What. a. week.

I happily reported on my little victories the other day, but I'm having quite the hectic week regardless.

Yesterday I worked through mid afternoon, then left work early to drive down to Columbus to see the USMNT beat Mexico 2-0. That was pretty amazing! I did buy us food on the way down, as BF covered both tickets and drinks while we were down there. That was about $14-- so nothing crazy.

We did end up driving back last night, but it was still a late one. I woke up not only exhausted this morning, but my allergies were raging, and other fun factors have my stomach in a bind (unfortunately, not alcohol related).

I ate breakfast and lunch at home today-- took my car in to get the muffler fixed. I was happy to come out of it only spending $100. There's another piece that will likely break at some point, and they quoted me $300 for that... but it'll just make it a little louder and wont actually hurt anything. So I opted to wait until it gets bad to deal with that. Still need to fix my windows (the front ones don't roll down anymore), but that's another expense I can procrastinate. It's about to get cold anyway, I don't need to roll my windows down Paid the bill with the CC to get the reward points, but I'll be paying it off in full as soon as it posts.

That being said, I have an extra $400 in the budget to reallocate. Which will, of course, be going to that student loan account. I'll be able to dip under $12k this month. That's pretty exciting!

In other good news, I had talked to BF previously about the potential of him giving me a "loan" to essentially refinance some of my student loan debt. I usually wouldn't intermingle my expenses with a significant other, but given that we're planning on getting married in about a year, it seems alright. I'd never ask him to pay my loans off, but from a joint financial perspective, him paying off my loan so that I can pay him back at zero interest is going to save a lot of money in interest over the course of the next decade or so. The faster I pay off my loans, the sooner I can contribute more to things like downpayments on a house and saving for having kids/college/etc.

We talked about it for a while, and he was a bit uneasy because he still hadn't sold his car and wasn't quite where he wanted to be in terms of saving. We had also originally talked about him paying off the total $12k.

Yesterday, though, we revisited the topic-- as he finally sold his car and is back where he was in his savings. The arrangement we agreed on was that after I cut this loan in half, he's going to pay off the last $6,000 on it, and then I'll pay him back at zero interest for that one. Kind of a testament to my dedication to all of it, and it gives him a little time to save up a bit more as well. Nonetheless, that's still quite a bit of money I'll save in interest-- and it'll likely move into a situation where that same money just revolves after a loan is paid off. It could save us a lot in the end.

Needless to say, the BF is a pretty awesome dude. And I'm so very fortunate that he is in the position to help out where he can and already does.

All that being said, it's time for me to get back to work. I have a lot of catching up to do! Hope you're all having a great week.

Alright. So my paycheck cleared and here were are:

September 15: Pay off CC

8/28: $1,563.88
9/10: $0

Goal Complete!

September 15: Have $1,000 in EF

8/28: $252.56
9/10: $1,00.25

Goal Complete!

By End of year: Get SM4 Loan down to $6,000

8/28: $12,729.32
9/10: $12,363.75

I know, it seems like not a ton when you're only down $400 or so-- but the money I had left over to pay my loans included all of my minimum payments as well. Next month there will be a much bigger dent on the loans themselves. Also, I will hopefully have some leftover budgeted money to put toward it at the end of this month. We'll see how I do!

Nonetheless, it feels good to have that CC paid off and a little money saved. I know that $1,000 is pretty easy for me to blow through without a job (hence why my CC was so high already), but I really do want to focus on these loans. Perhaps I'll re-evaluate after the first of the year.

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So yesterday I spent all day at a nonprofit volunteering my creative services, and it was a blast. They also bought our group lunch and dinner, which was really nice of them. I brought coffee from home and ate breakfast before I left, so yesterday was a no-spend day.

BF also gave me his activated 5-day bus/train pass from this weekend, so for the next few days I'll be riding for free. Woo! I called my mechanic over the weekend, but never heard back. I need to call again today... as I really need it fixed by this weekend.

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Today I'll be bringing coffee/lunch. BF and I are driving down to Columbus tonight to see the USMNT play their qualifier against Mexico. I told him I couldn't buy my ticket, as it wasn't in the budget-- so if he wanted me to go with, he would have to cover it. And cover it he did. He really is a sweetheart, that one. I'm thankful that only one of us is facing a serious student loan problem. Outside of the car loan he just got, he's debt-free. I'm sure it'll make our future marriage much happier the less debt we've got.

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I have a super busy day at work today, so I'm going to get going. Hope you all are having a wonderful week, though!

So yesterday I felt like crap... and consequently spent the majority of the day in bed. Thankfully, however, I woke up feeling pretty good today... and now am having one of the more productive days I've had in a while

Rode my bike to a friend's this morning to go on a 3 mile run. Yesterday I agreed to do the 4.5 mile leg of a marathon relay that's happening in 3 weeks. Last week I tried to run 2 miles and felt like death. Needless to say, I have a lot of work to do in 3 weeks. Today's run was rough. And we definitely took a couple of walking breaks. It doesn't help that my 3 mile ride to her house wore me out before I even got there. Nonetheless, I'm happy I did as well as I did and I'm excited to run the relay.

After I got home from my bike/run/bike, I started on my laundry, cleaned most of my apartment, went to the grocery store, washed the hand-wash only clothes I have (a task I've been putting off for a while), hardboiled the 8 eggs that had today as the "use by" date, and phew. I am beat. And my feet are incredibly tired now.

Feeling really good, though!

I spent just under $25 at the grocery store. Had a lot of stuff leftover from last week, and I'm stocked up on many of the essentials. So I'm feeling pretty good.

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My pay check should ideally clear tomorrow. Pretty pumped to allocate that money. I did make a mistake in my calculations, though. I forgot my landlord hasn't cashed my check yet... so that's $475 less that I can allocate to student loans. Glad I caught that prior to making that payment. That means I can only really allocate about $775 to student loans this month-- but that is still largely additional payments, because I had already paid this month's Sallie Mae bill last month.

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Tonight BF's roomie is going to come over to get this whole car-fixing process started. I need to call my mechanic to see when I can drop it off, though. I really need my car by this coming weekend to get to drill. Bah. Stupid car troubles. Tonight is also Ice Cream Sunday! BF and I have a weekly ice cream date... and it's something we always look forward to

That's it for me! Hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday.

So I hounded my boss enough that yesterday he cut me a check. Our payroll person has been out for the last couple of weeks, and I guess a problem with our servers has made it difficult. Nonetheless, I am $4500 less poor. At least for now.

I deposited the check this morning, so hopefully by Monday I'll be able to move it all around. That's when the fun starts. Pay off the CC, put about $750 in my EF, and then fix my car. After that, it's time to hit those student loans. I just need to make sure I keep enough in my account to cover rent and utilities for next month, and some grocery money, and the $200 I set aside for medical expenses (I need to schedule an appointment).

I sat down with my spreadsheet and worked it out, and it seems I'll be able to put a total of $1,250 toward student loans comfortably, assuming a budget of $500 for car repairs. I'm reeeeeally hoping it's not even that much, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.



