I saw this post over at Budgets Sexy and thought it was a good way for us all to share a little bit more. I encourage you to fill out your own responses in the comments below so that we can all get to know each other a little better.

1) How do you spend: cash, debit or credit?

Cash? What’s that? I spend mostly using my rewards credit cards and pay them off in full every month. I do need to use quarters to do laundry so I get a roll of those every so often when I run to Walmart. I have a debit card from ING but have not used the card except for the time when they are running a promotion. I do not have a debit card for the account at the other bank where I get quarters because they charge $12 a month for the debit feature. Wow!!! I think the only reason I have a Chase debit card is because it came with the account but I don’t know the PIN (forgot) and do not keep enough money in there to use it anyway.

I also use checks on Sundays to make my donation to church, instead of dropping cash in the basket. This way I always have a record of what I have given and do not need to have cash just lying around in the house.

2) Do you bank online? How about use a financial aggregator (Mint, Wesabe, Yodlee, etc.)?

I currently use ING for my online banking and I have said over and over how much I love ING. I have used both Quicken online and Mint in the past although I am going mainly with Mint now because Quicken online is about to be shut down. I also use Google documents to create and manage my budget so I can enter receipts from my spending and then Mint makes pretty graphs and sends me alerts.

3) What recurring bills do you have set on autopay?

All of my bills are set up to autopay via my credit cards. I pay my rent via credit card in person because it costs too much to have it on autopay and I am looking for ways to save money not ways to add more fees.

4) How are your finances automated?

I set up all my bills to be paid on credit cards as best as I can and then I use ING to push a payment to the credit cards every week. This way I do not have to worry about the ever changing due dates or minimum payments. I make four payments a month to the two cards that I use and the amounts are always more than the minimum. I have the final payment for the month done by the 23rd of the month so the card is always paid in full by the due date.

This way my card is paid in full and I never pay interest on those two cards. The only bills that I pay manually are rent and church donations because I did not have a satisfactory way to have them automated. There is a way to pay rent via credit card online but it costs $10 a month and I did not want to pay that fee, so I go to the office every month and pay in the office….via credit card.

My church does not take credit cards…so on the last Sunday of every month I write out four checks for the next month and place them in my little church purse. That way I have no excuse for forgetting a check because they are already filled out and in the purse that I use only for church.

5) Do you write checks? If so, how often?

I write four checks every month for church as I mentioned above. Other than that if there is something at school where I need to give money I may also write a check but that is not very often.

I also have two personal loans (at 0%) interest that I am paying back via Electric Check through ING. Those are technically checks according to ING but since the money goes straight to the people’s ING accounts I am not ‘writing’ a check….just setting the recurring amount.

6) Where do you stash your short-term savings?

I have my really short term need-to-grab-and-go money in a local bank that is about ten minutes from where I live. Of course I will have to use a withdrawal slip for that money because they charge a monthly fee for having a debit card so I do not have one. The rest of my short term savings is tucked away in ING and if I need it then I wait three days for it to transfer to a local bank and then I can get it.

So that’s it…my six questions and the corresponding answers. Feel free to answer the questions in the comments below and let us get to know each other better.

• Responsible Borrowing and Short-Term Cash Advances
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• Update on the New Checking Account
• Simple ways to save money
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 17 September

I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.

This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.

So again to clarify (since I get so many questions), this shows the cash FLOW for the month. On Day 2 of every month I will have a negative FLOW because I have paid rent etc so money has LEFT my checking account. I have not had any money come in on Day 2 of the current month since I got paid on day 27 or 30 or 31 of the previous month so that income is counted for LAST month.

Income for the month to date: $2.71

Expenses for the month to date: $971.45

Net effect: -$968.74

Since the last posting I paid the household expenses of rent etc. and paid the phone bill. I paid my personal loans and spent $31.04 on food, including fruits for the week. I spent  $24.03 on household and personal items and used $4.09 in coupons even though I have not spent any money this month on getting the newspaper.

We did get paid on January 29th so that was good to see my bank balance go back up from very low levels. I got paid about $9 less than I usually get (due to the Tax Credit?) and so I adjusted my zero based budget down by $10 to make up for that.

