Counting Pennies

So... May is going a little slower than I originally planned for. However I must say I'm doing pretty well for only working part-time. Luckily I was able to pick up extra hours between job searching and sprucing up my resume. I'm so glad that I made myself a cushion before leaving my full-time job so that I have wiggle room to find something I really want to do without really suffering the consequences of not working full-time.

So anyways here's the rundown on the accounts.
Savings #1: 11,040 (new additions $75 from Checking transfer, and interest)
Savings #2: 1,619 (new additions $50 from rebate check)
Savings #3: 750 (new additions $50 from turning in loose coin)

Roth IRA: 1,500 (I need to get on this year's contribution)
401K: 480
Brokerage Account: 25
Employee Stock Plan: 318

Debt:
Credit Cards (4): roughly $505 (I kinda rounded up to the nearest even amount... so in reality I have a little bit less)
Student Loan $15,486 (payment due on the 21st. Have May,June and July's payment saved up in my checking account)

That's pretty much it, I get paid next week. The day after Memorial Day I'm leaving for California for two weeks to spend time with family and possibly check out employment possibilities and west-coast living. Everyone keeps telling me that California is expensive. Yeah I know, but Northern Virginia is almost that expensive too. What frustrates me is that everyone likes to tell me what I CAN'T do...I'm determined and once I set my mind to something I'll make it work and accomplish it. We'll see what happens because ultimately it's my decision! BTW my round-trip ticket to California from Washington DC was only $230 on Virgin Atlantic, everywhere else it was around $400!!! And I paid cash for it... so more woo hoo.

Ugh! Okay so I don't have that much CC debt... but it's enough to drive me crazy.

Okay so I did the post-it thing where I write down the balance of my card and stick to the front of the card. This way I know what I put on the card. Well it worked to an extent. However... then I was looking over what exactly I purchased in the past billing statement. It was mostly restaurant/food purchases. I need to stop eating out! I really really do. Today this has to stop. It's not like I can leave all my CCs out of my wallet because I like to carry one just in case of emergencies... like I'm stranded somewhere and I don't use my debit card.

I would like to get to the point where I don't have a CC bill at all... at least for a month, then I'll truly know how it feels to be 100% out of CC debt.

So today I transfered another 155. from my car savings acct to my CC. I don't know why it's easier to part with my car savings acct money than my other accounts... probably because it's my newer account and I think like LIFO... Last-in, First-Out. This should satisfy me until I get my rebate.

So new balance on savings #3... $700. sad to see it go down... but I rather my CC be closer to zero. A minor set-back to my plans, I'll get this back up shortly... with my automatic direct deposits to this account.


I may have to re-look at that.

600
200 - student loan pymt for July (May & June payment already saved for in CKING ACCT)
150 - parents for June
65 - cell phone bill for June (already paid May's with last paycheck)
50 - savings #2
135 - CC bills... I don't want to look at them anymore!



*** correction to my Roth IRA... the amount I've actually contributed is $1500. And the reason why my stated balance before was $1570 was because I have a self-directed brokerage IRA account. so the 70 was from the stocks in my account rising. So I'm adjusting this back to just the amount that I contribute, because it's easier to keep track up that way.


*** my challenge for the Month of May***
I always need to work towards something.
-have my 4 Credit cards total balance be below my last months balance of $650.
-even though savings is tough on a tight budget have a least a net savings addition to be at least $100.

until next time... hopefully no more set backs between now and then.

I sat down today and added beneficiaries to my Roth IRA and 401K.

After discussing this with my mom, I've decided to put my brother and sister as the beneficiaries for my Roth IRA and my mom is for my 401K, until I change it. Since right now I'm not married and don't have kids, and in the event something happens to me I guess it's better to make sure I have everything taken care of, even though I'm sure that everything would be left to my parents if they out-survive me. My mom would rather have me leave my assets, what little I have right now to my siblings, that way they have something just in case something happens to my parents.

The only reason why I'm thinking about this now is because my last week working at the bank there was this woman whose daughter has passed away (her daughter was around my age) and she was trying to clear up some of her daughters financial ties and she didn't even know where her daughter had accounts at. It was kind of a mess. I felt really bad for this woman because she seemed so nice and a parent should never have to out live their child. Needless to say I thought about it afterwards and I don't want my parents to have to go through the same thing if something should happen to me.

Which reminds me that I have to change the beneficiaries on my savings/checking accounts because right now it's my aunt, which I have no idea why... I think my mom said she set it up like that when she first opened the savings for me when I was a minor because she was designated my guardian if something should happen to my parents.

My mom also wanted me to set up an advance medical directive (I don't know if that's what's called or not, I forget at the moment)... basically a living will. I told her I wasn't ready to think about that today, I told her that I would think about later and figure it out. I just think setting up the beneficiaries was enough for one day. Sometimes I'm overly cautious and like to have things prepared and ready in case of an emergency. My theory is that it's better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to certain things...not stocks of course... the more risk the better return sometimes ,lol.

And of course this would all change if I get married and have kids, but for now I'll take care of my parents and brother and sister.

