Ok everyone, I’m back. I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted. I’ve had a few things going on lately. There were some bad days at work, a birthday celebration, St Patty’s day, and other things. My spending was completely out of control the last two weekends. For my friend’s birthday, I managed to spend $60. Then I spent another $60 this weekend. It’s crazy!! So now I need to get back on track with my spending. I cave to peer pressure. Ugh. I’m in the process of transfering one of my dad’s credit card balances over to my Bank of America credit card. Right now he has approx. a $2,500 balance. He’s charged 25.34%, which equals a $50 finance charge and his minimum payment is $75 a month. He’s not really getting anywhere by just making the minimum payment. So we’ll tranfer it to mine. I’m being offered a 1.99% interest rate on any balance transfer now until Dec 2009. Then the interest goes back to it’s normal 9.90%, but that’s still way better than what he’s currently paying. The tranfer fee will be approx. $76. Not terribly bad and I’ll still have an available credit limit of $3,250. So this transfer doesn’t quite take up half of my limit. He will continue to make the $75 payment though. So we can get rid of more of the principal balance.
Update
Sorry I’ve been gone so long. I was sick for about a week and a half. Then the market started getting crazy again so we’ve been busy at work. I haven’t had a lot of time to post. Right now I’m really wishing I had the money to take a week off of work and fly to Vancouver, Canada. Why you may ask? Well the most gorgeous guy in the world, Robert Pattinson, is in Vancouver right now getting ready to shoot the sequel to Twilight called New Moon. Oh how I wish I could just charge a trip on my credit card and just take off!!! But the responsible, frugal girl in me keeps reminding me that even if I did meet Robert Pattinson and had the time of my life, I’d still be stuck with a huge bill at the end of the month and not enough money to pay it off. Ah!! Why can’t I ever win? *insert extremely sad face here*
Oh well. Maybe I’ll get a chance to meet him somewhere else. Why can’t any good movies ever be filmed in the Midwest?
February Spending
Here’s how I did for the month:
Auto Insurance – 389.00 (for 6 months)
Auto Loan – 306.12
Cell Phone – 132.43 (Family Plan w/my brother)
Debt – 692.00
Dining out – 54.68
Dogs – 39.69
Entertainment – 75.34
Fuel – 30.00
Grocery – 9.50
State Taxes – 61.00
Student Loans – 272.28
Utilities – 341.83
No Spend Days – 11, Total for the year = 15
No Drive Days – 3, Total for the year = 5
Brought Lunch to Work - 16 out of 16 days, Total for the year = 35 out of 35 days
MIA
I know I’ve been MIA lately. It’s due to an evil cold that won’t leave me alone. I’ve been sick since Friday night and it continues to kick my butt. Monday I went to work, but left at lunch time. Tuesday I was out all day. Today I’m back in the office, but leaving again at lunch time. I really don’t like being sick. I would much rather save my time-off for when I’m not sick.
My Rant
I’m sorry dear readers, but today is going to be a rant day. My brother is an idiot. Don’t get me wrong, I really really love him and I’m glad he’s my brother, but he’s a financial idiot. Financial idiocy runs in the family so it’s not a surprise, but he should be smarter than that. I just found out that my 20 yr old brother, who makes about $13,000 a year has just gone out and bought a new car. Not a brand new car, but a new used car. A Dodge Charger. He’s already had 3 mustangs, non of which had ever been paid off. And now he’s gone and bought this car. His loan is now $18,000 – AGAIN!!! His loan his more than his salary!! Is he insane???? I could just scream. He barely pays his portion of the cell phone plan we share. He doesn’t pay his own car insurance or his health insurance and my dad still gives him gas money.
Reducing Spending – DIY
There have been two ways lately that I’ve decided to help reduce my spending. One – we make our own laundry detergent. This one helps a lot. There are some that don’t like the idea of making their own detergent and that’s fine. But this has saved us some money, especially since the reciepe we use fills a 10 gal. pickle bucket and lasts a while. Two – I’ve started making my own dog treats from a receipe book my mother bought me. So far I’ve tried three of the receipes. The cost of making these treats is significantly less than what it costs me to buy pre-made treats. I think I’m going to start making Sunday my treat-baking day. And then freeze some of them. Later in the week I will post the receipes I’ve used. Then I’ll continue to try the rest of the receipes and post them.
Remember Mrs Powell
Remember Mrs Powell – This is my new mantra. Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking to someone I believe is an Angel in disguise. This woman has had some bad things happen to her:
Her husband of 39 years died, She has leukemia, has lost 7 children, had to have a disk replaced in her back, her truck was stolen, and her safe broken into.
And yet, she was able to laugh and joke with me on the phone. That’s amazing. I seriously believe she’s an Angel. I don’t think I’d be able to make jokes and laugh after all that.
So no matter how bad I think my day is going, I’m going to remember what Mrs. Powell has gone through. And know that if she can find the humor in life I can too! Bless you Mrs. Powell, you have given me a new outlook on life! Thank You.
Jan Spending Month To Date
Here’s where I stand so far for the month.
Fuel – $114.06
Entertainment – $28.19
Auto Loan – $286.72 – I usually pay more.
Student Loans – $272.28
Utilities/Water – $292.31
Dining Out – $65.87 – This should not be so high, but I went out with co-workers one night and friends another night.
Credit Card Payments – $240.55 – Even though I spent way too much on dining out, I still managed to put a lot towards credit.
Dogs – $150.63
No Spend Days – 4
No Drive Days – 2
USA
Happy Inauguration Day everyone!!
This could be the start of a great new chapter in the history of the United States of America. Are you as excited as I am?
Working on Goals
So far some of my goals have been easy to start and stay on track with. Some not so easy. My caffeine addiction is kicking my butt. I haven’t been able to limit myself to one can a day yet. I’ve been out once with my friends’ so far. I have been good about bringing my lunch to work every day. 12 days down, only 248 days to go. I’ve had only 1 No Drive Day and 4 No Spend Days. I’ve still been keeping track of my spending, but over New Year’s week I didn’t write everything down. So I’ll have to fudge that week a little. Now that I have a full month’s worth of spending tracked, I need to build a budget and really work on sticking to it.
