Amber's Personal Finance Blog

I love this site. I feel like I can share things that I can't share with family and friends when it comes to my finances.

Everyone here has something to offer whether you've always gotten it right or trying to get it right when it comes to finances, you all offer sound advice without judging and I love it.

Earlier today I posted about not spending $80 that I'd budgeted for a bill I had already paid. Well Credit Card Free reminded me that I need to be gazelle intense while tackling baby step 1, so I added the $80 to EF account. SNAFU suggested that I review my gifting for the holiday season last year so I'll be taking a look at what and who received gifts last year and making some adjustments.

Honestly, I'd really like to stay away from the gift exchange at the office. I'm going to review my zero balance budget for the next period to see if I can start earlier (wish I'd started earlier) socking away for Christmas. I think $500 should cover everyone. Maybe less, we will see.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all your help.

Today has been super slow, and I love it.

It is the first time in months that I did not have to run an errand, attend an event etc.

I had plans to wash my hair, sew a few pillow cases, do laundry and review my finances but all I did was sleep. Now I'm up, watching a little TV 📺 reading blogs and surfing the internet. I just don't want to do a thing.

I think we are entitled to days such as this.

Signed up for Poshmark to sell a few items. Has anyone one used this app to sell or buy items?

I have a few, bebe jeans I can sell and a few pants I've never worn. I figured, I can sell a few items and use this money for baby step 1.

I hae created my 10/15 - 10/31 zero balance budget and realized a CC that I had planned to pay has no monies due, I've already paid it. So the $54 I budgeted I'll put in my EF. I'm still working on Dave Ramsey's (DR) baby step 1.

For the pay date 9/15 - 9/30 I still have $80 left over for car insurance that I thought was due. I have my dad's truck and it's $80 a month. I'd budgeted the money and went to pay but nothing was due. I'd already paid it. I decided to put this $80 into my sinking fund (car). My car is old, 2002 Toyota with over 215,000 miles. I have to start socking some funds away for when the time comes. Hopefully I'll get at least another 5 years.

I'm following DR advice utilizing the zero balance budget and the envelope system. I have the following left to last me until next Friday, October 13th.

Groceries starting balance was $80, ending balance $50.13. Not bad, I'll be adding another $80 on Friday.

Personal (e.g gifts, toiletries hair) starting balance $145, ending balance $55.48. On Friday this envelope gets $200. There's two birthdays, and one wedding, I have to buy gifts for. Plus there's bosses day. Ugh. I hate that we are going into the holiday season.

Transportation started with $80, I have $20 left. I will be adding another $80. This envelope is strictly for gas ⛽️, my commute daily to and from the office is 60 miles. I wish I could work from home just one day.

Recreation/pocket money has $95 left. I'm surprised with this. I thought for sure I would have blown through the $100 set aside in the first week. DR was right, it's a different feeling when money leaves your hand vs swiping a card 💳 . You are very conscious about your spending. The upcoming budget period, I had to cut back in this category, due to all the upcoming CCs bills. I'll be adding $115 to this envelope. How I see it is, if I stay on this track, I'll have a nice chunk of change in this envelope and I could splurge at the end of the year. I'd like a new pair of earphones (wireless) and a new iPod.

Cleaning supplies started out with $25 and I still have $25. I'll be adding nothing to this envelope for the next period.

Only thing that gets me down and a tad bit discouraged is that the BF is not participating in the Financial Peace University activities. I need the class but he needs it more than I do. I've told him, I will NOT get married if his finances aren't improved. Just wasting my time but that's a different story.

Today I'll review my weekly spending, sew a few pillow covers for gifts, and do a little work for the office so that I can catch up.

Had a phone interview with a recruiter. Position is closer to my house paying about $15k more. She liked me and will be moving me forward to the hiring manager.

Things have been a little low key today.

Super busy at the office, one fire after the next. One of the girls offered to take me out for happy hour, she knows that I'm on a strict budget. Even though I budgeted $100 for dining out and entertainment for two weeks, I still said no. I didn't not want to spend my money on eating out. Dave Ramsey is really working on me. My co-worker insisted and stated she would buy so I finally said okay.

Upon arrival to Chili's 🌶 I ordered from the bar menu and ordered fries, a drink and wings, total about $17. I offered to pay for my meal, she insisted that I do not, so I left a $5 tip. I'm things worked out the way they did because I still have $95 to last me until next Friday. 😃

After leaving chili's I filled up my car 🚗, $27. I'm hoping that this last until next Thursday because I only have $20 left in this week's budget for gas ⛽️.

