Well there’s that – the last of the tax refund is GONE…Ugh…so wish we could have made it last longer again…keeping it on hand 6-Weeks isn’t terrible – but we could do so much better – someone PLEASE next year SMACK me clear across the head to hold onto it for a longer period…let’s see what did we spend it on:
- Sadie’s Adoption Fee x $200.00
- Sadie’s Necessities x $144.26
- Nixon Veterinary Needs x $225.00
- Down Payment on Car x $470.37
- Bills x $500.00
- Misc. Spending x $1,175.13 (this includes some purchases for the animals, including a new tank for Smaug, Heartworm/Flea Meds for Nixon, Ear Infection Meds for Nixon, etc.)
We TOTALLY were not smart with the money – DAMN I am not happy about this – we spent more on our pets this year than year’s past, which I am somewhat ok with, but not at the same time if that makes any sense…so here we are no refund left and getting back to things as per usual…life sucking as it usually does for us financially…can we tell I am SO not in a good place in my mind in terms of our finances??!?!
I THINK the only positive is the new van – Can I just say that I am TOTALLY in LOVE with my new Van!!! It may be 9-years old and have 109,000 miles on it, it runs great and I just LOVE it!
I think this sums it up – we burn it up – it literally burns holes in our pockets…this has been a consistent problem for me since I first started working – I’d cash my paychecks and BAM they’d be spent within a day or two, smart saving has always been an issue for me – I’ve never been able to really hold onto money before – I think that’s what our overall problem is with our finances…I sincerely need someone to take my money control out of my hands so I no longer have this issue – I say this because theoretically we make enough money to pay all of our bills, BUT we spend way too much on fruitless, needless purchases…I can’t seem to stop…the sad thing is I recognize this and yet I continue to make the same mistakes time and time again…
This week is no exception – I haven’t balanced the checkbook in two weeks (HUGE MISTAKE) I know and I’ve paid the bills based off of the project budget without actually accounting for everything we’ve spent, so I ended up over-paying the bills and not leaving enough left over for a check that’s pending – so I had to drain our Christmas account to cover that check…while I am ok with the fact that we had that money sitting there – I am NOT ok with draining that account considering it’s taken me so long to save that money…so here goes, critiques on the budget would be helpful…
| $390.35 | Remaining from W/E 03/02/14 | $425.92 | Lara W/E 03/09/14 Salary, Pay Date 03/14 | |||||
| $119.08 | Amt. Spent | $199.01 | Jimmy W/E 03/09/14 Salary | |||||
| $271.27 | Avail. Starting | $624.93 | ||||||
| $15.00 | Savings for X-Mas ’14 | $271.27 | Avail. Starting | |||||
| $5.00 | To KTC Acct | $624.93 | Total Pay | |||||
| $3.41 | Chick Fil A | $896.20 | Avail. For Bills | |||||
| $2.93 | Chick Fil A | $100.00 | In From Christmas Savings | |||||
| $10.33 | PCJ | $996.20 | ||||||
| $8.83 | Incredible’s Pizza | $150.00 | Bill Cleared From W/E 03/02 | |||||
| $29.80 | Wal-Mart | $846.20 | ||||||
| $7.14 | PetsMart | |||||||
| $28.44 | Target | |||||||
| $3.40 | KTC | |||||||
| $4.80 | Target | |||||||
| $119.08 | ||||||||
I am going to highlight two items, the $29.80 at Wal-Mart and the $28.44 at Target are mostly clothes purchases – my son has outgrown every pair of jeans he owns apart from like 1 pair, so we’re replacing his jeans – I went to the kids consignment shop I generally frequent and they’ve PULLED all of the winter attire (um last I checked it was still cold outside…so they had NO jeans on their shelves) and we had to pay full price for two new pairs of jeans for him; plus I purchased a shirt and a pair of tights for myself – having lost 42lbs my wardrobe too needs replenishing…
| $846.20 | |||
| $111.00 | Great Lakes, 03/17 Auto-Draft | ||
| $735.20 | |||
| $5.00 | CCA, 03/17 Auto-Draft | ||
| $730.20 | |||
| $19.99 | Planet Fitness, 03/17 Auto-Draft | ||
| $710.21 | |||
| $40.00 | Brigades Boys & Girls Club | ||
| $670.21 | |||
| $200.00 | Groceries | ||
| $470.21 | |||
| $25.00 | Dinner, 03/14 | ||
| $445.21 | |||
| $25.00 | Jimmy’s Money | ||
| $420.21 | |||
| $40.00 | Cat & Dog Food | ||
| $380.21 | |||
| $85.00 | LAS Financial | ||
| $295.21 | |||
| $40.00 | Gas | ||
| $255.21 | |||
| $21.75 | Nixon Needham | ||
| $233.46 | |||
| $150.00 | Citi | ||
| $83.46 | $83.46 | ||
| 8% | $7.25 | ||
| $6.68 | $76.21 | ||
So there we are…I am NOT happy with how this has panned out…so suggestions would be welcomed!
Hope everyone has a good Tuesday!
Images borrowed from: http://www.siliconvalleyandbeyond.com http://www.sharonoday.com
Financial Lessons Learned; Trials and Tribulations 