When I look at other PF blogs, their budgets look more sophisticated than mine. I mean they are long and every penny has a place to go. I, on the other hand, plan my budget in a way that every $ has a place to go not “penny”. This works for me. Less pressure more freedom. However when I see other budgets, I sometimes still feel intimated. Anyways, here is my overview for last 2 weeks and budget for next two weeks.
Budgeted/Actual
Saving: 250/250
Retirement: 250/250
Rent: 655/655
Misc: 415/415
total: $1,570
Budget for 9-1/915
$1,574
Saving $250
Retirement $250
Spending $500 (includes grocery, gas etc)
Student Loan $574
Have you ever made a list of your subscriptions? Unlike many I don’t subscribe magazines. My weaknesses lay on different kind of subscriptions. Honestly, for my magazine needs I go to Borders and spend few hours every month flipping enough magazine pages.
Here is my list;
Myfico.com annual fee I think it was $80. Every time there is any change on my credit report, they email me. I like this subscription because it provides me peace of mind.
Cable, phone, internet $79 monthly. annual: $948 while this one is necessary not really negotiable in my book
Envy Massage $59 monthly. Annual:$708 I know this is luxury item. But it feels really good when I get an hour massage once a month
Netflix $10 monthly. Annual cost: $120 I never rent a movie just simply order from Netflix. This service is the best thing ever. I rarely go to a movie theater to watch any new releases.
24 Hours Fitness $199 annual Next year I am not planning to sign up again because now I have a swimming pool and a weight bench with enough dumbbells in my backyard so no need for gym membership. For cardio I am planning to run with my dog instead of treadmill.
Cell phone Tmobile average $50 per month annual $600
That’s it! Wow a lot huh? Annual total $2,655 . Next year I am not going to have gym membership which will bring down my annual subscription cost to $2,456. However, having said that nexy year I’d like to add some subscriptions related to my profession and I’d like to start horseback riding lessons once a week monthly $225 which seems not possible with my take home paycheck at the moment...
How did I do this period? There were couple of unexpected expenses but after all I managed to stay in budget. Besides going dmv today and paying for my driver license there shouldn’t be any extra expenses.
Budgeted/Actualsaving: 250/250
Retirement: 250/250
Ann taylor card: 180/192 paid off
Chase card: 40/188 paid off
student loan: 500/500
Misc 331/331
Good news, there is no more Ann Taylor or chase card! Was it tough this period? Not so much because knowing that I’m saving for house downpayment, retirement and paying down my student loan makes me feel good.
Here is my budget for 8/16-8/31
Saving: 250
Retirement: 250
Rent: 655
Misc: 415
total: $1,570
As you can see not much going on rest of the month. Rent takes big chunk of my money. Ohh well, I should be grateful at least I can afford it.
This Saturday my friend is having a birthday party. Luckily it is in her place which means no spending $20-30 on restaurant food. Instead I am planning either make something or buy something from Ralphs. Perhaps wine? As far as birthday present goes, I haven’t decided what to get her yet. I’ll probably go TJ max and pick something. Maybe a girly painted wine glass?
Other than that I am going to study whole Saturday and Sunday. I am planning to work out and hang out by pool. Here is my misc. to do list I need to get done;
· I need to find a place to store an extra mattress in my room./Done
· Organize my walking closet and get rid of extra dresser/Done
· Work out both Saturday and Sunday /Done
· Finish Reading chapter 2-3 /Done
· Finish the scarf I started knitting 2 months ago! I actually wanted to finish by now so I could’ve given it to my friend as a birthday present but seems like I’m not going to be able to complete it. Well, I need to finish it this weekend anyways because 1- I am tired of seeing it 2- it should be ready to be given as a present. Half done
· Look into Swagbucks to see if I can make any money half done
Quick glimpse of my budget for August. Today is one week after I drafted budget so I just want to make sure I am still on right track.
my budget for August 8/1-8/15 was;
Starting balance: $1,551
Budgeted/Actual
Saving: $250/250
Retirement: $250/250
Ann taylor card: $180/192 paid off
Chase card: $40/188 paid off
student loan:$500/500
Misc: $331 still have $250 on my bank account.
So far I am doing ok. I hope coming weekend and next week will be as smooth as this week.
