I owe less then i thought...

I logged into Toyota today because i sent them money... my balance on my loan is: $1,359.74

guess i forgot i sent them an extra few bucks!!! wahoo!!!

End of June Balance: $1,359.74
End of July Balance: $969.09
End of Aug Balance: $0.00 paying $975.75

Which means i'll have 305 extra in aug to put towards my braces... or i can up my roth that month!

"Money Games"

I like to play games with my money. Not in some twisted way like gambling or betting with my friends that so and so will be late to work... nor anything crazy like that, but rather little games with rules that help me save money without even noticing that i am. I also kind of get a thrill from it because i think i'm kind of sneaky so its fun for me and and heck, i like feeling clever.

Apparently i'm not alone... countless people in the world write articles and blogs about their own quirky money saving secrets.

Some people save colored money when it falls in their hands if its a $5.00 bill... or older money with the smaller faces on it... or weird currency.... I read on a blog that a married couple put a dollar into a box every time they were intimate and used it to fund a get-a-way vacation... They just set up some little rule, and they stuck to it.

With my debt almost wiped out, i'm getting excited about the money games i have in mind for some small saving adventures. Some i've mentioned here before, and other's i've done in the past... but I want to smile when i think about what i'm doing with my dollars and cents...

I shouldn't need a game for my Retirement account because as long as I max out my Roth Ira every year, starting next year when they increase contribution levels to $5,000 a year, i'll be contributing/devoting 12.5% -16% of my gross income... well as long as i gross under $40,000... so for now, i won't be playing any money games with this one.

Braces/invisiline: ya, this is a no brainer... my unbudgeted $200.00 a month will go here and most likely all my overtime... so this too doesn't need any money games because it already has a plan... and might be helped along by large amounts of reinburtment in the world of tuition grants..

Special Day: I hope i get to have one day... and while i'm not engaged nor anywhere close to that mildstone marker in my life... I think it would be fun to kind of think about it. Talk about a way to make your future hubby happy before the nuptuals... lol.... while my first attempt at this didn't work out so well... i'll just need to be more creative. Lets see... it needs to be something i can stick to... but also something that has to deal with my boyfriend... hmm???

• Everytime we go out to dinner or lunch solo... i'll take $5.00 and save it. We don't really go out much and normally stay in cause were college students after all... but i'll see how it goes.
• I'll also take half my fun money if anything is left over at the end of the month... cause my wedding night will be lots of fun, especially since i'm one of those old fashioned 21 year olds who will earn her right to wear white on her wedding day.

I want a house: more specifically... i want to work on that 20% down... houses in so cal cost at least $350,000!!!!! so the interest i earn from all my accounts at emigrant direct [ efund, auto insurance, dental, tuition, wedding, etc] will be funnled into my house fund. I will match the interest each month.

Emergency fund while this one is also in the budget, the goal is a long way off since i'm braces saving... so, if anything is leftover at the end of the month in my grocery allotment, basic necessity allotment, or my utilites, i'll take 1/2 of it and add it to the efund.

New Car don't worry,.... i'm keeping my camry for life... but i'm also realistic and i should start planning for this right??? so 1/4 of what's left over from gas and auto maint at the end of the month... plus my gas reinburstment checks from my work will go here too.

changes to the pay off schedule

Since i will be getting financial aid, i sent some Overtime to my car! New balance $1,413.26

• June: $1,413.26
• July: $1,022.97
• Aug: $0.00 paying $1,030.01

I'm definently paying off my car in full in aug... and i'm going to have extra cash to spare!!!

I LOVE THE GOVERNMENT

i drove up to my school, taxes in hand... spent an hour in the financial aid office... and vola! i have my award letter... i'll get all my money i'll sent to CSUF back... and i'll pocket at least 2,000 a symester!!!!! for the first time in my life, i love the government!!!!!!!!

