Job Offer

I had a job interview yesterday. I think they are going to formally offer me the job, but I'm not sure if I want to leave my current situation.

I don't know how much money the new job will offer me, but I know that I would have substantially more to do there and have room to grow, with the potential to move up within the company. I really don't have that here. But here, I basically get paid to do whatever I want, as long as I man the front desk and answer the phones and greet the guests.

This is the conundrum.

My health insurance here is not expensive, but my coverage is not that great. My 401K match is better than what the new job is offering me. The health insurance there is more than twice what I pay now, but the coverage seems a lot more comprehensive. Less deductibles and an actual prescription cost coverage AND an FSA. None of which I have right now. Yes, I could, but I chose the lowest cost plan for a reason. To save myself the money. But I also have to pay for parking here. The parking is free at the new job. But I don't think the savings from the parking cost would make up the difference of the more expensive health insurance. And I'm not sure if Dental and Vision are included with the health coverage or not. I'm going to assume not.

This is stressing me out.

Although, I'm also stressed out by the fact that my cumulative balance in all of my accounts is less than $1000. It hasn't been this low in months. I did just spend $550 to get my brakes pretty much rebuilt and another $135 on my kitty cat to go to the vet.

Oh. The never-ending money woes that encompass my life. /sigh.

My Student Loans, A Neverending Story.

This is another one of those things that I really just need to "man-up" and deal with. My student loans.

I am one of the far-too-many Americans who are currently underemployed. I make a pithy amount of money. Terribly small considering the degree and amount of education I have. I hold two Bachelor's of Arts degrees in English and Anthropology and started my Master's of Arts degree in English a few years ago. Yes, I did drop out of the MA program, but it was simply to spare myself the oncoming mental breakdown that I saw myself crashing into. It was for the greater good of everyone in my life, really. And at that point, I had eradicated so many people that I probably should have just stuck it out and been friendless and alone with an MA.

As good as that sounds now, considering I am friendless and alone WITHOUT an MA, I think the impending mental breakdown would have been too much for me. But, the reality is this, I am edumacated. I have gottens my schooling. And for what, really?

I work as a receptionist at a national brokerage. This in no way fits my highly liberal arts education of English and Anthropology. I make way less money than the average college/university graduate does. The qualifications for my job only require that you be a high school graduate with reception experience. I could have gotten this job at 19. And yet, here I sit, at 27 with 2 college degrees. This seems wrong. And probably is. Thanks American recession!

The real point of this post, and I'm posting a lot today, is that my student loans are due. They actually WERE due 3 months ago. I had them in forbearance last year since I didn't make any money the year before. I didn't make 10,000 total in 2010. It was much less than that. Last year, my finances were only double what I made the year before, and the total was still less than 20,000 gross.

Well apparently, I am 1000 past due to one of my student loan lenders. At this point, I have 3. I know, it is my job to keep up with exactly when my student loans are due and take care of them accordingly, but dammit, I am a normal American. I forget things like this when I haven't paid them for over a year. And yes, I should have been paying at least something towards them, to knock the interest down a bit, but I have not had the extra money. And maybe I have. I don't know. I'm terrible with finances. That is one of my goals this year. To get a better handle on these little fiscal responsibilities.

I scheduled a payment of 100.00 to go through on the 18th, which serves to eradicate the 1000 I'm overdue and put my account into forbearance, once again, until March 2013. I need to start auto-paying 50.00 a month to this lender at least. It'll help get the principal down while the government (wonderful entity that they are) is paying my interest.

And I need to stop spending so much money on useless trinkets and booze. I feel like this has become my life. And books. I also like books.

The 401K and I: A Love/Hate Story

I currently invest in a 401K account with a complete 3% match by my employer, followed by a 50% match of the next 2%. This is not a great matching plan, but it's better than no match, or not being offered a retirement plan at all. This I like.

What I don't like is when I somehow manage to blow an extra $200 *cough*last month*cough*. Now I have to transfer what little money I put into my savings account back into my checking account. Just $100. Not nearly the $150 I was striving for originally, but now I guess I'm glad. Sort of.

