Finally Got New Contact Lenses

Yesterday morning I wake up to discover my very last pair of contact lenses had dried up. As I had previously written, my fiance and I had been sharing lenses for a while and even though my crappy vision plan said I was eligible for a new benefit as of January this year, I put off the visit for as long as possible. The reason: all the hidden out of pocket expenses they hit you with.

Luckily the extra paycheck has afforded me some extra cash and I was able to walk out the door with a year's supply of contact lenses, new glasses, and a bonus pair of sunglasses! The total: $225.

I expected to pay $200 so it was just a little higher than I predicted (feared). If I had been able to find glasses that were entirely covered by my plan benefit of $120 I would have been closer to the total. Alas they don't sell many glasses that don't look really really stupid for less than $120. Even though I got the more expensive frames I didn't opt for the extra anti-glare coating that would have cost $45 more. Out of pocket cost = $35.

The contact lenses were the biggest cost. I debated only getting a six month supply but the discount for buying a whole year's worth lured me in. Also one less thing to worry about paying for six months from now. My plan pays $120 after a $40 copay, so really $80, which would have only gotten me 1.5 boxes per eye (and they don't sell half boxes). So I paid more to save more. Out of pocket cost = $180.

The eye exam was free. They tried to convince me to get some high tech x-ray picture of my eye taken for $30 but the model picture alone was enough to scare me away from doing that. Out of pocket cost = $0.

The sunglasses were a cool bonus as I was in need of a good pair. They're non-prescription and the tech convinced me to get them since my insurance would cover it. I only had to pay the taxes on them. Out of pocket cost = $3.

Paying for stuff like contact lenses sucks but ,today I am seeing very clearly out of my fresh new lenses so in the end it was worth it.

It's Extra Paycheck Time Already!

Woohoo!!! Right after writing up my budget yesterday I looked at a calendar and realized there were 5 Wednesdays in September this year and thus I had arrived magically in a 3 paycheck month without even realizing it. Previous 3 paycheck months I had waited anxiously for, so it is, I think, a positive sign that this one snuck up on me. I've extolled on the virtues of the Extra Paycheck before (and have heard the response of how it's not really extra money but we won't go there right now).

In April I started my new job and used the extra paycheck to update my wardrobe, bolster my savings and go to DisneyWorld. Six months before that, I used a extra paycheck to attend a destination wedding.

This time a lot of the money will be saved up for our wedding, which is a good thing because the money just doesn't want to save itself.

I am also going to save some money for Christmas! Christmas is coming whether I like it or not. I've blogged about how I really should set aside a little each month for Christmas. I even made this one of my 2009 Resolutions. So I am transferring $200 to my Other Checking Account where it will be hang out until I start looking for gifts. I think my fiance and I will buy gifts for most of our families together this year but I can't very well make him buy his own gift. He, on the other hand, has been saving for Christmas all year (atta boy!).

So here's my Extra Paycheck Plan:

9/02 paycheck

$100 - credit card (I keep putting a little on this card and paying it off)

$200 - Christmas savings

9/16 paycheck

$800 - wedding

9/30 paycheck

$800 - wedding

So that's my current plan. We have a couple of installments to pay to our wedding vendors in the months of December and January so I am glad the three paycheck month came now so I can plan ahead.

Missing my Engagement Ring

Hey check out my new engagement ring. It cost me $9 at the mall. I guess I didn't really need it but I had talked about getting a fake engagement ring for when we travel abroad so now I have one to act as a place holder for while my ring is in the repair shop. Yup my real engagement ring is in the shop.

It started out a uneventful day at the mall where my fiance and I had planned to use free movie tickets to see a show. On the way there I figured we should take a gander at the wedding rings at one of the jewelery shops. The saleslady was nice and let us try on a bunch of rings even though we told her we were just browsing. She complimented my ring and offered to clean it for me for free. Then she put it under the microscope and realized the stone (i.e. the heirloom diamond) was loose. My fiance could see it shifting around as she poked it without even looking under the microscope.

So we are having the setting fixed, tightened, whatever they do in such a circumstance. We couldn't go back to where he bought the ring (out of state) so we let the chain store at the mall send it away for us. I almost had a panic attack when I saw my ring go into a little paper envelope. I guess I never knew how much I loved the ring until it wasn't on my finger anymore.

The good news (and I'm sure I'll appreciate this when the ring has been safely returned to me) is that the repair is only going to cost $25 and then it comes with a lifetime warranty (meaning they will fix the setting for me indefinitely).

