Spending Recap August 21 - 27

Spending Recap

Week runs from Sunday - Saturday
Days missing are no spends which = 2

Sunday August 21
$35 car wash
$2.19 drink
$32 ice cream

Wednesday August 24
$98.67 supermarket

Thursday August 25
$8 haircut
+ $20 gas donation

Friday August 26
$2.45 bread

Saturday August 27
$6 drink
$2.40 misc

Total: $186.71 - $20
          = $166.71

Better late than never. I actually didn't expect to take a full week to be back here, I was thinking I would have been back from Monday but I was tired. I was barely able to read a few blogs but I'm back now and should be in full force starting from today.

Let's justify a few items.

First off I know paying to have my car wash is an unnecessary expense but I washed it myself just a couple hours ago and believe you me. It is one expense I have no problem paying for. Bottom line is I dislike it. I was really upset though because the same day I had it cleaned I had to drive through the rain so it got dirty the same day and the rain fell the entire week so I was pretty upset. I've come up with a plan though. I will pay to have it cleaned professionally once every three weeks and if it gets dirty in between that time I will clean it myself.

The $32 dollar ice cream charge was for P, my sister and I. We went out and got ice cream with all sorts of candy in it and I had to pay for everyone. P's idea :) I did promise her ice cream though so I had it coming.

Other than those everything else is standard. I only got two no spend days but the other days were miniscule expenses.

In other news, P left Monday morning so I've been on my own since then. I've used the past couple days to rest up as right up until Monday I was quite busy spending my last days with P. Now I just have to keep myself busy for the next four months until she is here for xmas break. I'll fill up my time with blogging and what's not when I am not at work.

That's it for now. Looking forward to blogging and reading up on everyone else's adventures in the coming months. Should be fun.

P.S

A couple bloggers whom I enjoy reading have been M.I.A for a while. Just in case they are still reading. I miss you peeps and I hope you are back soon.

Those bloggers are
ND Chic
C.M.C
Marissa

And special shout outs to Shoppingtosaving who ia also quite busy with her LSAT exam but took some time to let us know she is still alive. Missed her as well.

Going To Be A Slow Week

Nothing much to report just letting everyone know that there won't be much action over here for the rest of the week.

As I've stated in my last post, P is getting ready to leave for school next week so my mind has been more over on that side of the fence. My time is also there as well but I didn't want to leave the blog all cold turkey. I'll be back in full force next week. I'm already missing her now so I am going to try and maximize my time with her and hopefully next week won't be as hard.

In other news.

It seems Canada lost a great man and politician to cancer recently so I offer my condolences. We lost our previous prime minister last year to cancer as well. No matter which side you are on I think you should have respect.

I heard on the news that parts of the US and Canada I believe suffered from an earthquake and the after shock. I know some damage was done but I do hope all of you bloggers made it through alright if your were affected. Didn't see any post so that is a good sign. I also hope that no one in general was severely affected.

Lastly. Niki of Debt Free By Thirty is celebrating her first blogging anniversary. She has achieved so much in one year not to mention being debt free by thirty. Oh yea. Niki is also doing a giveaway so head on over to check out the prizes and see if you can win. Don't forget to look at her awesome achievements before putting your eyes on the prize. She is a champion and someone who you can look to for inspiration. She did it so we all can. Niki is AWESOME!

I also have to give special mention to Niki's twin blogging sis who celebrated one year on the same day as well. That person is Lindy of Minting Nickels.

Congratulations to you both and I hope you both continue to blog for a long time to come.

Anyways that's it for me today. I'll be reading blogs but I won't be posting myself probably till next week. Hope everyone has a fantastic week.

Spending Recap August 14 - 20

Spending Recap

Week runs from Sunday - Saturday
Days missing are no spends which = I DID IT!

Sunday August 14
$60 gas
$5.65 misc

Saturday August 15
$119.50 gas

Total: $185.15

Sorry I've been away for almost a full week. I've been busy working, sleeping and spending as much time with P as possible because come next Monday she is leaving me till December as school is starting back :(

Oh and I've also not been spending money. Kind of.....

