The Budget: 02.01.09
Posted by: knockoutniki on: February 3, 2009
Yup. Another pay period, another budget – and I almost forgot to post this too.
A few changes were made. First, I am no longer responsible for the cable/internet bill. the Boyfriend has decided to take that on as his utility – mainly because the combined amount of the cell phone bill, water/trash/sewage, and electrical bills are just slightly over the amount of the cable/internet bill. Now that things are more “evenly dispersed” I am able to have oodles more. I am clearing almost $200 bucks in savings per month, which feels good. I have no more consumer debt (aside from the card I use and payoff each purchase) and made a somewhat hefty payment to my student loans last pay period; things are definitely in the black (or green?) for Niki.
Otherwise, the last thing I really need to get rid of is my gym card. Should be gone by March – even though I could be done with it this month. I have just decided to let it run it’s course and cancel next month.
Also, you will see a category for trip/mad money. I did this because there are a few things I wanted to purchase with money. Basically that amount is going towards the last of the junk for a AZ MLB Spring training trip and getting my car’s oil change. It had been eons since I had it done, so ya, it needed to get done. And what ever is left over is going to material for the new spring/summer dresses and tops I am going to make.
However, I might wait on that because the Boyfriend and I have vowed to be extra frugal this month. We have set aside money for VDAY and MLB Spring Training, so there is no reason why we should be able to live on way less this month.
Wish us luck and here’s to another successful budget.
The Budget: 01.15.09
Posted by: knockoutniki on: January 21, 2009
- In: budgeting| debt| saving
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I know – there is a little explaining to do on this budget. First, I am sorry this post is so late. With finals and whatnot, I haven’t had time to post anything really. Plus, I am not really deviating from my budget a whole lot, so ya. Second, I need to explain where the extra $3550 is coming from this month. Trust me, I am just as shocked as you are.
If you read this blog (or my other blog), you know I am in school full time. Last year, I was a strictly student loan kid. No financial aide and no grants because I didn’t qualify. This year is a different story. I was able to get financial aide – WOOT! But, clearly, I didn’t know the different between a regular strudent loan and financial aide because last week I got a nice fat check in the mail – a whooping $3500 bucks for lil’ ole’ me to spend on the necessary items that help me along as a student. I wish I had taped the conversation with my Financial Counselor. I thought it was a joke. A sick, heartless joke because I could do so much with that money. He told me that I could use the money however I wanted – pay bills, pay credit cards, use it for rent, food, clothing, a laptop… basically anything but a trip to Hawaii (dang). And whatever I didn’t use, I could start paying down my principle for the first year loan or keep for whatever emergency comes up. So, I decided to do it little of both, if you couldn’t tell.
the Boyfriend and I are planning to go spring training again this year, so I set aside some money from my paycheck to cover that, while I used to COL (cost of living) check to cover what I was setting aside – mostly to pay bills. Also, I am using a portion of that check to completely pay off the rest of my consumer debt! WOOTWOOTWOOT. You have no idea how good it feels to be out of consumer debt. I have spent the better part of 5 years trying to do it and it is finally all gone. And if I am gonna have debt, I am glad it is student loans. Otherwise, the rest is going into savings, cars insurance, and back to CitiBank to start making payments on my loan from last year.
Wow, that is a long post. HAHA.
My Budget: 01.01.09
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 30, 2008
WOWOWOW. My first budget for ‘09.Sweet – and a relatively easy one at that. I had some extra fundage come my way because of the holidays, so I was able to save more than I expected – which is good, cause the next couple of pay periods are not looking so hot. Ugh. Well, here goes nothing.
I tried to save as much of the extra dough-rey-me I got for the holidays as I could while making a hefty payment to my Chase Visa. Which leads me to my most recent personal finance decision: decided to switch my debt snowball around a bit – and here’s the reason:
I have 2 consumer credit cards now (WOOT!!): the Chase Visa (which is closed) and the B of A Visa (which is open and I – sadly – use if I need to). Because I use the B of A Visa still (which I know I shouldn’t), the balance is always changing; the Chase, however, is not. I understand that they whole point of the debt snowball is to pay down the lower balances first (small, enouraging milestones if you will), but that doesn’t make sense to me anymore since I use the B of A card occasionally- in my mind, I am not making any ground work on paying down my debt if I continue to pour money into a card I still use. Does that make sense or am I crazy? I could use some advice from some of my personal finance buddies (ahem – J.Money!!)
