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  Everything over that amount is withdrawn from my account, and is money that goes to food, gas, haircuts, and general items for the house and my personal "needs."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I have my retirement automatically withdrawn from my check so that's taken care of.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.

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.

1. Installment accounts (7 Items) - $3602
2. Medical (7 Items) - $1306
3. Student Loan - $11,000

I will be paying those off in the order listed. I'll be putting some more progress bars up in due time when I began paying on them. I want to complete my small emergency fund before I start this process.