Saturday I plan to spend money on the following items:

Light Bulbs $2.25
Culk $5.00
Paper Plates $11 at Sam's Club
Oil Change $35
Gas $9.00

Hopefully I'll only spend $55 estimated total. I'm going to carry cash and leave my debit card home hopefully that will help me not spend more than I have.

I must say I have been so unhappy with my auto insurance Agent. He is never available his support staff acts as if your annoying them when they answer the phone. I came to the conclusion today that it was time to go elsewhere. Especially after calling the office and leaving 4 messages for my agent to call and answer question concerning my Auto insurance renewal next month. Talk about lousy service and not to mention the young lady blountly stated " We don't have time to deal with customer's questioning our rates" Hummmm So collect our funds each month and not have time to answer questions. I have been a loyal customer I've been with this company since 2003 never had a lapse of coverage all payments are made on time they debit them from my checking account each month. GRRRRR I think that was the final straw I shopped around got the same exact coverage at a lower rate. I'm not one to jump from company to company but this office is terrible and Calling the home office didn't do any justice. They bascially referred me back to the Agent there. Also transferring agents office was out of the question unless you move 100 miles from your current residence. WHAT unbelievable. Sorry guys I had to vent.......

Today was pay day I paid $175 for my cable, phone and internet. This was my first month of service so it was higher than it would normally be. I took care of February's Rent $1,020 and also made a student loan payment of $32. I managed to add $100 to my savings account. And now have $220.00 to last until next paycheck on February 13th. I'll pick up some groceries over the weekend I also have to get an oil change and buy paper plates. lol I think I'll be fine and maybe will have a little left over as well.

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge, or a willful lack of desire to improve the efficiency, merit, effectiveness or usefulness of one's actions. Ignorance is also a "state of being ignorant" or unaware (not knowing). Ignorance occurs when those who can benefit from knowledge are unwilling or unable to find or assimilate the knowledge. The flip side of ignorance is having knowledge and not having any way of sharing that knowledge. It is the condition of believing I am my mind.
Ignorance is removed by Understanding. Ignorance is darkness and knowledge is Light. That which destroys ignorance liberates the truth. These quotes can be used to warn people against ignorance and how it can effect their growth and their performance.

This is my first month at this budgeting thing and I thought I would take a review of my bank account statement to REALLY see where the money goes. So here are the numbers

Car Payment $291
Car Insurance $137.58
Electric $11 Have a credit Pd until March
Rent $1,020
Eating Out $113.59
Clothing $21.18
Gas $36.58
Telephone $53.53
Groceries $42.30
Household Items $81.44
Entertainment $22.00
Debt Payments $269.56
Misc Movie Late Fee $6, Ticket $50 ,Lic Renewal fee $20.80

Grand Total $2,176 I'm working on my budget for the month of February. I think I can cut back especially in Fast Food I never paid any attention to how much I truly spend on eating out. I think its okay for a start.

Have a great Evening!!!

Can anyone give me any type of Tips for creating a good household budget. Please forgive me for not knowing this. I still have a lot to learn but from reading you guys are great. What tips would you advise??? I currently I make about $38,000 per year.I know this is sad but believe me my parents never taught me the budgeting basics. Nor did I ever learn it in school but now I'm out in the "real world" trying to figure things out on my own.

Bill Checking $15.78
Secondary Checking $300.00
Savings Act $150.00

I ended up spending $50 earlier today to pay a Final Telephone bill (I switched companies) I didn't want the bill to go to collection so I paid what I owed. Therefore leaving me with $450 (spare cash) However, Pay day is this Friday and I should be able to fund my secondary Checking and Savings Account this week. I'm actually proud of myself as normally all accounts would be on $0 4 days before pay day.

Hello I'm new to this site and the whole "real world" handling finances thing. I have a few questions just curious all suggestions are welcomed. How many Checking or Savings accounts should one have. Also is it feasable to save money while paying off debt or to dump all funds into debt and than save. Just curious.