8am class, that is. I'm so looking forward to the end of the semester. Not because I dont like class, but because it frustrates me so falling asleep in every class! I feel like I'm cheating myself out of my education, and yet I just CANT keep my eyes open! So I've decided that next semester, though I wont be able to work as much as a result, that there will be NO 8am classes. It's not worth it.

I woke up late this morning. Flew out the door without drinking any coffee or eating any breakfast. I had to leave in the middle of class to buy some coffee, then come back (and I wont even get into the retarded vending machines...) My prof was incredibly understanding, he merely commented on how awful it is that students absolutely HAVE to work, and how it stinks that I work nights and come to class so early. Agreed.

Because I overslept, I was forced to purchase my breakfast on campus. Between coffee during class, a bagel and creamcheese, and a bottle of orange juice (sorely needed because I have low blood sugar), I ended up spending $5 on campus. grr. I wasn't planning on buying any food today, oh well.

Bio was the same story... fell asleep numerous times. Struggled to keep my eyes open. Thankfully, this prof is understanding as well. The poor woman. I'm incredibly fond of her, and she's always so flustered and overwhelmed. After class, we talked about internships and whatnot.

Now, on the way home I was talking to BF via cell. He mentioned that he was coming to my restaurant to eat tonight. Big bucks! It's all you can eat night, so I guess it's kind of worth it, but still, it's almost $30 per person. Made me want to go and get food (I always feel left out and want to buy food out when he does things like that, like I feel I deserve it...), but I restrained myself because I had delicious leftovers from last night's cooking... or so I thought! Turns out BF ate them... I was a little peeved. Granted, I offered the food to him last night, but since he turned them down to continue sleeping I guess I thought he wasn't going to bother. He's an anti-leftovers kinda guy. So I ended up very annoyed when I got home. He ate my couscous AND he gets delicious sushi tonight! And what did I get?? Nothing :'(

But despite all that frustration and general unhappiness, I'm not giving up on my budget morale yet. My most recent payment posted on my loan today. My principle is down to $5415.79, almost $100 less than the original, and I put another $50 payment on it today. I'll make another bank run on friday, and add some more to the savings.
So my totals for the $20 challenge:
For this month: $159 in november
Total: $369.51

I'm gonna try and make tomorrow and thursday no-spend days. Try. I do usually have lunch with my friend in the cafeteria, but perhaps I'll convince her to come up to my apartment for lunch? We'll see. As far as the grocery challenge is going, I may have to give in here soon. I never did buy my eggs, though. Those were my only allowance. I'm gonna try and hold out as long as I can though. Talk to you guys later!

Alrighty. So today has been pretty sweet. Class. Then class again. I got a 98 on my last bio test, and that's awesome. I had lunch with my friend and that is always nice. I stopped at the bank and made a deposit, then stopped at the post office to mail off my abstentee ballot. Elections are only 5 days away! I hope it gets there in time... at any rate, I dropped online and made a payment of $100 towards my student loan (ya know, that one with the 14.25% interest!!) I've managed to lower my principle to $5407.23 from $5500 in the course of a couple months. This may not seem like much, but when you think about how much interest I pay in a month, it's a bit, for sure. I'm working on it. At any rate, that's $35 toward my $20 challenge. I budget $65 a month, any extra goes toward the challenge. Honestly, I could probably factor in more than that considering how much I'm saving on even more interest that I would be accruing if all that money was in the account. Now that my principle is down, my interest due will be less. Woo hoo! Yay for saving myself some money.

The other good new is that it's only the 2nd, and I have $211 in my checking even after the $100 I just paid to Sallie Mae. Woo hoo! That's not too shabby. I need to get some more $ into my savings account for next semester, but this is most definitley working out to my advantage, paying some of this loan off now.

