Debt Hater

November Monthly Report: All that fun and still in the BLACK!

First, let me say that Thanksgiving was wonderful!

I spent it with my guy and my relatives all together in my cousin's home in New Jersey. The food was fantastic (including a very tasty sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pecan cookies by yours truly) and it was fun just hanging out, playing with the kids, playing my new Dance Dance Revolution with everyone (and working up a sweat on it, a good thing considering how much we ate).

After hanging in Jersey for two days, my guy, my brother and I came back to New York City. Saturday, my guy and I strolled my neighborhood marveling at all the new condos and businesses that have sprung up. We treated ourselves to coffee at a new cafe near my home and talked sports over cookies at Luscious bakery. We went to see a movie with my best friend and then had dinner at this amazing little restaurant in Harlem called Food for Life Supreme. We had a blast!

Sunday, it was a quite, rainy day at home alone (guy went back to D.C.; mom and grandma still visiting relatives out of state). But restless me had to walk to get bagels from one of my favorite spots and then went on to Target for no reason but to spend money on whatever, which is what you do at Target!

I spent a big chunk of the day reviewing my budget. I'm still working on that because there will be some big changes in the new year, namely me and the guy wanting to get into a bigger place.

But, somehow this month, even with the traveling, the food shopping, the food eating and and the stupid penalties I paid earlier in the month, I came in the black for November by $250!

I went over my eating out budget. I came way under on clothes -- which was negated by the towing fee I had to pay. I came under on the gym, since my membership was up this month and I canceled. I came WAY under on gas, mostly because I didn't drive and by the time I had to drive, gas was under $2! All the while my automatic, straight from the paycheck to the e-fund, savings transfer was in full effect.

Nice!

Preparing for Thanksgiving, while staying on budget

My guy and I are driving to my cousin's house early tomorrow morning for Thanksgiving.

Everyone in the family got assignments to cook -- my cousin and his wife are deep frying the turkey and preparing some of the basics, I was assigned sweet potato casserole.

The one place you do NOT want to be the night before Thanksgiving is the grocery store. But, my bad, I didn't buy enough sweet potatoes to feed the whole brood and I needed shortening for the pumpkin cookies I decided to make too.

While I pushed and shoved my way through the glut of shopping cards and confused-looking shoppers, I got what I needed, then waited online for an inordinate amount of time relative to what I had in hand. After I got out of the grocery store, I went to fill up my gas tank so we wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning.

$1.95 Regular

Whoa! Gas under $2! I don't remember the last time I saw that. Filling up my tank from empty just cost $29. Man, a few months ago, filling up the same tank cost me $45 at least.

I don't plan on doing any "Black Friday" shopping. As a matter of fact, I think my family is planning to do Secret Santa just among the adults. So, we'd each only be responsible to buy one gift for one person and we can go nuts on the kids if we so choose... or not. They do have their own parents.

Still, I've been saving for Christmas for the last 6 months, just in case. But, I think this will be wiser and more economical for everyone involved.

All that aside, I am just exited to see everyone and to EAT!!!

DH

And the hits (to the teeth) just keep on coming

Sorry about my unofficial blog hiatus. I've just been lazy (I won't bore you with lame excuses about why I haven't been blogging. They'd all be lies anyway).

Now I am back and quaking in my boots a little.

So, you remember how I had to have a bunch of fillings done in my teeth? Ok, well, one tooth just kept on hurting after all that extensive and expensive dental work. It totally hurts to chew on the right side of my mouth. I've been doing all the chewing on the left (which, incidentally, was my problem to begin with. I did most of my chewing on the right side, so the right side needed more work. Now I'm chewing all on the left side. Are the teeth on the left going to turn to crap now too?!).

When I chewed on the right or drank something (cold or hot, it made no difference), a white hot lightning bolt of pain would shoot into the tooth back up and all over the right side of my mouth. Sometimes, it made me wince and cradle my face waiting for the sharp pain to subside.

I prayed that it was just my imagination.

But after two weeks, I decided it was time to go back to the dentist to confirm what I already suspected.

Sure enough, he said I need a root canal. Damnation. How come the first dentists didn't see that? It would have saved me time AND MONEY!!! I'm wondering, do I have to pay the whole amount for this when old boy coulda just did a root canal to begin with?

