Progress- kinda

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and of course my Spending Plan has taken a beating during the whole thing.

For one, I had to work a weekend that is mandantory for everyone the first weekend of the year. That was grueling and saving money on groceries and stuff like that was last on my list.

Anyway, it’s over and I’ve sat down with my Spending Plan again and it’s going to be pretty tight until next payday but we will survive and I am on track with everything.

So, for this payday these are the variables:

* Haircuts (for both myself and Christopher)

* A birthday for one nephew(only $8.00- one dollar for every year of his life. It’s kind of a tradition.)

* The electricity bill increased by $20 but since it’s both heat and electricity $138.00 is not bad for how unseasonable cold it’s been here.

* A charity event at work for the earthquakes in Haiti ($10.00)

* Cable bill came in for two months worth(catching up from December when I switched phone carriers- was to be expected but I hadnt saved up properly- in the future it will be just one month)

Goal wise:

* Still on track with $12.50 per paycheck (I have one tank of gas in my savings- woohoo!)

* Paid off one old bill from old house ($25.00)

All in all, I’m pleased with things but I need to keep up my motivation, especially on the savings because it’s too tempting to want to use it for other things.

 

Money with my husband

The 5^th Anniversary of my husband’s death is coming up this month and I just realized that I have never posted about how we handled our personal finances during the brief time we had together. (2 years & 2 weeks)

For the first year of our marriage, we didn’t live in the same city- ( I lived in Utah while finishing my BS in Accounting and he lived in Atlantic City. The plan was for us to move to New York when I finished)- so our finances were separate. He would send me money for monthly plane tickets back to Utah and we kind of had a ‘dating’ type relationship in that he paid for everything when we went out.

When we finally lived together, the finances weren’t discussed except one day per month when I came down from the “number crunching” and was silent for most of the day. He would say “working on the finances?” And I would just give him a grin. No other reference was made. I took on the burden and it never crossed my mind to involve him. And he didn’t ask again until the next month. I had done it for myself forever and I kind of liked it.

Basically, he would give me his entire paycheck and I would give him $200/payday to do whatever he wanted with- usually for cigarettes, drinks with friends after work or nights out together.

In turn, I would take his paycheck  and add it to my unemployment (at the time) and balance the budget. He never asked me where the money was going and I didn’t offer it. (Most of it was just household expenses anyway- the rest was a mystery even to me sometimes) We had a grocery budget of $100/week but if it ever went over, he didn’t ask me where I came up with the difference.

I had credit card bills from before we were married and he accepted those but either didn’t want to know how much or was afraid to ask. I know he had some too back in the UK but they were clear over there whereas mine were staring us in the face. (We were going to work on his later)

We did have a few financial goals, but they weren’t as indepth as they should have been.

• Christopher’s birth and supplies for him

• Travel abroad

• Paying off some debt(but only to use on more Travel or furniture)

In essence, my goals haven’t changed from “our” goals except to add a few more that have crept up over the past five years such as an emergency fund and retirement.

 

2009/2010

2009 was both a difficult and a surprising year. Alot of the goals I made for myself both financially and otherwise, were shot down very shortly after I made them. But I try to keep positive because I KNOW that it wont last forever and I’m looking forward to a better 2010!
2009 Setbacks:

• Unexpected Medical Bills

• Jeep breakdown

• Behind on credit cards

2009 Accomplishments:

• Kept my Job

• Moved to new place

• New car

• Paid off 99.9% of medical bills

2010 PF Goals: (In order of importance)

• Keep my Job

√           Changed Medical Tier for better coverage/less out of pocket. (Began January 1st)

• Keep current on household bills

√         Setup automatic savings of $12.50/pay period.

• Setup and use Yearly categories in YNAB.

1. Car Maintenance
2. Birthdays
3. Haircuts
4. Clothes
5. Copays

• Pay off 2008 & 2009 Taxes(if any owed for 2009)

• Build up a buffer in checking account

• Pay off old house utility bills

• Get credit cards current

• Use Increase for 401k savings?

2010 Personal Goals:

• Vacation for Christopher and I (all-inclusive resort)

• Lose 30 lbs.

These may seem a bit aggressive but in 2009, I didnt make ANY progress on my goals and would like to work a little harder for 2010.

Wish me luck

 

Why I continue blogging

I have a hard time posting on my blog alot lately. I’m not sure if it’s because my laptop is slowing dying or just that I prefer to READ more blogs than I write, but often I question why I continue blogging my personal finance adventures.

The answer is easy- I continue blogging until my personal finances are where I would like them to be and that will be a while.

So, until I can post again, I have not forgotten or given up on this blog or my personal finances!

