Save money

This month I made $1,271.71 and spent $990.71.

$96 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$256 – groceries
$34 – food out
$34 – alcohol
$390 – rent/utilities
$36 – meds
$9 – entertainment

$34 – gifts
$20 – donations
$8 – school supplies
$5 – misc (needles & thread)

$69 – warrior dash registration

Savings is at $2000.
+ Summer fund at $2100.

Food out + alochol is a bit more than I’d like. Non-food groceries, I got to go to a different store than usual and was stocking up (because the grocery store by my house doesn’t usually have some of the stuff I like). I think I am well stocked up on that stuff for a long while though, and even on groceries for the most part (except fresh stuff) until I move.
There was yet another instance of my roommate fucking up the bills and discovering we hadn’t paid our internet bill in 3 months.
I happened to not have to refill my one prescription this month, so that was nice. I should only have to refill it in May and then hopefully never again.
Wooo Warrior Dash!

Next week I find out my grades, and whether I will still be employed or not. Fingers crossed. If they don’t kick me out, I have a couple of things I’m planning on buying for the summer… new hiking boots… tattoo… bunny…

This month I made $1,272.03 and spent $1,110.52 $1,060.52.

$35 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$248 – groceries
$55 – food out
$11 – alcohol
$318 – rent/utilities
$136 – meds
$9 – entertainment

$65 – (workout) clothes
$61 – running stuff (gu, bodyglide)
$50 – climbing trip
$15 – weights

$40 – doctor
$43 – gas
$16 – donation
$7 – misc

Savings is at $1800.
+ Summer fund is at $2100.
+ IRA has hit $1500.

Kind of a stupidly expensive month. I went out way too much (actually, mostly I ordered pizza way too much) and bought a bunch of stuff. I mean, it’s nice that I’m only buying exercise stuff, and I am using it all, but it’s still money that I probably shouldn’t be spending right now. It’d be even more but I had a gift card that I used to get stuff for my sister’s birthday (and another pair of shorts for me… because I don’t have enough workout gear already).

Paying for my meds is really throwing me for a loop. It’s just interfering with my strict planned savings schedule. It’ll be okay, but still, it’s annoying. Hopefully I’ll only be responsible for one more refill because in May the whole insurance thing will finally be sorted out. Or even if it’s not, I should be going off the $100 one around that time and just be left with the $30 one, which I’d be fine paying for without insurance.

And hopefully I’ll get paid this summer and the whole thing won’t matter at all because I’ll have all those summer savings dumped in my general fund (minus a bow that I really want to buy) and maybe I’ll stop being so crazy about money all the time (ha).

Mm. I also have to register for Warrior Dash soon. Life would be cheaper if I just sat around the house and ate McDonald’s. But I really wanted to go on this climbing trip, see…

UPDATE: My climbing trip got cancelled :(

This month I made $2,568.09 and spent $1,708.93.

$33 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$176 – groceries
$21 – food out
$3 – alcohol
$336 – rent/utilities
$136 – meds
$34 – entertainment

$333 – dentist + eye doctor/glasses
$557 – new house
$60 – tax prep
$20 – misc (school supplies etc.)

Savings is at $1800.
+ Summer fund at $1800.

Yay tax refund! I got it right at the end of the month. Sent 10% to my IRA, and the rest replenished the summer fund to where it would’ve been this month (took out money to pay the deposit on my new place, so I didn’t really have to, but whatever). Speaking of which, my new house costs the exact same amount in rent as my current one, which is really nice. My advisor said “probably” with regards to the summer, so hopefully I’ll be getting paid then anyway. The rest went towards my general savings (from which I withdrew some to pay for my glasses and such).

So, just chugging along I guess.

I just filed my taxes, and my estimated return is a thousand and change! Which is pretty awesome, because I was having a minor freakout earlier today about money (medical expenses, mostly).
Now, if only my advisor would get back to me about the summer and funding!

This month I made $1,401.05 and spent $1,015.13.

$34 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$242 – groceries
$27 – food out
$38 – alcohol
$339 – rent/utilites
$16 – entertainment

$130 – meds
$59 – running
$71 – clothing

$20 – gym locker
$12 – school supplies
$30 – misc

Savings is at $1600 (which is two months’ basic expenses).
+ Summer fund at $1500.

Running: the supposedly free hobby that always ends up costing me money. Mostly that was for Gu, which, while technically food, I only buy because I run, so it falls under there. The clothing was also running-related but I decided to count it separately.

“Misc” was mostly buying a new water bottle because I left mine on the bus =/

Insurance issues led to paying for my meds again this month. I may go argue with them over it. We’ll see.

I decided to get a locker at the gym. It’s a one-time yearly expense.

-

I am already looking at housing options for next year, and I REALLY need to get on to finding out if I’ll be paid for working this summer. It will make a huge difference. I will most likely be living somewhere more expensive, so…

Longer-term, I’d like to fly home this fall ($700), buy a car at the end of next (academic) year, if I pass prelims ($3000 + insurance), and go to England for the rugby world cup in 2015 (~$3000). I can probably only do all of these if I am getting 12-month funding instead of 9-month.

This month I made $1,923.76 and spent $1,294.62.

$89 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$264 – groceries
$36 – food out
$37 – alcohol
$384 – rent/utilities
$25 – entertainment

$12 – medical
$171 – textbooks/school supplies & stamps
$98 – gifts/care packages
$10 – donation

$118 – clothing
$35 – running stuff
$17 – driving

Savings is at $1400.
+ Summer fund at $1200.
+ IRA has hit $1,000 in contributions :)

I have yet to deposit $300+ of Christmas money I received because the bank’s been closed, so most of that will be moved to savings shortly. I also got a sort of Christmas bonus from work, which is why my income was so high this month.

