Playing Hopscotch with My Money

I was hoping to ring in the new year with $4000 in my savings.

But a few things came up and I just recently went back to work. I will also be missing another 10 days later this month for a family vacation.

I took out $225 today for rent and on Jan. 1 I will be doing that again. Also around that time I will be buying text books, so I'm thinking I'll have about $3000 in savings for the new year.

I am happy that I will have so much in savings. I wish I didn't have to touch it, but I am very glad that I had a savings to fall back on.

I have been thinking about my New Year's Resolutions. I want to put some money into the stock market once I have $5000 in my savings. I think I will invest $1000.

I received an interesting letter today in the mail.

It was from Discover and it read:

"We are offering you a special 0% APR credit card that is only available to those who have achieved the highest level of financial success."

I know I am amazing and all, but please, you're making me blush.

::rolls eyes::

I surprised myself today and actually went to a store! I went to PetSmart to pick up a water test kit. I also stopped by the store at which my boyfriend works to see how he was doing. I bought a pair of headphones and a new journal.

I always seem to get sick around the holidays!

My brother was sick over the weekend and he was so kind to give it to me. Thankfully, I got sick AFTER my Calc III exam on Tuesday, but I was not well enough today.

I was able to enjoy all the food though. My dad, brother, and myself went to my boyfriend's parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. His mom made a wonderful meal and sent us home with two pies: Apple and Pumpkin.

I feel asleep soon after I finished eating.

Overall, it was a good day.

Onto financial news....

I have not been working since my mom died. I am scheduled for a couple hours this Saturday but that's it for this week. Also, I will have to dip into my savings soon. I will need to take $225 out for December rent as I have obviously not made anything this month. But that's what savings are for, right?

The only other expense I will have in the next couple months is textbooks. I am expecting to buy 5-6 books and spend about $300. But I plan on reselling a few of my current textbooks so I may recoup some of the cost. My dad will be paying my tuition, which is $600. Tuition spiked for the spring ($7 increase/credit!) and there is a rumor that they are thinking of increasing it by 25% for next fall!

I must remember to write to the governor and senators complaining about the tuition spike...

I am thankful:

for my family.

that my dad is willing to work so hard and do so much for our family.

for my wonderful boyfriend who respects me and our relationship.

for my lovable (albeit annoying) pets.

for my intelligence.

that I am able to attend a relatively inexpensive university.

that this semester wasn't that bad.

for all the electronic widgets and toys I have.

for my job and my wonderful coworkers and bosses.

that my parents were able to help me get on the right track financially.

that I've experienced all the hardships I have.

that Christmas is just 29 days away!

A little over $115.

But it was for three people and include shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and dish detergent.

I was shocked when I spent that much.

I also didn't go to Walmart like I usually do. I went to a more expensive grocery store right around the corner.

Because my dad was paying for the groceries, I called him in the parking lot and told me how much I spent on the food. I thought I had spent too much but when I told him the amount, he actually laughed!

He said mommy used to spend over $200 a week on food for two people!

I loved my mom very much, but she did like to spend money. She wasn't the best at budgeting.

I am currently at 46 credits and after this semester I will be at 60 credits.

I'm a sophomore but because at the end of this semester I will be a junior, I got to register yesterday instead of Tuesday.

I got all the classes I want at the times I wanted too.

I'm so happy!

MWF: 11-11:50 Linear Algebra, 12-12:50 French 4th Semester.

MW: 2:30-3:45 Differential Equations

TR: 1-2:15 Data Structures, 2:30- 3:45 French Culture

Over the summer I will be taking another Core Humanities class and possibly another computer science class. I'm thinking of taking a class over winter break but I am not sure.

I have two Betta fish, each in a 2.5g tank. I've been thinking for awhile now to get a 10g tank and divide and house the two Bettas in there.

Well, I finally did it!

I bought a 10g tank today along with a filter. I'll begin cycling the next this weekend or next and I'll slowly be adding in decor and the like.

Things I need to get:
Decor (hiding spots and gravel)
Gravel vacuum
Heater

I also bought a pair of gloves for $1.00.

I'm very excited about my new tank! The first thing one of my cats did was jump in the tank and explore.

Try as I might, headphones do not last long in my household.

Starlight, my cat, managed to find my pair of headphones and decided it would make a fun toy.

It is a very good thing that the headphones only cost me 97 cents at Walmart.

I'm even happier that I did not listen to a friend of mine and buy a pair of $100 Boise headphones. I know headphones do not last long with me and paying so much would be throwing money away.

He claims there is a vast difference in quality between his headphones and my old ones, but I honestly can't hear it. We did a listening test one day and while his headphones look snazzier, they sound the same to me.

I was shocked that someone would be wiling to spend that much on a pair of headphones. It is a pair of headphones after all. I thought he was absolutely crazy for spending so much until I looked into my closet and realized...