The electric bill is due next week and while it is not as scandalous as the last one it is still too high for my liking. I am taking steps to see that the bill goes down even more next month and I think I may start a sinking fund for electricity. This fund will be a sub account in ING where I send the same amount for electricity every month and if the bill is less then the money will remain in there….but if it is more (mid summer and winter) then I can draw from that reserve without having a heart attack.

I will see you guys and gals later as I continue my journey to save money and become debt free!!!!

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• Tracking My Finances In 2010: Week 1 January
• Tracking my Finances in 2009: 11 June
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 4 May
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 5 November
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 2 August

My last No Spend Month (January 2010) did not go as well as I had planned because of a number of unexpected crises. I did do less shopping but I ended up spending more money on bills that completely ate away any savings that I might have had from buying less. I am going to try another Financial Fast this month and try to have a No Spend February.

Here are a few of the things that I already know I should not buy this month because I already have enough to last me until the next month:

• toothpaste
• toothbrushes
• antiperspirant/deodorant
• mouthwash
• body wash
• bath soap
• laundry detergent
• toilet paper

These are the things that I normally buy at CVS anyway so this might not translate to actual reductions in spending for the month since I have a separate CVS gift card that is used for those purchases.

I know that I will have to go shopping for food because I have eaten almost everything in the fridge and in the pantry already and I have to get cat food for his royal highness Dinero.

So for this month I will try to see how much I can stick to just paying bills and not buying stuff and see if it goes better than last month. I am making a huge (huge for me anyway) payment of $555 to the demon card with a balance this month but this is not going to be counted as part of the regular bills or spending.

February should also be more frugal for me since I don’t have a Valentine (Dinero meows quizzically) and won’t be spending on anyone but ME!!!!!!

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• No Spend January Mid Month Check Up
• Month End Financial Check Up January 2010
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 14 April
• No Spend January
• 25 ways I save money: part 5 of 5

In addition to Getting Mad About Getting Paid there are people who have No Budget and No Clue. Recently someone complained about all the high fees her family was paying in overdrafts every month. She thinks that she was paying about 3 overdraft fees every month because of not knowing who was withdrawing money or having late deposits.

I offered to help the individual and even set up a spending log so she could track her spending to get an idea of where the money was going. The person said she would fill in the sheets on the weekend and I reminded her every few days. On the Monday following our conversation I asked how it went and she admitted that she had not done any of it.

She promised to do it the upcoming weekend and even mentioned that she had a stack of receipts all ready to be entered into the spreadsheet. I again encouraged her and said I was looking forward to the results of the exercise. Three weeks later none of the receipts have been entered and some have even been thrown away so there is no record of where the money went.

Every week I have offered to help to enter the figures but I am assured that it will be done. Well I have given up after three weeks because it seems this person is not serious about getting this done. The first step in cleaning up your finances is making the change in yourself and wanting to do it for the right reasons. If this person does not care enough to start to write down some numbers then I cannot force the issue.

Check out my Experiences with LASIK surgery

• Stopped Tracking Finances in March
• Monthly update: July 2007 preview
• No Spend January Mid Month Check Up
• Tracking my expenses: overview
• Eating Better, Not Exercising And Disorganized

It is the end of the month and I am pleased to report that I came out in the black this month at a total of $42.20 even after all the drama. It is a little bit strange because my paycheck for this month was down by $9.30 as my withholding amount went up. I have no idea why this happened because I did not change anything but I did reduce my zero based budget by $10 to account for this reduction in income.

I got my adsense payment and it really helped to bolster the differences between spending and saving this month. I also got some tiny payments in from Lending Club and Prosper from loans that I have made there so that was also very good cash inflow for me.

I overspent in the area of Utilities because I had that ridiculous electric bill that I was not ready for. Of course I was able to pay the bill in full via my credit card and the card was paid in full by the end of the month but I needed to really watch my consumption of electricity over the next few cold months.

I spent a total of $6 on newspapers to get coupons and redeemed a total of $9 in coupons, for a net of $3 which is not too bad but could also be a lot better. In case you have not been following my CVS posts I also used coupons there but did not include them in the totals for the month. I will be including the coupons spent at CVS from February to get a more accurate image of what I spend and what I save by using coupons.