Remember those 5 no spends I wanted two weeks ago. Well I got em! I almost had 6 but the gas light came on a bit too early and I really hate lights with a meaning. Especially the flashing ones.

I've been doing a bit of a lot of driving this week as P came home from a short trip the Sunday and I've been spending lots of time with her like I said earlier. She lives a good distance away from me even considering we live on a tiny island so I've been up and down when not at work or even leaving for work from her house which is an even longer drive to work than leaving from my home.

Overall last week was busy. I've come to consider a few things as well. I kind of knew them already but I never payed them much attention till now.

• In regards to the no spend days. I got the 5 but I still ended up spending a bit. I've had weeks with less no spend days and less spending.
• Gas is freaking murder on any budget. I wouldn't have done half as much things but if I could have done them by public transport it would have been much cheaper.
• I was never a big spender to begin with but I will talk more about this in a future post. I have so many ideas lined up for post but I just haven't gotten to sit down and work on them.

I guess once P is out of the country I will have a little more time so the blog will be getting more attention just like in the beginning of this blog. That's a good&bad mixed together. The blog was started while she was away at university last semester as it helped keep me occupied. I was getting really inspired reading PF blogs so I wanted to try and leave my own little foot print on the web.

Other than that. Nothing else to report. I hope everyone has a great week. I'll be seeing more of you in the coming months I believe. I look forward to writing some good post but I will certainly be missing P a heck of a lot.

It's Hard To Save Money When You Have Debt

I was thinking about money(surprise surprise) and how my savings vs. expenses are going and it began to bug me a little.

Right now I have debt for the car I own so it means every month I have to fork over some cash to pay towards what I owe. Couple this with all my other expenses I had before and it's taking a toll on my savings. I hadn't fully consider it before or I should say I did consider it but now that it is real and happening it's much more annoying than I thought it would be.

My savings didn't take a knock out hit but they are taking some constant damage. Right now I am putting away my regular RRSP contributions and money to my company stock buying plan but those are taken out before I get my actual pay so I never have to worry about those. I never calculate them into my salary. Besides the two of those automatic savings the only other goal I am managing to save towards is our wedding fund at which I am contributing a bare minimum.

Don't get me wrong besides those I am able to put aside a bit of money but the problem is that money really isn't mine. It already has a stamp and a destination for where it belongs, for example bills, car payment, food. I understand the situation I am in but it annoys me because I am not able to just save money for the heck of it. Like at this moment I don't know how I am going to handle Christmas and gift giving. I usually get a gift for a select few people every year but this year I don't know if I will have the money. I probably could get everyone something small and inexpensive but there is a particular gift for a certain someone I had planned to get from probably the end of last year and I had all intentions to make it this years gift. This one gift has a pretty hefty price tag, not totally outrageous but if I had a thousand dollar budget this would eat half of it easy. I guess the real problem I have is that the price for the one gift I want to get can actually be used to get many gifts for a lot more people than one. Anyways I will worry about that later.

The real reason for this post was to talk about the topic contained in the title, I guess a sub topic can be It is hard to save money when you own a car and a sub topic for that sub topic can be, It's even harder to save when you owe money on a car. Coupled with the car payments and gas, I want to get the car a full service because I don't know when last it got one, I want to get everything changed and cleaned out, oil, hoses, filters everything and this can wind up costing me anywhere between $400 - $1000.

So yes I may be able to save money but with all of these expenses I really am not seeing the money at the end of the day. I honestly can't way till all of these short term expenses go away and even more so I can't wait till I am rid of this car loan. Debt can suck and of course I should know this by the amount of PF blogs I read but I am glad I got the car loan. It is totally worth the price I am paying now because it brings so much convenience to my life especially when it comes to P and I. I just have to find a way to sort out this savings problem I have that is bugging me.

