Argh. So, I have gone from several posts per week to about one per month. What can I say? Sometimes, life just gets in the way of living.
However, today was quite a financially exciting day. For the first time in I dont know when, I spent ZERO DOLLARS today!! I always buy lunch and get afternoon snacks and such. But today, I actually brought my lunch to work (leftover Chinese from Sunday), and I managed to stave off my cravings enough to avoid Walgreens and the store. So, yeah. Go me!
Then, in a flush of inspiration when I got home, I rolled all my change. Honestly, I am totally surprised at how much change I had in my change jug. $139.50!! There is about $3-4 that I didnt get to roll, but I do fully intend to take my change to work tomorrow and annoy the crap out of the people at BofA and deposit it. It is sad, because there is more money in change on my coffee table than there is in my checking account. But I had been worried about how I was going to make it to Monday. Now, not so much.
WOO HOO! Anyway, I am going to try to be better about posting more, but until things settle down IRL, I doubt I will be able to keep up with myself. =(
Showing posts with label cash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cash. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A little influx of cash.
Working at a Medical School does have its perks. Theres a lab upstairs from mine that does blood studies. Usually, theyre hired by companies to test their products. Ive done two different studies with them. One was testing a new method for storing platelets ($600 for me!) and the other was testing a new machine for collecting red blood cells ($250 for me!). They told me both times that they love my veins and that they would keep me in mind for future studies.
Well, last week, I got a call in lab from them. It has been over a year since I heard from them, so I had pretty much forgotten about them. But theyre doing another platelet study, and they thought of me. Theyre going to harvest platelets, radiolabel them, put them back into me, and draw blood over a period of about two weeks to check on them. It sounds horrible, but Ive done it before, and its not a big deal. But this study pays $620! Im so down for that. Its basically free money. I can bleed. Plus, its helping science, and thats a good thing.
It starts Sept 10 and goes for about three weeks in total. So, I probably wont see money until October. But seeing as how, it will probably all go to taxes or bills anyway, it doeesnt really matter. The point is, I need to be sure NOT to spend it on THINGS I dont need. Its for paying down debt. And $620 will certainly help with that.
And speaking of cash, SS4BC posted about ways to earn some extra cash, and this has me thinking about finally doing something with my change bucket and rolled up piles of coins. I know it may annoy my friends at BofA, but I have a feeling that in the next week or so, I may be walking in there with a sack full of rolled coins to deposit. Its like she says, every cent counts.
Well, last week, I got a call in lab from them. It has been over a year since I heard from them, so I had pretty much forgotten about them. But theyre doing another platelet study, and they thought of me. Theyre going to harvest platelets, radiolabel them, put them back into me, and draw blood over a period of about two weeks to check on them. It sounds horrible, but Ive done it before, and its not a big deal. But this study pays $620! Im so down for that. Its basically free money. I can bleed. Plus, its helping science, and thats a good thing.
It starts Sept 10 and goes for about three weeks in total. So, I probably wont see money until October. But seeing as how, it will probably all go to taxes or bills anyway, it doeesnt really matter. The point is, I need to be sure NOT to spend it on THINGS I dont need. Its for paying down debt. And $620 will certainly help with that.
And speaking of cash, SS4BC posted about ways to earn some extra cash, and this has me thinking about finally doing something with my change bucket and rolled up piles of coins. I know it may annoy my friends at BofA, but I have a feeling that in the next week or so, I may be walking in there with a sack full of rolled coins to deposit. Its like she says, every cent counts.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
It's Sunday... Where'd my money go?
I have some time on my hands tonight and figured it would be a great time to get back on my more regular schedule of these posts. So, a short week...
July 15 - 19, 2009
Groceries - $10.69
7-11 - $12.85
IHOP - $12.38
Convenience Store - $6.03
Walgreens - $5.21
TOTAL DEBIT CARD: $47.16
Starting Cash: $3
Cash Withdrawal - $35
Wed. Lunch - $8
Thurs. Lunch - $8
Fri. Lunch - $8
Cash Spent: $24
Cash in hand now: $14
Not too bad. But I still spent $71.16 in five days, and considering that I haven't left the house today, it's actually been only four days. That's $17.79 per day. Yipes. My $100/week allotment comes out to just over $14/day. So, I'm dead on if I count this spending as five days instead of four. So, not so bad, really. But there's still room for improvement, I'm sure.
