Amber's Personal Finance Blog

Just added $1.25 to the challenge upping my total to $281.12

Boy do I love the free stuff, today I did not bring lunch and a patient brought us home made lasanga, boy was it good and I will be having some for dinner tonight

Now don't get me wrong I love my little nephew, but I am always stuck baby sitting. My mom says she'll do it but I am the one who he seems to be attached to the hip. He's 3 and I needed to run a few errans which always slows me down when I have him. I have to buckle him in, move extra slow, he wants this or that etc...Seems like we well me, have had him at least twice a week for the last month and it puts a toll on if you're working 2 jobs. But according to my mom my brother needs a break...well what about me?

Well today ended up being a really good day. One of the patients bought me lunch ($6.00) I actually bought my lunch to work and he gave me $6.00 to buy lunch so that was nice, of course I added this amount to the challenge as well as .67 from rounding up my change

New total: $279.37

Spent a total of $32.11

Groceries $27.11
Misc $4.48
Sales tax $.52

Plus I added a total of $26.89 to the challenge
New total $272.70

Just viewed cc1 statement and I was charged $77.33 fianance charge and .14 finance charge from a cash advance I did years ago, actually when I first got the card you would think it would have been paid by now. Then I was charged twice by Krispy Kreme $5.99 so when I get the statement I will dispute.
Then there was an extra charge of 9.95 for AOL being the nice friend that I am I added a friend to my aol account as a user so because we both can't be online at the same time she added this service, well I call her up about the money and she thinks it is funny and will bring me the money so she says but I know I wont see...so I am cancelling this service
Now my previous balance was $2690.32
Now it it is $2715.47 a difference of $25.15

I was so proud of myself for not eating out but today I did, $3.26 at Dunkin Donuts. All because I was too lazy to get up earlier. Now I have to add $3.00 to the challenge matching what I spent as well as .71, rounding up the change

New total :$245.81

Well I do not know what I said, but I was not chosen for jury duty. We were released about 12:20 and I decided to take the entire day off. I am not going in today so, i'll kick my fet up and finish my book

I have come to the realization that you really cannot save if you have all this damn (pardon me) cc debt. Even though I only have two active accounts left to pay off and then one charge off, in which I have not included in my balance due for CC ...it is enough to drive you crazy. I plan on paying off CC2 next pay period if it kills me. I just realize as well, that school will be starting really soon (August) and all I have saved is $107.00 towards my tuition which is not even equivalent to half of my tuition or books, so I have to up my game now seriously. I mean I have got to cut corners some place. Since the new month I have not eaten out so that is a plus and I have been eating leftovers since Sunday; I can't imagine what else to cut. I refuse to buy any books this month, and I refuse to deduct from the challenge/new home account unless it is an extreme emergency. So we will have to wait and see. Hopefully I will have at least $75.00 left over by next pay period and I can add that to the education account

Did some shopping today, bought my God-daughter an out fit for today as well as her 3 year old daughter who is extremley jealous of her.

Gifts: $22.86
Personal Care: $5.94
Sales Tax: $1.88
Added: $1.32

Just wanted to wish every one a happy and safe 4th of July. My uncle and God daughter's parents are having a BBQ but I will be sleeping all day long as well as reading in between

Just round up some change and added $.99 to the challenge brining my total to $240.78. So I am happy

Well just checked in to see if I needed to report to jury duty on Wednesday and guess what I do. My juror number is 515. I am not too upset about it but everyone else ( the boss) seems to be, why? Isn't suppose to be our civil duty? I have been on a jury before and had no problems with it, but I guess some people do

Well I went to donate blood today and because I have very small veins they were unable to draw any blood. But I got a GC for free lunch at Chick fil a and $20.00 GC for home depot ( I will give my mom $10.00 and use $10.00 for hurricane supplies...batteries) So I made out pretty good today

I am so upset that I started so late in life to really take a good look at my finances. I am 32 and just really started contributing this year to my IRA account on regular basis, I only have about 686.00 in that account Now I am on my part-time job which offers a 401K plan. Mow I am unsure how much I can contribute( I have so much cc debt)I was thinking about 4% which is only about $10.00 ( I do not make much here) or even 8% which will be about $20.00. Right now I contribute $40.00 to my IRA account after taxes on a monthly basis atleast my part-time job will match. If I had did this let's say at the age of 16 when I started working I would have so much money right now

Did soime shopping today and pick up D batteries for hurricane season, I forgot tomorrow we donate blood and you'll get a $20.00 GC for Home Depot in whic I could have used for the D batteries, but I am sure there are other things on my list that I can pick up at Home depot

Todays Spending
Groceries:$28.05
Hurricane Supplies: $9.88
Leisure: Newspaper: $1.25
Sales Tax:.90
Trsf to Challenge: +.92
Total: $40.08
New toral for challenge: $239.79

Paid the first bill for the month, the water bill $43.08, it wasn't due until the 10th but I figured I would get it out of the way. I also added to the challenge, $2.92 bringing my total to $237.84

Well since my sister never cashed the check for $150.00 I decided to pay extra on CC2 since I am trying to pay it off tne month of July. So I added $75.00 decreasing the balance from $746 to $671.00