If I pay off the CC, pay up the EF, and put $1,250 toward my loans, I should be left with $1,569 in my account-- which will get me to my next paycheck, ideally, including those repairs. Potentially more, if I underestimate a couple of those expenses. That would be nice...

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So that's spending on big ticket items, here's the recap of spending over the last week:



"Health and fitness" is my insurance payment, and my rent should sneak in next week when my landlord cashes my check. But as you can see, food and dining is only at about $63-- which only includes a $10 non-grocery purchase (ice cream for BF and my weekly Sunday tradition). Woooo!!! If you compare that to the same time period last month, you see a rather large difference:



Have I mentioned I love Mint?! Something about being able to visualize the difference graphically really resonates with me.

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Last night did end up going out with friends. All of my drinks were covered by BF and his roomies, as I drove home (so I only had a few anyway). Cooked enchiladas before going out. BF really liked them. We'll be making that again.

Not sure exactly what the plans are tonight, but hopefully it won't be too crazy. I'm exhausted from going out last night, and not really wanting to do too much celebrating. I'd be happy just lounging around my apartment all night, in all honesty.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to really do a number on my apartment. It sorely needs to be cleaned. It's probably not a terrible idea to look at my grocery situation and decide what I'll be cooking this coming week. I'm happy to say that I actually cooked all 3 meals I intended to make. That's pretty good for me. I usually have grand plans, and then end up throwing food away because I'm too lazy to cook... ugh.

Nurturing better habits here!

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

So it's Friday and I can say honestly that I haven't spent a dime on lunch, coffee, or dinner outside of the grocery store.

Score!

Of course, that is in part thanks to a boss that buys us lunch pretty frequently and a boyfriend that was nice enough to grab me a pumpkin coffee this morning

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Went to the City Club today to see a great speaker. Work paid for our tickets, which came with lunch. Very nice.

Tonight I'll be eating leftovers for dinner or making enchiladas, depending on the plans for tonight. BF's roomie is (I think) coming over to get the car-fixing process started. I need to secure my exhaust pipe somewhere that is NOT dragging on the ground so I can drive it to the shop. So it'll be a start.

BF and I are heading about 45 min away tonight to celebrate a friend's b-day. I have a $40 bar budget for the month. I'm trying to limit myself to $10-15 tonight. That shouldn't be difficult, as BF generally picks up bar tabs. But we'll see. I'm going to want to go easy tonight regardless. I'm working most of the day tomorrow.

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So yesterday I had a great call with the marketing staff at Ready For Zero. That's a website that aims to help you pay down your debt. I've had an account on their site for some time now, and they started blogging regularly and created an online community on Facebook that I've been fairly active on. I created this image a couple of weeks ago to put up as my laptop's desktop wallpaper to keep it front and center, then posted it to the group in case someone else might benefit:



One thing lead to another, and now I'm creating a few more and creating a post for their blog, with potential for freelance design work in the future. Just goes to show that providing value with good intentions can go a long way.

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I'm so ready for the weekend. I don't know what it was about this week, but I'm exhausted today. My allergies are on the fritz, and I'm just plain tired. I'm also getting antsy because I still haven't gotten my paycheck. I really don't care much for getting paid once a month already. It just makes it worse when our server is having issues and we can invoice or cut checks... bah. Thankfully, I'm not on a time-crunch for any bills up to this point. I just want to get paying on this CC already.

Anyhoo. Enough complaints! Time to get back to work. Hope you all have a great Friday!

So this week has been going *incredibly* well. No food or coffee purchased out, and I cooked up a big batch of soup last night-- so I have leftovers for a few days. Still have lunch in the fridge from yesterday, so I'm set for today.

I was looking at my PNC points yesterday, and realized that I had enough for a $50 Amazon gift card, so I ordered that. It's apparently on backorder, so it'll probably be a while, but it's nice to know it's on its way. It could make for a good gift, or possibly pay for a few items on my wish list.

I also have a $5 Amazon gift card from my Swagbucks account. I just started hopping on every day to start building up the points. I usually only do the things that take a minute or so (NOSO, daily poll, search a few random terms). Today I installed the Chrome plugin so it's my default search. Maybe that'll rack them up a bit.

I'm also a subscriber to Birchbox. It's $10/month, which is a good enough splurge for me. If I review everything in a month, too, I get 10 points per review (100 points gives me $10 to spend in the store, which can usually get me something useful).

I figure that racking up the rewards points isn't a terrible idea with the holidays coming up. It's terrible to start thinking about Christmas already, but I figure if I start planning now I might be able to prepare adequately. I also have 2 weddings that I need to plan gifts for (and a wedding shower this weekend...).

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I stumbled upon a website yesterday that I thought was really great:

http://andthenwesaved.com/

Some of you may already be familiar, but it's all about saving and debt reduction. She's personable, and has a great blog. She also promotes the "Spending Fast" and the "Spending Diet." I was reading through, and it's all about writing out needs/wants lists and finding ways to make do with what you've got. I'm not sure I can go quite as intensely as she does, but I'm sure going to try!

It did get me thinking about a few purchases I'd really like to make in the next few months:

- New eyeshadow (the one I use every day is almost gone)
- Settlers of Catan (a board game that I absolutely love.. but has a pretty steep price tag)
- Membership to a local forum "Club" (it's great for networking and they have fantastic speakers)
- A new pair of boots for winter

These are definitely not "needs." They're wants, some of which are more justified than others. I have *plenty* of eyeshadow, just not in the shade that I use every day. Maybe it's time to switch things up? I own the iPad version of that game, and my friend has it... so it's more about having the convenience to play it with other people. But I have tons of board games as well.

The City Club membership would be nice, but can definitely wait (might put that one on the xmas list). And boots are certainly the most practical... maybe that will be a matter of selling off some clothes and getting them consignment. I should do a good raid of my closet regardless...

So many of these things are things I can do without... so I'm not going to account for them in the budget. I'll either make do, or find some other way to grab them.

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Enough rambling from me. I'm going to eat the lunch I brought from home and finish up work so I can enjoy some of the gorgeous weather we're having here in Ohio! Hope you all have a great day.

On a roll this week, I mean it!

Did my grocery shopping last night. Spent $58.73. Seemed kind of steep, but if it keeps me out of restaurants, I'm certainly okay with that. I'm still trying to cope with the ridiculous amount of money I spent on food last month...

Made chili for dinner last night, have enough leftovers for 2 meals- brought one for lunch today, but the office ended up buying takeout for everyone. It really is a great perk of working where I do. My boss comps quite a few meals for us.

I'll have a little more time to cook tonight, so I may just do so to have more leftovers later on in the week (I tend to get lazy a lot and only eat things I can readily grab and eat or pop in the microwave. Leftovers rarely go bad in my apt). I'm going for a run after work, so we'll see how I feel after.

Brought coffee to work today. Almost out. I decided to be brave, though, and try out the Aldi brand "Donut Shop" coffee. We'll see how that is. I'm a Dunkin Donuts girl for the most part when it comes to coffee. That being said, I use so much flavored creamer, I'm not sure it's going to make much of a difference. At half the price, I'm willing to experiment.

