August Finances

In high school, you look at your grade report. When you're an adult, you look at your credit report, lol. Yay! My credit is over 670+, but my goal is 720+ by the end of this year. Why does credit score matter? Read about it here and this one is helpful too. I use credit sesame to monitor my credit. It's completely free; no credit card require. It tracks my payments every single month and tells me my score.

Payment History: C, B next year
Credit Usage: B, A next month
Credit Age: B, A in another year
Account Mix: A
Credit Inquiries: C, no more credit cards until 2017!

Alright, I opened a new Bank of America (BOA) card...because I knew my limits were high! It was $100 cashback/credit when you spend $500+ in 3 months, which I know I will. My extractions is $350 for my co-pay! And I'm gone every weekend, so I spend about $200+/month on gas alone. Not just that, gasoline gets 3% cashback! and groceries is 2%. But the main reason why I opened one was because of the 12 months no interests for purchases made in the first 30 (or was it 60?) days, including transfer balances.

My cards through Associated bank were at 30% apr, which meant a $5-$10 interest fee a month = $120/year. I just thought, why not save myself that. Not just that, I also transferred my VS card too, which is also a 30% APR. So that's $120*3 cards = $360 I could be saving. Yes, my BOA card had a transfer fee of 3%, but the rewards should make up for it. So moving forward, I will only have to deal with payments for: BOA, Sears, Macys. Maybe I should just combine those too and just have 1 huge payment a month and it'll look good on my credit score as if I paid off all my card and only have my BOA. As I pay these down, my credit usage will decrease and help my score. I am going to control myself and not open anymore cards until next year. I really want the Chase Freedom. I also hope my score will reach 700+ as I continue this finance journey.

I recently picked up 2 gigs for me. One was $200 to record a bday part for 3 hours, which breaks down to $66.66/hr! That's more than what my boss makes, teehee! So that was inspiring and made me want to consider that passion full time and "foh-lyfe" lol. Another one is later this week to distribute flyers for a marathon run after my full time job. I can be quite the workaholic. Earlier the year, I applied for a test correcter ... but it was everyday 5-9 and I wanted to have a life, so I didn't take it. Last year, I was a secret shopper and made most of my pay from mileage travels, $600+ for 2-3 trips of 5+ hours. It was fun, but they stopped calling me.

My roth and savings are going good. I haven't dipped into my savings and my roth is untouchable until 60. I also have to decide on term life for my parents and me soon. I'm not sure why I didn't start any of this earlier.

Other goals I have is to get going on the dream to update my parents' home. Too bad I work til 4pm, which is when most places close :( so I can't make any calls. I'm thinking of selling t-shirts...but people have soo many of them. One thing at a time, Choua. leggo!

Thank you for reading.