I went back to Target to return a shower curtain and spent 47.14, of course part of it was buying another shower curtain (which will be returned AGAIN because it just doesn't go with the bathroom) and then of course we went to Subway and that was 10.66.... While what I got at Target was nescessary, going to Subway wasn't. When I was spending the money I kept telling myself it was okay because tomorrow is pay day... Now I know it wasn't just okay. I've been working overtime, about 21 hours, just so I could catch up with the time I have off from xmas and new year's (I only get paid for the time I am at work) So today's check is cushioned but the next pay will only be about $800 which will suck. So I need to reign in my extracurricular spending, whic will be hard since I'm going to DC tomorrow, so I will stay a float for the first two weeks of January. I've been saving by not eating out but that money saved shouldnt just be spent pointlessly, I could have made a sandwich at home at a tenth of the cost.

I also immediately transferred $200 into my savings account this morning, I'm trying to pay myself first. This is my second attempt at paying myself first, this time I did 18% of my pay check. I also opened a Roth IRA with $200.

So that little shopping trip I had planned went way over budget! Let's see:

At Target for various things around the apt, (shower curtain, mattress pad, some food, etc) Total= $95.11.

Next I went to the mall and visited Aveda and Bath and Body Works. For gifts, at Aveda I spent $9.61 and at B+B Works I spent $12.81. Total= $22.42.

Then I went to Whole Foods for more food items, like a little chicken, specialty beer, and cheese. Total= $34.39

Of course no spending day is complete without a trip to the bar. I decided I would treat the boyfriend to some beers since he's been so great and maybe it was my turn to pay, so we went to a bar at Brightleaf in Durham. Total= $25.19, including tip.

That was all on Monday!

On Christmas, since we were bored, we went to the movies and saw National Treasure. Total= $13.50 for two tickets.

Top that off with a monthly donation to WUNC, my NPR station, Total= $10.

95.11
9.61
12.81
34.39
25.19
13.50
10.00
200.61

Left in Checking = $430.85

Next Pay Day 28 Dec 07

Things I need to do
1. Make a weekly budget and keep to it
2. Add whatever is left over in checking to iGO savings on the 28th.

I think I'm going to go with Fidelity Investments' SmartStart Roth.

Does anyone have other suggestions or personal reviews of Fidelity?

I want to open it before the year ends so I can contribute $4000 by April 15th and then $5000 for 2008.

I had a bunch of no spend days this week! Let's see, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday were all no spend days. Saturday could have been a no spend day but I had to pay Wachovia my car loan installment, $300.

It's been pretty hard not to spend more, since it's the holidays and I live across the street from one of the biggest shopping malls in the area, I really want to just jump in the fray and starting shopping.

Money things coming up:

I have to go grocery shopping for some food for our little christmas day dinner. Since Hanukkah is all over and we have off on Tuesday anyways I thought we might as well cook ourselves our own little feast, maybe roast a little chicken, make some mashed potatoes, it's either that or go out.

We also have our trip for New Years next week. We're heading up to DC for the weekend and then up to Delaware-- we're going to Dogfish Head Brewery, to ring in the new year so it should be fun. The hotel in DC is covered by Mariott points and I think the boyfriend is paying for our half of the hotel in Delaware, we're going with another couple so it helps offsets costs. But I'm sure I'll pay my share of food and drinks.

I think those are the only big spending things coming up.

In checking: $631.46

My food plan is quite perfect for me. I live with my boyfriend and I cook as much as possible for the both of us. When we first moved in together, back in June, it was hard to figure out how to make the food part work. He had been living by himself for about 3 years and I had been living with a roommate who had no common culinary interests with me so we both in our own ways got used to living off of mac and cheese, or going out. I could never get the hang of cooking just for myself.