I've completed my zero balance budget for the next pay date. Things will be tight. I have a wedding (gift 🎁), two birthdays (🎁); Halloween 👻(🎁) Boss' Day (🎁) and refill on contacts. Because of all these up coming items that cost money, I had to cut some things short. For example, my dining out/ entertainment and saving contribution amount was decreased 😢.

Since I'm all about saving, I did a little research and found a cosmetology school that provides pedicures for $10 vs the usual $20. I'm going to give them a try.

Lastly, I have a phone inter tomorrow. I love what I do now and the people I work with, but the director of the department makes things extremely difficult.

That's all I have for now.

Next week is payday so I created my zero balance budget. I'm really liking this. So far I'm only a week in but I'm doing great with budgeting items each pay period. I prefer this method vs the monthly budgeting system. Looks like I may have some cash left over 😃

Today was my annual anniversary and review, things did not go well. I was really taken aback by the non-factual things discussed. Either way I'll submit my responses. I like the job and I'm praying that this woman is removed. I was furious, but I have faith, so I'm over it.

So much today, a good friend lost her fiancé today, due to a heart attack, my heart aches for her. Death is inevitable we know but it's extremely tough.

We finally have a court date set for the 30th of this month, regarding selling the house, please keep me in prayer.

So I get home today and CC4 that I have not used in quite sometime, over 6 months, but paying off has been increased my limit to $7,700 (odd number) just before the holidays. 🙄🤦🏾‍♀️

I don't need any more credit card debt so I'll keep the card where it is.

On a different note, I'm loving the envelope system. Dave Ramsey (DR) was right. If you feel money, and watch it leave your hands, you think twice about spending it.

I have about $50 to last me until next Friday, in the grocery envelope . So while I was in Publix, I needed spaghetti. I normally purchase Mueller, but Ronzoni was BOGO. I'm sure you guess what I bought. Not only did I get a BOGO, iBotta has $0.50 rebate, plus $0.25 on pasta; therefore the two cost me $0.84. Not bad. Just the thought of being smarter with my money is awesome.

Hi all 👋🏾

I am considering purchasing term life insurance and wanted your input on the best option for me.

I have no kids and currently do not own a home. I have a ton of debt, close to 100k, over half of this is student loans. I've purchased a plot for me to buried next to my dad so we are good there. I've told my family no funeral, just a grave side ceremony. Funerals are too expensive. I'm 43. I was considering a term life of 30 years, at 50k. I figured, I'm paying down debt did not need anything over that. For the year, Zander quoted me about $250. My current employer offer basic life but that's just 1x your annual salary.

Can you all weigh in? I truly value your opinions.

Oops, what are your thoughts on LTD? 2 years, 3 years? I'm currently at $48,000 annually.

My meal planning is contingent upon what deals I find at Target on Sundays.

Today, I picked up two packs of thin chicken breast for $2.99 and two packs of three chicken kabobs for $3.99. Not bad, I'm just disappointed there weren't any packages ground beefs on sale.
Target also had grapes on sale for $.99 a pound, bought two pounds.
Fiancé picked up a pack of the Kuerig Folgers coffee for $10. Smh I told him I wanted my $10 back, this is ridiculous when he can get it for far less elsewhere.

This week's meal are as follows:
* Sunday Kabobs with rice
* Monday left overs
* Tuesday spaghetti and meat sauce
* Wednesday lemon pepper chicken drinks with a salad
* Thursday left overs
* Friday - Outback steak house. We have a gift card
* Saturday - homemade pizza

Not sure if I spoke about this before but I'm sharing.

I went in for an oil change and asked for the weight of oil that should take me to 5,000 miles.

So I notice that when the technician placed the reminder sticker on my vehicle, that it reminded me to change my oil in 3,000 miles. So I questioned why? His response was that the sticker only can prints for 3,000 miles. My response was, how could that be, when you sell for $5,000?

Then I ask him to confirm that he did indeed provide me the correct weight. I drive 30 miles each way for work and keeping my car maintained is very important.

It's funny because when I went in for the oil change I thought it may have been too soon.

Moral of the story, watch those reminder stickers.

Rich people don't spend foolishly.

During our FPU class Dave Ramsey (DR) tells us rich people bargain on everything and that they don't spend their money foolishly.

