Here we go.....




Saturday, April 23, 2011

Oh Good Grief

So I haven't been subtracting my stuff. I've just been merrily spending what i want when I want.

And you know what? My budget is blown. As we approach month 5 this is what I see...

I have used up 62.63% of our grocery money. In 1/3 of the year. The main issue with this is, I used to spend $40 a week and things would be wasted. Just for fun, I compared some old receipts to this year's prices. Pennies here, pennies there, add up to almost a 15% rise in prices. So dropping it to $30 wasn't smart and I'm going to run out.

I have used up 68.31% of my mad money. A lot of that was car repair and a ton of that was biz supplies. I had better get a move on selling fluff.

My gas is half gone. Even when you don't drive a lot, a 25% rise in gas prices hurts.

Eating out is in the negative by $30. So any more eating out will have to come from my mad money. What little is left.

So summary. I suck this year. Bad.

But to be a little upbeat, I do have enough supplies to produce $15-20,000 of bows and tutus. So I just have to resist the urge to buy more supplies until I start moving product.

If my fluff doesn't sell, I will have to move money around. I can already move the wedding money back into mad money, we aren't getting married until next May. We've chosen a local location and I've always wanted a May wedding so it's pushed back a few months. And seriously, even though my house sold, we still have his condo to sell and my house to work on. We won't get it all done by Oct!

And because we won't be doing a honeymoon in Oct, I will have some leftover vacation money, about $1400. Even if we do a week in Oct at the beach, that is just $400 so I potentially have 1K to move.

And I guess I can keep some of the house money out for everyday bills. But that isn't what it is for. Bummer.

Spending - Week Sixteen (April 16-22)

16- zero - cool
17- $2.19 mcdonalds, $22 for feeding my moving help, $70.99 for the uhaul for the rest of my stuff, $6.49 for uhaul gas, $10.94 gas for my car I guess, I don't remember buying this amount but it's on my CC and at my station.
18- $79.67 at walmart. 2 beautiful hanging baskets, 1 basket for my strawberry plants, a container for Natalie's clothes and a bunch of dirt for my garden.
19- target $45.97, three pairs of shoes for Natalie. 1 pair will be going back
20- another car repair $76.65, $5.72 for elastic for my biz
21- zero
22- $18.82 for my boy's birthday cake ingredients and mixers

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Bow Sale

I made $38 tonight after I bought cookies for the girls and made a donation. This is my reminder to add it to the bottom right tracker.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Spending - Week Fifteen (April 9-15)

First, I'd just like to say I'm super proud of me for even blogging to week 15. I have the attention span of a gnat.

Second, I am spending like a maniac. I think the joy from not losing tons of cash every month has really set in. I am not even sure what I'll do with the money. Responsible Kim likes to remind wild Kim:

YOUR NEEDS

In retirement, you will need $20,000 a year in income. (Because of inflation, in 2020, that will be equivalent to $26,095.)(<--this is my income contribution to the house expenses when married, we've figured it all out on paper - our house will also be 100% paid off)

Part of that income will come from your Social Security and/or pensions. To produce the rest, you should build up your nest egg (including your 401k, IRA and other savings accounts) to $340,655 by the time you retire. (In 2020, that will be equivalent to $444,478).

YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING THERE

To save $340,655, your investments need to gain an average of -0.70% from now until retirement. We estimate that there is a 99.90% chance of this happening. (awesome possum)


Anyhooo, this is based on me sticking the house proceeds into my retirement account, still maxing out my 401K and putting 5K a year extra into my IRA. Looks good on paper. But bad Kim wants a beach condo. I am very undecided.

9- Saturday - fed Mom because she is helping me move, $20. Bath stuff and donation at Kroger 10.58. Paid $43 for April Ballet and $100 for July Ballet camp.

10- Sunday - Taco Bell 4.37 - fast food on the way to the other house so I could pack and clean.

11- Monday - clothes from target (3 shirts for me me me!!), flip flops from target (for DD) $32.19. $19.39 @ michaels for biz stuff, hobby lobby 2.94, even more biz stuff.

12 - Tuesday - 2 cups, 50 cents, breakfast at mcdonalds 3.83, biz stuff from crafter store 12.78, Statue of Liberty tickets $31. Burger King 3.29, $82.07 Kmart for capris (some of these will go back, I bought 2 sizes)

13 - Wednesday - playdate tacos with the girls 6.93

14 - Thursday - groceries & gas (charges are pending, groceries were $80ish, rant coming soon), Turbotax $82.07, biz supplies $168.05 (why yes, I have blown like 1K on biz stuff and have only made $216...stop adding it up!), $16 for a custom shirt for natalie to match her tutu...which I made with my business supplies. I am my own best customer.