 

The Benefits of our New Place

 We’ve been in our place about a month and a half and the benefits of moving have already paid themselves in dividends. Here is a list of what our new place has done for us:

• Allowed me to relax when I walk in the door and not think about all the things I HAVE to get done to have somewhat of an orderly home.
• Allowed me to have more time with Christopher, whether it is playing UNO or going to the park.
• Allowed me to think more clearly about my money situation.
• Reminded me that there is so much beauty in my life and it’s not all about housework and or things falling apart.
•  Reminded me to stop and smell the roses again.

 Some of the less unexpected benefits are:

• I actually FEEL like cooking again and have been more than ever!
• Cleaning the bathroom is actually a FUN thing because our bathroom is the size of a small bedroom! Plus it’s so beautiful it would be a shame NOT to clean it regularly.
•  I FEEL like exercising again and have been on a regular basis.

All in all, moving to a new place has not only improved our family life, it has improved my overall outlook. I sleep better at night than ever and I wake up with a smile on my face that I GET to have a wonderful life.

 

Deposit refunded- kinda

I received my deposit from the Property Management Company and all I can say is that living there as long as we did actually HURT us. My deposit was less than 25% of the initial amount. They refunded a whole whopping $355.50 out of the$1495.00.

As you can probably tell, I’m not too happy about it but I doubt there’s anything that I can do about it. They wanted blood and they got blood! I remember now why I wanted to move so badly. Had we stayed another year the deposit would have been zero. Two more years and I probably would have had to PAY!

 Mostly it was the fact that although it didn’t say in the lease agreement, they needed to paint the place again. (After 4.5 years I don’t blame them) but they weren’t about to eat that cost. It appears to be a case of “we don’t care how long you lived here- those crayon marks on the wall are your responsibility!” Anyway, I’m trying to let it go and move on but I know that I’ll never rent a house again, at least not for as long as that. Home maintenance is NOT and never will be a high priority for me. At least in our apartment, the deposit was only $200(and paid by the move in incentives), so if they take it all, it wont hurt as much.

The old house is officially in the past and time to put it behind us.

 

An Old Friend- YNAB

Last week I re-loaded YNAB, input all my numbers and a wave of relief washed over me. It was like seeing an old, comfortable friend.

I decided to go back to YNAB because I wasnt happy with how Quicken Online was FREAKING me out on a daily basis. I’m sure that it works for some people but not anymore for me. That feeling of panic when I saw “negative numbers” a month down the road was weighing very heavily on me.

Now that I’m safely budgeting my money with only the money I have in my bank account instead of looking at next month, I can sleep easier.

I’m starting with the initial tracking, looking for areas that I’m overspending and make the needed corrections but I feel confident that it wont be long before I get back on my financial feet.

Wish me luck!

 

Money November Randomness

Alot has been going on and although I’m getting into the groove of our new place and work again, there hasnt been alot of time to blog. Note to self: change that!

So, a “randomness” post is called for.

• I havent received my deposit refund yet but it takes about 30 days (2.5 weeks to go)
• I should be receiving a refund of $46 from my previous phone company due to the cancellation of service. (We moved out of area)
• Our new phone/internet is $25.00 cheaper than the previous one! Score!
• I’ve discovered my clothes all over again thanks to my HUGE walk-in closet! It’s like Christmas in there!
• I re-installed and have been working with YNAB again and my money “fog” is clearing up. (More on this later)
• Also, I’ve stopped using Quicken Online and I’m glad to have that chain taken off my neck! (More on this later also)
• I’ve started giving Christopher his weekly allowance again and he’s enjoying having some “dollars” to spend.

As you can see, there’s alot going on with we money wise!

 

Old House Walk Thru

Today was the walking thru of my old house with the Property Management Company to assess the wear and tear as well as what will be taken off my deposit.

We spent several days cleaning and polishing but short of hiring a professional cleaning service, we did the best we can.

They did find a few things that are in need of repair but I’m at a point where I cannot care. We’ve lived there for 4.5 years and as I have previously posted I HATE HOME MAINTENANCE.

My deposit was one month rent plus cat deposit ($1500 total), so I dont expect to get everything back, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

 

 

Next Step- back to YNAB

As I’ve posted previously, I use Quicken Online to keep track of my finances. So far, it has been very helpful in that I can see a timeline of my income and expenses.

But, there is one part of it that makes me uncomfortable and its not necessarily with the program itself, it is how my finances are viewed on a paycheck to paycheck basis and I DETEST having my finances viewed that way. So, it’s a problem of how I want to budget and not how I’m budgeting.

On YNAB, I could look at my overall monthly, sometimes yearly budget and I felt more in control. Eventually I need to get back on YNAB even if I dont have the one month buffer. Something has got to give.

When I look at my budget from paycheck to paycheck, I see too many shortfalls and not enough surpluses and I KNOW they are there.

So, the next step is to get back on YNAB.