So, I am now going to go back to my holiday break – even though I have to work today. But here is to the next 5 days off – WOOOT!!
Happy Holidays!
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 23, 2008
I will officially be taking a break from blogging until after the first of the year. I know, I just got started on this blog – but I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off like the next week. So, keep your fingers crossed that I don’t go crazy and go on a spending binge!
Kidding Kidding… if anything, I am going to sleep!
A Question For My Frugal Friends…
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 22, 2008
Getting A Grip: Step One.
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 19, 2008
- In: debt| money| personal finance
- 1 Comment
Through the blogosphere, I have learned so much about personal finance, the importance of managing your money, and the simplest ways to get out of debt. But learning and acting on what you have learned are two completely different things.
Money is scary, lets face it. Money makes people uncomfortable – whether you’re a baller or living from paycheck to paycheck, money is a sore subject for most people. And because of that mentality, many people are sticking, or have stuck, their heads in the sand for a long time: myself included. The warped reality for the misguided is: if I don’t see, it’s not happening. Deniability. Then sooner or later, you are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, getting evicted, and loosing your job: No Bueno.
But there will come a time, whether it is when you have ask your parents for help or filing for bankruptcy, that you have to let everything out – get it all out into the open. For me it was not being able to pay rent because my consumer credit cards were asking for $300.00 minimum payments – and even then, I didn’t commit to righting myself full force; that came years later. When that happens, life comes to a grinding halt and you have to figure out what to do.
I moved back home. It was horrible. Everyone knew why, everyone kept asking what I am going to do, and I blew everyone off with the same answer – pay off my cards and save money. That sorta happened.
One day, my Dad, and best financial adviser at the time, sat with me and my stack of bills. We went through each one, seeing how much was due, which ones were at final notice, and which ones had the higher interest rates. At the time I had a super shitty job – so I didn’t have much cash flow. His idea was to pay all the minimums to get them current – which surprisingly worked. Then to pay what ever I had left after everything evenly to the cards; paying just over the minimums, which worked for a while. And I lived like that for some time.
Then early this year, I started blogging heavily – really getting into the different genres of the blogosphere. My blog at the time was mainly for documenting what time I had left with my Grandma, photography, and crafting. I never really thought of it as a truthful outlet, a tool for betting myself, or any sort of networking tool – I just wanted something to type on besides Myspace.
But then, a mini miracle happened. I found Google Reader. It introduced me to hundreds of blogs I might be interested in – including personal finance. I was instantly hooked. Instantly. The first blogs I started following religiously were Frugal Dad, Get Rich Slowly, and Clever Dude. They had such insight into an area of my life that I literally knew nothing about. They all had advice for the different stages of getting out of debt, saving, and living frugally. It was astonishing how much they knew [and know!]. And that’s when I decided I was going to legitimately start turning my financial life around, start saving for my future, and start living within my means.
Getting a grip was step one. After doing some research and deciding which steps I could easily follow, I decided that I was going to start out with a budget and debt snowball. So, I laid out all my bills and expenses again [this time with a slightly better paying job] and quickly made work on which cards had the least amount on it and which bills I had to pay each month. Within 2 months, that card was gone and all my bills were being paid on time. And since then, I have paid off 2 more consumer credit cards using my debt snowball and have been living within my means because of my budget.
During step one of my personal finance turn around, I learned that, for me, it is important for everyone to know my financial situation – to know where I am coming from when I say I can’t do something, or I have to save for it. Blogging has been a great tool for that. While it is scary putting everything out for everyone to see, it is what keeps me in check. I guess it is the fear of letting not only myself down, but my blog readers, my friends, my family, or acquaintances who read this. Disappointment is worse than being mad at me in my book – so I do this, this open air financial blog, so I can not loose sight of my goals.
