I am starting Suck it Up September. I'm sticking to the budget. I'm making sure the credit cards are paid off by the end of the month. If I want something and I can't get it, I will just suck it up and deal with it. And I will look for ways to come up with extra cash. I told my husband I want 10K in savings (Not by September!!). So Savings...Sucking it up...Success...those are my goals. I don't think it will be easy, especially since I have had a rough few months. But I'm feeling a new found sense of determination. Positive and forward.

Happy September.

After my checks, an Alflac check, coupon savings, and lots of change counting....we came up with the money for our portion on my brother's headstone. LAST NIGHT! Its such a relief. Not only the relief of knowing that my brother will have the headstone he deserves, but the relief of knowing we didn't take it from savings and I didn't have to reduce my debt repayments.


Thanks for all the well wishes and money saving ideas.

Just for one day...or maybe just an hour...I wish it would rain money. Paper bills, no coins, so it didn't cause more damage than its worth. I'm just frustrated with money right now. Ugh.

I now only have to come up with $220. I really need to have it by this coming Friday. So far I just have the $10.00 check, an Ebates check coming for $13-$15, and I have $12.50 in bills and change in my purse at this moment. So only $35.50 of the $220 I need. I still have change to count. And I can check in the laundry room for spare change. I have a bonus coming from opening a checking account. Its $100, but I won't get it until September. And I'm not sure how quickly I can take it out?

I checked on can recycling. They only pay $0.45/ lb. And I don't think I even have a pound. I am still looking for items to sell. We don't have any extra furniture except for an antique dresser from my husband's family. And I can't sell that. I am not able to do plasma right now. Sooo...I just have to keep looking.


I am going grocery shopping tonight. Anything under budget can go towards the cause. Coupons don't fail me now.

$330 is what I need to come up with. I really can't take it from savings. It would completely deplete us. So I have about a week to come up with it. That should be really difficult. I have a $10.00 check from the city. I have a small check coming from Ebates....maybe about $13-$15. I am going to try to cut our grocery bill and use as many coupons as possible. So that may add up to $50 all together?? Where does the other $280 come from? Not pay down my debt? I have to pay something. And even if I reduce the payments, it won't add a whole lot. Maybe an extra $70? And then I will still have to come up with that to reach my goal of paying everything off by September. We had a garage sale, so I don't have a lot of extra stuff to sell. I can count change. I can't change insurance right now. We are in a rural area, so our utilities have to be specific companies. I'm running out of ideas. I'm salary, so no overtime at work. Our only entertainment portion of the budget is $20 for eating out...and I already got rid of that for 2 weeks to help with my budget. Any thoughts?

It is no secret that I have been struggling. Bad decisions have been made and money has not been saved or put towards debt. So, this all really hit home when I realized that my brother's grave has no headstone. The "responsible party" never ordered one. Unfortunately it took me a almost a year to gain the courage to go out there....so I just found out. (He is buried next to my father, so it is a double whammy to go out there.) My sisters and I agreed to split it...but where is my portion coming from? I guess I need to start counting change and listing anything I can on craigslist to get some extra cash? But this is why we need a decent savings and/or emergency fund!

I was embarassed. I felt like I was failing. So I had to step away from the blog for a little bit. Truth is, I had to get out of the mindset I was in. I was continuing to spend money. Even after knowing that I didn't like what it was doing. Then, family came into town...and I spent more. Not good. But, I can't hide from it. I feel out of control when I am spending with no regard. I don't like having debt. And the last few days I have just been thinking... "Are you really ready to get rid of this debt?" "Are you ready to commit and knock it out?" Do you realize how much better you will feel without debt? And it will free up part of your budget!" And the answer is "Yes!" I want to be debt free. And I can make sacrifices to get there. Because it will be so much better in the end.

So I am refocused on the "jars" and working with cash. I have looked at my budget and made myself realize....this is what you have to work with. And its possible.

I am still going to have all of my credit cards and the personal loan paid off by the end of September. That is still within my original goal. My husband and I are looking at a couple of ways to possibly make a little extra money. We are also really considering paying me for my work with our personal business. We are thinking $50/week. It would be nice.