It is obvious now that I can not stick to my budget. Perhaps I have unreasonable goals. I want so save, spend and pay down my debt. Apparently I can not do spend part as much as I want :) I need to prioritize my needs and wants and just do it...I have also professional designation exam I need to pass.I keep failing...Nowdays I am such a social bug that I am even suprised but as we all know it costs money to be social.
Anyhow, here is my budget for August 8/1-8/15
Starting balance: $1,551
Saving: $250
Retirement: $250
Ann taylor card: $180
Chase card: $40
student loan:$500
Misc: $331
I love overcoming new challenges. Today I realized there are still 10 days to next pay check. Tell me about living paycheck to paycheck ugh..Anyways, the challenge is to stay in my daily spending budget which is $10 per day. Whatever purchases I need to make, I will defer them unless they are “necessary” which I can only think of is gas. It should be interesting to see how far I can push my limits.
Today is Tuesday and since Saturday I have not eaten out at all, including lunch. For me this is a huge success. However, I was wrong when I assumed I can feed my man with only salad for whole week. Yesterday I had to go Ralphs and buy pasta, more bread and stuffed pepper for him. I've learned couple grocery lessons that I'd like to share with you.
I've done meal planning before I went to grocery shopping which worked out perfect
I need to include more nonperishable items such as; pasta, beans etc
Trader Joe's is expensive. I will go to ethnic store for fruits and vegetables
Once a week I'll go to Trader Joe's, Ralphs and ethnic store. They are all close by sort of. For me the best day to shop is Monday after work.
Last 4 days I've been eating very healthy as a result of good meal planning. Spinach lasagna, smoked salmon sandwich, oatmeal (breakfast),mango&avocado salad, chicken salad with dried fruits and mixed green, lean cuisine ( for lunch), asparagus with rice and chicken. Yum!yum yum!
After last month's spending disaster on food, I went to grocery shopping for this time. I spent $96. I got twio kinds of bread, variety of vegatables, fruits, salad topings such as dried fruit and nuts, chicken and smoked salmon fat free feta cheese and cream cheese. The fridge is full, seriously. There is no need to go out for lunch or dinner for two weeks. Today for lunch I made bbq cheese pizza for two (4.99) and for dinner smoked salmon, fat free cream cheese sandwich for dinner.
My grocery list:Pecan halves
Dried cranberries
Dried sweet apple rings
Dried hibiscus flower (never tried before)
Sesame seed bread
French baquette
Frozen bbq chicken cheese pizza
Cheese cracker
Granola 3 berries
Olive spread
Dried tomato
cherries
Spinach lasagna (2)
Spinach thin pizza (comes 6 in the package)
Smoked salmon
Strawberries
Cherry tomato
Sweet potato
Asparagus
Mushroom
Mango
Avocado
Chicken strips
Fat free cream and feta cheese
3 different kinds of mixed greens in a package
Wow I got so much, dont you think? This should be enough for 2 people for two weeks. I mean at least one week.
I am really concerned about four categories in my budget: clothing, dining out, home decoration and overdraft charges.
Clothing: $341 wtf? My birthday was this month. I guess I felt free to spend on whatever I want on. During June I plan to purchase nothing. I don’t need anything anyways.
Dining out:$332. This is for two people most of the time it is either a quick dinner or lunch. My grocery bill was $202. As you can see I ended up spending more on going out then grocery. Well I don’t cook very much. Total spending on food is $502 for two.
Home decoration: $270 Now days I am in this renovation mood and I know it s not good for my budget. I
Overdraft charges: $70 wow this one is a bad one. I normally don’t have any problem in this area. This month my budget got messed up and I ended up over drafting my checking. I just need to focus one day at a time and do a better job during June.
May 29- June 12
Starting $1,660
Budgeted:
Rent: 655
Dining out and grocery: 100
Gas: 75
Student loan: 330
Wells: 350
Hair: $50
Unexpected loan repayment:100
My morning routine is to decide what three things I'd like to accomplish today. During any day little things come up and I get distracted. In order to have a productive day I started making sure 3 most important things being accomplish during any given day.