I HATE COLLEGE

I go to get a better education... to get a better job maybe.... pay a butt load of cash... and they can't even send me my financial aid paper... but they send me the forms all due July 1st!!!!! Which means, i might have to upfront every freeking dime i have and then some to pay my freeking tuition while i wait on financial aid!!!!!! R U KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY total: $4,750

• 6 units $4,350.00
• student fees $300
• parking $100

CSUF total $1,671.00

• 9 units $1,671.00

TOTAL NEEDED BY END OF AUG: $6,421.00

okay. I don't have all that money... if i pay off my car in Aug.

• Aug Car payment $1,200.00
• $300.00 overtime from this paycheck
• Emigrant Tuition Account $2,681.53
• ING Emergency fund $1,000.00
• Bofa Emergency Fund $400.00
  
  I'm short 839.47 before books.

good thing i have 22 hours of overtime... but that won't even dent the sucker in half by then... So i'm on savings overload right now...

and then i'll have to be super careful cause i won't have an emergency fund until i get the money back from financial aid... so braces are on hold... again.

Normally i get a cal grant, sometimes a pell grant, and then a pro rated scholarship too for the pricey bible college. Normally i just have to pay for books when i'm done with everything. So hopefully i get that paper. If not i'm screwed.

free haircut

so today i got a free haircut from this place that just opened... "free haircuts to the first 10 people of the day" i was number 2, therefore i only had to tip the lady who cut my hair.. normally this costs me 30 bucks at fantastic sams and i leave with wet hair... so 5 bucks for the same thing is nicer and i really like my haircut! woot!!!

I'm still waiting for half my money to show up in my retirement account... if its not there, tomorrow i call ING direct.

I also am waiting on my financial aid award letter for school... WHICH HAS NOT ARRIVED and the school hasn't called me back yet...

tommorrow will be a day of phone calls...

this is what i spend my time doing at work when i'm on Overtime... blog... lol... Tomorrow is payday!

Future money plans

I took the rest of my bond money and stuck it in my Roth... each share was worth a little less then what i originally paid and i'm just hoping it will eventually go back up... but overtime i should get something, lol.

Anyways, with the end of my car payments in sight, knowing myself i've gone ahead and created a new budget which i get to implement september 1st! I figure if i'm already thinking about what i need to do with everything ahead of time that it should make it easier to transition... plus at this time there isn't much that's changing... but at least I've also got a game plan for my future!!!

• OLD Budget:__________________________NEW Budget
• Groceries $140.00---------------------$140.00
• Car Insurance $110.00-----------------$110.00
• Roth IRA $50.00-----------------------$280.00***
• Renters Insurance $17.00---------------$17.00
• Basic Necessities $45.00---------------$45.00
• Car Payment $300.00---------------------$0.00***
• 3 month emergency $0.00----------------$50.00***
• Gas and Auto Maint $200---------------$200.00
• Rent $800.00--------------------------$800.00
• Utilites $50.00------------------------$50.00
• Cell Phone $50.00----------------------$50.00
• Offering $50.00------------------------$50.00
• Fun money $50.00-------------------=---$50.00
• $184 left unbudgeted------------------$204.00***

I'll use the unbudgeted money and overtime, [and windfalls] to put towards my braces. The only other focus i'll have during this time is starting back up up my Special Day fund that way i'll have motivation to do the dishes and curb the budgetted money. if i happen to get a month with 3 paychecks while i'm still in braces savings mode, $820.00 will go into my Roth IRA... anything after that i'll apply to my dental work. If i go invisiline i need all the money upfront, if i go typical braces i can probably get a payment plan. Depending on how much they all cost and how long i'd have to wear them will be a huge factor. I'll go in July to get a quote for the invisiline [i need my wisdom teeth holes to fill in as much as they can before i go and that's when my coupon expires.]