So...that's it. I'm here.

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!!

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.

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.

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 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??

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!

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.

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 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)

Productive....sending it all away. I set aside my utility money. Paid what was due. Paid over the minimum on all 3 credit cards. And in 2 weeks I will be able to pay towards them again. After that payment, my CC3 will be under $100. Whew! I also set aside money for our termite annual renewal and put a little bit of money back in savings.


I ended up with 2216 Swagbucks when I logged in today! Cashed them in for 2 $10 Target cards for Christmas. Super excited about that. I did my Christmas budget and I am a little off-track on my Savings for it. I am going to have to be frugal! Even MORE frugal than normal.


I am cooking free steaks for dinner tonight...a customer gave them to my husband for all his help. (Customer is a butcher). So between finishing the cleaning and cooking that - my Friday will be over. And I can work all day on business stuff tomorrow. Oh I hope I can get it all done.

I realized today that I have to get an oil change. *sigh* Which is more than $40 because I use Synthetic oil....but I can go at least 5000 miles before my next one. So obviously today will NOT be a NSD and I will not have an extra $40 dollars. On the up side, I did half the cleaning last night. Tonight I will do some more. And I will finish whatever I have on Friday. Saturday I want to devote to business paperwork. I just need to keep the momentum.


Good news for today - I got my 500 Swagbucks. So I actually have 1116. I know for some people that seems like nothing, but I am EXCITED. Especially since I barely had any before my fellow blogger inspired me. But I am trying to decide if I should get Walmart cards and use it towards groceries. Or get Target cards and use them towards Christmas. Personally, I am leaning towards Target...especially since I have been doing all my shopping at Kroger. If I get a few more...I could get 3. And hey, $15 is $15.

I am still having a problem getting everything balanced. I had convinced myself to take $40 out of my money this week and pay someone to help me clean my house. But...I am trying to convince myself if I just do a little each day, by this weekend it should be better. And I can use that $40 for something else. Debt, Savings, whatever. According to me, if I break it down into minutes, I have 3 hours worth of work. So 1.5 hours today and tomorrow? 1 hour each day - today, tomorrow, and Friday? Not sure the breakdown. But I think its the right thing to do. Even though I am exhausted. So.... I'm going to do it myself....no need to spend $40.


Oh and yesterday and today are NSD!!!

Well, Friday I did Swagbucks again. None Sat or Sun. And earned 31 points this morning. I'm actually up to 271. Pretty good for me.


I'm sure not everyone wants to hear that I had to buy a bra.....BUT I had to buy a bra. My new puppy has chewed up 2 of mine. And bras are expensive. So unfortunately I had to shell out $40 for one. Wasn't exactly planned, but I think I can limp the budget through until Friday. Just not as much into savings. I also put my husband's birthday present on layaway. (With money I had set aside) I like layaway because I am saving a little each week to pay for this gift, and since I am getting him a BBQ grill, I was worried that they would all be gone by the time I saved the money. I will sell our current grill and recoup some money. And I didn't go with the extreme, super grill. But it was on sale and it will be big enough for us.


I had coffee with my sister on Saturday. She paid (with gift cards I had given her) and she also brought me a pair of jeans, a shirt, and 2 little shell sweaters. Awesome surprise and MUCH APPRECIATED. And I was just thinking about how I needed to buy some jeans.


Besides that, I really didn't accomplish much. I have a hectic week ahead. Hopefully its as productive as I want it to be.

I am definitely ready for this month to be over. Ready for a clean start.... at least for the month.


Today is payday. I paid all of the due bills. I also bought a cell phone today. I paid 0.01 for it. The contract isn't a huge deal because we don't plan on changing companies and we can still downgrade plans if we need to. I set aside $20 to save for my husband's birthday, $20 for Christmas. I sent my nephew $20 for his birthday (which I planned for). And I should have $10 to move to savings. Its not much, but at least its something. Hopefully next week I can apply my pay difference toward CC #3. It is so close to being gone. An extra $30 a week will be nice. Especially if I do like I said and pretend its not there. (Put it towards debt.)


