Marilla's Personal Finance Blog

Hi, everybody! I'm feeling great -- the birds are singing and the trees are blooming and the flowers are carpeting people's lawns. It's lovely that spring is here for sure.

Feeling good about my finances, too. I didn't spend more than I earned in March. I didn't have any supplemental savings, just the $200.00 I regularly put aside for travel, car insurance, and car maintenance. I suspect I won't have any supplemental savings this month either as two of my siblings are graduating from college and I haven't got enough in my travel account for both tickets. But that's ok, I'll be able to put extra away in May.

I am loving the labels on my credit cards. I have a small book I carry around with all my financial info and other helpful notes, but so often I feel rushed at the checkout counter and don't record things right away. When the list is directly on the card, though, it feels quicker and more important to do it right away. I list at the top of the label the amount I've budgeted to spend that month and then just subtract as I go along. I was worried about feeling awkward when handing it over to a clerk, but so far everyone seems to find it inspiring. Positive feedback is so very motivating!

My goals for April:

A) Start a monthly record of my networth.
B) List 3 more items on Ebay.
C) Walk to work three times a week.
D) Get the car tuned up.

Thanks for your support, Baselle, Ima and Thrifty Ray! It's a new week and I am feeling better about financial things.

Someone has placed a bid on my e-bay item and I sold the other item off-line. I'm very pleased to have figured out how to do this and hope to find other items that might be sell-able.

I've realized that if I use cash, I actually spend more money. Same with with the cards, if I'm not careful. So, I have hit upon a new system: I have put a blank address label on the front of my credit card with the total I have budgeted for non-exact expenses (groceries, gas, fun). Each time I make a purchase, I subtract the amount from the total. Doing this keeps the total very much in sight (and not just in my register) and the embarrasment factor of having this on my card gives me pause when deciding to eat out and needing to present the card to a waiter/waitress... Also, I get paid twice a month, which means two labels a month, which means that there's not a lot of space to write down lots and lots of purchases. So far, so good!

It's been a rough and tumble time these past two weeks.

Some good things:
A) Got a coupon to Pier One and went to apply it to a recent purchase and found that the item was currently on sale! Ended up getting 40.00 back. Very nice.

B) Have been offered a part-time job over the next year that will fit in nicely with my schedule. Still working on the details to see if its truly feasible, but will know soon.

C) Repeatedly checked out library books instead of buying them at the bookstore.

Not so good things:
A) Spent a lot of money on non-essential clothing. I get most of my clothes for free from a FOF (friend of the family) and they are of great quality. So, I indulge in the occasional splurge when I see something that truly reflects my style. Why is this most recent purchase feeling uncomfortable? Because I quickly selected some things from on-line when I was in a spending mood. Granted, two of the four things were items I've had on my wish-list for a while, but the other two...

B) Have not kept my sinks clean this week.

C) Have not eaten the meals I prepared for this week and have either snacked or gone out to eat instead.

I shall rise from this slump...

I was all worried I might not have any extras to save this month and then got the cashback check from my Motley Fool card. Very pleased!

One of my goals this year was to figure out how to list items on eBay and hopefully sell some things. I made two listings last week. One (which sparked some interest among folks) was removed because someone thought it was a bootleg copy. I have no idea why they thought that, but oh well. The other item will expire tomorrow. One person is watching it, so who knows? I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm glad to find out that it wasn't as hard to list as I thought it might be.

Oh, and I got a job for next academic year! Nothing permanent, but I won't have to move and I love working with the folks here. So, I'm settled until next summer.

I've also started the Flylady system so many of you have mentioned. I'm loving it! So far, I've managed to keep my kitchen and bathroom sinks shining for almost a full week. Such small things, and yet they really do make me smile. :-)
So, thanks for the inspiration there, too!

Ick.

I just went through my expenses and realized that I won't have supplemental savings this month. Regular savings (auto insurance, maintenance, travel) will be fine, but nothing extra. My emergency fund is doing well, but I want to make sure that I do have some money regularly to add to it, if I ever have to drain some from it.

ARGH. Will have to get my 'eating out' under better control next month. As a single person, I get awfuly tired of eating in and cooking just for one.

Ahh...it's been an expensive week. Nothing like being on vacation to give you time to finish all those household tasks that cost a little bit here, a little bit there. It certainly adds up!

Still on break, but I came to campus today to check out the new computer in my office. VERY NICE. My old one rumbled and groaned like an old refrigerator. This new one is silent and has a flat panel screen. I love it already. And it is so much faster. Only downside is that I thought I had saved my bookmarks properly, but didn't. So, I'm spending some time adding them all back in. A small price to pay, methinks.