Week 4: Bargain Shopping

I was so excited yesterday bargain shopping. I was able to spend under $60 bucks and got myself 4 shirts, a pair of flats and a purse! I think I am good at setting the budget at around $50 every two weeks for shopping.

I did my taxes this year. Hopefully I didnt mess anything up. I will be receiving a refund of about $1300. Now that I am revisiting my debts for the next month, it looks like I will be able to pay off all the credit cards especially BML ($812.53) and the concert tickets I bought for $115 and have $373 left to either snowball or go shopping. Yes, I know SNOWBALL it is.

I will only be worrying about a couple of debts this year and I am excited.

1. Personal Loan ($8618.81) $250/mo
2. Student Loan ($13002.62) $100/mo
3. Rent $450/mo
4. Cell Phone $260/mo **need to look into lowering this Family Plan
5. Car Insurance $100/mo

TOTAL: $1160/mo

I feel so relieved now that all my debts has been consolidated. The first few weeks of the month I thought I couldn't make it. It was overwhelming after moving out that I dont have any money left over days before the next check comes in. It scared me. At the end, all I needed to do was to just organize everything and try not to spend too much on food.

Week 3: I don't know what I'm doing

I feel like I dont know what I am doing with this whole budgeting thing. I have tried and failed every tips and trick on the books. However, I wont give up. Im sure there is something out there that will work eventually.

On a lighter note: This week actually was pretty productive. One more week to add where I didnt use any credit cards and I was able to finally set up my medical benefits (medical, vision and dental) which totals to about $45 a bi-weekly. Plus, a 5% deduction for the 401k. Definitely need to budget those in. I also need to start adding an "Entertainment" budget added.

I have an interview tomorrow for a marketing part time job. This should help out on experience and help pay off remaining bills. I am still sticking to my goals

- Personal Loan pay off 5k
- Emergency Fund $1000

I am building a NEW budget now :)


1/17: MLK No Work
Dinner $3.30
Groceries $7

1/18: Target
Lunch $2.15
Target $14.02

1/19: Risotto Night
Groceries $21.05
Bofa CC Payoff $19

1/20: Brought Lunch, Happy Hour
Drinks & Food $17

1/21: HOME
Lunch $4.89
Gas $54
Tea $1.95

1/22: Snowboarding
Pass $69
Dinner $9.22

1/23: Football Championship
Gas (AGAIN!) $48


TOTAL ON FOOD: $66.56
TOTAL ON SHOP/ENT/MISC: $83.02
TOTAL ON GAS: $102
TOTAL ON BILLS: $19

Week 2: Needs Improvement

Week two of this debt diet was actually worse than the first week. I ended up spending more, although I saved on gas this week.

Monday 1/10: day off
Gas $53.60
Movie: $8
Dinner (Ihop) $9.82

Tuesday 1/11: Kinda no spend day
Breakfast $3.45

Wednesday 1/12: Kinda no spend day
Dinner Made $4.20

Thursday 1/13: Yikes
Soda (WTF) $1.60
Stamps (CHECK) $8.80
TGIFridays $22.65
Pinkberry $8.90

Friday 1/14: Double Yikes
Paid Loan $230
Paid Insurance $200
Shop (VS) $59.15
Indian Food $6.51
Drinks $4.11

Saturday 1/15: Beach Day
Target (Withdrawal) $29.39

Sunday 1/16: Game day
BJs $22.00
Dinner $6.51

TOTAL ON FOOD: $89.75
TOTAL ON SHOP/ENT/MISC: $105.34
TOTAL ON BILLS:

Week 1: Harder than I thought

What a week - This was harder than I thought. I actually went out two times and spent about $30 the past week. However, I will be saving more with all my CC fees after I was able to get approved to consolidate and get a personal loan from my credit union. I am on the way to being debt free. I am so excited.

