Of course Bestbuy's Geeksquad still have not given me back my computer. I went ahead and ordered a MAC. I know I know, I really do not have the money it is coming out of my challenge but I am sick of the PC always acting up and now that I am back in class I need a computer like ASAP. I will try and sell the other one, it is practically new. When I ordered the Mac they also had an offer for a free iPod which I have been dying for.In the mean time I have to check my emails at work which sucks and it is the end the month and I need to balance my checking accounts and I do not have my computer
On a different note I have not eaten out once this week so I added $12 to my EF ($2 x 5 days plus I bought a candy bar for $1 so I doubled this amount and added to the EF) My brother called and said he will be sending me my check for $500 and this will be added to my EF account as well

I almost forgot to wish my friends here a Happy Father's Day

Here is a link for $10 off at Walgreens if you spend $30 or more ( I am not sure if you can use it on meds)

If you would like to join Pinecone send me an email to veronak@hotmail.com. I just got a referral email form them to refer those who are interested

Finally set up my budget using my checkbook

I called AT & T for a refund and the idiot I spoke to told me he could not give me a refund. Now I only wanted to refund for the this year being that I never reviewed my bill and simply paid it. When I asked to speak to his supervisor he informed me that his supervisor would not give me a refund either, I informed him to then let me speak to his supervisor. Anyhow to make a long story short I got a credit of $45 from the supervisor who was not going to give me the refund. I also called regarding my cellphone and my contract is up next March so I will cancel then and switch to MetroPCS

This is why I like to receive my bill. I have finally decided to cancel my home phone service and simply increase the minutes on my cell phone saving me about $30 a month. Any how I log on to AT & T and notice that there were charges for a long distance service called Nickel Value Plan for a total of $9.76, because I never called long distance and my bill was the same for months (over a year) I never questioned the amount of the bill I simply paid the amount due. But when I went to cancel I notice this charge, I am POD'd I have to go through all the statement that are available online and try to get a refund. I can retrieve some statements back to May 07, it is my own fault. I don't know what possessed me to stop checking my bill when I was notified of the paperless billing. I know how these guys are, I once had a creit of about $90 because they screwed up. Being lazy I guess

Well I bought a passport today in order to save all my files and free up space on my laptop, since I am having problems. But I have not deleted anything as of yet until I am positive that it will work ok and I know what I am doing. So $100 spent but this came from my miscellaneous account since I am really not saving for anything in particular other than furniture I guess. Any how I wanted to hit the beach today but because I forgot to shave I opted not to go but will go first thing in the morning for about an hour. I have to look at my transaction for the month which I know I am way over on the food and gas bill

I went to Publix and picked up some sweet potatoes and 30 minutes later the rat had eaten a big chunk out of one. My uncle moved the trap and at 12pm tonight I heard snap called my mom and she said he was dead. Gross, his tail is so long and he was about the size of my hand with hair and will stay there until my uncle comes in the morning...yuck
Thank goodness he's dead

OMG, it is never ending with me. If it is not this tooth it is something else. Now we have a rat in our house. My mom says it is because the door was left open which I find hard to believe that if the door was open that no one saw it come in. Any how I think it is because of all the trees she finally cut down in addition we have mango trees. My uncle bought or got a rat trap and I hope like Hell it is caught tomorrow or tonight for that matter

I received my refund/stimulus package funds today but I paid my mom the $200 I owed her put $300 in th EF and $100 was kept for myself...no more spending for me

Thanks to Koppur I posted a handbag on craiglist, I hope it sells. I was going to use ebay but we know there is a fee. So if I can sell it without a fee I will be doing great

Well I got my computer back today,which cost me $50. But that's ok because my computer is working. The tech said I had a corrupted file, I have a rain check for Best Buy and will go tomorrow and pick up Norton Anti Virus software.
I added $2 to the challenge because I had breakfast and lunch at home
I also have a slight tummy ache today, so I am just taking it easy.