As of today, all of my utilities and rent are paid (except internet, which doesn't post or let me pay until later in the month). So once I get my paycheck, it's almost all toward my goals, baby! Well, that and car repairs. I still need to take it in to be looked at...

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So I forgot about my PNC points program... and apparently my heavy spending with the CC last month racked them up. Can't say that's a *good* thing, but it at least is a silver lining! There's a $50 Amazon gift card coming my way. Woo! I'm almost out of the eyeshadow I use every single day. I know it's kind of a silly expense, but I'll use just a little of it toward that. Good news, regardless!

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Last night I got this really awful muscle spasm in my foot. I get them fairly frequently, but never for more than like 20 seconds. This one lasted about 5 minutes. Terribly painful. Had to soak it in hot water eventually to get it to calm. Think I need to start drinking some serious water, and maybe grab some over the counter muscle relaxers if it happens again... so strange.

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Okay, enough rambling. Hope you are all having a great day!

So it's back to work we go!

Didn't spend money on food out last night. Finished off a bottle of wine I've been meaning to get to while playing a board game with friends. Oh- I also went for a run yesterday! Progress! lol.

BF bought dinner. I offered to cook, but ah well.

Today the boss took us out for lunch, which was really nice (and delicious). I'm heading to the grocery store tonight to stock up and cook dinner. Still at the office and I need to get going because I'm starving...

Hope you all are transitioning back into work alright! Later!

So yesterday I finished that editing job (finally!), and they were *super* fast in paying me. I just started the transfer from my paypal account to my bank account, so I'll be distributing that money where it needs to go soon.

Yesterday I only spent money on ice cream-- it's my and BF's weekly date. He's been paying for things a lot, so it seemed worth it to shell out the $$ for ice cream. Made dinner at home, and didn't go out. We were feeling pretty tired, so we just hung out around the house with his roommate. I finished up the 2nd season of Once Upon a Time. Which is good. Because now it wont be a distraction... I have a lot to accomplish today!

I still need to mail in my rent, so I'll be doing that. I want to cook up breakfast for the rest of the week, work out, catch up on work for both my full-time job and side business, and vacuum around the house.

It's a lot to get done in one day, but I'm going to try my best. That being said, better get to it! Hope you are all having a lovely holiday.

I can't believe it's already here. The time has just been flying by.

So it's Sunday. I'm thrilled for the long weekend-- I have a lot of catching up to do on different things professionally and around the house. It'll be nice to feel like I have a chance to get on top of things.

Friday I had the opportunity to go out, but I didn't feel terribly well, and certainly didn't want to go out and spend money on drinks I didn't really feel like drinking. So I stayed at home and binge-watched the second season of Once Upon a Time (that just got added to Netflix weeee!).

Yesterday I spent some time cleaning, submitted a job application, and then drove down to Columbus with BF for the soccer game. He pretty much covered everything except Arby's (kind of a weird tradition for us when we go). It was about $17 between the two of us, but he paid for the tickets, as well as drinks and snacks while we were there.

Today we're debating whether to go to his family's picnic. We'd both love to see the fam, but it's another couple-hour drive, and after being in the car so much yesterday we're both a bit pooped. If we don't do that, we'll probably go to a friend's for board games. I thankfully have drinks to bring, so that will be a zero expense night.

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Very excited to get my paycheck so I can start on these goals of mine. I'm kind of stuck until then.

This week I have some shorter-term goals:

[ ] Spend $0 on food from restaurants/fast food
[ ] Put in 2 job applications
[ ] Work out at least 3 times
[ ] Eat gluten free

Shouldn't be too difficult, but it's important to map them out!

At any rate, I should probably get to some of the things I'm trying to accomplish today. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

So the last couple of days have been good. I broke down my budget and what I'll be making through December, and came up with a few goals.

September 15: Pay off CC (8/28: $1,563.88)

September 15: Have $1,000 in EF (8/28: $252.56)

By End of year: Get SM4 Loan down to $6,000 (8/28: $12,729.32)

Really, the big goal is to get my highest interest rate loan down to $6,000- cutting it in half, essentially. It's definitely going to be a challenge to do so, particularly with interest. But I think if I can really keep my eye on the prize that I can do so by the end of the year.

The other two goals will be met as soon as I get my paycheck. I get paid once a month, so I'll get those out of the way first thing. It'll be good to pay off the CC (again) and have a little money in my savings account.

There are a few big ticket items I have coming up in the next few months as well, and hopefully they'll come in under budget:

Car Repairs - $500 (I'm really hoping this is less)
Plane ticket to Seattle - $500
Spending money in Seattle - $200
Spending money in Europe - $1,000
Christmas Presents - $200

BF said he would buy me a plane ticket to Europe for my graduation gift, but we wont be able to take the trip until after the election, so we're planning to go around the holidays. One of my best friends moved to Seattle a couple of months ago, and I'm going with another friend to visit him in November. We'll be staying with him, so it shouldn't be a costly trip overall.

What I didn't include in here is medical expenses. I reeeeeally need to go to the doctor, but haven't gotten around to navigating my insurance yet (I'm on military insurance, and we can only see certain doctors, etc). I should probably factor in at least a few hundred for that-- as I'm likely going to need some testing done at the dermatologist.

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Now. The last couple of days have been good. I walked to the store and picked up some groceries (finally). Yesterday I didn't buy coffee or lunch. I packed and brought it to work. BF bought dinner. I did, however, purchase two beers at an event that we went to in the evening. And they ended up being far more costly than I had anticipated. Sigh. Ah well. $14 with tip gone, but I suppose it could have been much worse.

Today I'm working from home- so I'll be eating all of my meals here. I'm going to mail my rent check in today, and hopefully not spend on anything else. No plans for tonight yet, but I'm thinking it will be low-key. I really need to finish that editing project, and today I'll be filling out job applications along with working, so it might be a late(r) night.

I hope you all enjoy your Friday, and have a great 3-day weekend!

So I broke my car this past weekend. Bottomed it out a bit worse than I had thought when I got out. Halfway through my ride home I heard some hideously awful sounds, and then dragging... which turned out to be my exhaust pipe, still attached at the rear.

I haven't taken it in to get looked at yet. I've been taking the train to downtown-- and thankfully BF had a 5-day pass I could use, so that was free through the beginning of the week (used it the first time last week). I'm afraid to find out how much it's going to cost. I'm not sure the extent of the damage yet, and I'm not thrilled to be putting more money into this car. I was seriously thinking of getting rid of it already. Sigh.

Beyond that, I really let things get away from me this week. I still haven't gone grocery shopping, so I've been eating out a lot. Tonight I'm going to walk to the grocery store and grab some stuff. There's really no excuse for it.

It's been a long week. It's been difficult to focus at work, and the editing job I had sought to finish on Sunday got pushed back because revamping my website and putting in that job application took much longer than expected. It also turns out that the editing job is taking much longer as well. So I'm behind on that deadline.