That I have two purses that each cost about three times as much as one pair of Boise headphone.

And that I'm currently eyeing a purse that costs $700.

Hehehe...

I will not buy that purse any time soon. I do not see myself buying that purse anytime in the next two years. But I can dream, can't I?

Due to budget cuts my school is getting rid of the math center at then end of this semester. Students used to be able to get tutoring for free but this semester they've had to pay for tutoring.

Next semester my job will be closed because of construction. I am going to tutor kids in math so I can have some income.

I'm thinking of charging $15/hr for 1 student and $25/hr for groups up to 5 students. Do you think these prices are reasonable? I'll be offering tutoring for up to Calculus 3.

My classes for next semester are:
Math 330: Linear Algebra
Math 285: Differential Equations
French 212: 4th semester French language
French 221: French culture class
Computer Science 302: Data Structures

If I get the schedule I want, I will be in class for 3-4 hours a day.

My dad has a contract job about 500 miles from where we live. The contract is up in April and he's expecting to have a new contract job (at another business) soon after. Because of this, I will be moving into my parents' place to take care of the house and my brother.

My grandma (who I currently live with) is in D.C., recovering from surgery, and will return in January. Our apartment complex manager said they will try to have a 1 bedroom, downstairs apartment ready for her within a week of her return (but it might take a little longer). We'll be paying rent until she gets a new apartment but we won't be charged any lease-breaking fees.

We have more flowers and food than we have room for. I've seen in movies, like "Raising Helen", where friends/neighbors drop food off at the families who lost someone. I always thought this was silly, but I totally get it now. The LAST thing I want to do is cook food and it's nice to pop something into the microwave that someone else cooked.

I'm taking a few weeks off work but fortunately I am a couple months ahead of my savings goal.

Yesterday my mom went into a coma. My brother found her at 4:30 yesterday morning.

A little bit before 9 this morning she passed away.

I will be taking a break from here, but I will return.

Savings: $403.41
IRA: $140.00

Grocery Money: $100.00
Gas Money: $100.00
Spending Money: $75.00

Survey Money Cashed: $10.80

In a week or two I'll be cashing out another $10.00. I received a survey from mysurvey.com worth 500 points and my new total is 970 points. I just need a couple more surveys and then I can cash out. Yay!

A week or two ago I sent in a request to receive my credit report from all three credit bureaus.

I've received my report from TransUnion. I thought that it would include my credit score, but I was mistaken.

Good news: everything on my credit report is correct and there is no fraud showing.

The only thing I found weird was that there were a lot more inquiries into my credit report than I expected. There were a lot of "Promotional Inquiries". But the report says that no one but me sees those inquiries and they don't affect my score.

I'm a little disappointed that my score wasn't included. I was really hoping to see that. Where do I go to find out my score? I'm guessing that I'll have to pay for it.

Now I wait for my other two reports to arrive.

It's taken me a loooong time, but my Roth IRA now has over $1,000 in it!

I must say, four digits look SO much better than three!

I can't wait to hit the five digit mark, but it will be a few more years.

I had midterms this week.

And I survived.

It wasn't all that bad. I had two papers due today for the same class and a French exam, Calc III test and a huge Geology lab that I am still working through.

But just to make sure that I did not end the week on a happy note, my boyfriend decided that he was going to get into an accident today.

He's alright, thank God, but his car is in no condition to drive. The car he hit is just fine. It was a huge Ford F150 and the only damage it sustained was some paint scraped off. BF's front right wheel nearly came off and his suspension (I think) is ruined.

I also had a migraine at work (I wonder why?) but my supervisor let me off early.

I have a test on Monday that I need to study for but tonight I plan to watch Mel Brooks movies with my daddy.

I joined a survey site a couple months ago. I was expecting to make more than I am, but every little bit helps.

The most frustrating thing is that opinionoutpost.com has surveys that will kick you out halfway through the survey if you don't meet the criteria!

It gets soooo annoying to be working on a survey and get the "We're sorry, but you don't match the needs of this survey.". Gah! I filled out all the personality reports for the survey site so shouldn't they know if I match the criteria? I'm tempted to delete/modify those personality reports to try to get more surveys. And hopefully more surveys offered will mean more surveys I can actually complete!

It is the second of October and I've spent all of money spending money for this month. I bought a really cute pair of shoes for $10 and the rest I spent on the anniversary present for my boyfriend.

After the first four textbooks I put online sold I decided to sell a few other things. I put up two additional textbooks and a nintendo DS game that I don't really like.

I just sold one of the textbooks and the game. I've made $245.82 so far!

After shipping costs I've made close to $200.

I'm so excited! This money might go into my splurge fund but will most likely be kept in my checking for Christmas gifts.