Step one was the hardest. Digging my head out of the sand, learning the different tools that are at my disposal, and actually forcing myself to do something through fear of humiliation was the hardest – but boy has it paid off.
Douche Bag! But I Love You!
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 17, 2008
I love all my friends – it is their varying personalities and interests that make me love them and never want to lose them. But there are a particular few whose actions and non-thought processes really grind on me sometimes. This friend [I am not going to say his/her name - it is the interweb after all] knows they are one of those – and they knows I love them like family regardless of theirlack of compassion and ample dumbassery. Today is a perfect example of that and it has everything to do with personal finance – WOOT!
Here is our convo [actually, while I was sitting here texting them back, things are getting kind of personal... eesh]
- Friend: What did you find out about the cabin?
- Me: Nothing, I have been busy. You do the research and I will invite people.
- Friend: Whats your price range?
- Me: Cheap, but not super cheap. Better yet, whats your price range?
- Friend: 100-200 bucks a night. but I would prefer to do it on weekday because it is so much cheaper.
- Me: Well, that is too expensive if it is 100 per person. And everyone works week days.
- Friend: Its called vacation
- Me: It’s called I have only been working at my job for like 3 months and have squat built up… and not everyone have vaca time… peter doesn’t get vaca time… it’s all unpaid.
- Friend: We can get a 2 bedroom cabin for 500 bucks and have a bunch of people.
- Me: When?
- Friend: Jan 16th for 2 nights
- Me: I can’t go then… it’s my brothers bday
- Friend: who cares about our dumb ass brother. how about the 23rd?
- Me: Shoot for Feb. That way it gives people a chance to save some money. We aren’t all money bags like you… plus I need to ask people first.
- Friend: Spread the word of the 23rd and see how many are willing to go based on a 600 a night figure.
- Me: Whaaa!!?? How many nights?
- Friend: 2
- Friend: Honestly people don’t need two months to save 200 bucks. if they do then they shouldn’t be going.
- Me: then i can’t go. bye.
- Friend: You guys honestly can’t afford it? then you are living beyond your means.
- Me: No, we are living perfectly within our means… we have a budget. So if we want to go on a trip, we save for it. So you can just shut the fuck up.
- Friend: But what is an emergency happens, something not in your budget? then what?
- Me:I have an emergency fund. If you want to know exactly where all my money goes, read my blog. We save for want we want.
- Friend: My point is, if you can’t save 25 bucks per week for a month in advance then you need to just give up.
- Me: then I give up! BYE!
- Friend: If I give you a whole year could you save 100 dollars?
- Me: maybe, mom. thank you for being so supportive [sarcasm]
- Friend: I don’t mean to get you upset. I want you guys to go because I enjoy spending time with you and I asked you to plan it because I know how you are. And as soon as I throw ideas out there you shoot them down with all of your restrictions.
- Friend: With that being said, you tell me when you can do it, how much you want to spend and where you want to go because I don’t have any restrictions.
- Me: I am sorry, [friend], but planning a mountain trip right now is something i can’t do. Between work, failing my classes, the holidays, my cookie party, and various other things, i barely have time to sleep. I can plan it… but after the holidays. And you have to understand that money isn’t just an issue with me. So you have to be flexible with everyone’s dates, pricing, and whatnot so everyone has fun.
- Friend: I don’t mean to be a dick, but those things don’t matter. This trip doesn’t matter but if you’re freaking out about some cookies and f’s and some bullshit Christmas presents you need to come back to reality.
- Friend: and I know that you’re thinking that because they don’t matter to me they don’t matter at all, but you’re wrong. they don’t matter period. those are supposed to be fun things and you are twisting them into something they are not.
- Me: [friend] honestly, shut the fuck up, you have no idea. I provide myself and peter and we do what we want with the money we have. so yes, you are being rude and a douche. Work, school, my family mean everything. Having fun with my friends doing things we can afford matters to me because I love them. So, if you don’t like it, I could care less. So… BYE!
