End of March Review

March Goals:
-No money spent on clothes - NOPE $16.99 on a top $45.18 on accessories
-No money spent on jewelry supplies - NOPE $20.60 ($17 of this I'm getting back from the person buying the jewelry!)
-No money spent on credit!!! - Well, kind of - See below
-Stay on budget in every category - NOPE In fact, I've decided to make some changes to my budget. More on that later.

So, basically I broke ALL of my March Goals. BUT I did pay off my Visa! Well, kind of. I put $111.17 on it for my mother's day gift - ticketmaster only takes credit cards. This will be added to my April gift budget and paid off in April accordingly. I just wanted to make sure I got good (cheap) seats.

Here's how I did for the last two weeks in March, not awesome, but certainly not as bad as the first two weeks of March!

Only over in Personal Care/Household (one category being changed in April) and Clothes, since I budgeted zero for this category, technically I'm not over if I had put my 'normal' clothing budget.

Here's the full month of March:

So, again over in every category except clothes and other. I have some serious re-jigging to do!

I will post again tomorrow with April's budget and goals.

TTFN, Morgaine.

$5000 off my consolidation loan?

Next month, since it is a 3 paycheque month, I have scheduled myself to pay $1300 off my consolidation loan.

1st paycheque $300 regular payment + $200 (what normally would go to Mastercard) = $500
2nd paycheque $300 regular payment
3rd paycheque $200 snowball + bonus (this month is will be high, around $3-400!!!) = $500
=$1300 (maybe more depending on bonus)

From May on, the "regular payment" will be around $600 - may fluctuate slightly because of my bonus, but hopefully not much.

April $1300
May $600
June $600
July $600
Aug $600
Sept $1300 - another 3 paycheque month. Even if my bonus isn't as high that month, I will add from the planned spending acct.

Total $5000!!!

Of course, that's not coming completly off the top, there's interest on the loan that I didn't calculate for - too complicated for my blood! But that should be a huge help in becoming debt free!

If my next job doesn't include a bonus, it has to bring me at least $200 more net a month in order to maintain my current payments - hopefully more! :)

TTFN, Morgaine.

Non-Spendy Weekend

As I thought, this weekend was not spendy at all! All I've purchased was a salad spinner (finally!) and for $12! I think I will be going to Kitchen Stuff Plus for most of my kitchen needs from now on, they are actually very reasonably priced!

The bf buys groceries so even though we had guests over and I made dinner and desert for 4 people it didn't cost me anything. Today I'm staying home, cleaning up and relaxing - I need it!

Here's a picture of the desert I made yesterday - Boston Cream Cupcakes! So yummy :)

I will post again on Thursday - Payday! Or before if I have something to post.

TTFN, Morgaine.

March - Week 3

So far, so good.

The clothes column includes the sweater I bought last Friday and an umbrella (last one went inside out in a particularly nasty storm a while ago) and an insulated lunch bag - so not really "clothes" per se, but I thought it to be the best category to put it in.

The only plans for the weekend so far are having some friends over on Saturday (making dinner) and going to see my Mom on Sunday, so it shouldn't be a spendy weekend. Here's hoping!

TTFN, Morgaine.

Somewhat Spendy Weekend

Well, this weekend was less spendy than last weekend, but its definitely where I would like to be in terms of spending.

Friday: $20 for dinner, $16.99 for sweater
Saturday: $30 for dinner and drinks
Sunday: $10 for dinner, $15.50 movie
Total: $92.49

So, just under $100 in one weekend! At least next weekend will be a lot quieter!

So much for "No Clothing March"

On Friday I went to Sears to buy a salad spinner (Asian Pear http://theasianpear.blogspot.com/ made me think about how I wanted one for a while) but instead I bought a sweater! In my defense, its totally me (and cute), I can wear it to work, and it was $14.99 (on clearance from $29.99).

Here it is!

