Current finances. Budget.

This blog entry is quite bland, so I'm gonna add a music video.

I love this song. I've taken a weird liking to blues rock lately.

Hello everyone!


It's the 15th, which means I'm sort of thinking about halloween now. I'm happy that I do have an initiative to dress up, gonna be helping with the Japanese club halloween event. Because it's for school though, I can't really dress in anything too sexy. I was thinking a fairy costume this year. Originally, I wanted to do Toad from super mario brothers, but I don't have the time, patience or finances to do a good cosplay.

That being said, this is what I need for a good fairy costume:

-My black leggings,
-Wings
-False eyelashes
-Maybe some cute but wacky nails to match the wings (store bought)
-Colored hair pieces.

I can actually get a lot of this stuff at work. I got the new sales for Sunday and all of their halloween stuff is 50% off. That being said, because I'm getting paid on Wednesday, I'll have a good amount of money saved up.

I'm happy about how much I spent! even with going back and forth to school, and periodically buying food, I only spent about $115. I know that sounds like a lot for a week and a half, but it's really not. I had to spend most of it on gas... Here's my statement:

$284.00 available in checking

$449.00 in savings

My savings account hasn't been touched since my two deposits. That's a good thing. Hopefully it'll stay that way and that I won't get desperate for a computer and pull from it.

Gas totals:

$11.00 from Exxon mobile

$18.25 at shell

 *Note, my mom very kindly gave me $20 for gas the other day. 

So that's about $50 for gas since 10/07. Eight days. So my budget should be planned accordingly to set aside at least $50 for gas a week. ..As sad as that is. But going to pasco and back doesn't pay for itself.

Food totals:
From 10/07-10/14. From most recent to least recent. Couldn't put dates on these because they weren't accurate (the site displays when the payments went through, not necessarily the day it was purchased. I seperated them with spaces to guess how many were made in a day. This is just for absolutely necessary food purchases, not restaurants.

 Hawks Nest $3.29. Coffee and Bagel.

Hawks Nest $4.77
PB&J cause the bagel I brought was rotten.

$1.50. Pepsi. 

$4.01. Starbucks.
Had to get myself a coffee. This was the night I spent at Jessica's and had school the next day. 

 $4.61. Rite Aid.

Powerbar and an Amy's lunch. Arizona tea.

$2.07. Rite Aid. 

Probably a 5 hour energy shot.

$5.79. Rite Aid.

Lunch. I hadn't been packing them because of lack of food at home.

$3.87. Rite Aid. 

Lunch.

$3.10. Rite Aid.

Probably a snack for a late shift.

 _________________________

$33.01 on food in 8 days. 

This can be improved by packing my own lunches more often. I've been making an effort with this the past few days. It's just not very much to eat around here. Once I get my next paycheck, I might need to start buying produce for myself and add that to my budget. Just $20 a week would make a big difference, and save me money in the long run because I'm not spending as much on food.

Fun Totals: 

$24.55. Sushi Nori.

Went out to eat 10/07 on my pay day. I took Samantha out to dinner. Pretty worth while purchase.

I have gone out more often than this, but I've been really good about not spending money when I go out. I haven't really had that much time for this category because of school and work. 

So yeah, overall I did pretty good. Now I'm thinking about my next paycheck and planning out how I'm going to save money these next two weeks. I don't know what my paycheck is going to look like. I doubt it'll be more than the last one, but I hope it's not too much less. I'm going to try to figure out what I'm owed, or at least get a good guess.... I'm going to use my facebook to figure out what days I worked before 10/10.

Work Totals:

Sat Oct. 8th, 8 hour shift. $69.36

Sun Oct 9th, 6 hour shift. $52.02

Tues Oct 11, 8 hour shift. $69.36

Friday, Oct. 14. 8 hour shift. $69.36

(30 hour work week)

Sun Oct. 16 11-7, 8 hour shift. $69.36

Tues Oct 17, 2-10:15, 8 hour shift. $69.36

 Get paid Wednesday....

Friday, 4-10:15, 6 hour shift. $52.02

Saturday, 4-10:15, 6 hour shift. $52.02

(30 hour work week again)

Approx. total for Wednesday, Oct. 19: $398.82

BUT, stupid taxes. So approx total - $35.89 for 9% income tax

=$362.93

Hurray! That's not a bad paycheck at all. WAY more than I was ever making at Toys R Us last year, that's for damn sure. I'd probably only get about $150 or so back then. 

If I am very good at savings until Wednesday, and only use the money that is going to be given to me for the estate sale today for gasoline, then I'm going to have approx $250.00 on Wednesday. So my approximate amount of money in my checking account after my next paycheck will be:

Checking: $250+$305= $555

Savings: $449+$57= $506

I think around $60 will be sufficient for my savings account for these two weeks. 

I'll think about what I need to buy more later. The main thing that's on my mind right now is gas (as always), food (as always), and a new halloween costume. I'd like to maybe take Katelynn out to dinner when I get paid, too. That'd be nice. I guess sushi is sort of my reward to myself for working so hard. For the next couple weeks however, I intend on spending less money on food, or at least making an effort to do so by packing a lunch at home. I did buy a little $6 thermal lunch jar at rite aid, which I used for lunch a couple days this last week. It's already paid for itself.

yours,

Emily