I am not sure whose blog I was reading regading directv, but I gave them a call and my bill was reduce to $44.99 in addition to 3 months free of Showtime. I will pay $61.53 (including tax) for 1 year and then after that I will switch to Comcast to get their introductory rate
Overall I will be saving about $10 a month and will be adding this amount to my challenge...never hurts to call

...last night that is. Just keep your fingers crossed
Today will be a very busy day I have to finish up my taxes (been putting off for a few months and I am due a refund) I need to finish the wash, I was too disgusted yesterday. Finish up a chapter for school in addition to the homework and head to the bank to make a deposit. Plus I need to finish cleaning my car. All of this needs to be done and I am surfing the net, oh well

Last night I heard this knocking, I thought it was my nephew knocking at my window which he always deos. But when I lookd out I did not see a thing. This morning my mom came and woke me up to show me her blind was damaged and wanted to know why. When I went out side there was two gun shots to my driver side window(front and back) and at least 5 at our front house window. I am so upset I did not go to work. Now it is going to cost me $280 dollars to repair my car windows plus what ever it is to re-retint it I am so F#@$$%N pissed off.

...for the presidential debates. I really wanted to go and entered the school lottery (FAU is hosting the event) Even though I have not made up my mind as of yet. I just thought it would be great and that I would be a part of history
I am a little bummed about it

It is only the 14th and my year is off to a bad start. I got ticket in Novemeber did what I was told (mind you it was the wrong information) and my license was suspended, then I had to take a driving course which ended up costing me almost $40 next I can not get another class in so I am only taking one this semester and that means I will not be graduatning until spring of 09 and on top of that I owe all this money on a cc. Well the dentist is suppose to reimburse $425 and the school owes me refund of $408

I could just kick myself. I went to Publix and picked up some grapes and a few other things, at the time I thought my purchase were a little out of the ordinary but I did not think anything of it. Well I am entering all my receipts (3 days later)into my money software and notice that those handful of grapes cost me $7.19 arrrrrrgh. I was so annoyed, normally I check my receipts right away and if I had, I would have known those grapes were $3.99 a pound and returned them right then and there

Yep I sold two items as soon as I posted them on Ebay. 1 was a $30 Victoria Secret Gc that I got for X-mas so I made $28.83 next item was a textbook was for $28.14
Total $56.97 which will be used to pay on the CC as soon as the funds are posted

SOB was all I could say, sorry for the bad language.
My year is really starting off bad. I got a letter that my license was suspended for nonpayment of a fine. Anyhow I went to the courthouse today to get it taken care, only spent 1 hour in line to be told the officer who gave me the info was wrong, mind you the same one who gave me the ticket. First of all he said if I had the tint removed I would not have to pay a fine, well guess what that is not true, your fine is only reduce. So I had to pay a late fee, the fine in addition to the fee of having my license reinstated. Arrrrrrrrrgh I don't even know who I can contact to file a complaint. After I gave the girl my cc, because she already noted I would be paying according to her she could not go back and change since I said to her, how do I contest this?
my entire day was shot, now I have to get ready for class

First, I would like to wish everyone a happpy and prosperous New Year.

Secondly my goals for this year is to pay off the CCs by the end of Febuary, save $10,000 for my house fund by April and an additional $8,000 by the end of December which would later be used as my EF.

In addition to these goals I would like to have my auto loan paid atleast by half by December.

In regards to my education, if I stick to the plan I will be graduating in December and rather than having a huge party I plan on purchasing a townhouse and have a small graduation/house warming party

