So Now What.... Personal Finance Blog

Well, my shopping went well. I had $114 I could spend. And on this trip I had to buy household products like TP and paper plates. But after coupons and adding a couple of extra items, I only spent $84.50. So I will put $25.00 back in my Grocery Jar. If I can continue to stay under, I will use that money towards debt. But for right now, I'm just going to keep it in the jar.


Next payday I will be able to pay off cc #1. And by 05/16 CC #3 will be under $100! Still sticking to my goal to have all CC debt paid off by September. That thought makes me soooooo happy.

Ok. I am grocery shopping tonight. I have $114 budgeted. My list totals $95.00 before coupons. That is for 2 weeks worth of meals and a couple of extras. So we shall see!!

My money flow feels pretty good right now. We filed and paid our taxes...on time. And I had the money set aside to pay them. My CC #1 will be paid off in the next couple of weeks. I was able to transfer $100 into our savings (Payback from our business). I have money ready for our mortgage payment and we are paying extra. I have money set aside for our pest control for the quarter and my sister's birthday. And at the end of it all...I will have a little money left in the bank and a little in my wallet.


I still haven't counted my change. It has just been very hectic in my world lately. But I still intend to count and send some to CC #1. Even if its $20...I could knock it out quicker.


I have been cutting lots of coupons, preparing for my shopping trip next week. And amazingly, we still have food left. I plan to go to the store on Wednesday...so we will see what we go through between now and then.

First....the Garage Sale. It was a lot of work, but it was a modest success and we got rid of a lot of stuff. And we gave our leftovers to my stepdaughter so she can have a garage sale. Needless to say, I didn't make even close to enough to pay for tires...but..

My birthday was Friday. And my sister gave me money to buy my tires. So along with our garage sale money and the gift, I was able to buy tires. No, I didn't have any left to put towards debt. But I think I am going to count change and see if I can come up with some. My CC#1 is down to $53.88! I can almost taste the payoff.

I am trying to clear out our fridge and pantry. I went to the grocery store and spent $60 for 2 weeks. I have $20 to carry over and $80 in 2 weeks, so I will have $100 to spend. But, I am going to use as many coupons and deals as possible so I don't have to spend the full $100.

I have seedlings almost ready to go in the garden. I have ideas this year to prevent a total wipe out from Bunnies again. But if I could get our produce from the garden instead of the store, we could save some serious cash!

Going back to my birthday... it was great. I got several free meals. Plus the tires. Plus:
DVDS to watch with DH at home
2 - $25 Target GC
Pair of shoes
Necklace
Solar Lights for yard
Door Mat
Bath Salts
So I got a pretty good haul. I am a lucky girl.

I'll let you know how much change I come up with tonight.

My garage sale is this Saturday. The weather is supposed to be in the upper 70s. And I am hoping for a good turn out. I still have a lot to do to get ready, but I have tonight and tomorrow night. The plan is to use the money towards tires. (We won't make enough to cover the cost.) And some needs to go towards debt.


Not much of a financial update today. But maybe after this weekend.

I originally had planned on paying off CC #2 because it has an annual fee....and I really didn't want to pay $79. Well, I didn't pay it off. And now I am stuck paying the $79. So, I am disappointed that it didn't happen. On a brighter note, CC #1 is down to $77. CC #3 is down to $184. I should still be able to pay it all off by September. That thought is what keeps me going. It will feel so nice to be done with CC debt. I just have to keep trying.


I plan on trying to have a garage sale at the end of the month. I have quite a bit of stuff. Plus I still need to go through stuff. I just feel so busy. Sometimes I just want to do.... "nothing." But I am trying to be positive and stay grateful. My $730.60 in credit card debt is less than a lot of people's. Maybe I can use some garage sale money to knock it out even faster.

I have been gone from here for over a month. I found myself overwhelmed with everything (job, loss of brother and dog and 2 friends, life, disappointment in myself). I wasn't thinking about money, and when I looked on SA....I found myself dwelling on everything I wasn't doing "right." As much as I would love to say "I'm back and with a vengeance" - I can't. But I am back. And I am still trying.


My sidebar is updated with my most current numbers. I am looking at more ways to cut some costs. I am working on taxes right now...which is not fun. And I guess with a business, we will never get a refund again. Yes, we got a car loan. But the cash flow in and out of the household is not affected. We raised my husband's income some and we no longer have a child support payment, so that is replacing child support.