Anyways, my new plan acts as sort of a punishment and a reward for myself, if that can make any sense whatsoever. Anytime I spend all of my extra money unnecessarily, I am going to up my 401K contribution by 1%. This is something like 7.00 each pay period. I figure if I can afford to spend $200 on god-knows-what, then I can afford to save an extra 7 dollars for my retirement. 15 dollars extra each month, or thereabout. It fluctuates depending on how many hours I work and how much overtime is on my check, but the average is the same.

Right now I have $490 in my retirement fund with Vanguard. I've only been funding it since January and no, I do not make a ton of money. But I live within my means, most of the time. I survive on what little I have and generally don't go waste a bunch of money on useless trinkets. We all have our bad days occasionally though. I just need to learn to keep them in check.

So, for now, Mr. 401K sits at a whopping 7% pre-tax contribution. Up from the 6% it's been at since February. He and I are going to be friends for a long time, I hope.

Busy Day Is Busy...

March has officially started and you know what that means.. Spring will be here soon. Well, sort of. I live in Tennessee, where we never really have an officially colder than cold winter season. It has been spring-like here for about a month already. People are breaking out their spring clothes and it makes me want to go shopping.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love winter and winter clothes. I mean, I AM the girl who owns at least 3 pea coats, a trench coat and a leather coat with fur trim, but I can't help myself when I see all the awesome mint colored things that are popping up everywhere.

But, since I am a former retail worker that hates shopping, this sudden need for shiny things will not be satiated. I will continue to look at stuff on Zappos and Asos, but I will not purchase. Thrift store shopping is more my style anyway.

But, I do have a few BIG purchases/spending days planned. I am getting my car worked on this weekend. I have crossed the great threshold of 100K miles in my poor car and it's time for a check-up and maintenance. That won't be too expensive, I hope. I know that the transmission needs to be looked at and the coolant needs a flush, and maybe an oil change by then too. We'll see.

I am also driving to St. Louis next Friday for Radiohead! I am excited, since it's the first real "road trip" I've been on in what feels like forever. It's about 5 hours from here to there, so it'll be costly in gas and other random stuffs. But I have saved my $100 Rent.com gift card to help offset the cost of gas (I'm still totally buying the new iPhone, I'm just waiting for a bit on that.) and I still have my $10 Subway gift card from Christmas for lunch on the road. I think I have a $4 Starbucks gift card leftover from Christmas as well. It was originally $20 but I've used it a few times already.

I also have a new kitten! Lilly Moscovitz is almost a year old and yes, she came with that name. She's cute and fiesty and Mr. Zap really doesn't care much for her, but in his typical way of dealing, he mostly ignores her. He just can't be bothered. That's why he's my baby. Although the little hellion (Mr. Zap, not Lilly) did manage to scratch my eyelid last night while I was sleeping. He is a pillow thief, which is usually not a problem. Well, last night, he jumped over my head and misjudged a bit, dragging his back claw across my left eyelid. It woke me up. It still hurts, but it's not noticeable at all. Thank God.

And since I guess I'm supposed to recap my spending, or something, I definitely spent more money last month than I should have. Fast food and grocery stores are still my weakness. And Target. That place is like a sinkhole. I can't go in there and NOT leave with five extra things that were cute or on sale that I do not need. It's impossible. Must learn to stay out of Target.

And since I made almost 50 transactions on my debit card last month, I'm going to try something different. Limiting my transactions to 30 a month. If I can do this, it may help me spend less on fast food or Redbox or other unnecessary things that are only a dollar or two here and there. They add up fast. I know, I know. I would have so much more money if I didn't eat Arby's or rent from Redbox once a week, but sometimes I just want to get out of my house or out of the office. I may renew my Netflix, but I'm still thinking on that one.

Stupid Things I've Done This Week

Well, since I don't really have any fiscal or financial updates to talk about AND I haven't read a book in far too long, I'm going to tell you all about the many stupid things I've managed to do this week. And they are quite dumb, I'm not going to lie.

