Ok woke up this morning and didnt want to spend a dime but it did not turn out that way so here it is:

Expense Categories

Loan Payment $100.00
Automobile : Gasoline $40.00
Gifts $26.64
Healthcare: Dental payment $10.00
Groceries $7.91
Dining Out $3.92

Total Expense $188.86

Savings
$10 weekly deposit to challenge
$100 transferred to EF
$3 paid on CC for dining out

So a total of $13 was added to my challenge

Hopefully I am back on track, today was the first NSD of the year so $4 went towards the challenge

$2 towards debt
$2 towards savings (went to the gym)

Yeah I know some people may say "you made a $2 payment on a cc" but those $2 adds up to $14 for the week and $56 for the month and by the end of the year it will be $672 towards a cc. By doing this before was how I became debt free the first time, so I know it can be done

I went ahead and scheduled a $30 payment to be deducted on April 3 on CC2, and deducted the amount from my checking account. I figured I may as well as long as I have the money and I don't know when I'm going to start work again

Overall last month every thing was down except for clothes and dining out. In January I bought no clothes and my dining out expense was about $4 more in February. Oh I forgot my gift expense was up, had a friend to die and sent flowers. In addition,I added two bucks to my cc challenge because I finally made it to the gym. For the month I only had 4 NSD
Well here it is last month's spending:

Income Categories
Other Income $82.84
Wages & Salary $1,249.49
Income - Unassigned $170.35
Total Income $1,502.68

Expense
Automobile $110.01
Bank Charges (interest) $48.68
Bills: internet/ storage $108.54
Clothing $79.77
Dining Out $48.09
Education $0.95
Gifts $116.28
Groceries $175.70
Healthcare $22.26
Hobbies/Leisure $5.00
Household $17.43
Job Expense $14.70
Miscellaneous $109.17
Personal Care $37.81
Services/Memberships $47.91
Taxes $247.33
Utilities $112.36
Total Expense $1,301.99

Difference $200.69

Well I spent a lot today. I decided to spend only $120 from now until payday on the 2nd so about $60 a week, wish me luck

Added the following:
$25 IRA
$187 EF
$10 Gift account
$20 personal saving account
Total saved $242

Expense
Internet $60.07
Gifts(flowers for friend who passed away)$75.00
Misc.(Storage fee,delivery fee for flowers and mom's cell phone) $98.42
Taxes $233.01
Utilities(Cable/Water) $112.36
Extra $10 on CC
Total $588.86

I almost forgot my sister asked me to borrow $20 because she didn't have money for the train and I said no. I felt bad but she never pays me back when she say she will, I'm just happy I said no

Well I called Macy's regarding the buck they say I owe and received a credit, then I called JC Penney's because I had a $13 credit and a check will be issued. It was just two calls and it took me almost 2 months to take care of

Ok I pretty much stayed in today and only studied for about 10 minutes Then I hit the gym so $1 was paid towards my CC challenge next I went to Publix spent $17.13 on groceries(and only bought fruit no chip, dips etc) as well as personal items so I paid an additional .87 cents towards my cc (rounding up my change) I washed and curled my own hair saving $35 and I added this to my house fund
YTD challeng $1751.99

The Heat won today..yayyyyyyyyy!!!!
So I paid a buck on the cc.I haven't done that for a while
Go D. Wade!!!!!!!!!
YTD Challenge $1713.86

That is how much my brother owes on my mom's CC. My God, I wouldn't be able to sleep
When she(mom) spoke to his wife, she(SIL) claims she told my brother to stop using it...hello!!!!!!!! he's not the only one who ran it up. They have earned a whopping $48,000+ points meaning that through out the last few years they have charged almost $50,000 on a cc that is not theirs
About 2 years ago they paid about $10k on the cc bringing the balance down to a little more than $3k and now once again charging it back up. My mom had to call the CC company to get the interest down because after a few late payments it went up

I went ahead and paid off my Target CC(part of my challenge), so 3 down and now 1 to go. I struggled with this because I wanted to add this money back to my EF (it's the money my sister owed me) but I know from experience you can save more when there is no debt
YTD challenge $1712.86
CC balance $4008