I really need to do something to pull myself out of this funk. I don't think it's helping that I've been eating a bunch of junk, or that my allergies are running rampant. But I need to figure something out. It's a bit rough at the moment. I need to get excited. About anything, really.

I think part of the problem is that I've let my goals get away from me. I need to figure out some way to get them front and center. What I'm doing right now isn't working.

At any rate, I hope you all have a great day!

I had quite a busy weekend! Hung out with friends and got to bed relatively early Friday night. Saturday I spent doing some office clothing shopping, and found incredible success. I definitely went a little overboard, but I limited myself to only clothes I can wear to work... and found fantastic deals on new shoes-- $12 for the most expensive, and $2 for the cheapest.

I did hit the mall to round out what I needed (black flats, black dress pants), but found inexpensive items at H&M and JC Penny. I feel much more comfortable about having a "grown up" professional wardrobe now. Much less stress for me!

Saturday night my current and previous bosses had parties, so I jumped around to both, then ended the night celebrating a friend's birthday with karaoke. Yesterday, the BF and I went out to Youngstown to visit his parents- which was really nice. And hey, free dinner!

I have a really busy week, but I'm feeling pretty motivated to get everything done. Tonight I have a business meeting with a friend, and then a meeting with other friends about their engagement shoot (I'm taking their photos as an early wedding gift).

My job search is about to get pretty serious, so I'm revamping my website currently. It's a long, arduous process, but it really needs done prior to sending out applications. And I need to send my first application by next Monday. So that's my priority project for the week. I also need to edit that dissertation and get it back by Sunday. Much to do!

Brought lunch today. I'll be eating leftovers at home for dinner. Tomorrow I'm cooking in the crock pot, and I'm pretty excited about it I love the way my apartment smells any time I use it.

At any rate, time to get back to work! Hope you all have a great week!

Hello again!

I haven't bought lunch or coffee at all this week, so I'm still feeling pretty proud of myself. It was our intern's last day today, so my boss took us all out. He is absolutely generous. It's really nice being in such a nice work environment.

Tonight I'll be tackling a few bills. Have a couple of bills to pay, but then I should be good for the month. Money is going to be really tight until I get my next paycheck. But then I'll have some to play with (and put toward more debt!).

In terms of other spending, I'm going to hit the grocery store for just a couple of items- and to get quarters so I can do laundry tonight. Things are getting sparse in that department.

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Speaking of which, I was getting ready this morning and having an incredibly difficult time finding anything to wear. I've worked from home and went to school really for the last 5 or so years... having a large professional wardrobe has never really been top priority, and it seems all of the dress clothes I own fall into 2 categories:

1. The piece of clothing was bought when I was pretty much in high school, which means it looks far too young or it's entirely too small.

2. I bought it a year ago when I was about 15 pounds heavier, and now it looks baggy and frumpy.

I also am in desperate need of flats... the only pair that isn't gross and falling apart is bright purple. Not the most practical.

Needless to say, my wardrobe needs a hardcore revamp. But I really need to be strategic about it. I can't go throwing around hundreds of dollars on clothes. So my other job in the next week is to address that problem and at least start building (or at least take inventory of what I've got so I can just see where I really need to fill in the blanks).

Enough about clothes. We'll see what we can do

Hope you are all having a great day!

So it seems that I can only focus on tracking one major thing in my life at a time... I did well on the working out/food diary for a couple of months, but everything else suffered. Tracking my finances is only successful a few months at a time, it also seems. I'm going to make it a goal to change this.

My last post was in December of 2012. It's now August of 2013. My, how the time flies. So first, a (very) brief update of my life up til now:

1. I graduated with my Master's! Wooo!!! It was a very stressful last few months of school, but I got through it and am very relieved that I'm no longer in school but....

2. Now I have to pay off those student loans. And my minimum payments every month come up to roughly $550. That's more than my rent.

3. I didn't end up getting sent to 6 months of training for the Army! Woooooo!!!! I will now just be doing my one weekend a month/two weeks in the summertime until my contract is up in November of next year, but...

4. I now need a full-time job. I'm working as a consultant for a communications firm full-time (and for great pay!), but only through mid-November, as my major client is a county-wide levy campaign. I'm using my network and starting to think about putting in applications now.

5. BF and I are still together and very happy I stayed in my apartment, though I negotiated my landlord down $25/month. This is the longest I've lived in one place since moving out of my parents'-- 3 years in this place will be huge for me.

So! Now that the student loan payments have started, money is tighter and I'd really like to focus on kicking this debt in the butt. As always, when I'm not holding myself accountable for my spending, or tracking it, I tend to make stupid purchases-- mostly in the form of eating at restaurants constantly, walking out of Target with $100 worth of unintended purchases, and otherwise spending here and there on crap I don't need.

So here's what I'm going to do: I'm NOT going to track every penny I spend. That's my usual method, and it works great for 1, 2, 3 months, tops. I'm just going to wing it. BUT... I'm also going to give a check-in every day (or every-other). I've learned my own habits over the years enough to know that not holding myself accountable means frugal spending goes right out the window, along with healthy eating, working out, focusing on my career, and making sure to invest in my relationships. Life just gets in the way. And I'll admit, I get lazy and sometimes it's easier to just not think about it.

I still have goals. Big goals. That I plan to track. But I have to set my expectations to realistic. So here we go:

I've done a great job this week bringing my lunch and not hitting restaurants for dinner. Yesterday I hit the grocery store and bought hummus, veggies, fruit, and coffee creamer. The coffee place on the first floor of our building isn't as bad as Starbucks, but it's certainly not great, either. I can stand to save a few bucks a week.

Boss bought lunch today (and portions were big enough to take home and eat leftovers for dinner tonight).

I was contacted by an old client to do some editing work-- $200 for a dissertation. I agreed, and will use that money toward debt.

I realize that I really need to buy some new work clothes. I only have one pair of dress pants that really fit me well. I also really need some new heels. Mine are gross. I have a $120 visa gift card that I'll likely use toward that-- and I'm going to hit the consignment shop sometime this week to check that out before going to the mall.

Still need to fix the windows on my car. I'm waiting until my next paycheck comes for that, though. Same with going to the doctor.

My major goals right now are: Pay off CC (again). Build up my Emergency Fund (again). Pay off $12k loan.

I had no income for a few weeks, and didn't get paid for all of July until last week. My payment is also back-loaded, so I got paid less in July than I will for the next few months... So I went through my EF pretty quickly and ran up the CC as well.

Nonetheless, I have some rather sizable paychecks coming up- so I'm confident it will all work out okay Thanks all for reading my rambling. I hope you are all doing well!

So November is now in the past, and unfortunately my results weren't quite as stunning as those of October in terms of the budget... but I still wasn't terribly over and I still managed to make $850 worth of payments toward debt, so I still count it a win!

In the last couple of weeks I've been slacking with keeping up with my finances and recording all of my expenses, etc. It's crunch time at school, which essentially means I stop cooking altogether and start eating convenience food... which does very little for my budget, as we all know. I'm going to do my best to not let the next two weeks face the same fate. It does add up, after all.