So we went out to dinner with one of the fiancé's clients, who is what we refer to as rich. They invited us.

While we were at dinner, he kept hinting that we should order from the PB menu. This menu was the special. He'd mention that we could order what ever we liked, but recommend the PB menu. So after, several comments about ordering from the PB menu, we ordered from the PB menu. I couldn't help but laugh to myself, I thought about Dave Ramsey saying the PB menu gives you a 3 course meal and the others don't, what's your better choice? The PB menu. Why spend à la carte, when you get the same meal or better for less. I ended up with steak vs chicken.

When it came time to pay, again, our rich friend was smart about spending his money, he whipped out his coupon. Again I laughed to myself, thinking about DR comments, "rich people are rich because they don't spend their money foolishly."

As we headed out, our rich friend ask where did we park? The fiancé told him valet. He said, "okay we are over here in the garage."
Again DR words played in my head. The fiancé paid for valet ( $30). Normally I think it's about $10 but because he wanted to park the car in the front, he paid the extra $20. I simply reminded him that rich people are rich because they don't spend their money foolishly. Cost our rich friend $5 to park in the garage. While it cost us $30 and we are poor.

Moral of the story, don't spend your money foolishly attempting to impress others you won't meet or giving yourself a false sense of "richness."

I know that I'm new to this whole budgeting thing, but I'm a little annoyed. I budgeted $20 for one baby shower scheduled for tomorrow and totally forgot about the one for today.

During my FPU class, we were told that it will take about 90-days to get things right but for some reason this just bothers me.

I'd budgeted paying an extra $25 on CC 2 and now have to shift those funds for a gift. I guess I should be happy that I had the money to shift, but the CC debt is driving me nuts.

Yesterday was my first no spend day, in I don't know how long. And it felt good.

Today I'm at the salon. I decided to get my hair done every other week vs. every week. This saves me close to a $100 a month. In between those weeks, I color my hair for about $5 vs $15 and I also relax my hair for about $11 vs $50. Makes sense to do it myself than to pay her.

Lastly on a different note, I researched what my salary should be for what I do without a degree and it's between $54k and $70k. Now with a masters and my certification that range increases significantly. I've gone to my new boss for a raise, he said to wait and see what my old boss recommends. He too agreed that we, the team, deserves a raise. So I'll wait and see. If the salary increase isn't between 60-65 I'll be back looking.

Well it's the end of the month and I'm done with all my spending.

Tomorrow is pay day, and I have completed my zero balance budget for this pay date. First time ever doing such a thing. I'm also going to try the cash envelope system when it comes to spending. This too is a first timer. I'm actually excited about it.

So for September here we go!

Wages $3112.56



Total expenses $2669.89
Difference $442.67 (actually about $80 left, CC payment not included).

As you can see, hurricane supplies killed my spending. Ugh! At least most of the items (over 90%) I can use for dinner and snacks. The other items such as sterno, first aid kit etc can be set aside for next year.
I've placed this expense, on my calendar to start stocking up in January. Particularly when there are BOGO. Crazy!

Bank charges are the interest that I'm paying in CCs each month. And gift are lunch and pedis with the mentee as well has treating BF dinner.

One thing I noticed is that not all CC payments are included. I have to figure out when I run the MS Money report that all CCs are included.

Let's see how the next two weeks go.

Sundays after church is my trip to Target 🎯. I have decided to buy meat that's on sale and create my meal plan from what I have purchased.

There was 1lb (93/7 ) ground beef for $1.89, this was with the $4 off coupon. The fiancé was with me chitchatting, that caused me to miss the cashier, not taking the $4 off one of the packages, so now I have to go back 😡.

We picked up Tyson chicken, 3lbs for $4.99 and a 12 pack of pork chops for $5.99. I'd say we did pretty good.

Today we started week 5 of Financial Peace University and the topic was on impulse purchases. Of course while in Target the BF made an impulse purchase🤦🏾‍♀️🙄
I explained to him that the extra $5 he spent on candy, we could have applied to the debt snowball.

Hopefully he'll get it

Now that I'm back on track with paying down my debt, I absolutely hate spending money.

I was asked by a friend to mentor a young lady they're attempting to adopt. They're a great family and if I had a kid and something happened to me I'd want them to raise my kid, so I agreed.

The problem isn't the mentoring it's the money I'm spending. I really can't afford it. I need to plan so that we are not spending that much money.