In the meantime the search remains for the ring wedding ring to go with my engagement ring. We will probably return to the store when he bought it because I can't seem to find anything that matches my ring quite right. I have been looking at the chain jewelry stores online mostly (though we are going to pick it out in person). Our budget for my ring is about $800. This ring at Kay's looks almost exactly like what I want, except it must look really different in person because I've never seen something like that for $500 on any of browsing sessions.

But back to the engagement ring (which should be here in a little over a week now), the woman at the jewelry store suggested I have the ring taken in every six months to have it cleaned and the setting checked. Is this something I should have known about? Do you take your ring into the store and if so, how often?

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.

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

Woohoo August is almost over already and I am free of over $750 in student loan debt! Sure it may seem like a small amount when compared to the still astronomical amount I have left but I'll take it. I've created a Google spreadsheet that should hopefully make the chart more readable from now on.



At this rate I should have all of my loans paid off in 15 years. I am actually aiming to do it in ten. Thanks for reading. I can use all the encouragement I can get!

$135 and My Suspended License

So remember how I said I was going to renew my driver's license so that I could finally get behind the wheel of our shiny new car?

Well I finally braved the lines at the DMV on the one night the office is open past 5 and got the bad news. My license was suspended for failure to appear in Traffic Court. Failure to appear? How could that happen? The answer in brief: my parents suck.

I haven't had a car of my own in years. I really didn't need one and couldn't afford to replace the car my parents gave me for law school after it died (aka the world's worst car). But once while I was home visiting my parents I borrowed their car to run and errand (for them mind you) and got pulled over and issued a ticket for having an expired registration. Mind you it was my parent's expired registration. I gave them the ticket and was assured they would "take care of it."

I guess when they said they would take care of it that meant not only would they not send in the ticket they would not notify me when a second notice was sent home (the outdated address on my driver's license). So now I can't renew my license until I pay the fine. The damage: $135.

My fiance thinks I should make them pay the fine but really I don't want to get in an argument about it. They should have paid the ticket but I should have 1) updated my address on my license when I moved out and 2) realized that the ticket was in my name (in my defense, the cop told me the ticket wouldn't go on my record if my parent's just renewed their registration).

So that is definitely a Budget Buster. I haven't sent in the money order yet but I'll get around to it. The guy at the DMV said I will probably have to come back in TWO TIMES. Awesome.

Budget 8/19 - 9/02

I can't believe September is almost here. It's been a fun summer but it seemed to fly by so fast. Hopefully the next 11 months will fly by soon so that we can enjoy this wedding we're saving for. Believe me, some days I just want to run down to City Hall!

Anyway, I have some spending I've been putting off and some of it can't be put off any longer, namely new contact licenses, getting my hair cut and renewing my driver's license. I could use some new clothes for work but I'm not going to buy too much stuff yet. Anyway, with that in mind, here is my budget for the next two weeks:

Starting Balance = $1259

Capital One - 100 (still paying for all the fun I had in June)

93 - Perkins loan

54 - School loan

Sprint - 73

License renewal - 50

Wedding - 400

Laptop - 100

Contacts - 120?

Beauty - 80

Groceries - 75

Misc. - 100

I don't think the contact lenses will cost me that much but I should be prepared to spend it anyway just in case. My vision insurance has switched since the last time I got contacts so who knows what they'll try to pull now. The "free" eye exam is a bit fat lie in my experience.

Where it Went 8/05 - 8/18

Today has been incredibly busy for a change so I am just getting around to my budget post now, forgive the delay. As I predicted it was hella annoying having 3 big bills to pay all during the same two week period. Plus I got a letter in the mail saying I was overdue to the utility company! FML. This was news to me as I logged into my account after I moved and terminated my service and had a $0 balance. I even updated my address just in case. Usually I would get an email telling me a bill is due so receiving an overdue letter was not expected.

My fiance had to make up some of the wedding savings this month as I was pretty close to being broke. I will probably need to move the Sallie Mae payment to a different day of the month so I will report back on how that goes. In the meantime, here is how I did with my budget:

Wedding - 200/50
Sallie Mae - 406/406
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/0 (not yet posted)
Credit Card - 100/100
Groceries - 75/60
Utilities - 0/45
Misc. - 80/100

We are still trying to figure out plans for our rehearsal dinner so I'm going to have to step up the wedding savings. I will find out the account balance and add a ticker to encourage myself.

As always, I will post a new budget very soon.

