Winter Cleaning

I am trying to clean up my finances ... still. I have finally begun making payments on all of my outstanding student loans (some of them I honestly had no clue about until I got my free credit report!) which is taking up some additional cash. But the main motivator for improving my credit score is the fact that next year my car is paid off and I need to prepare myself for buying my next car.

Unfortunately, not all of my loans are going to be "current", but they will have payments being made on them. Currently, two of my student loans are behind in payments. When I get my Christmas bonus in a couple of weeks I am going to apply all of that money towards the one, which should bring it current. The other loan I just started paying on this month and I have a LONG way to go before that is paid off. Hopefully, though, the fact that it is being paid monthly will improve my credit rating. Does anyone know if your credit score goes up if youre making monthly payments, even if it is past-due?

I also opened up an ING Orange Savings account this weekend. I set pretty ambitious goals earlier this year to save several hundred dollars a month towards a new car. Unfortunately, I will need to trim those back. So, I am opening this savings account and it will automatically have funds transferred to it monthly. This way, I don't really see the money (it goes out right when my paycheck goes in) and I can't miss it or avoid saving it. It isn't going to be a lot of money, but it will be a start. Also, when my car is paid off next summer, I plan to put the money I'd normally put towards my car payment into this savings account. I do want to keep my current car for as long as I can, but I have my doubts about how long it will actually last me.

Anyway, part of being an adult is becoming financially responsible. I've spent the past few weeks defining my financial obligations and working towards eliminating unnecessary spending. Now I need to actually execute this plan.

First step: Identify my student loan obligations and begin paying them. This is being taken care of.

Second step: Determine whether I need to move when my lease is up. I brought this up to my roommate and we both agreed to extend my lease another year when it runs up in March. This eliminates a huge point of stress for me and also allows me to continue to live in a fairly affordable environment.

Third step: Watch my spending on eating out! I am trying hard to only eat out when I am on the road and it is difficult to pack food. Unfortunately, I have been on the road more often than I have been home - so I've needed to be EXTRA vigilant about decreasing my food budget when I am not flying. This is a work in progress.

I hope all of this makes me a more stable person, financially. Any advice or thoughts? I'm going to continue to seek extra hours at the airline (where I make more money per hour than I do at the hotel) but keep the hotel as a back-up. I'm kind of working there on a week-to-week basis as we speak.

Take care and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!