Once my braces are saved up i'll take $100.00 a month and set it aside for a new car [i'm keeping my almost paid off car forever... but just incase in 10 years i need a newer one, i'll have a down payment if not enough to purchase one] The other $100.00 will go to building the second emergency fund, increasing monthly payment to $150.00 At this point overtime will either go to a house down payment, or if i decide to stay and teach, to paying for my credential.

overtime and lots of it

I'm at work on my day off... again!!! With the pool re-opening and with it prqacticially being summer, my work has no employees... so my first paycheck for July will have 22 hours of overtime on it... talk about crazy...

Guess i found the money for new tires after all eh?

today i also bought 600 of mutual fund for my ira... 300 to each individual one i already have... i'll do more tomorrow when the money isn't pending anymore.

the turtle continues

So, i logged on to Toyota Financial to see if they tacked on anymore interest to my car loan... they tend to do this after I pay them something to depress me... and sure enough, they did... so the numbers went up a little... so i decided to give them something to "cry" about... me owing less interest.

So I shrunk my bank of america buffer to $400.00...
I took the last $50.00 that was pending from my new emergency fund...
I took half the money that was left over from my electric bill (since i was over budgeted this month)...

and sent 190.00 to my car payment... look at this turtle move!!! i'm still putting along... rent or no rent this sucker is getting paid off!!!Yup, i'm cool... eat that toyota freeking financial... i will pay that car off in Aug if it kills me!!!

Sadly, i'm not sure if i'll be able to send anything to my car from next friday's paycheck because i had my bf's sister's graduation party, and i need to get new front tires for my car, and we have our nice 3 month dinner thing tomorrow night as well. But well see. I have about $100 bucks in my auto fund and i know a guy who can get me a deal on tires so i'm hoping to only have to pay $100 bucks for both of them and the install... but i need to be prepaired if it costs me $200.

but in the land of victory, this changes the pay off schedule:

• June: 1710.93
• July: 1332.69
• Aug: 51.79
• Sept: 0.00 paying 52.14

So i need to find 52.14 to have everything paid off in AUG... which is the ultimate goal!!!!! I will do it!!! i'm working some overtime on thurday and possibly next tuesday too... so that alone will be the 52.14... after that, i can't speed up the months because i need the extra AUG check to pay the whole dang thing off. but i can try and beat the final amount of interest i pay them on my loan.

okay, this turtle's out and racing away!

Roth Ira

So, I cashed in 24 series EE savings bonds and the money is now in my checking account with bank of america. it's $1100 dollars... [i only cashed in the ones that wouldn't give me a penalty and saved my newer ones since they were earning a decent interest rate already]



While i really want to use this money to pay off my car and free up that auto loan so i can start saving for my dental work, reason has told me no... over time, the money will be able to do so much more in my Roth IRA then in wiping out $50.00 max in interest.



So, the money is on its way over to ING Direct. Once the money is at ING and settled into my account, it goes to my IRA. I need to decide if i want to open a new fund, or just split the money into the 2 i have already... or put more into one, and less into the other... i'll ponder this as the money slowly moves from one account to the other. After all, I have until the 21st to pick funds since the money won't be avilable for withdrawal until then.

I know that even when i'm debt free, I won't be able to max out my IRA for this year [i ran the sad little numbers]... But i will be able to for 2008 if i get in the habit of doing so now, and here's how! in 2008, you can stick in 5,000 a year into a Roth IRA. For me, i only have to put $280.00 a month into my IRA if I use "my 2 extra paychecks" for my Roth as well!!!! which is less then my car payment!!

But how will i pay for my braces??? After i'm debt free i'll start putting aside my "unbudgeted money" [around 200 a month] until i have enough... and i'll slowly resume that 6 month emergency fund with 50 a month and my overtime.

I like my game plan... start yours... make it a goal for next year to max out that Roth IRA!!!

how much will a smile cost??????