We Bought a New (Used) Car

One of the most popular mantras in personal finance is to drive your car until it dies...which is what, unfortunately, ended up happening to my fiance's car. It wasn't SO unexpected. The car had stalled a few times recently and had been emitting a less than pleasant smell. Also the air conditioning has been broken the entire time I've been dating him which...well, isn't so pleasant in the humid Northeast summertime.

To add insult to injury, the insides of both driver side doors had started to give way, making it nearly impossible to open the door. Several weeks ago someone had also broken his side view mirror in a parking lot.

Yet we hoped we could make the car last a few more months, especially since we didn't use the car everyday. But as the saying goes, "you make plans and God laughs." So we hit the Internet, the newspaper and the street in search of a newer car.

I'll spare you the automotive mumbo jumbo and skip to the chase: we got a beautiful 2008 Hyundai Sonata Limited. Didn't qualify for Cash for Clunkers sadly enough. With a $500 down payment and $500 credit for our "trade in" (which was dead in the parking lot of the auto mechanic at that point) we financed the remaining $15,000 at 7.99%, a rate that's a pretty standard right now for used cars.

As much as it sucks to introduce a new monthly payment into our lives (my fiance hasn't had one in years and I've never had a car loan) I am a big fan of the new car. I've only been allowed to drive it around a parking lot until I get around to renewing my driver's license but it drives really well and I know it's a car we will have for a long time. What this means, however, that now more than ever, the onus for saving for the wedding is on me. And I'm up for the challenge. I see it as my way of contributing financially to our lives.

Budget 8/05 - 8/18

I'm not too excited about this budget. I mentioned in an earlier post how I decided to automate some of my student loans so now I will be paying Aunt Sallie Mae again with this paycheck...even though I just paid her! One of my readers mentioned I could call and get them to change the date on the payment but I haven't tried that yet...and my payment is already scheduled for the 17th. Frustrating because I already have two automated payments scheduled for the 15th of the month. I mean, I'll live and everything but it's not going to be a good two weeks for the wedding fund. :-(

So here's my budget. I also have a rant about friends and money which I'll save for a new post tomorrow.

Starting Balance* = 1246

Wedding - 200
Sallie Mae - 406
Defaulted Student Loan - 260
Nice Collection Agency - 125
Credit Card - 100
Groceries - 75
Misc. - 80

Must must get back on the brown bagging bandwagon. Also my mea culpa of the day is I managed to charge some things on my credit card lately that I didn't pay back right away and now it's time to pay the piper. It could be worse I guess...at least my credit limit is so low. :-)

So yes I will have to find a way to make up for the wedding fund savings deficit later in the month. I think I'm going to try to sell some of my old law books online.

Where It Went 7/22 - 8/04

In the month of July I saved $1100 for the wedding! This is the second most amount of money I have ever saved in my life...and the fastest I've ever saved so much ever. Plus the $100 that my fiance had put in the account we now have $1200 for the wedding. I'm very excited to have saved so much....but unfortunately most months I will not be getting a check for nearly $500 in the mail.

11 months to go and according to my calculations we need to save about $900 each month if we are going to meet all of our goals. I plan to save at least $800 of my salary each month and my fiance will throw in extra money from time to time. It's only fair considering he's paying the mortgage, the electricity, and the car loan (more on that new development later).

Spendy summer continues but I'm not feeling so guilty about it. In the winter months when we're boiling chicken soup because it's too cold to go out we'll think fondly of the nights it was so beautiful we just had to take a stroll to the neighborhood tavern and sip cocktails on the sidewalk patio.

So, here's how I did compared the budget I laid out two weeks ago:

Budgeted/Actual

Wedding - 400/715
Aunt Sallie Mae - 407/407
Perkins Loan - 93/93
School Loan - 54/54
Sprint - 79/79
Laptop - 75/50
Groceries - 75/100
Misc. - 63/200

Jewelery - 0/20

I only paid $50 to the laptop and I'm not sure why exactly. I had enough money in my account (and still do) to pay the $75 as planned but I had a nagging feeling I was forgetting an upcoming expense. Oh wait, just writing that sentence made me remember....

I need to renew my driver's license. I have no idea how much that endeavor costs but I think it's around $50. The website is no help either...it says the fee is based on your license class. Attention NYS: there are only three or four different license classes, can't you just list the friggen fee for each one?

Stay tuned for my new budget.

