Paying the Second Part of the Month Bills

I get paid on Wednesday and wrote out the checks for the mid month bills. I'll drop them in the mail on Wednesday. I don't anticipate any other expenses other than a small grocery shop, buy some dog food, a $20 hobby expense and gas for the car. I have a bunch of food products to use up in the cupboards. Plus I made a kick butt lentil soup in the crock pot this weekend, using up some veg, a quart of chicken stock and the lentils. A friend of mine dropped off a loaf of her homemade pumpernickel bread (it is truly to die for, she used to be a professional baker) and I am fairly well set on food for the remainder of the week. I will on October 30th, take the remainder of my cash in my checking account and transfer it to my E-fund.

I just have to laugh at myself. It's really taken me almost a whole year to change my fiscal habits for the better. A whole year. But in this year, what was a struggle to change or adapt to has become second nature and less of a struggle. I really thought for a number of months that I had a control on my spending and savings. I did not. I've had a couple months of Oh Cripes, what did I spend money on? I thought I had this under control? Nope, not really. It's gotten soo much better and I'm glad to see this old dog has learned some new savings tips.

Now if I could just master scheduling posts in blogger, I'd be all set.......

Doing My Part To Be a Bit Greener

Not only will I be more "green", but I'm hoping I will reduce my energy consumption. My electric bill came the other day and I was more than a little surprised to see my energy consumption rose (almost doubled) November 2007 vs. November 2006. Thus my electric bill was higher than I anticipated. My local utility company has had two rate hikes this year and I am planning for larger bills than last year, but I was surprised to see that I supposedly used more electric this year than last for that time frame. I have this memory of being home more in November 2006 and using the electric heat, more lights, etc. I guess not!

Since it was part of my plan, I changed as many light bulbs as I could to CFL bulbs, I have the ceiling fixture in my bedroom to go. I don't have that many items that are plugged in and are sucking energy, but I did unplug my hardly ever used VCR and the USB hub for my home computer.

I did notice that I've been in the bad habit of leaving a lot of lights on when I'm home that I don't need. For example, I had four lights on last night, I only needed one. Why I had all four on is beyond me, my house is not that big and with only me in it, it's not like someone else will be stuck in a dark room. Off the lights went and I just have to remind myself I don't need all those lights on!

The Best Tip I've Had All Week.

I got a pre-paid phone card as a gift at Christmas I think it has something like 700 minutes on it and I used it when I was house sitting for a friend where I had no mobile service. I put $30 worth of phone time on the card the other day and I know have over 1000 minutes of talk time. I cancelled my long distance phone service because I don't use my long distance phone service at home that much. My monthly LD service for the land line costs $20 just to have in place, I was paying taxes and surcharges on a service I hardly used.

I looked over my old phone bills and realized that I was paying for a service I never used. The phone card is 2.8 cents per minute and I have unlimited weekends on my mobile phone as well. Since I spend a lot of time on the phone at work, I really don't use the phone that much at home.

Look into the phone card if you have a land line. You can buy them at Costco, BJ's and other ware house clubs. This may not work for you if you are a multi person residence or tend to loose things like phone cards.

Tuesday's Plan

Ok,

Now that I've committed myself to a plan, here is this weeks plan.

Work on a budget. Yup a budget. I put up some financial goals, but no budget. That's part of what got me into trouble. I need to take a serious look at my budget or lack of one. This is all I have so far:

Mortgage payment $550
Gas/Electric: $60
Food/Alcohol: I know I spend way too much
Savings:
Health Insurance/HSA: $160
Home Maintenance:
Clothes:
Phones (mobile and land):
Internet: $19.95/month
Car Insurance: $66/month (too high I know for my old car)
Homeowners Insurance: $50/month (paid until Jan 2008)
Mad money account: $200 (auto deducted from my pay check)
Student Loan: $175
Petrol: $80-$100

Once I get the figures in, it's time to trim the fat, so to speak.