Today's spending:
* Lunch $18.15
* Pedicures with tip $54
* Book store purchase $20.33

Well I can't include the bookstore purchase because, that was a local author's book that I'd promise to buy.

For me I can't afford $80 every two weeks so I need to look for some free activities.

Next week the museums here are free so we will go there, the city is starting movie nights that are also free, so we will start doing that kind of stuff. She's a tough kid because when you ask what she's interested in, her response was "nothing."

All in all, I do know it's for a good cause, so I'll just keep trucking along and try and find alternatives that are free. If you have any ideas please share.

Tomorrow is week 5 of Financial Peace University, I'm on track. I've completed my zero balance budget, debt snowball worksheet and read the material. I received the water and electric bill, I under budgeted by $6 but hey that's okay, next time around I'll just adjust.

Tonight, I'm meal planning. If I do this I'll stay with in my budget for food.

Today was a pretty decent day. The A/C was out at the office, they kept us there. Good thing no one died from heat exhaustion 🙄🤦🏾‍♀️
I hate being in a position where I feel like my job is more important than my health. But I'm still looking.

On a different note, no dining out so $6 saved. I washed my own hair today and that was another $45 saved. All in all I saved $51 today. Since I saved $51 today, I'll split the money saved and add $25.50 on CC3 and $25.50 to my savings.

Tomorrow I have my little mentee so I'll be looking for a nice restaurant with coupons; hopefully we can get a BOGO. I was thinking about pedicures but I need to find something else and less expensive to do.

That's it for now, have a great weekend.

Today was a busy day. I'm working from home today but am able to get some other things done well. I'm really feeling accomplished.

I've updated my side bar with the exception of my savings accounts.
I'm mad at myself because I put CC 2 back in my purse and charged it up again. But putting things on paper hit home for me.

Last night I worked on my first zero budget and it was a struggle but I completed the second one for the next pay date in half the time.
I also created my cash envelopes, so that I can stick to the budget, once it's gone it's gone.

Week 3 of the financial peace class and it was tough.
Well I'm actually behind due to the hurricane.

This was my first time ever creating a zero balance budget. But by doing so, it really put things into perspective. The idea of telling my money what to do vs it telling me is so rewarding.

I actually put everything on a spread sheet vs the paper method, that way each pay date, all I have to do is key in the budgeted amount, the formulas are already there to take care of the calculations.

It has sadden me to say that the fiancé has yet to participate, other than going to the class. I told him we are wasting our time planning a future when money is the number one reason for divorce as well as our problems. I can give you the tools but it's up to you. I've told him what he needs to do with his business as far as the mother not paying him, he refused to do anything. I signed us up for a class, in hopes to get things in order and he refuses to participate. There's nothing else I can do.

Tomorrow I'll review my spending thus far, create my zero balance budget for the next pay date, create my spending envelopes, balance my checkbook and update my sidebar.

For me blogging helped me out of debt the last time, I felt committed to the group. I know what to do but I think FPU will speed up the process.

All is well, this has been one crazy week after Irma.

It's the middle of the month, and I wanted to check my spending. Hurricane supplies killed me, over $300 🤦🏾‍♀️🙄. Next year I'll definitely plan better.

The good thing is, half the stuff purchased ( e.g. Batteries, water proof containers, solar lights) can be used for years to come.

I'll be posting my mid month spending totals tomorrow.

Thanks for your prayers everyone

Though Irma is now in the Tampa Bay area (about 3 hours northwest of me) we are still experiencing a ton of rain and hurricane force winds. I'm on the east coast, Palm Beach County.

Our power flickered a bit but we haven't lost power. We lost one board of the patio fence but that's it. We're in constant tornado watch, that scared me, but we have the safe room set up and ready to go with supplies (e.g flash lights, water, food, pillows, blanket and radio).

We have cameras so we can look out side, the canal next to the house is filling up, hopefully it won't over flow.

I'll keep you all posted and thanks for your love, support and prayers 🙏🏾

Hello all!

Just wanted to check in and let you know we are okay. We have button up the villa and have our supplies.

Irma is at the lower Keys here in Florida but we are definitely feeling it's impact in Palm Beach county. We are under tornado warning, please keep us in prayer

Preparing for Hurricane Irma is exhausting.

We were able to get our Hurricane supplies but I just feel like I need more. Having gone through, Andrew, Wilma, Francis, Jean and Katrina you just never know. You can be prepared but contingent upon what happens you're not prepared enough.

