Debt Hater

April Monthly Report: Recommitting to Fiscal Discipline

I won't bore you with the deep details of my April spending report.
If you've read my monthly reports before you know that I went over budget on food, probably on clothes and didn't spend much on gas.

It's the same thing every month, whether I'm way in the black, teetering on the red or hemorrhaging cash. (Just FYI, I was way in the black for April thanks to my bonus, certainly not thanks to my spending discipline, of which I exhibited none).

All of that got me to thinking: Ok, first quarter of the year is offer and summer is already approaching. What am I doing?

Single Ma's post "April Showers Bring May Flowers" was my much needed inspiration to take a quick break from playing and spending (believe me, I've been having a good time!).

I haven't paid much attention to my long-term goals, set at the beginning of the year and in my mind and heart for much longer than that. So now it's time to get back on the ball so I don't waste this year like I did last year.

Single Ma had a list of MUSTs in her post. A good idea, I thought, so I came up with a list of my own MUSTs (FYI, not all of these are financial, but they are in keeping with my goal of investing in me in 2009):

I MUST keep non-necessity spending to at or under $650 $675 a month.

I MUST exercise for at least 45 minutes, four times a week, preferably in the morning.
(Remember my back pain? It got much better when I regularly did my core strengthening exercises. I stopped. My back hurts again, a lot. If pain isn't a big enough motivator, I don't know what is!)

I MUST set realistic goals for retirement saving and get help from a financial planner if I need it (and I think I do, because, frankly, I am one of those people who simply isn't motivated to do this).

I MUST spend time with friends twice a month, even if it's by phone. Relationships are key!

I MUST monitor my goals monthly to make sure I am on track.

I MUST go back to my 2009 Goal list and start checking things off. So far... not so good.

I had set a goal of 6-months of living expenses in my e-fund. I have three, which, by most standards, is plenty for a person in my situation. I may reevaluate this goal, but, for the mean time, that's what I am aiming for.

So, tell me, what have you been meaning to this year (or meaning to do every month) that you haven't done consistently yet?

DH

March Monthly Report: Um, $1,222 In the Hole!

Hi y'all,

Do you know how when little kids do something bad, like break something or get food all over the living room, they tend to disappear and are very quite and you wonder what they're up to and then you find out and you have to find them to punish them because they're avoiding you?

It's an apt analogy for me, my budget and the blog.

I think this is my first post in about two weeks since I moved into my new apartment. In the interim, I've been doing one thing -- spending money!

I started to chronicle this in my post about depleting my emergency fund. Here it is broken down further:
Moving truck                      $188.56
Gas                                   $30.00
Tolls                                  $29.00
Moving help                        $135.00
Meals                                 $52.97
Furniture                           $882.69
Deposit & Rent                   $1,415.00
Credit card check fee         $43.95 .00
Supplies, utensils, etc. (Target etal)     $583.56
Cable hookup                        $111.00
Computer speakers                $116.00

TOTAL: $3,587.73

I can't blame it all on necessity -- retail therapy is a helluva drug!

So, how am I just $1,222 in the hole? Generosity, tax refunds, coming under budget in a bunch of categories and selling my wonderful old couch. My father transferred $503 into my account to "help me out." My local tax refund was $480. I sold my old couch for $180, though, in hindsight, I underpriced it.

Then, of course, were the purchases that had nothing to do with my move or the apartment, such as the charity trip I took back to my alma mater (which cost me all of about $45). Then, um, the $307 on clothes and shoes. It was a gala for work and because we were invited at the last minute and I went shopping at the LAST minute, I didn't have time to hunt for deals. I actually bought clothes full price retail. What?! Haven't done that in a LONG time!!

Ok ok, so I'm in the hole. There's no debt here, I'm using the money in my emergency fund to cover the expenses. But I'd rather have that money in my fund! (I have been contributing to the fund as I spent -- I automated my savings so it goes to the e-fund straight from my paycheck). Pinching pennies and cutting expenses isn't going to refill that hole very fast, so I will need to generate some income as well as save and not go crazy the next few months.

I did work on a freelance assignment worth $700, so that will actually cover most of the shopping deficit. Then I may have discovered $100 in my budget I can commit to my emergency fund.

Oh yeah... then there's the car. And the little accident I was in. And the big money I had to spend to fix the car since I got rid of collision coverage. See, kids messing up, hiding out... that's been me on the blog. I'll get into the car stuff my next post.

I'm back because I need you guys. Keep me on track!

DH

February Monthly Report: In the Black, but Still Feel Like I Fell Off

Finished February $260 in the black, not including the $600 I put into savings.

You'd think I'd be happy, but those two Benjamins look mighty paltry when you consider that with just a week left to go in the month, I was about $650 in the black.

I spent about $400 in a week?

