Amber's Personal Finance Blog

I have gotten obsessed I think with finances. I read every money article in the paper, I love the Wall Street Journal (never before) and now I have just subscribed to Money the magazine for 24 issues at $20 not bad since they are $3.99+ tax on the stand. I wish I knew some one who could have given me their copies but oh well.

I am continuing to add to my challenge account/home account and I can really see the light. By simply adding loose change and a few dollars here and there I was able to up my account now to $1809.23

I am sooo happy, I always talked about saving for a house but never have and since I have joined this site you guys have really helped me to stay focus

Hope the luck of the Irish is with everyone today

In America that is, this poor little boy Christpher Barrios found dead today. How could people harm children? I see my little nephew and I just want to hug and kiss him to death. It really just breaks my heart, kids can't even play out side any more...I am just torn apart. Then you have this other idiot who stabs his 11-month another woman is taking a bad with her baby who drowns,oh boy

Tomorrow is payday which was a shocker to me because it really is Monday but the boss paid us early and I am happy. Anyway I already set up payments and set aside some money for savings

$68.14 Direct TV
$97.81 Electric
$182.13 Car insurance (3 months)
$348.08 total
$25 IRA
$40 Tuition Fund
$20 New car fund
$130 EF
$10 Misc fund (MD appointments, stuff like that)
$87.12 Challenge/new home fund
total saved $312.12

other
$20 Tithes

I received my Amazon payment today, I already deposited this money to my challenge home account in the amount of the actual sell but today the deposit was for $8.10 so I deposited an extra $4 to the challenge... better that than spending it. So I am adding this amount to my EF, trying to get tat total back up. Today I also did not spend any money so I added a $1 to the challenge and then rounded up my change and added $.33.
New challenge total :$1713.89

Went ahead and paid the cc balance from the charges over the weekend I was thinking about waiting until Monday which was payday but I could not stand seeing a balance so I took the money out of my EF. Now I went from $1841 to $1121. I went to the dentist so that was $330 kept $50 in my checking account and now I am thinking I wasted sooo much money. About a $100 was for meds, I won't beat myself about it but come payday atleast $500 will be deposited to my EF account I just won't be able to add to my house, car and tuition fund
I am due to see the dentist on the 27th but I am chaning that to the 15th because I plan on socking away my last check for the month, I have got to get my totals/balances back up ASAP

I am in my room alseep when I hear my mom cry out it sound like she was sayig my uncle died in a car accident thank God that was not true.

He was in a really bad car accident and totaled his car however he walked away with out a scratch.

He was taking a family friend to the airport and a tracker trailor hit a car in the north bound lane on I-95 causing that person to loose control and end up in the south bound lane (my uncle's lane) hitting him head on. It is amazing because accidents like that on I-95 are usually deadly. I am just happy he was not hurt. Now one of the passengers in the car with him has two broken fingers but that to me is minimal

You all know I had this friend who wastes money and we had a big argument a while ago. Anyhow I ran into a mutual friend who said that she is still at it. She is planning a trip to Jamaica and wants her ex to pay for the kid's ticket because she can not afford it. But I am thinking if you can barely pay for your own ticket then maybe you can not afford to go. I wish she would really get her act together, I mean don't get me wrong we all make mistakes and Lord knows I have but when you have children I think some things you can do with out. Now she is upset with her ex because he tells her that is why he pays her child support and he will not buy the ticket. I agree that child support should be spent on the kid not a trip to Jamaica that you obviously can not afford or a new Lexus truck that you can not afford

Wow I have been spending like crazy, I have got to return some of those things I bought over the weekend no later than Thusday. I was looking at my spending for the month and I already went over my budget of $43 for dining out by $10, gift total is high so is clothing I just can't believe all the money spent...at least I can slow it down before the end of the month