My insurance only covers up to $1,000 a year. I already used $422 and paid $569.50 out of pocket. To get the root canal and the overlay, I'd have to pay $705.50 -- more than $300 over what I was anticipating.

Sigh.

Remember, I put $600 in my emergency fund to cover this stuff... but it won't be enough to cover all of this, so I need to find more money.

This is where you run into the dilemma that plagues those of us in debt (or who are trying to say out of it) -- when you need more money, you can do one of two things:

Cut expenses OR Increase income

Increasing your income is the best bet. For me, I have to admit, it was also harder to do than cut expenses. Increasing your income requires a little extra work and effort, whereas cutting expenses requires almost none (besides going through the budget with a fine toothed comb and adjusting to the bare bones spending plan).

But I'm at the point where cutting expenses isn't going to do enough to cover these big payment obligations. Cutting means nickels and dimes. I need dollars.

I will think more on that. In the mean time, I will just be happy that Thanksgiving is near and that I will not be at work for the next week. Yay!

Things I'm Doing With My Money

Okay, so like I said in my last post, I have to tamp down on some things because I had some car issues and because I decided to assuage my icky car-been-towed feelings by buying myself some presents.

Yeah.

So, while I was waiting for my guy to pick me up for an appointment, I strolled by the Nine West at Union Station. I went in. I tried on two pairs of shoes. Now, these shoes made my legs look FABULOUS. And they were just cute shoes. AND they were actually comfortable (as comfortable as hot girl shoes can be just strolling around the store). But, they weren't perfectly comfortable, so I left them there.

But, um, when I got home, just out of curiosity, I checked online to see if maybe the shoes were available a half size larger. They were. And they were cheaper online than in the store. And the shipping was free.

You know what I did.

When I get them, maybe I'll post a picture of my gams with them on my feet, so you can see what I'm talking about.

Damage: $47 ($13 cheaper than buying them in the store)

On a better note, my gym membership expired at the end of last month. I went in to cancel it formally and had to pay $22 because it automatically goes to month-to-month membership if you don't come in person to cancel it.
I have also found another place, cheaper, with the fitness class I have been looking for.
The change in gym will save me $17 a month. Plus, the other place doesn't require a contract, so I can quit going (and quit paying) at any time.

So, yeah, working on it my brothers and sisters... I'm still working on it!

DH

Overbudget the First Week of the Month?

I'm over budget already.

Friday night, I wanted to treat my guy (and myself) to dinner and a movie. But when we walked outside, I discovered that my car was gone.

It was towed.

There is a business right beside our apartment.When parking on the street is hard to find, we sometimes park in the business's lot overnight, of course moving the car in the morning before opening time.

I totally forgot that I had parked there the night before. My car sat in the lot all day (or got towed first thing in the morning, I don't know which).

So, I coughed up $140 (cash only, can you believe that?) to get it, plus the $35 for the city parking ticket. Plus the $2 ATM fee because I don't just walk around with hundreds of dollars in cash on my person.

Sigh.

Miffed, I went to buy Dance Dance Revolution for my Wii and new earphones for my iPod. Um, so that was another $105. Now, I had enough money for that purchases, until my car got towed. So, I should have waited a month, I suppose, since the towing and ticket pretty much wrecked my budget.

The only way I can see to save that nearly $200 is not to travel (which ain't happening because Thanksgiving is this month and my family is celebrating in New Jersey), not to buy any clothes (which, I thinkI can actually do) or come way under budget on food. That may be EXTREMELY difficult to do, considering I've already blown through more than half my dining out budget (dinner with guy, dinner with friends, two lunches and a hot chocolate, seriously).

To drown my annoyance, I played my new DDR for two and a half hours late into the night. And it was fun. And I don't regret the purchase. The mess is addicting. I'm already seeing rainbow arrows running up my into the air when I close my eyes to the beat of techno music. (Did any of you play Tetris? Remember how if you played it enough you'd start to see those pieces falling from the sky everywhere? Yeah, it's like that.)

DH

Barack Obama is President-Elect of the USA!

I woke up in somewhat of a stupor.

I went to an election return party with my guy. We were watching CNN with a group of people.
The poll closing timer was ticking down 10 seconds, 9, 8, 7...

The time hit zero as the pundits kept talking and then, suddenly, a Breaking News graphic spun onto the screen with thunderous beats and a second later, the headline read Barack Obama is President-Elect.

The room erupted in cheers and 12 grown people jumped up and down, hugged and squealed with delight.

