Payday Thursday..

This is something new I'm hoping to keep going on my blog.. Basically to keep me accountable, and to show others how they can save money while I try to do the same..  And I will make mistakes, because I know I am a shopaholic (even if it is with coupons).. But I'm willing to work my booty off to save more money and get myself out of debt..

So, to put it all out there, I made a page of all my debt I owe, and then I will post a monthly tally up with what I have saved towards what..  I plan to use the Envelope System to save towards the bigger ones, because I've gotten burned by paying payments, then the bill gets sold to another company but doesn't reflect my payments..  And the list does include my car payment, my credit card payment and my student loan bill (which will thankfully be put in deferment now that I'm enrolled in school again)..

My budget for May:

• Rent (for next month)-- $550
• Phone Payment-- $100 (PAID)
• Electric Bill-- $200
• Credit Card-- $150 (PAID)
• Internet-- $25 (PAID)
• Car Payment-- $236
• Gas-- $200
• Disney payments-- $100 (PAID)
• Holiday & Garden-- $100
• Food-- $100

Total Bills: $ 1761/month or $880.50/paycheck

This budget is for the bare minimum of my bills.. For the month of May and June, my goal is to save for my vacations that are in June and July.. Any savings will go towards them and making sure bills get paid while I'm gone..  Yes, I will plan to save my change still.. Yes, I will put any extra towards my excess bills.. But the next two months are going to be about having fun, because after that, I will be working a lot and going to school full time.. So until then, if it's not in my budget, it's not getting bought.. :)

MAY IS A NO SPEND MONTH!!

January Recap..

It's already the end of January, in case you hadn't noticed.. lol.. And while I haven't accomplished much this month, I've learned a lot of what not to do in the future..

MONEY

Here is my "savings jar".. It's an Equal jar that I cleaned out.. :)

I put ALL of my change in here, I don't spend any change at all.. So at the end of the day, it all goes in here.. I started saving prolly right before Christmas, and so far I've saved $34.94.. :)  The bad part is that I've saved and used almost all my $1's and $5's.. I've only got $3 saved that way.. I've had to use a lot of my money, including all my eBay sales, for groceries and gas..

I'm learning that I need to bring in more money than my job is currently allowing me to.. While I'm trying to work some overtime, I either get called off or I have so many deductions that it makes the overtime disappear.. SO, I've decided that February 1st to the 22nd is a NO SPEND PERIOD..  If it's not on my budget, it's not happening..

Another goal for February is to bring in at least $200 outside income.. I'm going to try making stethoscope covers and maybe nightlights and sell them on Etsy.. And then I will still sell things on eBay.. Just filed my tax return.. Should be getting a pretty decent return.. Plan on putting at least $500 in my savings account, then using most of it to get caught up on bills.. I also plan to buy a deep freezer for making things in bulk in the future..

GOALS

** I wasn't able to finish Wicked as quickly as I'd planned originally.. I find it is a very long book (a little over 400 pages, with small words).. So I plan to finish it and still read another book in February..

** Got an appointment with the advisor at IUS to get classes scheduled for Summer 2014 in a couple of weeks.. I'm excited to get that ball rolling.. Gonna look into enrolling in an ASL class at UofL too, but I have to figure out if I have to pay another application fee..

** Getting excited about my trip to see my brother, SIL, niece and nephew.. Like, countdown excited.. lol.. I can't wait to take pics again at our grandpa's graves, I can't wait to see them (of course), and I can't wait to see their new house..

** I'm hoping to make a trip to Chicago in April.. To see Jeff Dunham.. But that all depends on if there are tickets when I get my tax return.. There are still good tickets left for Friday night..

Well, I hope you guys had a great January.. And here's to a great February.. :)

Just Dance Away..

I truly love this game.. It lets me dance my booty off, and doesn't make me bored to tears.. Unlike Insanity.. No insults meant to anyone that loves this workout, but if you've read my blog you know I can't do much repetition.. So I'm gonna stick with what I know, running and dancing.. And hopefully learning more about weight lifting..

I've also found a wonderful app that probably has already been loved by many for a while.. Picstitch.. As I've recently gotten into Instagram (check me out @fabchallenge), I've found it's so fun!!  Here's one from today..

On a totally unrelated subject... After noticing that I put the wrong storage amount on the Gazelle sale of my iPod Classic, I wanted to see how much difference there would be.. It went down to $42.. I put it on eBay and it sold for $80 within 5 minutes.. Yep, I love eBay so much.. lol

Cleaning House.. And Getting Cash..

I am not one to sell things easily.. Oh, don't get me wrong, once I see how much money I'm getting, I usually go all out (sometimes regretting selling something).. But at this point, I'm cleaning out stuff that doesn't fit, isn't used, and isn't going to be used anytime soon.. Which leads me to my current dilemma..

I have my iPhone.. It has enough storage on it for what I need, plus some.. And isn't near being full..

I ALSO have an iPod Classic.. Never heard of it?? That's because it's ancient, but still works like new (with a little wear and tear, since I've had it for 7 years).. It's full of every song I own (which is like 15,000+ songs).. BUT I never listen to it.. It sits in my purse, just waiting to be used.. And it never gets used.. Because my iPhone is already by my side..