Had some issues with our internet bill this month but that should be settled now. Electric shot up too because it got cold, but what can you do? Total utilities should be lower next month.

‘Tis the season for gifts & a new semester’s worth of textbooks. I also bought some cold-weather clothing, and some running-related stuff, which I shouldn’t feel guilty about but I still do a bit.

Spent a bit much on going out, buying expensive stuff at the grocery store, and so on, because of the need to de-stress after finals. But again, I’m trying not to feel guilty about any of this. I still made out ahead this month, and that’s what matters. I have more textbooks that aren’t required but that I kind of want to buy for reference… I have yet to decide on that. We’ll see if I really need them yet or could just borrow them when I want them.

I had been wanting to go to BC over spring break, but… I don’t know. I don’t think that’s going to happen. It costs money and I just don’t feel comfortable sparing it right now. We’ll see if, by then, I know whether I’m getting paid over the summer or not, because that will make a huge difference. (I also will probably have tons of work to do anyway, it’s not like missing a few hours of class time is really all that much of a break for me.)

This month I made $1,388.37 and spent $1,153.04.

$81 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$205 – groceries
$22 – food out (not including portland)
$25 – alcohol (not including portland)
$291 – rent/bills

$114 – medical (may get reimbursed for most of this)

$220 – portland (not including clothing, but including everything else)
$90 – clothing & jewelry
$52 – house stuff
$21 – entertainment (books/movie)
$32 – misc (planner, gift, new ID card)

Gen. savings/e-fund is at $1300.
+ Summer savings at $900.

Okay, so, weird (expensive) month.
I lost one of the balls to my industrial piercing and had to order new jewelry. I sort of failed at that and ended up spending more than I needed to (also my fault for never getting around to buying extra jewelry before now to have on hand). I also picked up some stuff like another blanket & a space heater because it’s damn cold in my house.
I went to Portland for a few days and ended up spending way more than I meant to because we lost my friend’s car and had to stay longer and it was raining and I had to buy sweatpants and it’s a long, ridiculous story.
I had to pay for my $100 prescription but I have a claim form to fill out so I may get that back.

I did get a little money for my birthday, so that was nice. Didn’t manage to add any to my savings, but with the disaster that was Portland and all the other random things that popped up this month, I’m just happy to have broken even more or less. Actually I guess the only reason I was really able to contribute fully to my IRA & summer fund this month was because I had extra left from last month. It all works out.

I still need to buy some winter clothes soon, probably =/ We’ll see how my current boots/coat hold up. The weather hasn’t been too bad so far.

It also occurred to me recently that: I’ll get paid normally in December, but I’m not sure if I’m getting only one paycheck or two in January. That could potentially cause some problems.

I am most likely not going to go anywhere over winter break.

Oh right, and I have to buy all of my textbooks for next semester now. Fun.

This month I made $1,268.99 and spent $751.72.

$44 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$151 – groceries
$46 – food out
$26 – alcohol
$280 – rent/bills

$168 – clothing
$38 – race registration

Gen. savings/e-fund is at $1300.
+ Summer savings is at $600.

I’m not going to keep listing my IRA every month because it makes it look like I have more money than I do, but I am adding $100 to it monthly.

Well, I apparently managed to spend less on my regular expenses in pretty much every category. (Some of that just has to do with the way things fall though – for example, I didn’t spend much on non-food groceries but I really need to buy laundry detergent and some other stuff within the next few days.) I spent $100 on a much-needed new pair of running shoes over which I have no guilt, and also bought some other clothes I needed. I’m going to have to buy more winter stuff soon. And I might go to Portland for a few days next month. Could easily have moved another $100 to my savings account but meh, it can wait until the next paycheck, I like to have a bit more of a buffer in my checking account nowadays. Overall, just rolling along.

This month I made $1,398.19 and spent $876.62.

$78 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$227 – groceries
$82 – food out
$51 – alcohol
$334 – rent/bills

$60 – donations
$47 – license

Gen. savings (/e-fund) is at $1200.
+IRA is at $700 (contributions).
+Summer savings is at $300.

I seem to be mostly on budget. Groceries were a little higher than I wanted ($200), non-food was was over too ($60)... I’m not terribly upset about those, but food out was $30 over and most of that was just bad planning on my part.

Overall I seem to be doing okay though. I have some stuff I need to buy next month probably (like boots) but I have some extra from this month that I haven’t moved to savings yet because I get paid on the 10th & 25th which makes things a little harder to keep track of in my head.

Thinking about going somewhere interesting over Christmas… we’ll see.

This month I made $918.32 and spent $2,157.56.

$62 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$207 – groceries
$44 – food out
$94 – alcohol
$82 – driving
$440 – rent/bills

$52 – clothing
$31 – birthday presents

$140 – name change
$27 – costco membership
$20 – floor hockey dues
$231 – moving-related expenses (airport/shipping)
$728 – furniture/house stuff

Savings is at $1300.

So. I moved. And spent a good deal of money doing it. The rent situation was also weird and I haven’t gotten paid out here yet. So, it’s hard to draw conclusions from this month, even about groceries and such, because I had to buy a lot of spices and other things like mayonaisse that I rarely have to buy but needed to get things started.

I have gone to the bar entirely too much since I’ve been here, I can tell you that. And I’ve gone out to eat way more than I usually would, because my friends like to. But maybe they’ll realize they’re all poor grad students soon and will cut back on both of those things.
I could’ve probably searched a bit harder and spent a little less on furniture, but I was getting sick of being in an empty room with an air mattress. The clothing was a total impulse buy, although I will probably be needing to buy some winter clothing soonish to deal with the much harsher weather here.

I hope to be able to work out a better budget once September is over and I have a full month’s worth of normal bills to look at. I do still need to get a WA license but I think that’s my last one-time expense to take care of.