July 15 - 19, 2009
Groceries - $10.69
7-11 - $12.85
IHOP - $12.38
Convenience Store - $6.03
Walgreens - $5.21
TOTAL DEBIT CARD: $47.16
Starting Cash: $3
Cash Withdrawal - $35
Wed. Lunch - $8
Thurs. Lunch - $8
Fri. Lunch - $8
Cash Spent: $24
Cash in hand now: $14
Not too bad. But I still spent $71.16 in five days, and considering that I haven't left the house today, it's actually been only four days. That's $17.79 per day. Yipes. My $100/week allotment comes out to just over $14/day. So, I'm dead on if I count this spending as five days instead of four. So, not so bad, really. But there's still room for improvement, I'm sure.
Monday, June 22, 2009
It's Monday... Where'd my money go?
I was too tired last night to write this post. But now I'm home, watching The Young & the Restless (my newest addiction), and ready to pour over my spending from the last six days. Due to my busy weekend, last week's Sunday post was postponed to Tuesday. So, this is only covering from last Tuesday through today.
June 16 - 22, 2009
$9.13 - 7-11 - Yeah, it was a shitty week, so yesterday, I went out and got some cigarettes. UGH. I wish that Toaster Strudel was my only vice.
$7 - Cappuccinos - Friday's comfort lunch of pancakes. YUM!
$32.11 - Target - Target is a wonderful store that has the power to SUCK money out of me. They were having a great DVD sale. (Major League for $3.98 and House Season 4 for $18.99! I couldn't say no.) The rest was groceries, which did include the best Toaster Strudel of them all Strawberry & Cream Cheese.
$6.65 - Dunkin Donuts - Bagels for lab meeting. It's the tradition that the person presenting at the meeting in the morning buys breakfast for everyone. Seeing as how I only present about four times each year, it's not too bad.
$7.47 - The Little Store - Snacks and drinks at work. Sigh. I need to stop doing this.
$13.96 - Krispy Kreme - Donuts for lab meeting. I drive way out of my way to get Krispy Kremes for the meeting instead of walking the 1/2 block to Dunkin Donuts, because Dunkin Donuts is the spawn of Satan. Plus, everyone gets Dunkin Donuts; it's nice to mix it up. (Krispy Kremes are WAY better.)
$8 - Groceries
$14.29 - 7-11 - Yes, the shitty week required more cigarettes that I would like (ideally, none).
$84.42 - City Tax - UGH. It's once a year, and it always surprises me. But it's based off the value of my car, since my car is a POS, it could have been a lot worse.
$1176.26 - Vet Bill
+ $55.36 - Surprise settlement money
+ $1000 - A gift from my mother to help defray the vet costs.
Now for the cash...
Starting Cash: $3
$35 - Cash withdrawl
$10 - Thursday Lunch (me and a friend to whom I owed a lunch)
$6 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Coffee at Target ($6.31, but the change went in the change bucket)
TOTAL CASH IN: $38
TOTAL CASH OUT: $23
Cash left over = $15
Actual cash left over = $14
Just remembered I gave Lyndsey $1 for a lottery ticket. So, WOO! Balanced.
TOTAL MONEY SPENT THIS WEEK: $1,394.29 Of course, this is far from a usual week. But there are places were I could have definitely spent less money. And thank my parents so much for that extra $1000 to cover most of the vet costs.
Additionally this week, I blogged about this when it happened, but it's worth mentioning again here. I opened a new ING savings account with $20 for future vet costs for my surviving cat.
Also, my Amazon Prime membership was up for renewal. Since I'm curbing my spending all over the place, I decided that I'd be spending less at Amazon in general, so I wouldn't use the Prime as much. I canceled the membership and put the $79 that I would have spent to renew the membership into my savings account. It's a win-win that will hopefully pay off in the long run.