Stupid Thing #1: Not eating breakfast before the dentist.

I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 9 am on Monday to get the first of my fillings. Not a big deal normally, but when you do not eat breakfast before the dentist and they give you a lidocaine injection, it might does not end well. What should have been a 20 minute procedure took almost an hour due to me breaking out in hives and almost passing out in the dental chair. Both the tech and the dentist were a little freaked out by how quickly I blotched up and got dizzy. They made me lean back with the little alien oxygen nose mask on for what felt like forever. I finally felt better and about the time for the fillings to be completed, I started almost having a panic attack. I could not breathe and started getting dizzy again. This is a very awkward feeling when there are two peoples hands in your mouth and it's full of cotton balls. They were finally able to finish the first two of my five fillings and I sat in the chair for another 10 minutes waiting for the wobbly woozy feelings to pass. Then I paid my bill and drove myself home. STUPID. I should have made someone come get me. I made it home okay, but it was not a good idea, at all.

Stupid Thing #2: Lost my lip balm.

This actually occurred earlier in the week than the dentist, but I didn't find out until I got home from the dentist. I lost my Burt's Bees lip balm at some point over the weekend. I think I may have left it sitting on my desk at work, where the night cleaners probably found it and then threw it away. This is not a big deal, I know, but it's still almost 3.00 worth of lip balm that I just lost. This irritates me. One tube of that stuff lasts me several months and it's not cheap. Ugh. Good thing I bought the four pack last month. Now only three left to go.

Stupid Thing #3: Ordered AT&T U-verse internet package.

I don't have internet at home. I have been "borrowing" it from a neighbor, (or the bar across the street, I'm honestly not quite sure), for quite some time. Well, this connection is no longer available and it has made me sad beyond belief. This is because I have managed to become a TV junkie this year. I watch about three shows regularly and will watch about a dozen more if given the chance. The Walking Dead is the TV show I would watch if I was trapped on a desert island and could only watch one show. I am fine with not watching something the very day it comes out, but I need to watch it within the next day or two; otherwise, the office chatter will ruin it for me. Plus, The Walking Dead is awesome. And I think I have a secret crush on Shane. He is my favorite. I also watch Grimm. This show has quite a few people from the Buffy-verse attached to it, namely David Greenwalt. I loved Buffy and I love this show. I also started my MA in English with an emphasis on children's literature quite some time ago, which I WILL finish someday, so this show is right up my proverbial TV alley.

And while I am proclaiming all the greatness of the TV shows I have gotten myself addicted to, the downside of this new-found internet connection is that AT&T uses a proprietary modem, which they charge $100 for. This seems like a bit much for something that doesn't cost that much in the stores. AND I already own 2 modems. One for DSL (from about 800 years ago) and one for cable internet connection. Neither of these will work, apparently. So, they get my $100 for another modem to add to my collection. But the internet itself is only $20 a month and it will be included with my cell phone bill. This will put my total AT&T monthly charges somewhere around $110 including taxes and fees. I can handle that. I may regret this decision in the near future when gas prices rise above 4.00/gal, but right now I am okay with it.

Rent.com Visa Gift Card

I received an email from Rent.com. It was letting me know that I should be receiving a $100 Visa gift card in the mail within the next two weeks! That's very exciting since I signed my lease over five months ago and had completely forgotten about the Rent.com bonus.

Now the question is what should I buy with it?

I know that I should be more financially responsible with that and use the money to pay a bill or buy something I need with it, but I am of the camp that says "found" money should go to something fun. I am already budgeting for groceries and bills. This extra money will give me an opportunity to buy something I really want but don't necessarily need.

But there are too many choices....

1. I want a new purse. I am a purse girl at heart. I know that I have too many that I don't use already, but it's time for an upgrade. There is one at Zappos I have been obsessing over for a while now. This Lucky Brand leather crossbody bag is almost perfect for me. It's a little out of my price range, even on sale, but I do love it so. With the gift card, I would only be spending around $50 out of pocket, which is where I usually limit my spending on accessories. A nice leather bag will last me years longer than some cheap bag from Target, where I tend to get my purse cravings satisfied.