The debt that I will need to pay off before March are:
- Car insurance $850 (or at least $400)
- Collections $210
- Car Repairs $260


My budget for the incoming week will be:
- $100 (food/groceries/eat out)
- $50 gas
- $50 misc. - will either be to payoff things (snowball or shop - I havent decided yet)

OVERVIEW WEEK 1: No Spending

Accomplishments:
1. Brought lunch the whole week to work - yay!
2. Consolidated all CC debt with an 11% rate from the credit union (4 year payoff - or less please!)

Spent:
1. $13 Hooters - Roomie Dinner
2. $15 Elephant Bar - HH
3. $3 Coffee throughout the week
4. $50 Gas
5. $260 Car Repair *** OUCH!

Income:
1. NONE

Day 1

Today made me just realized how blessed my life really is

+ I have great a great family
+ I have great friends
+ My BF has been wonderful
+ I have a job
+ My dog is ok (although still limping *poor thing*)
+ My car is running - after the accident a week ago (or maybe a year ago... that sounds better
+ I have a roof over my head with a snuggie to keep me warm

There are a lot more to be thankful for and I know I wont be able to get thru them unless I think about them but I am really just grateful for everything in my life right now. I need to remind myself of these simple things than stressing out about things that are temporary.


OVERVIEW

Accomplishments:
1. Bought lunch at work
2. Called Capital One and Citi to reverse fees - Need to call citi back. The fee hasnt been posted
3. Cancelled freecreditreport $14.99 added a month
4. Called furniture to get the remaining delivered that were missing
5. ***WORK: Cleaned up loans at work :) finally in the single digits

Spent:
1. $1.59 - Coffee (used coins)
2. $20 - Donation

Income:
1. NONE

DEBT DIET 2011: January Goals

First is to learn how to start saying "NO". I need to be able to stick to this resolution. As a matter of fact let me list this clearly on what my things to do are for DEBT DIET 2011.

Pay off debt - I want to be able to pay $5000 worth of CC debt this year and at least $3000 for Student Loans (BREAKDOWN: $300 bi-weekly)
* How I will do this? (1)Budget (2)Snowball (3)Get a 2nd job
* Motivation? Ill be able to spend the money instead of handing it off to credit card companies
* Other options? Consolidate Debt. Get a loan. Sell things on EBAY

JANUARY GOALS:
1. Pay $500 off Credit Card Bills
2. Try to eat in everyday - be able to splurge 1-2 a week (ie. Eat Out/Happy Hour)
3. Snowball Debt - Return purchases total $300
4. Read a book or two
5. Learn how to cook something new

Recap and Plans

New year, new me. Man how many times have I said that to myself. Looking back, 2010 was a blessing. To recap:

Jan 2010 - C and I started talking... great start
Feb 2010 - Forgot, but ill get back to this
Mar 2010 - Colorado *Travel #1
Apr 2010 - Hiking
May 2010 - Bahamas. Montreal. Nova Scotia *Travel 2,3,4
Jun 2010 - Orlando. Vegas. Toronto *Travel 5,6
Jul 2010 - North Carolina. All Star Run. New Phone *Travel 7
Aug 2010 - John Legend. Dirty Heads (OC Fair). Quit Work
Sep 2010 - North Carolina. NEW JOB. Moved to San Diego.
Oct 2010 - IN TOWN :)
Nov 2010 - New England. Thanksgiving with the Fam *Travel 8
Dec 2010 - Christmas :)

So this is where we end and where I start off with bills. My car is already paid for, however, I moved out. I still need to figure out a budget that will work for me. So far it will start off as

Savings $100
Rent $450
CC/Loans $300 - 400
Phone $260*


TOTAL: $1210

At that rate with CC I will pay it off in 22423.05/300 = 74months or 6-7 years. Not going to happen. My goal will be paying off the CC in 2 years MAX. Agressively paying at $420/mo. NOT gonna happen at this time. My plans for now are... paying off the smaller balances then snowballing for the month of January.


Ok im blabbing too much. For the week of Jan 1-13

Food $100
Gas $100
Eat once a day at home
Use CASH only