Summer Banks
Overlimit Credit Cards Cadenza! Damnit.
I have plenty of credit cards.
My feeling on them is that it's not really a debt... whether or not I miss a few payments, or regardless of my credit rating, the cards should be very happy to have me, what with the interest and fees and all. And it isn't a personal debt (unlike the $1800 or so I owe my ex, which does make me very uncomfortable), it's more like a different number beneath my name on some nebulous, nugatory Excel cell. This sounds like reckless young thinking and would turn any status quo financial adviser a ghostly shade of white -- but I find it rather liberating. (I must admit, though, I wouldn't think this way if I weren't certain that after graduate school I'll make good money.)
So -- say, in the case of my forthcoming trip to Iceland. I knew there was no way I could afford it. However, a $2000 limit card I didn't even know I had fell into my lap -- and the airfare was one of my first purchases. $30/mo to go to Iceland and have a life-changing experience, learn a new language, eat pylsur, hang out in art galleries...? Yes! Yes, please.
I have a few faults when it comes to the things.
The first is that sometimes I'm frankly afraid to look at my bills. I established Clearly Broke to try and get over it; in order to post here and give honest transparency, I have to check the bills.
The second is that I'm fairly disorganized. And, when you need to carefully time your payments between paychecks and outstanding payments, disorganization and bad timing can lead to problems.
Today I'm going to do an inventory of my credit cards and see where I stand. This could get ugly.
First, here's a look at my system. I keep a list in my e-mail in-box of all my credit responsibilities. The list mostly a summary of what's due, how much, and when -- but beneath it, when I have time or really need to know these things, I like to tally my available credit and my outstanding debt, as well.
Now, according to this system, I've missed a few payments -- which, again, I attribute to my disorganization.. I believe my e-mail to be out-of-date with the payments actually up to date. We'll see.
Now, I'm going to post every single one of my credit card bills. American Express I paid recently, so I'm going to skip that one.
First up, Discover.
Whew. I have a few more paychecks in front of me before it's due. Thank goodness. These days, Discover is my "American travel" card -- i.e., when I'm going to Japan/Iceland/Canada wherever, I use Discover to feed myself, say, at the airport. I won't eat anything unless I can buy it with Discover. I won't use any card but Discover.
Next, Household Bank Visa.
Hooray! I paid this one ahead of time. And there appears to be enough on it to buy me a few meals in Iceland... so, I guess I'll need to put his one away to make sure there're STILL a few meals on it when I get there.
Alrighty. Looks like my first Capital One card is next.
Ah. Well. It looks like I used up every last cent of this one in Japan (believe me, I had to) -- and then decided to buy a round of beers at some "bro bar" down the street from my apartment. This image should make for good pickin's for my critics -- "if you're so broke, what're you doing at a bar? Save your money!" ... etc., etc. You know what? You're right.
Here's a quick aside. I have a modified maxim I tend to live by, that I came up with all by my very own self: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull buy... but all play and no work makes Jack a dipshit." As such, I work and study rather hard, thank you. So, after a long day, I do enjoy a pint with a coworker or two, probably a few nights each week. Transparency, no secrets --- the themes of this blog!
Anyway. I'll be responsible and pay this card now, since it's $8 over the limit.
One mistake I've made here is that I should have maid the posting date AFTER this Friday's payday. ;.;
On to my SECOND Capital One account. Hooray!
... Whew! Cue the Britney Spears. "Oops, I did it again..."
Guess I should pay that one, too. There's a funny story behind this card -- maybe I'll post about it later. I know you aaaalll wanna know.
Done.
Ordinarily, I'd be paying my Starbucks Visa right now, but Chase has this laughable, bullshit notion of security which doesn't allow you to log in if they don't find a certain cookie or a matched IP address or something. So, they e-mail you a key. For EVERY LOGIN. And often, it never comes. I'll skip them and blame them for lack of payment later.
So, on to Musician's Friend, the proprietary card I have to feed my music hobby. I've actually used everything from here fairly extensively. Frivolous, perhaps, but most of the gear was instrumental in completing my UCSD senior art project, WarpZone.
$55?! Man. That's way more than I usually have to pay them. Argh. OK. I'm waiting for a few more paychecks to roll in before I hit that one. On to Shell Gasoline card!
Dang. This one I really remember paying. This is another one I'm just going to have to stall on until a few more paychecks come in. Happily, I take the train and bus everywhere; $7 worth of gas would get me, oh, 30 miles?
