Oh Hey It's the First of the Month!

So No Spend Monday went right out the door as soon as I woke up.  I forgot that it was the first of the month and I needed to pay my rent and my student loans for August.  I like to pay my loans of the first of every month because I save up the previous month to pay the current month and I like paying them all at once.  It gives me much more of a happy feeling.  On the bright side those are the major bills for the month and they are over and done with.  I've readjusted my No Spend Days to include Thursday this week.

I did good going to work today too!  I left ten minutes later than I normally do (not willingly though, I couldn't find my car keys for the life of me).  Since I left late I had to drive straight to work and it wasn't the end of the world.  I got to work on time and I didn't any extra gas like I normally do.  On the flip side to that I have been having an off day at work.  I dropped some stuff and made some really good messes.  I really want to blame it on the fact that I didn't get drive around and relax.  I'm going to leave late again tomorrow and I'll see how it goes.  If it's another weird off day I'm going right back to driving around and I'll just have to deal.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday!!

End of July Round Up: Net worth = $-51,716.20

My net worth as of today stands at $-51,716.20 which is a change of $806.33.  At least it is going up right?

Complete debt breakdown is as follows:

• Capital One: $4,851.48
• Bank of America 1: $2,977.79
• Bank of America 2: $1743.93 (need to watch this one because of fraud)
• Citi Cards: $3830.08

• Student Loan 1: Somewhere in the area of $2,600 I need to call to confirm 
• Student Loan 2: $21,797.00
• Student Loan 3: $17,252.62

I did some good saving this month thanks in part to the good overtime I had so yay!

Goals for this week are as follows:

1. Open a new checking account for the BF (I failed at this last week because I overslept)
2. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be no spend days again.
3. Reduce how much driving I do, I want to end this week with at least a quarter of a tank of gas.

FRAUD ALERT!

At 6:30 this morning I got woken up by my phone ringing.  My mind went to panic mode because really, who calls that early unless something is drastically wrong?  There was nothing serious wrong just Bank of America calling to ask me about some strange activity on one of credit cards.

Apparently last night there was a one dollar charge from Napster that was approved by BOA.  It was strange so they put an alert on my account for any other unusual transactions.  Around six this morning another charge from Napster tried to go through in the amount of a couple hundred dollars.  BOA declined that transaction and called me.  They have since closed the account, posted a refund for first Napster charge, and are issuing me a new card.  I was very impressed at how fast BOA reacted to this and how quickly they just closed the account and issued me a new card so kudos for them.

However, I am concerned as to how my account got accessed in the first place.  The card that was used is linked to my iTunes account and to Netflix.  I don't use it for anything else and it never leaves my house so my running theory is that one of those two services got hacked.

In other news, catering last night went really well.  It ran a little bit later than I expected it to but that was fine because I was being paid for it.  The house that we were working at was absolutely beautiful and unnecessarily large.  For two people it was three floors and had an apartment over the garage.  There was a three tiered deck and an Olympic sized swimming pool. Their kitchen was my dream kitchen and had everything you could ever want and need in a kitchen.  In short I guess, I want this house.  lol.  Maybe someday.

Lastly, all the numbers have been crunched and revised debt and net worth with be up tomorrow most likely.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

It's Payday!!

Yay!!!  It's finally another payday and my check was higher than I expected :-)  This is the last paycheck for the month so I need to sit down and punch all the numbers together for my net worth.  I am not expecting any miracles here because my absent minded BF told me yesterday that he didn't have enough to pay his phone bill which I thought he did.  With our budget being so tight I wasn't able to pull any money out anything to cover it so I threw it on a credit card.  He is going to pay me back with interest out of his first paycheck. Since I had to pay it I also took the liberty of changing his plan around a little bit (he really doesn't need unlimited text to everyone and their mother) and all in all I saved him about 11 dollars a month.  I could've saved him an extra seven if he had let me drop his insurance that he doesn't need.

Other than that little issue I am excited to say goodbye to July and hello to August.  I have some good overtime opportunities within the first two weeks and I'm chugging along with funding my E-savings account with the extra money :-)

Oh Hey Thursday!

Wow, it's already Thursday and that means the end of another pay period!  I get paid tomorrow so everything extra in my accounts will be transferred to my savings at the end of today.  My no spend days were a complete success this week.  I haven't spent a dime since I got back from my future in-laws on Saturday.  My car still has just over a half a tank of gas in it which means that I can most likely shave a few dollars off my gas budget for the upcoming paycheck and that makes me happy.  Never mind I forgot I picked up a catering job this weekend and have to drive an extra twenty miles. 

July is almost over and I have to say that it has been a really good month.  Everyone at work has been taking vacations this month except me (because I am still new and my vacation doesn't kick in until next April and I like to take my vacations in the winter) so I have been lucky enough to have about eight hours of overtime every week this month on top of the holiday that was this month so I've been making some pretty good money.

I'll admit that instead of using the money to beef up my E-Savings I used most of it to add some extra food to my pantry.  With the BF out of work until mid to late August we have been living off pasta and canned items for most of the summer so it was nice to have some extra food to enjoy. 