I also got my bank statement in the mail. I've earned 11 cents in my savings account since I opened it a couple months ago. Whoopee? hehe. I guess I should get a little more in there... bump it up a bit. At any rate... I've got a couple days off work, which is nice. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Usually it's my day to run errands or go out to lunch or such. Not sure what BF wants to do, but I'm going to try and keep it low-budget. Perhaps make it a no-spend day? I'd really like to, it's just really hard when I hardly get out at all and my day off should be spent doing fun things! erg. Hmmm. I guess I'll have to talk it over with BF.

At any rate, I've got a fresh start with november, and it's looking up! Also, I've got those new work shoes coming in the mail this week, which is great! Very excited... hehe. Well then, I better get going. I've gotta eat some pseudo dinner before I'm off to my last class. Talk to you all later!

$20 challenge total: $245.51

So today's shopping went over well... I guess. I bought the yarn to finish the scarf for BF's Gram. That concludes her xmas present, just have to get crocheting! I also bought the yarn to make myself a scarf... though mine is going to be a bit thinner, I wont use quite as much yarn as hers cost me. I also bought the $15 build-a-bear giftcard for my little sister. So that's the 2 people I'm done with on my xmas list. Yay! One goal reached!

Picked up the sorely missed laptop. Now me and BF can both work at the same time (that'll prevent some future disagreements!). I did not find any shoes for work, unfortunately, but a fellow blogger here gave me a little advice, and I'll be looking into that matter probably next month given the unexpected purchase I made at Victoria's Secret. No, nothing fun for BF. haha. A coworker of mine told me about this bra they have... It's pretty cool, acutally. I think it's called a vertical cup something or other, but it's incredibly versatile and pretty sexy, if I do say so myself. The most money I've ever spent on an undergarmet ($48), but I'm in need of a new bra or 2, so it was money well-spent.

The only items picked up at Giant Eagle were the peppermint mocha creamer, udon, and an avocado (my little treat!). And the book I bought 40% off at Borders ended up being about the same it would be on amazon, but it goes toward my borders rewards either way. Twas quite a dent overall to my checking account, but I'll be fine for bills due at the beginning next month after earnings made this week. Not to mention, the spending was all on my debit card, which goes toward my national city points. I use the points I earn to get B&N gift cards... I can use them at my college bookstore for next semester.

That's it for news in the financial category, except the other day I put another $50 toward my loan, which puts me under my principal. That's pretty cool in my opinion. More of that is to be done... That puts my total of the $20 challenge for me at $190. Yay! Hopefully I'll have enough money left over at the end of the month to add to the cause! We'll hope, anyway. Thanks for reading, guys!

So yesterday I made a ridiculous amount of money at work. It was nice for the financial aspect, but a bit stressful, and I didn't get a chance to study for my bio exam. I did end up skipping my first class to study, though, and I think I did a good job. So let's cross our fingers... as for that money, $50 of it went to my savings account, the rest went to my checking, but then I put another $50 on my loan. That puts my principle under what it was originally, so there's a step forward! I also sold one of the books I listed on amazon, so there's $2 I wouldn't have had. I picked up some coin rolls at the bank, so I'm gonna start attacking my coin jar soon. I cant believe october is almost over! Tomorrow is a shopping day. I really need to buy new work shoes, and the yarn I need to finish BF's gram's scarf for Xmas. Then a build-a-bear gift certificate for my sister, and a book I got a 40% off coupon for at Borders (I was going to buy it either way, so it was a pleasant surprise when they sent me a coupon via email). At any rate, that's all I have for today! Just trying to save up for next semester and pay some of my loan off now... And yay for doing well on my exam! In case anyone wanted to know, I got a 98% on my psych exam on monday! Woo!

Alright, so I asked the question last night, "where did all my money go??", and today I actually counted it up, item by item.

