Financial Peace University

I went to the first class and it was great. I missed the second one, but I've been working through the workbook and learning a lot about myself and my money habits.

Its hard being a single person and trying to budget. Because there is no built in accountability partner. I'd like this blog to be part of my accountability system. Posting all of my financial oopses may help me to not make them anymore. And to my readers, feel free to give me a swift kick in the pants if you see me needing one. LOL, be gentle though.

Making some cutbacks

So, I've been looking for ways to save money, I'm really starting to feel the panic set in of having enough and being able to pay for everything. So, I called the phone company to downsize my landline. I was paying for long distance that I wasn't using so I just wanted to go back to basic. Will be saving about $40 a month. I'm going really gung ho on savings. Putting $50 a week in a savings account, so $200 a month. I'm contemplating giving up having my nails done, I love it, but its really draining my cash flow. So, redone expenses budget

Tithing $120
Savings $200
Rent $277
Electric $70
Gas $50
Groceries $100
Phone/Internet $90
Cell $60
Fuel $100
Blow $50
Debt payments $200


I think that's it, but if anyone has any other ideas feel free to let me know

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. The food, the family, the get togethers. But the best thing about Thanksgiving is that it signals that my favorite holiday is around the corner. Christmas. I love everything about the holiday, presents, decorations, movies, the music. Especially the music!

Christmas also seems to be a holiday that many people go into debt for, and are paying in January and February the bills for Christmas. The bank I work at has noticed this trend and has added a wonderful tool to their website. Its a holiday budget. Zions Bank Holiday Gift Planner is a free service offered by the bank to help you budget for the holidays. Remember to include all holiday spending, including travel, food, wrapping paper, decorations, etc.

This year I'm in a much better place to provide a fun Christmas for my little family. But I don't want to go overboard, so this budget will help me stay on track. I've already purchased our big family gift, I just need to get smaller presents. And I also want to add a few things to my collection of Christmas decorations.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and happy holiday shopping!

Budgeting.....revisited

How did my budget go this month? Great! I think. As I have worked on following the budget, and tracking my spending, I have noticed one amazing and wonderful perk...my bank account balance has not come close to going below $100. If anyone knows me, you know that is an amazing feat. Just a couple months ago, I was going into the negative every month, hoping that a paycheck would go through before everything hit my account and bounced. And usually every month, for about 2 or 3 days before payday, my account was in the negative.

Here is what has really helped me. I always have two programs running on my computer, at all times. My internet browser, with one tab always dedicated to the bank's website, and my finance software, Ace Money Lite In the finance program, I have scheduled all of my bills, indicating which are paid every month and on what days, and also scheduled each paycheck, with an estimated amount. This gives me the option of viewing my finances 2 months ahead of schedule, having the bills scheduled let's me get all of the necessary expenses budgeted, and all I have to do is look at the ledger to decide what needs to be paid. So this is what it looks like today, starting with the paycheck, and then listing what bills will be paid with it, and then a running total balance. (and it looks much neater in the software program than it does on this page)

11/16/2007 Cristina Gerrard Wages and Salary:Net Pay 446.90 448.72
11/16/2007 Questar Gas Bills:Natural Gas 57.00 391.72
11/16/2007 Monticello 3rd Ward Donations:Tithing 45.00 346.72
11/16/2007 Grocery Cash Envelope Food:Groceries 80.00 266.72
11/16/2007 Gas Cash Envelope Automobile:Gasoline 20.00 246.72
11/16/2007 Emergency Savings Savings 100.00 146.72
11/16/2007 Devon's Repair Service Automobile:Maintenance 100.00 46.72

I love finance software, and since I can't quite justify paying $60 for one of the larger programs that can track more than just day to day spending, I'll use this handy free one until I need to track more accounts, like retirement and taxes, and investments. I've also found that just being able to track my regular checking account with this program, and not knowing what is in the savings account means that I just keep adding money to the savings account without being tempted to take it out to cover trivial expenses.

Remember they call it personal finance for a reason, its personal. What works for me, may not work for everyone, but I hope it can be a good place to start, sometimes we need another's example to inspire us.