Where it Went 11/24 - 12/07

Sorry this post is so late in the day. Got stuck in mandatory training all day. Have some money news and general life musings to write about, but not enough time to write them.

In the meantime, here's where my money went the past two weeks compared to the budget I established:

Budgeted/Actual
Roth I.R.A. - 500/500

Perkins Loan - 200/200

Credit Card - 200/200

Groceries - 75/0

Health - 45/130

Gift - 100/160

Misc. - 151/140
Clothes - 0/110

This budget reflects $14 in additional income earned.

I managed to get some great gifts for my husband and brother (who is deployed for Christmas). And I got some new work clothes since it is freeeeezing out.

Health costs should be abating soon I hope. Can't wait for my FSA to kick in!

Budget 11/10 - 11/23

It's a girl!!!!!!!!!!! Sallie's Niece is now an aunt. This morning my niece arrived safely into the world, a few days late but healthy as can be. I get to meet her in a couple of days - the beginning of three weekends in a row away from home, but I won't focus on that just yet.

So here's the budget for the next two weeks. I will finally make it to the grocery store, even though DH will be out of town next week, so we'll barely be home together for the next couple of weeks. I still need to eat and we're running out of things I can make dinner out of!

Starting Balance = $1271*

Sallie Mae - 407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Sprint - 74

Groceries - 150

Professional Fee** - 155

Health - 45

Misc. - 180

*I upped my 457 contribution again. I'm a little schizophrenic about that sometimes, but I know I won't miss the $14 every two weeks and my retirement savings could definitely use a boost. I also started a FSA finally, but that won't kick in until the beginning of next year.

**As much as I would love to go out and buy Christmas presents or get my hair highlighted, I am spending some money to increase my professional certifications. I am hoping I eventually see some outside income which makes this expense worthwhile. And if not, it can't hurt on a resume.

And since I've mentioned Christmas....DH and I decided we're not going to spend a lot of money on gifts this year. We have savings that he's been putting aside all year for presents and we have a couple of things picked out for people...and that's it. No more overspending on the holidays! (Except maybe adorable baby things for my new niece.)

Where it Went 10/13 - 10/26

Boo for this budget report. Not fun "boo" as in ghosts and Halloween but boo as in "boo hoo, I''m broke" or "my boo boo costs what?!"

After declaring I was gonna go out and spend some money, well, spend money I did. Then...I had a bit of a health scare, resulting in the following charges:

Urgent Care Center co-pay - $20
E.R. visit co-pay - $70
Prescriptions (including those not related to the health scare) - $20.
Grand Total = $110, which puts my total health care expenses at $180 in the PAST TWO WEEKS if you count the random $30 I owed my OBGYN.

Seriously boo to all of that. The Emergency Room is definitely a spooky place to spend your Saturday. And I don't even know if I will be charged a co-pay for my followup appointment today. Plus I went out and got some OTC things to help with my condition after the appointment. (Note that expenses today don't count towards the budget report, it's just aggravating.)

Anyway, the good news is I'm okay. And really considering opening up a Flex Spending Account since open enrollment season is coming up.

So here's where it went:

Projected/Actual

Sallie Mae - 407/407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Sprint - 74/74
Health - 60/180
Event Tickets - 60/60
Charity - 30/50
Groceries - 100/100
Clothes - 150/0
Misc. - 144/289




Booooo! Totaling everything up is scary. A lot of the miscellaneous is household stuff as I went on a kick of sprucing up our condo. But reality has set in and I'm done with shopping sprees for now. And I didn't even get any clothes!!!

I was able to earn $50 for consenting to take on another court assignment. I'm excited that these are coming in more frequently now as I definitely enjoyed spending the last $500 I earned. There may be more news in the area of additional income soonish so stay posted.

Where it Went 3/03 - 3/16

Hello there and a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's hoping my Irish blood will bring me some luck soon as I'm currently behind on my March Savings Madness by $32 and with New York State (and several others apparently) holding on to their refunds I may even get further behind before this month is out.

