Time To Readjust

So for the past six months I’ve been over budget on my discretionary spending.  Which for me is Gasoline, Groceries, Clothing/Shoes, Fast Food, and General Merchandise.  So far here are my results for January:   

	Budget	Actual	Difference
Gasoline	175	111.2	$63.80
Groceries	250	325.66	-$75.66
Fast Food	70	127.67	-$57.67
Clothing/Shoes	0	19.61	-$19.61
General Merchandise	200	401.52	-$201.52

The only thing I came under budget on was Gasoline, tsk, tsk.  I usually don’t go over budget on groceries but I think I was trying to replace clothes shopping with grocery shopping.  One of the many features of Yodlee is that it calculates the average amount spent on every category.  A feature I did not use when I originally created my budget.  So I compared my usual budget with my averages (see table below). I'm right on the mark for groceries, gasoline, and clothing.  However, Fast Food and General Merchandise are vastly under budgeted.  On average, I spent almost twice as much money on food and general merchandise than I budget for.

	Budget	Average	Difference
Gasoline	175	$ 174.64	$    0.36
Groceries	250	$ 250.45	$   (0.45)
Fast Food	70	$ 149.81	$  (79.81)
Clothing/Shoes	133	$ 112.87	$   20.13
General Merchandise	200	$ 364.40	$(164.40)

So what is a sister to do?  Keep on striving to meet the apparently unrealistic budget or readjust?  I think I am going to readjust.  Budgeting is good but it's unrealistic if you don't know your personal spending habits.                                                                    

How will this increase affect my debt payoff plan?  Not favorably.  Increasing clothing and general merchandise to at least meet my averages calls for an extra $234. 

Where is that $234 going to come from?   My extra debt payments.  Thus I'm going to have to away $200 from the HELOC.  Ouch… That'll leave me with a big deficit.  I wish I could say I would pay at least half of any extra money I get towards the HELOC but honestly, I've been considering aggressively attacking my retirement instead of the HELOC since the interest rate on the HELOC has dropped so much in the past few months (plus the interest is tax deductible).  Therefore, money wise, I should be directing all extra money towards my retirement.                                                 

Now, am I being irresponsible by not trying harder to meet by budget?  Probably, but the point of a good budget and a realistic debt pay off plan is to challenge yourself and be realistic.  Besides, even with cutting back the amount that I’m pay towards the HELOC, I'll still be able to pay off at least $15,000 in debt by the end of the year by starting/increasing my Roth contributions (more on this at a later date).  So that coupled with the low interest rate on the HELOC eliminates most of the guilt of readjusting my debt plan. 

Now I'll have NO excuse to go over my budget for February.  None!  If I’m over budget on those discretionary items next month I invite any readers/lurkers to leave me dirty comments!

FYI: changing HELOC goal from $5,000 to $3,400.  I do feel bad about changing this, but hopefully this will be the last time.  Man, I feel guilty!

Here is my new budget:

	New Budget	Average
Gasoline	175	$ 174.64
Groceries	250	$ 250.45
Fast Food	133	$ 149.81
Clothing/Shoes	133	$ 112.87
General Merchandise	350	$ 364.40

                                                           

 

Past Rebates

I was listening to NPR and past rebate stimulus checks had been spent to pay down credit card debt but within six months the credit cards were charged back up.   In addition, according to NPR, most families carry an average of $10,000 in cc debt.  **gasp**  I’m not surprised but I’m happy as hell I’m not in one of those families.  But that cc debt, just like the foreclosure problems,  are going to come back and bite America in the butt.

Procrastination

This weekend I will be productive.  This weekend will be all about the money.  I will not go home and pass out in front of the television.  I will fill out my reimbursement forms and my rebate forms.  Yes, I will!  Lord knows I need the money.

Rebatessssssss

In response to recession worries, congress has passed a rebate bill (duh!!) and if all goes well most of us should atleast get a $600 check by June.  On the way to work, I was worrying about how this money would affect future generations and according to Doughroller our kids would have to pay back “$150 billion plus interest.”  I’ll feel guilty but I’ll still take the money.  Would I use it to pay off debts?   No, by June I won’t have any cc debt.  My HELOC, student loans, and mortgage interest rates are low so right now it would not be beneficial to pay those off.  Personally, I want to spend it frivolously like “The Man” is hoping but that would be against the PF motto. So I’ll do something I read once from one of my favorite pf bloggers, Single Ma, Use half to put towards debt and use the other half for fun.  In my case, I’ll put half of my money in a Roth account and use the other half for a vacation.    Now I just gotta choose a Roth portfolio and a vacation spot!

