Debt Hater

June 2008 Monthly Report

    Ok, so even spending willy nilly didn't put me in the red.

    On the contrary, I am well in the black.

    But, I went over budget in the same old categories, so I'm not going to go in detail there because you've read it dozens of times before (groceries and clothes, specifically), but, honestly, in many categories I either came in right at budget, or just a few dollars over.

    More importantly, I've spent a lot of time in the last few days figuring out my game plane for July and the rest of 2008.

    First, an announcement -- I have a POSITIVE net worth! If you include my car, savings, checking, and 401k, my net worth is $16,100. Imagine that! That's $26,000 swing up from where I was a year ago!

    Now for the start of my rest-of-the-year plan:

    1. Pay myself first. I'm actually going to do this now. I have budgeted for saving 10% of my income. Some of it will go into my 401k at work, while the rest will be cash savings dedicated to building my emergency fund, which, right now, is $3,200! I plan to have this money taken directly from my paycheck, rather than transferring it myself from checking to hi-yield savings (or set up an automatic transfer). I'm hoping "out of sight, out of mind" will apply here!

    2. Adjust taxes and savings. The IRS isn't totally useless. I used IRS.gov to figure out just how much I should owe the gub'ment for this year. The form was easy to use (have your tax return and a recent pay stub available) and it told me just how much I should owe and how to adjust my withholdings to stop me from overpaying.
    According to the site, I was going to overpay my taxes this year by $1,000. Instead, I could adjust my withholdings so that I would overpay just about $200 (anything more and I would wind up owing the Feds).
    So, I changed my withholdings to the suggested figure. The money that I will keep in my check is going straight into my 401k, PRE-TAX. So, I'll be saving more in my 401k AND lowering my tax liability at the same time.

    3. Create a $0 balance budget. In other words, rather than only budgeting for some things, I budgeted for just about everything. I kept it simple for now -- I took a 6-month average of my spending on everything I recorded in my spreadsheet (right down to postage stamps and library late fees). I used that to budget for all the categories in my spreadsheet. Even "miscellaneous" has a limit. Right now, that balance isn't exactly zero, it's more like $30.
    Honestly, I have long been afraid to account for every last penny like this. I thought it wiser (and it made me feel safer) to have a considerable amount of cash left over after accounting for bills and essentials. But, that makes little sense, because I was often fooled into thinking I had more cash available than I actually did, thus spending it, when it was really covering something else.

    Those are the three big things. The next few thing I want to investigate is a higher-yield saving method for my emergency account. I was thinking about I Bonds, which I read about at the Motley Fool. But, I need to do some more research.

    DH

   

May Monthly Report --Not SO Bad!

    Ok, first, let's get the technicalities out of the way:

    I did not spend more money than I earned this month, TECHNICALLY, because I got an unexpected bonus and a third paycheck.

    Not only that, but I TECHNICALLY, had a cash cushion in checking because I did pretty well in April and March.

    But, rather than comfort myself with these technicalities, I will get to the stark fact of the matter -- I did spend more than I earned this month because I went way over budget in just about every category.
    But it wasn't totally outrageous. If I didn't get a bonus and there was only two paychecks this month (like most months), then I would have gone into the red by $62.
    That ain't good, but it's fixable with some discipline and purse tightening in June.

    So that's my first small goal of the month -- Save $62 in June by trimming my spending in some budget categories. Which ones? I'll figure that out.

    The second small goal of the month is to do what I planned and use the cash from the third paycheck to pay off my car this month. Now, because I did spend over a little, I will wait until I get my first paycheck of this month, just to make sure that all the other stuff I had to pay first of the month is covered before I go cut a $1,000 check. It works out anyway, since my car payment is alway due on the 14th, two weeks into the month anyway.

    And now the monthly break down:

    Where I Did Well
    Savings: I met my June goal in May by saving my entire bonus, putting it into my emergency fund. Technically, as Single Ma pointed out, I still owe my savings that $600 I would have put on my credit card.

    Cell Phone: Saved about $18 here with my employee discount.

    Transportation: Saved a total of $95 on both gas and Metro bus/train fare. Since I take the Metro, my car stays parked about five out of seven days (seven out of seven if I have no weekend plans). Funny I still only saved about $15 bucks given I don't drive. The two times I filled up did it to me here.

    Where I Overspent
    Personal Travel: I don't have anything budgeted for this, so every trip I take is over my budget (which isn't wise, I'll have to fix this). Took a trip to my guy's home for a friend's nuptials. It was a really nice getaway, even though it was 90 degrees and the sun felt like a blowtorch on the skin. At least I wasn't wearing a suit or tux.

