February Net Worth Update

Well, I only had a 1.91% increase in my Net Worth this month, while I work on getting caught up on some bills and adjusting to my new income level. I am also missing a check from last month that usually lops a big chunk off of my debt. I'm expecting it any day now. It's also the last time I'll receive that check, which is a sad thing. Luckily, my new income level will cover this "loss".

Here is the break down for this month:

Assets

Car Value - $2,730 (No change)

Prosper Loans - $205 ($219)

Cash Savings - $732 ($620)

Roth IRA - $20 (New!)

Debts

Student Loans - $23,781 (No Change)

BOA Credit Card - $4,559 ($4, 704)

Scooter Loan - $1,210 ($1,400)

Net Worth

- $25,863 (-$26,286)

You can see the handy chart in my sidebar that links to my NetWorthIQ profile.

So, having done my budget for the foreseeable future, I'm estimating that I'll be able to pay off my non-student loan debt by the end of September. I'm going to have to really knuckle down and make this happen, but it certainly looks like a possibility.

After that, I'll be heading into Student Loan Mode. I'm very lucky that this is not an interest bearing loan, but I have to have this paid off before I am 30 so I have a limited amount of time to take care of it, and the longer it takes me to get started, the bigger those monthly minimum payments are going to be.

I'm also working on saving more. I'm working on my emergency fund and want to get it to $3,000 as soon as I can. I'm also putting a little of my side income into my travel fund and my IRA. I finally have an IRA! I'm not contributing much to it right now, but I will ramp it up over time. When I get my emergency fund fully funded, I'll be diverting some of those savings to it.

I want to save for a house really badly, but I know that I can't really do that right now. I have to get this debt taken care of. I'll try and bump that up too once I'm not paying interest any where!

I'm predicting that March will be another slow growth month for me. I should be able to do much better than February though. I know I'm getting close to having my scooter loan paid off now and when I can start taking chunks out of that last credit card it is going to feel so unbelievably rewarding.

Spring is in the Air - Time to Attack the Utilities!

Spring is coming soon to Atlanta, which means that it's getting be about time I turn off my central heat and stop using the dryer so much.

My darling husband, whom I adore to distraction, has taken a job out of state that involves him being out of town most weekdays. Since in a few months he'll need to start paying rent elsewhere, we're going to be having an increase in our living expenses. I can tolerate a lot more extremes of heat and cold than he can, so I'm going to be trying to get the utilities as low as I can while he is gone.

So this means no more central heat and air, no more dryer, I'll be back to power stripping everything and I'll try and use less lights. I also need to be a bit more conservative of water.

Last month our utilities were $286.41 and I am determined to cut that by at least 50% if not much much more in the coming month.

So I'm throwing this out there as a challenge. See what percentage you can knock off of your utilities in the next month! I think anything over 20% is a great great step!

Extra money from this for now will go towards paying down a joint debt that my husband and I have. We're looking forward to some serious financial progress this year!

How Much Do You Pay for a Haircut?

I have a question..... how much do you pay for a haircut?
I have long, fine hair. It's hard for me to do anything with it in the mornings because it doesn't hold a style. Because of this, I rely on really good haircuts that make my hair look okay, but don't require maintenance.
I had one of these cuts yesterday. I go to a really great salon and my cut costs me about $55, and then I usually top on top of that.
Is this extreme? I know that I am working on my finances and being frugal, but should I be cutting back on my cuts too?

How much do you pay for a haircut?

How to Cancel TV without Giving It Up

I have cable TV and internet, and I'm seriously considering giving it up. Yes, I love my CNN, Food Network and Bravo, but I've come to realize that TV is not only a huge time waster for me, but an unnecessary expense. I pay an extra $25 a month on top of internet for my basic cable, but most of the time when I watch TV, I'm doing it through my computer.

This is because I have the double whammy of Internet TV.... Netflix.com and Hulu.com.

Netflix

I pay $9.71 for Netflix and I only get one movie a month. I also only normally watch one movie per month. This is because what I really get out of Netflix is the Instant Queue feature. Netflix has tons of TV shows that have been released on DVD to watch on your instant queue. You can watch as many as you like and they stream directly to your computer. My husband and I have watched the first four seasons of The Office, I've watched the first season of 30 Rock, and there are a bunch of other shows we are hoping to work our way through.

Hulu.com

Hulu is a website that offers many many shows right after they have aired. Some shows only have the last episode, or the last five, but a few have entire seasons worth on there. I watch Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Top Chef, Legend of the Seeker and several others. They even have The Daily Show. The best part is that it is completely free.

So when you're looking to squeeze a few more dollars out of your budget, consider making a quick call to your cable company and dropping your TV service. The internet is all you need!

Buying in Bulk : What Items are Best?

Image by Pygo

Buying items in bulk is great way to cut down on costs. Not only do you save money on the price per unit, but you are also saving money on trips to the grocery store as you'll need these items less. 

It's best to use somewhere like Sam's Club and Costco. If you don't have a card, ask around and see if someone has one you can borrow. If you know any small business owners, they are certainly good people to ask.

One of the primary concerns people seem to have with buying items in bulk is storing them. Be creative! Look for little unfilled nooks and crannies. Do you have a book shelf of paper backs with space behind them? Could that space hold toilet paper? Can you tuck items on a shelf in your garage? How about in your crawl space? Or even under your bed or your couch. 

The key when picking items to buy in bulk is to look for things with a long shelf life. Be sure to check expiration dates on everything. If you end up purchasing something and not using all of it, when the expiration date comes near shoot an email to your friends and family and ask if anyone needs 1lb of flour or so. Ask them to either donate for it or give them the actual price of the item. 