15 - zero? really? finally!

I sold $13.88 in bows so I'll add that to the bottom.

I also did my taxes and have $4835 coming back to me. That is the last of my adoption credit, they changed the law this year so I got the rest of it back in a big chunk. I've been working through that credit for years! I am putting it into an IRA so I actually need to earn another $165 because I did some money manipulation to fund it before the deadline so it would count for last year. And I put in 5K. Ya, that didn't make a lot of sense when I typed it, just go with it.

I have a bow show next week. I am also making wholesale marketing packets for my bows to take to NYC. I figure worse case, I'm out ink, paper and a few bows.

This weekend I am renting a uhaul to move the few items I had at the house that sold. Salvation Army and the termite inspection dude comes on Tuesday. I am going to mow one more time. Then I never have to go to that part of town again. It is very exciting.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Spending - Week Fourteen (April 2-8)

Despite spending GOBS of money this week, I have had a FANTASTIC week. Why?

I sold my house! :happy dance: It has been half-a$$ed for sale for 10 months and with a realtor for 6. Today I sold it by owner to a guy who saw it on zillow while looking up a different house. He saw it at 10am and signed the contract at 3pm. I sold it for $900 less than my asking price. Life is good!

So my three huge purchases of the week were not budgeted. And one of them should have been.

You know what I'm missing? A car repair fund. My clutch was popping and so sticky so I took it in thinking the whole thing was going bad. Plus I had a screeching sound when it was cold and I cranked the wheel too far one direction. I ended up getting a new piston, a new part on my axle that had busted and new brakes for a little over $500. But the mechanic said my car was in great shape and should last easily the 2 extra years I want it to (it is 11.5 yrs old).

The ribbon is a biz thing, I fully expect it to pay for itself in the next few months.

Natalie got a new bed. She needed the extra space so I went with a jr loft. Now half of her toys fit under the bed and she has a lot more space.

Let's see, my grocery spending is out of control. So is our fast food consumption. It's because I've been so busy every stinking minute that I've not had time to prep or cook. Poor excuse I know. Every hour of the past two weeks has been planned out. On paper. yikes.

Sat - bed $141.26 rest of walmart groceries 33.99, 4.47 mcds
Sun - zero
Mon - walmart run, cat liter coffee pot, pineapple, beet chips etc 40.59
Tues - train ticket $77, bk 5.35
Wed - car repair $508.57, ribbon 606.58 (ya you read that right, I'll explain in another post), gas $43.13, $26.20 ribbon thing, mcds 4.96, dollar general 2.74
Thurs - $1.50 car wash, look for food city receipt
Fri - pizza for playdate $1.41 breakfast

On my bows, I am pleased to say I have found a store to sell them in. She told me they were underpriced for her clients so even after you take out her %, I am making more per bow that what I would at another consignment sale. I also put them on etsy to try to sell them. My purchase this week consisted of 35 solids colors for my favorite bow. I already had 34 colors and with 2 duplicates, should have 67 different colors. Seriously, if one of my bows doesn't match your clothing..well it's not happened yet.

So for the year, I can see the grocery, hba & eating out columns hitting the dust first. So that means I am going to have to work work work on this hair stuff and make some more money to add to these columns.

Oh ya, and I made 475.55 at the consignment sale. I will add that to the extra money section.

Bye for now!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Do you Groupon?


So I signed up for Groupon. It's a site where they buy bulk discounts for people based on the city you live in.

What I've discovered is it's a great way to save money on vacation!

I set my city to New York City. So far I've found 2 great deals. We got our harbor tour tickets for $13 each, a savings of $31 for our group. (yay Groupon!)

Then I got a $20 deli coupon for $10. The deli has great reviews, is priced well and is within walking distance of several place's we will be visiting. (yay Groupon!)

So with just a couple of clicks, we've saved $41 on our trip. I am out to prove to my guy that we can afford to travel multiple times a year with a little planning :) (yay Groupon!)

$216.25

I have tallied my bow sales, $216.25. Since I used mad money to buy a lot of supplies, I'll dump this cash into the extra $2200 I'm trying to make this year. I haven't gotten the grant total from clothing and toy sales but out of 375 hangers, it looks like I sold 224 of them. The bulk of the leftover is winter items so I've packed them up for the Sept sale.