Here is a quick review of my first month on the envelope system:

(The totals for gas, grocery, and spending are rounded up because I decided to save all ones and change.)

September Totals:
Savings: $337.73
Gas Money: $65.00
Grocery Money: $90.00
Spending Money: $75.00
IRA contribution: $200.00

The first month went pretty well. I like this system. Definitely going to be sticking with it for awhile. I need to change the amount I alloted for grocery money though. I'm going to up it to $100. I also didn't realize how much harder this is than credit cards. I've heard many people say that you really check your spending when using cash, but as with most things, one never truly understands it until one realizes it for oneself.

I also have wonderful news concerning my parents. My dad is doing very well at a new job and they are financially stable now. They still have a couple unpaid bills to pay off but they say those will be paid in October. It is a contract job ending in January but there is a permanent job that my dad is interviewing for. He says that the interview went really well.

I'm also considering taking Karate classes. I joined the Karate club at school (kind of pushed into by boyfriend, but I'm really enjoying it) and would like to take it more often than twice a week. Good news is that the sensei who teaches at the university has a studio and all involved in the Karate club get a reduced rate for classes.

Overall September went really well. I still have some work to do on making myself sticking to the budget but I know I can do it.

When I started on half.com I listed 4 textbooks. Within a week, three of them sold. The last textbook finally sold last night!

Yay! In the past month I've made $198 on the four textbooks! It has cost about $35 to ship all the books. So I really made $163. Not bad, I certainly won't complain.

I still have a couple textbooks I would like to sell and I listed one of my DS games on half.com.

It is turning out to be a good month.

On September 10th I spent the last of my spending money.

$75 sure does go away quickly.

But I was also saving all of my change and ones (totaling about $9 from the spending category only).

I bought a game for my nintendo DS (Zoo Tycoon). I don't like it that much so I'm thinking of reselling it on half.com. I also bought another Betta fish and a fish tank. That came to about $30 plus another $20 for the game.

The rest of it was spent at Port of Subs. I have a break for lunch in my class schedule and I haven't been bringing lunch or a snack to school. I definitely intend to bring food from now on.

Even though I've spent $75 in 9 days, I made $96 in the same amount of time. Two more of the textbooks I put on half.com sold and minus the cost of shipping, I made $96 on the three books. The money from half.com is being directly deposited into my savings.

Sunday should be interesting. There is a wedding of 36 but they are ordering off a menu.

I've been meaning to sell some of my old textbooks for a while now, but I kept on forgetting to do so. Yesterday I finally made myself put them online and guess what?!

Two of them sold last night! Yay! I have two textbooks left to sell!

I'm very happy- I made $90 selling those two books!

I always thought my state arranged the school year very weird. Instead of starting, say tomorrow or the week after Labor Day, we start the week before Labor Day. I like to think that the state arranged school this way to give us an "easy" transition into the school year: You completed a full week of school and now you get a day off.

I was intending to go to the bank today to withdraw the money needed to begin my envelope adventure and then two things hit me: banks aren't open today and payday is this Friday.

So I guess I have to wait a few days before I can begin the envelope system. Such a bummer too, I was so excited!

I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day. I will be doing homework, anyone wanna help? ;-)

I've heard a few stories about waitresses receiving large tips ($1,000+) from customers. I have a story similar to that myself:

Sunday I was serving in the restaurant between the two banquets I had to work that day. I had two customers come in together and one of them had a two-for-one coupon. Their bill (after one entree was discounted) came to $8.54. They tipped me $10!!

Obviously quite a bit less than $1,000, but I thought the customers were being more than generous by tipping me that much.

School started on Monday and so far it is going just fine. It's amusing to see the freshmen walking around with their maps and walk up and down the same block 5 times before working up the courage to ask for help. I can't believe one year ago I was one of those freshman.

I have to take this moment to make fun of my boyfriend: he was supposed to sign up for Spanish 112 (first year Spanish II) but instead accidently signed up for Spanish 212 (second year Spanish II). Even though he has been in class the past two days, I was the one to notice that he signed up for the wrong class. Luckily we were able to get him into the right class today, so it worked out alright.

Onto financial news: Starting September 1st, I'm going to switch to the envelope system. I haven't been putting as much into my IRA as I would like, and I think I can do that better with the envelope system.

So my plan is this (I feel better writing it down): I get paid on the 5th and 20th of every month and I currently have $100 of each paycheck going into my checking and the rest into my savings. On the 5th, I will cash $100 from my checking, and withdraw $165 from my savings (to cover gas, groceries, and spending money). On the 20th, I will withdraw another $100 from my checking (and possibly my savings) and put that into my IRA. The amount I put into my IRA will depend on how much I have saved in my regular savings.

