The New Steps for July For Me and For Others

Step one, use some sort of money tracking software.

Here is the insane part. I did a very sketchy budget spending plan based on my income and you know what, I'm supposed to have an additional $200 left over each month AFTER I pay my monthly bills, put money into my E-fund, and I have given myself liberal amounts of money to cover things like food and hobby. AND this is on my reduced income. WHY don't and did I not I save more? Because as I've pointed out before, I'm not an aggressive saver at all. I'm barely a passive saver. I could have fully funded my E-fund on the money I spent on wants this past spring, but I've decided to stop beating myself up over this and move on.

I can hear you all saying, but Betty aren't PF blogger supposed to use things like Quicken,Mint, or some fabulous spreadsheet. The truth of the matter is there is a segment of us that don't. I fall into that segment.

Part of me just did not or could not face up to my spending. I had all my bills paid, had my needs taken care of, and was able to get some wants. It was the excessive wants that did me in this past May.

The Mess of May did disturb me. I took out my frustrations in my life by spending money and even by keeping all my receipts and looking at them, I still really did not have a true sense of where I spent my money. Actually, I did not want to admit to myself where and what I spent my money on. I was keeping my head in the sand, so to speak.

I need to take the next few giant steps in my bouncing back from bankruptcy stage. The next steps will make or break my progress.

I need to become more aggressive about saving money. It could be paying myself first, it could be curbing my spending and then taking the extra money and putting it into my Credit Union account.

I need to be better about a budget spending plan and sticking to it.

I need to stop rationalizing my choices and not just talking the talk, but walking the walk.

Maybe, just maybe, this will be one way to stop feeling so stuck and to continue to bounce back.

At Times Like This I Love My E-Fund

The reduction in hours for my full time job means a reduction in my paycheck. Somewhere in the past couple weeks, I've had a mis communication with our payroll processor. Let me tell you I was UNHAPPY to open my pay stub this AM and see I got less than half of my usual pay. I was only paid for one week of work instead of two. SURPRISE SURPRISE-of the unhappy sort. I was expecting to get paid for the last two weeks in November on the check that was deposited to my account yesterday. I only got paid for one week. I was expecting almost twice as much money as I got. I was not expecting to be a week behind on pay. Not only did my hours get cut, but I got moved from salary to hourly (same rate, but I think that may have something to do with the mix up).

I'm not sure where the mix up is, or how it happened, but it did. I have money in my checking account, I have money in my E-fund that can be used in case of an emergency, I have money coming in next week for the yet another part time job, but boy, was I glad that I did not have any large bills to pay today. I have the checks written out, the bills stamped, but they are staying on my desk until I get this sorted. I would have been SOL as they say, if I posted them today. I wrote bills for exactly the missing amount I was expecting in my check.

I have a call and an e-mail into the person who processes our payroll. I need to figure out where and how we mis communicated. I know they won't cut me a check if it was an error, I'll have to wait until the next paydate, which is the 15th. This just adds to my work frustrations, it really does. Grr.

Paying for The Car Repair

The car will go into be repaired next week. I'm going to use the money I earned this month in my second job that is normally earmarked for the car payment, it will go towards the car repair. The excess will come out of my emergency fund.

A year ago this would have brought me to my knees. A year ago a transmission repair to my old car did exactly that, floored me right in the middle of my BK filing and emotional meltdown. That repair used up all my "excess" cash I had at that point and sent me to bed for the weekend.

This year is the slightly new and improved Bankrupt Betty. I have money in an emergency fund for just this reason. This is an unexpected repair, not a regular service that should have been budgeted for. I've not been as good as I could have been in funding my E-fund and I've dipped into it for some "non emergencies" but I do have the funds there to cover this repair. It's just a matter of me getting the car back into the dealership for the servicing.

This was also a little bit of a wake up call for me to not dip into my E-fund unless it's a true emergency. I slacked off a bit these past few months. Time to grow back up and refund the account and keep it for it's true purpose! An emergency!