Today was my birthday and I had a ton of emails wishing me a happy birthday...sites like Mypoints, Macys, Coke rewards and even saving advice. I thought it was neat because of all the emails I got this is the only site that didn't want me to buy anything
My mom and I went to dinner, my treat and TJ Maxx home good store and I did not buy a thing. Mom on the other hand picked up some things I used the cc but she paid me as soon as we got home, which I knew she would
I also finished up one of my projects for school so that was a plus and watched a great Lifetime movie
I paid $1.06 on my cc/challenge and picked up my check from my sister, whew glad that is over
Today's spending:
Expense Categories
Dining Out $14.56
Misc(mom purchase) $13.97
Gifts(dinner for mom)$14.56
Groceries $7.84
Sales Tax $1.01
Total Expense $51.94
All expenses were put on the cc for point but as soon as I got home I paid it

Today was payday and I'm broke again

I paid the following:
$130 EF
$10 Misc/gift fund
$10 Personal checking
$10 house fund
$25 IRA
Total Saved $185

Expense Categories
$183.37 Federal Income Tax
$98.74 Social Security Tax
$64.68 Cable/Satellite
$60.07 Online/Internet Service
$51.24 Water & Sewage
$23.09 Medicare Tax
$20.00 Charitable Donations
$1.00 Hobbies/Leisure : Lottery
$1.00 Miscellaneous
$47.91 Gym fees
$471.22 CC 2
Expense Total $1022.32
On a different not my sister called to say she has the $300 she owes me so I am picking it up in the morning in order to pay off cc 2

Well Friday has come and gone and Saturday is almost over and I have not heard from my sister, which doesn't surprise me. Tomorrow I am calling her to let her know I will be there to pick up my $300
Then my uncle call to tell me he was waiting on a $1500 check to pay me my $500..what! it's $550 not $500
You know, I know times are hard with every one but lending money always get me in an uproar, I do it because I always think what if I needed the money and then I give in. And I am always driven crazy. My uncle had already informed me that it would be a while before he could pay me but I wasn't thinking 6 months. My sister on the other hand, is a different story and I should know better (no excuses)
I returned my text book for $140.80. I went ahead and kept the homework manager that comes with it
Got my BoA bill and the finance charges were little more than $55, I can't wait to pay this card off
Anyhow I went to the gym missed yesterday and forgot to work on my abs so I'll be headed back tonight. The funny thing is, I went to Publix after wards and could not resists the vanilla cake
I am a little upset because I can not add to the challenge and needed to take money out of my EF to last me until next pay period. I knew I had socked away way too much but but thought I would give it a try
Yesterday and today's spending

Expense Categories
Education : Books 43.99
Gasoline 33.17
Groceries 11.74
Misc (co worker owes me $3) 8.95
Dining Out 2.22
Hobbies/Leisure : Lottery 1
Grand Total -101.07

I just realized that I did not get a bill from VS so I called them and the address was incorrect, thank goodness I will not be charged a late fee. So I decided to take the money out of the EF to pay them off a whopping total of $367.06. I know this was not an emergency but my EF goal is $1000 and I had more than that in there so why earn less than 2% interest to incurr more on the CC
So now I only have 2 CC lefts and I plan on paying Target off the next pay period
YTD paid on the challenge $907.09

I decided to pay off two CC since I am earning less (interest) money on my savings account and these balances are driving me crazy; in addition, in the past what I have
learned is that once your CC is paid off you can save a lot more much faster so I said what the heck and took the money out of my house fund
Total paid $506.66
Paid:
-Macys store card
-Macys Visa Card
As I was balancing my account I notice that one of the CC mysteriously tacked on a dollar my previous balance was 81.73 but on my new statement it states my previous balance was 82.73 and no reason for the extra buck so I will be on the phone with them at lunch tomorrow.
This is part of my challenge so I am adding this to my YTD balance

Also any one looking for the link to Pinecone I posted on a previous post

Went to the gym and was only able to do 20 minutes of cardio and some ab work since my uncle was here and does not have a key to lock the door; but I plan on going later
$1 added to the challenge cc debt
Challenge YTD $19.31

Went to the grocery store and only bought what was on my list with the exception of corn so today's spending $9.08 thus far

Went to Target picked up only what I needed and used the 10% off coupon saving $1.07 so I paid this amount on the cc. It seems like my CC debt has not decreased one bit and I haven't charged a thing...darn interest. I have got to pay it off ASAP
Went to the gym so another buck was added to the cc challenge