I went over my shopping (food, personal items, household stuff) by $1.69!!!!! This means that my No Spend January was not successful strictly in terms of actual numbers. I am going to try to have another No Spend month this February to see where I can really cut down on buying ‘things’.

How was your January financially?

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• Tracking my finances: March update
• Monthly Update: December 2009
• Tracking my Finances in 2008: December And Year End Update
• Switching to Geico
• Cash Duck contest results

I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.

This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.

So again to clarify (since I get so many questions), this shows the cash FLOW for the month. On Day 2 of every month I will have a negative FLOW because I have paid rent etc so money has LEFT my checking account. I have not had any money come in on Day 2 of the current month since I got paid on day 27 or 30 or 31 of the previous month so that income is counted for LAST month.

Income for the month to date: $314.05

Expenses for the month to date: $2858.76

Net effect: -$2544.71

Since the last posting I have spent a LOT of money on unexpected bills so that really made a mess of the No Spend January that I was trying to go for. Some of it was things like the car insurance which I am paying upfront for the six month period instead of paying monthly and thereby incurring a fee. We will be getting paid as it is the end of the month and I am already seeing that I will have a positive cash flow for the month, even with going out to get some electronics for my computer.

I will see you guys and gals later as I continue my journey to save money and become debt free!!!!

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• Tracking My Finances In 2010: Week 1 January
• Tracking My Finances In 2010: February Week 1
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 2 August
• Tracking my Finances in 2009: 11 June
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 12 November

I had a Wisdom tooth taken out in December and according to what I was told by the billing specialist I put the balance on the credit card that I used when I got LASIK a couple of years ago.

I was lucky to get 0% financing on that card and planned to pay it off well before the deal expired. I went ahead and tweaked my Zero Based Budget to fit the payments in and I was on a roll….until I received a bill from the dental office for an extra $260.50. This is the balance that the dental insurance has decided it will not cover off the $450 that was charged for my anesthesia.

Wow.

So I now have to come up with the money to pay that portion of the bill which means MORE expenses for me. I know that the amount looks small but when I don’t have ANY money at all, just knowing that I am paying that much more in bills is very distressing. When you add that to the enormous electricity bill this month AND the classes that I am paying for it just seems a bit much.

This means that I have to raid the Splurge Fund and other mini funds that I had in order to cover those bills. The Emergency Fund already suffered and is not even being rebuilt now because of these expected outflows.

Sigh.

It really seems that every time I seem to have things starting to go right I get a big slap in the financial face and cannot seem to put anything in savings at all.
***Update**** I was able to get the amount billed as 0% interest for 12 months so that will be a BIG help to me.

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• Pay off a loan or put money in savings?
• Using The Irregular Fund To Pay For School
• Disconnected: What An Overheard Conversation Taught Me About Finances
• Started The Splurge Fund
• Revising and Simplifying My Budget (One More Time)

I know this sounds like a strange title but I have found some people who got mad that they got paid. Actually the scenario really goes like this. We get paid on the last day of every month, except for December, when we get paid around the 18th of the month.

Now you would think that people would be happy to just get paid but they are getting angry. I asked someone else who gets paid regularly why they think that someone would get mad about the pay cycle being changed and this is what I found out.

Most of those people are living paycheck to paycheck and do not have a budget. They get paid on the last day of the month and rent is due the next day so they go out and pay it. Then they go shopping for groceries and pay whatever bills come in the mail. They keep a little bit in the checking account to pay the bills that are going to come later in the month, but by the third week all the money is gone.

These people are accustomed to being broke by the third week of the month because of the cycle that they follow on a regular basis. If they do have any money they feel the need to go ahead and spend it because they will be getting paid in one more week. When we get paid at the end of the third week in that irregular month it triggers the ‘money in…must spend’ gene and so they go off and spend the money on ’stuff’, forgetting that in two weeks the rent will be due.