I'm going to the bank in a couple days and I will switch my savings (which is currently a flex account) into a a regular savings account. With the flex account you only can withdraw your money once a month, but with a regular savings you have 6 withdrawals a month. I can also access my savings online if it is a regular savings but not if it is a flex account.

The past few months I haven't been following the budget I set out (I couldn't even tell you what it is). Thankfully, I've kept my spending in check. The only thing I bought that wasn't a necessity was my bike.

With the school year approaching (less than a week!) I decided to create a new budget that I would stick to.

$300/month into savings
$90/month for groceries
$100/month for gas
$75/month for spending money
Whatever is left over will go into my savings and IRA accounts.

I think this will be an easy budget to stick to. I will probably carry my spending money in cash instead of putting it on my credit card because I don't want to go over the $75.

I need to sit down tonight and update my finance records.... I usually keep my binder and envelopes nice and neat but lately I've just been stuffing all receipts and documents into one of the cubyholes on my desk.

Summer makes me so very lazy.

I've surpassed my August 31 goal and am just a few dollars short of my October 31.

Once my credit card bill comes I will need to transfer about $160 out of my savings and into my checking because... I bought a bike!

It was a whim purchase. I really did just wake up one day and say, "I'm going to buy a bike!". But I love the bike I got. I've had it for almost a week now and I've been using it every day. I rode it to the pharmacy to get my meds, I rode it to Walmart to get milk, I love it! My boyfriend even fixed up his old bike and we've been riding to and from each other's houses.

I would like to get a basket for the front of my bike by the end of next month. I also need to get a helmet. The basket can wait a couple months, but the helmet I will be getting with next payday.

And to further my excitement, I found gas that is UNDER $4!

I have to go to school now and then work right after. Unfortunately I cannot ride my bike there.

I totally forgot that about a week or two ago Nielsen TV contacted us asking if we would be willing to track what shows we watched for a week.

Today we received the diaries and $30 for our time.

We are splitting the money 50-50 so there's $15 extra bucks for me!

I decided to sign up for MySurvey.com and OpinionOutpost.com. We'll see how things go. Even a few bucks a month would be helpful.

One more thing: I meet my July 31 goal a few weeks early! My savings would be at $1900 had it not been for summer tuition, but I'm very happy with where it is at now. With my next paycheck I'll put a few hundred into my IRA since I haven't contributed to it in a looong time.

I'm thinking about doing some online surveys for money.

I'm not sure if this will be worth it or not. Any extra money will help, especially if it can cover the cost of groceries ($40-$50/month). And from what I've heard they don't take that long. With school and work I can spare a couple hours a week for surveys but not much more.

This has probably been posted before so I'll look through the archives on the forum but if anyone has any tips for doing surveys that would be great.

Thanks to a very large paycheck, I have just over $1700 in my savings! Thank goodness for banquets!

BUT I will be needing to withdraw about $500 from my savings to pay for my parking permit and car registration. That still leaves me with about $1200, which means I have completed the Sept. 30th goal on June 20th.

I feel much better now that my savings account is in the 4 digits.

As you can tell, I have very, very little in my savings. And a heck of a lot of expenses are coming up soon- I have to register my car with the DMV by the 28th of June and the parking permit fee for Uni is due the 27th of June. In total, that will be just over $500.

I called my insurance earlier this week to take off my old car and to put on my new one. I didn't know which insurance to get and I forgot what my parents told me to get so I told the lady "basic coverage". She asked me if I needed collision and I said yes. My 6-month premium was $1400. I called my grandma (I'm on her policy) and and she got me the insurance I really needed (no collision!) and the premium went down to about $600. Insurance is so confusing!

Since I bought my car I have this desire to spend more money... and yet, I have none to spend. What I really want to buy is a sewing machine! I used to have one but we sold it and now I want to get into sewing again. I also have switched to cloth pads and I have this urge to buy (or make) several at once. But all of this will have to be put on hold for awhile.

In a stroke of luck (or unluck?), just as my parents were about to take me off their health insurance (I was going to switch the Uni's health insurance since it's cheaper) when I started developing abdominal problems after my meals. My doctor told me that it's mostly likely an ulcer or a gallbladder stone. I have an ultrasound for this Friday.

Work is going well. My muscles are really sore from all the weddings/banquets I've worked but I'm making a good amount in tips.

I hope everyone's summer is going well!

I finally did it.

I bought a car!

I am now the owner of a Dodge Stratus. It felt wonderful writing the check to dealer for the car. I have practically nothing in my savings, but I will be selling my current car and soon I will have a couple thousand sitting in the bank.

I never realized how much of a security blanket my savings was. I love the car I bought and I think I made a great deal, but I want my money!

I do not like not having so little in the bank. Hopefully I will never have so little in the bank again.

But I am back at work and tomorrow will be spent searching for scholarship money.