Thing 2: Budgetized

And it feels so good! Or bad... yes, bad.

Now that I have a car loan to pay off, it is time to finally get my act together and create a realistic budget that I won't break in the first week.  I did some expense tracking last year and discovered a few surprises ($500 on food in a month? On just grocery stores?? Who ate all that?) and a few not so surprises that needed to be changed.  I wouldn't say I had a problem with money before, but my budgeting system was not exactly restrictive.

My goals are:

1) pay off my 5 year car loan in 3 years as I did with my BMW
2) save a set portion of my income each month through an automatic savings plan, rather than just saving whatever was left over
3) reduce my spending on clothing, eating out, and home decor related goods
4) be an all around cheap wad

My new budget is now set.  I've added an additional monthly car payment on top of the minimum to pay off the loan in a tad over 3 years.  I've also set up the automatic monthly savings plan.  Both of those payments will be coming out of my next paycheck for the first time.  Oh dear...

I've already stayed in budget on my clothing spending for the first two months of the year, and I technically wasn't on the budget yet.  I think at this point I have just about everything I could need in my closet.  Also, the combination of my mall hatred, hesitation to shop online, and unhappiness with the current styles at my favorite stores hasn't exactly put me in the mood to go shopping.  This must be a sign of a deeper, more serious problem.  When a woman loses the will to shop, something must be going on!

Now I must work on my cheap wad tendencies.  Just wait until I get hit with my next fee.  Even if it's legitimate, I'm fighting the hell out of it!


March 1st starts the budget tracking.  Please think of me as you eat your $50 steaks and drink your $100 bottles of wine.