The rest of the night was a blur. All I could think was "The first family is black."

This morning, it was quiet on the late commute to work (I got up LATE). The news stands were picked clean. I looked around for even one of the free newspapers handed out every morning at the train station. The man was all out and had been, it seemed, for some time.

Whatever your politics or whomever you voted for, you can't deny that this is amazing!

Of course, as a black woman myself, I take special joy in the First Lady -- the quintessential American woman -- being a woman like me, like my mother, like so many of my beautiful friends.

But I also take joy in the fact that AMERICA, not one kind of America or one kind of person, made this happen. America, this is what we wanted and we got it.

Bask in that.

DH

Debt Hater Voted! Did you?

I voted!

I waited in line this morning about 30 minutes. I got my sticker and went on.

I don't care who you want to vote for, just go vote.

This election is historic and our country needs something to move and move quickly.

That's all the preaching I'll do today.

I've gotten many text messages and e-mail forwards about Election Day Freebies including:

Free tall (12 oz.) brewed coffee from Starbucks (but I didn't see anything on the corporate site)

Free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A (again, I didn't find anything on the corporate site)

Free Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream cone from 5 -8 p.m.

Free Krispy Kreme star-shaped donuts with "I Voted" Sticker

(Thanks to commenter mia for B&J and KK notes)

I haven't tried any of these yet today, but if I do, I will let you know if I actually get anything free.

Vote!

DH

October Monthly Statement: In the Black, technically

Man. I was doing so well (um, though I went way over my clothes budget AGAIN, but I'll get to that a little further down). But then my dental work really sent things into a tailspin. Lucky for me it was 3-paycheck month. But I really don't want to rely on luck for things like this.

In general, I finished the month $900 in the black (Though the vast majority of that I put in my e-fund for dental work I'll likely need done before the end of the year).

Ok, so let's run through 3 scenarios that will explain just how this month went.

SCENARIO 1: Just 2 paychecks and NO dental work.
If this had been a normal month with no medical surprises and no third check, then I would have finished the month with $50 unspent earned money.

I usually put "surpluses" in regular savings. After regular savings gets to about $400 or $500, I deposit at least half of it in the e-fund. Call me paranoid, but I like to have a little cushion right in regular saving just in case I miscalculate something (I don't want any checks bouncing) or in case I suddenly have an unexpected expense that isn't big enough to dig into the e-fund for but is a little too big to just take out of checking. Of course, the goal is to always "replace" that money by cutting back in the next month.

I went $175 over my clothes budget. Basically, the money I got for my birthday I used to by a sweet, black trenchcoat, a turtleneck and some other stuff I can't remember just now.

I went $200 over my gifts & charity budget (keep in mind, that budge is just $20 a month). I had a wedding and I spent time recruiting for an alumni organization, so I chalked that gas money up to a charitable donation.

I was $65 over on my entertainment budget because of our trip to Busch Gardens a few weeks ago.

Most other places, I did really well. I came under budget on food. Yes, try not to fall out of your chairs in shock. I was 16 cents under my grocery budget and $77 under on eating out. That doesn't make up for all the categories where I went over, but I mentioned it because I NEVER come under on food! Yay yay!

SCENARIO 2: Just 2 Paychecks and ALL the dental work.

So, let's say this was not a 3 paycheck month and I suddenly had to pay for my fillings, which cost $569.50. Then, I would have gone $519.50 over budget. OUCH. That's a major hole and I'm not sure how I would have covered that in November (besides, of course, dipping in the e-fund).

SCENARIO 3: 3 Paychecks and Dental work.

This is what actually happened. Technically, I need at least half of a third paycheck to cover those months with 5 weeks and just 2 paychecks. In this case, unfortunately, just about the whole check will go to pay for the dental work I've already had and the last bit I'll probably get in a month.

I am going to have to rethink medical expenses in my budget. I need to accept that I'm getting old :-) and will need to spend more on medical care. I also need to find out if it's to late to open a flexible spending account so I can save more my recurring expenses pre-tax.

So, the picture is decent. I didn't go crazy this month though, I must say, I had a lot of fun! I went to visit some nearby family last week. I loved my trip to Busch Gardens. I really liked the bottle of wine I bought for charity (Juan Gil Jumilla 2005, Monastrell grapes; yummers). And, yes, the clothes shopping continues.

DH