Montly Student Loan Debt Roundup

I just started this feature at the beginning of the month and I'm anxious to post a second month to see if there's any progress on my student loan debt. And since the first of August is a Saturday I'm putting it up two days early.

Subsidized Stafford*
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$41,454.63 $41,454.63 $41,390.05 -$64.58

Unsubsidized Stafford*
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$34,376.12 $34,376.12 $34,322.56 -$53.56

Private Undergrad Loan**
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$26,393.79 $26,393.79 $26,177.70 -$216.09

Defaulted Private Loan***
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$25,190.84 $25,190.84 $24,670.84 -$520

Perkins Loan****
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$8,665.23 $8,665.23 $8,514.27 -$150.96

Law School Loan*****
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$1,710.70 $1,710.70 $1,625.31 -$85.39

Grand Total
Start 07/09 Last Month This Month Difference
$137,779.31 $137,779.31 $136,700.73 -$1,078.58


*Note, the interest rate for these loan has been decreased from 4.875% to 4.625% by signing up for direct pay!

**My parents pay this loan. The interest rate is 4.13%.

***My previous calculation was a little off. There is no interest on this loan since it's technically not a loan anymore, just a payment agreement.

**** @5%

***** This is the smallest but most annoying loan at 8% interest. I am currently paying double the minimum payment each month and hope to knock it out completely in this calendar year, pleasing both Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman fans.

I am pleased to say that my student loan debt has decreased over $1000 this month. Sure...that includes $260 in financial error on my part but the good news is it can only go down from here! I feel like my Stafford Loans aren't going down as much as they should but it's probably chalked up to the problem I noted before about paying on different days on the month screwing up how much of your payment goes towards the principal. Now that I'm direct pay I'll be checking to see if more progress will be made.

Got My Security Deposit Back!

I can safely say I never thought this day would come. My landlord was great when it came to fixing stuff, getting the sidewalk shoveled, etc. but that's not to say we didn't have our issues during my five year tenure in the building. And from what I heard from former neighbors he was notorious in denying former tenants their security deposits. I had pretty much written off the deposit as I paid it so long ago and figured he was going to find a way to keep most/all of my money.

Well color me surprised when I opened up the mailbox today and found a letter from my former landlord with a check for $492!! It's not the full amount I paid 5 years ago...he also included an itemized bill....but hey it's $492 I definitely was not expecting to get this week.

To the Wedding Savings it goes!

Budget 7/22 - 8/04

Ok here's my budget for the next two weeks. No room for screwing around. Must beef up the wedding fund A.S.A.P. and finally realize the savings I have from finally moving out of my apartment. What's better is that we finally have a stretch of time where we don't have any pricey plans.

So here's where my money will be going:

Starting Balance = $1246

Wedding - 400

Aunt Sallie Mae - 407

Perkins Loan - 93

School Loan - 54

Sprint - 79

Laptop - 75

Groceries - 75

Misc. - 63

It's going to be tight. I already spent $20 today on a cute necklace and earring set that I saw. I don't have much casual jewelery and I've been meaning to jazz up my boring lawyer wardobe especially now that business casual summer is in effect. But I'm gonna make it work because I need to stay on task for saving for the wedding!

Also in money news I decided to finally automate my Sallie Mae student loans because there's a marginal decrease in interest and so said interest is always computed on the same day (in layman's terms your payment goes the farthest). But she wants me to pay on the 17th of the month which is around when I have been paying but I want to fix it so that payment stays on the second paycheck of the month...since the first paycheck of the month I am paying $385 to collection agencies. It seems, however, the only way to do that is to make an extra payment one month. So...it's going to take me a while to figure out how to swing that one. Sigh.

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!

Getting in Shape

Forgive me for my lack of posts lately. Been unmotivated when it comes to finances and that's definitely not a good thing. But I'll try to get back in the swing of things in the next few days. And that's not the only area of my life that needs some motivation....

Fiance and I joined the gym. After quitting nearly a year ago due to my failure to find time/energy to go work out and getting hit with a monthly membership (and sometimes an accompanying bank overdraft fee) I upped and quit the gym. In the months that followed and not entirely related to quitting the gym, I have packed on some pounds and so has my fiance. I've mentioned this before in my mea culpa to new clothes expenses but I'm going to rant about it again.

