Sunday
BP - $51.93 I didn't think I was going to need a fill up until Monday morning but I got into the car and the gas light was on! I'm super paranoid so I always try to refill before the gas light comes on...actually I usually refill my car once the gas needle gets to about the 20% mark.
BF took me to an ourdoor mall type of thing for some tea and people watching.
Monday
No Spend Day!
Tues
Publix - $5.39 for some juice and fruit
Wed
No Spend Day
Thurs
No Spend Day
Fri
No Spend Day - Tonight I went out for a delicious sushi dinner wtih my mom :) I love going out with my mom because she still insists on paying for everything. My mom is the best :)
Sat
Chevron - $53.08
BF and I tried a new BBQ restaurant that we had a coupon for. BBQ is one of my favorite types of food! TI forget exactly, but I think it was St. Louis type BBQ. We decided to split a sampler platter which had 4 different meats - beef ribs, baby back ribs, roasted chicken and pulled pork. It was really good..but super filling, especially since we got corn bread and sweet potato fries with it! The beef ribs were delicious and were bbqed in a sweet sauce (honey/brown sugar). The baby back ribs were good too but the sauce reminded me of the spice in gumbo. All in all, we were both super stuffed and the total bill (with tax and tip) was only $31ish because of our coupon! I offered to pay but BF was nice and paid for it all, although in hindsight he mentioned how he should have let me pay since it was a pretty cheap meal!
Grand Total = $110.40
This week I realized that a huge bulk of my monthly spending goes towards my car expenses. Each month my car expenses are approximately $835ish ($225ish for gas, $110 for insurance and $500 towards the payment of the car). This is basically my rent for the month and comes out to slightly over $10000 per year! Realistically, I have just under 2.5 years left until the car payments are complete and I don't see my gas/insurance consumption decreasing signifcantly any time soon. I have considered getting rid of my car, but have determined it to be a necessity. The public transportation around here isn't very good and it would take me far too long to get to work. Besides, I enjoy the luxury of having a car and not having to go by any type of bus/train schedule. On the other hand, this is equivalent to throwing $10000 a year away since I'll never recoup the money I'm spending on the car :(
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Bank Fees
Boo, I just noticed that I started to get charged monthly banking fees of $8.95 from BoA. One of the company's I previously worked for (2 years ago!) had an agreement with BoA where as employees our bank fees got waived. I guess I shouldn't be complaining since I stopped working for that company 2 years ago and haven't been getting charged until now!
On the other hand, I've been getting a lot of mail recently from other banks trying to solicit my business. I wonder if I call BoA and threaten to close my account if I could get my bank fees waived...$8.95 monthly isn't too much but it adds up to almost $108 a year! I just don't want them to call my bluff since I enjoy the convenience of BoA - there are bank machines everywhere, they have a good website and it's easy for me to do online transfers to my family/bf since we all bank with BoA.
On the other hand, I've been getting a lot of mail recently from other banks trying to solicit my business. I wonder if I call BoA and threaten to close my account if I could get my bank fees waived...$8.95 monthly isn't too much but it adds up to almost $108 a year! I just don't want them to call my bluff since I enjoy the convenience of BoA - there are bank machines everywhere, they have a good website and it's easy for me to do online transfers to my family/bf since we all bank with BoA.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Weekly Spending: Jan 9 - Jan 15th
I had a great week financially this week! Cash flow positive - woo hoo! I also had 3 no spend days which is as good as it gets for me.
Sunday
Extra income: $185.63 (selling things on Ebay less Ebay fees)
Eating out: $20
Monday
No spend day plus I had a snow day from work, which means that I didn't even have to use ANY gas!!
Tuesday
No spend day
Wednesday
Post Office - $29.96 (shipping fees for the things I sold on Sunday)
Thursday
No spend day - technically I guess I would have spent money on groceries today but BF was nice and paid for it all :)
Friday
Parking - $6.75
This was also a pay day at work :)
Saturday
Cell Phone Bill - $28.25
Grand Total: I am cash flow positive this week (even if I exclude my regular work pay) of $100.67!