I also called Dish Network yesterday. My bill seems so high, but my husband only watches one channel and I can't lower my package anymore or I lose that channel. So I managed to get a $10/ month discount. At least its something?

Well, I'm here. Back at work - normal days. Tomorrow would have been my brother's 26th birthday, so I am trying to figure out how to deal with that. I am having a hard time concentrating, but I know it will get better. I did manage to balance my checkbook. And I looked at my budget...and how out of whack it is. But I know it will get better too. I have overspent by about $180, between eating out and gas and everything else. I think I have rearranged enough so it will balance out on Friday. I won't be able to save anything this week, but getting through the week is an accomplishment in itself.


Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. The support is wonderful.


I will continue to take it one day at a time.

I'm off on Friday, so I am hoping to use that day to take care of some things. Both dogs need their nails trimmed - so that is first on the list (Cash set aside). And I will need to go to the grocery store. Hopefully between the rest of the day Friday and all day Saturday I can clean the house and get some paperwork done. I am really thinking about getting a Neat Desk....maybe that would help with the business paperwork?


Payday is tomorrow - so here is my budget

Gas - 60
Groceries - 80
Cell Phones - 177 (Really need to lower this!!)
Insurance on Truck - 49
Dining Out - 20
Cash for Wallet - 10
Savings - 25
Rx - 60
Loan - 50
Pet - 10
Christmas Sav - 20
Hold for next week - 30
_________________________

Leaves me $11

I have got to save every way I can this month. So let's go August!!!

I went to look in my jars, and I was surprised that I had $40 in my Food jar and $20 in Entertainment (which is usually dining out). Friday is payday and I have $80 to spend on food. (Not including the jar money.) So if I can spend less than $80, then that is just more for the jar. I may actually be able to apply that money to something. But its nice to have it there.


My grocery shopping has to last us for almost 2 weeks (Except for milk and some fresh veggies). I know I will have to cook 9 meals. My husband works late on Tuesdays, so I don't cook. And we usually eat out once a week. And I send leftovers with him for lunches. I came up with 8 meals so we may just have to have cereal one night. My list comes to $69.25 before coupons and store savings. I am curious to see what it comes out to. I'm guessing with wrong pricing or list errors it will still be $65. I am still shopping at Kroger so I can get double fuel points. I have 201 points which means $0.20 off a gallon for this week. And since I will be shopping in August I can start earning points for it.

My intention was to not do any spending this week until Thursday. Well I was doing really great yesterday until my oldest dog got stung by a yellow jacket. Unfortunately I did not have enough children's benadryl or any children's aspirin, so I had to run to the dollar store. I spent $7. I had the cash in a jar to use, but I was so worried about her, that I ran out the door without it. But the rest of the week should be ok. My work took us out to eat today and I still have a half tank of gas.


Last week I bought some magazine subscriptions as Christmas Gifts. I went through Ebates, and Magazines.com has $5.00 subscriptions right now. So I bought 2 at $5.00 each and I will get 40% back on Ebates. Just a word of caution if anyone ever buys from Magazines.com. If you do not go in and change the renewal, it will automatically charge your card for the renewal. So I went in right after buying it and changed it so I wouldn't have to remember!! But it was a good deal.

The last 2 weeks for me have been ridiculous. Closing at my real job. Working at our shop. Surprise visit from my nephews and sister that live out of state. And other things. I have spent way too much money. I haven't seen my nephews in 7 months....so is it good, no, but its justifiable to me. So needless to say, my numbers haven't changed from my sidebar. Although we did manage to increase our savings $124 and my retirement is up to $3141. But no debt reduction. Tonight we are having our last get-together, which luckily I do not have to pay for. And everyone leaves tomorrow.


July has just been a very off month for me. I haven't been able to accomplish the goals I have set. Think I need to make smaller goals but I need to focus more. I will look over the finances this weekend and see where I am at.