2. I also need a new phone and have been eying the iPhone 4S for quite some time now. My iPhone is 2 years old and I have somehow managed to crack the bottom plastic where the usb port is. It still works, but you can tell it is old. Plus I use my phone as my digital camera, like most people with a smartphone, so this will be like a double upgrade for me. I get a better camera built into my new phone. Even with the $100 gift card, it will still cost me $100 out of pocket, plus upgrade fees on my next bill. My iPhone is my only source of internet and how I connect to the rest of the world when I am at home. I know I could get a cheaper phone and lower my monthly plan, but I do love my iPhone.

And I also know that I shouldn't count my proverbial chickens before they hatch, so I will not go out and buy anything while I technically cannot still afford it. I will wait for the gift card to arrive.

What to do?

I am still waiting on my income tax return to arrive as well. It is scheduled to be deposited by Feb. 28. I am excited. That means I can get my car fixed before my St. Louis Radiohead trip!

Spending Update

I want to try something new today. I want to do a spending update for my finances this month and see if I'm on track with my saving and other goals.

February Spending Log:

02/01 - Transfer from checking to savings (Pizza Hut Refund from the thievery. I had already taken the 10.00 difference out of my checking so I decided to not add it back into my records) 7.00

02/02 - Gas 29.56

02/03 - Payday = Deposit

02/03 - Rent Due (paid in full)

02/03 - Transfer from checking to savings (autodraft) 50.00

02/03 - Arby's (YES I KNOW) 5.34

02/04 - NO SPEND

02/05 - Wal-Mart (tortilla chips) 2.16

02/05 - Redbox (Super 8 & Contagion) 2.62

02/05 - McDonald's (YES I KNOW) 3.28

02/05 - Kroger (groceries!) 34.82

02/06 - Redbox (Forgot to return the movies b/c of the Mischief ordeal) 2.62

02/06 - check finally cleared for the cafe in the building (lunch at some point last week) 5.12

02/06 - Mapco (Lee gas) 15.01

I know that I could have done without some of the expenses. Arby's on Friday, for example. I had absolutely no groceries in my house and was starving. The Arby's is right next door and while I could have spent less money, I got the few things I like from there. McDonald's could also have been avoided, but I was hungry and we were out shopping and getting movies from Redbox so I went in and got lunch.

The Redbox late fee was definitely avoidable but due to the circumstances of the day, there was no way we were remembering to return the movies on time. I'll eat 3.00 to know that I watched my cat die in peace rather than try to return a movie on time and miss out on happy Mischief moments.

I paid for Lee's gas on Monday since he drove us to Manchester and back for the Mischief passing. I told him I would since I didn't have to drive.

So far that's everything that has posted to my account.

02/06 - Mapco (more Lee gas) 11.12

02/09 - gas (filled up my car) 33.60

So far I think I've been doing fairly well. There are a few minor things that could have been avoided, but they are less than $15 in the whole scheme of things. As long as I can keep myself on track for the rest of this short month, I should come out on top of things. And hopefully boost my savings account a few extra dollars.

I am also still waiting for my income tax refund to show up in my checking account. The majority of that is already earmarked for savings account (at least 330) and to get some car work/repairs done. I am over 100K miles and haven't had a tune-up/required maintenance done in some time. It's time for that before my car explodes with me in it.

Tax Time!

I was supposed to do yoga last night. I started out the month quite well, doing yoga twice this week already. My goal is to do some form of exercise three times a week. I just so happen to enjoy yoga and it is a simple routine I can fall into quite easily. BUT...

Yoga did not happen last night because I was too busy filing my taxes.

The last of my four W2's showed up in the mail yesterday and after I did my happy, I-can-finally-file-my-taxes dance, I sat down in front of the computer.

