So today is the first day since I started the blog that I get to analyze how well I stayed within the budget I made for myself. It proved a little harder than I envisioned, as it turns out getting online access to my bank account revealed to me precisely where my money was going whereas my head-in-the-sand philosophy of the past did not. And I didn't budget for the $315 I received back from the bank/my landlord although I sure found out how to spend it fast enough.
So here it is, my budget from two weeks ago and what I actually did with the money:
Budget (Actual)
$90 Sprint Bill ($90)
$100 Repaid Loan to Friend A ($100)
$300 Settled with Nice Collection Agency ($301.53)
$315 Owed to Landlord ($0- Paid it and then got it back)
$205 Payday Loan ($390!!! - See later post on this pain)
$??? Student Loan ($100 - Owe $300 more)
Not in Budget But Paid
$50 Overdue Utilities
$38 Bank fees
$245 cash withdrawals ($100 for the new furniture)
Total Spent: $1324.53
Note that my Starting Budget was $1220 but I was able to get it up a little more from the following sources:
$35.00 Revolution Money Exchange (Thanks Chicky for using a referral!)
$28 Refunded Bank Fee
$32 returned some of the cash I had left over in my wallet and emptied a change jar
Which totals about: $1229
So yes, sadly, I did overdraw my account for the umpteenth time. It was mostly an accident and once I realized it had happened I rushed to the bank with all the cash I could scrounge but it was still a couple of bucks short. But trust me, it's been much worse in the past.
So there it is, the story of my finances. It amazes me to have spent so much in the past 14 days and have nothing to show for it. The payday loan story I'll have to explain in another post but pretty much THEY ARE KILLING ME and I am doing everything I can to get rid of them.
Today is payday so I can start all over again. Hopefully it will go better this time around!
3 comments:
I hope for your sake you can get out of the payday loan soon. The reason you're overdrawing is that thing is taking the money from you no matter what. You're lucky to have the landlord give you back the money you budgeted. It really sucks to have almost everything you make go completely out the door and have nothing to show.
The other issue is the overdraw on the bank account. You can track things many ways but if the outgo is more than the income, it will cause a problem. This is another reason it's important to have an emergency fund of probably $500 in your case. Hope you can get a handle on those student loans.
Thank you, it's going to be an uphill battle I realize but I unfortunately got myself in this rut so now it's time to get out of it! I am working on stopping payment to one very unscrupolous (sp?) lender and will hopefully have some money returned to me as well.
An emergency fund is also in the works, stay tuned and thanks for your comments!
I am hoping by now you have a cash flow sheet. i have one I am willing to share with you - but there is absolutely know reason y you should pay overdraft fees. The only semi-excusable reason I can think of is if someone cashed a check you completely forgot about
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