I was doing really well with my planning and accountability until I stopped paying attention to where every dollar was going. So, I will be starting the tracking again starting tomorrow when I get paid. I am sure my spending plans and notes about what I buy are not the most interesting things to read, but they really help me be accountable. So... tomorrow.


Kroger has a deal right now that they will double fuel points, so I am going to grocery shop there tomorrow. I have 63 points and for every 100 you get 0.10 off a gallon. I should be 27 points off from getting 0.30 off a gallon, but .20 off will be great. My list currently adds up to 57.50 before coupons. My goal is to spend 50.00 (I have a 5.00 off coupon plus several little ones so I should make it.) I also have to buy some household items, which I have 20.00 and 40.00 for dog food. So $110.00 for the whole trip. Kind of scary, but I think I can do it. I have actually planned out 2 weeks worth of meals and my grocery budget is actually 80.00 so I am cutting it by 30.00. Plus I still have 20.00 from 2 weeks ago. If I can pull this off...I will be super happy. And I can finally send the extra 20.00 to a credit card!

Thank you all for your comments yesterday. Luckily we only got heavy rain. The hail and winds fizzled out, which is just fine with me. We have no rain in our forcast for at least a week. For that I am grateful!


Some of my numbers changed. CC #3 is finally under $200! Its at 193.92. And my student loan is finally under $3000 (barely). Its at 2988.88.


Here is my money plan for Friday:

Gas - $60
Groceries - $70
Household Account - $50 (Putting back for mtg pmt)
Dining Out - $20 (Jar Money)
Cash - $20
Pet - $10 (Jar Money)
House - $20 (Jar Money)
Holding for bills - $110
Savings - $30
Other - $10 (Jar Money)
Step Daughter Graduation Money - $20
Loan - $40
Car Inspection - $40

Leaves me with $6.
________________________________________________

Cash Left:

Dining Out - $30
Rx - $20 (Jar Money)
Grocery - $15 (Jar Money)
Wallet Cash - $8

I'm hoping if I still have money at the end of the week I can apply it to something.

The tornadoes that just hit Texas were about 15 miles from my house. We were slammed with large hail and high winds, but luckily we are all safe and we did not have any damage. As for our neighboring cities....they have been devastated by this horrible storm. Situations like this make me scared. Sure, I am scared of the weather itself. But I am more scared of the financial turmoil. We have $1000 in savings. I am overwhelmed with the thought of how quickly that can be blown away.


I am just left with the thought of how do I save and pay off debt and prepare for the future when there is only so much money coming in. Maybe its all just too much food for thought right now.

Was it spectactular...no. I did go to Walmart. We needed some things at the house. I did buy lunch...but I used cash I had. I wrote everything in my "spending tracker." And I splurged on ice cream for dinner on Saturday. Husband was out and so I indulged...put that on the debit card. Not sure why I didn't use cash. So to make a long story short, I have 0.43 in my checking account after everything clears and I have $19.00 in my wallet.


Actually...I have a little more in my account. I have $52.68. I took my first payment from the shop in the amount of $52.25. So should I send that all to one credit card? Should I put in savings because we only have $1025.00? I just need to do something quick because I do not want that money to magically disappear on crap.

I have been blogging on here for 2 years. And although I have gotten great advice and help and encouragement.....I have not made great progress on my debt repayment. But even so, I felt like I was still on the right track to make better choices and work toward making progress. This weekend, I am pretty sure I have fallen out of the tree of wise and responsible choices. I have no excuses. And as much as I like to tell myself, its ok....you can get back up and start over...I don't understand why I keep making bad decisions. I know that I want to do better....but for some reason it is like I sabatoge myself. This weekend I overspent by $169. Like into the red...account would be overdrawn $169. Luckily I have our savings to cover it....but why would I do that? Then I used my credit cards. Not 1....BOTH. Were they for big purchases...no. They were for stupid things. I am so frustrated with myself. I can talk to people all day long about budgets and how they can get their finances on track but I can't seem to hold myself accountable. Does anybody have some real advice about what I need to do to really get my butt in gear? I don't know why I am having the disconnect! HELP!