It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. - Confucius

first the budget stuff:
I’ve created my budget for the next two weeks. The big thing I will have to focus on will be how much I spend on food. I budgeted a pretty good amount less that what I’ve been spending the last couple weeks. I think I can do it, but it will be something I’ll have to keep in the back of my mind. I’m spending way to much money on food to begin with.

Snowflake sources:
1. Budget surplus - This will be the first two weeks I’ll try to live by the budget I’ve created. I hope it’s realistic since I tried to base it on what I’ve actually done the past few weeks. I also hope I have some money to put into this category for the next review.

2. Found Money - Same as last week, I’ve got some money almost ready to get from my online stuff (surveys, etc.) but I havn’t cashed in yet. I’m thinking I’ll do that for the next payday review.

3. Self-Taxes: $24.50
a. bank fees from overdrafts - Once again, it’s going to cost me another $7, I’m killing myself with bank fees!
b. gambling - bought a couple of lottery tickets, so add another $2
c. fast food - I ate fast food six times in the past two weeks, so that’s another $3. Plus I had food delivered three more times, so I’m adding another $1.50 to my self-tax for that. I need to stop being lazy and cook my own food. It’s healthier and cheaper!
d. impulse buys - I got six items in the impulse category, two of which will be in the stupid section, so this is $2.
e. stupid money - Well, this category went up. I had 9 items I think were just plain stupid, so add another $9 to the pot.

4. Coins - I had a lot of coins for some reason. I guess because I’m basically using cash for most of my purchases. Anyway, the total was $9.70.

Total snowflake amount for this paycheck - $34.20 is going straight to the snowflake account.
So, now the total inside the snowflake account is $65.15. I think once it hits $100, I’m going to get back down to my checking account and send it in to one of my debts. I’m hoping next paycheck will be one where the money is coming from other sources than my self-taxes!

My rules are here, if you want to check them out.

Debt Reduction:
Not much to report here, unfortunately. I’ll be making one payment to a debt that is just the minimum I have to do. It’s automatically drafted out of my account. I’ll pay my car payment, as well as put a little bit of money towards getting my back to even.

Edited on 5/10/2008 to add coins information

Filed under: budget, debt, finance, goals, money, snowflake