So... i got a coupon for $1125.00 off Invisaline in my mailer... and only a $10.00 fee for all the x-rays, ect that they have to do to get you going... which begs me to ask the question with all sincerity... how much does this cost that they can knock off a grand... a grand... and still make a profit?!?!?!?!?!?!

It's a good thing the coupon doesn't expire till the end of next month because i've been really considering Invisiline because i had braces years ago [they were taken off early... don't ask] and the idea of being able to brush my teeth and still floss is way nice in comparrison to the metal alternative... but i need to wait until the holes from my wisdom teeth fill in before i can go down and get the consultation. [regardless the consultation is free so at the end of July i'll be heading down there to at least get an estimate... and i'll be getting an estimate hopefully for regular braces too.

Oh and i got my tuition email today... i register in mid July for classes and will have to pay for them as well in mid july... hopefully i'll be getting a heafty refund check... a check i could use to hopefully pay for my invisaline...
***crosses fingers*** its still way to early to tell... and that reminds me... i need to tie up a few loose ends in the land of financial aid junk. awe, things i get to do after lunch with Dusty.

a few things and I see the finish line

Savings Bonds: I started to cash in my savings bonds... I won't use them for my auto loan, or braces... or an emergency fund... but i'm still teatering back and forth between putting the money in my Roth right away and keeping it in a high yield savings account for a while. Part of me is unsure where the market is heading and i even if i stick it in an account at emigrant, it will still earn more there then as a bond. Either way, i believe a good move the way numbers are considered.
ING Direct: is offering a 1% cash back on non pin purchases... so for the 2 months of the promo period, i'm going to pay my auto loan out of ING instead of using my bank of america account. This also means i'll get 1% back on my credit card purchases! I'll take this and put it at my auto loan for kicks and giggles.
My sister's EDU: I also told my sister i won't be giving her any money a month for her education. She refuses to stop shopping, lives rent free at my mom's... and makes the same i do... I just don't think its right for me to scrimp and save and work so hard to let her take that $50.00 a month and still go shopping with it. She's gonna have to do this one on her own... which brings me to this:
that FINISH LINE I SEE : With the discovery that i can cut back on my electric bill [$50] and that i'm not paying for my sis's edu [$50] i now have $185 unbudgetted each month before overtime and what-have-yous... so hopefully i can send this to my car each month... which will change my pay off schedule a bit on my car because My August extra check should be $880 with the raise (or more if my annual raise is included in that) and i can guarantee an extra 100 a month [electric bill and sisters edu] to go to my car (i'm leaving the 85 unbudgeted incase birthdays pop up and the like... if its not used at the end of the month i'll send it to my car)

So when my car's paid off... that free's up 485 a month!!!! yeah!!! Here's the new pay off schedule.

• June: $1,899.64
• July: $1,512.70
• August: $243.1o
• September: $0.00 Paying $244.77

HOLY COW!!!! i'm hoping i can wipe out the September payment if i can pick up more hours or be more frugal with my budget. I can't believe i knocked off 2 months!

torn...conflicted... pensive... confused

Part of me is wondering if i'm jumping the gun by trying to save when i'm still trying to pay off my debt... I've never read Dave Ramsey or any financial planner book thing... but it seems like most "financial people" out there tell you to throw everything you have at your debt once you have a good emergency fund around 1,000 bucks.... so but part of me is wondering if i should have my "special day" account or start that second emergency fund, or a dental fund while i still have debt...

i could be adding 85 bucks a month "unbudgeted" and hold off on starting my dental fund 2-3 more months... i could take that $50 a month i was sending to my second efund and tack that on to my auto loan... and then there's whatever special day money i gathered... and i could devote all my overtime there too...

I guess lately, i've just gotten used to months with windfalls, lots of overtime, not paying rent, or using the liquidation of savings to continue to throw huge amounts at my car every month... and this is the first month i've had to revert back to the minimum i allowed myself to pay when i first purchased my car... $300.00 a month...

