Save money

I need a nice nest egg!

So since the proposal I have doubled my savings efforts. I am now putting $200 into my MMDA monthly. I hope to pay off two credit cards for a total of $1800 within the next 5 months. Then I can dump that money ($400 a month) into the savings for the balance of the year. That is the plan, and I intend to stick to it.

Just transferred $700 into my savings account.

SO I replaced my credit card with a debit card – so i have no more debt there.

I have had a VERY expensive month – with xmas, having to pay to get my wisdom teeth out and having to buy a new phone

As it stands i am only 300 away from paying off my 2 grand overdraft.

In 2 weeks tho I move into a new flat so will not be able to make any more contributions to this as I will have to use next weeks pay for bond.

But I am close, very close to being debt free – and then can focus on my goal of saving 5000 dollars this year (not bad while your a student!)

This week I have focused on busing to work (= $8 per day for parking) and bringing my lunch ($11 per day on japanese) which means I have saved $95 this week!!!

I’m now keeping track of my spending in a journal format. I hope this helps.

i’d like to save money because it seems like i spend a fair amount on things that are unnecessary. if i accumulate some savings, not only will i be covered in case something bad happened, but if i wanted to i could do something big, such as take a vacation…

Saving about $3500 total for a healthy “living costs” buffer. That will be my first save money goal for this goal. Will budget this in.

I’ve got some savings, but with the expenses this month, I’m not sure if I can save anything extra. I hope so. I’m tired of living almost week-to-week with these tiny paychecks. Not much I can do until I get a “real” job, and there really aren’t any around here right now.

Well, only saved $150 in January.

However, I did roll my retirement account from my old job to my Rollover IRA, which is a good step. Next up is converting my Rollover IRA to a Roth, which means I’ll have to pay taxes on it (shudder).

So, my totals only go from the 15th of the month, since I’m only counting from when I got back to school (because if I included earlier in the month, buying & selling textbooks, it would just throw everything way off and not indicate well what the rest of the school year will be like).

I’ve spent $284.83 this month and my paychecks totaled $202.94.
So, that clearly doesn’t look too good, but I had some unusual expenses this month – like buying furniture for our room, which will never come up again until after I graduate.

Broken down:

$50 – climbing dues
$26 – gas & tolls
$36.37 – non-food groceries (shampoo, etc.)
$26.82 – groceries
$8 – wine
$15 – dinner out

$16 – transcripts
$9.55 – mailing a package
$60 – furniture
$37.09 – printer ink

The first bunch is likely recurring monthly expenses (although in reality I go out for dinner less than once a month – we only went this time because my roommate’s friend from home was visiting – I still can’t say I won’t go out ever again this semester). [$162.19]
The second bunch were things that shouldn’t occur again this semester. [$122.64]

This only covers half a month, but it’s not accurate to double what I spent – my climbing gym membership is only $50 for the whole month, for example. I also don’t have to get gas more than once a month, if that. I think the only thing that would double is food-related expenses (and just groceries at that, since I really do rarely go out).

Anyway, next month:
I should get somewhere around $210-220 in paychecks.
I have my climbing gym membership for $50. I anticipate getting gas again because I have to drive home again this week for a doctor’s appointment ($25). I could save $50/month and still leave myself >$50 for groceries & such. If I push, I’m hoping to save a full $200 this semester to bring my balance back up to $1,000. I might take on another weekly shift in the help room, which would give me another almost $70 a month.