Grocery Lists

August 31, 2007
I have found that everytime I go to the grocery store I spend between $75 and $115. That is way more than my weekly budget of $60. I usually go without a list and many times I forget my coupons. I am resolving to always use a list and stick to it. Several years ago I used pre-rinted grocery lists and just circled the items that I needed each trip. I am going to start doing that again and see if it helps me stay within my budget.

Found money!

August 28, 2007
I received a check yesterday for $27.60. Apparently when I refinanced my mortgage last year the escrow company kept some of my money. I am going to put the money in my savings account. Yep…that is almost a good as finding a twenty dollar bill on the sidewalk. I quickly counted some of the change in my coin jar and counted about $30. That is going into the bank too.

A penny saved...

August 27, 2007
is a penny earned according to Ben Franklin. I have decided to start accumulating my change at the end of each week and set it aside. I don’t expect to yield huge amounts of savings but it is something. This morning I gathered the change from the bottom of my purse and found $1.42. Not too bad. Once I get a large enough amount I can take it to one of those Coinstar machines at the grocery store and turn it in for paper money. I already have a bowl of change I have saved but I haven’t been adding to it until now. We will see.

I have decided to max out my 401k

August 23, 2007
When I calculated the tax numbers it just made more sense to put 15% of the bonus into my 401k. For the next 12 months I plan to set aside 15% of my salary in my 401k. The next thing I will need to think about is increasing my Roth IRA contribution to the max allowed. While I had originally planned to use a portion of the bonus to pay down debt I have opted against that as my credit card debt is at 0% forever as long as I use my card twice per month. I will lower my tax bite significantly by putting the funds in a tax deferred account. I will use about $1,500 to bolster my emergency fund. That will put my emergency fund at over $5,000 by the end of September. My paycheck will be just a little lower but that is fine. I am on track to meet two of my 2007 goals: 1) An emergency fund of at least $5,000 and 2) maxing out my 401k.

Paydown debt or save?

I will be getting a small bonus next month. I am debating whether to pay down my 0% credit card debt or to put it in a CD earning 5%. From a financial stand point it makes the most sense to just put the money in a CD, however, from a psychological stand point it would be nice to see my credit card balance go down. I have calculated that the money would earn about $75 dollars in a 6 month CD. I will also have enough tax refund from my tax return next year to completely pay off the credit card debt. This is a tough decision.

Living paycheck to paycheck

I just saw a news story where it was reported that 41% of people live paycheck to paycheck. I have a little money set aside but not enough to say that I don’t live paycheck to paycheck. This just doubles my resolve to increase my savings cushion. I currently only have about a month of expenses set aside in my emergency fund but my goal is to have three months set aside. If all goes as planned, I will have my emergency fund fully funded in about six months.

Stock Market Downturn

August 16, 2007
I like most people trying to save for retirement have seen their 401k and other stock market investments decimated the past few weeks. I cannot even bear to look at my balance right now. I have not pulled any money out and I made my normal $100 monthly to my Roth earlier this week. Even though I am in for the long run it still stings when the market go crazy.

Savings and Taxes

I got paid today and was able to replace the savings that I had borrowed. For good measure I also deposited an additional $25 to pay interest to myself. Next month I am going to increase my monthly emergency savings deposit from $350 to $450. I wish I could grow it faster but that is the best I can do right now.
I was able to claim homestead exemption on my house so now my real estate taxes will be about $900 lower than last year. I expect to get a escrow refund from Chase at some point. I think I will take the $75 per month in escrow savings and put it towards my car loan or student loan debt. I plan to put any escrow refund into my savings

Wachovia Fee for Quicken Downloads

August 8, 2007
For the past few months I have been hit with a $5.95 fee for downloading my bank info into Quicken. To be fair, Wachovia did tell me that this was going to happen if I did not have a Crown Access account but I still find this practice infuriating. I can get around this fee by downloading directly from Wachovia and that is what I plan to start doing.

Short Term Goals

August 7, 2007
I have some other short term (one year or less) financial goals and they are as follows:
1. Max out 401k
2. Three months living expenses in cash reserves
3. $100,000 in net worth
4. Pay off credit card
I will periodically refer back to these goals to see what progress I have made. It is important for me to write these down so that I can visualize the goal better. Best of luck to me.

Think twice before you spend

August 4, 2007
If I were to save $1 in a savings account earning 4.5%, in 25 years that $1 would be worth$3.01. That same $1 invested in a mutual fund earning 8% would be worth $6.85. Those numbers are before taking into consideration of any tax deferrals for putting the $1 in an IRA or other tax deferred investment. Now I need to remember that when I want to spend $1 frivolously that it costs me much more than $1.

July Debt Update