I guess part of me feels like i'm going backwards just a little... and i don't want to be going backward... $300.00 a month feels like i'm going backward... that's when i started counting up how much my bonds were worth. --which i won't send to my auto loan... i'll put it in my Roth probably... unless i can't get out of this funk. Maybe i'll half it.... I guess its good i don't want to blow the cash elsewhere... but still... i can't stand having the 2,100 over my head...

deep breaths... okay... i'm going to hold off on the 3 month emergency fund and empty what i have in there... same for my special day fund. I might even lower the bank of America efund to 300 [some how it poped up to 500 again from the 450 it was.] but for this i must wait till everything clears between my different banks.

a poll for y'all

okie dokie, i could really use your advice out there.

I wanted an acurate net worth, so i opened my safe and ran the numbers through a website that calculates the value of your savings bonds.

In the process i discovered that my bonds are only earning 2-4.3% in interest... which considering inflation and the high rates that can be found on the net... doesn't see too impressive... So i've decided to open up the blog for some nice advice and hopefully some responses.

here are how my choices would effect me:

1. If i don't cash them in, no harm, no foul... and my money does earn some interest and will for like 20 years or something like that.
2. if i put them in a CD i'll get more back in interest and its still harder to access the money and i can decide in a year or 6 months what i want to use the money for
3. i can add it to my 3 month emergency fund in a high yield account... of which the goal $6,000 since i make around 2,000 a month
4. put it in my roth... and get tax free on all the earnings it accumulates. and this might motivate me to try and seriously take a stab at maxing out the sucker.
5. use it to pay off most of my auto loan at 8.25%... it would bring it down to 600.00 or so which could be paid off in less then 2 months... and then i could focus of my Roth
6. use the money to start my braces fund in a high yield savings account

So what do you guys think?

utililty Bills

So, i finally got my first real electric bill... one that would include running a refrigerator and TV and cooking a bit with the oven. I had to say i actually smiled when i logged on looking for the bill to show up on-line. I smiled because it was only $21.03 (and i get to cut that in half with my roommate...) WAHOO!!!!!! So, you must ask how two college aged girls living in the OC can have such a low electric bill... we both agreed when we moved in to wash dishes by hand (since water is included in our rent) and not turn on the air conditioner. While we might start occasionally running the dish washer since the bill is so low, i'll probably continue to wash and air dry on my rack (which was the best $3.00 i ever spent at big lots).




So what does this little happiness mean for my budget??? it means I normally budget $100 bucks a month for utilities and my utilities only include electricity because: I choose not to have a land line because of my cell phone, I get internet at work so i haven't called to have it installed, water and waste removal are included in my rent, and I get cable for free.

Yes, cable is free because we have never called cox to ask them for any type of service. When you move, Cox needs to send out a representative to turn off your cable. This costs Cox money and they assume that most people will call and hook up service before they move in, or when they move in... So, Cox doesn't send someone out to turn it off. When you call to request Internet, phone, or cable, they shut off the other services you are not paying for, and "hook up" the ones you are paying for... well, my roommate and i decided when we moved in that we didn't need a landline or internet... and cable was going to be an option to look at once we started to see how much everything was going to realistically cost... I got bored and plugged in the TV the second day after we moved in... just to see if it would work... and presto chango wala!! it worked and hasn't stopped working... so no need to call Cox... i get it free!!!! at least for now...

So... realistically, i'm budgetting too much money for my utility bills... which means i'll take $50.00 a month instead of $100.00 and devote that to utilities and see how that works out with the budget next month. I'll keep it there for a few months to see if i can lower it even more realistically. [i want to budget enough to cover my roommate too because you can never been too careful when you rely on others to give you money for the bills, especially since its in my name. extra here goes to my "special day" fund anyways :) ] I'll take the $50.00 a month extra and allow it to be "extra bofa money" which means at the end of the month, essentially half will go to my future perfect smile, and half will go to paying off my car! I'm going to start this month by puting 50 more back into my bank of america account from my ing account.

i'm loosing cash left and right!