I spent $41 on a bus ticket to NYC.
I donated $100 to my alma mater as part of our fundraising efforts for the Alumni of Color.
I bought two pairs of shoes (loafers, boots) in NYC for $104.99.
I went out to a club with friends: one drink, coat check and cab ride home cost $32.70.
I treated a friend just back from her European travels to brunch for $43.41.
I had some medical expenses totaling $58.21.

Total: $380.31.

Holy crap. I sure did.

February was a quiet month and I was psyched to get the end having spent very little money, especially since March is a notoriously long and painful month (and there are five weeks/Sundays in March), I wanted to go in with as big a cushion as I could muster.
You want to know something amazing:
I spent $100 UNDER my eating out budget this month! Whoo hoo!
But I went over my clothing and accessories budget $100. Um, oops.

Well... here goes nothing. March, here I come!

Update on my previous post about needing to get back to D.C. from NYC: my father bought me an Amtrak ticket back. So he saved me $100. Thanks pop.

DH

January Monthly Report: I DID NOT Give Into The Shopping Devil

I don't know why, but by the end of the month, no matter how disinterested in shopping I've been, suddenly I want to go shopping. Suddenly, I notice every sale. Suddenly, I just NEED new clothes. Suddenly, I need some gourmet gadget (funny, considering we have a dinky kitchen).

You get the idea.

But I grit my teeth and, thanks to encouragement from some of y'all, I said NAY!

I'm sure no one was going to anoint me a saint or anything, but just in case you were thinking about canonization, know that this wasn't about denying myself or proving my own willpower. I'm not in debt and am saving automatically, so if I did do some shopping it wouldn't have been a tragedy. It's just that I want some other things, so I didn't want to waste money on things I don't want as much.

I finished January $311 $269.48 in the black! (correction: I forgot to tally a grocery receipt!)

For me, that's amazing. I'm always right on the edge. If I've done well, I might be $100 in the black. If I've done, well, the way I normally do, I either break even or come a few dollars short.

Not this month!

I saved even more than I normally do, thanks to a glitch in our payroll system (when do we ever thank a glitch?). Basically, it make my automatic deposit 3 times instead of twice because our first check of the month was split into two because we changed systems.

I paid $403 for my dental crown, but didn't need to use the money in my emergency account to cover it.

I went over budget on eating out, but under on groceries.

The only clothing I bought was thermal underwear for Obama's inauguration. Ok, I also bought a wrap dress because it was on sale for $17.50... less than a week ago.

I will stick that black money in my savings account for my later purchase. What do I want to buy, you're wondering? I'll let you know... if and when I actually buy it.

Love ya!

DH

Happy New Year! Back and in the Black to Start 2009

Happy New Year!

I am hoping, praying, planning and striving for a fantastic 2009.

Thank goodness it started off right -- I finished December 2008 in the black!

I had a wonderful trip with my guy and I am finishing up the last few days of my vacation with my family. I will head back to the office on Monday.

I finished December $81 in the black. It sounds pretty lame, but it's actually excellent because I was able to use regular flex money to pay for the gifts I bought and the trip we took -- I didn't even need to use the $500 I saved and budgeted! I also had enough for that coat I bought that I wasn't supposed to, but those J. Crew e-mails got me!

So, I moved that $500 I saved for Christmas into my vacation fund. I am going to take a major vacation this year and at least one or two mini-ones, since I didn't do anything in 2008 (I was too focused on paying off my debt ahead of schedule, which is exactly what I did!).

Now I am working on my goals for 2009. Most of them are not financial, but, of course, most of them will require moe-nay, so my money has to be right so I can do those other things.

 I will let you know what those goals are as soon as I figure them out!

DH

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!

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

September Report -- Back to Red

I spent $42 more than I earned this month.

I won't go into tons of detail because you know how my months are when I'm in the red -- clothes and food. It's the same every time.

Although, this month, there two things that were more out of the ordinary:

1 -- I went to a wedding, which was thankfully nearby, but it still required a gift so I wrote a check for $100 (which, therefore, negated the $100 gift my gram for my birthday). And, incidentally, it was the longest wedding ever! It was supposed to start at 1:30 and it actually started at 3:15. Then the reception... we left before we even had wedding cake.
We left our apartment at 1 p.m. We got back home at 11 p.m. Yeah. It was lovely. The bride (my college buddy) was beautiful. The women in their authentic African formalwear were breathtaking. But dang. I mean, does EVERYONE have to toast the couple?