June 16 - 22, 2009
$9.13 - 7-11 - Yeah, it was a shitty week, so yesterday, I went out and got some cigarettes. UGH. I wish that Toaster Strudel was my only vice.
$7 - Cappuccinos - Friday's comfort lunch of pancakes. YUM!
$32.11 - Target - Target is a wonderful store that has the power to SUCK money out of me. They were having a great DVD sale. (Major League for $3.98 and House Season 4 for $18.99! I couldn't say no.) The rest was groceries, which did include the best Toaster Strudel of them all Strawberry & Cream Cheese.
$6.65 - Dunkin Donuts - Bagels for lab meeting. It's the tradition that the person presenting at the meeting in the morning buys breakfast for everyone. Seeing as how I only present about four times each year, it's not too bad.
$7.47 - The Little Store - Snacks and drinks at work. Sigh. I need to stop doing this.
$13.96 - Krispy Kreme - Donuts for lab meeting. I drive way out of my way to get Krispy Kremes for the meeting instead of walking the 1/2 block to Dunkin Donuts, because Dunkin Donuts is the spawn of Satan. Plus, everyone gets Dunkin Donuts; it's nice to mix it up. (Krispy Kremes are WAY better.)
$8 - Groceries
$14.29 - 7-11 - Yes, the shitty week required more cigarettes that I would like (ideally, none).
$84.42 - City Tax - UGH. It's once a year, and it always surprises me. But it's based off the value of my car, since my car is a POS, it could have been a lot worse.
$1176.26 - Vet Bill
+ $55.36 - Surprise settlement money
+ $1000 - A gift from my mother to help defray the vet costs.
Now for the cash...
Starting Cash: $3
$35 - Cash withdrawl
$10 - Thursday Lunch (me and a friend to whom I owed a lunch)
$6 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Coffee at Target ($6.31, but the change went in the change bucket)
TOTAL CASH IN: $38
TOTAL CASH OUT: $23
Cash left over = $15
Actual cash left over = $14
Just remembered I gave Lyndsey $1 for a lottery ticket. So, WOO! Balanced.
TOTAL MONEY SPENT THIS WEEK: $1,394.29 Of course, this is far from a usual week. But there are places were I could have definitely spent less money. And thank my parents so much for that extra $1000 to cover most of the vet costs.
Additionally this week, I blogged about this when it happened, but it's worth mentioning again here. I opened a new ING savings account with $20 for future vet costs for my surviving cat.
Also, my Amazon Prime membership was up for renewal. Since I'm curbing my spending all over the place, I decided that I'd be spending less at Amazon in general, so I wouldn't use the Prime as much. I canceled the membership and put the $79 that I would have spent to renew the membership into my savings account. It's a win-win that will hopefully pay off in the long run.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Where'd my money go? (addendum)
I just figured out why my cash totals were off.
I said that I should have $2 left over, but I had $3. I forgot that I started with $7.
That makes...
CASH IN: $59
CASH OUT: $50
And means that I must have paid $6 to park at work on Sunday, which was the only cash transaction that I forgot to write down.
That leaves $3 left over, which is what I have! WOO! I balanced.
I said that I should have $2 left over, but I had $3. I forgot that I started with $7.
That makes...
CASH IN: $59
CASH OUT: $50
And means that I must have paid $6 to park at work on Sunday, which was the only cash transaction that I forgot to write down.
That leaves $3 left over, which is what I have! WOO! I balanced.
It's Tuesday... Where'd my money go?
I realize that I intend to do this post on Sundays, but my parents were here for the weekend. So, I'm doing it on Tuesday instead. That makes this "week" long and next "week" short. Oh well, it's blog, I'll do whatever I want. Deal with it. =)
June 8 - 16, 2009
$7.01 - Walgreens - Drinks for at work. Grr. It's a dirty habit, but I need an afternoon drink at work. But, I got $2 cash for buying a drink for a friend that didn't go to the store, so really, it's only $5. We'll balance out the cash at the end.