I lived in Alabama for part of the year last year. From January to half-way through August, I was staying in the armpit of America. My feelings towards the state haven't changed much since I lived there. I still loathe it. One of the reasons is because Alabama has a state income tax. Tennessee does not. I am legally a Tennessee resident and have been since I was born. This is where the problems started.

I filled out my federal return online. I do my own taxes every year since it's really not that difficult. My deductions are never more than the federal allotment, so it doesn't make sense for me to itemize things that will cause me to receive LESS money than the government would give me otherwise. And yes, I do know that I shouldn't be getting any money back, AT ALL, at the end of the year, but I know myself. I can use the money more efficiently by getting it back in a lump sum rather than making an extra 6.00 every week or whatever it ends up being.

The final sum that I should receive back this year is $1123! Very exciting.

Now what to do with the money.

And also, filing my Alabama state return is going to be painful. Even though Alabama's revenue website has all this flashy crap all over it about "filing your taxes for free through one of these websites," as a nonresident, I have to print a specific form, fill it out, mail it to Montgomery and wait for the illiterate masses in the office down there to get around to sending my refund check of 25 dollars. Yes. That's it. 25 whole dollars. Despite the fact that I am not, nor have I been a legal resident of the state of Alabama. And they withheld much much more than that from me in taxes last year. First world problems, I know. But dang. It hurts the soul to know that some place so freaking backwards can continue to cause me so much rage. Alabama is continuing to find ways to make me want to napalm it. It is the bane of my existence.

In Which I Talk About 401K's

I am older than I feel most days and one day I will be even older still.

I am 27 years old. I will be 28 this year. Somehow this does not feel true. I don't feel like it's been 10 years since I graduated from high school, or 2 years since I left college (I graduated in 2009 with 2 BA's after 6 years of school with a year off in the middle).

I do know that I am not going to get any younger and that time machines probably won't be invented in my lifetime, so I should start planning for my retirement now.

Actually, according to the financial blogs and advice columns I read almost daily, I probably should have started planning for it 10 years ago when I got my first job. But I didn't.

The earlier you start, the better off you will be. They all like to harp on this idea. It really boils down to the magic of compound interest. And I get it. I really do. I may be an English kid and not have a math friendly brain, but I get it.

The job I have now offers 401K contributions with a limited matching plan. They will do a full match of the first 2 percent of my contributions and half of the next 3 percent I contribute. Confused yet? It's not too hard.

They will put money equaling the first 2 percent of my pay into my account, as long as I put it into a company 401k. They will then give me half of the next 3 percent of my pay. It's like free money. My contributions are also pre-tax income, so they lower my taxable wages, saving me money every pay period as well.

Anything after that first 5 percent match is at my own discretion. They will not match anything above that, but I am free to contribute up to 50 percent of my entire pre-tax pay. Which still wouldn't net me the yearly limit on 401k contributions, but it's a nice thought. I don't make that much money. Nor could I live on only 50 percent of my paychecks. They are small enough as it is.

This is why changing my contributions from 5 percent (where I had been since December) to 6 percent only raises my biweekly contribution a whole 9 dollars. I can live without an extra 9.00 every two weeks. I probably waste more than that on fast food or spilling it out the side of my car when I failed to notice the auto shut-off on the gas pump had not shut off (much like I did Tuesday morning before work).

I think by taking out 10.00 (okay, so I'm rounding up here. It'll probably only be like 9.60 every 2 weeks but whatev) every 2 weeks and investing in my ability to age and not die before I hit the preferred retirement age, I am doing myself a favor. I am also not allowing myself to spend that 10.00 on things I don't need, like lunch at Arby's or more books for my vast and constantly expanding library.

I am already used to making a certain amount of money every two weeks anyway. My paychecks don't deviate too much. A few dollars here and there but nothing to really fret over. When the new year rolled over, my health insurance deductions went down because I switched to a lower cost, higher deductible plan. I never get sick and I hardly go to the doctor. It makes more sense for me to pay 10.00 biweekly than 46.00 biweekly. The benefits are practically the same too, just more deductible and I think a minor coverage difference of 10 percent. With a little as I get sick, this makes the most financial sense to me. Now I can only hope that I don't suddenly need a new spleen because damn. That would suck. AND cost me a fortune.