    Dining out: I saved $43 on groceries, but overspent on eating out by $244! That's including a last day of the month meal for me and my guy. We missed our flight and were all bummed out and stressed, so we went to town at Rosa Mexicano, which may now be, officially, my favorite restaurant in D.C. The rest, I treated myself to several "I'don't feel like cooking and I'm out of debt, so I'm having a cocktail and dinner!" meals. I think I got it out of my system.

    Cosmetics: Carol's Daughter brought back their hair smoothies, so I ordered two and some shampoo for a grand total of $50.50, more than my $30 budget.

    Clothes: Already told you, spent over $300 at Banana Republic at the start of the month, on top of some more bargain purchases.

    Entertainment: Went to the movies, bought a Simpsons box set and still pay for Netflix, plus I bought some albums on i.Tunes. So, went over about $70 here. Uh, yeah. Oh yeah, and spent $20 on drinks... but don't remember when or with who... and no, I was NOT inebriated! I guess just have that much fun :-)

    That looks like all on my spreadsheet.

    So, I had a lot of fun! There aren't many purchases I'd take back (actually, if I bought a few fewer meals, I would have been in the black), but I know I have to calm down a little this month. I'll be good... but not a nun!

    DH

   

    Gifts: Again, I don't budget for gifts, so anything I buy is over budget (yet another thing I need to fix).

Monthly Report -- Black April, Thank God For Extra Income

    It's a good thing April ending when it did, because I was on a steady skid the last week!
    I ate lunch out multiple times (which makes no sense since I only need to bring lunch with me 3 times a week) and grabbed some unnecessary snacks (bad for the budget and my hips!!) and spent on some other random items.

    I finished the month in the black $100 (more technically, but I'll get to that), which is just about the remainder of my income once I go through all budgeted items.
    I have to say, though, that extra income was what saved my butt. I earned some money from a freelance assignment I did a little bit ago, and I got a city income tax refund (which, technically, isn't extra income) so that provided a decent cushion.

    Here's the breakdown for the month:

    Income -- Nice! Got about $400 here.

    Car Insurance -- This is a cheat. I budget $200 a month for this, but the payments are only extracted eight months a year. This was a non-pay month.  So, if I counted this money, I'd be more than $300 in the black for the month.

    Gas -- I could write a whole post ranting about gas prices (and I just might). I spent $35 this month, on one fill-up... and not even a whole fill up. Just half my tank... I drive a sedan for crying out loud. Anyway, I hardly drove anywhere at all so I saved a ton here.

    Groceries -- I can't say I really saved here. I just didn't go shopping this last Sunday, which is why I stayed under budget in the category.

    Clothes -- My trouble category! I hardly spent a thing and came $100 under budget.

    Where I did badly:

    Cell phone -- I paid off the last of those silly charges from playing with the e-mail function on my phone. So, went about $36 over here.

    Metro and parking -- Went $19 over here. I haven't figured out the fare system for D.C. public transportation yet. They say it's $1.35 for rides, but it also seems to depend on how far you travel or something... I dunno, all I know is that I always seem to run out of money on my card before the end of the work week. I also spent $14 on parking in the last week of the month because I drove to work.

    Personal travel -- I don't have a personal travel budget per se, so any time I take a trip or anything, it's a budget buster. My trip to New York and my fabulous spa experience was $378.

    Dining out and snacks -- Whoa. I went $135 over budget here. Blame it on Fogo De Chao, and then a lot of piddling $4 and $5 expenses on junk and whatnots.

   Entertainment -- I went over $88. I bought two albums on iTunes at the very end of the month. I also bought a concert ticket for a June show.

    So, that was the month. To the point about being financially disciplined that I brought up in a previous post, it it hadn't been for the unanticipated income, I would be in the red this month.
    I have to figure out a way to basically hide money from myself. If I see that my balance is running high, I think I tend to relax and figure it's Ok to buy this one thing or spend on that. I only pull the reins when it's clear I'm about to go into the red. I don't want to live on the edge like that.

    DH

March Monthly Report: Fade to Black

    Sigh of relief -- I finished March in the black!

    Not just the black, but with every penny that I would have left over if I followed my budget to the LETTER!

    YES!

    But, we are all our own toughest critic, so I have to talk about the areas where I didn't do well at all.

    CLOTHES
    Is anyone surprised by this one any more? I defiantly continued to buy clothes even though I spent my monthly allotment earlier in the month. I went $60 over budget here, buying two shirts I had been eyeing before. They went 50% off so I just got them.
    The funniest thing to me is -- I don't even have a lot of clothes! I'm just filling in the gaps that evolved when I put the clamp down on myself because I was way down deep in debt. So, I kinda felt like a child who just cut loose because she was tired of being good.
     Still, no excuses, I have to reign it in.