How To Be Rich

I’ve been feeling the need to get out and meet new people, so I joined a lifegroup from my church.  The focus of the lifegroup was “How To Be Rich.”  It’s a four week series so I’ll be posting what I learn.  This week I learned:

I am in the top 1% of all wage earners in the world

Rich is a moving target.  We always want more than what we have

I already knew I was rich.  I was raised on welfare with five brothers and sisters.  I now own two homes, eat out at restaurants, and I always have gas in my car and groceries in the fridge.  So, I’ve known I was rich for a while now.  I just need to better manage my riches.  So I really like how the pastor is distinguishing between “How To Get Rich” and “How To Be Rich”

January Update-Non-Financial Goals

Thou can not live on finances alone.  So, some of my non financial goals are:

1. Pass my PE exam—so far I’m roughly one week behind on my study schedule.  At this rate, I’m not going to pass.  I need to kick it in gear.
2. lose ten pounds by July—Current weight 154-- goal 140 (I’ve gained weight since I made that goal).  I’m counting calories, going to the gym, and I still can’t fit my clothes but I’m confident my body will stop holding a grudge and wake up pretty soon.  I’ve been at it for almost three months and it usually takes a while before my body responds.  My arms are looking pretty good though.
3. new study more with Maya—She’s not the least bit interested in school.  I was making her do extra homework assignments at home but not lately, so I’m gonna have to get back on her.
4. new keep my home clean—This has definitely taken a backseat but I should have this corrected by the end of the week.

Summary to be honest I’m not doing that well on these goals and it’s only the middle of January.  I have to hold myself accountable!

Emergency! Emergency!

I am still licking my wounds from an emotionally draining weekend but I can’t let relationship crap take my eye off my finances.  So with that said, I had to change my brakes and get two new front tires over the weekend for a grand total of $398.  Then I got termite insurance for $279 and I still haven’t paid for my security system ($255).  The cell phone company who jacked me, has finally offered a settlement for $200.  So, should I use my emergency fund to cover these expenses or my 0 percent credit cards?  This is enough to make a sister charge up some credit cards but not only must I get out of debt, I must not accrue any more debt.  So, I have around $150 in my car maintenance fund, $400 in my home maintenance fund, I guess I can subtract the rest from my emergency fund, and reduce my debt payments for next month.  If getting out of debt was easy, everyone would be doing it right?  I gotta keep it up.  gotta keep it up.

Here is my plan:

398 + 80 (from last month)-$150 (car fund) leaves $328, which I can split into three months because Hib.don’s has 90 days no interest. So I’ll pay $110/month for three months on that card.

The termite insurance is a legitimate household expense, so I’ll pay for that with the Home maintenance fund which would leave me 400-279=$121 for the security system and the rest (255-121=$134) will come from the efund.

The $200 for the cell phone company will come from debt reduction plan, which will have me already behind $300.  Man, I’m getting behind pretty quickly on my debt reduction plan.  But a sista’s gotta do what a sista’s gotta do.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to make that $300 up later.  Whoooo!  Crisis diverted, saved by my emergency funds.  So, I got a question for anyone who reads this, should I spend the next couple of months replenishing my efunds or continue with my debt payoff plan?

Emergency! Emergency!

I am still licking my wounds from an emotionally draining weekend but I can’t let relationship crap take my eye off my finances.  So with that said, I had to change my brakes and get two new front tires over the weekend for a grand total of $398.  Then I got termite insurance for $279 and I still haven’t paid for my security system ($255).  The cell phone company who jacked me, has finally offered a settlement for $200.  So, should I use my emergency fund to cover these expenses or my 0 percent credit cards?  This is enough to make a sister charge up some credit cards but not only must I get out of debt, I must not accrue any more debt.  So, I have around $150 in my car maintenance fund, $400 in my home maintenance fund, I guess I can subtract the rest from my emergency fund, and reduce my debt payments for next month.  If getting out of debt was easy, everyone would be doing it right?  I gotta keep it up.  gotta keep it up.

Here is my plan:

398 + 80 (from last month)-$150 (car fund) leaves $328, which I can split into three months because Hib.don’s has 90 days no interest. So I’ll pay $110/month for three months on that card.

The termite insurance is a legitimate household expense, so I’ll pay for that with the Home maintenance fund which would leave me 400-279=$121 for the security system and the rest (255-121=$134) will come from the efund.

The $200 for the cell phone company will come from debt reduction plan, which will have me already behind $300.  Man, I’m getting behind pretty quickly on my debt reduction plan.  But a sista’s gotta do what a sista’s gotta do.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to make that $300 up later.  Whoooo!  Crisis diverted, saved by my emergency funds.  So, I got a question for anyone who reads this, should I spend the next couple of months replenishing my efunds or continue with my debt payoff plan?