WageWorks: Can we still be friends?

I work for a company that has it's Nashville office located inside an office building that we do not own. There is a parking garage attached to this office building that we park in everyday. This is not a free service that the owners of the building provide to their tenants. The parking garage is maintained by Central Parking, a parking corporation with offices and lots located pretty much anywhere there are cars. They are one of the largest parking providers in Nashville. For the privilege of parking in the garage at my place of employment every day, I have to pay a monthly parking fee of 35 dollars. This is not much compared to the 8.00 a day parking fee they charge other drivers. I have a card that scans me in and out of the garage whenever I come and go.

Parking payments are due, well.. yesterday. I forgot about the monthly switchover since I was not at my usual desk for 2 days this week. I was downstairs taking part in e-learning courses about such awesome topics as "Learning" and "Stress Management" and "Customer Service Confrontation and Conflict." They were excellent. Let me tell you. I have 8 years in customer service and I couldn't get half the questions correct on the tests for the conflict course because they wanted things in a certain order. I call cockamamie.

But yeah, parking payments are due like now. I am responsible for collecting the payments for the employees in our company. The building usually wants the payments by the 5th of every month, at the latest. Since that falls on a Sunday, the 6th will be sufficient. I am actually taking a half day off on Monday the 6th to go BACK to the dentist, but that is another entry entirely.

Some of the colleagues here, the ones that are actually employed by a different branch of the company than most, get their monthly parking payments paid by a company called WageWorks. It is a nice service. They send a check every month for the amount of the parking payment and it is all taken directly from their pre-tax income. Now, the company I ACTUALLY work for, also offers WageWorks enrollment. I decided to take advantage of this, you know, since it is offered to me as one of the perks of my employment. I am all for pre-tax deductions. Anything that can lower my taxable income is golden in my book. So I went online, to their fancy website and enrolled myself using the guidelines set forth by my company. I clicked on the link to enroll as a new commuter needing parking payments set up. I didn't find my building listed within the payment options, so I clicked the happy button to add my building manually. I typed everything in. I made sure all the information was correct, double checked it against the WageWorks checks I have sitting here, on my desk, that were sent for this months parking for about half the employees at the office. The website refused to let me go any further than the "add your parking information" page. So I tried changing some things, using every line, putting the Suite information on that second line in the address section that no one ever uses. Nothing would satisfy this infernal website. So I did what every good customer does when something pisses me off. I called the customer service hotline.

I went through all the options in the automated calling system. I clicked the button for English. I punched the buttons for my birthdate, zip code, and social security number. I spelled out my name and address (because both of those things are not spelled correctly according to 98 percent of the world. THANKS MOM.)

The customer service lady asked me if I had tried to use the website. Well, yes, actually. ABOUT 12 TIMES. Which is why I called you.

So she manually added the parking garage and building address to their system, with me spelling out every single word because my fast talking and my southern accent make me hard to understand when I'm frustrated. I get it. I obliged. I have been there, lady on the other end of the phone. I feel your pain. But I just want to use your service like I was told I could 6 months ago when I started this job but I haven't needed to until now because I was carpooling until last week and then my carpool moved an hour away to an entirely different side of town and now I have to drive myself into work everyday BY MYSELF and dude, I just want to get this done now so I don't have to write a check every month because I know myself and I will forget and my checks still have my Alabama address on them and I haven't lived THERE since August of last year. Phew.

We get through all the address typing and double checking and I think we are good when she asks me if I know the account number for my building. No. I don't. Let me check the other WageWorks checks I have sitting right here. There isn't one listed.
Well, it must not exist in our system if there is no account number. There's nothing I can do.
I have checks sitting right here from your company. I know you can send them to me because you already have. See the conundrum here? So do I.
They insisted that they couldn't sign me up for the service since there was no account number and I'm obviously making this all up. Yes. Please take my 35.00 out of my paycheck for some imaginary parking privilege. That's EXACTLY what I want.