Expense Categories
Healthcare : Dental $365.00
Personal Care $168.36
Taxes : Federal Income Tax $130.28
Clothing $124.78
Miscellaneous $109.04
Groceries $108.84
Taxes : Social Security Tax $85.78
Bills : Cellular $73.77
Bills : Online/Internet Service $60.52
Dining Out $52.81
Healthcare : Eyecare $41.89
Bills : Water & Sewer $41.39
Gifts $33.36
Automobile : Gasoline $30.72
Taxes : Medicare Tax $20.06
Charitable Donations $20.00
Leisure : Entertaining $20.00
Sales Tax $18.25
Healthcare : Prescriptions $15.00
Household : Laundry $10.00
Job Expense : Non-Reimbursed $8.67
Bank Charges : Service Charge $1.50
Leisure : Newspaper $1.25
Bank Charges Atm fee $1.00
Total Expense Categories $1,542.27

Grand Total -$1,542.27

Added $2.72 to the challenge today, simply rounding up my change

New total $1711.99

$330 later I am still none done with the dentist, this was only half for my crown. I wil have to pay another $330 in two weeks; of course this came out of my EF no way was I going to put this on a cc. What I can tell you is take care of your teeth because going to the dentist is sooooooooooooooo expensive

Ok I had Saturday off, and I went on a shopping spree I have not done this in over a year and it felt good but when I started adding up everything I was down. Some of things I can return some can't. Here we go, yesterday was a beautiful Saturday, the first I had off in months. Anyhow, I started my day like this, first breakfast, then I cleaned up and next I hit the stores. Went to TJ Max bought two pairs not one but two pairs of shorts for $14.99 one will go back on Tuesday. Then I went to Wal-Mart, picked up my contacts ($35) and some personal goodies...can't return any of this (total $66)now I am heading over to Macy's I need/want some perfume $65 along with a dress for $13 this will be returned, next I head over to Target, picked up two shirts ($8.99 each) one will go back a belt and a shirt, can't return either one because I wore them to the babyshower. Oh yeah I bought a gift for my cousin's birthday that was $10. Now I am heading to Ross big mistake I looked at a watch $75 thank goodness I held strong but I ended up buying some socks (will return those)next I put $10 worth of gas in mom's car, then I went out for drinks $10 cover charge plus $20 for drinks..crazy. Everything was placed on my CC Monday is payday and will pay off ASAP I worked to hard to be debt free only to go back into debt. I will be returning as much as I can on Tuesday wich is a half day so I should get at least $60 credit. But it felt good to be off and just out and about

Ok here it is my boss was just told by the owner to let the girl at our other office place the orders for office supplies. Any how she is soooo upset about it that she won't even help her with the order, is this crazy or what? I mean can she really lack that much job security that she would be upset if some one else is placing the order. She basically deos the medical billing for the office, once I asked her for a billing code and she wanted to know why I wanted it now could I possibly take her job by knowing one code. It's stupid and childish

I spent $14 on two sandwiches and an ice tea of course I added this to the challenge. One was for dinner and the other for lunch. Then I got my excercies in so that is $2 in the challenge

new total $1709.27

I had breakfast and lunch out today...this is a serious problem, I have got to figure out a way to curve my spending when it comes to dining out. Now I have to add $10 to my challenge because I wasted $10 today. Then I went to the hair salon that was $40 she has really jacked the prices up on me I will definately have to come up with an alternative. Next I saw the dentist that goodness I had a credit which was $100 so I only spent $35 today. And next week will be no better, I have car insurance that is due, seeing the dentist again and that will be another $320, boy when it rains it poors
Oops I forgot I added .96 cents as well to the challenge by rounding up loose change

New total for my challenge $1693.27

Just made my biweekly deposit of $100 to the challenge I am so happy because wit h every deposit I am getting closer to home ownership. Yeah I know I have a way to go but it is an accomplishment, at least I will make my $1000 a month goal this month. (keep your fingers crossed)

New total $1682.31

Had lunch out today cost me $7.74. I really need to work on eating out. Anyhow I matched this amount for the challenge brining my new total to $1582.31 I really enjoy watching my house fund grow

Another book that is on Amazon, but it will take I'mm sure a couple weeks before I actually receive payment. I made $8.10 but after shipping I will receive a little more than $5...lol. Anyhow I am adding the $5 now to my challenge so I do not for get