In hindsight, I probably should have spent an extra $40 - $50 this week on gas but I was lazy and am leaving the fill up for Monday morning. I know I'll be regretting this on Monday morning.
Sunday
Extra income: $185.63 (selling things on Ebay less Ebay fees)
Eating out: $20
Monday
No spend day plus I had a snow day from work, which means that I didn't even have to use ANY gas!!
Tuesday
No spend day
Wednesday
Post Office - $29.96 (shipping fees for the things I sold on Sunday)
Thursday
No spend day - technically I guess I would have spent money on groceries today but BF was nice and paid for it all :)
Friday
Parking - $6.75
This was also a pay day at work :)
Saturday
Cell Phone Bill - $28.25
Grand Total: I am cash flow positive this week (even if I exclude my regular work pay) of $100.67!
In hindsight, I probably should have spent an extra $40 - $50 this week on gas but I was lazy and am leaving the fill up for Monday morning. I know I'll be regretting this on Monday morning.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
New Year Goals
I've been reading a couple of personal finance blogs and got inspired to start my own for a number of reasons: 1) I want to start saving for a rainy day/house/apt, etc 2) No matter how much money I earn, there never seems to be enough in my bank account!!
In the past I never worried about my finances as long as at the end of the day all my bills were paid. I never kept track as to where my money was going but it always seemed to be going somewhere!
2011 Personal Finance Goals
1) Contribute at least $5700 to my 401k (not including company match)
2) Contribute $4500 to savings for the end of the year
3) Know where my money's going! (keep track of expenses, budget, etc)
4) Learn something new about finance every month
5) Stick to my shopping budgets or fund shopping through extra income
My January Goals
1) Consolidate my Vanguard 401k account into my JP Morgan account since it seems to be better managed in terms of communication, choice of investment options, etc. Also, the site seems more user friendly. I can never find ANYTHING on the Vanguard site.
2) Start a blog - check!
3) Cancel unread magazine subscriptions
For the first week of Janauary 2011 (Jan 1 - Jan 8) I spent a lot!!
Poker - $10
Costco - Passport photos and misc. household items - $39.52
Groceries from Kroeger - $26.13
Eating out - $52.46
Rent - $860
Plane Ticket - $1000
Car Insurance - $328.93
Gas - $46.46
For a total of $2363.50!!
Not too worried since a lot of my monthly expenses occur early on in the month and this also includes $1000 for a plane ticket. I also have 0 credit card payments to make this month since I paid off everything I owed in December prior to Jan 1 so that I could start the new year fresh!
In the past I never worried about my finances as long as at the end of the day all my bills were paid. I never kept track as to where my money was going but it always seemed to be going somewhere!
2011 Personal Finance Goals
1) Contribute at least $5700 to my 401k (not including company match)
2) Contribute $4500 to savings for the end of the year
3) Know where my money's going! (keep track of expenses, budget, etc)
4) Learn something new about finance every month
5) Stick to my shopping budgets or fund shopping through extra income
My January Goals
1) Consolidate my Vanguard 401k account into my JP Morgan account since it seems to be better managed in terms of communication, choice of investment options, etc. Also, the site seems more user friendly. I can never find ANYTHING on the Vanguard site.
2) Start a blog - check!
3) Cancel unread magazine subscriptions
For the first week of Janauary 2011 (Jan 1 - Jan 8) I spent a lot!!
Poker - $10
Costco - Passport photos and misc. household items - $39.52
Groceries from Kroeger - $26.13
Eating out - $52.46
Rent - $860
Plane Ticket - $1000
Car Insurance - $328.93
Gas - $46.46
For a total of $2363.50!!
Not too worried since a lot of my monthly expenses occur early on in the month and this also includes $1000 for a plane ticket. I also have 0 credit card payments to make this month since I paid off everything I owed in December prior to Jan 1 so that I could start the new year fresh!
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