January 2008 Networth Status

As of 1/10/2008

Assets	December	January		Difference	% change
Checking+Savings	$3,120.00	$2,700.00		-$420.00	-13.46%
Home	$119,578.00	$118,575.00		-$1,003.00	-0.84%
Rental	$70,000.00	$70,000.00		$0.00	0.00%
401k	$4,113.78	$4,005.33		-$108.45	-2.64%
529	$99.44	$97.12		-$2.32	-2.33%
Roth	$0.00			$0.00	0.00%
Misc (Car, etc)	$7,000.00	$7,000.00		$0.00	0.00%
Total Assets	$203,911.22	$202,377.45		-$1,533.77	-0.75%
Liabilities	December	January		Difference	% change
CC	$2,727.22	$2,395.69		-$331.53	-12.16%
Home	$98,833.00	$98,712.73		-$120.27	-0.12%
Rental	$67,014.00	$66,911.52		-$102.48	-0.15%
HELOC	$9,833.02	$9,490.18		-$342.84	-3.49%
Student Loans	$54,844.60	$54,688.51		-$156.09	-0.28%
Total Liabilities	$233,251.84	$232,198.63		-$1,053.21	-0.45%
Net Worth		-$29,821		-$480	-1.64%

 

 

Cash:  I had to withdraw $100 for my first round of exam fees and one of my renters is behind two months in rent so I had to pay his part.  He started working again this week and promised me he’d have his rent by the end of the month.  We’ll see.  If I have to keep paying his share I’ll have to readjust my debt payoff plan.

Property:  I finally looked up the blue book value of my car and it was worth more than $7,000, so atleast something on my list is undervalued.  I wonder if I should increase that number to account for my other property (tvs, furniture, etc).  My 52” plasma tv  and my king sized bed is atleast worth $2,000, which would push me into having a positive change in my net worth.  Maybe next month.  :)

Home: My home value dropped once again!

Credit Cards & HELOC (The Biggest Loser!):  I’m aggressively paying off my debt in this area but my HELOC is $100 less than what I had planned due to late rent.

Am I on track to reach my 2008 financial goals ?  YES, Although my net worth has decreased again my debt payment plan, with the exception of the HELOC, is ahead of schedule.  So, although I would love a positive net worth, I need to look at the bigger picture and take note of the things I can control.  Reduce debt, Increase assets, spend less than I earn, and the rest will fall into place.  I’m confident that once my net worth starts going up it’ll stay that way.

 

Another Ode To My To Do List

Praise to the automated To do list.   I’ve blogged on this before and if I wasn’t being cyber watched, I’d post the link, but I love my automated to-do list.  Today would have been unproductive if it wasn’t for that list.  The list is already created, I just tweak it from week to week, change the dates, print, and tape it to my work issued 300 page account book/journal.  Then all I have to do is go down the list.  There is no emotion involved in a paper to do list.  There is no snooze for five minutes.  It’s there in black and white, staring at me.  Without my to do list on a day like this, although I know there are things to do, I would not have gotten much done.  My mind would jump from subject to subject while I stared at my computer screen.  So once again I am writing an ode to my to do list and today, despite feeling like crap, I am getting things done.

UGH--I Must Avoid Emotional Spending

I Hate the ugh feeling I get from dating. You know, that insecure, self conscious feeling a person’s develops after being hurt and that feeling is carried around in the next relationship.  It’ll go away.  It always does.  But for right now I’m stuck in the middle of it and I hate it.  I want to be happy and joyful.  I’ll be sure to do something to treat myself for lunch.  I want to go walking around the mall but that will be emotional shopping and that is a big no. no.  Plus, I can’t go shopping this month, right.  But I do need a few groceries.  So I’ll just run errands and get some fresh air. 

You want to know why I got this ugh feeling?  Well I guess I’ll tell ya.  If you don’t want to know, then stop reading now…..  Arkansas my on-again-off-again-on-again boyfriend has graduated, he is about to start a new job and he is on his way up.  We still live an hour and a half away from each other and I’m a little concerned that he’ll end up dumping me for a skinny girl with long hair.  Silly and insecure, huh? But the chances of this happening is pretty high.  Atleast the break up part is but so what?  I’ve been making it on my own and I’m still gonna be making it if we break up.  So what, big deal?  But for right now, the break up isn’t something that I want but I feel like it’s unavoidable.  To tie this back to the financial… I must not go emotional shopping… no no no.  

PF Blogs and Home Maintenence

Singing Praises once again.

Since reading PF blogs, I started earmarking funds for specific causes in my ING account.  I have the following accounts:

Emergency Fund

Home Maintenance

Car Maintenance

PE exam Fees

SecuritySystem/Terminex 

I’ve been saving up $100 a month for the past three (almost four months) and I have $300 in my Home Maintenance account.  It’s not much but it’s enough to get started on the home repairs that I’ve been putting off because I don’t have any money (or so I say).  I’ve already someone to come out and look at my fence and to give me an estimate.  Hopefully, it won’t take the whole $300 I have saved.  The best part is I’ll stop having that guilty feeling every time I pull up to my driveway and see my fence being held up by two boards.    

Saving up that $300 feels damn good!  It even feels better than shopping!

On a related topic, my house is an asset.  I should not have waited so long to fix my fence but better late than never.  So I’ve decided that ONCE I pass the PE exam in April, most of my raise will go into my Home Maintenance fund because my house is a pretty important asset and I’m three years behind in maintaining it.