Reality Check in a Good Way

I made the statement today, twice in fact, that I have put over $9k in my savings account during the last year. That's about a quarter of my income too. I didn't realize the impact of my statement until I said it the second time, and mentally added that I was also debt free.* I'm stunning myself with my own progress, even though I make mistakes and wobble from time to time. $9k saved in a year is a Lot. Of. Money! Unfortunately, not all that money is still in my savings account. 2.76k went to pay off a credit card, but it earned a wee bit of interest before it did that. Another 3.26k has gone to specific kid expenses (for which I had planned and put money into savings).

Wow... I needed this kind of reality check. I get frustrated now and then with my guilt about lack of self-control over unplanned purchases, regardless of how small. And the near-constant penny pinching, while sometimes an enjoyable creative challenge, also has a tendency to wear me down. I mean, there are days I just wanna spend it ALL... and still restrain myself. So it's been eye-opening (ear-opening?) to hear those words hang in the air and know what they really mean. It gives my lunchtime PBJ and apple new grandeur, frankly.

Now... if I can just see some wonderful things in the arenas of weight-loss and smoking, I'll be feeling like a sexy wealthy healthy hot chick... instead of just a wealthy chick. I want it all!

Now... for the reason we're all here:

Monday's Wallet

• $34.99 online dating
• 7.38 smokes

Yes, I'm pathetic, please don't rub it in. I agreed with myself to try this dating site for one month and if I have some success I'll get a cheaper/month and longer subscription. At the moment though, I'm thinking that won't be the case. It's only been about a week that I've been a subscriber and already I find myself getting anxious about the lack of success. One plus is that I've made a new friend. One guy that cropped up happens to work for the same folks I do, though in a different department and building. He rejected me SO sweetly, that I can't help but have more respect for him, so I asked if we could be friends. There's an honest to goodness chance that I'll run into him somewhere on campus and wouldn't that be awkward if I had said mean things to him after his gentle and polite no-thank-you?

Tuesday's Wallet

• $2.?? Chocolate dessert

I almost didn't remember this purchase... and it wasn't worth it, frankly. Sure was pretty though. Chocolate crust, chocolate cheesecake, whipped cream, and chocolate icing, each layered very neatly and served ... in the round? It was a column o' goodness anyway. I should have taken a picture, I guess. *Debt free: Not completely true. I currently have a $400 balance on one credit card and about $2,500 left on my car. Both will be completely paid off by September 11, 2009.

Guilt-laden Spending

I opted to skip posting on Sunday, plus we stayed pretty busy all day. I think I will just keep it a regular thing to NOT post on Sundays, saving the day for myself, my girls, and church. In the meantime, I've spent lots of money on mostly good things. Saturday turned out to be a non-spending day. I'd been thinking about that for Friday, but it just didn't work out, so I did finally get one in. Well, sort of. I wrote checks and paid some bills:

• $36.04 cell phone bill
• $50.00 church donation
• $63.00 May lunch allowance
• $188.46 transfer to savings
• $140.00 CC payment

All these are normal and expected expenses. The church thing increases by $5.00 on a monthly basis because I'm trying to move it up somewhere closer to an actual "tithe". In a perfect world, I won't have a CC payment, and the savings amount will be higher. Once I've got the last CC knocked out, my goal is to keep it that way.

Sunday was a little worse. We went grocery shopping, and that actually turned out better than I had planned, but we also went to Walmart... for one thing... and ended up with several things. Of course, I justified each extra purchase, but it still could put me in the red at the end of the month. AND we went to lunch after church, but I had a gift card which I earned with my blood (very literally, I'm a platelet donor), and while the card was in my wallet, I'm not counting it as spending of any sort.

• $152.40 groceries (2 weeks)
• $62.01 random WM crap

The WM stuff bugs me, though I know each item will be useful, enjoyable, and/or make me smile.

• Picture frame for the soccer pics I ordered. It looks great makes me smile already. Think how I'll feel about it in 10 years when they're grown!
• Packing tape and dispenser. I'm moving in 5 weeks, so this is a definite necessity. We had one from our last move (14 years ago!), but the tape was ... old and gross and the dispenser rusted and cranky.
• Plastic boxes with lids. One for each of us to keep our random photos and, for the girls, school certificates. I've been looking for the appropriate size for these for a long while now. Having been a purchase I've thought about for a long time, I feel a lot less guilty about it.
• Black Sharpies. For marking moving boxes. I've been thinking about this one for a few weeks as well.
• One reusable "green" grocery sack. I've decided to hop on the bandwagon with these, but I'll do it one bag at a time. $1.00.
• 8x10 photo of BG. This is for the school play and was the reason I went to WM to begin with.
• V-neck tees and sweatpants. These were for LG, and I'll pay myself back for them from the savings I have for their clothing allowance.