$9.28 - Walgreens - UGH. Snacks and drinks for work. Seriously? I'm a snack-whore, I guess.
$23.44 - Groceries - Reasonable.
$15.60 - 7-11 - Gas for the car.
$13.31 - 7-11 - A drink for the road and two packs of cigarettes. UNACCEPTABLE! I'm shaming myself right now. Really? I didn't need to spend $10.49 on DEATH! Plus, now I know that I can get my drink from the grocery store at 5/$5 instead of paying $2.19 at 7-11. That's way better! Live and learn.
$31.13 - PetCo - My cat's not been feeling well, so this is extra cat expenses, but worth it if he'll just poop already.
$10.45 - Ikea - Probably unnecessary. $2 on lions (I would have bought more, but I only found 4 in the bin). Lions are a really bad habit I should break. They're only $0.49 each, but seeing as how I have about 400 of them... I've spent roughly $200 on little stuffed lions, and that's retarded! I also got some more hangers (8 hangers for $4, not a bad deal), but I've been living without these extra hangers until now, so I probably could have gotten by without them. But I'll use them. This is what happens when the driver of the carpool wants to stop places on the way home. I have no impulse control. I'd have spent $20 on lions, if I could have found 40 of them. Retarded!!
But that's it for Debit card transactions. Not bad for 9 days. ($110.22) Okay adding it up, it sounds like a ridiculous amount of money to spend on things, when really only $70.17 were necessary. I could have not spent $40.05. Again, something to work on.
Now for the cash. Per last week, I had $7 cash.
Cash In:
$45 - ATM withdrawl
$2 - from JP for a drink
$5 - from mother for airport parking
Cash Out:
$6.50 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Tuesday Lunch
$3 - Tuesday Drink ($2.33 $0.67 into change bucket at home)
$6 - Wednesday Lunch
$7.50 - Thursday Lunch
$4.50 - Thursday Airport Parking
$4 - Monday parking at work
$2.50 - Monday Airport Parking
$7 - Tuesday Lunch
$2 - Tuesday Ikea hot dog and drink
Cash in hand now: $3
TOTAL CASH IN: $52
TOTAL CASH OUT: $50
I should have only $2 in cash, and I know that I paid to park at work on Sunday (I don't remember how much). So, I'm off somewhere. I'm still not used to keeping track of cash).
TOTAL MONEY IN: $107.36
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $244.64
The totals reflect additions and subtractions from today's mail, and those transactions aren't listed above (mainly because I wasn't sure where to list them. (+$55.36 and -$84.42)
Seriously, no more frivolous spending. **kicks self in face** But really, June is more about keeping track of things so I know how and where to change things for July and the future.
June 8 - 16, 2009
$7.01 - Walgreens - Drinks for at work. Grr. It's a dirty habit, but I need an afternoon drink at work. But, I got $2 cash for buying a drink for a friend that didn't go to the store, so really, it's only $5. We'll balance out the cash at the end.
$9.28 - Walgreens - UGH. Snacks and drinks for work. Seriously? I'm a snack-whore, I guess.
$23.44 - Groceries - Reasonable.
$15.60 - 7-11 - Gas for the car.
$13.31 - 7-11 - A drink for the road and two packs of cigarettes. UNACCEPTABLE! I'm shaming myself right now. Really? I didn't need to spend $10.49 on DEATH! Plus, now I know that I can get my drink from the grocery store at 5/$5 instead of paying $2.19 at 7-11. That's way better! Live and learn.
$31.13 - PetCo - My cat's not been feeling well, so this is extra cat expenses, but worth it if he'll just poop already.
$10.45 - Ikea - Probably unnecessary. $2 on lions (I would have bought more, but I only found 4 in the bin). Lions are a really bad habit I should break. They're only $0.49 each, but seeing as how I have about 400 of them... I've spent roughly $200 on little stuffed lions, and that's retarded! I also got some more hangers (8 hangers for $4, not a bad deal), but I've been living without these extra hangers until now, so I probably could have gotten by without them. But I'll use them. This is what happens when the driver of the carpool wants to stop places on the way home. I have no impulse control. I'd have spent $20 on lions, if I could have found 40 of them. Retarded!!
