Bills Bills Bills

Trying to be organized and ensure that we pay off our monthly bills on time is such a pain. We accrued a bit of debt when I stopped working to stay home with my daughter. We are trying to get back on track and into smart spending and saving. It just seems that as soon as you finish with the bills more bills come in! What an exhausting process. Yet another reason my dream job is to be either an heiress or a princess is that I would have an accountant!
In our organizational process we are making sure that our bills are on time. We finished automating our bills. First of all yes, I did skip a chapter of Ramit's I Will Teach You To Be Rich because it was on investing. We are heading out of town next month to visit family and we are not saving money to invest right now it is all going toward getting the car up to par and the trip. I will have to go back to that chapter upon our return.
We sat down with all our bills and decided which bills needed to be paid at the beginning of the month and which needed payment at the end. We went on our banks website and signed up for auto-payment. It was unbelievably easy and I can't believe that I did not do this earlier. Mind you I am a bit nervous that something horrible will happen like our checks won't get deposited or something and then we will drown in it all but in reality I think it will turn out great. I think it will be REALLY helpful while we are out of town.
You know, if you are reading this (which I know not a soul is because I have one of those trackers on my blog) and you are in college or fresh out of college you really should buy this book. I wish I knew more about finances when I left college. I would have been so much better off now than I am. 'nuff of that - like I said, I am not going to lament my past but ensure my future!

On a personal note, I am thinking of re-reading my books by my favorite author, Maeve Binchy. My husband bought me one of her books called Echoes, but as it turns out I already owned it and read it. I might read it again what the heck. She is an amazing storyteller if you ever feel up to looking into her books.

Banks

Ramit has a very strong opinion about banks. His second chapter is devoted to "Beating your Bank." I have never had that strong of an opinion about banks. I had an account with Bank of America in college and on through my first job but then I was charged a $30 fee on a one penny overdraft and that soured my taste for them. According to Ramit it right well should have!

He says, no fees, no overdraft charges, large interest rates - that is what the goal is.

I belong to a credit union which is good unless they have fees. I screwed up last month and I had overdraft fees (used the debit before the paycheck was deposited - I swear I am like a small child when it comes to finance...somebody needs to put me in the naughty corner!)

Anyhow, emboldened by my recent success at lowering my APRs with my credit card I called the bank to get the overdraft fees waved.

This is a small credit union where they know us by name and even have called us when there was suspicious spending on our card (our card number was highjacked at a local gas station and someone was spending right through Mexico - jackasses!)

This call was going to be so hard. I found it easy to be tough with Jana, a person I never met before but to be tough on the sweet ladies from my own credit union?

I made the call. I talked to Diana and told her that I made a mistake but that I wished to have the overdraft fees deposited back into my account.
She told me I had to put a letter in writing for a review. I asked if email would do and she said yes.

I wrote:
Dear Diana,
I would like my overdraft fees reversed and the money to be deposited back into my checking account. It was a mistake that will not happen again. I have been a member of this Credit Union for a very long time and do all of my banking through this credit union. I appreciate your help in this matter.

I called back later that day and she said she would call me the next day.
She never called but the charges were deposited back into my account that day.

Now do you see why I am crushing on Ramit! He is a genius!

Now I need to research banks. Ramit loves him some online banking...I guess I am going to have to research that.

As I wrote yesterday, I finished the book Julie and Julia and I watched the movie afterwards. (I like to do that read the book then watch the movie.) I really liked it. I like how they showed the life of Julia Child a lot more than inthe book...she was an interesting woman. My favorite quote from the movie - Julie: "I am such a bitch." friend reply (what was her friend's name anyway...did they ever actually say it?) "yes, you are." Julie: "Do you really think I am a bitch?" Friend: "Yes." Julie: "I know."