Layout:
Home > Archive: April, 2006

Archive for April, 2006

A nice tuesday . . .

April 19th, 2006 at 05:01 am

Today was very nice at work, busy but not crazy. Getting home was a bit rough, we have the Chinese president in town and all the various security seriously messed up my bus schedule.

Rather than wait will the throng of people at my bus stop, I decided to check out a near by clothing store. I have a gift certificate that still had a balance and is almost a year old (I'm not much of a clothing shopper).

I ended up finding a really great pair of cropped pants that fit really well and were on sale. I still had to pay a little over the amount of the GC, but not bad at all. I hate clothes shopping, so if I have the money I'll generally just buy what I find. I think the last time I bought some form of clothing was a couple years ago when I bought a new swim suit.

Anyway, some other spending, but not bad.

-------------------------
Spending

Tues, 4/18:

$7.00 cigarettes
$13.05 clothing

$141.82 left in budget 'til 4/27

Work shenanigans

April 18th, 2006 at 04:51 am

Long day at work. We're going through a bit of a management transition and so are understaffed. Our new manager doesn't technically start until May, but has been in to help out.

I'm thinking I'll need to sit down with her and discuss my duties and how much authority the previous manager granted me. We had a staff meeting today, and I was left completely out of the loop as to what was going on - even though I am a manager, just the lower-rung manager. It's frustrating, because now after working hard at my position I have to prove myself all over again. Fun times Smile

I'm sure it'll all work out for the best, I just get frustrated if I feel like I'm not appreciated. We'll see how things go . . .

I was paid last Friday, here's how the budget for two weeks breaks down:

$855.63 pay

$262.50 half of May rent
$100.00 regular private student loan payment
$176.54 extra private student loan payment
$270.00 "spending" budget

My spending budget is a bit high this pay period because we planned a stock up trip to Costco. So far things are looking good, definitely some spending but I have stayed in budget.

---------------------------
Spending:

Fri, 4/14:
$2.00 coffee
$6.00 cigarettes

Sat, 4/15:
$70.00 groceries (Costco)
$5.69 drug store (toiletries)
$15.99 dinner out

Sun, 4/16:
no spending

Mon, 4/17:
$2 soda
$6 cigarettes

$161.82 left in budget 'til 4/27

Savings:

Sat, 4/15:
$0.50 drug store savings

$0.50 to be used 4/28 for extra student loan payment

March Final Numbers

April 17th, 2006 at 06:20 am

So, I have the final numbers for March. It was kind of a weird month, but good. I get paid every other week, so March was one of those months where I get three paychecks. That skewed some of my percentages, but in a good way Smile Here's the break down of my budget:

Must Haves (goal 50% or $1360.35)
~ Actual: 31.9% or $868.79

Save (goal 30% or $816.21)
~ Actual: 48.2% or $1312.59

Wants (goal 20% or $544.14)
~ Actual: 19.9% or $540.91

-------------------------------

Here's the break down of debt/savings in March, and the change since February:

Savings:

~ $18.64 short-term savings
(down $93.42 - used for planned Dentist visit)
~ $1.01 long-term savings
(no change)
~ $1,029.50 IRA
(up $8.26)
~ $3,334.83 401K
(up $340.26)
~ $376.29 vested Pension
(up $35.96)

Total Savings: $4,762.36

Debt:

~ $819.14 Private Student Loan 1
(down $836.05) Smile
~ $3,229.66 Private Student Loan 2
(down $30.79)
~ $8,250.79 Government Student Loan
(down $71.68)

Total Debt: $12,299.59
-----------------------

My private student loan is getting so low! It should be paid off in May. Very exciting.

I'll post later with my new budget for the next couple weeks.

Finished taxes :)

April 13th, 2006 at 06:00 am

I finished my boyfriend's taxes this evening. I did my own a while ago, but had been putting off sitting down and doing his. He really would do his own taxes, but since I volunteered the first year we were together it has kind of become my job. Yep, I'm the organized, dependable one in my relationship . . . The one that remembers taxes are due soon, or that we really should mail out those utility payments Wink

Both of our taxes are so simple though, it really doesn't take that long. A W-2 and a couple 1099s and we're good to go . . . He does have to pay this year, same as last year, but it's what we expected so no big deal.

In other news, I went over budget Frown Well, only by $1.59 but still. I had been doing so well. I blame work, but really I shouldn't have bought coffee on Tuesday. It was my own fault . . .

In my defense, it was a crazy day. You know how you walk into a bank and there are all these workers at desks? Yeah, well, my branch normally has 4 or 5 of us to help the "platform" side. Not on Tuesday. Nope, Tuesday it was just me. Yep, just little me to do the job of 4 people. And only 2 tellers for half the day! We normally have 5!! So, yeah, I shouldn't have bought a coffee, but I reeeeaaalllly enjoyed it at the time Wink

--------------------------

Spending:


Tuesday, 4/11:
$15.00 cigarettes
$3.99 coffee

Wed, 4/12:
no spending

-$1.59 in budget ending 4/13

New goal for savings

April 11th, 2006 at 01:08 am

I had the day off today, and spent it relaxing on my deck (it's sunny here!! yeah!) and doing some financial upkeep.

I posted earlier that I may have to adjust money that is set aside for the dentist and our vacation in June (I call this "short/term savings" just 'cause I use that title for expenses I have to save up for and are planned but aren't regular expenses - such as vacations, gifts, dentist/doctor, etc.). Anyway, I figured I can adjust to setting aside $45 per paycheck instead of $38. That'll be $135/month and will safely fund the vacation and the dental bills.

I will have to lower my extra debt payments, but I'll still pay off my private student loans in May and October. I had planned on paying the second in November, but with all the extra payments I have been making it moved back a month.

In other news, I decided to give ebookdrop one more try. I still have a few books that I don't want to go through the effort of listing on half.com or ebay since they would get very small amounts. I'll send one in tomorrow, we'll see how quickly I receive payment.


--------------------
Spending:

4/10:
no spending

$17.40 left in budget 'til 4/13

Savings:

4/10:
$1.19 ebookdrop

$3.68 to be used 4/14 for student loan payment
$1.19 pending

Catch up post . . .

April 10th, 2006 at 08:03 pm

Well, I haven't posted in a while. First, I've been really busy at my job and had family visit this past weekend. Second, our computer has been down some of the time. My boyfriend built his own computer and over the past couple of weeks has been upgrading the operating system and various other things. Meaning quite a bit of the time, I haven't had internet access at home.

Since it's been so long since a post, I don't think I'll update with all the spending on a daily basis. Suffice it to say, things are going well. I was paid last Friday and stayed in budget until pay day. This pay period (ending on the 13th) still counts towards "March" since March was one of those weird months where I had three paychecks.

-----------------------
Here's a break down of my third check spending:

$838.30 paycheck
+ $100.45 end of month incentive check

$397.75 Short-Term save (vacation, dentist)
$290.00 Private Student Loan #1 extra
$250.00 "spending"
------------------------

My private student loan payment was actually $421.82, the extra breaks down as follows:

$290.00 planned payment (from 3/31 paychecks)
$81.82 savings (previously itemized)
$50.00 credit card cash back check

balance on Private Student Loan 1: $819.14!! (down $836.05 in March!)

I'm on track to pay off this loan in May, but things might get a bit tight. My Short-Term Savings (above) are earmarked for a dental bill (which is about $30 more than planned) and our trip in June. Depending on plane ticket prices, I may have to pull some planned debt payments. We'll see how that goes.

-----------------------
Spending:

$17.40
left in budget 'til 4/13

Savings:

$3.68
to be used 4/14 for student loan payment