Weekend Report

I don't know why I haven't posted anything. I've had the time. and all i've been thinking about are my finances but... I haven't posted anything. I need to write down a plan to achieve my long and short term goals. I also need to post my weekend spending reports because that is where I spend most of my money-- Over the weekend. So I'll post about that first. How much money I spent over the weekend. Well, I knew it was going to be horrible because I went to Arkansas to see boyfriend (A three and half hour drive).

$50 gas
$9 trip to walmart to buy cleaning supplies (he detailed my car for me)
$22 for extra cleaning supplies and then i bought other crap
$10 for babysitter
$15 for drinks
$22 for breakfast (he cooked but I bought other crap from Walmart)
$128 total

If it wasn't for the added on crap, the weekend spending would not have been that. But... I had a great weekend away from the kids. and I think the detail job he did was probably worth $150.

I Saved Myself $972/year and aLump Sum of $1,129

In the spirit of fighting procrastination, yesterday I did some spring cleaning of my finances and saved myself $971/year. Go me!

Bills
canceled efax:
$17/month, $204/year

downgraded Netflix:
$13/month $156/year

increased home deductible and coverage:
$7/month, -79/year

increased geico deductible from $500 to $1000 to save:
10/month, $120/year

downgraded cable (They were charging me for $12/month for Cinemax):
$24/month, $288/year

canceled Vongo:
$10/month, $120/yr

savings of $81/month, $972/year

With the extra

Lump Sum
Disputed Let's Talk $150 (to credit card). They charged me $150 for returning their freaking m erchandise

Called AOL for credit for double charging: $77 (to credit card)

Applied for my daycare and health Reimbursement Account: $750 (I'm not officially saving money on this but I usually take forever for these reimbursements)

Requested Credit for Water Bill: $152

Total $1,129.

Where is the $1,129 going? easy. To my Chase Card (Amazon) that I used for rewards. Unfortuntately, I haven't been watching my spending for the last three months so I have a balance that I need to rapidly pay off.

Now where is the $81/month going. I could use it to pay off credit cards also but soemthing is telling me to apply it to my 401k. So let's comprise. $40 to 401k and $40 to savings!


So what reoccuring bills do you have that you need to cancel?

Insurance Deductibles

Today I increased my auto insurance deductible to $1,000 from $500 and saved $120 per year, which is $10 a month. I need to make sure I put it in a savings account. I feel comfortable doing this because I have an A-OK savings account.

I also increased my home coverage from $115,000 to $125,000 and my deductible from $1,000 to $2,000. Which increased my premium from $1,119 to $1,198 which is an increase of $79. (I need to crank up my savings account!)

Totals savings
Auto: +120
Home: -79
Difference: +41

I need to look into having my home and auto under the same company but geico has always been the cheaper company for me.


For more info on whether you should increase your deductibles go to the following sites:

Here and here

I Am Officially a Stock Holder!

I know this isn't a big deal for most people but thanks to Money Hustler and the $50 bonus for Sharebuilder I bought my first stock (last week). I followed his advice and bought a $1.00 stock to recieve the $50 dollar bonus and I did the same for my children. And then today, I actually checked the stock market. I was so scared of the stock market, that this is a big deal. Of course, I have a lot to learn and some credit to pay off before I can seriously get into buying stocks but it's a big deal and something I've never done before. I'm tempted to keep the %50 in the share builder account but... like Single Ma said, "You gotta get debt out of the way first."