It's Official...I'm a Chef!!

As we all know, I'm trying to cute my expenses down below my income. Currently, I'm living above my means. That's sad to admit out loud.

The past two weeks I wanted to see if it was cheaper to eat or in. For some this may seem like a simple answer, but for a girl who works mornings, school in the afternoon, work again, and them nights spent either doing homework or catching up with friends. The quickest thing for me to eat is fast food, fast food and more fast food.

I spent one week eating as usual and tracking my spending. I do grocery shop, but mostly bread, ham, cheese, yogurt and granola bars. Not much really. I spent about $80 on eating for a week, including grocery shopping.

I went grocery shopping over the weekend and spent $99 on food. I made an extremely detailed food plan and stuck to it. I've already made my delicious crock pot of chili, with 4 tupperware in the freezer for later this week and even next.

It's only Monday, but I spent $19 more on groceries and it will last me more than a week.

Tomorrow night...I'm eating chili tacos! Yum! Stay tuned as I figure out exactly how much money I've saved on food alone.

Cheers,

Ms. Manda

Tips, tips and more tips.

I spent probably 3 hours on Saturday looking for the best money tips to help me manage my money. I've tried a lot of the usual tips; separate money into envelopes, only spend what you have, don't use credit cards, only carry cash, freeze credit cards, etc. Any many, many, more but nothing has really stayed with me long enough to see some change.

But I'm giving it another shot, and here are 3 tips that I will be using for the remainder of the blog. And hopefully many years after. I picked 3 because I didn't want to overwhelm myself, or feel too constricted. That's when I spend the most.

1. Track my spending. I've been tracking my spending on Mint.com for over a year, but I still spend. I spend a lot, all the time.

• Pink mini notebook? Check
• Pen? Check
• I, Amanda, hereby solemnly swear to track my income, spending, deposits, every transaction. Every day. Every.single.day.
• Beginning the day February 15, 2011 and continue for the length of this blog.
• Each week I'll recap here.

2. Eliminate temptations. Grocery shopping and that's it. Never meet friends for shopping. Okay, that's a little out of control.

• Don't go to Target. Ever.
• Or the mall. Ever.

3. Reward Yourself. This one is really important to me. I can be really strict with my budget and then splurge. Over and over. So the idea of a little reward is nice.

• Buy a nice watch after 3 months of $100 below budget (and buy the watch under $100)
• A new thrifted desk for my "office" after paying off Capital One card

Walk before run...

This week sucked. I didn't accomplish anything. It was a busy week, and my weekend was spent in San Diego. Yes, it was incredible.

I have a confession........I was about one month behind on my bills due to a change of jobs in November. It's been hard to catch up, a real struggle. Living of server wages, tough stuff. I am now back on track for February, so this month I'm really going to focus on sticking with the budget and really seeing where I can cut back.

I have my plan, now I just need to it into action. I have 2 goals I really want to focus on this month.

• Get my gas under control, bring down by $10-20 a month
• Redecorate, rearrange and update my apartment with what I already have

I'm hoping for some homework craft next week. Cross you fingers.

Cheers,

Ms. Manda

Behold....the budget

And here's the scary part, sharing my budget. The budget I know is precisely what I need to adjust.

Here we go...

Income $1,612

Car payment $370
Car insurance $130
Cell phone $120
Rent $590 + $50 garage fee

Utilities $80 (lower in the summer months)
Credit cards $150

Gym membership $27

Gas $100

Total $1,617

I'm about $5 over my income, and this leaves no extra money for food or entertainment. That's a problem, I need to eat and a social life is important. I don't really have much to cut back on, I don't have a savings or retirement fund.

So what are my options?

1. Lower gas - driving less and carpooling with friends

2. Use tax refund to pay down credit cards

3. Research cheaper car insurance

4. Cancel garage.

That's what I'll be working on this coming week.

Cheers

Making the Most of My Time and Money

Until today I was working 2 jobs for a total of 30+ hours a week, taking 16 credit hours and 15 hours a week for PRSSA. Whew, busy girl. While gathering all my financial information for this blog, I had to examine my income.

Job 1

25 hrs/week

$13/hr + quarterly bonus

$1,300 gross monthly income + $390 quarterly bonus

Job 2

8 hrs/week

$10/hr

$320 gross monthly income

Total gross monthly income $1620

I started looking into my schedule and discovered that instead of working at Job 2 on Mondays and Wednesdays for 4 hours, I should work for 3 hours at Job 1.

Job 2

4 * 10 = $40 gross day

8 * 10 = $80 gross weekly

32 * 10 = $320 gross monthly

Job 1

3 * 13 = $39 gross day

6 * 13 = $78 gross weekly

24 * 13 = $312 gross monthly

It's not a significant enough to continue working more hours for same amount of money. This schedule has my work days ending earlier, allowing me more time for studying and extracurricular commitments.

Now that my gross monthly income is set at $1,612, I need to work on bringing my expenses down. That's for another post.

Cheers,

Ms. Manda

Me, me, me!!

Hi! I'm Amanda and this is my 6 month journey to spend less and save more money.

I've always been bad with money; spend more then I make, impulsive shopping, frivolous spending, and never saving for a rainy day. I want to be better with my money, especially since I'm graduating in December. I need to learn how to save money, budget better and more.

As a princess, I want the biggest, best and brightest things, which won't be fun to give up or reduce. But the whole point is to cut back on my spending and save more.

I have 3 goals to accomplish this...

1. Stop impulsive spending

2. Get 3 months worth of bills in savings

3. Reduce budget

I'll be challenging myself weekly, keeping track of it here, and reflecting on my progress. I won't lie, I'm nervous as hell to stop spending so frequently. I can't think of much to do without money. Life of a princess, I guess.

And away we go...

Cheers,

Amanda