I'm not trying to justify my purchase, but its hard getting over a clothing/shopping addiction! :S

For the rest of the weekend, the bf and I went out to an Irish pub yesterday with some friends (came to about $30 bucks for dinner and drinks) and we're going to see Alice in Wonderland tonight (probably another $20).

I will try and post on Monday how expensive this weekend is, I hope I don't do too much more damage!!!

TTFN, Morgaine.

2 Down, 2 to go!

Ok, Visa is officially paid off today! So, I have the biggest debts left: consolidation loan and Mastercard. Next, I am concentrating on the consolidation loan. Mostly because it has the higher interest rate, but also since I want to learn how to live within my means, it is too tempting to put the high amount of payment on the MC and then just spend it when I'm "short" on funds or I really want something. Once the consolidation loan is paid off, I'm hoping to have decent emergency and planned spending accounts established so I don't run to the credit card every time I want something. Also, I'm hoping by that point my commitment to being debt-free-forever will be extremely strong so I won't want to go back in the hole ever again (other than a mortgage)!

Maybe also, I will be over my shopping "addiction". I did something potentially very dangerous yesterday - I went shopping! I went into 2 shoes stores, 4 clothing stores, and 1 bead store. But, get this, I didn't buy ANYTHING!!! I was there to look for a particular bead for someone for their wedding, which is close to a strip mall. So of course, I start thinking about all the things I want (new shoes, coat, etc) but I didn't find anything I loved for a good price ($60 for a raincoat!). And, I didn't find the bead either. I was tempted by other beads, but I held out!!! And, since its "No Clothing March" I didn't buy a shirt that I really liked - if in April its on sale, I may consider it, but I may make it a "No Clothing April" as well, we'll see.

BTW, the reason my consolidation loan isn't on the progress bars on the bottom is because I have to call in to find out the balance (during business hours) and since I'm lazy I don't do it very frequently. However, with the new payment ($600-700/mth depending on how high my bonus is) I will try and get an update at least every couple of months to make sure its going well.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend! TTFN, Morgaine.

Payday!

Well, here's how I've done in March so far (not so good!)

So, I overspent in every category except other and clothes. But, please note, I did not put anything on my credit card! The extra was covered from a "savings" account - I guess a planned spending account, but not really planned.

I have at least kept a few of my March goals.

March Goals:
-No money spent on clothes - so far, so good
-No money spent on jewelry supplies - so far, so good
-No money spent on credit!!! BIG ONE - so far, so good
-Stay on budget in every category - NOT going to happen!

This is where I stand on my monthly budget:

So, over in gifts category and I'm sure with such small amounts in the other categories, it would be extremely hard to stay within those amounts. Anyways, here is March Bi-Weekly #2 Budget (not amended for the monthly amounts).

Oh, and did I mention I will have my Visa paid off by the end of the month? My bonus cheque plus my "snowball" payment (i.e. what used to be allocated to student loans) paid it off!!! Once the payment is posted, I will update the bars (and savings/RSP bars).

I hope everyone had an awesome (and not too spendy) St Patrick's Day! Slainte!

TTFN, Morgaine.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!!!

March has already been one expensive month!!!

Here's where I stand almost at the end of my first two-week cycle:

So, again, over in pretty well every category!

Luckily, the rest of this month shouldn't be as spendy, no more birthdays, no anniversary. The only thing is St Patrick's Day and since I'm Irish this is a MUST!!! Also, we are thinking to go and see Alice in Wonderland. Other than those things, the rest of March should be fairly quiet.

For April, there is one birthday - but I already got that present, and the wrapping! So, I shouldn't have to spend anything in the gifts category. I may start a jar for gifts so when I have a particularly gift heavy month (next up: May - Mother's Day and my BF's birthday!) I will have a bit socked away for this. And starting this in April would be good - 3 paycheque month!!!

For April as well, since it’s so quiet, I will try and do the "No Spend Challenge" started by blogger "Simply Frugal" (simplyfrugal.ca). She explains how this is done here: http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/stuff_money_can_buy_taya So, no coffees, no lunches and dinners out, no movies, NO CLOTHES, nothing that isn't food (non-take out) and regular bills. Hopefully the weather will be nicer and we can do more outdoor activities so that I won't feel too bummed.
 