This is getting ugly. Best Buy has never been good to me (have they been good to anyone?) so let's cross our fingers.
Notice that the account has been "reconsidered" -- they actually completely revoked my credit privileges awhile back -- so I revoke their selling privileges. Anyway, since they payment isn't huge, I'm going to take care of it right now. These guys are NASTY. They make it very difficult to get your payment in on time if you're someone like me and you remember only a few days before. Payments can only post on weekdays, and for some reason it takes AGES before you account is noted as paid. Other cards I have note instantly. What's that all about, Best Buy? Some extra fees you can dick out of us? Sheesh.
WHEW! Alrighty. Next up? Macy*s.
Cool. I just paid it right away because for some reason I always forget about this one. I don't use it too often -- it's just nice to have the purchasing power if I rip a pair of jeans doing the splits or something.
Finally, PayPal!
This one's always easy; I'm gonna hang out on it, anyway. The available credit is deceptive -- you can't really DO much with PayPal Buyer Credit. At least, I'd have to get creative to use it to feed myself while in Iceland. The bummer is that friends of mine had been kind enough to donate to my Iceland fund -- and it has been decimated by overage on my phone bill, which I haven't paid yet because I wasn't actually able to pay a $35 chunk at once -- so instead, Virgin Mobile has kept "topping me up" at $5/whack. Damnit!
*sigh*
Alrighty.
Here's the updated e-mail reminder.
And there we have it.
As you can see, my bill schedule's pretty hectic. I haven't got a lot of pretty things to show for it -- my car's junk; my computer's very average (no laptops, here); my clothes are a bit snazzy but no Diesels, Replays or Golas...
I HAVE though, gone places. And learned tons. And have created works of which I'm quite proud. I have learned new languages across the world, and listened to my own language from people who mean the world to me right here at the local pizza pub. I choose these debts and this hassle so that when I want to live life... I can.
Watch this space for posted bills, paychecks, money philosophies, medical experiments, and so on.
My feeling on them is that it's not really a debt... whether or not I miss a few payments, or regardless of my credit rating, the cards should be very happy to have me, what with the interest and fees and all. And it isn't a personal debt (unlike the $1800 or so I owe my ex, which does make me very uncomfortable), it's more like a different number beneath my name on some nebulous, nugatory Excel cell. This sounds like reckless young thinking and would turn any status quo financial adviser a ghostly shade of white -- but I find it rather liberating. (I must admit, though, I wouldn't think this way if I weren't certain that after graduate school I'll make good money.)
So -- say, in the case of my forthcoming trip to Iceland. I knew there was no way I could afford it. However, a $2000 limit card I didn't even know I had fell into my lap -- and the airfare was one of my first purchases. $30/mo to go to Iceland and have a life-changing experience, learn a new language, eat pylsur, hang out in art galleries...? Yes! Yes, please.
I have a few faults when it comes to the things.
The first is that sometimes I'm frankly afraid to look at my bills. I established Clearly Broke to try and get over it; in order to post here and give honest transparency, I have to check the bills.
The second is that I'm fairly disorganized. And, when you need to carefully time your payments between paychecks and outstanding payments, disorganization and bad timing can lead to problems.
Today I'm going to do an inventory of my credit cards and see where I stand. This could get ugly.
First, here's a look at my system. I keep a list in my e-mail in-box of all my credit responsibilities. The list mostly a summary of what's due, how much, and when -- but beneath it, when I have time or really need to know these things, I like to tally my available credit and my outstanding debt, as well.
That's a lotta bills!
Now, according to this system, I've missed a few payments -- which, again, I attribute to my disorganization.. I believe my e-mail to be out-of-date with the payments actually up to date. We'll see.
Now, I'm going to post every single one of my credit card bills. American Express I paid recently, so I'm going to skip that one.
First up, Discover.
Discover? Discover what? International uselessness?
Whew. I have a few more paychecks in front of me before it's due. Thank goodness. These days, Discover is my "American travel" card -- i.e., when I'm going to Japan/Iceland/Canada wherever, I use Discover to feed myself, say, at the airport. I won't eat anything unless I can buy it with Discover. I won't use any card but Discover.
Next, Household Bank Visa.
Hooray!