    COSMETICS
    Uh, hi MAC. So I hardly wear make-up and it's been a while since I bought some. But the day I got my Fash on, I went into MAC for some day time looks. Spent $76. Yeah.

    GROCERIES
    I went $70 over here. It's getting too easy to do these days as the economy nosedives and everything in the store is getting more expensive. I also haven't been nearly as creative as I was in making meals that stretch. I'm also eating more meat than I had been. I'm a meat eater, don't get me wrong, but I at least try to do meatless lunches to save money and to be healthier. But, it's kind of like with the clothes -- I just got sick of being "good."

    ENTERTAINMENT
    Twenty bucks over here on Netflix (why do I have Netflix when we have On Demand movies?).

    MISCELLANEOUS
    Um, yeah, I forgot to put a note in my spreadsheet, so I spent $150 here and don't even remember what on. No idea. Hopefully, it'll come to me.

    So, if I spent all of this, how did I finish in the black so nicely?

    GAS
    It's so nice that I hardly drive any more, especially as the gas prices are getting psycho. I saved over $60 here.

    EATING OUT
    Yes! Are you shocked! I am. I saved $60 bucks here. What? I guess this is what saved me from my grocery blowout.

    METRO
    Just barely here, saved $5, but probably only because I was out of town a few days and didn't need to take the Metro.

    So that's my March. It's nice to be back in the black after two months deep in the red.
    I'd like to keep that momentum going as I speed toward debt freedom!

February Monthly Report -- It didn't feel short!

    February is the shortest month, even when it's Leap Year.

    Too bad my money ran even shorter.

    I finished the month about $100 in the red (yes I know, no need for the collective gasps).
    I know just what it was too.

    FOOD
    Can you say broken record? I went over budget on groceries and eating out by $108.  I swear, I used to be a pro at eyeballing my cart and knowing almost exactly how much it would ring up (I was usually off about $3). These days, I'm still right on, but buying next to nothing still costs $50v on any given Sunday. I mean, I skip meat; I don't buy snacks; I rarely buy juice drinks; and generally stick to the basics and it still costs a mint.
    On the other hand, I haven't been quite as creative as I had been on creating meals from whatever is already in the cabinets. I have to tap back into that!. As for coupons, I don't get the paper on the weekends, so I don't have any to clip. I've never surfed the Web for coupons and the things I generally buy don't have coupons (you don't get coupons for eggs, milk, fruit and vegetables).

    PENALTIES
    Yes, I had to pay a ticket. This time, it actually was my fault and I had to do it. Oh yeah, and I used a non-bank ATM. You know how they get you.

    ENTERTAINMENT
    I bought a book (yes, even though last month I said I wouldn't), went to see some movies and had a drink with a buddy. I don't really feel bad about any of this, but there's no excuse for going over.

    MISCELLANEOUS
    I spent a lot of money here. What's miscellaneous? Postage stamps, library penalty (which defeats the purpose of getting things free from the library!), and I bought a car charger and headset for my cell phone.

    Other than that, I did okay. Not great at all, but ok. I would have done much worse had I not saved money in a lot of other places.

    CLOTHES
    Undercut my budget by half. I did buy a pair of killer boots from Aldo. They were $95 and I got them for $25 on a President's Day sale. Yes!

    GAS
    I just try to drive as little as possible now that gas prices routinely hover around $3 a gallon. Where I could get myself in trouble, though, is when I drive to work. It's not the gas, but the parking that could do me in if I'm not careful.

    I'm a little nervous because March is a LONG month. Yes, it's only two days longer than a leap year February, but something about March is just arduous and painful. It's my least favorite month of the whole year. It goes on forever, the weather hovers between dead of winter and spring, there are no holidays to break it up and nothing special happens (except for college basketball March Madness, but it ain't like I can afford to go see any games!).

    Ok, here we go. MARCH!

Meticulous spending record?

    Right at the start of the year, I revamped my spending record spreadsheet.

    Reviewing my year-end financial report, I noticed that I spent a considerable amount of money on "miscellaneous."
  When I went back through my monthly spending records, I saw that some of that miscellaneous spending could have been tax-deductible, reimbursable or totally unnecessary. But I didn't know because who pays attention to a few bucks here and there labeled miscellaneous?

  So I added anal categories into my spending record. I have a category for postage and post office expenses. I added another for fees and penalties (since I'm forever getting parking tickets, no matter how hard I try!), and separated hair and cosmetics and toiletries and added a category for laundry since I no longer have a washer and dryer in the apartment.