I'll post again once the actually two weeks are over and we'll see how I do for the rest of this weekend!

TTFN, Morgaine.

Spendy Spendy Weekend and Refund!

Just looking at this says it all . . .

I've already gone over in almost every category and I still have another week and a half to go before next payday! I have $79 left in the bank account and still have to go to Medieval Times next weekend for my other friend's birthday (approx $40-50 ticket).

Why was this weekend so expensive? I bought two presents, went out for B's birthday Friday - dinner and dessert $40. Went to see a museum exhibit and lecture on Saturday, out for dinner and coffee afterwards ($100 - less $30 that the bf is going to give me back when he gets paid). Sunday was groceries, laundry, pet supplies, and I went a little crazy at the pharmacy (girl supplies).

So, this week will be full of no-spend days! Starting with today :)

I got my tax refund of $317.77 and it went directly on my Visa. I will update the bar once the payment has been posted.

TTFN, Morgaine.

Anonymity

Jessie at Jessie's money http://jessiesmoney.blogspot.com/ wrote recently about bloggers being "outed". Apparently this has happened to another FP blogger that I follow, and I thought that I should post something about this as it happened to me.

If you go back to the beginning of this blog, it seems to start in the middle, that's because it does. I use to have another blog, but it was "outed" by a co-worker. I don't want to get into too many details, but that's the story. I was thinking about reposting at least some of the old posts (ones I wouldn't get into trouble for), but at this point, I'm not sure.

Anyways, today is PAYDAY!!! I will update the bars tonight. I CAN'T wait until I get my tax refund. Apparently it will be deposited into my bank account on the 8th (Monday), I'm not sure why it will take so long (2 weeks since I filed) but anyways. Going directly on the Visa . . .

TTFN, Morgaine.

March - Biweekly Budget #1

Here's a visual representation of what I HOPE I will spend in the first two weeks in March:

The first column is "fixed expenses" the second column are "variable". As you can see, I budgeted $0 for clothes - and good thing I did, otherwise I'd be more in the red at the end of the month! The $1.13 I can live with (there is $10.49 in my account now so, technically its a $9.36 surplus if I keep to the totals. I put my full gifts budget here because I still have 2 more gifts to buy this month.

For the entertainment budget, I may have to steal from another category. My friend wants to go to the museum this weekend for a special exhibit $32.50! and my other friend's birthday, we are going to Medeval Times $50! And dinner out with another friend for her birthday, plus St Patrick's Day, plus our anniversary, plus going to see "Alice in Wonderland". Wow! Gotta keep the credit cards at home this month - way too much temptation!!!

On the plus side, it has been 2 no spending days in a row. Tomorrow, however, I have to buy my lunch as we ran out of lunchmeat! I hope we can make something big enough tomorrow night to have left overs for my lunch on Friday, we'll see.

This, of course, doesn't include the extra "income" of my tax refund as it is going directly to the Visa - it'll be like it never existed . . .

I will try to post again tomorrow and update the bars.
TTFN, Morgaine.

February Budget - Visual

So, I'm still new at this blogging thing and when I looked at how crappy my budget looked typed out and looking at other FP blogs and saw that its possible to put the excel version of my budget as an image on my blog - I was like, AWESOME!

So, here it is . . .

 

Next I will post my full budget!

Also, I noticed something awesome today. In April I will get paid 3 times!!! WOOT WOOT! So, I'm rethinking the idea of paying off my Visa this month and pay half off this month and half next. I don't want to stress my cash flow more than necessary like I did last month. One of my goals is not live paycheque to paycheque, borrow from the bf, or even worse - use credit. So, I gotta try and keep a bit of a "float" so that if something small comes up (i.e. unexpected but not big enough to warrant using the emergency fund) I have the funds to cover them without borrowing.

I'll post again Thursday - Pay Day!!! TTFN, Morgaine.