Gaining weight sucks. Having to buy new clothes isn't fun if you're only buying them because you don't fit into your current wardrobe. And there just doesn't seem to be anything I can pinpoint that I'm doing wrong...yet I have to deal with the judgment and criticisms of my family and sometimes even my friends about my changing appearance. I don't eat junk food. I'm not a lazy bum. I walk everywhere. I do not overindulge. But for whatever reason I am not as thin as I want to be or as I have been in the past. Blame age. Blame beer. I'm fed up with it.

So I've been going to the gym. It takes some getting used to. After not working out for a while the physical pain I endured after the first session was pretty bad. Also I absolutely hate cario exercises. It's just so boring. I've tried swimming. I've tried classes. I've bought video games and workout DVDs. I'll find the thing that works best for me soon. In the meantime I'm just venting. As a bride-to-be I ideally would like to be in great shape and that's just not as easy as it sounds. I work all day long and then I'm just friggen tired and want to get home to my cat and my leisure time. Also I've started a diet that leaves me hungry and drained of all energy I would need to exert on the treadmill. Like I said, I'm working on it.

The relatively good news is that we managed to save a little green on the membership. Since I was rejoining the same gym I belonged to for several years I asked them to waive the membership initiation fee of $100 and they agreed. Also my fiance ended his gym membership at a pricier place so our couplles membership of $65/month is actually slightly cheaper than what he was paying for his single membership.

I'll keep you updated on the progress. In the meantime I would love some getting in shape advice or encouragement!

Budget 7/08 - 7/21

First, the bad news. Remember how I was so excited about my retroactive COLA? This wasn't just based on office rumor or speculation. My boss came by my cube (only the second time he has ever stopped by) and told me the details himself. Come this morning I log into my bank account and while I was glad to see my paycheck had been deposited (don't get me wrong) I didn't get one red cent extra. I mentioned this news to my receptionist and she said she wasn't sure what happened. An hour later I heard it through the grapevine (the grapevine!! Unlike my coworker who was told personally when my boss called her into his office. Why didn't he call me in? Huh?) that the COLA is not in effect until you have been in your job six months!!! And...the lump retroactive sum I was promised...totally approximately $210? I'm not going to get it.

I'm pissed. Pissed I'm not getting the money I was promised YESTERDAY and pissed that I have received no official notice of this fact. $210 would go a long way right now. Not to mention I have another three months of waiting for the COLA to kick in....losing out on about $180.

And okay, I know that this rule was not created by my office and the information I got yesterday was no one's fault here, I still reserve the right to be pissed. I need to make up the difference in my wedding budget and that money was going to put me over the edge. Now I'm just going to have to find another way.

Rant over. Here's my budget for the next two weeks, throwing a little extra at the wedding account to make up for the last pay period.

Starting Balance = 1246

Wedding - 500

Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Nice Collection Agency - 125

Laptop - 75

Groceries - 100

Camping - 50

Misc./Dry Cleaning - 86

And that's how the cookie crumbles. We're going camping with some friends next weekend and I'm very excited for a little get away that doesn't involve seeing either set of our parents. I'm still down about $200 in the wedding budget so I'm going to have to figure out a way to make it up next month. Stay tuned!

Where it Went 6/24 - 7/7

So I am finally free of my apartment and paying rent, yay! Moving meant scrambling around like a maniac for a week and a half and spending some cash, but it's finally over and I can start seeing some savings.

I had to buy a new dress for a wedding we attended and despite my efforts at finding one on sale (believe me I tried) I ended up spending $100. Granted it's a very nice dress and I'm sure I'll be wearing it again but...ouch.

I also bought a weight loss video game to the tune of $43, but $10 of that money was technically spent on "donating" my old computer monitor to Best Buy. I'm trying to think of ways to make working out fun. It stinks. Hopefully I'll start to see some results in that area of my life soon as well.

Without further ado, here's how my budget stacked up over the past two weeks compared to my earlier projections:

Aunt Sallie Mae - 406/408
Perkins Loan - 93/93
School Loan - 54/54
Utilities - 45/47
Sprint - 100/97
Laptop - 70/0
Groceries - 100/0
Misc. - 128/280

Clothes - 0/100

Video Game - 0/43
Wedding - 400/90

My first pay period of saving money for the wedding and I totally blew it. I have to start transferring the money to the wedding account at the beginning of the pay period to prevent this problem from reoccurring. Must remember to get some deposit slips from the fiance. Will need to adjust accordingly in today's budget as this wedding isn't going to pay for itself.

I didn't end up sending in the lap top payment yet but don't worry folks (and fiance) it's not due until the 13th and I will pay it today!!

Stay tuned for the next budget and some bad news. :-(