It has been a good couple of weeks in terms of personal development. I started working out more and eating healthier. This new development came with a higher grocery bill but I've been researching ways to eat healthy for less and hopefully will have some new tips to share soon. And the new Spring weather headed my way meant adding some new clothes in my still pretty basic wardrobe. So all in all, I'm slightly over budget.

Here are the numbers compared to the budget I set two weeks ago:

Budgeted/Actual
Credit Card - 120/120
Wedding Savings - 100/68
Groceries - 75/120
Sallie Mae - 407/407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/76*
Healthcare - 70/40**
Misc. - 118/195

*I don't know why this payment was lower. Maybe as I get closer to paying off that account (yay!) the payments get lower. I need to look into that because I would really like to free up that monthly line.

**I still didn't send in my annual dental deductible. I hate mailing bills and I am completely out of checks.

Miscellaneous spending includes a bus, train and subway tickets since I went into NYC for a while before visiting my fiance's family. There was some wedding spending but that came out of the Wedding Savings. I hope after this month we will be well on our way to paying for our wedding in cash!

Since today is Extra Paycheck Day (March is a 3 paycheck month) I'm hoping to catch up a little bit.

Where it Went 2/03 - 2/16

Payday! My two (and sometimes three!) favorite days of the month.

I may have some exciting news soon -or rather I do have news but I don't know how exciting it is yet - about bringing in some extra money next month. Stay tuned!

And now, where my money has gone for the past two weeks. A bit of a mea culpa here is that not buying groceries during this entire budgeting period - working late, snow, etc., has left both my fiance and I spending too much money on lunch at work.

Bad bad! I thought I had learned my lesson to brown bag it. Must try harder.

So here's how I did:

Budgeted/Actual

Wedding Savings - 500/500

Credit Card - 125/125

Sallie Mae - 407/407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260

Nice Collection Agency - 125/125

Groceries - 75/0

Sprint - 78/0*

Health - 60/40

Misc. - 110/220

*I just paid this today so I will include this amount in the next budgeting period.

So yes my spending wasn't awesome but because of my federal tax refund I was able to give a nice boost to the wedding savings account. Just as a preview, my fiance and I have decided that after the wedding I will continue to save money in this account as general savings for us - to help grow our emergency fund, save for our next car, house, etc.

Budget 2/03 - 2/16

I'm having one of those "why doesn't it grow on tree" days in regards to money.

Logged into my credit card account and realized I have been spending too much on new clothes lately, which is discouraging considering I don't consider myself even close to having a decent professional wardrobe. I need to lose twenty pounds or just wear a sack every day. Or both.

I'm just going to lay off the clothes shopping for a while and try to step it up at the gym.

And despite the feeling that all I have been doing for the past 5 months is pay bills and save for the wedding we are slightly behind in our savings.

So here is my budget for the next two weeks, taking into account the $495 federal tax refund I received:

Starting Balance = $1740

Wedding Savings - 500

Credit Card - 125

Sallie Mae - 407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Nice Collection Agency - 125

Groceries - 75

Sprint - 78*

Health Co-pays - 60

Misc. - 110

*Sprint is approximate since the bill isn't showing up yet but I took into account the $73 I usually pay plus a $5 donation to Haiti I made.

Our of miscellaneous I also want to buy a Valentine's Day gift for my fiance.

Where it Went 12/23 - 1/05

Happy New Year!

Between the holidays and my busy time at work starting up I am crazy busy. Or just crazy. :-)

I do have a lot to say so real quickly:

My fiance got a $2000 bonus at work!
We refinanced the condo mortgage today!
I had a work vent but I think everything is okay.
I spent way too much money over the holidays and I'm just trying to make up for it now.

So...in the meantime here's where my "cash" went over the past two weeks and in a few hours I will deal with everything else.

Projected/Actual

Credit Card - 250/250
Charity - 50/50
Wedding Savings - 500/500

Groceries - 75/0
Christmas - 75/180*
Law School Loan - 54/54
Perkins Loan - 93/93
Misc. - 183/60*

*There's some overlap in these two categories.

My siblings never reimbursed me for a gift I bought for my parents. Who knows if I will see that $100 any time soon.

That's all for now.