The other thing is that December is gift giving time so when they get the paycheck during the third week it is just in time to get those last minute Christmas presents. They go wild at the stores and then when January rolls around there is no money to pay the bills and they have to ‘wait until the END of January’ to get paid again. This means there is a lag of one month and one week from the last time they got paid and they simply do not know what to do.

I found this theory to be very interesting and decided to talk to some of those people about it. What I found out was that they saw it exactly the way it was explained to me. They did not see that they were getting paid early in December, which means the money earns more interest in savings. Instead they saw that only that they had to wait over a month to get paid in January and this meant that bills would not get paid.

I think it is a pretty crazy way to think but it makes sense for those people who do not budget. I think it will take a LOT for them to change their mindset and see the early payday as a positive but this is not something that will be easy to do. I love when December rolls around and we get paid early because I see that as two weeks of interest for my money to grow. Since I do not have an emergency fund that can cover more than one month I am still living paycheck to paycheck like those other folks….but I have a different MINDSET.

I have set up a budget and I try my very best to stick to it. I have automated my budget and my bills are set to be paid on certain days of the month. It therefore does not matter if I get paid early (although it would hurt if I got paid late) because the checks will go out on the 15th whether I get paid two weeks early or not.

Even while I was a broke college student without a budget (and before I got my ING account) I practiced some form of this bill payment scheme. I only got paper bills but I would write out a check for the bill as soon as I got the bill. I would then subtract the bill amount in my checkbook and record the debit immediately and balance my checkbook. This check would then be placed in my outbox according to the date it needed to go out. When I got any money into my account I would once more update the checkbook balance and repeat the cycle. I wrote the dates that each bill needed to go out (10 days before the due date) and would drop them in the mail on that date. I guess I was very lucky that I never got a late bill from only mailing out my paper checks 10 days before the bill was due ….but that is another story.

I never made myself go out and spend money if I got paid early in college because I knew I had already updated the checkbook balance and needed the money to stay in there to cover the check that I had to pay the next week. This is why I guess it makes it very difficult for me to see people who are upset that they got paid early one month.

Again it is a mindset that needs to be changed and although I have spoken to some people about it they do not want to change….or set up budgets for whatever reason.

• I Don’t Know My Credit Card Due Dates (And Why I Don’t Care)
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• Monthly Update: December 2009
• Month End Financial Check Up January 2010
• No spend day

Today I paid $0.00 out of pocket for $3.98 worth of items. I got the toothpaste for my dad and the toothbrush for myself to place in my overnight bag. I was all excited about the Kitty litter being on sale but when I got there the box was a small box, and not the size I normally buy.

Transaction 1

Item: Crest toothpaste

Price: $1.99

CVS Extra Care Bucks earned: $1.00

Item: Oral B toothbrush

Price: $1.99

Total coupons used: $0.75 MFR + $3 ECB

Total paid today: $0.27 on gift card

Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned today: $1

Total out of pocket to date: $0

Gift Card balance : $50.48

Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned to date: $21.50

CVS Extra Care Bucks Used to date: $15.50

CVS Extra Care Bucks Balance: $6.00

Abbreviations used

MFR = manufacturer coupon

ECB = extra care bucks

Join me next time as I look for more ways to save money as I visit CVS.

• How I Save Money At CVS : November 9
• How I Save Money At CVS: 20 December 2009
• How I Save Money At CVS: 5 Jan 2010
• How I Save Money At CVS: 13 September
• How I Save Money At CVS: November 16

I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.

This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.

So again to clarify (since I get so many questions), this shows the cash FLOW for the month. On Day 2 of every month I will have a negative FLOW because I have paid rent etc so money has LEFT my checking account. I have not had any money come in on Day 2 of the current month since I got paid on day 27 or 30 or 31 of the previous month so that income is counted for LAST month.

Income for the month to date: $51.22

Expenses for the month to date: $2427.78

Net effect: -$2376.56

Since the last posting I have paid more bills and sadly I incurred some more debt. I had to take my car in for the 75 thousand mile checkup and they discovered that I was leaking oil and needed a whole BUNCH of stuff changed because of that. Grrrrrr. The emergency fund was already dead so that really killed me this month.

Luckily I have been doing okay on the No Spend January so the money will go towards paying the extra bills.

