I'm planning on using the ATM card while traveling as my source of cash. But that means I really don't want too much extra in the account just in case. So this afternoon I figured I'd just quickly move the extra into my money market account (that's nicely insured considering all that's going down recently). Well, I don't have the link set up apparently. And it'll take about 5 business days or so. Which means it would be tight. And I want to cross this off the long list of things left to do before I leave. Normally, I'd be stuck. But guess what, this isn't the "bad" referred to in the title. I came up with the brilliant idea of another way to dispose of the cash.
I, like many, have some student loans from my most recent escapades in higher education. I consolidated my loans right when the rates were at an all time low and locked in a marvelous 2.625% interest rate - sweet right? Even with today's economy, that's still pretty good. Except there was one small loan I couldn't. It was through the university directly and not the federal government. I just checked and the rate was 5% - yikes. And paying $50 a month really wasn't doing much. So I just paid it all off. It was about the amount I wanted to transfer anyways, so seemed like it was meant to be. And I feel a big relief. I hadn't realized that this had been weighing me down, but I had been meaning to take stock of my student loans and figure out the best course of action now that I was back in the black after the whole house fiasco. It's paid and done and I'm that much freer.
Granted I still have the big student loan left. But good news is that since I hadn't checked for quite awhile, the remaining amount was 10 grand less then what I had in my head. Still not chump change and will take awhile to pay off, but not as bad as I had remembered. I hate debt. I like to live within my means, and with a nice rainy day buffer. It makes me nervous when people use their credit cards like they do. It just doesn't make any financial sense, and there's no reason most of the times. Just wait until you have the money. But now I'm starting to rant.
So that was the "good" that came out of the whole trip preparations. The "bad" is that I came up with another marvelously brilliant idea. Since I had nailed down what I was bringing - outfits and everything, that I would just wear the shoes I was bringing all this week and next. Well, I'm on Friday and my feet really, really hurt. The fabulous heels are giving me a killer blister. Just one, on the heel, but it's so raw. I now walk with a slight limp regardless of the shoe and bandaids applied. Yet, I still have hope. It's a good plan, just need to wear the feet down (no pun intended). Luckily, I shouldn't really be wearing the heels too much over there.
Only an hour left of work and then I'm picking up a little gag gift for a friend. He is going to be in Madrid about a month after I'm there. I'm going to hide the gift with a note somewhere and then send him a postcard with clues on finding it (kind of like letter boxing if you're familiar with that). He's really excited, so now the pressure is on to make it good. But what do you leave for a month in a public place that someone might find and is potentially exposed to the elements? I need to get it today so this weekend I can package it all up so that it's waterproof and everything.
This weekend I'm trying to balance rest with chores. I need to wrap up the trip plans and clean the house as I have a friend staying over Monday, but will also go apple picking with some friends. Should be a good balance. Next week is fairly busy and then I'm outta here on Thursday - less than a week!
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