So what we have ended up doing is trading off on the shopping trips. On week 1, I will go shopping on and pay for it out of my pocket, and (theoretically...) on week 2 my boyfriend will come along with me as I buy what we need and will pay the bill when we are done. And so forth. Really it's easier for us this way because we share everything! I'll plan the menus for the upcoming days and just get what we need. It's ended up that my boyfriend will just forgo coming with me and will just pay me back later, which is great for me because it's tons less stressful without him hovering over me saying, "Do we really need that?" or "What's that really for?" and it ends up being relatively even, about $60 or 70 comes out of my pocket for food every other week, and that includes lunch! With just the two of us, I can make a little more for leftovers.

The most important part of this shopping is to never go without a list! We have set up a revolving list on

It's half way through the week and so far I've spent only 17.54. (Monday and Tuesday were no spend days)

At work for the holidays we participated in a

This weekend had some non-avoidable spending. Starting with Friday, $35 dollars in gas. 12 gallons in my car will last 14 days, which isn't too bad. I usually only drive to and from work. I also spent $45 on medicine Saturday, totally unavoidable. And today I spent $48.05 on food and baking supplies.

For eating this week, I have lunch planned for every day this week, yay for brown bagging. And dinner for each night is planned and waiting to be cooked. Definitely won't need to go out.

Which leaves $949 in my checking until next pay day.

Gas = $35
Meds= $45
Food= $48.05
-------
$128.05 in Expenses

Thank you everyone for all your great comments and suggestions.

I've dug up my college loan information and it's not the end of the world. I have three loans, one with an interest rate of 7.2% and two with a rate of 2.8%. The first one has a balance of $3,000 and the second two have balances of $19,000 and $17,800.

If I have children, I'm definitely going to plan their college fund before they are born, it's just not worth it to be this much in debt and only be 25! 529, anyone?

I think I can pull off paying the 7.2% interest rate loan fairly quickly, since that's way higher than my savings acct rate of 4.9%. And I'll keep chipping off the higher balances.

Saving more than $100 has been a foreign concept to me. I don't know how and I don't know why but I do know that had to stop.

I have one last credit card that is about to be completely paid off, which I am very proud of. One last payment and it's all done. I'm fairly sure I'll be staying away from high interest credit cards for a long time— if I do attempt to go down the credit card road it won't be for another year and it will be mainly for a rewards program and will get paid off every week. But that's a plan I'm not even going to attempt for another 12 months.

No, my immediate plan is to save. Like I said, saving never really sunk in before while I was growing up. Sure, I saved up for speakers or the Spice Girls CD when I was a kid, but saving for the future, HA!

Now that I'm living on my own, have a full time job, and no kids, I started to notice a sizeable amount of cash left over in my checking acct after paying all my bills. For a moment I thought about going shopping but then I heard about high-yield savings accounts. So I researched it.

And researched it and started reading about personal finance and that lead me to realize that I've been wasted money that could have helped me in the future. This was my enlightenment towards money!

So I've opened a savings account at iGObanking and have funded it with $515 and plan to contribute about $250 from each pa check to reach a goal of 6 months worth of expenses or about $10,000.

My other goal is to pay off my debt, which isn't as bad as you would think. I have just a little bit left to pay off my credit card which of course is a store CC, to Ann Taylor, so it is completely impractical.

I have a car loan which is $261 a month. Again it is completely impractical, I'm not sure what the terms are, what the rate is, and how much is left. Purchasing the car in 2004 was never really thought through like it should have—why bother when the bank just gives you money! So now I have to figure out how much is left and how quickly I can get it taken care of.

I also have my college loans to pay off. Currently I can't admit how much I owe, I just can't wrap my head around it. So I'll need some time I think. I've been making the monthly payments of $174 which I think is good. I've been doing that on time for about 6 months, since it started to come in.

So these are my goals for 2008.
1. Fund an emergency fund of $10,000
2. Reduce debt. Seek out car loan debt, pay it off as much as possible.
3. Figure out how to reduce college loan, pay off as much as possible and realize that it's not the end of the world. It can be done.
4. Live below my means.

And most importantly, create a spending log. The reason for this blog is to log my spending. At least for now the majority of my posts will be for a spending log, cause I really need to track what and where I'm spending and figure out what I can reduce and use that savings to conquer my debt.

I think this can be done.