I bought gas finally as I went on a little trip to see a friend on the long holiday. I spent $24.63 on gas which is less than half the budget for the month and since we only have one more week left that is very good. This means the balance of the gas budget can go towards repaying the bills that have jumped up.

I got some fresh fruits and olive oil in addition to some other foods that I needed.  I was happy to use a coupon for a name brand item that ended up being cheaper than the generic after coupon use. I normally buy Great Value evaporated milk but it cost $0.78 per can. I had a coupon for $0.50 off two cans of Carnation ($0.92 each) and since I only had two cans of milk in the pantry I decided to get the Carnation milk.

As you can see, two cans of Carnation would cost $1.84 and two cans of Great Value would cost $1.56. With the coupon the Carnation cost $1.34, which was a savings of  $0.22. I know this is a small amount but I got four cans with two coupons (remember this is from the free pack of coupons I got earlier during the year.)

I also bought some filing supplies (will have to claim those on my teacher expenses) so that made the shopping trip round off quite nicely. I got the kitty some litter as he had run out over the weekend (he has two litter boxes so everything was under control and I got some fruit and cereal bars to use as my snack at work.

I will see you guys and gals later as I continue my journey to save money and become debt free!!!!

• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 1 October
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 24 Jan
• Tracking My Finances In 2010: January Week 2
• Tracking My Finances In 2010: January Week 4
• Tracking My Finances In 2010: Week 1 January

My first electric bill for the year almost gave me a heart attack at $148.49 because the bill for the same time last year was $82.53. I know that last year I was using the space heater instead of the central heating because it did not make sense (and still does not) to heat unused rooms. I really went a bit wild last month with using the heat and need to seriously cut down on my electricity use because I have added to my debt with the dental bills.

I am going back to sleeping wearing more layers like I used to. This means that I will be wearing a robe to bed as well as my pajamas and socks AND using a blanket and comforter. This will allow me to set the heater even lower…and since Dinero sleeps in the bedroom with me the rest of the house only needs to be above freezing so that my pipes do not burst.

It was a bit of a hassle to unplug the heater when I decided to go into the living room to watch television….but I will start to do that again, then move the heater back into the bedroom which is where I spend most of my time (Computer is in the bedroom and I watch Hulu for most shows). I will also wear a sweater over my shirts and wear my fuzzy slippers over my socks as well to keep warm when I am at home on the weekends and when I get home from work.

I also need to set and forget the central heating unit because I know that one of the reasons for the high bill is that I kept messing with the settings. When I get home from work I would take off my jacket (warm) and then need to increase the heat because I was walking around the house in less clothes. I need to keep my jacket on until I get to the bedroom where the space heater is, change clothes, put on my indoor jacket and then walk back to hang up the outside jacket. Hey, the bonus of that is I will be taking more steps and that is more exercise for me.

I need to drink more tea to keep warm as well as that works better than juice. I hope to see a reduction in February’s bill and then a continuing downward trend as it gets warmer.

This reminds me why I hate winter.

• Dinero Saves Dinero: Heater
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Today’s Guest Post comes from reader Ken B. who wrote Ways You Can Save Money Online, That You Don’t Already Know About .  Ken recently found this blog and has been using the tips he learned here to save money in his own life, and has decided to share his experiences here with you .

I loved reading the article “25 ways I save money” on HowIsaveMoney.net and I thought that given the year just ended, I should reflect on how I was able to save money this past year. After spending some time, I was amazed to realize that by doing these 10 things, I was able to save $4700 last year. I hope you enjoy reading this and it helps you as it has helped me.

Saved $100 in late fees that I earned in 2008: I set up an ING account and I automated it to pay off my credit cards every month on January 3rd. (Thanks to HowIsavemoney.net for teaching me this).

Saved $500 on textbooks: Started renting books at BookRenter.com instead of purchasing books at the University Bookstore (If you are out of college and like to read, I recommend using the Public Library or getting a Borders Card, which is free, for a lot of discounts)

Saved $2000: Limited eating out to 1 night a week. Now I have learnt to cook and I not only save money, but I also eat healthier.