Now I would like to take a look at the end of the year totals:
Expense Categories
401k Contributions $53.77
Adjustment$607.07
Auto:Car Payment $944.71
Auto:Gas $1,523.41
Auto: Maintenance $1,748.22
Bank Charges Unassigned $7.94
Bank Charges: Interest $40.03
Bank Charges:Service Charge$1.50
Bills :
Cable/Satellite $845.05
Cellular $1,049.63
Electricity $1,546.07
Online/Internet Service $729.33
Student Loan $885.03
Telephone $485.68
Water & Sewer $517.94
Cash Withdrawal - Unassigned $420.00
Charitable Donations $432.00
Clothing $1,923.79
Dining Out $1,141.20
Education - Unassigned $1.97
Education : Books $547.58
Education : Fees $5.00
Education : Supplies $37.66
Education : Tuition $3,553.91
Expense - Unassigned $381.11
Gifts $1,133.76
Groceries $2,428.97
Healthcare
Dental $2,734.80
Eyecare $278.75
Physician $225.00
Prescriptions $313.97
Hobbies/Leisure:
Books/Magazines $20.00
Hobbies/Leisure:Entertaining $20.00
Household : Furnishings $81.92
Household : House Cleaning $33.58
Household : Laundry $27.57
Household : supplies $12.68
Insurance : Automobile $1,081.43
Job Expense - Unassigned $6.94
Job Expense : Non-Reimbursed $97.83
Job Expense : Reimbursed $196.59
Leisure : Books & Magazines $3.99
Leisure : Entertaining $330.70
Leisure : Lottery $3.00
Movies & Video Rentals $53.96
Leisure : Newspaper $43.75
Miscellaneous $3,171.40
Personal Care - Unassigned $1,776.93
Personal Care : Hair $38.00
Personal Care : Hair Supply $87.91
Sales Tax $258.97
School Supplies $20.29
Snack $17.32
Taxes: Fed Income Tax $3,730.56
Taxes: Medicare Tax $552.73
Taxes: Social Security Tax $2,363.33

Grand Total -$40,576.23

This year the food department, in addition to buying clothes and gifts as well as the miscellaneous stuff must be addressed

The weather was beautiful, I had a no spend day; therefore, added $1.44 to the cc debt. In addition I sold one of my textbook on half.com ($30.50) Once I receive the deposit it will go to the CC

Oops I fotgot, I changed one of my checking accounts to an interest earning account, why not earn a little vs. nothing

I have no idea when I became so cheap or should I say price conscious. Yesterday I went to Sally's for a permanent and they were close, so I ended up at Winn Dixie and paid $9 then I went into the Family Dollar store for batteries, found the same item or $5, bought and returned the one I bought from Winn Dixie. Any other time I would not even worry about but I now feel like $4 is $4

I notice that everything I look at the price of every thing

I finally got my GC from my points, I was getting a little worried because they usually come really quick. Any how I only bought two gifts and have two more to go. The first one I spent $6 because I had a GC of $25 from mypoints, the second one cost me $30 (for my nephew, a train set) and now with the gift cards I just received I can go into Target and buy two gifts for two little girls for about $20 each so in all I would have spent $36 for X-mas Not to mention I have two $10 off coupons if you spend $10 from Penney's and since we have the secret Santa at work, the limit is $20, I will find two gifts for $10 that way I only pay the tax (6.5%) I guess you can say I made out like a bandit this year

One of my goals for '08 is to have $12,000 saved by December. That means that I would need to set aside $500 each pay period,since I get a pay check twice a month. I am just sitting here wondering if it can be done. I have also decided to cut my hours at the part-time job, even though I like the extra $460 a month I am starting to get really tired and I plan on taking 4 classes next semester, so I need atleast one day off a week...we'll see

Hopefully I will also be graduating in the fall of '08 as well and my goal is to close on my house/townhouse as a graduation present to myself

I have just started this investing thing and I get so worried when there is a plunge. I know that I am saving for the long run and should not worry too much but my Wells Fargo Advantage (NVSOX) changed yesterday at 5.41 (14.40%)

I never use to pay attention to interest rates, if I got a CC I was just happy I had one, and I never paid attention to how much money the bank was paying me to borrow (in a sense )my money.

Now with the feds lowering the interest rates a quarter point ING has now lowered my interest to 4.025% which for me sucks, especially now that I have more money in that account.

I prefer ING but I may have to transfer my funds to HSBC since their rates are much higher

This housing/credit situation is creating a problem for everyone. Now I do not feel as though the government should step in and bail people out but I do feel as though they should look into the practices that caused this mess

I just received an email from Pinecone looking for male panelist over the age of 18. If any one is interested send me an e-mail and I will send you the link

My ebay auction is ending soon, I have no bids but 5 peole are watching so hopefully the item will sell

keep your figers crossed