I forgot to post my Febuary Spending Plan but here's my March Plan. When I get time maybe I'll post my Feb Plan with all my updated unforseen expenses. I was sick for the last half of Feb so my pay will be down a bit in March.

Wk 1 March 1-7
Rent $462.5
Apt Bills $0 (will update when I get info)

Wk 2 March 8-14
CFI $235 (mail March 8)

Wk 3 March 15-21
AT CC $115 (March 19) Final PMT
Car $261 (March 19)

Wk 4 March 22-31
BCBS $163.84 (March 28)
Roth IRA $400 (March 25)
NPR $25 (March 26)

I have only 7 payments left on my car loan!! I am so excited about this. I had no idea I was this close to paying it off. June is now my target date to finish paying this. I had to rearrange my debt schedule but it actually works out better.

I have one last payment for my CC in March and that's all done with, so I'll just take the payments I've been making to the CC and just add it to my car loan payments. That and any tax rebates or extra income will go directly to paying this bad boy off.

I can't believe I am right around the corner to paying off my CC and paying off my car! After those I have my college loans to kill off.

After years of having no coverage I finally can check one thing off my to do list. Starting February 1st, I will be insured with Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC. I got it in case of any emergencies and the monthly premium is $163.84, which isn't too bad. I'm glad I ponied up and did this, I've been having some terrible nightmares of going into more debt because of being in the hospital, even though I'm a very healthy girl.

I know it's the fifth but it's never too late to draw up a budget for the month, right?


Apt rent = $462.50
Phone bill = $20
Electric = $49.45
Cable/Internet = $41.33
Holiday Trip = $50
-------------------------
623.28
- 45 for what BF owed me
-------
578.28 --PAID 5 Jan 08

College Loans = $235 --Due 7 Jan 08
Car = $261 --Due 19 Jan 08
AT CC = $20 --Due 19 Jan 08
--------------------------
$516

It's easier with these bills a little spread out in January, but this coming pay day (11 Jan 08) is going to hurt because of all those days off from the holiday.

Also for line AT CC, I had planned to pay off this credit sooner than later but since this coming pay check is half of what I usually get I'm going to hold off and use what ever is left over in January to pay it off and only pay the minimum + 60% = $20 when it's due. Leaving the total left to pay off $220.

After bills I will have a little over $120 in my account from my Jan 11th pay check, and then after the neek week of bills I'll have roughly $340 left in checking until my next full pay check on the 25th. I think that's a good cushion.

Things I promise myself not to do during January: spending money at the bar or out on food... ok well I will atleast try to do this. I do promise not to go out for lunch. I will have to go food shopping but I wont buy things I dont need.

Once the 25th comes I plan to put $400 in my Roth and $200 in my iGO savings.

My goals are to put $4000 in my IRA before April 15th and have $10,000 in my emeregency fund by the end of 2009. Since savings acct rates are lower than what I want I'm going to put more money towards paying down my high interest loan debt.

I plan to complete my 2007 tax return as early as possible. One reason is because I dont want to be doing it at the last minute AGAIN, and another is because it's my money and it's not generating interest for me. Depending on how large my return is, I want to use more than half of it for my high interest loan, the rest for my Roth.

I hope my cushion holds out.

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