Eating Out. Seems like this is the new American Dream. I know me and my family love to go out to eat. And I've noticed that we are beginning to do this more and more. I work nights and she works 2nd shift, so we see each other a few minutes in passing and we usually have 1 day off together. I think that's where it comes from. I hate cooking and can't cook a lot so that doesn't help much when I'm home with the kids, however, I'm more likely to cook than she is.
What really stuck with me and inspired this post is the price of eating out. I'm not talking about a sit down, be waited on, family restaurant, I'm talking about McDonald's and other fast food places. If the entire family is eating, we can usually expect to pay about $22.00 at McDonald's. That's to high! Not when I can pay 4-6 dollars for a frozen pizza and feed the family, or cook a good home meal and still only be using about 7-8 dollars.
This is something me and my family definitely have to work on. We could definitely have a lot more money to spend on things that we would rather do. October is an especially bad month for us with eating out, and it has been for the last 6 years. Why? McDonalds has Monopoly going on! It's like crack.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Setback!
If I would have started preparing sooner then I wouldnt be in the predicament that im in. I knew when I got paid that I was going to have a small amount of work done to my car. Replace a fuel filter. I masked the mechanic to look at some other issues with my car as well and see whats going on and to give me prices. Well, my 35 dollar out the door fuel filter turned into 136 dollars because my brakes in the front were almost gone, and the rear was getting there. While we were investigating further, we concluded i needed a new wheel hub and not a wheel bearing like i originally thought (money saved) and a transmission mount. Ones $100 and the other $111. So my next two checks will be replacing these things instead of putting money in the emergency fund. These types of things is what the emergency fund is for, and makes me wonder if I should be putting back a little more than a $1000 before i start on rebuilding my credit.
On the bright side I no longer smell gas after driving for a while (my fuel filter was leaking and had a lot of metallic crap in it, he kept it to show to me), my gas mileage has improved, and im not getting a violent vibration in the front like i was getting. The vibration is what made me think wheel bearing in the first place but replacing the brake pads solved the problem, yet i wouldnt be applying the brakes when i felt it. I dont know, cars are weird i guess, and im far from being a mechanic. Hopefully next time I'll be prepared for this.
On the bright side I no longer smell gas after driving for a while (my fuel filter was leaking and had a lot of metallic crap in it, he kept it to show to me), my gas mileage has improved, and im not getting a violent vibration in the front like i was getting. The vibration is what made me think wheel bearing in the first place but replacing the brake pads solved the problem, yet i wouldnt be applying the brakes when i felt it. I dont know, cars are weird i guess, and im far from being a mechanic. Hopefully next time I'll be prepared for this.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Making Things Easy
I've found through numerous trial and error different things that do/don't work for me as far as making things simple financially for me. Some people write down every single penny of everything they spend. This is the LAST thing I want to be a part of. It comes off to me as being to obsessive, like there is no freedom in spending the money I work hard to earn. That's why I budget the way I do, or don't, whatever one can call what I do!
I mentioned in a previous post that everything over what I have to save each paycheck for bills is pulled out of my bank. What do I do with it? Whatever I please! If I feel like gaining some weight this period, then I'm going to McDonald's a couple times! However, this cash in hand is my gas and haircut money(I religiously get my haircut every time I get paid, $9.00 each time). I do have access to my wife's paycheck as well, which she pays our cellular bill and our babysitter with, $150 and $120 a month respectively.
Anyways, everything that is a monthly bill is automatically withdrawn from my account where I can. The thing I discovered with this is, with a few companies, they don't exactly advertise this service. This is how they can collect late fees from us. By making a few phone calls and visiting a few websites, I was able to get all but one company automatically withdraw my bill from my account. The last one offers this service, but someone on their end is a little illiterate and cannot figure out why my account is the only one in the entire USA that cannot have this service(I'm working on it though!). The benefit of this? No late fees! I don't have to make time to visit, don't have to write out checks, don't have to call and give my card number out to a random person, etc.. That part of my life is automated. Easy enough right?
I found out yesterday that my employer will send my direct deposit to several different accounts if I so please. A lot of employers do this, I've just never put this to use. The major benefit to doing this is that I can save money and never see it actually withdrawn from my bank, so I can get myself used to living on a little less. You can't spend what you've never seen in the first place. With me though, I use a program on my phone that I view all my accounts at once on, and so therefore I know the money is out there. I've combated this in a sense by making my checking account local, but my savings account through INGDirect. It'll take 2 to 3 business days for me to transfer money over to checking, so I'm less likely to put in the effort to do so. My wife has began to save money out of her check, and soon she will be depositing that into my savings account after I set everything up.