Put together my budget for this month, and though I was hoping to make a bigger debt payment this month it will likely only be marginally bigger. Christmas of course is going to put a strain on my finances, as well as the fact that the suspension on my car is really starting to go now.

That silly automobile is such a money pit. I keep reminding myself that I don't make a car payment, and I spend about $20 on gas every month, but it's so obnoxious spending so much in repairs. I was quoted a few months ago that this would be about $900... so I've anticipated it. Parting with almost $1k is going to be sad nonetheless. I'm honestly probably going to put it off for a month or two. I budgeted in a few hundred dollars to put in my savings toward it, but with how little I actually drive the thing, I don't see it as an immediate need. I'll tackle it either January or February.

I paid the remaining $150 from last month on my SM7 loan today-- probably should have done that yesterday, as I accrued about $50 in interest. Payment wouldn't have posted that quick anyway, though. Ah well. I'm really looking forward to seeing the number drop below $12k. It's definitely going to feel good

Other than that, I don't have much news... this weekend I'm working on a project due Monday, all next week I will be working on final papers and projects. It's a hideously busy time over here. Just cant wait to be done with this semester. I feel like it's been particularly awful and I'm really looking forward to some break time to really get some work done and recharge before starting up again for the spring.

Hope you all had a great November, and are as excited as I am to finish out 2012 strong!

So I got a $25 Amazon gift card with my PNC points-- trying to decide what I want to use it for. I've been eyeing this crazy elliptical thing, it's not a full machine, just the pedals really. Only $85 and then I would have a means of doing some cardio at home outside of videos and such. Can't say it's a need, though.

The other option is to hold on to it until textbook time comes around. I can always use gift cards then.

Mom asked me what I wanted for xmas on Saturday night and I couldn't really think of anything- so perhaps I'll just tell her to get me that. I told her I would take her to IKEA for her gift. She's never been, and she loves having new stuff for her apt. It'll be nice to make a day of it.

Didn't spend any money today. Stayed at home because I'm not feeling terribly well. Had a flu shot over the weekend and I'm hoping it's not making me sick. Just my luck...

At any rate, hope you all are having a great day!

I can happily say that I have paid off my very first loan!!! I know it's the smallest one, and the one with the lowest interest rate, but it feels good to cross one off the list I've also simultaneously reached a goal an entire month and a half early. Paid the final $399.72 today because I got paid yesterday. I feel the progress indeed.

I'm still under budget total for the month. I over-budgeted for the vet, but that savings funded a new set of gloves, a hat, and a scarf for me. Considering I've treated myself very little in the past few months, I feel okay about the purchase despite the fact that they weren't necessarily a *need*.

I still feel that I'll come out of November under budget. I can't say I'll have much extra income... mostly because I've been strapped for time recently and not devoting as much to my freelance work. I still need to squeeze in at least 8 more hours this month just to make what I budgeted for. With the holiday coming up this week I'm hoping that's possible. I'm looking forward to xmas break. I feel like I'm going to really bank with the extra time I'll have. My client has another project he'd like me on as well. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I've been eating at restaurants a bit too much as of this week, though I'm still under budget. Just have to watch it in the coming weeks and stop with all the Dunkin Donuts coffee and wraps... Paid my internet bill today, and got all caught up on tracking. Feels good.

So the next goal... Paying off my highest interest loan by the end of next year. That's $12,802.56 in 13 months, or $884.81 every month-- or really more than that, because that doesn't include the tax. We're looking at close to $1,000/month-- so we'll see if I can reach the goal. I have faith (and more importantly, determination). I'll have a leg-up in January because I have a $1,000 in scholarship money coming my way. In April I'll be using any tax return money to put toward my debt, so that will also help.

Regardless, that is my mission and I hope to accomplish!!

Time for me to get to work. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your weekend.

So I know you're supposed to look at your credit score once a year and all that, but it's been a while for me... I decided to see what was up, and was very happy with it at a 773.

It makes me relieved and happy that I'm in a place where I can keep up with my payments and not get into a rut. I talked to my mom today, and it always reminds me of where I could be. She filed bankruptcy last year and struggles to keep a job. I feel like every time I talk to her she's either got a new one or is looking for another. I understand the limitations a person has when they don't have a college degree, and she may hate her job, but I can't see how jumping around like that would do her any favors in finding a good job. It's really unfortunate.

She struggles to keep up with her bills, too, because she moved into an apartment with my sister which is nice, but in my opinion far above her budget with the level of debt she's been wrestling with. It doesn't help that my brother moved in over a year ago, and is a deadbeat that is no longer receiving unemployment and for whatever reason cant seem to tear himself away from his videogames long enough to find a job- though apparently he "submits five applications a day." Please. Still kicks up a fuss when mom asks him to clean anything while she's the only person in the house with any amount of income and covers his cost of living.

It floors me that he feels so entitled to act like that. I really think she needs to kick him out. As much as I love my brother, he's one of those people that just wont do anything with his life unless life kicks him in the ass. He needs some sort of existential crisis here soon, or he's going to be a loser the rest of his days.

I hate to be a downer, but my family is something I constantly struggle with. I've managed (unintentionally) to distance myself from them for a while now. I hate going to family get togethers. I love my mom, but can generally only withstand the same narrative three times in a row-- which means I can only spend about an hour and a half with her at a time before I start getting stir crazy.

I've found it important to surround myself with the people that inspire me. While my mom has been an incredibly strong person, with all odds stacked against her, I've found the patterns she still clings to these days to be mildly depressing and the same patterns I've managed to break away from. How do you balance the need to be off in an environment where you can actually flourish with the guilt of wanting to be there for your family and the anger you feel because you just want to do well for yourself?

It saddens me that I'm not terribly close with my family. During the holidays it always gets worse, and mom makes me feel increasingly guilty as I attempt to spend less time with them and more time with the BF and his family. The fact is, I just don't really relate with the people I grew up around much these days... and it makes it painful and awkward to be around at times.

I guess this is one of those issues you run into as a maturing adult who is really coming into being the person their going to be, but it certainly isn't an easy place to be in emotionally. It's strange being in a family where you don't necessarily feel like you belong. It leaves you kind of placeless and unrooted.

My mom loves and misses me terribly, but I have no idea how or if to communicate any of that, or how to remedy the problem. I try to just be there for her and help her along, but after hearing the same excuses day in and day out it's exhausting at times. After a while it's seems to do more hurt than good on my psyche if I try to help-- and I'm a girl that lives for helping people.

At any rate, apologies for the rant or whatever you'd like to call it. I know we don't get to pick our families, and mine just happened to be riddled with a host of problems so deeply rooted that cycles persist and some people just never change. It's not like me to be pessimistic or give up, but how do you connect with people and motivate them to change after they've seen their behavior is counterproductive over and again?

Hoping to be able to solve this riddle at some point. Ah well.

After all of that depressing nonsense, I hope you all are having a great day. haha.

So I dropped off my car last night and picked it up today. $291. Not too bad. I had saved up $130 last month for the repairs and budgeted $200 for this month, so I'm actually under in my projections. Fantastic. I've realized, however, that while my brakes are fixed, my e-brake is absolutely shot. I'll have to fix that very soon (as I drive a manual).

