Week 4: Bargain Shopping

I was so excited yesterday bargain shopping. I was able to spend under $60 bucks and got myself 4 shirts, a pair of flats and a purse! I think I am good at setting the budget at around $50 every two weeks for shopping.

I did my taxes this year. Hopefully I didnt mess anything up. I will be receiving a refund of about $1300. Now that I am revisiting my debts for the next month, it looks like I will be able to pay off all the credit cards especially BML ($812.53) and the concert tickets I bought for $115 and have $373 left to either snowball or go shopping. Yes, I know SNOWBALL it is.

I will only be worrying about a couple of debts this year and I am excited.

1. Personal Loan ($8618.81) $250/mo
2. Student Loan ($13002.62) $100/mo
3. Rent $450/mo
4. Cell Phone $260/mo **need to look into lowering this Family Plan
5. Car Insurance $100/mo

TOTAL: $1160/mo

I feel so relieved now that all my debts has been consolidated. The first few weeks of the month I thought I couldn't make it. It was overwhelming after moving out that I dont have any money left over days before the next check comes in. It scared me. At the end, all I needed to do was to just organize everything and try not to spend too much on food.

Week 3: I don't know what I'm doing

I feel like I dont know what I am doing with this whole budgeting thing. I have tried and failed every tips and trick on the books. However, I wont give up. Im sure there is something out there that will work eventually.

On a lighter note: This week actually was pretty productive. One more week to add where I didnt use any credit cards and I was able to finally set up my medical benefits (medical, vision and dental) which totals to about $45 a bi-weekly. Plus, a 5% deduction for the 401k. Definitely need to budget those in. I also need to start adding an "Entertainment" budget added.

I have an interview tomorrow for a marketing part time job. This should help out on experience and help pay off remaining bills. I am still sticking to my goals

- Personal Loan pay off 5k
- Emergency Fund $1000

I am building a NEW budget now :)


1/17: MLK No Work
Dinner $3.30
Groceries $7

1/18: Target
Lunch $2.15
Target $14.02

1/19: Risotto Night
Groceries $21.05
Bofa CC Payoff $19

1/20: Brought Lunch, Happy Hour
Drinks & Food $17

1/21: HOME
Lunch $4.89
Gas $54
Tea $1.95

1/22: Snowboarding
Pass $69
Dinner $9.22

1/23: Football Championship
Gas (AGAIN!) $48


TOTAL ON FOOD: $66.56
TOTAL ON SHOP/ENT/MISC: $83.02
TOTAL ON GAS: $102
TOTAL ON BILLS: $19

Week 2: Needs Improvement

Week two of this debt diet was actually worse than the first week. I ended up spending more, although I saved on gas this week.

Monday 1/10: day off
Gas $53.60
Movie: $8
Dinner (Ihop) $9.82

Tuesday 1/11: Kinda no spend day
Breakfast $3.45

Wednesday 1/12: Kinda no spend day
Dinner Made $4.20

Thursday 1/13: Yikes
Soda (WTF) $1.60
Stamps (CHECK) $8.80
TGIFridays $22.65
Pinkberry $8.90

Friday 1/14: Double Yikes
Paid Loan $230
Paid Insurance $200
Shop (VS) $59.15
Indian Food $6.51
Drinks $4.11

Saturday 1/15: Beach Day
Target (Withdrawal) $29.39

Sunday 1/16: Game day
BJs $22.00
Dinner $6.51

TOTAL ON FOOD: $89.75
TOTAL ON SHOP/ENT/MISC: $105.34
TOTAL ON BILLS:

Week 1: Harder than I thought

What a week - This was harder than I thought. I actually went out two times and spent about $30 the past week. However, I will be saving more with all my CC fees after I was able to get approved to consolidate and get a personal loan from my credit union. I am on the way to being debt free. I am so excited.

The debt that I will need to pay off before March are:
- Car insurance $850 (or at least $400)
- Collections $210
- Car Repairs $260


My budget for the incoming week will be:
- $100 (food/groceries/eat out)
- $50 gas
- $50 misc. - will either be to payoff things (snowball or shop - I havent decided yet)

OVERVIEW WEEK 1: No Spending

Accomplishments:
1. Brought lunch the whole week to work - yay!
2. Consolidated all CC debt with an 11% rate from the credit union (4 year payoff - or less please!)

Spent:
1. $13 Hooters - Roomie Dinner
2. $15 Elephant Bar - HH
3. $3 Coffee throughout the week
4. $50 Gas
5. $260 Car Repair *** OUCH!

Income:
1. NONE

Day 1

Today made me just realized how blessed my life really is

+ I have great a great family
+ I have great friends
+ My BF has been wonderful
+ I have a job
+ My dog is ok (although still limping *poor thing*)
+ My car is running - after the accident a week ago (or maybe a year ago... that sounds better
+ I have a roof over my head with a snuggie to keep me warm

There are a lot more to be thankful for and I know I wont be able to get thru them unless I think about them but I am really just grateful for everything in my life right now. I need to remind myself of these simple things than stressing out about things that are temporary.


OVERVIEW

Accomplishments:
1. Bought lunch at work
2. Called Capital One and Citi to reverse fees - Need to call citi back. The fee hasnt been posted
3. Cancelled freecreditreport $14.99 added a month
4. Called furniture to get the remaining delivered that were missing
5. ***WORK: Cleaned up loans at work :) finally in the single digits

Spent:
1. $1.59 - Coffee (used coins)
2. $20 - Donation

Income:
1. NONE