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Archive for April, 2011

Baby steps instead of massive leaps

April 29th, 2011 at 04:57 pm

I think trying to do a no spend week was too much for me. Especially this early in my "financial journey." I think the smarter idea would be to lower the number of spend days rather than eliminate them all. Spending is obviously a stress reliever and time waster for me, which is a problem. But at least I realize it.

I've made some headway on debt payments, but not the strides that I wanted. I guess I'm still trying to line out a budget that works and allows more room for debt payments and savings. But I've learned so much in this past month from this blog. So grateful for awesome blogs and bloggers. Smile

Updates on numbers (Original---Current)

Credit Card 1: $798.26---$773.83
Credit Card 2: $595.13---$580.76
Credit Card 3: $288.65---$269.20
Student Loan: $4113.59---$4061.62

Total: $5795.63---$5685.41
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Current Savings: $1500.00---$2795.09
Retirement Plan: $116.00---$283.00

Epic Fail....

April 25th, 2011 at 05:10 pm

My NO SPEND WEEK has been an epic fail so far. We did get our income tax in so I had been waiting on that to get tires. So I bought tires, and gas, and ate out, and now I have to take my dog to get shots and her nails trimmed. Hopefully I can commit to not spending the rest of the week, but I am pretty disappointed. But...I was able to put over $1000.00 in savings.

No spend week? Is it possible?

April 21st, 2011 at 05:24 pm

I've managed to cut it too close this week and I need to have a NO SPEND WEEK. I was excited about 1 day...but I don't know if I can do a whole week. I may have to put gas in my truck at some point, but besides that I shouldn't have to spend anything. I have groceries and cleaning supplies and dog food...all the essentials. But I am super worried!!!!

Shouldn't expenses be going down?

April 18th, 2011 at 06:46 pm



My husband was promoted and started his new job on 03/21/11. He now travels out of state for 9 days at a time and is home for 4-5 days. Shouldn't my bills and expenses be going down? I'm eating out less...once a week I may go out to eat with a friend or do something, but I'm only paying for 1. I'm gone all day...so it seems like my electricity and water should be down. I even spent just as much as I normally do at the grocery store this weekend! I just feel like I should be able to save all this money and I haven't seen any extra yet. Maybe its because it really hasn't even been a month yet? I'm not sure. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things change.

And I did score an extra $25 this weekend by selling a video game I couldn't play. Maybe I should just throw it in savings?

My mom & Dave Ramsey

April 14th, 2011 at 07:39 pm

I don't really have any "updates" to my numbers so I thought I would express my concerns about my mom. My mom and her husband are going to the Financial Peace University program at their church. I've read Dave Ramsey's book, and think it had a lot of great information. But here is my concern. She started a childrens' resale booth about 6 months ago. Of course... she hasn't made a lot of profit, but its the beginning and most businesses are not super profitable the first year. I also she spends money on things that are not necessary. But she says that according to the program she should shut it down....its not successful. I just don't agree. I love the fact that she has decided to try to do something to make herself more financially secure. But I don't know if shutting down the business is the answer. I honestly don't remember what Dave Ramsey said about businesses, since I don't have one. But I'm just not sure how I feel about it.

I actually had a no spend day

April 12th, 2011 at 06:22 pm

I don't know if I have ever had this before...but I had a no spend day. Isn't that amazing? And there is nothing clearing my account. Its the small things in life. Smile

So here are the numbers...

April 11th, 2011 at 03:04 pm

Ok. I've made some progess.

Credit Card 1: $762.26
Credit Card 2: $580.76
Credit Card 3: $269.20
Student Loan: $4061.62

Total: $5673.84
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Current Savings: $1717.96
Retirement Plan: $244.80

This weekend all I wanted to do was spend money. When I'm bored I want to shop. I need to find ways to cure my need for retail therapy. This weekend I was saved by the fact that I had 2 TJ Maxx gift cards from my birthday. But what will happen next month??

Made some progress

April 8th, 2011 at 02:13 pm

Well I made some small payments to each credit card last night. Plus I paid on my student loan and put over $200.00 in savings. AND we put back the money my husband took out for his travel. So I'm pretty excited. AND I started a tire fund. I'm going to have to buy at least 2 tires here pretty soon, so I thought it would be a good idea.

And my work is letting me work some overtime this weekend, so I should have some extra money next Friday.

I feel like I am making a little progress on this uphill battle.

Upside to hurt foot

April 6th, 2011 at 09:10 pm

Well, I think there is an upside to having a hurt foot. I can't shop or go spend money....so therefore I am spending less on gas too. I'm still trying to recover from the surprise medical bills and the fact that I slightly overspent for my birthday.

Hoping to get some overtime next check and be able to put it back in savings. And I am working on the details of the personal chef work, since I can't really walk around. Smile

And a side note...I super excited about the Extreme Coupon show tonight on TLC. Although I don't see the point in buying 1000 boxes of Yokisoba noodles that will expire before you can eat them...I still find it fascinating. And on a smaller scale, their tips coud be really useful.

Feeling very unbirthday

April 4th, 2011 at 05:25 pm

Well, today is my 30th birthday. And to celebrate I decided to sprain and possibly fracture my foot. Needless to say I had to take money out of savings to pay for the Dr and the prescriptions. Pretty bummed about that.

But eventhough I have taken a few steps back, I am hoping to stay on track and be able to replenish my savings soon.

And maybe I should start a medical jar? I don't have anything set aside if I ever have to go to the dr. Hmmm....

Update

April 1st, 2011 at 04:29 pm

Well, like I said before, everything didn't go exactly to plan. Although I've only been really working on my financial picture for a week and a half, I was hoping to have more impressive numbers. But any debt amount going down is a good thing.

Credit Card 1: $782.26
Credit Card 2: $581.13
Credit Card 3: $284.20
Student Loan: $4113.59

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Ok...so my husband needed 200.00 from Savings for travel, but he is putting it back in on Thursday so I feel ok with it. But for the time being, my Saving number went down. Frown

Current Savings: $1378.88
Retirement Plan: $162.86 + $67.00 = $229.86
Extra Account: $18.84

Hoping for a better week next week.