Saved $150: Starting using Zappos.com to buy Asics shoes. I already know my shoe size so this was an easy purchase.

Saved $1000: I limited myself to buying 1 drink when I went out. With each drink costing around $5, this helped me save a lot.

Saved $200: Started using the airline JetBlue to fly home from California to the East Coast. I began purchasing tickets on Tuesday and Thursday and my average flight cost each way was $109. My flights used to cost around $180 each way.

Saved $200: I began reading more blogs and finding free books online rather than spend $20 per book at Barnes and Nobles. There are a lot of websites, like www.Scribd.com for example, where you can read books for free.

Saved $200: I created a “Change Jar” at home and put all of my empty change there. At the end of the year I had close to $200!

Saved $150 a year on purchasing glasses online (I wrote about this is another guest post, but purchasing glasses at www.Eyeglasses.com saved me over $150 per pair)

Saved $200: Began purchasing my contacts online at www.1800contacts.com. I save $20 on each contact case.

I hope this list helps you as it has helped me. Cheers to a great year.

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• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…how it all ends
• Ways you can save money online (that you don’t already know about) (Guest Post)
• I want to go home
• New domain information
• $14.95 Stupid Tax

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• No spend day
• Spent $17.86 on meals for the 3.5 days
• Meal Planning
• No Spend Month: February 2010
• Save money and the tuna diet

Welcome to  tracking of income and expenses for the month. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.

This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.

So again to clarify (since I get so many questions), this shows the cash FLOW for the month. On Day 2 of every month I will have a negative FLOW because I have paid rent etc so money has LEFT my checking account. I have not had any money come in on Day 2 of the current month since I got paid on day 27 or 30 or 31 of the previous month so that income is counted for LAST month.

Income for the month to date: $51.22

Expenses for the month to date: $2316.51

Net effect: -$2265.29

Since the last posting I got a gift card for $15.00 to Walmart from a friend and as part of the No Spend January rules I get to spend this money because it was ‘generated’ this month.

I also found a penny when I went to do laundry and have added that to the money available to spend for the month.

I spent $0.94 on a poop scoop for Dinero because I accidentally threw his litter scoop away. I also bought him a new collar ($2.94 cost price) so that he can have a clean one while I wash the one he was wearing every time I give him a bath. This money all came of the gift card so I have not spent any money out of my budget for the month as yet.

I also added in $260.50 to my credit card balance at 0% interest for 12 months. More on that in a separate post!

I will see you guys and gals later as I continue my journey to save money and become debt free!!!!

Check out my Experiences with LASIK surgery

• Tracking My Finances In 2010: January Week 4
• Tracking my Finances in 2009: 11 June
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 2 August
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: November Recap
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 29 August

Today I paid $0.00 out of pocket for $15.86 worth of items. At first I bought the wrong item and had to return it so the money was put on a gift card but I put the totals as one. I also found a $50 gift card that I had gotten way back in September of last year. I had taken it to my best friend’s house when I went to spend a weekend and forgot it there. This means I have more CVS money than I thought and this makes it even better for me.

Transaction 1

Item: Cottonelle toilet paper

Price: $12.88

CVS Extra Care Bucks earned: $4.00

Item: Cottonelle baby wipes

Price: $2.98

CVS Extra Care Bucks earned: $3.00

Total coupons used: $6.50 ECB

Total out of pocket today: $10.13 on gift card

Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned today: $7.00

Total out of pocket to date: $0.00

Gift Card balance : $50.75

Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned to date: $20.50

CVS Extra Care Bucks Used to date: $12.50

CVS Extra Care Bucks Balance: $8.00

Abbreviations used

MFR = manufacturer coupon

ECB = extra care bucks

Join me next time as I look for more ways to save money as I visit CVS.

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• How I Save Money At CVS: 25 Jan 09
• How I Save Money At CVS: November 27
• How I Save Money At CVS: 24 May 09
• How I Save Money At CVS: 29 March 09
• How I Save Money At CVS: 7 June 09

Do you know what Debt Snowball means? Well if the only time you use the phrase is during a snowball fight when you yell “Watch out for debt snowball” then you MIGHT be a Financial Redneck.