I got a couple of snowflakes today. $25.02 in total. I sent $20 to CC #3. And kept the $5.02. I also had an extra $15, so I sent it to CC #2. I think I can still have my cards paid off by September if I stick to my plan.


Its good to be back.

I don't have much to report. I went to lunch today. Thought that I left my debit card at work, so I had to use a credit card. Only to realize when I got back to work that my card was at the bottom of my purse. Grrr! So I went online and made a payment to my credit card to cover the cost of the lunch plus a few cents.

There is not much going on financially. Got paid today and everything is set to go out.

Oh, and husband needs a car. Truck is not driveable. Too cold to ride the motorcycle. He is driving another moving type truck we have but the gas is killing us. Our bank is offering us 3.7%. So we are going to see what we can do.

My DH was able to put the water heater in last night. And we had to change some pipes. We paid $342. I had $110 in a "jar" for the house, so we took the rest from savings.


I finally got an insurance quote on our house. For more coverage than we currently have we will be paying about what our original rate was - saving us almost $700 for the year. That's a good thing. Just have to wait for their inspection.


Not having as much pain with my tooth. Going to have to look at the budget to see what I can figure out to pay for the root canal. I'm guessing it will be at least $300 out of pocket.


DH needs special inserts for his shoes...and of course insurance won't pay at all. Those are $245.
So added to the dentist that is 545.00. And I need new tires. That should be another $400. Total = $945. With my savings down to $700, I am a little worried about how I am going to come up with that. Garage Sale in March. Count change? Sell a kidney on the black market?

Well I hate to come on here and vent, but jeez. Water heater went out last night. We had to buy one today...$350 after we got a discount. Husband's car is still out of commission. We have had to shell out some cash on that. I had to go to the dentist today. They couldn't find anything wrong with the tooth that was hurting.....but surprise...I need a root canal. On a totally different tooth that I didn't even know I had a problem with. And I have a funeral Thursday. We lost a coworker. Its really sad, but what can you do.


Savings is a little depleted. I feel a little defeated. But I'm still trying.

Well, I just got our electric bill. YOWZERS! I thought we were being good....I was wrong. That ice storm really killed us. Our bill is $61.00 more than our budgeted amount. I have enough cushion in our household account for the difference, but I was hoping for it to go the other way this month. I need to find us some cost cutting actions this month!!


And I am the only one getting weird ads on the SA homepage? I had an ad with half naked cartoon girls???? What the heck does that have to do with debt and savings and such??

Surely I am not the only one that feels overwhelmed this time of year. Its hard to not jump on every bandwagon...lose weight, save more money, cook more, shop less, have more me time, work harder, be more organized. My head feels like it is going to explode just thinking about it!


I am allowing myself this week to catch up and line up my money. (Adjusting from when family was here.) Tomorrow I will make my basic credit card payments and student loan payment. But nothing to write home about.


I think I just want to be a better me this year. Work on my financial goals and work on being positive. Positive out = Positive in....right.

I am very excited to start a new year. I stretched myself a little too thin financially while my family was in town, but I can recover. I have 6 "goals" for 2014.


*** I know its not much, but I want to put 1K in Savings from my payroll alone. Of course I want to do more, but that is a starting point.
*** Pay off my credit cards by September
*** Pay off my personal loan by Septermber
*** Find new home insurance. Ours went up and I am disappointed in the company.
*** Coupon as much as possible
*** THINK. Think before I buy. Think before I speak. Think before I plan. THINK.


Can't wait to see what everyone else has planned.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Its almost over! Right now we are busy with the hustle and bustle of Christmas. I have some time off from work to enjoy time with family. Then I will be figuring out end of year stuff for our business and it will be time for a new year. 2013 was not the best year, but I have learned some valuable lessons, gained some perspective, and grown as a person. I am hoping to start 2014 wide-eyed and ready.


So I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my SA friends. And Best Wishes for a Financially Awesome New Year to you all!


I'll be back after the 1st!

The majority of the ice is gone now. Today its raining but luckily we aren't getting below freezing. The electric companies have been great getting people's electric back on during outages. We didn't experience any outage, but I know our electric bill will be higher this month. It was just really cold for us. Not used to 15 degree weather. Next week we are supposed to get up to 60 degrees....Texas weather...always changing.


Its payday! And I got a bonus! It will have to go to Christmas, but I am so grateful for it. I also got a gift card at my company party yesterday, so I plan on regifting it. (Even though I would love to keep it ) I made my credit card payments and put money aside for household bills.