My mom paid me the money for the stuff I bought for her on the cc the other day. She actually over paid me so the difference went towards my debt ($1.06)
Plus my nephew returned the $6 he owed me which I needed. There's some personal items that I need so I'll go to Target and use my 10% coupon

YTD Challenge $11.74

Had breakfast at home and brought my lunch today plus snacks so $2 added to my challenge/cc
YTD for the challenge $7.68

I pretty much just relaxed today and then headed to the gym worked out for almost 2 hours one of those hours on the elliptical burned 420 calories then hit the grocery store spent $19.57(.43 applied to challenge/cc debt) and it was basically all healthy foods,which is more expensive Took my sister my car so that she can run some errands tomorrow.

And then I came home and watched a program on PBS regarding the concentration camps in Germany. As an African American I know what blacks went through in this country and some of those stories are almost unbelievable and then I watch this story and I just can't understand why people would want to hurt another group of people based on race, religion or gender or anything else for that matter. To see those people being brought out of those camps was just terrible reminds me of slavery and the Jim Crow era of the early 60s...I just can't even imagine what people were going through back then. I thank God that we are moving in a new direction. I must admit I was not an Obama supporter at first and changed my view of him later on in his campaign but I have to say I never thought I would see an African American as president in this country and to me it is a symbol not only to this country but people around the world how race, sex, religion are becoming no longer a major factor for decisions

Here's my spending for today:
Expense Categories
Gasoline $20.00
Bills: Storage $48.47
Gifts(apples for sis) $2.69
Groceries $16.45
Sales Tax $0.43

Grand Total -$88.04

Well I added my buck earlier today and now I am adding $2 more to my challenge/ cc debt 1. had lunch at home and 2. going to the gym now. Oh and I forgot $2.25 was earned in interest for the challenge...I have to laugh to myself because a little over a year ago I was earning much more than this and I had a lot more saved.

Added $1 to my challenge/cc debt fund today, the first amount for the year. This amount was added because I had breakfast at home and will pay another buck when I go to the gym. I know this is a small amount but every little bit helps and I figure in the end if I have breakfast and lunch at home as well as hitting the gym daily that would be $3 a day $21 a week and $84 not including regular payments. So I plan on keeping this up, this one of the ways that I paid off my debt

On the eliptical and I also burned 309 calories so I added $1 to the challenge debt. Today is the last day of the year and it seems like I have gone backwards but I'm looking foward to a new year. I have to go through my expenses and am afraid to even look, but oh well

I was upset because I left my lunch at home and then I remembered I had a GC for Sweet Tomatoes so the only thing lunch cost me today was .49 so I added $1 to the cc debt for dining out and $7 to my challenge house fund because that is what I would have spent had I not had the gift card

I was doing so well these last few weeks and today I forgot my lunch, arrrrrrrrgh
So now I have to buy lunch which burns me
In addition, I had breakfast at home so rather than adding my $2 for not dining out I was only able to pay $1 towards my challenge/cc debt because money is really tight until the next pay period
I also had to cancel my oil change and tire rotation but that's ok because I have a little more than a 100 miles to go before I actually need to take care of this

Well I have a lot to blog about (sorry for the long post)
First, I just realized that I am going to have to cancel my appointment for an oil change as well as tire rotation until next pay period and besides I still have about 200 miles to go before I actually need one. I also have to cancel my dentist appointment for the crown until mid February. I totally forgot about my storage bill of $48.47 this amount is automatically charged to my BoA cc on the first so I went head and paid it in addition to adding $2.00 for going to the the gym

Now on to family and friends, My mom and I go to TJ Maxx home store and on the way she says oh I left my CC but I am not buying anything (my mom is a saver and will save every dime so I wasn't worried) But we get to the home store and she finds some things and asked if I can charge Arrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! I am so annoyed because I do not want to charge anything, I MEAN NOTHING. I know my mom will give me the money that's not even the point because she's good about paying bills and saving ( I wish I was more like her when it comes to money) but I simply do not want to charge thing any more bottom line; needless to say I charged $48 worth of stuff