I really like the fact that I can view my paycheck before it direct deposits to my account on Wednesday. It allows for early planning. So by Wednesday I already have everything planned and I don't have to think about anything. Usually all my transfers, if any, are done... automatic bill pay is set up to come out the next day. Then I'm taken care of until next pay period.

This week.

$49 to 401K Pretax Money
$46 towards Tax
$16 towards Employee Stock Purchase (set aside until next Stock Purchase time, I think it's either at the end of May or beginning of June)
$50 towards Savings #1 (automatic Direct Deposit)
$25 towards Savings #3 (automatic Direct Deposit)
$25 towards my newly created Brokerage Account (automatic Direct Deposit)
the rest to my checking for bills


So Updated Balances

401K previous balance $419
addition (w/match) $49
new balance $468
(note: my 401K balance is actually higher than this because it's an investment portfolio so it fluctuates daily, so I'm just using the balance of what I actually put into my 401K (w/match).

Savings #1 previous balance $10,888
addition $50
new balance $10,938

Savings #3 previous balance 879
addition $25
CC payment $49 (for last month's gas purchase)
new balance $855


well that was easy... all that's left is actually getting paid. I see no need for adjustments this week, no extra transfers or rearranging of funds.

As for my Credit Cards. I've come up with a way to hopefully deter me from pulling them out and using... aside from actually leaving them out of my wallet. I only carry one credit card on me at all times. I called the number on the back of my 4 cards with balances on them. Wrote the balance of each of them on a post-it note and stuck the post-it on each card. So now when I pull out my credit card I "See" the balance of the card in front of me. And hopefully when I see the balance, I will change my mind about buying whatever it is I'm buying... except for gas of course because well, I need fuel for my car to get to work. And when I make a purchase I'll just update the balance on the post-it. Almost like an informal check book register. That way I have no reason to be surprised when I get the bill in the mail or via estatments.

Anyway, Until next time. Probably May 15th since that's when the interest on Savings #1 posts.

***I live by the words "pay yourself first" even if I'm not earning that much.***

My company finally posted to my 401K account from the 4/23 paycheck.

previous balance 378
contribution (w/match) 41
new balance 419

also my automatic $75 transfer from my checking to my savings account #1 posted today.

previous 10,813
addition 75
new balance 10,888


I should be getting my $600 refund check soon!

my plans for the $600

600
(200) - student loan for July's payment
(150) - parent's money for June
(65) - cell phone for May
(50) - savings #2
(50) - savings #3
(85) - credit cards


I've also decided what savings #3 is for. Car insurance/gas/repair.

Wow, I just happened to stumble across this site this morning searching for new ideas on how to save money on a tight income. A pretty neat idea.

Anyways I guess I should get started. I'm using this at a way for me to keep on track with my savings goal of someday retiring early (I don't want to work forever).

So here are my facts.
I'm 22 years old.
I just graduated from college a year ago. After all my grants and scholarships I was left with roughly $17,500 in student loans. My current balance on my student loans $15,487 (paying on it since October 2007).

I have 4 credit cards with a combined balance of roughly $650.00 (I really try to pay off my balance each month).

I still live at home unfortunately. I don't mind really because it's ALOT cheaper than living on my own, Northern Virginia is EXPENSIVE! Pay $150.00 in rent a month (I know that's nothing, my parents decide to give me a break considering that I'm paying $200.00 a month for my student loans).

I pay for my cell phone which is $65.00 a month

My car insurance is $500 every six months.
No car payment I paid that off my junior year in college, woo hoo.

Unfortunately I recently left my full-time job at a bank, in search for something more in my field of study. Unfortunately the job market is really slow. Luckily I still have my part-time job working retail with flexible hours, that will allow me to do my job search while still earning some kind of income.
My take-home pay dropped from $2000 a month to roughly $500 a month. A big difference.
I really want to continue saving.

This is my savings situation.
I have 3 savings account at 3 different institutions.
My savings #1 (my online savings that earns the higher interest) : $10,813 (this is the money I DO NOT touch, the money I set aside for my future, or... my emergency fund in case something happens I know I have this month to cover my student loans. [note: when I had my full-time job at the bank I was saving about 40% of that income, this is where most of this money came from]
My savings #2 (my oldest savings account, for everyday things) : $1,569 I'm trying to build this back up again, I took a big chunk of this out when I paid off all my credit card bills from college. This is the month that I'm allowed to touch if I need to cover some bills at the end of the month.
My savings #3 (my newest savings account, not quite sure what I'm going to use this for yet, just knew that I needed another account): $879

I have a 401K plan my with my part-time job, which I contribute 15% of my gross pay (pre-tax every two weeks) with a 4% company match. I just started this in January the balance is $378.

Another 5% of my gross pay from my part-time job goes towards an account set aside for employee stock purchase.

So with just $500 a month... how will I stretch it out so that I can still save after roughly $400 in monthly bills? Maybe I can pick up more hours at my part-time job between job searching to earn a little bit more. I figure it out and give bi-weekly updates on how I'm doing.