As I talk about each item I feel good about them, until it comes time to look at the entire bill and put it into the checkbook register, then I feel guilty again. Ah well... it's not like I bought a pair of Jimmy Choo's or anything, I really have to give myself SOME credit.

hh.

First Weekend Post

Welcome to the first weekend post of Diary of a Wallet. I wish I could say I had a structure in mind for this, but I really don't, and honestly, I'm rarely even AT the computer on the weekends, so unless I get myself organized (hah!) and write in advance, it's unlikely that there will be many weekend postings. However, I wanted to get caught up and account for myself for the last two days' worth of spending, regardless. Thursday's Wallet

• $25.38 gasoline

This particular purchase was fraught with ... difficulty and I'm much less likely to fill up at that particular station in the near future, where I had been using it pretty regularly. It's usually got some of the lowest gas prices in the part of town which is a big plus, but it's an unattended station which can have it's drawbacks as you shall see.

I pulled up on the right side of the eastern most pump, #6. There was a woman on the opposite side using pump #7. Plunked my card in, selected the correct pump # and the display informed me it was already in use. Huh? No, I can see quite clearly that it's not: my car is next to it, the pump handle is in it's cradle, no liquid issues forth. I tried a couple times more with the same result. So I waited for the lady at #7 to finish thinking the computer was confused, but no. Same result after she had cradled her handle. After she left, I pulled around to the other side and had success... only it was going sooooo slowly. It took probably 5 minutes to fill my wee little 15 gallon tank which was indeed dang near empty. It was slow enough not to trigger the handle shut-off when my tank was full, so I got to pay for the gas spilt on the ground as well. Fortunately, I caught that fairly quickly and, as I said, it was really slow, so there just wasn't much spillage. THEN, there was no receipt printed. PLUS, I had broken a nail when I yanked the handle out of my tank. Computer error, no receipt, overfill, and broken nail. No, I wasn't a happy camper when I left, but at least I left with a full tank.

The better news? That's ALL I spent Thursday, go me!

I was actually shooting for a Zero Spending day on Friday, and I did get close, but:

Friday's Wallet

• $4.00 B&T for a BLT
• $2.00 beer

BG and her boyfriend had intended to go to a drive-in movie last night, but for whatever reason, they chose not to and came home instead, which was cool; I like spending time with them. However, I hadn't planned on fixing supper, as LG was with her dad for the night, and I'd expected BG to be out for the evening. Thus, I had nothing defrosted to prepare for them. BG can be pretty picky about her meals and isn't a big fan of sammich meats which we did have on hand so she got the notion in her head for a BLT which was a fabulous idea. The two pounds of Blue & Gold bacon I bought from someone's fundraiser was still in the freezer, and we only had one wee little roma tomato, so they went to the grocery store to pick up those things. I gave them the last $6 cash I had in my wallet and got $2 back.

By the time she got all the bacon fried up, my ride had arrived. The Niece and her boyfriend, T1 (of T&T) and I were set to go hear our favorite band play in the next town over. I contributed my remaining $2 to the beer pot and proceded to mooch from my friends the rest of the evening. Thank goodness they love me! I do try to pitch in now and then, but it never feels enough, in either frequency or quantity, to balance out how well my friends take care of me. The boyfriend, JH, got to jam with the band, I got to sing backup on my fave song, and shared some really... innuendo laden moments with two of the guys from the band. Rare for them to be quite that friendly with me, as they're both married, but it was fun and all innocent, and nobody went home with anyone they weren't supposed to.

Some days lately, I really despise being single, and other days I relish it. If I could actually go on a date in the near future, it might be less despicable. Yes, I'd like to play the field for a while, but it appears to be all rained out.

And now I have an oven to go clean, joy.

hh.

Anti-Procrastion

Today I found this:

• What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
• What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
• What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
• What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?

at My Super-Charged Life, a blog about living life to the fullest, and I wanted to keep it and share it. So I did. This is the kind of thing I need to remember when I'm procrastinating as I am so often wont to do. Keeping these kinds of questions in mind might help me do better at helping other people as well. I guess this is mostly a note to myself, but I wanted others to have an opportunity to enjoy it as well. hh.

