wanted to do with my life.

After considerable effort, I worked myself out of the funk I was in and started to look for a job in the English field. It took a while, but eventually I landed a job working the night shift as a caption editor, which basically consisted of watching a TV show and creating the closed captioning for deaf people to read. Not a terrible gig, but the hours were 3:30 pm to Midnight. Not ideal; especially Friday nights. Woof.

However, it was a full-time job and I began my search for a new place to live.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about my first place.