I'm looking for budget ideas, as I'm always looking for something a little easier, or just good idea's in general to add to the arsenal. Comment!
I mentioned in a previous post that everything over what I have to save each paycheck for bills is pulled out of my bank. What do I do with it? Whatever I please! If I feel like gaining some weight this period, then I'm going to McDonald's a couple times! However, this cash in hand is my gas and haircut money(I religiously get my haircut every time I get paid, $9.00 each time). I do have access to my wife's paycheck as well, which she pays our cellular bill and our babysitter with, $150 and $120 a month respectively.
Anyways, everything that is a monthly bill is automatically withdrawn from my account where I can. The thing I discovered with this is, with a few companies, they don't exactly advertise this service. This is how they can collect late fees from us. By making a few phone calls and visiting a few websites, I was able to get all but one company automatically withdraw my bill from my account. The last one offers this service, but someone on their end is a little illiterate and cannot figure out why my account is the only one in the entire USA that cannot have this service(I'm working on it though!). The benefit of this? No late fees! I don't have to make time to visit, don't have to write out checks, don't have to call and give my card number out to a random person, etc.. That part of my life is automated. Easy enough right?
I found out yesterday that my employer will send my direct deposit to several different accounts if I so please. A lot of employers do this, I've just never put this to use. The major benefit to doing this is that I can save money and never see it actually withdrawn from my bank, so I can get myself used to living on a little less. You can't spend what you've never seen in the first place. With me though, I use a program on my phone that I view all my accounts at once on, and so therefore I know the money is out there. I've combated this in a sense by making my checking account local, but my savings account through INGDirect. It'll take 2 to 3 business days for me to transfer money over to checking, so I'm less likely to put in the effort to do so. My wife has began to save money out of her check, and soon she will be depositing that into my savings account after I set everything up.
I'm looking for budget ideas, as I'm always looking for something a little easier, or just good idea's in general to add to the arsenal. Comment!
Monday, October 17, 2011
The Budget
I'm not completely sure if what I do can be considered a budget. I'm always looking for easier ways, and the way I'm currently doing things has been working for the past year. It has definitely been tweaked, and I'm still tweaking things today.
I'm paid twice a month, the 15th and 30th. Weekends and holidays juggle the payday at times but that's the schedule we stick to. All of my bills, minus food and gasoline, add up to $1286 a month. I figure $1300 for a round number and for a just in case scenario. Those bills, divided by 2, gives me $650. Everything over that amount is withdrawn from my account, and is money that goes to food, gas, haircuts, and general items for the house and my personal "needs." While that doesn't give me a complete look at where my money is going, it works.
I have my retirement automatically withdrawn from my check so that's taken care of. In my case, however, you're not given the option with the state to put in retirement or not. So for some, that may not be enough. I was heavily searching into IRA's when I got a statement yesterday detailing what an old 401(k) account I had was worth. I had completely forgot about this. It's only worth about $250 (wasn't at that job long!) but I have it there so rolling it over is an option. Plus, it's through INGDirect, and that's where my savings account is through. For my next post, I'll be blogging about how I actually go about paying Mr. Bill.
I'm paid twice a month, the 15th and 30th. Weekends and holidays juggle the payday at times but that's the schedule we stick to. All of my bills, minus food and gasoline, add up to $1286 a month. I figure $1300 for a round number and for a just in case scenario. Those bills, divided by 2, gives me $650. Everything over that amount is withdrawn from my account, and is money that goes to food, gas, haircuts, and general items for the house and my personal "needs." While that doesn't give me a complete look at where my money is going, it works.
I have my retirement automatically withdrawn from my check so that's taken care of. In my case, however, you're not given the option with the state to put in retirement or not. So for some, that may not be enough. I was heavily searching into IRA's when I got a statement yesterday detailing what an old 401(k) account I had was worth. I had completely forgot about this. It's only worth about $250 (wasn't at that job long!) but I have it there so rolling it over is an option. Plus, it's through INGDirect, and that's where my savings account is through. For my next post, I'll be blogging about how I actually go about paying Mr. Bill.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Debt
The following is an overview of my debt. I pulled my annual credit report yesterday and have added everything up. There are a couple things on my credit that I won't be paying on, for personal reasons I won't address here. The following totals do not reflect those items.
- Installment accounts (7 Items) - $3602
- Medical (7 Items) - $1306
- Student Loan - $11,000
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