The E-Fund Slowly Creeps UP

Like most PF bloggers, I'm working on establishing an Emergency Fund. I never really had an emergency fund to speak of, all my money sat in my checking account and at times I spent it all. Not good as they say.

As I have embarked on this new fiscal chapter in my life, I have for the first time, established an emergency fund. This fund is at my local credit union and it is a straight statement savings account, no debit card access to it at all. I have been faithfully snowflaking the money I earn photographing houses for a title company to this account. I have also deposited the drips and drabs of income that I get from a bunch of side projects. Previously, the money I got from photograping houses ($15-$25 per house) would have gotten spent without me knowing where or what I spent the money on. I'd put the checks in my account and then forgot to transfer that money to my ING account, or I'd cash the check and fritter the money away (laundry, coffee out, god knows what!)

I took my first "paycheck" from my occassional part time job and put it in my E-Fund today. That money was "bookmarked" for my car note, but since I had already paid the car note for the month, I took the money and dropped it into the Credit Union. I have managed to save $822.95 in less than 3 months to the Credit Union Account. $822.95 is a lot of money for me to have saved since the middle of March.

Dave Ramsey and his followers talk about Gazelle intensity in terms of debt reduction. I'm using some medium Gazelle intensity in bolstering my savings account. I'm doing what I need to do to bolster my savings account.

I will admit, it does feel good to have that money in my credit union account. If you told me a year ago, or even 6 months ago that I would have almost $1,000 saved (and not pre-spent or "earmarked" for something) I would have asked you what drugs you were taking. Seriously, I would have wondered if you accidentally ingested something. Me, save $1,000? PLUEZZE. But you know what, I did manage to save almost $1,000 and have managed to do it in less than 5 months. How sweet that is!

Snowflake Update

Just so you all realize I'm not totally blowing off personal finance during my bout of Spring Fever...

I got a notice that Half.com will be depositing to my account $9.03 from recent sales (not a lot,but hey, better than nothing!) I also got $60 in house photo money today. The Half.Com cash goes into my E-fund account, the $60 goes in to the Credit Union Savings Account. That will bring the amount in the Credit Union Account up to $255.

As Ive posted before, I have a couple accounts, ING, Credit Union and my E-Fund checking account. If push comes to shove, they are all E-Fund Accounts. Total in all three accounts is about $800 ( I don't have exact totals handy). That makes me almost halfway to my year goal of a $2,000 E-fund. My tax stimulus check will put me at $1,400 and I'm still funding my E fund $200 a month. Had I not had to replace my broken storm door and the neighbors car window, and a couple not so emergency emergencies, I'd be "fully funded". Even though I had been taking property photos for a while, my plan to deposit the checks to my main account then transfer to the ING account just never got rolling. More so due to laziness on my part to log on and do a funds transfer (at times I am such a slug). With the credit union, I just make the deposit when I swing by once a week. Much better and I'm not "tempted" to budget out that money for some other treat or project.

Ah well, it is what it is.... The snowflaking continues.....

Why Emergency Funds Are A Good Thing-Part 2

A couple months ago I posted that I had to use my emergency fund to pay for a broken window on my neighbors car. I had thrown an old fence post through his back truck window and he did not have glass coverage on his insurance. At least I was able to pay for the new window as soon as it was installed. It was my own fault, I tossed the pole and damaged the rear window.

In all the fuss about the car, I forgot to post that I need a new storm door. We had a lot of very windy weather here in New England last week and one day I just did not latch the door properly. One of those gusts of wind (one day gusts up to 40 MPH) "grabbed" the door and somehow it came unhinged and got badly damaged. I'm lucky I did not have glass everywhere, but I did have a door that was unhinged, warped and frankly, only good for the scrap metal pile. My first thought when I pulled up to the house was that someone had broken into my house, but I realized that my front door was locked and the screen door was just "unhinged".