Where it Went 12/09 - 12/22

Oh my. Two days until Christmas and I am SO busy. I wish I could say it was all holiday fun keeping me occupied lately but mostly it is work. Since I only started this job in April I had no idea how busy things get around this time. Yikes!

So just want to pop in and check on my budget. Something is off since I had $50 extra in my account today even though it looks like I went over budget...but that's okay because I have to turn around and pay my credit card today so that money will soon be out the window.

Anyway, here's where my money went for the past two weeks compared to the budget I set:

Budgeted/Actual
Groceries - 100/100
Sallie Mae - 407/407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/125
Sprint - 74/74
Holiday Shopping & Parties - 200/150+
Misc. - 101/240

A lot of the miscellaneous spending is holiday related but I just lumped it all together for convenience.

And since I got paid today now I get to figure out how the rest of my financial year will go.

I want to post a year end wrap up but that will probably have to wait until after Christmas.

Where it Went 11/11 - 11/24

Sorry for the lack of posts. I was dealing with an unexpected health problem that is now (mostly) resolved. And then work/life got in the way a bit. But of course, payday always reminds me to be accountable to myself, my readers and my budget.

It was a spendy two weeks in addition to the $50 in health care costs I incurred (2 $20 co-pays, $8 in prescriptions, and $3 on the bus to the doctor, and yes I realize that totals $51 but I like round numbers). Mailed out our Save the Dates for the wedding. Went out to the movies with friends once and the bar three times.

Another budget buster was our inability to grocery shop which means I purchased about 9 lunches in ten work days and more than a few slices of pizza. Bad S.N., very bad. After the holiday we will remedy that problem.

So here's where my money has gone over the past two weeks compared to the budget I set:

Budgeted/Actual

Wedding Savings - 220/40

Wedding Spending - 0/30

Sallie Mae - 407/407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260

Nice Collection Agency - 125/125

Sprint - 74/74

Groceries - 75/0

Healthcare - 0/50

Beauty - 0/20

Misc. - 119/180

I still haven't done any Christmas shopping, haven't found my wedding dress and need to be saving more for the wedding. To tell you the truth, I am pretty overwhelmed right now and I hope it gets better soon.

I Paid Off My Laptop!

Ahem.

Notice the sidebar update. I have just finished paying off my new laptop courtesy of Best Buy's 0% financing, which is still in effect.

There was a bunch of negative comments when I first made the purchase. And I admit, it's best to save up for big purchases, but sometimes life just throws a curve ball at you. I am working on building my emergency savings in addition to the wedding savings but really the 0% interest offer really helped out a lot.

Is this a lesson that credit can be used responsibly? I hope so. I'm just glad it's paid off so I can free up another $75 a month towards other goals.

Budget 10/14 - 10/27

My friends are starting to turn 30! I guess this should come as no surprise as my own thirtieth is just around the corner. And, like the celebration of other milestones, this one comes with a price. Not that I mind SO much....it's just one more thing to budget for.

So this weekend we are hitting the town with a friend. Renting a limo and going bar hopping. I'm excited to celebrate with my friend but I always regret leaving my night in the hands of other people. First, it's hard to control what you will spend when every move is dictated by others. Second, this group of friends loves to stay out late and I just can't party like I used to. Oh who am I kidding? I haven't been able to stay up late for about a decade.

I'm going to pay for my share and my fiance's share of the limo, about $85, and my fiance will pay for our drinks. I don't think there's a dinner involved (phew!) but I also want to get a small gift. So my total will come out to be $110.

And here's where the rest of my paycheck will be going over the next two weeks:

Starting Balance = $1246

Birthday - 110
Sallie Mae - 407
Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Nice Collection Agency - 125

Sprint - 73

Groceries - 75

Misc. - 193

Out of miscellaneous I may finally get a hair cut and buy some new pants. And to get wildly optimistic I may buy an early Christmas present.

Easy come, easy go. The good news is this will be the last paycheck before my raise kicks in!

