Week #1 Goal

I am now paid weekly (on Fridays) so I would like to budget weekly too.  Here are my budget goals for the upcoming week.  They are:

Groceries/Household: $100
Gasoline: $65
Mr. Green Lunch: $25

I haven't included any misc. items because I save a set amount per paycheck and deduct from that account as needed.  Let's see how the week goes.  I haven't been very good at accountability and that is a large part of our debt problem.  I'm hoping to stay on track this week.

Good Stuff @ Casa Green

Good things are happening at the Green homestead.  I was informed today by my new boss that I would be getting the "member" discount at my son's school starting this summer.  This will take about $1000 off my son's tuition for pre-school for the year. Also, I can sign him up for extra programs at the school and if they are on the days that I work (which is pretty much every school day), he can attend them for free. Pretty cool if you ask me.  Today was also my first paycheck from the new job.  It was a whopping $83.55 but money is money and I'll take what I can get.  After reconfiguring the budget to include the lower pay from this second job and also to account for a once a week baby-sitter for my son, it stands to reason that we can put about $300 extra per month towards debt.  It's a little less that we were able to put away with the other job, but it's still something and the work environment is fantastic.

Whoo Hoo Unexpected Money!

Over the holiday season, I had a temp job.  I've done that every year but this year I received an unexpected surprise.  I guess the job that I worked let part-time employees accrue personal time and mine was direct deposited into my account overnight.  Imagine my surprise when I logged into my account and saw the deposit.  Before I let my mind wander into thoughts of what I could do with it, I immediately set up a transfer so it would go to the EF.  It's not a lot (only $45.15) but I'm happy to transfer it to my account anyways.  One of my favorite bloggers, Jolie @ Shaking the Money Tree commented on a previous post about what my next goal will be.  I think that until the end of the summer, I'm going to focus on hoarding cold, hard cash.  I'd like to have a small emergency fund in place because one of the jobs that I have isn't necessarily permanent.  The owner of the business could change his mind very quickly about the arrangement we have in place.  With just my day job, it would be cutting it close as far as expenses go, which is why I'd like to have a little bit of money set aside for emergencies.

Tentative Budget

Goals for the next year:   1.)    Pay down as much debt as I possibly can!!! 2.)    No unnecessary new clothing/misc purchases (i.e. my husband can wait on the new carpet shampooer) 3.)    Stay organized (this is key to accomplishing my goals) 4.)    Take this challenge one day at a time 5.)    Keep and stick to a budget!!! 6.)    Make at least $600 from second job each month to put towards debt 7.)    Do NOT incur any additional debt     Tentative Budget   First job - $675 bi-weekly   Car Payment - $280 Gasoline - $90 Lunches - $50 Groceries - $205 Tax Savings - $25 Misc Savings - $25   Anything over $675 will be put towards misc savings.  Misc savings is a temporary savings account or a “holding place” for things we’ll need eventually.  Tax savings is just what I want to hold out for the next year’s taxes.  Since I have two jobs now, I know our taxes will go.  I could adjust my holdings but I’d rather put the money in a savings account and earn whatever interest I can.   Second job - $375 bi-weekly (this will probably be more but I want to be conservative)   Tax Savings - $25 Misc Savings - $25 Debt Repayment – Any remaining $$, hopefully at least $300   Like I said, this is a tentative budget.  It might change based on what I find out about our family’s spending habits.