Goal and a Payday

Wallet Expenses

• $1.08 Bagel
• $0.80 Garlic toast
• $7.38 Smokes
• $8.07 Groceries

And today is payday!! As a state employee, I get paid once a month on the last weekday of the month. This makes month long budgeting an absolute necessity, but I still suck at it. So long as I have a positive balance in my checking account at the end of every month, I feel okay. Last month I got down to $12.36, and I didn’t like it much. Heck, I freak out when I see that my bank balance dips below $1,000 (which it does every month, so I don’t know why I’m surprised).

Yesterday may be the last time I buy a bagel from the grill in the morning. I brought an apple and a V8 from home this morning and together they were very filling, lower in bad stuff, higher in good stuff, and cheaper. I’m not seeing any lose to losing the bagel and if I really want a bagel, I can always go get one. Okay, I can see one lose. The guys that run the grill depend on people purchasing food there for their livelihood… But I have to remind myself that I alone am not responsible for whether or not they make or break at the end of each month. But they are kind of my friends! And I’m still not responsible for them… am I? That $1.08 over the course of a month is over $20 I could be either saving or spending elsewhere. Over a year, that’s over $250!! Dang, whoever thought it was possible to spend $250 on bagels for one? Yikes! Yes, I could be buying my bagels from the store and toasting them at home myself, but I’ve not managed to wake early enough to do this on a consistent basis. That’s something else I’m working on, waking earlier in the morning.

The grocery expense yesterday: I really hate doing this, but I went to the store mid-week. I baked taters last night to go with supper and we didn’t have sour cream. A total travesty, I know. While there, I thought it would be nice to have cheese and green onions on the taters as well, and we were out of creamy peanut butter. So I picked up those four things. Currently, that $8.07 was involved in feeding the three of us for supper last night, and me for lunch today, and it still has a long ways to go! We haven’t even touched the PB yet, and there’s still plenty left of each of the other three items as well.

One of these days, I hope to be able to post that I’ve spent NOTHING over the course of a day… maybe that should be a goal and not just a wish. Okay, new goal. I would like to have at least ONE DAY during the upcoming month of May during which I do not spend a cent.

Yay for goals!

The Problem Expense

During the course of my personal finance journey thus far, I've identified two problem spending areas for me. These are the areas in which I KNOW I should spend less, but continue, almost every month to go overboard. Curiously enough, these are also two of my biggest stumbling blocks to better health. Both showed up in yesterday's wallet contents*, and one shows up again today. The most expensive of my two bad habits is dining out. I'm good about breakfast; spending money on breakfast is --well, I was about to say non-existant, but it occurs to me I spend $1.08 almost every morning on a bagel with cream cheese from the grill in our building, however, I already have that money set aside in the form of a "lunch allowance". At the beginning of every month I cash a check for $3/weekday. This money goes in an envelope in one of my desk drawers and can then be used for any of my work day expenses, be it breakfast, lunch, snack, or a spare coke. My almost-daily bagel comes out of this. Otherwise, it's a V8 brought from home, or a glass of OJ at home. But back to dining out. Last night after the last home soccer game of the season, of course we ate out again. Actually we picked up Bueno on the way home and ate together at the table, so the good part is it still involved family interaction. The funny part? BG is the one that wanted Bueno. A month ago she would have strongly balked at the suggestion, but LG and I finally talked her into just trying it and now she loves it! Who knew a seventeen year old girl could actually CHANGE? The other expense that's kicking my butt and my health? The smokes. I didn't buy any yesterday, but I'm out now, and will probably pick up a couple packs on the way home. I am kind of proud that I've switched from one of the big brands to a local brand that's free of additives (or so they claim), however, I need that not to be an excuse or a pat on the back. I still need to quit. Wallet Expenses

• $16.22 Taco Bueno receipt

Non-wallet Expenses

• $5.00 cash
• $179.50 Insurance
• $1.88 work day food

I forgot about the cash expense. BG's boyfriend came to the soccer game last night, but didn't have any cash to pay his way in. I actually did have cash for a change, so I paid his $3 entry fee and then gave him the remaining $2 to buy a drink. I don't feel bad about this for a couple reasons: 1) he never asks me for anything in the way of money, and 2) I'm rarely able to do even little things like this for people I like. I definitely don't feel like it's a case of me being an overindulgent sucker parent, nor of him being a whiney broke teenager. This was still money left over from my Arts Festival cash, so I feel even less bad about it than I might otherwise.