Well not really loosing cash... but i've had a few hick-ups this month [making me thankful for the overtime I agreed to work today and last week].

On Saturday i'm going to go do a human scavenger hunt for the high school group i volunteer with at my church... so i bought a red wig to change my hair a little bit... it was only 17 bucks with a hair wig cap thingy and it was going to come out of my fun money for the month, but when i got home i found it didn't fit right and I couldn't get my hair all in it [my hair is long and thick]... all i could get was store credit since they normally don't allow any returns what so ever. So i'm stuck with a gift card and still have to take the 17 bucks out of my fun money... sad.

My friend also took my guitar to the shop for my birthday to add a nobb for my guitar strap [so its not just tied on to the neck] well while he was getting that done, the guy mentioned that there was internal problems with it because the bridge was practically pulling up on my guitar... needless to say, we were supposed to go together to get a quote to get it fixed... Well my friend misunderstood and dropped it off at the shop already so i have to come up with the cash... 125 bucks!!!!!!!!! good thing i had overtime on my check today... but that just means less to my car and less to my braces fund.

but this is why I have a budget... and an Emergency fund... and am crazy grateful for both!!! word to the wise folks out there... while you might want that shirt, CD, or book now... hold off and wait a while, save some cash for a rainy day... you'll thank yourself later... ***wink***

but in happier news, [cause its good to end on a happier note] i got my rewards check from my credit card for $25.00 and i got a work check/ reinburstment check for driving my car around for work stuff... $24.00... so that's gonna help with the guitar!

Oh yeah, in the land of the ROTH IRA's... i got my co-worker to open one too!!!! Saving is addicting!!

yesterday was an emotional roller coaster of a day

really... it was! I was having such a relaxing day... and frankly it was one too many if you know what i mean.... My work schedule by nature gives me odd hours... hours where i'm at home and all my friends are still at work... but it works for my college school schedule so i keep it year round... which my boss appreciates because he doesn't have to worry about working around me and 2 more college age full timers. But when summer rolls around i get pleanty of me time whenever i want it... and some times even that is too much for me. I'm done working by 2pm and 3 pm on the weekends... and i don't work at all on Tuesdays and Thursdays (i start at 5:00am) ... but i've been spending way too much time by myself for my liking. With friends either out of town, at work... or frankly just canceling on me last minuet... Even my mom and sis! lets see:

Last weekend most of my friends were outta town at a work confrence (they all work the same place... my church) so i was flying solo practically the whole weekend since one friend was stuck in Riverside at a wedding and H had other stuff going on. Then a buddy bailed on me and my guitar fixing adventure...twice. I also couldn't go to church on Sunday night cause I had a work meeting... and i thought the b/f was coming back Sunday night earlier then he did from the work trip... nope, no visitor for me. My mom cancelled a lunch date... My weekly bible study and dinner was cancelled a few hours before ....and i never got the message and was knocking on the leader's door... all confused... my roommate is gone all week so their no small chit chat stuff at home either.... and finally my sister cancelled on dinner this week...

add that to being a female who takes stuff like that slightly personal and can only be so understanding when she's lonely and yup... u get an emotional roller coaster... there was even a few other things i won't mention on here that contributed as well....... but alas i'll come through... i always do.... hopefully. ***crosses fingers***

In other news,
My IRA finally posted itself up on the log in page for ING Direct... and i guess the price i ended up buying my little mutual funds for is having a down morning... oh well. It's the long run that matters... but i love the fact that i have a retirement fund!!!! it makes me so happy and I feel a lot better about the future already. I'd really like to max it out this year, but i'm not really sure that i can when i put into consideration the fact that most of my cash is going to pay off my pesky car loan for the remainder of the year. I supposed to be getting a raise for my 1-year anniversary for my new position at work. It will take about 3 months to go into effect, but they will retro-pay me for the time i should have been earning the raise. i'm going to take that money and send it to my roth to help move it along. (as apposed to using it to pay off my car... or possibly half the money there it depends on how much i owe and how much the amount is)