Money Earned thus far this month: $680.49
Money spent this month:
Groceries: (budgeted) $40 - (spent) 47.81 => -$7.81
Food on campus: $65 - 22.52 => $42.48
School expenses: $10 - 8.22 => $1.78
Loan interest: $65 - 50 => $15
Perscription: $25 - 25 => $0
Eating out: $0 - 99.44 => -$99.44
Entertainment: $0 - 0 => $0
Misc: $50 - 33.03 => $16.97
Transport: $54 - 59.06 => -$5.06
Clothes: $0 - 32.96 => -$32.96
Xmas Gifts: $0 - 8.51 => -$8.51
Salsa classes: $30 - 0 => $30

Budget: $47.55 over
Earned - spent:$293.94

Soooo... I'm a little over budget at this point, but the good news is that I really didn't budget ENOUGH... so it's not so much a matter of me spending too much, it's a matter of forgetting that I need to factor things like Xmas money and transport outside of my zone, and clothes (especially since the colder months are upon us). I need to refrain, however, from eating out for the rest of the month. Going out of town that weekend really killed it, but in actuality, I budgeted in only $50 for eating out, entertainment, clothes, and misc items... not a whole lot there. At all.

At any rate, spending for the day was on a book from amazon (and here I'm talking about not spending money, sheesh!), but it was only $5.28... not too bad, and it's the one actual splurge I made outside of going to restaurants. The only want thus far this month. I'm not gonna be too hard on myself. But no more grocery shopping!!! Well, except for milk and bread and whatnot... I really need to eat up what's in my freezer, cupboards, etc. We have so much food! It's just hard for me to not grocery shop... it's my favorite activity! hehe. I am happy to say, though, that last night I cooked dinner using only things we had already, and the only purchase I made for dessert was a box of baking soda for a dollar. So go me! Tonight will be the same. And I made my run to the bank, and realized that I left the remaining $4.01 in my pants pockets, so it didn't get deposited. I instead put it in my change jar for the end of the month savings. Figured my Sobe Bottle needed some paper products... hehe. Well, now to studying!

So finally... my day off. Long awaited. It was a long week. But I've got some good news. I only spent a whopping $7 for food on campus this week. My coffee strategy has done me good. And kept me awake during class! Unfortunately, there were some misc items I had to buy... an umbrella, coughdrops [me and BF both are pretty miserable right now], and I think that's it. But I also make a good amount of money on wednesday- which makes up to the day I missed and the overall slowness of the last week. I do have to take a trip to the store today. But it's definitely an essential item.

I've noticed a few other people doing this, but I too started a change jar. What I've got in there will be put into my savings account at the end of the month. I honestly dont know how much is in there at the moment, but at least a couple bucks!

I've got 2 tests this week, a paper to write, and a french vocab quiz. Much to do! So today will be spent cleaning up the apartment a bit, and then off to the library. Me and BF have realized that when we study in the same room, we dont get quite as much done. Not to mention, I've got a book waiting for me at the library. yay! I love free entertainment!

I re-calculated my budget to add in a couple things that I entirely forgot about... my monthy perscription, for instance, loan interest, and school expenses. So just a general summary:
Total budget: $815.75
Estimated income: $1180
Estimated savings: $364.25

So the new estimated savings is what I'm aiming to put in my savings account at the end of the month, but really I'm hoping to put in more! That trip back home really put me under in the entertainment/misc category, though. I dont regret it, however, I had a great time and I only get to go back home every once in a while. I just cant really go out for the rest of the month. haha. With all the school work I have, it shouldn't be a problem. heh. I'm up to 1 no-spend day. I'm waiting patiently for the second, it's just hard with all these little things here and there. And I need to get more yarn to finish BF's Gram's xmas present. I've decided I'm just going to buy my lil sis a $10 gift card from build-a-bear and something small. Perhaps something on sale as well. hehe. So that's the update on my goals! I'll keep truckin!

And last but not least, I will start the $20 challenge AGAIN. [I always start up, then dont follow through...] but I'm gonna do it a little differently than usual. I'm going to take what I saved at the end of the month + any money I put towards my student loan [outside of the $65 I'm going to put towards the interest every month] and set my goal at $2700 by the beginning of may. So for right now...
Challenge money: $20

Time to get workin!