The car insurance payment left the bank today, but this was expected. I love automatic withdrawals, and even better, I love the emails I get alerting me they're going to happen!

From the work-lunch envelope I spent $1.08 on my morning bagel, and then $0.80 on two slices of garlic toast to go with the leftover balsamic chicken I'd brought for lunch yesterday.

Totaly spending for yesterday: $202.60. Planned expeneses: $181.38 Unplanned expenses: $21.22

Eh, not too bad, but I can do better.

hh.

*Yesterday's wallet contents included receipts from several days back.

Opening the Wallet

Welcome to Diary of a Wallet! My name is Hannah and I'll be trying to take a daily tour through my wallet, checkbook and Quicken accounts included, to track my spending, allowing the world to see where I'm frugal, where I'm not, and where I go overboard in any one direction. What's my goal here? Well, I'd like to share my spending habits for two purposes: 1) maybe, just maybe, someone else who is also trying to save money and get (or stay) out of debt will find something worthwhile they can take away, be it an idea, a bit of inspiration, or even a good laugh; 2) I'll have a public forum in which to tell ALL (it's a diary after all) of what I'm doing financially, and readers will have the opportunity to tell me where I've gone wrong and where I've gone right. Why am I doing this? I want to find like-minded people, those of us that want to be debt free, that want to have wads of cash in savings, and fat investment accounts but still have trouble sticking by the decisions we know are the right ones. Who am I? I'm nobody, really. I don't have a degree in finance or economics, or at all for that matter. I'm a divorced mother of two teenaged daughters, trying like heck to make it all work for me and them. I work full time and try to keep up with their lives, while rebuilding my own after divorce. Why should you care? Really, there is no reason, unless you WANT to hear about someone else's wallet. So... stick around... come back tomorrow... maybe we can start a good conversation. Oh sorry. Maybe you want to know what's in the wallet today, huh. $10 cash 1 debit card Receipts for:

• $34.98 Dinner out
• $11.65 Smokes
• $102.00 Fillings for me and LG (LG is my youngest daughter)
• $100.00 Cash for the recent Arts Festival (this was a planned expense)
• $ 22.11 Gasoline

There are some other money things I want to share, but for today, opening day, we'll start with the contents of the wallet itself and move on in time.

Dinner out... I probably shouldn't have done that one, or I shouldn't have done it to quite that extent. But allow me to explain: there was this soccer game see, and the girls went into OT, and then on to Penalty Kicks to determine the game. (Sadly after all that time and effort, they still lost.) By the time they were finished, all three of us were hungry and I offered dinner out, knowing I didn't have anything planned to cook at home. I was originally thinking about McDucks or Rareby's but then BG suggested Panera... well, I'm not a huge fan of Panera, and it was a little higher up the price spectrum than I really wanted to go... so I suggested Pops. It's a one of a kind place and a fun little treat when we're up that way and we were maybe 2-3 miles away at the time. The really sad thing? We've been there twice, and I've yet to be impressed with the food.

Smokes: Yeah, I know there are savings galore to be had here if I'll only quit! The better news? I'm at half the daily consumption now that I was during 2008, so I AM working on it. You'll have opportunities to yell at me for it later!

Fillings: I'll see a portion of this money back as the Ex is required by the decree (and has complied thus far) to pay about 2/3 of any of LG's medical (and a few other) expenses.

Cash: A couple years ago I decided I was tired of going to community events and not having anything to spend, even to the point of picking the really cheap food and still feeling guilty about the $20-30 I had begrudgingly spent. So I planned ahead. I use Quicken's calendar feature to plan my expenses in advance, so last year, I put in a $100 expense for the Arts Festival, as well as one for the Medieval Faire, and one for the State Fair. I won't have loads to spend, but the girls and I can eat and drink without guilt about what it's doing to my finances, and maybe even get a souvenir* of some sort.

Gasoline: Self-explanatory, plus I'm not ready to ride the bus yet.

So that's it. Oh, the $10 cash is actually leftover from that $100 AF, so I'm stretching it out a while. And the debit card garners 1 point/$2 spent via signature transactions (aka use it like a credit card).

I think that's enough for today, but we'll talk more later, okay?

hh

*I'm not a big fan of souvenirs, particularly as they're usually just stuff that will grow dust later, but something like a henna tattoo or an addition to a collection work well as souvenirs too.