We are still in the process on our insurance/accident stuff. Had the estimate done today and it was over 3K in damage. But it is all still under "investigation." I think if you brake check someone and then leave the scene...you should be found responsible. But I guess they still have to look at the whole picture.

I am finally back at work. We were hit by a big ice storm on Thursday night. Texans and ice just don't mix. All of the stores were bought out of grocery items. Cars were abandoned all over the roads. Today is the first day I have been out of our house. Good news is....I had 4 no spend days! My work took us to lunch today and I got a ride to work, so I didn't spend any money. And Thursday is our company Christmas party...so no spending there either. Although I do have to get a gift sometime between now and then. I am really hoping for a Christmas bonus this year. It would really be helpful. So I am anxious to see if we get one.


Anyway....not much else today. Friday should be a productive day.

So...since my excitement from the yearly budget, I have had multiple money issues. I almost feel like I put bad juju out there for being so "optimistic." My husband was in an accident this weekend. Good news...he is fine and so is the other person. Bad news....damage to the car. Bad damage. Luckily it is driveable right now, but we will have to do something about it. Repair the car with the deductible? Repair truck with money we get from insurance company? Or bite the bullet on getting a new car (but we were trying to wait until Spring.) Other various money issues have come up. Small hits of financial drama. How quickly the exciting feeling goes away.


Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

So after my high from yearly budgeting, I have hit a low from finding out my car is leaking oil. Can I drive a car that is leaking oil for another year? Maybe it won't be too horrible of a repair? My husband is going to look at it and see. Then I am overwhelmed by celebrating Thanksgiving without my brother here. With it only being 3 months since his death I don't know how to feel. Grateful for the time I had with him? Sad he isn't here? Angry that he was taken from us? Thankful for the great things we do have? It is just a lot of mixed emotions.


And more of the money front, I am picking up our turkey in a few hours. (With money that has been set aside for a month) Everything else I need has been purchased. I do plan on hitting up some sales, with Christmas budget money that I have set aside. And I hope to spend nothing else!


Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I am very thankful for SA and my SA friends.

I just finished my budget for the year. I feel so inspired. Is that corny? By doing the whole year, I was able to factor in every birthday, celebration, and expense that I could think of. I was able to actually see that I am just months away from 2 of my credit cards being paid off and the last one is right behind. My loan will be paid off this year. My student loan will be closer. I was able to see how much I could put in savings. Its really exciting. I know things come up and change. But I am really working hard to stop being a "money shifter." And I think this will help.


Side note...I had 2 no spend days. Today will be 3. (Ok...so I did purchase something for Christmas online with a gift card....but I didn't spend any of my MONEY. Still counts right?)

I usually do my budget 3-4 months at a time. I am thinking about doing the whole year. So I can see what's coming up and not forget anything. Anyone plan the whole year? Is it better to keep it 3-4 months a time?

I just haven't had a lot of time to post. Work has been busy. Life has been busy. And I haven't had a lot to post, I guess.


We are about to get some cold weather.... low 30s with rain, so I am going to the grocery store tonight. I don't get paid until Friday, so I am just borrowing the money from our household bill account until I get paid. I just don't want to go in the cold and rain. But hopefully with the cold, I can stay inside and get a lot done this weekend.


I did sign up for the Target Red Card (Debit). I saved $3.00 when I got it, but I think I can do some good savings during Christmas. I do a lot of shopping there. It did take a while for the transaction to post. I'm still a little nervous about it. So we will see how it goes.


I accidently used a credit card the other day. So my balance went up $30.47. So I will need to send that money off to the credit card so I make up for it. Just a stupid mistake while in a hurry.


And I have all my ingredients bought for Thanksgiving. And money set aside for the meat. So I'm pretty excited about that.


Ok....so lots of random info in here. I felt very weird not to be on SA this last week.

We have not had the heater on yet. In Texas we have still been in the 60s and 70s. It has gotten to 66 in the house, but we have been able to handle it. Well, tonight it is supposed to drop to 26 degrees and the wind is crazy. I think we will just have to turn it on. I'm hoping since we haven't been using the heater or the A/C that our electric bill will have a decent drop. (Although...I have been leaving the light on more for our puppy.) But I think its time we turn it on. At least for the next couple of days. I think we will be back at upper 60s by this weekend.