Where it Went 9/16 - 9/29

I won the office football pool! I know most of my readers frown on gambling and I generally don't like it myself but office pools are kind of fun and I love having a reason to read up on football. And since I correctly guessed all thirteen games this week (and the score of the Monday night game!!!) I was declared the winner! Sure it's only $16 but it will pretty much subsidize my weekly $2 buy-ins for the rest of the season. And maybe, just maybe, I will win the grand prize too. Anyone got any picks for Week 4?

Anyway, back to budgeting. I once again managed to not send in my friggen late ticket money. I don't know why. I have just been pretty bad keeping myself accountable lately. I took my fiance out on a date and that came to about $70. I spent $40 on an Avon order I placed with a co-worker. It all adds up I guess. (All of this spending is labeled under miscellaneous in the budget breakdown.)

Luckily today is payday and I get a fresh start. I will have a little more money to throw into Wedding Savings as well as the ticket due to the Extra Paycheck Month. So here's where my money went for the past budgeting period:

Sallie Mae - 406/406
Perkins loan - 93/93
School loan - 54/54
Sprint - 73/73
Old ticket - 135/0
Laptop - 75/75
Groceries - 75/70
Wedding - 200/200
Misc. - 135/240

So stay tuned because I have my Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup coming up, my new budget, and a friend's financial dilemma to ponder.

Budget 9/02 - 9/15

A lot less wiggle room for me to get in trouble with in this budget. I am going to send a money order to the city court and get the process of renewing my license rolling. And I need to pay $34 ($17 each) for my fiance and I to attend my office picnic. Seems like a waste to me to pay $17 to eat corn on the cob and chat awkwardly with people who don't work in my division (or worse, the ones that do!) but I don't want to seem like I'm not a team person AND if you attend you get the day off. And I'm taking the fiance since he's dragged me to enough of his work functions.

So here's my budget for the next two weeks. We're going to a festival over Labor Day weekend so I've made sure to include sufficient walking around/buying a churro money:

Starting Balance = $1246

Sallie Mae - 407

Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Nice Collection Agency - 125

Driving Ticket - 135

Office Picnic - 34

Groceries - 75

Festival - 100

Misc. - 111

Bye bye money. I'm looking forward to the festival. I didn't spend so much at the last one we attended but then again we were in a camper as opposed to a tent so we had more supplies with us. I'll try not to spend too much but I'd rather be pessimistic this time instead of underestimating my spending again. Anything I manage not to spend I can throw towards the wedding savings.

Where it Went 8/19 - 9/01

So tallying up this past budgeting period was a a little intimidating, but the news wasn't so bad. I did spend a lot of cash on dining out, wine and clothes. I was still able to meet my Wedding Savings goal (yay) but didn't end up getting the new contact lenses I need, the haircare I sort of need, or the driver's license I probably need. But spending money on food and wine is easy. Actually making an appointment and rearranging your day in order to spend money is less so. I must strive to do better.

But today is payday, a glorious day that I swear never to take for granted, that allows me a time once every two weeks to reexamine my goals (and my bills). So here's why my money went over the last two weeks compared to the budget I set:

Capital One - 100/100
Perkins loan - 93/93

School loan - 54/54
Sprint - 73/73
License renewal - 50/0
Wedding - 400/457
Laptop - 100/100
Contacts - 120/0
Beauty - 80/20
Groceries - 75/0
Misc. - 100/320
Clothes - 0/120

Since I didn't go food shopping before my fiance left town I ate out quite a bit (yummy Indian food). I also went out to the bar a few times with friends after work (I was lonely). And we went to a concert and I paid for the food and drinks. So...yeah, I spent more than I planned but less than I could have if I decided to be really bad. I am sad the summer is ending but at least it means less incentive to run around in the warm weather on a spending spree.

I tried to renew my license and found out I owe a fine. I haven't paid it yet.

I saved $400 for the wedding and spent $57 on Save the Dates to mail to our family and friends so they know in advance to book their travel accomodations for our summer 2010 wedding.

Stay tuned for my new budget.

Laptop Almost Paid Off

Back in May I got my shiny new laptop courtesy of a Six Month no interest financing through Best Buy and I am happy to report that with 2.5 months left to go before the offer runs out, it is nearly paid off.

I added the remaining amount ($117) to a Short Term Debt ticker on the side of my blog (better late then ever!).