Hooray! I paid this one ahead of time. And there appears to be enough on it to buy me a few meals in Iceland... so, I guess I'll need to put his one away to make sure there're STILL a few meals on it when I get there.
Alrighty. Looks like my first Capital One card is next.
Uh oh. Rats!
Ah. Well. It looks like I used up every last cent of this one in Japan (believe me, I had to) -- and then decided to buy a round of beers at some "bro bar" down the street from my apartment. This image should make for good pickin's for my critics -- "if you're so broke, what're you doing at a bar? Save your money!" ... etc., etc. You know what? You're right.
Here's a quick aside. I have a modified maxim I tend to live by, that I came up with all by my very own self: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull buy... but all play and no work makes Jack a dipshit." As such, I work and study rather hard, thank you. So, after a long day, I do enjoy a pint with a coworker or two, probably a few nights each week. Transparency, no secrets --- the themes of this blog!
Anyway. I'll be responsible and pay this card now, since it's $8 over the limit.
Alright, CapOne, we're settled. Bitch.
One mistake I've made here is that I should have maid the posting date AFTER this Friday's payday. ;.;
On to my SECOND Capital One account. Hooray!
... Whew! Cue the Britney Spears. "Oops, I did it again..."
Another one? Awwww.
Guess I should pay that one, too. There's a funny story behind this card -- maybe I'll post about it later. I know you aaaalll wanna know.
Ugh. Better safe than sorry.
Done.
Ordinarily, I'd be paying my Starbucks Visa right now, but Chase has this laughable, bullshit notion of security which doesn't allow you to log in if they don't find a certain cookie or a matched IP address or something. So, they e-mail you a key. For EVERY LOGIN. And often, it never comes. I'll skip them and blame them for lack of payment later.
So, on to Musician's Friend, the proprietary card I have to feed my music hobby. I've actually used everything from here fairly extensively. Frivolous, perhaps, but most of the gear was instrumental in completing my UCSD senior art project, WarpZone.
Another late one. Argh!
$55?! Man. That's way more than I usually have to pay them. Argh. OK. I'm waiting for a few more paychecks to roll in before I hit that one. On to Shell Gasoline card!
Wow. Good thing I don't drive anymore.
Dang. This one I really remember paying. This is another one I'm just going to have to stall on until a few more paychecks come in. Happily, I take the train and bus everywhere; $7 worth of gas would get me, oh, 30 miles?
This is getting ugly. Best Buy has never been good to me (have they been good to anyone?) so let's cross our fingers.
Not so bad!
Notice that the account has been "reconsidered" -- they actually completely revoked my credit privileges awhile back -- so I revoke their selling privileges.
Anyway, since they payment isn't huge, I'm going to take care of it right now. These guys are NASTY. They make it very difficult to get your payment in on time if you're someone like me and you remember only a few days before. Payments can only post on weekdays, and for some reason it takes AGES before you account is noted as paid. Other cards I have note instantly. What's that all about, Best Buy? Some extra fees you can dick out of us? Sheesh.
There. Take it.
WHEW! Alrighty. Next up? Macy*s.
An easy one! 
Cool. I just paid it right away because for some reason I always forget about this one. I don't use it too often -- it's just nice to have the purchasing power if I rip a pair of jeans doing the splits or something.
Finally, PayPal!
Booo.
This one's always easy; I'm gonna hang out on it, anyway. The available credit is deceptive -- you can't really DO much with PayPal Buyer Credit. At least, I'd have to get creative to use it to feed myself while in Iceland. The bummer is that friends of mine had been kind enough to donate to my Iceland fund -- and it has been decimated by overage on my phone bill, which I haven't paid yet because I wasn't actually able to pay a $35 chunk at once -- so instead, Virgin Mobile has kept "topping me up" at $5/whack. Damnit!
*sigh*
Alrighty.
Here's the updated e-mail reminder.
Hopefully I can track this stuff this time.
And there we have it.
As you can see, my bill schedule's pretty hectic. I haven't got a lot of pretty things to show for it -- my car's junk; my computer's very average (no laptops, here); my clothes are a bit snazzy but no Diesels, Replays or Golas...
I HAVE though, gone places. And learned tons. And have created works of which I'm quite proud. I have learned new languages across the world, and listened to my own language from people who mean the world to me right here at the local pizza pub. I choose these debts and this hassle so that when I want to live life... I can.
Watch this space for posted bills, paychecks, money philosophies, medical experiments, and so on.