It's hard to save money when you have debt. I'm telling most of you nothing new but I actually just want to reiterate it.

Spending Recap August 7 - 13

Spending Recap

Week runs from Sunday - Saturday
Days missing are no spends which = 2

Sunday August 7
$70 car wash
$12 hair cut
$34.39 anti bump/aftershave lotion
+ $40 gas/taxi

Monday August 8
$40 gas
+$25 gas/taxi

Tuesday August 9
$2.39 donation

Friday August 12
$654.50 car insurance
$345.45 two new car tires
$1.77 drink
$3.00 food

Saturday August 13
$6.25 food

Total: $1169.75 - $65
       = $1104.75

I almost can't believe that with a single payment of $654.50 I still spent less than last week.

I paid to have the car cleaned professionally inside and out and amazingly the rain came down again just like when I washed it myself the first time so that has me a little peeved.

The gas money which I referred to as taxi fare is actually due to me dropping my aunt to and from work and doing a favor for my mom. I honestly told them I didn't need it but they insisted, I didn't even really need gas at the point so it was just extra income. I did take the first $40 and put it into gas though and that had me wondering if I could have count Monday as a no spend. I decided not to because I had pocketed the money at first. In my defense I did tell them both I would pocket the money and it may or may not be used for gas.

The donation caught me off guard so that took away another no spend, it was to help buy something for a work mate who lost a family member.

The insurance and tires are self explanatory. You would not believe how bad my front tires were. I am so happy to have them changed even at the expense and I got a pretty sweet warranty.

I failed to get the five no spend days I wanted but two is pretty sweet and I made a little extra money to sweeten the compromise.

I also worked overtime on Saturday and it was about 10 hours so the lunch I packed didn't hold out. Ended up buying a hot dog and drink.

I'm wishing every one a great week.

Read This.

I want everyone who visits today and at any point to read the following:

Life Isn't Easy

101 Posts Not Dalmatians

And it's over at Jessie's Money & Jordan's Too. Jessie reached out and I was more than happy to help out. It's my first guest post ever. Check it out.

This Is Going To Be Post # 100 - Reminiscing

WOW! Totally forgot this one was coming. One hundred posts on my wee little blog. Can't believe it has come this far. It took six months but I actually came this far. I've been blogging for half a year and I've achieved 100 posts. I believe I may be here to stay :)

They are some very special bloggers who've been here since the beginning and they are an inspiration up to this day so there is no way I can not share a little love and let them know how much I appreciate them. They are still around I am happy to report. They are amazing people in their own right and I can not say enough thank you's to them. I wish there was a better way I could show my appreciation but I hope my blog has been of some benefit to you even if just for entertainment.