Also need to schedule that vet visit for my little Maeby.

Trying to make it a low-spend week, though it seems I'm going to restaurants much more than I'd like. Last night BF bought. I offered to cook, but I think he wanted to get out of the house and watch some election coverage, so we got burritos (how terribly American. ha). Tonight I went out to grab a drink and appetizers with friends. Still only spent $11 though. Not bad!

Tomorrow I'll be going to this fancy dinner to hear my prof speak and get extra credit. It'll be fun to dress up, and though I had to pay $35 to attend, it's worth the 3% of my grade (after writing a paper on it, of course). I tend to skip out on this class pretty often because it's terrible and I rarely if ever actually learn anything from the lecture... and he's one of the few profs that actually keep us the full 4 hours every week. It's painful. The extra credit more or less makes up for the points I'd lose for attendance. ha. I'm getting As on all of the assignments, so it's worth it. Besides, there's a cocktail hour

This weekend will be fun. Going to see a friend's show Friday night, and have date night Saturday. We'll be seeing the new Bond movie and I'm incredibly psyched for that. Other than that, it looks like I'm doing homework and freelance work.

On a completely different note, I had my orientation this morning for a volunteering gig I picked up teaching Junior Achievement-- I'm basically teaching 3rd graders about financial literacy and economics. The program for this grade also includes a city planning element, so it's right up my alley. I'm incredibly excited to get started It's been a while since I've worked with kids in any capacity, and it truly energizes me. Besides, I've been wanting to do more volunteering lately. This is the perfect opportunity.

Hope you're all having a great week!

I feel like this weekend went by in a whirlwind. Friday night didn't end up doing much. The BF and I went out to dinner, then I was so exhausted when we got back to his place that I fell asleep... at 9:30. ha. We were supposed to go out with friends and I am so happy those plans never really came to fruition. Considering I slept a full 12 hours, I needed to catch up on the Z's.

Yesterday we went with a friend to figure out the Halloween costume situation. This is always my favorite holiday, and I've been a bit bummed because I didn't have the time to pour into a really snazzy costume. I love to sew and Halloween is usually my time to shine. I did not, however, want to spend a lot of money on anything. The end result was a $1 pair of fairy wings from the thrift store, roughly 4 yards of green tulle, and some random flowers and ribbon at the craft store. I was Poison Ivy a few years ago and reused the same green leotard and green tights. Voila. Tinkerbell. I think I spent about $11 total... and putting together the "tutu" was pretty painless.

The three of us went out to the bar and had a few drinks. BF went at Bob Ross and he quickly became one of the most popular people there. haha. Who doesn't love happy little trees?

Had a bit of a spendy weekend, however. Bought BF and I dinner yesterday, a round of drinks at the bar. Today I went to Giant Eagle and picked up a few things-- cat food, conditioner, a few other things. No terribly frivolous purchases, but at the end of the day spent $35. I'm still under budget, by about $70 (I think. I didn't save my bar receipt and it hasn't hit my account yet). I'm going to definitely adjust my budget a bit next month to account for more grocery money. I certainly don't regret any of the money I've spent in the last week, but it's tough seeing it go. haha. I consider that a good thing.

I finished up with my first round of getting paid to wash laundry. He needs to pick it up and pay me, but it was pretty painless. I looked at some of the rates per pound that people pay, and calculated it out. I'm charging him $1/pound, then additional per load because my apt has coin operated. All in all, I'm making $30 and that's not bad in my opinion for a little bit of work. In the following weeks I'll just be washing it with my own laundry because there wont be quite so much volume. This kid clearly went a few weeks. haha.

In other financial news, I've negotiated rates for a project I'm taking on-- a strategic communications plan, website development, and social media account setup and training. I'm terrible about selling myself short, and because I would still consider myself to be an amateur graphic designer, I tend to sell even shorter. Originally talked about $15/hr. For someone who has to this point never worked a big girl job, this sounds like a lot. I'm still stuck in college employment and internship mode. I figured I would value myself a bit more and went $20/hr, which they agreed to. I still feel like it's a success, despite knowing what some people charge for these kinds of services. It's for a nonprofit, so I feel better not charging them like crazy. At the same time, though, I really need to get a feel for my worth in this business at some point that's fair to my skill level and creative talent.

Baby steps.

At any rate, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and enjoy the rest of this Halloween season! BF and I will be carving pumpkins Tuesday night. Pretty pumped! Cheers!

So this past weekend and beginning of this week were spent struggling to finish two midterms. I'm happy to say the second one was turned in this afternoon

Work has calmed down considerably. I'm no longer harboring that panicked feeling that I'm not going to get everything done in time. It was almost awkward being able to work at a relatively "leisurely" pace today. It's refreshing and my head feels in a better place (despite the drain caused by these tests).

Spending has been minimal for the last couple of days. Paid my recurring spotify bill and monthly donation to the Human Rights Campaign. I also had to write a $25 check to the university for my graduation application. Wasn't anticipating that one, but ah well. I'm still very much under budget.

This weekend will be a busy one. Going out with friends to celebrate Halloween Friday night. Saturday I'll be taking part in "Make a Difference Day" with the BF, volunteering somewhere in the area... though I'm not sure which project he decided on. I let him choose After volunteering, we'll be carving pumpkins together then going out again Saturday night dressed up, though that will be far more low-key.

After racking my brain for a few days now about what costume to go with, I feel like I've come up with something that is almost zero cost and can be thrown together very quickly: Clue Characters. Thinking we just may pick up a candlestick, some rope, etc, and dress up. I'm sure we could find creative ways to play out the characters a bit more. Halloween is by far my favorite holiday, and I usually go all out, but this year I just haven't had the time to sew a costume and plan properly. Ah well. I'm much more interested in carving pumpkins and spending time out with the BF

Reading over volunteering opportunities got me really inspired to do more. I love getting involved in general, and though I constantly make excuses about how busy I am, I'm going to make time to volunteer more. It's important enough to devote even just a few hours a month. I found this great organization in the area called Junior Achievement, which partners with area schools and has volunteers come in and teach financial literacy to kids. I contacted them and am set up to do the orientation in a couple of weeks. The idea of visiting a 3rd grade class 5 times to teach is thrilling. I'm very excited about it... but I wont be doing it until April. I indicated my availability to be for the spring semester, but I think I may look into starting earlier, or maybe finding a tutoring opportunity for low-income kids. I really do love working with kids. It's so energizing.

In odd financial news, the BF's friend is one of those 27 year old men that still has yet to do a single load of laundry himself and just moved into a situation where his mother (and ex girlfriend) are not able to do it for him on the regular. Though on principle I feel like I should encourage him to just do it himself because it's pathetic he's never touched a washing machine, the entrepreneurial spirit in me figures that I'd rather capitalize on the patheticness of the situation. He's dropping his clothes off tomorrow and I'm going to graciously wash them for some fee that we're going to negotiate. Bless the lazy single men of America. More dollars will be headed toward chipping away at that hefty student debt pile. Maybe he'll need someone to clean his new apartment, too... haha.