Just wanted to post this update because I got mixed opinions on the wisdom of financing the computer rather than saving up the money myself. And looking back, I would do the same thing again. Yes, generally I don't think it's wise to buy something you can't afford, but I needed a way to keep up with work and keep in contact with my traveling fiance. I could have paid off the entire amount before now (and could do so now) but that would detract from my Wedding Savings goals. So why not use the 0% interest card to my advantage?

As for how I am enjoying my partially owned computer? So far so good. It's a little heavier than I would like but then again I don't trust (and cannot afford) those light-as-a-feather versions. Also I don't ever take it out of the apartment, so I'm just talking about the weight on my lap, a minor inconvenience. I dislike Windows Vista but you get used to it after a while. I'm glad to have it though as wedding planning on the internet is a fun way to spend your summer nights when the fiance is away and there's nothing on t.v.

Where it Went 7/08 - 7/21

So I pretty much screwed up the past two weeks, not watching my money as carefully as I should have been. I wanted to treat my fiance to a date weekend because he's been gone away on business so much. That would have been all well and fine if I had cut back on other expenses...but I didn't. I also treated a broke friend to Harry Potter and expensive craft beers....well he's supposed to be paying me back today but I'm not holding my breath. I got some take out food because I was too tired to cook for myself. Oh well, what's done is done.

The good news is I got an unexpected $50 check in the mail!

The sort of annoying news is that the bank in which we created the Wedding Fund has still not managed to sort out a bank to bank transfer so I watched money that was supposed to be reserved for the wedding slip out of my account. Hopefully the issue will resolve itself soon as I have learned the hard way that the only way to prevent me from spending money is to take it out of my account!

And now, the numbers. Here's where my money went as compared to the budget I established two weeks ago:

Budgeted/Actual

Wedding - 500/295
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/125
Laptop - 75/75
Groceries - 100/96
Camping - 50/20
Misc./Dry Cleaning - 86/424

Yeah I know, it's pretty bad. I really need to reign it in and transfer all of the wedding money to the wedding account ASAP! Otherwise there may just not be a wedding! Well, okay there will still be a wedding...but with some pissed off vendors!

The good news is I just realized I only have 5 more months of payments to Nice Collection Agency and I'm done paying that old card off forever!

Stay tuned for my next budget coming right up!

Budget 5/27 - 6/9

Time for a budget. Some bad news, some good news and some great news!

First the great news, I got my vacation compensation finally! Only 9 weeks after I stopped working at my last job they decided to finally give me my unspent vacation money back! Before taxes it totalled $1,342!!! But after taxes I got a little less than $700 back. Screw you tax man! Also I contributed more than usual this pay period to my 357 retirement plan (good news I suppose).

Other good news, my utility bill stands at a measly $45, the lowest I ever remember seeing it and a far cry from my sad sad days of my payment agreement. It may be one of the last payments I ever make on my own to the utility company as I have finally told my landlord I am moving out! There's still a little bit of uncertainty as to whether I have to pay for July's rent but I am hoping the answer is no and this budget will also see my last rent payment ever!

Now the bad news. First we got stuck in traffic on Mother's Day and I decided to use the web on my old cell phone. Bad idea! Despite the pains I endured to make sure I was on the best cell phone plan for me, I had failed to realize that unlimited texting did not unclude any web access. So I racked up $35 in charges in one day. But the worse news is that I apparently have managed to let my credit card escape the deep dark confines of my wallet and get used for non-emergencies such as sneakers and wine. The damage: $210! So soon after I got my balance down to zero!

Anyway so here's the new budget in which I will account for the above and allocate my vacation earnings accordingly:

Starting Balance = $1904

Rent (last one?) - 725

Perkins Loan - 93

School Loan - 54

Utilities - 45.90

Sprint - 100

Capital One - 210

Laptop - 70

Groceries - 100

Misc. - 75

Fiance* - 432

I currently owe my fiance $288 in old debt plus $205 for a festival ticket. With the money I give him I will almost erase these debts AND he will filter some of the money into the wedding account! Once I move out officially I will be able to pool all my additional money into this account! I seriously can't wait for this day!