• First off is P. She has been here since the get go as I told her about it. I was a little hesitant as this meant I would have opened up my world to her(the PF world) and she would have realized my dorkiness lol. Happy to say she is still here and is my biggest supporter and encouragement. I've loved her more every day since then and it continues to grow.
• Momma Star - Their is a song that goes, "everyday a star is born". If stars were rare she would still have been born one. Since one is born everyday I would have to say she is one of the brightest in the universe. She has been around since the beginning of this blog and we even started blogging close to the same time. She is one of, if not the coolest mom's I've known and her family is quite lucky to have her. I've read her blog from beginning up to today. I know part of the story of her life(the part that is shared on the blog) and I am telling you. She is an amazing person.
• ND Chic's Cents - ND first appeared when I wrote a post entitled Generic Blogging. She left a comment and I ended up doing a follow up post. It feels like forever since then. I said it back then and she has proven it times over that she is far from generic. She has done some amazing things to get where she is today. She calls her student loans the best debt she ever acquired. She has had quite a few experiences throughout her life and she has shared quite a few and thanks to her I have been able to make better decisions on the path I am walking. Her best experience yet in my opinion is her daughter Lil' Punk. My favorite posts from her usually have a mentioning of her daughter and you can almost feel the happiness emitting from the words when she mentions an experience shared with her daughter. One other amazing person.
• Two Degrees - Don't know where to start her so let's go with, Amazing, Awesome, Inspirational and a rare gem. I honestly would like if my blog was a bit more like hers(not that I don't like my own stuff) but she has what I would call the perfect balance between personal post and advice/teaching post like this, this and this. Guess it comes from her major skills being that of a teacher. One who always procrastinates on sending out job applications(hope this makes you do it) and who gets me a good dose of TED Talks(these are awesome. Watch one. She does a great job of sharing the really good ones which I like and appreciate). Yet another amazing person I can't say enough about.
• Girl Makes Cents - Or more correctly, girl most likely to become a millionaire. If you need the correct definition of hard work or hustler look no further. I believe right now she is holding down either 3 or 4 jobs while on summer break from teaching and still finding time to do other stuff. Also a savvy saver, check out her blog and look at all of the blue completed goal bars she has up. Some of them have even gone over. They are a lot more things I admire about her but I think this post is a good sum up. I also admire her relationship. This can be said for everyone listed here so far as well as they all have great relationships going. P is the most important part of my life and I want us to have the best life ever. Any advice I can get, PF or otherwise I am grateful for and everyone here so far has been an inspiration in that department.
• Frugal Forties - FF first appeared on a mildly controversial post I did about facebook(check out the first comment). Since then she has stuck around and I've been an avid reader of her blog as well. Right now she is going through some hardships with life and work so she has been a bit behind on the blogging front. I know it's been tough on her but I have no doubt she will pull through. Always one to speak her mind and argue her opinion as you can see from the comment she is quite passionate and heated in her writing and I believe this has caused her to butt heads with a few bloggers but I can guarantee you she only meant the best. She is just overly passionate(and it isn't a bad thing). One with many experiences under her belt and lots of advice to offer they are awesome posts on her blog. I hope everything works out for her and she is back on the blogging front soon.
• Little Lamb - I had no idea Little Lamb has been around this long. She has been here since my first month of blogging and it feels only like yesterday I found her blog when she was recommending it over at ND Chic's Cents. I recommended it then and I do now. She has been busy hammering away at her debt over the past few months and has been doing a great job. I believe she definitely has the Sticktoitiveness. There is so much more I can say about her but I must definitely say she is one of the most motivational sun shiny people I have ever met. For those of you who know her from her comments she is always providing support and showing you that things will get better. Always looking towards the light ahead, I think that anyone who knows her has a friend for life.
• I also have to give special thanks to Ninja and Jessie but that is what this post was for way back in the beginning. They've been a big inspiration and that post sums it up. They also helped with the exposure of my blog which I can't thank them enough for. And an update since that post was written a while ago. Jessie and Jordan recently got MARRIED. Congratulations to them once more.

Lastly I have to mention

• Rafiki - Yip. That's right. Me. Here's a fun fact. This post took me almost 4 hours to write. It wasn't my intended post for today but upon seeing number 100 I changed plans. Anyways, Upendilife and blogging on the whole is something that I've come to love. P sometimes jokes that I pay the blog more attention than her(totally not true). The blog has evolved quite a bit in these past 6 months. I find that it has become way more personal than I intended and I wish I could strike that perfect balance I mentioned earlier that I believe Two Degrees has. In the beginning they were more post like this but I found recently it has been more of a journal of my life rather than what I intended. I really would like to find that perfect balance because I really do enjoy writing post like these. I'm going to have to take a few days and read through my blog from beginning to end. Take some time just to study and see how far I've really come and where I am going. It's been an awesome trip so far and I've met some really cool people who I would call friends. Kinda creepy, strange, weird, cool that I haven't met any of these people in the real world and most of them are anonymous yet I would still consider them friends.

Six months. 100 posts. About 20 actually worth reading and I am still here. It's been awesome and I look forward to the future. Thank you everyone and not only those I've mentioned today but every single blogger out there who has touched my life in some way and those who haven't. The world may have it's fair share of problems and bad people but look around here and the blogging world(PF especially). They are a heck of a lot of good people out there. All trying to make better for themselves and in effect helping make the world a better place. It's been truly amazing to be a part of this and I hope the best for you all. It's almost like fairy tales exist.