I think that's about it! Waking up early to work out then heading into the office. Hope you all have a fantastic night!

So I don't have *too* much in the way of news or updates. The month is coming to a close, and it's amazing to think of how fast it's gone by. This past week was a whirlwind, and the weekend seemed just as busy. Had a wedding I went to with the BF Saturday night. Yesterday I was just exhausted from running around all week, being out of town, etc. I had a midterm I really needed to get done, but I woke up early this morning to get it finished. I currently have one question to go (needed a break).

I'm still way under budget. I'm now just slightly over my food budget, but I got quite a bit at ALDI this week. They had all of these fancy italian sauces and pastas. I stocked up. Cooked dinner for me, BF, and his roomate. Have leftovers of that and Friday's meal for the next couple of days. I'll cook tomorrow, and have a bunch of soup to bring for lunches at work. Will not be grocery shopping til November.

I'm way under on my entertainment and car allowances. Turns out I've only spent $20 on gas so far this month. Really shows how much I save by taking public transit all the time, particularly because I get to for free! Granted, November will include repairs and an oil change... so I'm sure I'll more than make up for it. I do have $130 tucked away in my savings account for those, and I'll incorporate more into the budget to get that taken care of.

I'm really excited for the last day of the month so I can throw some money toward this student debt. It'll be interesting to see if I can reach my goal for the first of the year. I want to start working toward it. heh.

Halloween is coming up this weekend, and I have no clue what I'm doing or what I'm dressing up as. I'm usually all over this holiday, as it's my favorite, but I've just been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to put anything together. Part of me is sad about this, but I'm sure I'll figure something out last minute.

At any rate, break time is over. Time to finish this exam! Hope you all have a lovely day!

This week has felt like an eternity!

I've returned from my trip to Boston. The meeting went fantastically. I am, however, absolutely exhausted. Very long days, very busy, on my feet practically all three days. Got some phenomenal shots and got to see some really well-known figures speak. It was exciting, but I'm elated it's all over. For those of us planning the trip and getting it underway, it's a relief to not have to think about it much anymore.

I ended up spending barely any money. Really, just Dunkin Donuts in the airport on the way there, a bottle of wine ($6, nothing crazy), and some nail polish and lipgloss... All of my meals were covered, and I didn't have to pay a dime for the flight or hotel room. I did have to make sure I put everything into my app to update. I'm still way under budget for the month- particularly because I sold yet another textbook Friday. I should be getting my deposit from Amazon shortly.

Looking out now, I should have at least a couple of hundred dollars extra from the budget to throw at that loan. We wont know until the very last day of the month, though.

Grocery shopping tomorrow! And working on midterms. And a wedding Saturday. Busy times, these.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend and I'll leave you with a photo I took of David Gergen at our reception Monday night!

I cant believe I leave for Boston in less than 2 days! We've all been killing ourselves at work for this national meeting and I'm finally at the point where all of my projects are essentially done or (very) under control. From here on out it's packing and tying up loose ends. Very nice to not feel overwhelmed and I'm very proud of myself for taking control of my schedule this week.

I got my new camera lens yesterday. Work paid for it, because I'm going to be taking the majority of the photographs next week. It was only $100 and I wish I would have went with the pricier one in retrospect, but I was trying to do right by the organization and my photographer friend said the next step up was only marginally better in terms of quality. Either way, I want to do a little reading and tinkering in the next couple of days. This will be the first event I photograph on any scale.

I'm really excited, though. There are a great spread of speakers showing up, nationally and in some cases internationally renowned. One of my personal heroes-- Ed Glaeser-- is a keynote speaker, and the chance to get to meet him is really exciting! Looking forward to meeting and taking photos of people I really respect. I've also never been to Boston, and we're doing a tour of Fenway park, a harbor boat cruise, and a few other really cool things. There will be mayors and the Gov of Mass. It's all very overwhelming and exciting and holy crap what in the world am I going to wear? haha.

That's actually been a big thought on my mind. I want to look nice, of course, but I'm also going to be on my feet for many hours a day and don't want my feet to kill. Always fun. I will be heading to Target tomorrow to grab a neutral cardigan. My budget is way capable of handling it.

It's been a very low spend week. I did buy lunch for the BF and I today, but I've still got plenty left in my budget for groceries and eating out at restaurants. I've spent absolutely zero of my "going out" budget. Apparently I've been really boring this month haha.

Tonight I'm getting things ready for my trip and doing some homework. I have midterms coming up and a few papers I really need to get some headway on.

At any rate, I should get to work on all this! Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

So my newly reconfigured schedule is going really well. I've been pretty on for both days, and they've both been incredibly productive. I've spent very limited time on social media sites, which has helped immensely. I woke up at 7am Monday to work out at home, did some arms. This morning I woke up at 6:30 and hit the gym with a friend, as he gets unlimited guest passes at his gym! Now I can run and use cardio machines for free even as it gets colder I can use the rec on campus, but fitting it into my daytime schedule is way more difficult. I'd rather work out in the early mornings.

Scheduled break times I think are really helping me stay on my game. Whether that's just taking 30 minutes to read or write in my journal or run an errand, it gets my mind off work momentarily and gives me the opportunity to refresh.

I threw some food in the crock pot around lunchtime, and finished everything up here a bit ago with the BF. He's taking the Jeopardy Test right now, so I scheduled that time to toodle on the interwebz for a minute. After he's done we're going to watch the second Sherlock Holmes movie and relax. We grabbed a bottle of wine from the store, and I'm looking forward to having a glass and having a nice night in.

The rest of the week will still be busy. I have a lot of powerpoint presentations to design, packing for Boston, and class for the next two days. I feel like I'm off to a good start, though, and looking forward to crossing more items off my to-do list.

As for spending today, all I had was shipping for a book I sold. I filled out the paperwork to get on the payroll at work (I've been paid through the university up to this point), and I ordered the new lens for my camera-- which work paid for as well, because I'll be taking photos at our meeting next week. So much to do!

Hope you're all having a splendid week!

I have a little extra time here for the next 20 minutes or so, so I figured I'd check in... particularly because I got some great news yesterday.

When I was hired on for this job, my boss basically said he'd be paying me for 20 hours/week through the university as per my GA contract. He encouraged me to work more than that, but said I was only obligated to work 20.

I've been working a whole lot more than 20 hours a week.

Because they pay my tuition, I wasn't particularly angry about it, but working 30-40 hours per week doesn't really leave a whole lot of time open to pick up any side jobs (or keep up with my school work). I have a lot of people asking me to pick up projects with them as a contractor, but not too much time to do so. I'm trying to work my schedule to change part of that... but over the weekend my boss sent an email saying that I've been doing a great job, and offered to pay me for 30 hours per week (essentially to make up for the stressful workload. ha).

I would be expected to work at least 30 hours, but of course I work that already. So of course I'm open to that setup! I'm essentially getting a 50% raise. So I can add about $400 to my monthly income. Seems like paying off that loan by the end of the year is going to be easier than I thought

Just wanted to share the good news!