Now my sister (oh boy) About 2 weeks my sister called to borrow $300 I lied and told her I had the money in a different account and if I transfer the funds it will take 2-3days before I can get it. So she says to me go ahead and transfer the money and I will call my uncle. Well she called my uncle who loaned her the money. She paid him back. Well today she calls and she says to me, did you transfer the money? Well she caught me off guard and I said to her no because you borrowed the money from N. She then says well transfer it because I need to pay my rent and she'll give it back to me next Friday. Now this is my savings for my new house and I do not want to touch it but I told her it was the money for my tuition. If was I thinking I would have told her I already used it to pay my tuition (lie of course) Now when she borrowed the money two weeks ago, it was to pay her rent (of course she was late) now two weeks later she need to borrow money again. It is obvious she can not afford this place. I told her when she was looking for a place to move into a two bedroom but because her two boys was going to live with her and my BIL. But according to her they needed their own space and she wanted them to be comfortable (These are grown $%$% men). First of all she just lost her house, which was a 3 bedroom; how come the kids couldn't share a room and if they wanted their own space then they should buy or rent their own place. Then her and my BIL separated about a week after they moved into this 3 bedroom apartment, my middle nephew who is so disrespectful cussed her really bad and moved out (mind you he’s in his twenties and do not work so it wouldn’t make a difference if he was there or not) and now her youngest son has decided to live basically with his girl friend and go to her place (my sister’s) to eat and shower. Come on !!!!!!!!
Either way I said Ok but she won’t get it until close to her payday to ensure I get my money. I will tell her the funds were transferred on Tuesday and if she's late with her rent then that is her problem

On to a friend of the family. My brother use to date this woman who had custody of her grandson after they broke up she stopped her grandson from seeing my brother. Ok we have not seen him in years I would say maybe 10 (he’s 18 now) well all of sudden he started coming around and I had this bad vibe about him, couldn’t put my finger on it. So my mom and uncle would give him a few dollars here there. First he tells my mom he has a job, only to tell me that he never told her that. Then he comes here with a necklace that is worth $600 but he is selling it for $50 hmmmmmmm. Anyhow his uncle is still friends with my brother and told my brother to let us know to watch him because he has been breaking into homes (I knew it was something) Well for about 3 weeks he has not been here and today he shows up. Asking my mom if he and his girl friend can move in because his grandmother put them out accusing them of using her credit card and charging $1600. WHAT! He say’s that there were times when she (grandmother) would send them (he and girlfriend) to the store and they never remembered her pin number and would have to call her for it, yeah right. And the kicker is who ever used the cc withdrew $400 one day and went to the mall the next. Yeah and we’re suppose to let you move in?

Now after I had a chance to calm down from today’s events my phone rings and it is my nephew (my sister's son) can he borrow $10…WTF!!!!!! I am really pissed because my sister had previously informed me that on Saturday he came home to let her use the car (hers was repoed) she goes on to tell me that on Saturday he comes in and ask to borrow $10 for lunch and he was paid on Friday. Now why is it Saturday and you do not have any damn money? You’re not paying rent, water, electric or anything else. He’s got this girl friend with a baby who I think is taking advantage of him. First of all he has a learning disability in addition to schizophrenia. The girl friend who is not from the U.S. is dying to get married. First it was her mother with only a few months to live and they needed to get married, next she was moving to Canada and needed to get married then they were going back to Haiti and needed to get married…unbelievable

I cant wait to get to the gym to release some stress

Added $2 to my challenge/cc debt; had breakfast at home
So far I am doing pretty good with not dining out for breakfast or lunch

Went to the gym and paid $2 towards challenge/cc debt
Tomorrow's payday and as I'm going through my up coming bills and I'm broke already.
$381.29 Car
$25 IRA
$113 Electric
$40 mom's cell phone
$100 my cell phone
$43 water bill
$20 church
$70 EF
$10 misc savingsI haven't decided how much goes towards the house fund yet, plus tuition is due

My day is over, when I leave here (work) I'll be heading to the gym.
Anyhow I did not spend a coin today but
I added $2 to my challenge/cc debt,for not buying breakfast or lunch
Plus I got $3 from Pinecone so I added that to my challenge/home fund

I am so proud of myself; I managed to hit the gym ($2 added to my challenge/cc debt) and completed a full work out. In addition, I washed, colored and curled my own hair which saved me $35 so $35 added to my challenge house fund (bal $1192.82). The goal is to up this account by $500 each month. I also had breakfast and lunch at home so $4 was paid on the cc debt). All in all today was a good day