P.S

I have to mention the support system blogging has in case I haven't. Simply Unreal. I believe it's impossible to feel alone on your journey. Write it down. Put it out and someone will help and support you. Blogging is one of the best things that has happened to me. I didn't get to visit any blogs today thanks to this post but I will catch up tomorrow.

P.P.S

This is one of my proudest post ever.

Money Check Up & Spending Recap July 31st - August 6th

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on class registration. Totally forgot it was due.

2. Today I am thankful for medicine. I've been coming down with a cold and have been battling it off with some help. I would be much worst today if it wasn't for medicine.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was attend a local crop over event(concert) that P got us free tickets for. Hence the free. We still spent a small amount on the outing.

4. I will consider this week a success if I... Not really sure. This is a strange feeling week. I guess if I can score 5 no spends that would be grand.

5. This time last year I was preparing for P to start her first year of university in a different country. Time flew fast cause we are about to do this again. Summer is soon over :(

Thanks to MPP for the Money Check Up

Spending Recap


Week runs from Sunday - Saturday
Days missing are no spends which = 2

Sunday July 31
$18.55 concert spending

Tuesday August 2
$16.60 food
$84 gas

Wednesday August 3
$4.78 drinks
$13.76 supermarket
$300 car payment
$450 class registration
$118.23 cell bill

Friday August 5
$2.45 bread

Saturday August 6
$20 credit for P's cell
$4 airport parking
$91.98 supermarket
$7 food

Total: $1131.35

What a week. I believe this is my most expensive week to date that I've ever posted.

Everything is pretty self explanatory. P is out the island since last Saturday for a week (don't believe I've mentioned it yet) so I've got the entire week to myself so I'm just going to breeze out mostly. I'll try to get ahead in my blogging if the inspiration is there. I've realized over time this blog has become way more personal than I intended. I had plans to write more post like this one but it is what it is.

I don't have much more to say about the past week. For this week here I'm hoping for a few no spends. 5 would be nice but who knows, just like how I forgot class registration things seem to always pop up. I've spent money already yesterday and I have an insurance payment and new tires scheduled for this week so we will see how everything goes.

Hope everyone has a great week. I've got a headache probably from the cold.

The New Peeps On The Block

Have you seen my blogroll lately? It's super long.... Quite honestly I never wanted it to get this long. Once on my blogroll I try and make sure I actively keep up with your blog and now that it is this long it is getting quite hard to do so, some days I am on track but as soon as life picks up I fall way behind and it gets difficult to catch up. I blame all of these great PF blogs. You teach me so much and bring so much entertainment to my life.

Anywhos, this isn't a post to complain, with how busy I've been I have not really been sharing a lot of link love and it is something I want to get back into. I think it is important to give back and sharing a link is like a small thank you. Today I want to give a shout out to all the new blogs I've found, all of them aren't new to the PF world as some have been blogging longer than me but I've just discovered them.

In no particular order here goes.

Kay of Black Girl Balanced

Niki of Debt Free By Thirty

BabyBlueWater of Head Over Heels... In Debt!

Lane from In Mint Condition

Captain Sweatpants who is In-debt, Fat, Short with Bad Teeth

Life Is Full of Sunny Days

Cluttered Money of Little by Little

Ginna of My Pretty Pennies

Krystin from The Misery of Money

Marissa of Thirty Six Months

Judy from We May Be Poor but We Are Happy

There you have it, some of the newer editions to my blogroll. I'm sorry I can't link to everyone there and I know it may not make sense to link to those already on my blogroll but they are the ones who I do most of my reading from and like it or not they deserve the extra love.