I was looking up how much I'd get if I sold it on certain sites like Gazelle, versus selling it on eBay.. And I'm seriously thinking of selling it on Gazelle.. I paid like $200 for it back in 2007, and they're offering $61 for it now.. I think that is fair.. Especially as old as it is..

And I could really use the money for bills (or savings)..

On another money note, I was so excited at the beginning of this week.. If I worked like I was supposed to, this paycheck would have like 30+ hours of OVERTIME!!  YAY!!  And then the snow happened.. Somehow in Southern Indiana, people don't know when to take their time versus driving like idiots (which I've heard is an epidemic and not just a Southern Indiana problem.. lol).. So I ended up getting budgeted on Thursday bc I was stuck in dead traffic for 90 minutes.. No book, no food or water, for 90 minutes!!  That took away 11.5 hours of overtime from my coming paycheck..

THEN, I wake up from napping on Thursday to find that my head hurt, I could barely hear, and could barely swallow.. FABULOUS!!  Took three showers to help break up the crud over the next 18 hours.. to no avail.. So, at 10am this morning, I made the unfortunate decision to call into work (the chic could barely hear me, my voice was almost gone).. I work in an Emergency Room.. Who wants to be taken care of by a person who could be getting sick? Not me..

So there goes the rest of my overtime I worked earlier this week.. Hoping I can figure out how to recoup some of that money.. Gonna hopefully start working on stuff to sell on Etsy.. I'm crafty enough to do well.. Just gotta keep the motivation going.. :)

Weekly Update..

Well, I figured to stay accountable I'd need to keep weekly updates.. Or as often as possible.. Lol. So I will try to keep updates on Sundays, and keep them brief..

** I'm about 30% done with Wicked.. It's a really good book, and I'm looking into seeing Wicked the Musical in March..

** I had to take $50 out of my savings (I basically have all my change in the jar now) thanks to rent taking all my money at the beginning of the month.. I'm hoping to put some if it back this coming week (payday).. I've also been spending more, which is a bad habit.. I've sold a lot of stuff on eBay recently and I'm trying to come up with ideas of things to sell in my etsy store (thinking of doing stethoscope covers and cards).. But all the money earned has been going into household stuff, like cat food and food in general..

** I'm set to enroll in classes in a couple months for Summer 2014.. This is to finish my Bachelor's Degree in General Studies.. I also plan to look into taking ASL classes at a different college in the summer too..

** I'm going to start working on all the pins I've got on Pinterest.. Each week, I'm going to have a weekly Pinterest project.. It will be a separate post on Sundays, as I want to show everyone.. Lol

** I'm starting Insanity tomorrow morning.. One of my 'followers' on my FB page is gonna help me with my accountability with that.. :)

** Depression really sucks.. Still noticing some signs that have overcame my life.. But it's getting better.. Slowly it is getting better..

Well, that's about it for this week.. Not much happened except for working and stupid pipe issues.. Hope you all had a good week, and have a great week.. :)

Amazon versus Couponing..

I am facing a money saving dilemma right now..

I don't buy much (name brand items) without coupons.. It's against everything in me to pay "full price" for anything at a grocery store.. If I don't save money somehow, whether it's by buying store brand, on sale, or with a coupon, I will NOT buy it..  This helps me save money or buy something that I want, like movies.. Which I still would try to find ways to save money..

My dilemma right now is to buy cat food on Amazon or to wait and buy it with a coupon at the grocery store.. 

Through Expotv, I get Amazon gift cards for doing video reviews on things I already own or buy, so they are basically free to me.. I can do 3 or 4 videos and get a $10 to $15 Amazon card out of it.. So I have free money basically to use on cat food, and the kind I want is on sale online for the same price that Walmart has.. BUT, if I pay cash for it, I can use a $3 off coupon!  So I'll save $3, if I pay cash, but I'm on a strict budget now that it's just me..

I say this is a dilemma, bc I'm trying to save my Amazon cards for a Kindle, but I gotta do what I gotta do, I guess.. lol

Savings, Savings, Savings..

Well, as I've said before, I am trying to save money for a lot of reasons.. Mostly for the NKOTB Cruise in June, but for other reasons too.. I plan to start saving hard core after the 2nd of September.. As in, anything I make over $300 I plan to put directly into a savings account from ING Direct..  I've already opened the account, and I've made sure that I can't get to it unless I transfer money from it.. No Debit Cards, no checks, NOTHING!  I don't plan to touch this money unless it's for an emergency or a bill I was saving for..

I've been reading Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" ever since I got the book to give away.. and I've gotten to the point where I understand it's gonna take some serious spending starvation to do this.. but I'm young, and I CAN do it.. BUT, it says that I need to make my debts current, and that isn't where I'm at right now.. so my plan?!  To call my creditors and work with them on getting current.. There aren't that many that aren't current, but with fees and crap, it's hard to get current, so I'm hoping they'll work with me on it all.. :)

Well, seeing as I'm at work, and this post has been "saved" for 3 days, I think this is done for now.. Have a good day!!