But that's it for Debit card transactions. Not bad for 9 days. ($110.22) Okay adding it up, it sounds like a ridiculous amount of money to spend on things, when really only $70.17 were necessary. I could have not spent $40.05. Again, something to work on.
Now for the cash. Per last week, I had $7 cash.
Cash In:
$45 - ATM withdrawl
$2 - from JP for a drink
$5 - from mother for airport parking
Cash Out:
$6.50 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Tuesday Lunch
$3 - Tuesday Drink ($2.33 $0.67 into change bucket at home)
$6 - Wednesday Lunch
$7.50 - Thursday Lunch
$4.50 - Thursday Airport Parking
$4 - Monday parking at work
$2.50 - Monday Airport Parking
$7 - Tuesday Lunch
$2 - Tuesday Ikea hot dog and drink
Cash in hand now: $3
TOTAL CASH IN: $52
TOTAL CASH OUT: $50
I should have only $2 in cash, and I know that I paid to park at work on Sunday (I don't remember how much). So, I'm off somewhere. I'm still not used to keeping track of cash).
TOTAL MONEY IN: $107.36
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $244.64
The totals reflect additions and subtractions from today's mail, and those transactions aren't listed above (mainly because I wasn't sure where to list them. (+$55.36 and -$84.42)
Seriously, no more frivolous spending. **kicks self in face** But really, June is more about keeping track of things so I know how and where to change things for July and the future.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
It's Sunday... Where'd my money go?
When I first started thinking about this blog, I thought it would be a good idea to sit down every night and post about what money I spent that day. In practice, this is not a good idea, because it invites failure on my part. It would just be too easy to fall behind.
So, a happy compromise was found, and here's the inaugural post of this type. For me, Sunday is the end of the week. Monday is just around the corner, and another week of work is about to begin. It seemed only logical that I should post about my spending tonight. Also, posting about what I spent where and on what is an excellent way to keep tabs on myself. If I know that I'm going to have to justify a purchase to the blog, I may think a bit harder before I actually buy it. Plus, this will make Bill Day a lot easier, because I won't have a month's worth of receipts to enter into the Quicken, as long as I enter them on Sundays along with this post. So, without further ado...
It's Sunday. Where'd my money go? (June 1 - 7, 2009)
$32.97 - Amazon.com - Timecop, Blade - Trinity, and Repo! The Genetic Opera DVDs. Yes, it's a splurge, but they were all on sale and all cheaper than the equivalent at Best Buy or Target. Plus, I get free shipping, so it's there's no extra cost. However, I need to note that this is a splurge and should not become a habit. Typically, I'll limit myself to one "frivolous" Amazon.com purchase per month; it's just sad that it happened in the first week.
$14.50 - Snacks at the movies - A friend took me to see Star Trek this afternoon for my birthday. He paid for the movie, but I felt bad (he and his wife are just as poor as I am), so I offered to pay for snacks. He gave me $5 cash for sharing.
$5.56 - Groceries - No biggie.
$26.90 - Walgreens - I went to get a new inhaler and picked up some drinks and candy for my desk at work. So, it's $21 necessary and $7 junk.
$42.99 - Best Buy - Guitar Hero Metallica. Okay okay. Yes, bad idea. But it was a present for myself for my birthday. That's okay, right??
$27.84 - Target - Okay, Target is one of my weaknesses. I can easily spend hundreds of dollars at Target without blinking. I've gotten better over the years, and this trip wasn't too bad. Household items, shower supplies, and (of course) Toaster Strudel.
$5.48 - Dunkin Donuts - Breakfast before work on Friday. **sigh** It's hard to resist the ham, egg, and cheese croissant.
$12.57 - The Little Store - That's the nickname we have for the store under the parking garage at work. This was a totally avoidable expense. I spent $6+ on a pack of cigarettes, which will hopefully be my last. I just needed to get through the weekend and get a drink for me and my friend while we were working on Saturday. The cigarette spending will disappear this week, I promise.