2 -- The item that put me over this month... just one item... was two pairs of socks. Socks. These are Puma socks. They cost about $11 and come two pairs to a pack. But, I have to say, these are the most wonderful socks I've ever put on my feet! They feel SOOO good! They're just plain white cotton and probably a little Lycra or something, but these things feel like you have clouds on your feet. And just walking around is a joy. They're the best socks EVER!
The only problem (don't you know EVERYTHING has a down side) is that they stick to crud in your carpet like Velcro. After five minutes of walking around in my cloud socks, I noticed that the bottoms were covered with hair, lint, mini dust bunnies and, wait for it -- NAIL CLIPPINGS. AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!! My guy has this terrible habit of peeling his nails instead of using a nail clipper... and he does it sitting at his desk, sitting in bed watching TV, whatever. So, there are errant nail bits hidden in the dark rug. I didn't FEEL this gunk through the softness of the sock. I just happened to see it when I crossed my legs and saw the bottom of my feet.
I suppose I could have 20 people put on these socks and slide there feet all over the floor and then leave, and I wouldn't have to vaccum or sweep. But I digress.

DH

August Monthly Report -- Finished in the Red

    Ok, finished the month $84 in the hole.
   
    First, I have been spending a lot more money on health care -- money I had not budgeted for. As I mentioned in my post about my aching back, I've been seeing a physical therapist three times a week for the last 2 or 2 weeks. The co-pay is only $15, but that's at least $90 more than I normally spend on health.

    Second, don't ask me how or why, but I spent a whopping $300 OVER  BUDGET on eating out! Huh? Now $135 of that was a surprise for me -- my guy and I treated his best friend and wife out to a birthday dinner at this expensive-@$$ steakhouse where the tab was nearly $300... and I was like "I have to foot half of this?"
    This is a good example of the kinds of things couples need to discuss ahead of time. I didn't say anything... my own fault... so I just ate it (figuratively and literally) this time.
    But the other money? Um... there's a lot of little meals ($7, $8, $3 here and there), but there are about 3 really big ones like the doozy I mentioned above, then an $88 meal I think was at Rosa Mexicano and then a $64 meal last weekend.

    So, I must have saved a bunch on groceries, right? Nope! Overspent by $37 in this category. I just can't figure this one out. Last week, my guy bought the week's groceries. He got two packs of lamb, nearly a pound of cold cuts, two boxes of cereal, milk and a bunch of other little things and the total was $51. This week, I bought the groceries and bought LESS than what we got the week before and spent $53! And I spent $91 at the start of the month, mostly from restocking staples we'd run through.

    I also went $113 over on my cell phone bill. I was conducting interviews for a freelance piece I wrote and, well, did them during the day on my cell phone and killed my daytime minutes. Oops.

    I went over in a few other places too. So why wasn't the damage worse?

    I didn't spend a penny on a stitch of clothing this month! That's right! And it had nothing to do with willpower. I just didn't see anything I liked so much. Well, I did see a few things, but I am stalking them, waiting for a sale. Now, the trick will be to not make up for this month next month!
    I also saved money on gas, mostly because I hardly drive (as I mentioned before).
    I didn't go very far this month, so I didn't spend in my personal travel category.

    That's about it. I'm doing okay, but I've got to be more careful about this dining out. For one thing, it's expensive and for another, I'ma get too big to fit in my clothes! And I can't have that! I'm good so far, but the wrong cheeseburger might mess things up for me.

    DH

July Monthly Report -- Finally, I did pretty well!

    Finished this month $150 in the black at the same time saving more than 10% of my income.

    NICE!

    But, as usually, I spent way over in the same categories I always spend over in -- eating out and clothes.

    Eating Out
    I just didn't care this month. I went $100 over on eating out and there were no grand meals to blame it on. Just random snacks, eating lunch out almost daily, spending money on dinner (which I never used to do -- I just made dinner at home) and whatever else. I ate out so often this month that I ran out of spots in my spreadsheet to put in the totals!
    Not only is this expensive, but, frankly, it starts to show when my jeans fit a little tighter than they did last month!
    And, I must admit, that I didn't start August out any better -- I already spent about $100 on a dinner out with my guy. I don't regret it because we had a really nice time, but I'd like to see how I manage the remaining money budgeted for this category!

    Clothes
    I bet yall think I have clothes busting out the walls of my apartment! I so DO NOT! All my clothes fit on one Ikea rack and a fill a short, plastic chest of drawers from Target. That's it. I bought one dress earlier this month and nothing else. But then, I went to Banana Republic, which always gets me in trouble. And saw about 8 things that I LOVED. But I didn't buy a thing. I knew it would all be on sale soon enough. Sooner than I thought! Two of the sweaters and a pair of slacks I wanted were on sale already on line! So, yeah, ok, I bought them all. That one purchase put me over $17 for the month. Sue me.

    I went over slightly in some other categories (by a few dollars or even just a few cents). I was way UNDER in a few of categories, notably gas (I just don't drive) and personal travel (I'm lame and went nowhere this month).

     So, the remaining $150 will go into my emergency fund.

    Holla!

    DH