They finally figured out how to get the checks sent to my building and all is well in the land of parking. Except that it won't start until March. I still have to write a check for this month. I mean, I should have expected that. Parking was due yesterday and I am a bit forgetful when I'm off doing other stuff, but man. All that trouble for a single check.

I wonder how much money it's going to save me in taxes.

No Food February

I almost forgot to mention the most important thing I have decided to do with my finances (and health) this month.

NO FOOD FEBRUARY!

No. I will not be starving myself this month. I guess I should retitle it. "No FAST Food February." Here's the plan: What I will be doing is buying more groceries and less fast food/delivery food. I spent entirely too much money last month on things like Chinese, pizza, and sandwiches from the cafe at work; that it's nauseating to think about.

[Image from here.]
I haven't decided if I should include alcohol in this spending ban or not. I typically only buy 1 bottle of liquor at a time, a bottle of Jack Daniels. Said bottle usually lasts a month. Sometimes I'll splurge on beer, something along the lines of a 6-pack of nut brown ale from Blackstone Brewery, it's literally across the street from the building I work in. It's a good beer and fairly inexpensive, in my beer snob eyes. Okay, it's 10.00 for a 6-pack, I'll be honest. Not PBR cheap, but I can't do that to myself. I have standards, even if I also have a budget. Plus my beer snobbery keeps me from drinking tons of the cheap stuff and gaining a beer belly. This is how I stay trim. By drinking not-cheap beer. There's logic in there somewhere. I know it.

But, this is my plan. No fast food/delivery food. I just want to see how much money I can save by making my own food and taking it to work as lunches. This is my biggest weakness, eating out every day at work. It's terrible. But if last month's finances are any indication of what I could potentially save by NOT spending excess money on food, I'll have about half my emergency fund saved in a little under 3 months. That's awesome (and sad that I didn't realize that before now.)

First Post Party!

This is my first post! Or as I like to call it, the day after the day after the beginning of the rest of my life. (Happy New Year!)

All good new years start with resolutions, don't they? I think I heard that once.
Because if you've got nothing you want to change, there's probably something wrong with you that you just don't know about yet. Or something like that.

This year I've decided to tackle my finances head on. This may not end well and in reality it may look more like a bear wrestling match than anything else, with me representing the not-bear side of this contest. But I feel like I should at least try. My mother always said you can't jump off that bridge with all your friends if you don't put one foot in front of the other. So here's to leaping!

I want to do a number of different things here. I want to chronicle ALL my spending. And by ALL, I do mean every single tiny penny that goes from my hand into the coffers of someone else. Lunch purchases, Target necessities, vending machine dollar bills that I don't think matter but in the whole scheme of things add up to a whole lot more when you're talking about 3 or 4 sodas a week plus those awesome potato skins that aren't enough food to last 10 seconds once they're open.

I want to try to pay down some of my debt. I have approximately $51,000 in student loans, spread out over 2 companies with 10 different loans. Plus I have a few other minor bills that don't total nearly that, but I would like to eradicate them as well.

I have other bills to pay every month. Living expenses, if you will. Rent, Utilities, Cell Phone, Gas, Food, Insurances, Parking. And they all deserve capital letters because they are all non-negotiable.

I don't pay for internet and I don't pay for a lot of other extraneous expenses. The state of my closet can definitely attest to that and my DVD collection is looking kind of worse for wear. At this point though, I could stand to get rid of some of the stuff I don't use in favor of things I will. But first, we must figure out where the money goes before I can spend it on stuff I want and don't really need.

I can't promise that I won't write about a slew of other things here besides money and finances. I will at least try to limit those posts to a minimum.

I also have other goals/resolutions for this year. They include such things as:
1. Read 100 books this year
2. Try at least 1 new recipe a week
3. Write a novel

Well, I have rambled enough for now.