Smiley2009's Personal Finance Blog

I've been through my closets numerous times and have come to the conclusion that I really need to shop for clothing. Its been so long I don't know how much is too much to spend on clothing in one month. I really have to this is a must with my job and all. But I don't know where to start in terms of what percentage I should allocate towards clothing out of my paycheck. So just exactly how much do you spend on clothing each month?? or annually??? What percentage of your take home pay do you consider a reasonable amount??

$1 whole dollar and 29 cents on a bottle water I forgot the one I had taken out of my frig. I didn't realize it until I was 5 minutes from work. YIKES!! But other than that I haven't spent any money which is awesome for me.

Gasoline $20.00
Quiznos $4.00

Total Spent $24.00

Cluck u Chicken $8.00
Snacks from Vending Machine $2.00

Today's total= $10.00 (sigh...)

Wow as mentioned on my sidebar I had problems in my younger days with credit. I have been working very hard and still am to rebuild my credit. I use a very cool website quizzle.com and it allows me one free credit report and score every six months. I just checked my report and score and am starting to see results of my hard work. I can't believe I've actually mad progress and my score has gone up. It isn't where I would like it too be (at a 700+) but I'm optimistic it will get there soon.

Spring Jacket
2 Spring Sweater Shirts
Plain Purple Tee

Total spent $55.44

Pair of casual Jeans $21.19
Nails $26.00

Today's Grand Total= $102.63

Also today I cashed in all the change that has been lingering lol in my old purse and it totaled $12.16 which I've mailed off to World Alliance not much but hey every little bit helps I'll be paying them off next Wednesday any how. WOOOHOOOO!!! I'm so excited.

Purse $22.00
Dish Liquid $5.00
Card for a friend $3.00
Femine Care Products $13.00

As my goal states on my sidebar I am going to stick to logging in my spend totals each and every day.

Rent $1,020
Car Payment $290
Car insurance $338.86 (paid 3 months)
Fast Food $194.88 (should punish myself for this )
Household (paper towel etc...) $57.80
Groceries $68.12
Gasoline $149.95
Debt Payments $528.89 (Woohoo)
Entertainment $3.18 (awesome here)
Personal (hair & nails grr) $102
Car Maintenance $51.48
Telephone Service $78.95

Total Income $2,250
Total outgo- $2,884
Difference $634.11

Which would be considered in the negative however I received my income taxes this month and used it for my debt payments and treated myself to the personal expense from it as well. I still have a great amount of my tax refund in the bank I'm going first thing tommorow morning to store it in a seperate bank. I'm working on March's plan which will defintely not be as spendy as february I have to keep telling my self I want to become Debt free!!! I have to stick to planning meals and filling the gaps by taking snacks to work to cut out the fast food crave. Any suggestions anyone would help guy's. I'm Marching in to March with a much better financial outlook I will post my proposed March budget sometime tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll use it as a guide each time I log in that way I can track my progress during the month.

I found $50 while cleaning out my closet in one of my old purses. lol I'm wondering with this "windfall" so to speak money should I apply another $50 to my next debt on my snowball list. Or treat my self to a hair do or to the nail shop for such hard work I've done thus far with paying off my debt. This is such a hard decision. What would you do if you were in my shoes right now.

I will post spending totals for the month of february and make new goals for the month of March and hopefully have all meals planned out for the next two weeks as well.

Payday is quickly approaching this friday I sat down and figured out my bills and here the results.

Rent $1,020
Student Loan Pymt $30
Gas $40 (for 2 weeks)
Cable, Phone, Internet $81.52
$50 To World Alliance (next on my snowball)

This morning I am going through my pantry to "create meals" this week. I'm hoping to save a few dollars from eating what I have and not purchasing items I don't need right at the moment. I'm doing well thusfar. I found to things of sugar both half empty I put the too togther and tada I have a whole thing of sugar. lol I'm so glad I finally got around to doing this. I'm also found a brand new jar of peanut butter I bought about a month ago and haven't opened. I'm definetely going to eat pbj sandwiches at work this week. This stuff works if I don't have to purchase to many food items this week I can send a payment towards my debt snowball.