Today's Must Dos
-take dog to walk and go to gym failed
-sit down and start planning my online business website failed
-there is one room in my house I am going to use it as my home office so the goal is for today completely clean that room! Done
Spending:
Ikea visit: $32
Dinner: $10
Vintage store:$11
Total:$53
-- Post From My iPhone
From now on I will keep track of my daily spending and post here every day. I sometimes feel I am totally out of focus as a result spending too much.
Today budgeted $10
Update: $7 sushi
This is embarrasing to confess that I went to ikea after work and purchased couple of things I needed. I got a spice rack, a shelf for the kitchen and shoe organizer. Damage is $55 including ikea's famous dinner. :)
Total spent today: $62
Budgeted: $10 ugh..
-- Post From My iPhone
I just installed an application on my itouch called blogpress and this is my first post. I try never use my work computer for personal reasons especially for blogging. This will be a great option for me to post during lunch time or jot down things whenever I want.
-- Post From My iPhone
This month is suprisingly going well eventhough I've been threaten by termination at work because of something totally has been misunderstood. It has been resolved, now it is all fine. Online income during April was minimal on the other hand, so far I have made $300 during May. I sold two domain names I own. I purchased them one year ago for $10 each. I've been contacted via email by someone who wants to purchase the domain names. He asked me the price I said each $150. He accepted sent $300 via paypal sweet! Transfering the domain names were absoluetly pain in the neck. Especially since they were purchased via blogger/google apps. Where did I come up with $150 each? To tell you the truth, I dont know. I didnt have any guidelines. Perhaps I sold them underpriced. When I said $150, the dude said it is fair. Was it really fair? I dont know.
On my last post I mentioned about signing up as an e-juror. Well, I havent heard anything from two companies I signed up with. Perhaps they were spam? Or they dont have many cases? What I know for sure is I need to find other things to make money online!
We all try finding ways to make little extra money. In fact, the primary purpose of this blog is to show the world I can make side money and pay off my student loan with it. I'm always online looking for a new gig to make more money. Yesterday I came across with the concept of being "e-juror" Why not? Lets look into more detail. According to ejury.com e-juror services provide an attorney the opportunity to "pre-try" the case before it goes to trial in front of an actual jury at the courthouse. Imagine what a tremendous help this would be for the attorney. He/She can use the feedback to establish a settlement value, learn public attitudes etc. E-Jurors can be paid up to $50 a case, depending on the length of the case. My understanding is ejuror.com pays only $5-$10 per case again depends on the lenght of the case. The most popular websites;
Here is a link for a
sample case to see if that is something you can do. I think it is more stimulating than survey websites or cash inbox.
Honestly, I havent signed up with any of them yet. Therefore I can not give any further review. I'm planning to sign up with at least one of them to see if it is worth at all. Let me know if you have any experience with them.
Update: I just signed up with ejurer.com and onlineverdict.com. I chose not to sign up with trialpractice.com because their website looks sloppy. If a company website looks unprofessional, sorry no business from me.
I currently have four saving accounts and they are all with ING Direct. I have EF fund, Hawaii vacation fund, House down payment fund and Christmas Fund. Creating subaccounts with ING was very simple. There are so many pf bloggers out there have already explained how to open subaccounts step by step so I am not going to repeat them.
• Get Rich Slowly mapped out very well. In fact I followed her 3 steps
“How to open multiple accounts at ING direct”
• I’ve paid this twice explained it with her style
“Creating Subaccounts in ING Direct Savings Accounts”
• Have you ever used ehow.com? I found their steps easiest to follow.
“How to open sub-accounts at ING Direct”
I will probably never keep a lot of cash in my savings since the return is not good at all. My goals for my subaccounts are:
EF: $1,000 just to keep it simple anything over $1,000 will go into investing accounts
Hawaii Vacation: $3,000 Once I go to Hawaii, the name will change but regardless I will always have a vacation fund.
House Down payment: $60,000 I will probably move this money around everytime it reaches $5,000. I’d like to have $60,000 saved in 5 years
Christmas Fund: $500 need any explanation?
Last few months I've been reading personal finance blogs and I finally decided to join into the PF world. Eventhough I dont call myself frugal, I am not a wasteful person either. I'd like to experience life while I'm
young and old. Majority of my debt is coming from my student loan which is $22,161. My goal is to be debt free at the end of this year. There is a twist though I'm going to do this not necessarily by making my own detergent ot clipping coupons but rather by making money online. Follow my journey!