Check out the hilarious post on Brip Blap, called You Know, You Might Be A Financial Redneck If…

• Kid stuff from the 80s
• Tanyetta’s random things
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 24 August
• Commenting on the comments
• All the flowers are dying

It seems that everywhere I look bloggers are posting their resolutions for the year 2010 and I realized that I did not make any resolutions. Last year I had a few Simple Goals For 2009 and I have decided to adopt that strategy again for 2010.

My goals last year were

• Simplify
• Live
• Learn

and I think that if I honestly look at what I accomplished for the year I only really worked on ONE out of the three. This means that I need to extend those goals to 2010 so that I can keep improving on Simplify and catch up on Live and Learn.

Simplify

I simplified my budgets last year and tweaked my spending and created a zero based budget to the point where automating my finances made me bored.

I have been working on purging items that I have not used in a long time as well. This includes clothing that I have not worn in YEARS especially. I grew up poor and was taught to hold on to everything because you don’t know when you can use it again. That is part of the reason why I buy in bulk and stock up on so much toilet paper. However, I still have clothes from 10 years ago…that I last wore 10 years ago….just sitting in the closet. I have no idea why I am holding on to some of them because they no longer fit………………..

Live

I took my mother’s death a lot harder than I thought I would and even though I was not overly emotional I was indeed drained of that joie de vivre that I should be experiencing. I was bored with a lot of things and generally unimpressed with people in general so I did not want to go out or do anything fun most of the time.

I will continue to mourn my mother but I cannot let her passing zap me of my energy and prevent me from doing the things I want to do. There is really no need to depress myself and become a hermit once I leave work.

Learn

I started a new program to further my career and because it is so time consuming I have not made time to learn SQL or HTML like I said I wanted to last year. I have just been so overwhelmed with classes that at the end of the day I was mentally drained and not in the mood to learn anything else unless it pertained to my courses.

I need to break out of that mindset and generate more energy to get my mental juices flowing so that I can gain some new knowledge that I did not have before…and not just to pass a test.

I have decided to add in a few more goals for 2010 as follows:

• Reduce
• Leave
• Magnetize

Reduce

I need to reduce the debt that I carry because I am tired of carrying it.  I used my credit cards to pay for my education and I have been slowly chipping away at the debt for as long as I have been blogging but it is time to get rid of it. I have been using my sub account in ING called the snowflake account to put any extra money that I get (e.g. Pinecone) towards my debts but something always seems to come up and I use the money.

I also need to reduce my weight because since I had my surgery I have been gaining weight and I am sick not feeling like I look my best. I am not overweight by any means…..but if I keep gaining like I have been then I might soon fall into that category.

I need to reduce my waste as well because I sometimes find myself throwing away food because it has gone bad. I refuse to eat anything past the expiry date printed on the container but I was also taught to shop in bulk. These two values sometimes conflict because I will buy 20 packs of yogurt but then not be able to eat them all before they expire. I will need to go back to my Sunday only shopping day to reduce the amount of ’stuff’ that I buy….and throw away.

Leave

Last year I had a very bad experience when I went home and I was very angry for a while. I have not forgiven the person who hurt me, but I have decided to leave that anger behind and work on just existing in peace with myself. I am not at the point where I can extend an olive branch but it is doing me no good to have anger festering inside so I am leaving what happened in 2009 there…and shall not speak of it again.

I am also working on my feelings towards other people who may not have wronged me but I still have some underlying tension. I need to leave EVERYTHING that happened in the past in 2009 and look forward to a better 2010.

Magnetize

I reviewed a book last year called 101 Ways To Magnetize Money and I think I need to revisit what I read there. The book was really an excellent read and very easy to follow. It is sort of a financial feng shui guide and I started to follow some of the tips given and did see money being magnetized into my life.

I not only need to magnetize money but all sorts of GOOD into my life and I think that this will make me a better person overall. In this vein I will be looking at yoga for dummies so I can practice a little bit of yoga at home to keep me relaxed because I have been very stressed out. Over the Christmas break last year, my best friend treated me to a professional massage and I think this is something I can also use my Splurge Fund to help me out here every few months.