I'm so excited I can't wait until that day. I get paid that day and will be paying off Verizon and World Alliance and if no unexpected expenses pop up I'll also be able to pay off more than half of Balt Phy. I'm so excited and motivated I'm moving right along on this snowball plan. I'm so thankful to have found Dave Ramsey's baby step methods. Its working out great for me I'm seeing results each month and its keeping me motivated to hit the Finish Line. I can't wait until i can finally say I'M DEBT FREE!!!!

I'm so excited today is just the 18th and all my bills are paid. I'm so excited this is such a big turn around for me I use to be really bad about paying my bills on time. I've learned a great deal in such a short time and its such a great feeling. I feel like I'm finally winning in this financial game. lol

I have after all the bills and money set aside for gas and groceries exactly $41 left in my checking account. I was thinking of sending $41 to World Alliance my next debt on my snowball list but think it will be more beneficial to pay my student loan payment. Since there's interest tacked on to those payments each month and it'll keep me ahead of the game as well. My next payment will be due on April 6,2009 and than i'll make another Payment in March as well. Ummmm very tempted to do so I'm sure I'll "blow" the money on something useless if I don't send in the payment.

Officially Booted Eastern Revenue Out the house!!!! LOL I paid them off today and I am so happy bringing my debt pay off total to $700 in two months time Awesome. I'm so happy to have get rid of them World Alliance is on its way out the door next paycheck. lol

Wooo hooo I know its not much but every little bit is one step to becoming debt free. I can't believe in only 6 weeks. $540 has been dumped into debt I'm so motivated and can't wait to post future pay totals. As you guys can see from my side bar I went a little out of order lol but felt the need to because Nco has not reported that account to the credit reporting agencies So i just went ahead and paid them off since I'm already on an arrangement with Eastern Revenue. It works out well neither of them will be reported on my credit report. But I'm going to pay Eastern Revenue off come friday with my paycheck.

Car insurance $158
Electric Bill $70
Car Payment $289
Wells Fargo $46
ACH $5
Doctors Hospital $10
Access Receivables $10
BGE $19
Balt Phy $11
Gasoline $40
Groceries $20
Entertainment $40
Eastern Revenue $160
World Alliance $175

I must say Dave Ramsey's Total money makeover is really working out for me. I can't believe that I will have 4 debts paid off already and this is my second month on the plan. WOW I'm so excited and so motivated to do this. I love having a "spending plan" for everything it really gives me a reality check. I know where each dollar is being spent and I'm getting out of debt in the process. This is so awesome.

I had a very good week up until thursday and than bammm a unexpected expense seems to show up. I have to have my license for work renewed by May 1st. For the past 4 years my job has been paying the renewal fees but this year I had a feeling they wouldn't pay for it. However, my supervisor lead us to believe different "oh everythings fine we'll cover the expense even with the recession this year" but on thursday evening I was giving a website by her to log in to register and pay for my licensing classes. I am thankful to still have a job but I wish it could have been mentioned sooner allowing us more time to plan for it. So $85 was the total spent to pay for 4 classes but I have to have them so what the hay. The only thing I'm ticked about is the fact that I have to now sit down and figure out how i'm going to repay $85 to my account from my paycheck this week. After I have sat down last sunday and wrote out checks and everything. Darn.....

WOOHOOO I'm so excited I ate breakfast at home and packed my lunch and spent $0 on food today. This is one of my goal of 7 in a row.

Gasoline $20.91
Oil Change $32.48
Chick-fil-a $9.58 (ouch)
Walmart $11.43

Grand Total= 74.40 I orignally budgeted to only spend about $55. I have got to start grabing breakfast or a snack before going in EARLY for car maintenance. Chick-fil-A is literally in walking distance from the dealer. So they got me my own mistake I should of ate breakfast before I left. Hopefully the next seven days will be NSD's.

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.