Please keep us in your prayers as we brace for these storms

Trying to balance my checkbook and I'm off by $12.61. This is driving me crazy. I've checked and double checked, and still can't find the error. I also reviewed the beginning balance and I can't seem to find the error. I took a break, but really wanted to get into reviewing my transactions for the week every Friday.

For two days I have not dined out, I'm so happy. So I'll be adding $6 to the miscellaneous account ($2 for breakfast; $2 for lunch and $2 for dinner) for day one. I'll do the same on CC number 3 for day 2.

We had bought season tickets for college football game last year, with the tickets you get free wings, so Monday I'll dine in, order a Coke and go home. 😀

Started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at church two weeks ago and I absolutely love it.

I've created my budget and I'll using the Montana checkbook register method vs the envelope system. Today was pay day, and as my dad use to say, "the best time for a man to pay his bills is when he has the money."

So today I paid bills :

* $50 EF
* $25 church
* $152.12 car insurance (really need to look into getting this lowered)
* $450 rent
* $50 my plot bill ( wanted to be next to my dad)
* $119 JC Penny credit card ( really need to pay this off)
* $54 HSBCbank

I did not buy breakfast today or lunch so I'm adding $2 on a CC and $2 to the EF. Why the small amount? Well every little bit helps and I was able to pay my debt down this way.

Oh I should be going to court in October to finally get the approval to sell the house, fingers crossed 🤞🏾

Finally started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. It was truly an eye opener.

First thing I did was stop my 401(k) the goal is to save a $1,000 (baby step one) and start it back up again. We also had to list our debts, something I never really done, I was surprised to see I have a total of $77,000 in debt, this include $60,000 student loan 🙄

This was also the first time I sat and completed a budget. It's s simple budget as the class refers to it but hey.

I'm excited, I'm hoping that it changes my fiancé's view and understanding of money as well as mine.

This was our first week and Murphy decided to visit and my fiancé said to me, "wow everything that was spoken in class I experienced, I'm listening and ready."

I'll keep you all posted.

Started Financial Peace University with my fiancé on a Sunday, it was definitely an eye opener for both of us.

I'm excited about learning more, paying down debt and being stress free.

After creating budget and looking at all my debt and not just credit cards, I realize this is not what I want my life to continue to be like.

I'll keep you guys updated with how things are going.

Started Financial Peace University with my fiancé on a Sunday, it was definitely an eye opener for both of us.

I'm excited about learning more, paying down debt and being stress free.

After creating budget and looking at all my debt and not just credit cards, I realize this is not what I want my life to continue to be like.

I'll keep you guys updated with how things are going.

Though, I don't blog as much I'm still on track for paying off CC3 by October.

I'm super happy to know that I'm still working on paying down debt. I've gotten CC3 from $1821.31 to $1513.00. Next week is payday and I'll be paying $100 on this card. I can't wait until I'm done and then can start on the fourth card.

Well I went to Target today to check if they had any meats marked down. Unfortunately they only had one pack of 2lb chicken breast with a coupon and refused to mark the others down. Normally when you ask, they will, since the sell by date is the date of the markdown.

Long story short I got the pack of chicken for $0.33. I couldn't believe it. The chicken was 6.99 then marked down, plus I had a $2.00 coupon and I used the Cartwheel app for an extra 25% off. I'll cut the chicken in half, that will give me a total of six pieces.

Love it!

A friend of mine shared with me the bargains she gets on meat at Target 🎯. So I decided to give it a try.

Today I picked up two packs of 2lb Tyson chicken breasts for $1.49 each, actually on the second pack it was $0.75. I also picked up a pack of 10 pork chops for $5 and a two pound pack of ground beef for $3.49. Total spent $10.72.



As I went out side to load my car up I realized the cashier forgot to take a $5.00 coupon off, plus my actual total was $13.22 more than what should have been paid. So I head back into the store 🎯, get my credit and coupon, total refunded $10, leaving me with a whopping $3.22 spent. How cool is that.

I divided the two packs of chicken by cutting each chicken breast into two giving me 3 packs of four chicken. Then I cut the ground beef in half, giving me two packs. Lastly I divided up the pork chops into five piece packs for a total of two. I'm so excited. Now I just have to meal plan for the week.

Wish I could get some steaks at this price.
That's it in a nutshell nothing else to report