I need to PRAY more because I have been slacking on that sometimes as well. I missed a few Sundays of church simply because I got up late. I need to treat going to church just like going to work…set that alarm and DO NOT hit snooze!!! I guess God thinks in terms of ‘better late than never’ as well as we do.

Speaking of church….since I ordered new checks specifically for the purpose of making my church donations I need to write out four checks every month and put them in my church purse so I have no reason to forget my offering money again. That task needs to be scheduled on Google calendar just like everything else that I do.

I know these may seem too broad for most people but this is how I choose to work on improving myself and my blog for this year. There are more small changes that I will be making in my life that have not been spelled out here but I will still be working on them as the year goes on. Come along with me on my journey as I look for even more ways to save money, reduce debt and live a better life.

• Simple Goals For 2009
• 10 Financial Commandments For Your 30s
• The Bank Account of Life
• Some Things I Am Working On
• Update on the New Year’s resolutions

Today I paid $0.00 out of pocket for $7.99 worth of items. This was my first transaction for the year but I started the year off with $9.00  in ECBs and $11.39 in gift cards. I decided to get some toothpaste to replenish my stash from last year and also got one toothbrush. I remembered to use my Green Tag reusable shopping bag so that I could work towards that extra ECB for bringing your own bag.

I have gotten rid of all the figures from last year except the starting gift card balance and the ECB starting balance and will only be using gifts cards and ECBs to pay for transactions. My goal this year is to only use those two items so that my out of pocket will always be $0.00. I will be getting these gift cards from a credit card rewards program so that is ‘extra’ money that I will be earning. I do not like most of the rewards cards that this particular card gives so CVS is the best bet for me.

Transaction 1

Item: Colgate toothpaste

Price: $5 for two

CVS Extra Care Bucks earned: $2 ECB

Item: Colgate 360 toothbrush

Price: $2.99

CVS Extra Care Bucks earned: $1 ECB

Total coupons used: $6 ECB plus $1.50 MFR

Total paid today: $0.51 on gift card

Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned today: $3.50 (includes bonus $0.50 for December spending)

Total out of pocket to date: $0.00

Gift Card balance : $10.88

Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned to date: $12.50

CVS Extra Care Bucks Used to date: $6.00

CVS Extra Care Bucks Balance: $6.50

Abbreviations used

MFR = manufacturer coupon

ECB = extra care bucks

Join me next time as I look for more ways to save money as I visit CVS.

Make Money Online with Deal Barbie.

• How I Save Money At CVS: 30 December 09
• How I Save Money At CVS: November 27
• How I Save Money At CVS: 24 May 09
• How I Save Money At CVS: 7 June 09
• How I Save Money At CVS : November 9

I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week.

Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.

This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.

So again to clarify (since I get so many questions), this shows the cash FLOW for the month. On Day 2 of every month I will have a negative FLOW because I have paid rent etc so money has LEFT my checking account. I have not had any money come in on Day 2 of the current month since I got paid on day 27 or 30 or 31 of the previous month so that income is counted for LAST month.

Income for the month to date: $7.20

Expenses for the month to date: $976.34

Net effect: -$969.14

In the last week  I have gotten a $3 check from Pinecone, $1.76 from Prosper and $2.44 from Lending Club. This is a nice little start to the income flow for the month and has already been routed to my snowflake account where I will be sending extra money towards debt repayment.

January is supposed to be a No Spend Month and so far the only money I have actually ’spent’ has been on bills which do not count. I paid rent and all its associated trimmings and also the internet and electricity bills.

The electricity bill was VERY high for me this month at $148.49, which puts me in the red by $63.49. It really is my fault entirely because I ran the central heater in the apartment instead of using my space heater during the winter.

On another note I got a credit of $20.48 on the internet bill because of outages last month so that helps a little bit. I need to reduce spending by another $43.01 in order to break even so far and I will just have to see what happens later in the month.

I will see you guys and gals later as I continue my journey to save money and become debt free!!!!

• Tracking My Finances In 2010: February Week 1
• Tracking My Finances In 2010: January Week 4
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: July 1
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 4 May
• Tracking My Finances In 2009: 2 August

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