I got a new laptop!

Greetings from Sallie's Niece's Headquarters - now not broken! I had been dealing with a semi-broken laptop for months now...which I just didn't want to deal with because I kept telling myself "it's not really that broken" to "well I can't afford a new laptop right now." But finally last week when my fiance was out of town the problem got worse and worse and yesterday we decided to set out in pursuit of a computer that would not make me want to give up computing forever.

Originally we set out to purchase a netbook...small and affordable..they sounded really cool. AND picking up and playing with the netbooks we saw I did kind of appreciate the novelty of the mini cmputers..but they were just too small. I really never bring my laptop anywhere except from the couch to the bedroom (haha) so I didn't need something so portable and I wasn't willing to sacrifice keyboard and screen size just to save a couple of bucks. In fact, the laptop I ended up purchasing was cheaper than the netbook I was eyeing.

So I ended up with a Compaq Presario X2 CQ60. I'll spare you the technical mumbo-jumbo but the fiance who knows more about it signed off the on the specs and I signed off on the price ($389) after first eyeing a sign in the store that said "ask about our open box specials" and we ended up getting it out of the box for ten percent off!

And since I of course did not have $400 floating around in the bottom of my purse the fiance and I decided that he should apply for a zero percent interest Best Buy card to charge the computer on. I would have tried applying in my own name but I'm still working on rebuilding my credit. We were approved and I have six months to pay the sucker off at no interest (around $75 a month). So yes another unexpected expense right before our Disney trip but I really needed the computer for my sanity (and wedding planning) and I really love it! They keyboard is very easy to type on. Look forward to more blog posts now that I have a functioning laptop!

Where It Went 4/29 - 5/12

I know I sound like a broken record but things have got to get better for me financially when I can get out of my friggen apartment lease. Worst case scenario (and what's looking likely to happen) is that I have to pay rent for the months of June and July and then NEVER AGAIN. It's not so bad I realize and I'm very lucky to have not one but two places to hang my hat, but ugh, the money I'm wasting! I could be saving in my emergency fund, I could be contributing to the wedding deposits, heck I could be out buying ten news pairs of shoes each month with an extra $725!



My spending has been a tad out of control now that the warmer weather has kicked in as well. I felt like going for a walk and oh look there's a restaurant...why don't I get take out? Also I've been social a little more and well that aint free. I don't regret it though, live is meant for the living and I've never claimed to be a hard core frugalist.

So here's where my money has gone compared to the budget I set two weeks ago:


Budgeted/Actual
Rent - 725/725
Perkins Loan - 93/0*
School Loan - 54/0*
Groceries - 100/70
Dry cleaning - 60/54
Misc. - 101/180
Dinner out - 0/63
Mother's Day - 0/50
Makeup - 0/30

*Not yet due

Wedding
Reception Deposit - $2000 - from my parents
Photographer Deposit - $500 - from my fiance


There's no turning back now, we're getting married!

Where it Went 4/15 - 4/28

Readers, I suck at saving. :-(

I try and try to put aside just a bit of my paycheck each month but it never works out. I know that having it done automatically from the payroll at work would help but I still want to build up a reserve fund that's connected to my checking account so I never have to battle the Evil Overdraft Monster again.

I blame the nice weather and my need for new clothes for work but I spent more money than I planned during the past two weeks. I also treated my fiance to a nice dinner out. One of these days I'll be out of my apartment lease and will be able to save more but now it's just discouraging.

So, without further whining, here's where my money went the last two weeks compared to the budget I planned:

Aunt Sallie Mae - 420/420

Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260

Nice Collection Agency - 125/125

Perkins Loan - 93/93

School Loan - 54/54

Sprint - 48/64

Capital One - 125/125

Utilities - 74/74

Clothes - 100/75

Emergency Fund - 100/0

Misc. - 163/260

Way too many bills to pay with one paycheck so I'm going to pay the other two smaller students loans again today to split that up for the future. At a reader's suggestion, I did figure out that the interest does accrue daily so the day you pay the amount due is the reason for the last discrepancy.

Much more to report concerning the wedding and other plans but that's all I can do for now!