CASH - My major cash expense for the week is lunch at work. It's difficult to keep track of, but we'll see how we do. I started the week with whatever cash was left from last week, plus $20 cash in a birthday card. Plus a $25 birthday check from my mother. And during the week, I withdrew $50 from the bank. That's roughly $100 cash to start (following Sundays will have a more accurate cash start count), and I ended today with $7. So, where the frak did that $93 go?? Approx $7/day for lunch at work ($42). Chipping in for dinner with friends on Friday ($14) and ice cream out afterwards ($3). That's only $69. My guess is that I ate the rest ($24) in snacks and drinks at work. Holy crap!
TOTAL MONEY IN: $45
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $150.17 OUCH!
Cash remaining to start next week: $7
Here's my promise to be more frugal this coming week. Shouldn't be too hard, my parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and they'll likely at least chip in for some expenses.
So, a happy compromise was found, and here's the inaugural post of this type. For me, Sunday is the end of the week. Monday is just around the corner, and another week of work is about to begin. It seemed only logical that I should post about my spending tonight. Also, posting about what I spent where and on what is an excellent way to keep tabs on myself. If I know that I'm going to have to justify a purchase to the blog, I may think a bit harder before I actually buy it. Plus, this will make Bill Day a lot easier, because I won't have a month's worth of receipts to enter into the Quicken, as long as I enter them on Sundays along with this post. So, without further ado...
It's Sunday. Where'd my money go? (June 1 - 7, 2009)
$32.97 - Amazon.com - Timecop, Blade - Trinity, and Repo! The Genetic Opera DVDs. Yes, it's a splurge, but they were all on sale and all cheaper than the equivalent at Best Buy or Target. Plus, I get free shipping, so it's there's no extra cost. However, I need to note that this is a splurge and should not become a habit. Typically, I'll limit myself to one "frivolous" Amazon.com purchase per month; it's just sad that it happened in the first week.
$14.50 - Snacks at the movies - A friend took me to see Star Trek this afternoon for my birthday. He paid for the movie, but I felt bad (he and his wife are just as poor as I am), so I offered to pay for snacks. He gave me $5 cash for sharing.
$5.56 - Groceries - No biggie.
$26.90 - Walgreens - I went to get a new inhaler and picked up some drinks and candy for my desk at work. So, it's $21 necessary and $7 junk.
$42.99 - Best Buy - Guitar Hero Metallica. Okay okay. Yes, bad idea. But it was a present for myself for my birthday. That's okay, right??
$27.84 - Target - Okay, Target is one of my weaknesses. I can easily spend hundreds of dollars at Target without blinking. I've gotten better over the years, and this trip wasn't too bad. Household items, shower supplies, and (of course) Toaster Strudel.
$5.48 - Dunkin Donuts - Breakfast before work on Friday. **sigh** It's hard to resist the ham, egg, and cheese croissant.
$12.57 - The Little Store - That's the nickname we have for the store under the parking garage at work. This was a totally avoidable expense. I spent $6+ on a pack of cigarettes, which will hopefully be my last. I just needed to get through the weekend and get a drink for me and my friend while we were working on Saturday. The cigarette spending will disappear this week, I promise.
CASH - My major cash expense for the week is lunch at work. It's difficult to keep track of, but we'll see how we do. I started the week with whatever cash was left from last week, plus $20 cash in a birthday card. Plus a $25 birthday check from my mother. And during the week, I withdrew $50 from the bank. That's roughly $100 cash to start (following Sundays will have a more accurate cash start count), and I ended today with $7. So, where the frak did that $93 go?? Approx $7/day for lunch at work ($42). Chipping in for dinner with friends on Friday ($14) and ice cream out afterwards ($3). That's only $69. My guess is that I ate the rest ($24) in snacks and drinks at work. Holy crap!
TOTAL MONEY IN: $45
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $150.17 OUCH!
Cash remaining to start next week: $7
Here's my promise to be more frugal this coming week. Shouldn't be too hard, my parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and they'll likely at least chip in for some expenses.
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