Potential Spending Fast Hold

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I have encountered a large bump in the Spending Fast road...

That bump is more commonly known as tuition.  Every semester, it seems as though I have "issues" (to put it nicely) with my financial aid.  I qualify for it, the government awards me money, and then my University thinks of a reason not to give it to me... I often wonder if they are just pocketing it for themselves.  This semester is no different.

After applying for financial aid, the government awarded me $6,2500 for both the Fall 2011 and the Spring 2012 semesters.  Insert sigh of relief because I will finally be able to finish school and not have to take out another loan...  I was so excited.  Not only would I able to finish school and graduate, but I would be able to continue saving money for my house down payment!

Holy crooked criminals Batman, the greedy University monsters are at it again!

Shortly after being awarded my government money, I received a letter from my university stating that I was not eligible for financial aid.  The reason?  I have exceeded the maximum credit allowance for my university, which is 186.  What?!  That seems like an awful lot of credits to have earned without a degree...  I met with my financial advisor, and she assured me that in fact I only had 125 attempted credits, but typically, "students who reach 100 credits are flagged," and thus forced to appeal the revocation of financial aid.

Of course I submitted an appeal, but found out that the process will take about 30 days to complete.  Meanwhile, my tuition is due in 2 days.  If it is not paid in full by Friday at 5:00 pm. I will be purged from my classes, with very little chance of getting back in due to wait listed students.  So what do I do?

I tried signing up for the school's offered payment plan which would allow me to make payments for the next three months, and because I would be paying, I would not be purged from my classes.  I am so upset, why should I have to pay, when I was awarded financial aid?!

At least until my financial aid is appealed and the money goes through, the payments on the plan are something I can afford.  So, with much lament, I decided to sign up.  At the very least, at least I could be reimbursed later when my aid goes through.

Not so fast!

Because I have "Pending Financial Aid" I am not eligible for the payment plan.  I was to told I would have to pay my bill up front.

"If I had the money up front, I wouldn't have applied for financial aid, or tried to sign up for a payment plan," I complained to the undergrad freshman who was manning the Financial Aid office and being very unhelpful about finding a solution to my problem.

So, it looks like I am stuck paying a bill I had not counted on paying.  The only money I have is the money I have saved so far from my Spending Fast, and even still, I am still about 2/3 short.  I have emptied my money market account and am in the process of taking out a signature loan through my credit union to pay the rest.  I am determined to pay the loan back in the same amount of time that the school's payment plan would have allowed, 4 months, so that I can continue saving again as soon as possible.  As sad as I am about my diminishing house fund, I have to pay for school, so all of my Spending Fast savings for the next four months will not be going into my money market account, but now will be going to pay back my tuition.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that my financial aid appeal goes through, and I will be reimbursed so that I am not completely deterred from my saving.

The Spending Fast

Lately I have become OBSESSED with money. 

Don't get me wrong, since I was out of work for a year, I have been money conscious, but it's never been like this.  I have always hated money.  That tends to happen when you grow up in a house where there is always a money shortage...  I just hate it.  When I was out of work, I taught myself to coupon.  Extreme coupon even.  I learned to only buy things if they were on sale and if I had a coupon or multiple coupons.  While I saved a-crap-ton of money, I still ended up with a bunch of stuff I didn't need, and had no room for.  Couponing taught me that I was spending less, but buying more.  My spending habits were still out of control. 


Do you know how many times I've gone to Target for toothpaste, and come out with a receipt for $150 and a bad case of buyer's remorse.  Did I mention I would usually forget to buy the toothpaste?  But hey, I saved $94.63!

I don't know what it is, but for the past few months I have been really worrying about "being prepared" (prepared for what?  I don't know, just prepared) and "money" and "saving" (as evidenced by previous posts, and my monthly Save Money Series).  I feel like I am nowhere close to where I should be financially at this stage of my life, and the more I think about it, the more anxious/worried/sick I feel.


I do have a savings account to which I contribute 10% every pay period.  But I usually chip into it to support unnecessary spending, so by the end of each month, my savings account is essentially non-existent.  I am finally out of (consumer) debt, and yet, I still find myself "broke" a lot of the time.  Even though my current job is paying me twice my asking price, I keep thinking the problem is that I need to make more money (isn't that the case with everyone). 

The real problem is that I have a "leaky bucket," and rather than fixing it, I'm just getting frustrated that all my water is leaking out.

I've tried budgeting.  I create these totally awesome Excel spreadsheets where all I have to do is enter the total amount on my receipts.  It tracks my money, tells me how much I can still spend, and would help me stay on track.  I create it, and then never look at it again.  I've tried being like Audry Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's and only using cash. They say using cash creates a mental drive to stop spending, because you physically feel the money leave your hands.  I've tried only using my debit card- bad, bad, bad idea.  The only thing I haven't tried is to just stop spending (Duh! Doesn't it seem like this should be the first course of action rather than the last?).

While cleaning my room this weekend, I had the TV on for background noise, and the Clark Howard show was on.  He had a guest named Anna who became debt free in just one year!  How did this young, thirty-something State Clerk/part-time-photographer go from having $19,000 of debt to getting rid of it in just one year without getting a new job or adding income? I had to know.

I started reading her blog And Then She Saved, and ended up reading every.single.entry.  Anna basically cut out unnecessary spending for an entire year.  In 2010, she paid her bills, and bought only what she considered to be essentials - food, gas, insurance, phone, medical, and even a gym membership.  She cut out everything else - travel, makeup, eating out, music, coffee, salon trips, entertainment, even gifts (all Christmas, Birthday, Shower gifts were handmade or re-gifted items) etc.  By the end of the year, she had saved almost $20,000 and was able to become completely debt free! 

While reading about The Spending Fast I thought, "eww fasting..."  In our church we are encouraged to fast on the first Sunday of every month.  If I'm being honest, I've never done it.  I've tried, believe you me, but usually around three o'clock I feel a migraine coming on, and have to sneak a few Cheerios.  The word "fasting" is kind of a dirty word, and even though many blessings come from any kind of fasting, it is, well, hard.

I decided that I want to try  do this Spending Fast.  I am going into this knowing full well that it is really going to suck, and at times I might fail, but a small failure is OK, I'm not going to let it deter me from the big picture.  I am starting on July 1, 2010 and am going to continue for a year.  There are a few roadblocks in my way already, because I do have at least two trips planned this summer but again, I won't let it deter me.  I am blinded by the lights and glitter of $20,000 which for me, would be a down payment on a house!  I'm a little nervous but mostly kind of excited.  Not quite "I'm going to Disneyland excited" but more than "Tomorrow is the first day of school" excited.

P.S.  This year, Anna is doing a Spending Diet, which is a little easier than the Spending Fast (this time she allots $100/month for spending money).  For anyone who wants to try this out, check out her blog to get the rules!