You can even consider splitting bulk items up and charging just below standard retail for a quantity of the item so you are making a little profit.

Here are some of the best items to buy in bulk:

Toilet Paper

I buy this in 36 roll packs and it lasts us a really really long time. I have these stored under the sink in our bathroom. 

Dishwasher Tabs

I use the tabs, not the powder because I like having a pre-measured amount of detergent. A big tub of 70 tabs takes up about as much room as a normal box of powder would. 

Laundry Detergent

We use eco-friendly detergent and always opt for the biggest size available. 

Trash Bags

I buy these in the industrial sizes... about 100 bags to a box.

Rice

My in-laws got a huge bulk bag of rice a while ago and gave us 5lb of it. We're still working our way through the bag.

Flour

I haven't yet found a good source for bulk flour, though I do tend to buy big bags. If you do a lot of making your own bread or baking, this is a good idea.

Pet Food

Pet food tends to have a long shelf life, so I buy big bags of food for the cat, as well as the multi-packs of wet food pouches. I choose the variety packs so that she doesn't get bored.

Cereal

This is an often overlooked one, but if you eat cereal daily this can save you a ton of money.

Here Come the Bills : Winter Heating Season

Image by Smig44

Well, we just got our first gas bill of the winter and it was high. Very high. High enough to make me instantly switch the heat off and stomp around the house in an irritated fashion. 

Since we got our bill, we only turned the heat on once for about 20 minutes. We have a space heater that we are keeping near us whenever we are home now and we only plan to use the heat if it gets too cold to handle. 

Space heaters are definitely a great investment if you are trying to save money on your heating bills. I also recommend good pajamas and wearing socks to be as an alternative solution. 

Whenever I use the oven these days, I always leave it open when I am done with it so that the heat inside can be put to good to use.

We live in a big open loft with huge poorly insulated windows, so extremes of temperature are never fun for us. Since we'll be staying here a while longer, we're going to need to get creative with the heating and cooling of this place. I have a feeling that we will be investing in a programmable thermostat pretty soon. 

In the meantime, what are your tips and tricks for heating and cooling large spaces? 

On a side note, a new project that I have been working on, UX Booth launched today. Please check it out and share it with anyone you think would enjoy it!

And also, I'm on No Spend Day number 5!

No Spend Days Update and Setting New Goals

A few days ago I wrote about No Spend Days as a way to try and keep on top of spending and saving. Well, yesterday I posted about how I've gone off my budget. As a result, I've started the no Spend Day plan. 

So far I'm on day 2 of No Spending. I'm setting my first goal at the end of the month. I don't want to spend any more money other than on budgeted items for the rest of the month. This includes no discretionary spending at all while I catch up from going over budget. 

It's also getting close to the end of 2008. Just another month and a week to go until the new year. This means that I need to start preparing my 2009 financial goals and to see what I managed to accomplish in 2008. 

I'm going to set my first goal now. By the end of 2009 I want my Net Worth to be at -$20,000 or less. This would mean I need to clear at least $8000 worth of debt. I honestly think that this is an achievable goal, though it might end up being close. 

So what about you? Are you having No Spend Days? Do you have an accomplished goal for 2008? Do you have an idea of a goal for 2009? 

Random Posts

Frugal Food - Lunch for Less

Planning for Accidents

Five Things You Can Do Without

Be Wary of the Little Things, They Add Up

Image by Michael Henderson

When you're working on debt repayment, every little counts. Normally, this is applied to paying off the debt. Many small amounts eventually add  up to large ones. The same can be said of putting the debt back on, though. 

It may just be a little at a time. $2 here, $10 there, but eventually all that adds up and either impedes getting out of debt, or sends you straight back down the rabbit hole again. 

I'm guilty of this. I've done really well sticking to my plan and my budget, but I've been spending money that I don't have with the intent of "paying it back". I've not been able to get my budget back in the black for a couple of weeks, though, and I need to be pretty stern pretty quickly. 

Some examples of my backsliding:

11/23 $4.26 - Dinner and a drink at work

11/22 $2.00 Morning Bagel

11/21 $13.67 Smoothies

11/20 $6.24 Smoothies

11/19 $37.79 Video Game

11/17 $8.80 Brunch

11/13 $6.21 Lunch

11/13 $3.25 Coffee

11/12 $6.00 Lunch

Basically, in 11 days I spent $50.42 on miscellaneous edibles and $37.79 on a video game. My weekly discretionary budget is $25, so I was $38.21 over budget. I also put more gas in my car than I had budgeted for. 

These are all small items that have put me over budget. So now I'm about two weeks behind in my spending account and christmas is coming. 

So don't forget that it's not just about paying off your debt or saving in small increments, it's also about keeping your small increment spending down or eliminating it entirely. 

Eating out of the Pantry Again

Image by skitzianist

It's been a hectic month financially already. This was the first month that my husband and I switched to a new financial plan with a very set budget. We had it all planned out... groceries, eating out, entertainment, everything. 

Well of course this didn't go to plan. Firstly, it's our anniversary month so we went out to a nice dinner.... a really nice dinner. It eliminated our entire eating out budget on November 5th. 

As far as groceries, we started $70 down due to the Very Pricey Chocolate Cake and then we went to Jacksonville for the weekend and had to pull out some hotel money. We also had someone over for dinner and we tend to go all out when that happens. So that made our grocery budget run out on about the 14th. 

We're out of grocery money and food money. So, we'll be eating put of the very meagre pantry. I made a big batch of chili that should last two more meals. I have a sack of potatoes and a carton of eggs. I have bread ingredients. 

We're stocked up on other stuff and ready to hunker down. Only 13 days to go. 

This is going to suck.