    After a few months, this level of detail may drive me nuts, but I think it's important for me right now. I still wonder if its time to bring in a software program, such as Quicken, but it was a such a headache for me the first time I tried it that I think I'll hold off a little longer.

    I'm curious, how detailed are your budgets and spending records?

January Monthly Report -- Horrors

    Ok, so it's already five days into February and I'm just now getting through my January numbers.

    I have a legit excuse (traveling for work), but I also had an incentive -- I did TERRIBLE this month.

    I spent $882 more than I earned. That's just crazy.

    The good news is that a big chunk of that overspending is business travel money out of my pocket, but that I will be reimbursed for once my expense report clears (in the next week I'm expecting). That should clear over $500.

    So what was the remaining $300+?

    Surprise! It was NOT in my usual overspending categories: clothes and food.

Ringing in the New Year I -- December Monthly Report

    Amazingly, I did very well this month.

    I'm not exactly sure how, since I missed a week of work off in Disney World (I'm a contractor, so I don't get paid if I don't work) and spent some cash while I was there.

    I'm almost positive it's because of the money I saved from last month (it was a three-paycheck month, so I took a week of pay from November and put it aside for December, knowing that I'd miss a week of pay).

    I also saved money in some categories because I was out of town:

    Gas -- I hardly drive anymore. Yeah! So I saved more than half what I normally spend in a month.

    Metro -- Since I was out of town for a week and then worked from home during the abbreviated holiday weeks, the money I had on my Smarttrip card held over into December, so I didn't need to put any more money on the card.

    Taxes -- I adjusted the withholding to keep more money in my check. The taxes were also lower because I made no income for a week.

    I went over in these categories... as usual :-)  :

    Dining out -- Once again, I went over budget in this category, but, ironically, being in Disney World may have mitigated the damage. We used our meal points for all but two meals during the trip. The points were paid for months ago with the trip balance.

    Groceries -- The one major thing I miss about Tennessee are the super cheap groceries! I could eat for a week on $40! Not in Washington my friends. I also haven't been planning menus for the week, so I'm going to the store more often and buying more expensive items to make quick dinners.
    The holidays are another part of it. I was baking a lot this month and butter, eggs, sugar and fancy flavors can add up!

    Hair etc. - I got my hair braided, so that was a bundle of money I hadn't budgeted for, but I had some money saved up to take the edge off that expense.

    Clothes -- Ok ok, I bought a cardigan on sale that I thought would look fabulous with a yellow skirt, but seriously doubted I'd ever find a nice one. Trolling the stores during the after-Christmas sales, I found a yellow skirt at J. Crew that worked... but it wasn't on sale, of course. Bought it anyway. Yeah I did. That and some shirts and some other random things... I admit it. I went shopping. And it felt gooood

    Fees -- A parking ticket I forgot about. These are the worst expenses because they should never happen.

    Despite my spendiness (yes, I made that word up), I finished about $500 in the black (which is outstanding for me). I've committed $200 of that to next month's credit card payment. I'll hold onto the remaining $300 just to make sure all my first of the month bills are clear. Once I get through those and get my next paycheck, I should be able to put the remaining $300 on the credit card. That's an $1,100 payment!

    Next, I recap my finances for the year and see how I did... cross your fingers!

Monthly Report -- November, thank goodness for 3 pay periods

    I finished November spending $45 less than I earned.

    Yikes.

    But that's including the third pay period of the month (which balances out because there were five Sundays, not four, which is what I base my budget on).
    So, overall, I went $361 over my regular budget this month.

    First, let's see what happened with my earnings:

October... what can I say, I'm glad I got a job

    Oh brother.

    It's exciting to be in a new city. There's SO much to eat! So many friends from a long time ago I'm reconnecting with. So much to see and do! So much to get to make myself comfortable in my new place.

    Too bad none of that stuff is free.

    My biggest expense was probably my trip to my alma mater for homecoming. I paid for a hotel room and, I'm embarrassed to put it out there, but I bought a plane ticket to fly there... but bought it for the wrong week. So, I get the credit for another flight, but still, I paid for it now. Trust me, I tried to change that mess out, but it wasn't happening at the last minute on the DAY I was trying to fly out. So I drove there with my guy. It was wonderful! But still cost me mucho dinero (that's what I get for going to some liberal arts college in the hills that ain't a hub for nothing).

    And I had to finish paying off breaking my lease in Nashville and whatnot, but that didn't cost more than my half of the rent in D.C.

    It's unwise for someone in as much debt as I am to be spending money with no plan. I've corrected that with building my new budget, based on my income.

    There is some good news! I kept most of my cash in regular savings and as soon as I get my stuff straight, will use a chunk to pay down my debt.

    Ok. Let's do this.

    DH