And last but not least, I will be sitting down with my manager in a few days for my three month review.  When I was hired I managed to negotiate a dollar pay raise after three months based off a good review and my manager told me I had nothing to worry about we just had to have the sit down and I needed to sign the paperwork.  This should happen either tomorrow or early next week.  Oh and it gets even better.  For staff Christmas gifts the management puts forth three or four ideas in July for us to vote on and whatever gets the most votes is what the will get us for Christmas.  Well, this year the staff voted for a four to six percent "cost of living" pay increase and the management team agreed.  This will go into effect January 1.  Something to look forward to :-)

Hope everyone has a good Thursday!!!!!

My Weak Spot Number 2 - Driving Around but Not Going Nowhere

There is nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee... :-)

I live about ten miles from my job so, if I take the back roads to get there I have about a twenty minute commute.  In reality I have about a forty minute commute (it will be about ten minutes longer once the college comes back from summer break because I drive my BF to and from campus) because I like to drive around.

Driving around is one of the few things that I enjoy doing because I work in a really pretty area of the state and just a few minutes in either direction and you are surrounded by forests.  It give me a moment to relax before I walk into work and start a crazy day cooking.  I still manage to keep my gas usage under one tank on most weeks.  This week is a little tighter than normal because we visited my future in-laws last weekend about fifty miles away.  I have gotten a lot better about just aimlessly driving around to nowhere.  I used to do it whenever I would get bored, now it's just as I am going to work.

I have started leaving my house about ten minutes later each day in an attempt to curb how much time I do spend driving around and so far it has been okay.  I think next week I will add an extra ten minutes and see how that leaves me feeling.  My BF says that if I am going to get serious then one tank of gas really should last me two weeks going to and from work and a week and half once I start bringing him to campus (which he reimburses me ten to fifteen dollars a week depending on how many times I have to drive to and from campus).

On a side note, I feel like the transmission in my car is getting ready to give out.  I can feel it shifting kind of hard although everyone that drives with me in my car says it is in my head.  Either way I hope my E-fund is funded before it gives out so I will have some give way with the repair.

These Damn Kids!

There is this women at my job that is always yelling about how the "kids" who work the night shift with us are irresponsible and do nothing but slack at their job.  At first I thought she was just exaggerating the whole thing.  Being that I am not that far off from the age of seventeen and eighteen I thought that there was no way these guys were that lazy but now the more and more I think about it, she is right. 

We are having a special meal served on Thursday night and the uniform is being changed to red, white, and blue for that night only.  When one of our servers found out about this he stormed into the directors office and seriously flipped out because he was going to have wear his own personal clothes that night.  Our director tried to explain that we were going to have polo's for those who needed them but this kid just kept having a melt down.  The director wrote him up and suspended him for a week.

I don't understand where people get off thinking that it is okay to just flip out like that.  We weren't asking for the server to provide anything more than a pair of jeans.  We are supplying the rest of the uniform for that night.  When I was working my first job I would have never thought to flip out on my manager like that.  It wasn't something that I was taught to do.  Working in a state that has an over 10% unemployment rate is a special privilege in today's world and these "kids" don't understand how lucky they are.

Coffee, My Weak Spot

I love coffee.

Absolutely love it.

There was a time, when I was in college, that I would drink four or more medium coffees from Dunkin Donuts in a day.  When I sat down last December and did my very first budget for January I was shocked to learn that I was spending almost $90 dollars a week on my coffee habit.  Of course, I didn't have that much extra spending cash so I was using my credit cards to pay for most of it.  I couldn't believe it.

The very next day I went out and bought a small coffee maker and a can of coffee for my house.  The first few months were rough as I was still drinking a large amount of coffee however, after slowly reducing how much I drank I am down to two cups every morning and that is it.  Instead of spending almost $90.00 dollars a week on coffee that I had to finance with credit I am spending just about $6.00 every two weeks that I am paying for in cash.

It is the little things that make me happy I guess.

On another note, no spend Monday was a success.  If I can make it through the next two days without spending anything, and can manage to keep my driving to a minimum, I'll have an extra ten dollars come payday to add to my emergency fund.

-23DID

It's a Brand New Work Week

Well, it's Monday morning which means the work week has started.  Before I head off to work I wanted to write down some mini goals for this week.

1. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday will be no spend days this week.
• I splurged on a pizza last night for dinner because I didn't feel like cooking for the BF and myself.  In one quick online transaction I spent 30 dollars.  I felt horrible as soon as I made the purchase but we haven't eaten take out in a while so after thinking about it I am semi-okay with it now.  I also didn't have put money on my laundry card this week like I had planned on so I had a spare fifteen dollars that got redirected into MISC expenses.
2. I am going to finish my monthly budgets for the remainder of 2011 by Saturday.
• With this new job, my income has stabilized greatly.  My overtime is scheduled in and not sporadic as it was before so that should make forecasting for the rest of the year a little easier.  By projecting so far out I am setting up goals for myself along the way.  It will make saving seem more fun for me.
3. The BF and I will open a new joint checking account for him under my account umbrellas.
• My BF is still in school and works during the academic year for the college.  We decided that he could take this summer off from work as long he was okay with a little crazy belt tightening.  So far it has worked out just fine and we should make it through until he starts work again during the last week of August.  However, his checking and savings accounts have less than ten dollars in them and his bank has started to charge him a monthly maintenance fee for not having a set amount in the accounts.  We had the talk a few nights ago about closing his accounts and moving his money over into my accounts.  He is little nervous about it because he doesn't want to overspend and ruin my budgets so I set up a compromise.  He can have my spare savings account which doesn't get much action because I haven't had anything big to save for recently and we will open him a checking account under my umbrella.  He seemed down with that idea so now we just have to close his accounts and open a new one.  I should also mention that we changed all my accounts to joint accounts a few months ago so adding a new one is really easy.

Well, that's it.  Three minor goals for the week that in the end will either save money, or inspire me to save more money.

Goals for the Remainder of 2011

With only just over five months remaining in the 2011 I have realized that I never set any finical goals for myself this year.  I guess that my overall goal was to just scape by month to month and hope nothing bad happened.  Well, that is going to change.  Below are three goals that I want to accomplish before 2011 is over.

Open and Fund my 403b at my New Job
About three months ago I changed jobs.  My new job has better benefits and was willing to pay me two dollars more an hour after the training period.  At my last job I never opted to open an retirement account with them because I told myself that I couldn't afford it.  Not anymore; I can't afford to not start to save for the future.  Last week I met with the 403b plan administrator and opened my first retirement account.  I still don't feel that I can fully fund it so I am starting slow, with only ten dollars a pay period.  My employer will match fifty percent of that so that's fifteen dollars a pay period or thirty dollars a month.  I know it's not much but at least it is a start.

Save Five Percent of my Take Home Pay for an Emergency Fund
A little over a year ago I got into a car accident that required a lot of expensive repair work.  I had no savings and with my credit cards maxed out, no way to pay for it.  My parents thankfully stepped in and fronted me the money so I could get the repairs and get back to work but that scared me.  Ever since then I have been telling myself that I need to start an emergency fund but I never have.  Starting with August's budget I have set aside five percent of my take home pay to fund an Emergency Fund.  Taking a page from Dave Ramsey I want to fund the Emergency Fund up to 1,000 dollars before I redirect all my attention to paying down my debt.  I have projected that this will happen sometime in early 2012.  Five percent isn't a lot to start with but until I have managed to adjust to this new budget that I am trying out I feel that it is the safest bet for right now.  I will most likely look into changing it after I have run it a few months.

Get Better at Tracking my Expenses
I am fantastic at tracking all my reoccurring month expenses.  I can tell you the due date to all my credit cards and I have never missed a payment.  It's all that little stuff in the middle that really gets me.  The day to day transactions are the hardest for me to keep track of.  That is going to change.  I have set up a binder for me to go into every night and just simply right down what I spent each day.  It is very much like a check book register just bigger.  I am hoping that by keep a better track of my day to day expenses I will become more aware of what I am spending and maybe think twice before going through with the transaction.

June Financial Roundup Networth = $-52,522.53

Once a month I am going to post a financial roundup for everyone to see.  It will include a breakdown of my net worth as well as some notes on my budget for next month.  This will hopefully keep my on track and allow my net worth to continue to increase instead of decreasing evening further.






As you can see I am carrying an extremely high amount of student loan and credit card debt.  I am hoping to see a good change at then of July because I had some good overtime at work plus the holiday this month.  I am considering finding a second job in order to dramatically increase my net worth but I am still on the fence. 

23 and Drowning in Debt Launch!

Hi!  For those who don't know me, my name is James.  Let me tell you a little about myself  Five years ago I turned the magical age of eighteen and once I turned the great and wonderful age I applied for my first credit card.  That one credit card led to another, which led to another, which lead to another, and that's right it lead to another.


After a few short years of living away from home with what seemed like an endless supply of money, I had managed to rack up almost $15,000 in credit card debt with no way to pay it back.  I worked several jobs as well attended college full time and I managed to pay back just over $1,500, leaving me with $13,207 worth of credit card debt once I graduated college.  Six short months after graduation my student loans came due and I found myself with a whopping $55,303 worth of debt to pay back.


I have continued to pay on all my debts for the year that I have been out of college and a few weeks ago I hit my breaking point.  I realized that if I continued to make the payments the way that I have been, then I would be in debt for the rest of my life.  I'm only 23 years old and the thought of having all this debt follow me around with no end in site really scared me.  I bought some personal finance books and started reading up on some of the strategies that can be used to get out of debt.  I know that it wont be an easy task to accomplish and that it will take a lot of will power to manage it but somehow, someway I am going to dig myself out of the hole that I have gotten in.


This blog will be my story.  This blog will be what keeps me on track.  This blog will force me to make the tough choices that I need to.  I. Will. Be. Debt. Free.