So September is wrapping up and I'm getting my finances in order to be on the right track for the rest of the year. I have my budget all mapped out for October:
I broke down yesterday and cancelled my Netflix account. If I really want to watch something, I can use the BF's account, anyway. The hard part was canceling my Birchbox subscription. I'm a bit obsessed. But after accumulating quite a few products I still haven't used, I feel that I can at least take a break for a while. So that frees up $17.99 more a month. Not a huge leap, of course, but every little bit helps and I have to be committed to this thing.
Went to the grocery store today- and putting that expense on October, as I'll actually be eating all of the food in that month. Went to Aldi, only spent $23.47. I still have a bunch of stuff from last week, and I of course wont use everything this week. I'm sure I'll still have at least half the bag of chicken breasts I bought next week. I'm trying to stick with only frozen veggies these days. I just don't have time to cook, and I like the idea of not everything going bad before I have the opportunity to make it. I am, though, about to make a huge pot of chili to eat throughout the week. Last Sunday I cooked two different meals and it lasted me pretty much all week. I'm hoping to eat out at restaurants even less this week.
Verified my enrollment in the GI Bill system, transferred some money from my oDesk account I forgot was there, and have some money coming from a couple of text books I sold over the weekend on Amazon.
My emergency fund is sitting at $387.21 right now. My budget for October is $1,601.34 and my projected income is $1,607.58 (not including the extra income I've generated in the last couple of days). I factored in a $400 contribution to my emergency fund in there, but that income will (hopefully) be added as well. If I could hit $1,000 by the end of the month I would be absolutely stoked.... so that's the goal I'm shooting for. I think it's entirely do-able.
I'm going to keep my eye on that goal for the month, and it'll be my only one. If I hit it much sooner than later, even better. My next goal will be paying off my smallest loan- which is $1,603.26. It's not the smallest interest rate, but I totally believe the logic behind Dave Ramsey's smallest-first pitch. It's not my lowest interest rate, either, so I don't feel awful about tackling that one first. I think my big (and potentially far too lofty) goal is to have that one paid off by the first of the year. That really only gives me 2 months to pay it off after saving up my $1,00 in emergency fund money. But we'll see if I can make any miracles happen. Baby steps!
Hope you all had a great September, and have a successful October either way!
October Budget and Goals
October 1st, 2012 at 12:10 am
October 1st, 2012 at 12:56 am 1349053010
October 1st, 2012 at 01:16 am 1349054189
October 1st, 2012 at 01:54 am 1349056469
@TexasDisneyGirl: I feel like I'm still late in the game! I've been budgeting off and on since I was 19 (when I joined SA originally). I think staying on a budget long-term is the hard part, and one I've struggled with for a while. I've did the paycheck to paycheck thing for a really long time now. Time to take control
October 1st, 2012 at 02:02 am 1349056936
Jerry
October 2nd, 2012 at 01:20 pm 1349184043