Sunday, March 5, 2017

credit worthiness on the loose

Wow.  I haven't used my Fingerhut CC since Nov. 9th
Minimum payments are over the roof.  I'm paying $60/mo (rrrr).  I have another $75 or so to pay down before I get my minimum down to $50 or something like that.....
I'm hoping to keep from using my Overstock and WalMart credit cards for the months of April & May and then use it very sparingly in June onward...I'll have about $10/mo to spend on b.s. and frivolous whatthejunks out of my post-bill/need/bigtime want money, so I figure I'll allow myself $10 or so from my credit cards, which will allow me to get ahead of my debt by $10 or so per month.  It's going to take a loooong time to get a handle on this to where I'm not paying $110/mo on credit card debt.  I have $220 to choose what goes to what.  Some of that goes to my cat Sophie (cat food and cat litter) which varies sorta b/c she doesn't need me to buy her food every month..., and some of that goes to medicine copays, which range from $1-$5 (not sure what that variance depends on...), grooming, and I'm able to spend $15-$30 on Starbucks Coffee Co. cafe outings...I have $30 if I don't eat out anywhere else...I usually spend about $9-$12 on eating out...but I don't eat out more than once a month, sometimes twice if I sell something(s) on Amazon, which I can't predict happening before it happens....I have inventory that's been idle for several months...usually if I sell something, it's something I've just recently uploaded...usually crap I bought from WalMart or Overstock...before I started selling out my budget to credit card debt, I would buy a lot of CDs and DVDs, some of them not worth much, some of them worth nothing, some of them worth almost $10...I'd buy stuff from Hastings Entertainment Superstore in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and then sell it on Amazon, knowing full well that Hastings would *maybe* give me a good chunk of my money back but most likely not...for awhile there I was running out of envelopes to ship my Amazon inventory in.  That's no longer a problem b/c I hardly ever sell anything on Amazon since I hardly ever list anything on Amazon.  Most of the stuff I sell on Amazon is stuff I can't sell to CD Warehouse b/c they have too many copies of it/them or because the items are too scratched or some nonesense.  I bought a CD on Overstock titled IT'S IMMATERIAL by a band called Black Marble.  I kept it for about a month and one-third.  I sold it at Amazon about half a month after I listed it.  Ditto for a movie titled MORRIS COUNTY, an anthology of short films tied together be a theme of suburban residents in distress.  That one took about a month to sell.  I did buy some envelopes back in April or May I think...it took almost half a year to use them all and I still have envelopes collected from junk I get on Amazon, which I often can't resell ON Amazon without losing money, so I end up taking it to CD Warehouse, where they say it's too scratched...I've actually thrown out several CDs..that's something I didn't think I'd ever have to do...but if I just hold onto every CD I buy my trailer just turns into a rainbow of schit.  There's a fine line between being a pack rat and being a collector.

I'm probably getting my stories mixed up about the influx of inventory etc...I've had to get rid of some of the envelopes and boxes that were on hand...I did that in Missouri b/c we were seriously running low on space in the office closet, and we had actually ran out of space, so I chucked some of the packing materials that I seriously doubted would ever come in handy...I used to keep every CD-and-DVD-sized envelope I got in the mail on hand even if it was in less than ideal condition, but lately I've been able to be a lot more selective in that area.  I keep 'em for a little while, but I Just don't sell that much stuff.  I've kept a good deal of what I've bought over the last year.  I actually have a surprisingly large DVD collection...ditto with my CD collection.  I think I have around 40 CDs...I used to get panicked when I got half of that and think "what am i gonna do with all these CDS?", but it really doesn't matter.  It used to somewhat, b/c I had nowhere to put them once my media rack got filled up.  Before I had a media rack, I was overly concerned about quality...I was in this ridiculous persuit of perfection, looking for ways to refine my CD collection into some kind of thing worthy of awe in my eyes at least...the only thing wrong with my CD collection that I can see improving upon is the fact that it's all just entertainment, most of it with the exception of 2 or 3 genuine worship albums, one by Michael W. Smith titled SOVEREIGN (2014) and another by Crowder titled AMERICAN PRODIGAL (2016).  OH, yeah, I also have WAKE UP THE WONDER by Elevation Worship, which is more a worship album than AMERICAN PRODIGAL...I have a couple other Christian music albums on mp3 format...not sure if I have any more Christian music albums on CD...OH, yeah I do, I have 3 albums by Fernando Ortega...that guys cool.  I like his peaceful take on things  So many Christian albums in CCM are loud and obnoxious, which is fine for awhile...I don't think it's always needed though.  The Prince of Peace should have some peace-ful music in His name as well...bands and artists like Elevation Worship and Michael W. Smith have their softer songs, but they're backed by synthetic arrangements like electric guitar and synthesizer.  All that's left of God is the lyrics that pay homage to Him.  It's not a bad thing to use tools to help us in our lives.  We need things like stoves, electricity and gas power etc., doctors, but the only reason we need those things is b/c until we get to Heaven where the sin in our blood is removed -- not just fogiven -- and we can thus have unrestricted, unadulterated access to God, we are not in a state of being where we can EXPECT God to do anything for us...we are blessed to have His Holy Spirit to guide us in the correct path of our life, but even then we have to work at listening, at least I do...someone who is naturally a good listener or has a formed habit of good listening skill can probably interpret what His spirit is saying better than I...

Back to my financial things which I started this post with......
Had been kinda feeling lousy about my CC situation...freaking out, I guess.
but after thinking about it, I came to a sorta conclusion...
Like I said, I haven't used my Fingerhut CC since November 2016.  Yes, it sucks that I have that on top of $50 owed to other creditors.  But I don't need or even really want to add to my Fingerhut debt.  Their selection is slim and their prices are out of this world.
If I can keep my Fingerhut situation the way it's been the past 5 months(!), I can eventually get out from under it...shouldn't take more than 4 years to pay it off completely.  My WalMart and Overstock CC can then be paid down faster.  Should have them paid off shortly after Fingerhut b/c I owe them combined the same amount I owe Fingerhut...well, plus a couple hundred dollars...but
honestly, I have no significant interest in being "debt free".  The problem I see is that I started out with a WalMart credit card credit line of $700 and now I owe them over $600.  I JUST OPENED THAT ACCOUNT!!!!, like, what?--3 months ago?  This isn't a new development either.  I've been paying $40/mo on average on my account.  I was doing so-so for the first month and a half, I think...kept the balance down to $400 or something...
Anyway........it's a mess, but assuming the economy doesn't 1up the Great Depression or God doesn't send me Home early, I should be able to untangle it in time.........lots and lots of time.....

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