I read a few more blogs in my free time but I don't always get to add them to my followings list(they are quite a few more than just my blogroll) but I still visit them fairly regularly. I try to leave comments when I can and I have a truckload of links to articles I read to share and not all are from my network(blogroll) I just haven't had the time to sit and organize them into post. I always want to share good content.

That's it for today. I will try to pick back up link loving on a Sunday as soon as possible.

August Started Off On The Wrong Foot

I've had a crazy start to the month. If my money was in a  bucket then the entire bottom fell out.

I decided to make my first car payment yesterday of which I paid $300. I also paid my phone bill early as I want to make sure that when the end of the month comes that I have nothing due so I can be certain how much extra I can pay towards the car loan.

Right after I got home from the bank my mom called and reminded me about the webpage design class I signed up for when I realized I was really enjoying blogging and also was enjoying playing with the design of the blog(amazing how I have a degree in Computer Science but during school webpage design never interested me so I chose not to major in it).

The registration fee was due yesterday as well and that was $450. I barely had enough to cover it. I am happy I was able to cover all of these things at short notice(the class wasn't short notice but because my mom hasn't given me the money yet everything is screwed up) but I would have preferred not too. I have the insurance payment due next Friday and I still need to purchase two new tires. These are the things I don't have the money any more to cover for so I really have to hope my mom pulls through before then.

Anyways, it's been a rough start but this race still has 27 days left and I plan to be at the finish line in front of the pack no matter what.

Net Worth: July 2011

What A Month...

I bought a car and as a result acquired debt which resulted in me unquestionably failing my year end goal of a $9000 net worth. I was so close :(

Assets

Liquid Cash - $3381.50

RRSP - $757.89

Stock Fund - $870.00

Credit Union Shares - $120.00

Liabilities

Car Loan U - $6500

Explanations

• Liquid Cash - This includes all my money that I can access. Savings, E-fund, etc.
• RRSP - Registered Retirement Savings Plan. This speaks for itself.
• Stock Fund - Money I set aside with my employer to purchase shares in our parent company.
• Credit Union Shares - Shares I own in the credit union that houses my RRSP
• Car Loan U - The major part of the car loan. The U stands for uncle whom I bought the car from.

Monthly Progress Update

My goal by the end of the year was to have a 9k net worth(secretly 10k). I was doing pretty good up until I was handed a pretty good opportunity or at least what was package as a good opportunity. By now you all know I went and got myself a car and some debt along with it. Back in April I was formulating a plan to get a car and I was even going to take on the debt for it but the plan wasn't coming to be as I was having trouble getting financing. Fast forward to the present and something came through and I now own one(the same one actually but with less debt).

Right now my Net Worth = -1970.61(this may be the first time I have posted the actual number and not a percentage, not that you couldn't work it out yourself)

It is suppose to be worst and is expected to be soon. Reason being, if you remember, part of the reason I got the car is because my mom agreed to front the down payment, as luck and life would have it, she didn't, at least not yet because the bank didn't release the funds. Since I had already went ahead and made a deal with my uncle and was running late I went ahead and pulled the money together myself which I was very upset about. I pulled some from my emergency fund, drained my savings and borrowed a bit from my dad. I could have foot the entire thing myself but I didn't want to risk not having an EF for P and I.

Moving ahead, my mom still hasn't given me the $2500 dollars she promised and I actually don't really need it. I have replenished the EF, paid back my dad and put back some money in my savings(not all but a little). The reason I was able to pull through this so easy is because just last week the government sent me a cheque for $1300. I was going to use this to clear the balance on my insurance but I(with some help from P) decided it was best to use this to balance out the accounts and pay back my dad. The reason I am still taking the money from my mom is because I still have the insurance payments and I have to buy two new tires so I will be using that money for those things. By doing this even though it would be increasing my debt I will be more comfortable.

So in a nut shell.