I can't wait till friday rolls around and i can fill all my accounts up with their "allowance" for the month... and pay at least $300.00 towards my car payment. This month there is a challenge on the WIRR Message Board over at MSN... to eliminate your smallest debt... well for me, since I only have the one, i'm going to try to get it to hit below $2,000.00 Which means i need to free up at least 150 bucks more this month then normal. With a couple of extra hours i picked up from work and the possiblility that i won't have a tuition payment for my sis this month, it might actually be do-able!!! I guess well all have to wait and see.

okay i'm out for now!

I'm antsy

Check out my net worth on the side bar. I haven't included some bonds i own or the value of my car since i owe money on it. Even with last months huge debt pay down, i though my net worth would drop cause i'd have less cash... but it went up which is always a nice surprize!!!!

I'm just shy of 2,000 of positive net worth! I think once my car is paid off, i'll tally up some of the income i have with my bonds and add it in as a WAHOO moment for me. I also need to look into cashing some of the older bonds. (i think i'm going to put the money in an account at emigrant as apposed to just buying more bonds. ) part of me thinks i'll earn more money if they are converted to cash and kept in a high yield savings account.

I've also created a few new savings accounts for some new goals i have (and i'm not sure i've spelled them out completely, so i will here).

1. Pay off my car 300 a month, plus half of whatever is left lying at Bank of America when the month is over. Credit card rebates and gas rebates from work will also go to paying off my car. Once this is done i'll be able to really focus on my savings goals. and put that $300 to some real work!


2. 3 Month Emergency Fund in addition to the 1,000 padding in my checking account, i'd like to have 3 months worth or income set aside for huge emergencies in a savings acount over at Emigrant Direct. That would mean a ball park figure of $6,000.00 since i make about 2 grand a month. Until my car is paid off I can only afford to put 50 a month here. I wish it was more, but the car charges interest so most of my extra cash flow needs to be focused on paying off the car.
   
3. Dental Hell Fund With my wisdom teeth finally removed, i should have enough space in my mouth to go ahead and be able to get braces again. I figure its best to do this now as apposed to later down the line. No idea how long i'll have to wear them, but one day many years down the line when i get married, i want straight teeth that close right... i probably won't get that for my graduation photos... but i'll guarantee i won't have braces on when i get married... nope. I'll take half the money that is left over at Bank of America at the end of the month and transfer it over to an account at Emigrant Direct. So this is my primary savings goal.


4. House downpayment fund this won't get much contributions until my car is paid off, but the interest i earn from keeping my auto insurance and my renters insurance over at emigrant will go to this account. In addition to the tiny bit of interest i'll get from that money, i'm also planning on putting the interest from my 6 month emergency fund and the interest from my dental fund here as well.


5. Special Day fund yes, i have too many accounts, lol. This is to kind of challenge me to drop my normal spending for things like groceries, hair cuts, fun, basic necessities, etc. Half the money that's left at the end of the month in a few of my sub accounts over at ING Direct will go into a Special day account over there. I'm not telling ya'll what that special day is, but hopefully it will motivate me to spend a little less. =)


6. Fully Fund my Roth IRA for 2007, i can put away 4,000.... while i really don't think i can max it out [50 a month until my car is paid off] i'm gonna try really hard once i'm out of debt.... Next year the amount i can put in there increases to 5,000.