I normally try to bring my lunch to work but I get annoyed because sometimes my co-workers will go through my bag, so I decided to use a cooler that I use for my part-time job and was surprise everything stayed cold. So I will be bringing my lunch more often I am adding the following to the challenge since I bought my lunch and saved money

$.50 soda
$3.00 sandwich
New total $1567.40

Suze Orman has a new column in the Sunday paper titled "Woman & Money". I am so happy, I enjoy Suze and her views I can't wait to read more. Today was just an introduction in which she talks about the best financial moves for 2007
The first was to loose the balance (get rid of CC debt) Next she goes on to discuss saving rates at banks and to shop around. There were a lot of other things in the article that I found to be useful

Ok last week I went to lunch at Friday's twice. First I went and the total was $9.90 now I am checking my account balance and was off by three dollars, the transaction submitted by Friday's was for $12.90 (?) Strange I know, being that this was a pick up order. Next go back and my changed was $2.02 the manager tried to give me $1.50. Now I am annoyed and have to fill out paper work for $3

At the rate I am going I should have atleast $10,000 by the end of the year in my challenge account for a new house. I figure if I can hang in there with my mom for about 3 years and include all raises and bonuses I should have about $36,000 for a down payment. That is a nice chunk of change. So let the count down begin.

I just added my bi-weekly deposit brining my new total from $1416.05 to $1563.90 I will definately meet my $2000 mark for the month

So far for the year I have contributed $1281.51 to the challenge

I have really surprised myself the last few years. I mean I always talked about getting serious when it comes to savings and debt but never really did and last year I paid off debt started saving and now there is a real possibility that I may be a home owner in the next few years it is an exciting process

Lately since I have paid off my CCs I have gotten a ton of CC offers in the mail. Now the old me would have jumped all over that, I am so thankful that I am blogging my financial journey which I credit to keeping me focus and on track.

I changed my heading from "Reaching Financial Freedom" to "Living debt free and loving it" I tought it was time to change since I have reached freedom and that is living with out debt, that's until I buy my new house

I just added $7.88 to the challenge
$2.00 because I excercises yesterday
$5 to match the amount for dining out
$.88 just rounding up the change
New total $1416.05 looks like I am going to meet my goal of $1000 a month I only have a little less than $600 to go

I did some excercising on Wednesday and took the stairs today so that was $2 added to the challenge, next we got ur paystubs (pay day is not until next Monday0 so I set up my automatic deposits to the challenge, EF, misc account, IRA, auto account and tuition accounts

New totals:
challenge/home $1408.17
EF $1841.35
tuition $130.33
Car account $111.71
IRA $1070.45
Misc/vacation $21.47

I have really got to get my dining out to a science I eat out wayyyyyyyyy too much:

Here are the totals

Expense Categories
Bills : Student Loan Payment $787.93 Paid in full
Miscellaneous $691.79 loans to family
Education : Tuition $357.70
Taxes : Federal Income Tax $193.88
Groceries $161.15
Personal Care $154.74
Taxes : Social Security Tax $120.89
Gifts $115.36
Bills : Electricity $99.45
Healthcare : Eyecare $99.00
Automobile : Gasoline $96.57
Dining Out $93.12
Clothing $80.88
Bills : Cable/Satellite Television $65.87
Healthcare : Prescriptions $61.99
Healthcare : Physician $60.00
Charitable Donations $40.00
Bills : Telephone $38.78
Taxes : Medicare Tax $28.29
Job Expense : Non-Reimbursed $28.14
Sales Tax $20.48
Household : Furnishings $17.29
Healthcare : Dental $11.65
Household : Laundry $7.58
Job Expense - Unassigned $6.94
Leisure : Newspaper $0.99
Total Expense Categories $3,440.46

Grand Total -$3,440.46

Added $4.08 to the challenge brining my new total to $1198.91

I just checked my points with Mypoints.com and I have a total of 3,050 points. This is great because I plan on cashing in, in November for X-mas gifts. I am hoping to have over 10,000 points which would give me at least 3 GC. You need about 3250 points for a $25 GC so if I can hit my mark by November that would be great