- Friend: I am stressed too. I am stressed because I can no longer relate to any of my loved ones. I am scared because nobody cares about what’s really important anymore. I am stressed that right now you have no idea what’s coming around the bend and I am stressed that I can’t articulate it properly to warn anybody to it. - my friend is a wee bit of a conspiracy theorist.
- Me: welcome to being and adult. You grow.
As you can tell, I got a little pissed. I just hate it when people just assume you know nothing – and this particular friend has a way with words that can really cut deep. So ya – what have I learned? That I am more careful with my money than ever before. I love my boyfriend, my family, and my friends no matter how crazy they maybe.
What would you have done in my situation?
My Budget: 12.15.08
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 16, 2008
I know I said I was gonna wait until after the first of the year to do anything on this blog, but I decided that I should give this a trial run.
Just so you know a little bit more about my finanical situation, here is a short run down:
- I do a budget for every pay period, which means the 15th and last day of every month. I literally get paid diddily squat [you will see], so I have to budget everything out per pay period. I also budget everything for 2 people and a cat, besides rent [we split that down the middle]. Anything that I don’t budget for, the Boyfriend picks up the tab.
- I also follow the zero-balance budget guidelines: meaning that I allocate all my money from every paycheck to something; leaving a zero balance at the end. This way I know where all my money is and where it is going.
- In addition to this, I also use an envelope system for the areas where we can get a little crazy with the money [i.e groceries, gas, dining out, entertainment, and household junk]. I count my thrifting habit as entertainment FYI.
- I also have a debt snowball going – meaning I am paying more to the cards with a lower balance. I paid off one card last month, and this month [see below] I will be paying off the next lowest card. So, until all my consumer debt is gone, I have a snowball – WOOT!
- FINALLY – I hand write my budgets with a pencil and paper. I do this because, face it, we are all human and things change. For example, if I have an unexpected bill come up that needs to be paid, I get crafty with my budget and move things around. Pencil and paper I can carry around with me – an Excel spread sheet, I can’t – so, ya.
Okay, so here is my budget for this pay period – 12.15.08:
So ya. That’s my budget. I wasn’t lying when I said I make diddily, right? - so I have to work with what I’ve got. I still do the things I want, just not as frequently.
Let me know what you all think of my budget. Are there any areas that I can improve on? What do you do to budget your money??
I Suck @ Life… I know.
Posted by: knockoutniki on: December 12, 2008
I know, I know, I know… I have been totally slacking off in the personal finance blog department. These last few months have been cur-a-zy to say the least and I just haven’t had the energy to put any work into this blog.
But this slacking off isn’t going to happen much longer. 2009 will be a new start for this blog – updated with my handwritten budgets, my spending habits, thrifty ideas, and frugal tips from me – the twenty-something woman trying to survive on a $14 dollar an hour job.
So, I promise promise promise I will be back in full force on this blog come the new year… Maybe even sooner since my first budget is for 01/01/09 and it is done. Woot!
Happy holidays!!
Back & Better Than Ever!
Posted by: knockoutniki on: November 5, 2008
- In: money
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Well, sorta. I was originally keeping this blog over at Blogger. I hated it. Being a WordPresser, I guess I have been spoiled with ease and simplicity. I found it harder to post, or do things in my post, I found the layout a little funny, and I was hard access stuff on my dashboard. And not to mention – NO STATS. I love stats. I love to find out who is looking at my blog, interested in it, and who is referring me. Using sitemeter (or services like it) was annoying. I like it all in one place, and that’s it. Call me spoiled – cause I am. So, I made the very wise decision to move my blog over to WordPress, where I should have started it in the first place. Granted, I can’t place ads anymore (there goes one side hustle), but honestly, I don’t care. I love WordPress – so sue me (kidding, please don’t).
I am, however, going to get rid of a one thing that I was carrying on about over at Blogger: the spending diary. I didn’t like it. I don’t spend as much right now anyway with my envelope system, so I felt it was kind of pointless. Maybe when I am debt free and able to save and spend more, I will start it up again, but honestly, it is not needed yet.
A few new post topics for the new blog are in the works – and they should be super helpful to you frugal wannabes out there. I know they were for me!
Till next time, check out my guilty pleasure blog.
Photo: Pennywise Guide