Old CC Debt for curent accounts:$2690.32
New balance for curent CC debt: $2615.32

The check I wrote my sister for $150.00 was never cashed she called to tell me she id not need the money and did not cash the check. I am so happy because getting paid from her is like pulling teeth

I can not be lieve it is Jluy already. My goal for this month is to continue decreasing my CC debt and pay off CC 2 this month,the blance is $871.00. CC 2 the plans is to get it down to about $1500.00 from $1900.00 goal is to pay off by September. I also need to work on my grocery bill, I was bale to decrease it from $140.68 (40%) from the month before now to increasing this month ( June) by 21% to $170.33 Dinining out for May was 173.74 increased by 34%. Now ending in June I decreased my eating out by 47% to $91.80,. So even though I did really well with dining out the grocery bill went up. I decided to print a calendar for the month with what's for dinner on it for the month ans stick to that grocery bill I should save big time that way. We will see

Well went through my egister and found the $11.00 (additional to the challenge) I made an extra $15.00 on my part-time job and transferred $11.00 of that to the challenge. So I am glad it wasn't an error in which I would be deducting this amount from my challenge, I just forgot to add it so the total of $234.92 is correct On 6/8 I had $837.15 in the challenge account and was fustrated about all the money I owe on CC's and decided hey pay off the CC then I only had $49.00 now I am back up to $234.92 less than a month I was able to save $185.92 in about 3 weeks not to mention teh money I saved in My Misc account, Education account as well as my personal account totaling about $625.00 for the month So I did very well for June

I have no clue but I show my current balance of $224.71 in my challenge account but when I checked the actual balance online my balance shows $231.83 less the $3.09 I just added (?) A little more than $10.00 difference so when I go home tonight I have to balance this account
So my new total is actually $234.92

Headed out to Target today, needed some personal things and found 2 coupons in my wallet which expired today so that worked out. Saved $1.00 on double D batteries (stocking up for hurricane season) and $2.00 on facial scrub so $3.00 bucks added to the challenge as well as .09 cents (rounding up the change)so I am happy

New total: $223.89

Well I ended up lending my sister the $150.00 we will see if she pays me back today, I am sure she will have some kind of excuse...she always does. Anyway I do not know why I do it, lend out money that is. I am always annoyed, because when the day rolls around to repaid you can never find that person, I guess I have not learned my lesson yet

I am so glad the month has ended. Bills are paid and I was able to send off another extra $125.00 on CC 2
I also added about 16.00 to the challenge today bringing my new total to $220.80(I met my $100.00 goal this month . Taking a look back I was able to cut down on eating out, that is always good news.
As I look back I did pretty good this month, 3 cc's paid off and 1 student loan

Misc:$121.76
Student Loan: $280.07 (paid in full)
Groceries: $162.79
Gifts : $67.08
gas: $50.01
HUrricane Supplies: $41.39
Clothing:$46.11
Home bills (cable, Cell, etc) $509.84
Tithes: $60.00
Dining out $91.80
Healthcare: $21.65
Leisure:$34.51
Personel: $69.26
So all and all I did pretty good

I went to Chick-fil-a today, and was a little upset I spent almost $6.00, but on mOnday they are having a blood drive and they are giving away a $20.00 gift card to Home Depot ( I can get D batteries for the Hurricane) and a prize pack for the restuarant. Being that I donate anyway this will be a nice treat I can't wait

Ok just entered my paycheck into my register not including the part-time job'spay and paid all bills even extra on the cc's. So here we go

$75.00 EF
$30.00 Misc Account
$20.00 Personal Account
$20.00 Eduction account
$20.00 IRA
$25.00 Challenge/New home account
$134.54 lights
$40.00 water bill
$20.00 Tithes/offerings
$40.22 on CC 1 ( bal: $1944.32)
$40.00 on CC 2 (bal $871.00)
$40.00 C-phone #1
$52.00 C-phone #2
$39.85 Cable

Previous balance on CC:$2895.54

Had a pretty good day the boss actually did the payroll today, so that means we'll get paid on Friday; that is first. We all pretended as if we did not know if the banks will be open on Monday so he went ahead and did them .So I am happy I can set up all my bills to be paid on Friday.

I met my old boss who I loved for lunch cost me $21.00 at the Olive Garden, the food was terrible so we ended up with a $20.00 GC which I will not use for a while
so all in all everything turned out ok

Had a half day today and did some shopping. I can't believe this month is already over and I still have funds left in my checking account but today I sepnt a total $27.65, most of this stuff I could have done with out but oh well. Iwas even able to add $2.45 to the challenge so guess it was not too bad today

Today's spending:
Personel Care: $12.94
Lunch: $8.18
Books: $4.84
Sales Tax: $1.89

New challenge total:$178.28

Just balanced my checkbook and was off $13.00 so I am happy ( entered in transactions twice)Then I added $3.62 to the challenge brining my total to $175.93, it was a no spend day so I just added the $1.00 for the no spending and $2.62 to round up the change

I ended lending my siser $150.00 boy I tell ya, she needed for her house payment she is suppose topay me back on Friday we will see. Me and my big mouth I told her about the check from the insurance company