I was able to get a new door and someone to put it on the house today (and fix the damaged trim as well) for the whopping fee of $275. It's times like this I wish I was a little more DIY savvy. Hanging new doors is just not my thing.

I love owning my own home, but when I have to shell out unplanned money, ouch, it hurts. What it means is my plan to paint my kitchen cupboards is put off a month (need new paint) and I'll focus on re-seeding my lawn when (if, or ever) it warms up. Right now I have a huge patch of dirt where I should have lawn.....

Using Part of my Return to Make My Living Space Better

I'm taking part of my tax return and getting a couple things I need for the house that I have been putting off. It's nothing major, but it's things like new window shades for the windows, and and new door handle for the screen door. I got a new set of drapes (on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond) last week and a new curtain rod is needed. I also had a handyman come in to do about two hours worth of work on some little home repairs that I don't have the tools or skill to do (fixing some exterior trim, fixing the screen door, repairing the outdoor front door light).

I'm giving myself $50 to either spend on a couple Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or Panera Bread Gift Cards (for use for travel later this summer).

The remainder will go into my emergency fund.

A Quick Update on Why We All Need an E-Fund and Thanks

Before I tell you all about my stupidity, I just wanted to say thanks to all you folks who have added me to your readers or stop on by and read my rantings and ravings. I appreciate you all. Especially this past weekend while I kept starting at my discharge paperwork scratching my head going OK, what's next.....

As we are all trying to do, I have been diligently working on a Emergency Fund. This weekend I needed it.

My neighbor and I used the moderately nice weather on Saturday to do a little yard clean up and split the cost of a bulky waste dump run. Things were going great, I had my fair share of large dump items and was looking forward to cleaning up my yard before the next snow fall. Getting a jump on yard spring cleaning, always a good thing.

Until I tossed a 4 x4 rotted fence pole into the truck and through his back window. Yup, I was doing my own version of the javelin toss and this pole just shattered the back window.

Now mind you, if I TRIED to do this, it would never happen, I don't have that great hand eye coordination, I'm not that strong, and I have no idea how I managed to throw the pole in the back of the truck and then smack dab into the middle of the rear window.

The broken glass is not covered by my homeowners or my car insurance (and I was at fault) and the neighbors did not have glass coverage on their policy. Since this happened early on Saturday, we were able to find an auto glass place open and get the window replaced. Cost $274 for the window, installation, etc. A quick call to the local junk yards did not turn up a used window we could have tried to fit in. That just about wipes out my E-Fund. Time to rebuild it, but at least the neighbor has a functioning window and our old debris is out of our yards.

I guess I just don't know my own strength.....

The Week in Review-Part 2

I think the week went well. I did a cupboard clean out, dumping old containers, re-assessing what food I had, cleaned out a couple drawers. I did a mini Target shop, (I bought 6 pairs of much needed socks and the new containers for food storage.)

I think I might be under budget on a few categories. My question to you all is, If you are under budget, do you take the difference and put it in your EF or savings account or do you leave it in your general account? What do you do with the difference at the end of the month?

Since I am needing a new or new to me car and know how difficult it will be to get a loan, I'm tentatively earmarking extra funds to that account.

What I'm Saving For

In the spirit of my previous posts and in recognition of what Gates VP had on his site, here are the things I am saving for

1) A new car-now the primary goal as my car just had a transmission explosion and until I am more credit worthy, must be repaired until it can be replaced. If I'm gonna have to have a car note, at least let it be for a vehicle I really want to have

which at this point is one that runs, has AC and I can fit all my animals in!

2) A new TV, flat screen with a DVD play in it. Not only is my small TV on it's way out, the DVD player is not working well at all either. This particular TV was found on Overstock.com, a site I have used for gift and personal purchases. Since I don't have cable or satellite and my "TV watching season" is almost upon me (December to March), I'd really like to have a new TV.

3) Funding my emergency fund.

Hats off to Saving Diva for also taking the challenge and posting on her site the items she is saving for as part of her personal finance plan!