I have failed my year end net worth goal
I have acquired debt
And last but not least, I have a negative net worth :(

My new year end goal is to have a net worth of $0

P.S.
I am not ever going to include the value of the car in my net worth, a car for me will always be a luxurious liability. No matter what it is valued at.(as a side note if I did though, the car is valued at 14K but I would have felt like I cheated my net worth)

I hope unlike me every had a positive increase in their net worth. I have actually decrease mine to -21.90% from being at 55.82% on target to reach my goal. That is a 77% decrease. Holey Crap.

July Goals Recap

So here was the list

• Increase my wedding savings by no less than 4% or 1% a week even if it means saving my free spend money PASS
• Start back tracking my spending in detail PASS
• Save some money PASS
• Try to come up with a way to make some extra/passive income,other than overtime. FAIL
• Hope I get the new position I applied for at work ON HOLD
• Review everything about my life so far and see what I need to do next FAIL
• See what I can do to improve my career PARTIAL
• Depending on what goes down career wise, ask for a raise. PARTIAL
• Stick to my Golden Personal Financial Rule PARTIAL
• Bicker with P less SUPREME FAIL!!!
• Finish the about me page I started 15 days ago FAIL

So let me do some justifying starting with the first fail.

• I don't believe I put enough effort into trying to find the extra/passive income. I thought about lots of things I could do but I couldn't come through on any of them. Actions speak louder that words.
• They haven't filled the new position yet so there is still a chance
• I haven't sat down and made the time to review my life, I was quite distracted but I will do this in good time. I always do.
• On improving my career I haven't done much, the one thing I have done is decide to complain less about my job and I can see improvements in myself and my current position
• I got a raise without asking, I believe I was suppose to get one on completing a year but it wasn't stated in my contract so it came as a bit of a surprise.
• I stuck to the Golden Rule but I also bought a car on credit so......
• I FAILED THE MOST IMPORTANT GOAL ON THIS LIST SO I BASICALLY FAILED EVERYTHING. THIS WILL BE ON GOING FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
• The poor about me page....

It was interesting having the goals list but I won't be making a solid one for this month. Like I said, I failed at P so I failed at life. I want to be better to her every single day and I know we will argue but I believe a lot of the times it can be avoided and I didn't try hard enough last month to decrease it. Maybe if I fail again this month I should tattoo it onto my body.....

For this month all I really want to achieve is.

1. Bicker with P less and make her the happiest girl on earth
2. Pull my finances and life together. They aren't out of whack but some things didn't go according to plan so that has me on edge. More on that in my net worth update.

Hope everyone nailed their goals for last month and I wish you the best for this month.

Weekly Money Check-Up & Spending Recap July 24 - 30

Spending Recap

Monday July 25
$86.87 supermarket
$2.75 drink

Tuesday July 26
$3.40 bread
$6.77 misc

Wednesday July 27
$6 toys*
$6.52 misc

Thursday July 28
$70.28 gas

Friday July 29
$2.40 drink
$12 grooming/haircut

Saturday July 30
$9 soda

Total: 206.99

Not as bad as I thought it was. Strange.... Yes I was tracking but since I was writing something down every day I just swore I spent a hell of a lot this week. Guess I didn't and I got one no spend too which is the Sunday. I swore I had none. Sweet.

* This is going to be explained in a future post. This is one of the dumbest purchases ever. I'll talk about it later.


Money Check Up brought to you by My Pretty Pennies.

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on groceries. I finally got to the supermarket but they were missing most of the stuff I buy so I have to go back again.

2. Today I am thankful for an extra day home. A holiday is just what I needed. Some extra time home to relax.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was go to the market I guess. I did buy a drink so it wasn't a spend free evening but overall it was free.

4. I will consider this week a success if I post something every day this week. Along with this spending recap/money check up, I have a goals recap to do, net worth update and a couple other post that I need to get out of my mind and on to the blog.

5. I dream about everything and nothing sometimes. Most of my dreams are usually related to things I have to do or want to do so sometimes I have trouble figuring out if they are reality or not. Last night, well more like this morning before I woke up I dreamed about this special hot dog I want to try :) Other times I dream about completely weird crap that vaguely relate to something going on in my life.