My dad had a couple interviews last week and both are setting up offers. If they offer him enough my parents will give me a monthly allowance of $300, which means that I will be able to save all of the money I earn.

On a fairly unrelated note, I love college so far! The first two weeks I didn't really care for it, but now that I've adjusted and I'm completely settled into my new home and routine, I love it. I could do without the homework (can't we all!) and I'm not liking Sociology as much as I thought I would. Sociology 101 is interesting but... it just doesn't "fit" with me. So I'm going to change my minor but before I declare another minor I'm going to take several elective classes to find something I really like.

I still love Math so no changes there.

Computer Science is hard but I'm becoming better at it. Not my favorite subject, but I'm kind of glad it's required for Math majors to take CS (I believe we have to go up to 300 level classes).

As for Geology... I like looking at all the pretty pictures in my textbook.

I really try to keep my spending in check. And 98% of the time, I am able to pass up spending. It helps working a job that requires long hours and having my paycheck automatically deposited into my account.

My monthly expenses are small-music lessons ($120-150) and gas ($70) and because of that I'm able to save much of my paycheck. [Starting in September, I'm thinking of going to every other week for my music lessons so that would cost $60-90/month.]

For reference, this summer I've been making about $1,000/month post-taxes. [My upcoming paycheck (the one I will receive this Friday) should be much larger than normal. I worked two weddings on Saturday and I am expecting a large amount in tips (for banquets, the tips are given to the Events Coordinator who then splits it up among the people who the banquet based on how many hours they put in).] Once school begins I expect to be making between $300-500/month.

This means on average I saved about $800/month this summer, allowing myselfing only $200/month to spend on my necessities.

I haven't been giving myself a lot of free spending money because I thought if I didn't have a lot of money at my fingertips (i.e. in my checking account), I wouldn't have the urge to spend, spend, spend.

I was wrong.

Knowing that I have almost $12,000 in my savings got to me and transfered $300 into my checking to spend on clothes and whatnot for school. I was thinking that if I bought these things now, I wouldn't need to go shopping for awhile.

I'm betting that I'm wrong again.

So I ask you this: do you think it is healthier to go on a major ($300-500) shopping spree once a year or do you think it would be better (or easier to control) if you gave yourself $30/month to spend on anything you wanted?

My vacation to Philly and D.C. was a total blast. Best week of this year so far.

The only downside to my vacation was that I overspent my money (whoops!). I spent roughly $380, making me $30 overbudget. Not too bad, considering how much shopping we did (hehehe).

This trip to D.C. has made up my mind about wanting to move there after I finish school. So much to do and see and the buildings are sooo pretty (pretty much all I took pictures of were the buildings!). Plus, Tysons II was SO much fun! I am a purse fanatic and Tysons II had Chanel, Versace, Gucci, Dior, Prada, Marc Jacobs, etc. My Aunt said she was embrassed to take me to all the stores because I was cooing and petting the purses (but they were so pretty!).

I feel kind of bad about overspending so this month I plan on making it up by putting $150 into my IRA.

I don't regret going over my budget because I love everything I bought and I didn't go that much over budget. Next visit I'll know to bring more money.

For awhile I've been contemplating opening an online savings account. I was leery of it for awhile- maybe it was my small fear of technology taking over the world.

But I doubled check the APR that my bank is offering and while it's higher than what many banks offer, it's still lower than what online banks offer.

So I applied for a Money Market Savings Account with GMAC. I'm opening the account with $500, the minimum required to avoid fees. After the account is opened, I will transfer the rest of what's in my savings to the online bank and close my regular savings.

On another note, I realized that it's been awhile since I've added my tips and whatnot into my Challenge money. I'll be leaving on Wednesday for D.C. for a week and decided to use my Challenge money for my trip. After rolling all the coins and counting up the loose bills, I came up $297. My goal was to bring $350, so I'll withdraw the remainding $53 from my checking. Any money left over from the trip I'll decide what to do with later.

What a shopping day!

Today I went down to the university to pick up my school ID and to find my classes. I went with friends which was a big mistake. I was able to find each of my classes, but I didn't find them in the order that I have the classes plus I also followed my friends to their classes. I'm going to take another trip down to the university in a few more days by myself.

I also got a list of books I need for my classes. 5 books are required with a 6th book being optional. I'll wait until the second or third week before I decide if I need the optional book.

I managed to buy all 5 required textbooks online today. It took me a couple hours, but I finally found the best prices for each book. 5 books for a total of $250 (including shipping). The most expensive one being my Calculus book at $78. The university sells it used for $110 (new is $150), so I saved quite a bit of money! Best of all, the same Calc book is used for the next Calc level. If I had bought my textbooks at the university it would have cost me between $361.42-501.72.

Not only did I buy my textbooks, I also bought a few basic supplies. I bought a 5 subject notebook (I'm taking 5 classes so it works out perfectly!), a large binder that has a pencil pouch and expandable file in it, a large tote bag, and some pens and pencils. The bag is huge-I'm fairly certain that I could fit in it. I spent about $40 on the supplies.

It was a fun day. I enjoyed the hours it took to find everything.

Eyeglass World is having a great sale-buy one pair of glasses and get two free. Lens and everything is include. I needed a pair of sunglasses (never had one before) and decided to take advantage of the sale.

I bought three pairs of glasses for $214.57. New prescriptions lens too.

The sale only lasts until July 21,2007. They are also having sales on designer glasses, sunglasses, and contacts.

My little brother will be getting his license around December and because my current baby was passed down from my mom, it has to be passed down to my brother.

Which leaves me funding my own car (hence the savings goal of $20,000). I'm going to buy used and I think I found my new baby- a 2001 Honda Insight. It's a hybrid that gets 61 mpg city and 68 mpg highway.

Because we live in an area that gets snow (about 1-2 feet every year) I want a car that does well in the snow. My mom has a Toyota and my dad a Honda and both have come to my rescue when I get stuck in the snow (I drive a Dodge).

The Insight is priced between $10-12,000 (according to the Kelly Blue Book) and I was looking for something that was under 10K. But I think I can make an exception.

The only problem I will have is that it's a manual and I've only driven automatic. I will obviously have to learn how to drive a stick-shift before I test drive one.

I won't be buying a car until my brother gets his license so I still have a few months to research more cars.

Yesterday I graduated from high school and I have "made" $700 thus far. Of that, I've spent $125. $100 went into my Roth IRA and $25 was spent on summer clothes.

That leaves me $575 left to spend.

Tomorrow I'm going to Costco to buy a new 30 GB iPod. I've had my current iPod for 3 1/2 years and it has survived many, many stunts. From falling onto tiled kitchen floors from my hands to being dropped down a flight of stairs to being dropped onto the concrete sidewalk, my iPod has served me well. But like most gadgets it is time to retire ye olde iPod. The new one will cost about $249.99.

Though it is tempting to spend the rest of the money, I will be putting it into savings. I will withdraw it in a few months when I leave for D.C.

As for my shopping trip today, I spent a total of $21.45. Admittedly, I bought two pairs of khakis at Ross instead of a thrift store, like I planned. But I stuck within my budget. I'm adding $8.00 to my Challenge Box because I ended up with 8 ones at the end of the day. Don't know how that happened, but it did.

Old Balance: $55.00
+ $8.00
New Balance: $63.00