Oh how I love crossing the border……

into the US of A! It’s always a little dangerous cause I know I’ll be spending some money but the US has so many goodies that us Canucks just don’t! The 1st time I walked into Target I wanted to move in! Your dollar stores are the shit, and don’t even get me started on the FOOD! Gah! It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven! The fact that some things are so much cheaper is nuts! I once bought eggs, 12 for 99 cents! 99 f’in CENTS! Here the cheapest you can get them for is $1.99 and that’s a good deal! Then there’s the tax difference. HUGE! I also noticed that the tax is different on clothing and shoes! My mom paid 4% tax for underwear! You don’t even WANT to know what the tax is here, you’d die!

Anyhoo…I love going there and saving myself some money. You may think that I’d save some money by not wasting gas and driving there but the drive is like an hour, and gas is cheaper in the states…lol!

So funny story. I know I mentioned in a previous blog post that I use only 1 credit card with a limit of $300.00. Well I broke out this card knowing I had money left on the card that I could use. I like using credit in the states cause the exchange happens on my statement and it’s a lot better rate than when you use CAD money. My card worked at Target. At the next 3 stores it was declined. I was starting to worry that my card has been blocked since I was out of the country and maybe the company thought that my card was being frauded. Thankfully I had another card with me that I didn’t really want to use but I had to use because I had no choice. So I called the company today and apparently the payment of $120.00 I made on July 17th had still not cleared. Ready for the reason why? Sometimes when they’re not sure where the payment is coming from they freeze the payment. It was only supposed to be unfrozen by Aug 2nd. I got slightly frustrated and told the rep that this was unacceptable, especially since my payments always come from my bank account. I always pay the bill online and every other payment has cleared. He said that sometimes this can happen and it may not be the last time! After that I kinda lost my marbles and said a few choice words….lol! Unreal though eh?! My one card with a limit of $300.00 and I gotta worry about this shit now.

Ok, back to business. The business that I have not even started. My budget. I swear I’m going to finish that up by the end of this week. I have to. I want to be all prepped for August. Fun fun! LOL!

When friends have not changed…..

So it’s all fine and dandy that I’ve decided to finally do something about my debt, but what do you do when the friends you do have who are in the same boat as you have decided to keep on truckin’ the way they have been. Taking vacations, buying expensive things, etc… how do you maintain those friendships when you are so obviously not in the same boat as them? Part of me is kinda jealous that I can’t treat myself to lavish things but then I remember that they’re not in a great financial situation and buying all those lavish things always comes at a high cost. Then there are the friends that claim to have no money when you ask them to go to a movie or dinner with you but then they book a trip the next day…..

I think I’ve come to a time in my life where I just really need to worry about myself. I’ve always been a people pleaser, and always worried what people thought. Right now I need to worry about myself, and really only worry about the people that I know truly care about me. I have wasted way too much time on people that really don’t give a shit and I’m done.

Personally I need to start coming from a place of no when it comes to invites. I get way too many dinner, movie, you name it invites and I have a hard time saying no. Truth is, my budget is so tight that I truly can’t afford it!

I heard a story at work last week about a friend of a co-worker. She apparently is the cheapest chick out there. Has a good job, owns a car, condo etc, and has tons of money in the bank. When her friends ask her to go out she says she has no money. She does this because she obviously must have a plan. I need to take a lesson from her and live like I’m dirt poor….cause well, I kinda am… LOL!

 

What a fucking mess!

How did I get here? Let me tell ya! It’s partly life circumstances, not making enough money to make ends meet. The other part is pure and utter stupidity. Buying things frivolously. Not thinking about HOW I’ll pay for them. Thinking “oh, I’m already in thousands of dollars of debt, what’s another few hundred?”. Well it stops here. Partly cause I have no more room on my credit cards and partly cause I know I have a huge problem to deal with. I need to figure out how the hell I’m going to pay all this off. CAN I pay all of this off or is bankruptcy the next step for me? I want to learn from others. I want to be held accountable for all my debt. That is the reason why I created this blog.

So here goes what I always dread. My debt totals. Cue the heart attack!

Credit line – $9992.91

Visa – $10067.84

Canadian Tire MasterCard – $7594.69

MBNA MasterCard – $5590.83

 

TOTAL: $33246.27

Fuck my life. Literally.