Anyone using the Target Red Debit Card? I'm tempted because of free shipping and 5% discount. But am a little leary of linking my checking account to it. Anyone have good or bad experiences?

I survived the first week. I am still feeling very aware. Caught myself wanting to eat out a lot...but didn't do it. I did have an unplanned breakfast, but 1 is better than 4. So I need to continue to work on it. I need to buy 2 tablecloths for Thanksgiving. I am considering counting some change to see if I can come up with the money. That way I don't use my debit card and I don't take money from my jars. I included some Thanksgiving groceries on my list this week. Thought it would be good to go ahead and get some of my items so I have them and it wouldn't be such a hit if I spread it out. I have already budgeted money for the meat!


I got our insurance renewal yesterday on our home insurance. It is going up almost $600 a year. I called them to see if there was something we could do and they were able to give us a different policy with better coverage for about $300 more. We could get it to only $10 more a year if we switch over our car insurance, but we really don't want our car insurance with them. So, I think I am going to get some more quotes and see what I can find. I wish we could just get home insurance with Progressive too and have all our policies in one place. (But they don't offer it in our area)

November 1st - my tracking starts today. Tracking is going to make everything very real. I am already thinking about my purchases because I don't want to look at the log and see a whole bunch of entries! There isn't much to spend this week. But the trick will be realizing this and not spending it. I really hope this helps me. I don't want to be a money mover. I want the money to built up and not shifted around because I overspent.


I have to admit, I had to make an unexpected purchase today. We are having a flea problem and I have to put something in our backyard to help. So I spent $16 on that. But I didn't see a way around it.

I downloaded a free app for my phone called Santa's Bag. Basically it allows you to put in a budget, enter gifts as you purchase them, give you a summary of how you are doing...and of course a countdown until Christmas. Only 55 days to go. I have figured that I am short on my Christmas budget. I need to do some serious frugal shopping! But I love the idea of getting someone something really great that I got for half the price (or less). We don't spend more than $20 on one person, but that adds up. Hopefully this little app will keep me in check.

I had to go BACK to the eye dr Saturday. Got 2 more eye drops. One I got as a sample. The other was $155!! Luckily I have an awesome pharmacist that found a coupon and I got it for $25. I have totally blown any budget I had after all these copays and medicines! But I am so thankful the prescription was $25 instead of $155. I did do an Aflac claim, so I should get something back. And I think I may be able to do one on the original eye appointment too. But I'll have to check into it.

I had another dr's visit scheduled for yesterday. Its been scheduled for about a month. Luckily my yearly physical is covered with zero copay. I did end up having a kidney infection, so I had to get another antibiotic. And I have another appointment today for a follow-up on my eye. Luckily she does not charge a copay for a follow-up. I am definitely done with dr visits for a while I hope.


I got a gift certificate for a massage on my birthday (back in April). I just realized that it expires 10/31. I called to see what they had available before next Thursday and all they had was tomorrow! I guess its a good thing I called. I would hate for a $60 massage to go to waste. But after these last couple of months, a massage might be just the thing I need.

So I woke up with my eye hurting. It feels like something is stuck in it. I tried to deal with it but it just hurt too bad. So...I ended up having to go to the eye dr. Luckily I went to the dr a couple of weeks ago to get glasses, because I haven't had new ones in 8 years! But if I didn't have new glasses, I would have been in trouble today! Dr says I am having some sort of allergy. Have to use eye drops and do cold compresses to get the swelling down. So, I had to do a $10 copay and whatever the drops cost me. I guess it could be worse.



I made extra payments to my credit cards. $133.68. Every little bit counts. We are postponing our garage sale again. Concrete guys are going to be out Saturday, so I think it would be too hard to do both. Plus it will give me a little more time to find more stuff.

Well...long story short....I ended up just adding an "actual" column to my budget spreadsheet. And in my checkbook register, which I write in at least once a day, I will just be more detailed. Then at the end of the month, I can just add my actual in and see how I did. I was just trying to make it too difficult. Oh, and cash I will continue to do in the "jars" but will have a sheet in each jar. Put the receipt in the jar so I know what I spent. That really is how I was supposed to be doing it this whole time (Gail Vaz Oxlade way).


I feel very aware right now. And still overwhelmed by what I was doing. So November 1 will start the new way of tracking.


What I am reallly thinking about is....what do people that don't think about their expenses do? I worry about my finances and work to try to keep them somewhat on track. So how do they get through? How do they not worry?