Why i'm antsy:
I really want the world of technology to be a lot faster and far more efficient at times. I opened my Roth over the weekend, and it hasn't shown up in my ING account... nor has any money been taken out of my Bofa account. And I know i'm being dumb... its only 6:30am in California... but i have a feeling of entitlement... that my account should already by accessable and i should be able to see instantly my money growing.... man i'm selfish. See what living in a "right now" society has done to me? There are so many times i wish life was simpler... that we still had more personal interactions with the people we come into contact on a day to day basis... I hate living in a "right now" world... but then their are times when our fast paced society isn't fast enough... i've never been too good with anticipation. Being pacient, yes... but you tell me you have a surprize for me and its a secret... i jiggle my foot... jump up and down, and pester you till you break. This is how i feel about my Roth... i want to see it... i'm so excited to have it, yet i must wait... its kind of like christmas... except i had to pay for it all... lol.

I also wish it was friday already, that way i'd have a paycheck to be able to throw at least the minimum at my debt... and to know what my first real electric bill is going to be (they will read the meter that day and i'm hoping i can see how much the bill will be on saturday or sunday at work).

Trader Joe's

I needed some more color into my blog, so i did some sidebar cleaning and switched the template, just FYI.

I went grocery shopping at Trader Joes... [i'm really starting to like that place more and more btw.] I had a partial gift card from my boss for picking up a few extra shifts so it cut 12.00 off my grocery bill. I bought a few things to try that are new, including ORGANIC and FREE TRADE items. Part of me is really wanting to make an effort to be healthier [cause my body always seems to work better when i'm in the healthy mode] and to be better to the enviornment and the world around me... i'm kind of in one of my "mini proactive" stages.... so i figured i'd try some new things and branch into the organic and free trade stuff... I asked a guy in the store and he pretty much said if its sold under the trader joe's label and made in the USA its free trade, but they couldn't guarantee the rest of the produce from other countries... but everything was labeled where it was from. Most of the organic produce is considered free trade as well because they grow it differently and laborers are paid better! I always heard it tastes different, but other then appearance, i tasted nothing funky. but i will admit, it costs a little more so well have to see how it fits into my budget. The nice thing about it is the smaller portions... i don't have to worry about stuff going bad (cause of huge quantites... Costco) and so i can pick out a few different things in the same market trip. yeah!

So my staple stores are: Costco and Trader Joes but I still shop a bit at Ralphs and Pavillions too, but that's mainly for one or two items that i can't find elsewhere or can't beat the price for on most days.

I opened a ROTH IRA!!!!

okay so i've been going back an forth about opening a Roth IRA or a defered comp though my work .... and i've put it off since i realized it worked with the stock market....

well i put my fears behind me and went for it... i opened a ROTH IRA today with ING DIRECT (well one of their side companies anyways)... and they made it simple. I wanted Mutual funds for diversity and cause i hear they are safer.... so I chose 2 different mutual funds to invest in:

1. IDBAX Ing Direct Balanced Fund
2. IDSLX Ing Direct Strategic Allocation Moderate Fund

I have 25.00 a month taken out and put into each of the mutual funds for a total of $50.00 a month. [not to shabby for a 21 year old girl who didn't have any retirement accounts a whole 15 minuets ago] Right now i have money going to the following accounts:

• Fannie mae FNM
• Exxonmobil corp XOM
• General Electric Co GE
• Jp Morgan Chase & Co JPM
• U.S. Treasury Note/Bond
• Chevron Corp CVX
• CISCO Systems, INC CSCO
• Citigroup, INC C
• Bank of America Corp BAC
• Microsoft Corp MSFT

woot! [ya gotta love pay raises!!!!] Who knows maybe i'll be able to max out my IRA this year... how cool would that be!!!! but probably not. [with the current minimums were looking at 350.00 of a possible 4,000] but ya never know! I never thought i'd get this far in in the first place!

i blew it

i blew my no shopping comitment yesterday... and while i only got a couple of things, all on sale, i ended my blog. I learned a lot, but in the end... I found myself allowing some small shopping (3 tops)... to officially end it for me... I guess even though that project is over, I still really won't be shopping for clothes and the like... don't expect a shopping spree from yours truly... it won't happen.