Today's spending will be minimal since I went grocery shopping last night-- $30 for the week, but I should have stuff leftover for next week. Really just have to cover the cost of mailing this book out, and I'm set. My schedule is packed tight with work, homework, yoga, and relaxation time. I woke up at 7am this morning and worked out for a half an hour. I'm feeling good as a result. Just have to keep on this schedule. Speaking of which, I should get going

Hope you all have a great day!

So one thing I'm really good at doing is running myself ragged at work. I let it get in the way of everything, and give myself little time to breathe or recharge. It lasts for about a month or so, but when I hit my breaking point I end up very unproductive for weeks after. I'm in the recovery mode of that breakdown right now, with only a week before I'm on a flight for Boston for our National Meeting. Needless to say, this is a time where I really need to be on my game.

Over the weekend I had drill and spent most of yesterday sitting around waiting to shoot my weapon on the range. I had my phone with me and decided to download a book (because I have all of this Apple credit). I got one titled "What the Most Successful People do Before Breakfast" by Laura Vanderkam. I got through it really quickly, and felt pretty energized about revamping my mornings. She mentioned her other book, "168 Hours" along the way, and I ended up downloading that one right after I finished the first.

I think she has a really great outlook on time management, and made me rethink the way I handle mine. Making time for things like working out, relaxing, and spending time with the BF are really important. Making better use of my time at work is even more important. The best takeaway I gained from it is that there is no such thing as "not having enough time." We all have the same amount of time. We choose what is important enough to be included in our schedule. There are no excuses.

The good news is that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to "what is important." Paying our bills is obviously important. It's not necessarily a bad thing if we want to prioritize one thing over another. The idea is to keep our core competencies and goals in mind when budgeting our time. And we do budget our time, whether we think of it that way or not.

I'm in the process of not only budgeting my money right now, but also trying to rethink how I approach time management, and where I need to budget those precious minutes.

I will be the first to admit that I spend a lot of my time wasting time on the internet. I check my email likely a hundred times a day. I know I'm not all that productive in the evenings, that I have very little energy because I don't give myself breaks, and I should be working out regularly because it increases my energy levels and relieves stress. So we're going to work on all that.

She suggests getting up at 6am at the latest. I cannot do that. haha. I mean, I can do that. But we'll see how I operate when waking up at 7am first. We're going to use babysteps here.

I'm going to try scheduling time to do the social media thing. No more creeping on Facebook for several hours. Not checking my email more than 3 times a day. I created a schedule for the week, covering all 168 hours (split into half hours). I'm going to work out every morning (though only totaling 4 hours for the week). I'm also going to do 2 30-min yoga sessions.

The last important choice I made was to incorporate some relaxation time every few hours of my workday. I'm hoping that making these changes will increase my productivity at work and release some of the pressure on my brain and body.

So let's hope it all works out!

As for money updates: Very low-spend weekend. Didn't spend anything Friday night or all day yesterday. Could have went off post last night, but I was exhausted and just wanted to relax in my room. On my way home this morning I stopped to get gas: $20.04. That's all I've spent on that this week. I also grabbed a coffee for a dollar, and paid for me and BF's lunch at Dunkin Donuts, $11.

My car started making these scraping noises as I was braking. I'm pretty sure that means I'm replacing my brake pads and rotors here very soon. I need an oil change as well. Thankfully I don't have any amount of distance to drive til next month. The 2-minute drive to the train station is nothing. So I'll be waiting at least a couple of weeks to get that taken care of. I may just wait it out til the beginning of next month. We shall see.

Tonight I plan on cooking at home, doing some cleaning, laundry, and getting prepared for the week ahead. It's my weekly icrecream date day with the BF, but he'll pay for that (particularly if I cook!). I'll be grocery shopping tomorrow, so I'll also be making out my grocery list. Think I may watch a movie or something tonight, but I'm planning on getting to bed early. Want to get a good start tomorrow!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Now that I've made my goal for the month, I'm geared up to tackle the next one. I got paid today, so my first instinct is to throw it all at debt. But of course I cant do that. lol. I have to start thinking about what expenses I need to cover for the rest of the month, and then how much I'll be able to put toward that pesky loan.

I sold yet another book on Amazon today, and my payments for the last 3 should come in on the 14th. Drill pay this month will be a bit more than usual because it's a day longer than usual. All that being said, I know I have a little bit of extra cash to work with. At the same time, I don't want to leave myself with zero money for food. lol. I added in that extra income and adjusted my budget for the extra payment to my EF this month and it matches almost perfectly. So I'm not entirely sure how much I'll be able to put toward debt until next month unless I come up under budget in a few areas- and I could. But I still don't expect to be able to throw more than $50-100 toward debt this month. But we'll see! Another income source could come my way I don't know about yet

I put an extra $100 away in my savings for car repair savings. I know that thing is going to need some work before long, so I may as well start stashing some money now. That was budgeted for, though. I made my internet payment today as well.

Grabbed a coffee and a couple of wakeup wraps at Dunkin Donuts today for breakfast. $5.57. That's the first time this week I've spent money on food. I consider that a huge victory for me. There have been weeks in the last few months where I've eaten out for almost every meal...

At any rate, time to get my apartment in order and packed for this weekend. I'll be at drill, so meals are all free there Woo!

Everyone have an awesome day.

So yesterday my GI Bill money hit the account, and I moved a few hundred dollars into my savings account to add to my EF. But then I realized I'm getting my paycheck tomorrow, have over $100 on the way from the books I sold on Amazon, and will get a bigger than normal drill pay this month because it's longer than our usual 2-day.

So I said what the hey, let's just round it off. I made another $230 contribution and there it was. I had $1,000 in my savings account.

It's only the 4th of the month and I've hit my goal

It feels good to have a little money in savings. It also feels good to know I can start jumping on my debt payments as well. I feel like my goal to have that loan paid off by the end of the year will be no problem.

It feels good to be on track and in control of my finances. I thought pulling together that kind of money would take a while... because I've had such trouble saving up any amount of money in the past. But really I just made a few changes, looked for a way to generate a little more income this month, and BAM. There it is. I like this game. haha.

I really haven't spent any extra money this week. I've spent $0 on food at restaurants. That's a huge deal. Not one cup of Starbucks coffee has been purchased. Not one lunch. Not one dinner. That has freed up quite a bit of money.

This weekend I'll be at drill, which means all of my meals are covered and I wont really have money to go out. I need to be hiding in the barracks when I'm not busy, anyway, doing schoolwork. I have a lot of reading to catch up on.

The only expenses I see coming up are my trip to Boston and Halloween. My flight and hotel room are covered by work (it's for our yearly conference), but food and whatnot there I'm assuming I will have to cover. I have no idea what I'm doing for Halloween, but I can usually keep it pretty cheap. An oil change is the only other special expense I can think of for this month. Oh, and soccer fees.

But anyhoo. Back to today. Excited to hit that goal, and looking forward to hitting more!

Cheers, everyone!