How I plan to save

In the absence of credit card debt, I want to aggressively contribute to my savings. Mr. S and I used to pay about $600/month in credit card payments. Mind you, the minimum was only about $300 total but we did not like owning money to ‘The Man’ and wanted to get out of debt fast. After we made the final payment on our credit cards, we decided to put that money in our savings. Now, each week we move $300 into our savings account. Based on our income vs expenses, it works for us. At this rate, if we can manage not to dip into savings, that’s $15,600/year or $1,300/month! Bonuses, gifts or tax returns are added in addition to the $300/week. Eventually, I’d like to invest some of the money instead of earning a lousy 1.5% like we are now. If anyone has advice on what to do with our savings, let me know!

Bienvenue à Paris!

Mr. Simple and I love to travel. We have been fortunate enough to visit Europe several times, the Caribbean and throughout the US. At the end of the summer, we are contemplating a trip to the romantic city of Paris. So, today’s project is figuring out how we can do that on the cheap. Our budget is $4,000 (or less) for 5 days. Doing some preliminary research, here’s what I came up with.

Airfare= $1600
Hotel= $1000
Museum tickets/entertainment= $500
Food (breakfast included in the cost per night)= $500
Miscellaneous= $400
Total= $4000

Will I be able to do it?? We’ll see!

Food for Thought

I’m addicted to Quicken! I log on every morning to download transactions, verify my balance and track my spending.

Month after month, the one category I find myself asking, ‘How did it get so out of control?’ is my food category. I admit, we eat out/order in more than we should but there is NO reason Mr. S and I should rack up a $900/month food bill!!! That’s groceries and dining out for the entire month; unacceptable! Next month, I plan to reduce the March total ($1,200 – OMG) by $500 spending only $700 on food…. baby steps…

What I spent today:
Lunch: $7.75
Groceries: $34.09

Note: I need to start packing my lunch!

If it weren’t for the Jones’s

If it weren’t for the Jones’s, I wonder if I’d have more in savings??!

My goal for the remainder of this month and May is to take heed to advice I’ve heard since the economy decided to take a nose dive: Learn to define yourself for who you are, not what you have…. Easier said than done. I’m constantly surrounded by those that “have”. Whether it’s the nicest shoes, the nicest cars, fancy weddings and/or lavish homes; it’s hard not to get caught up and try to keep up. Mr. Simple (what I will call my husband from now on) and I make a good living. We have the beginnings of a cushy emergency fund and are generally happy with our lives. My career is just taking off and after grad school (all things considered) I should be in a position to get a promotion or a higher paying job. My problem (the problem with my entire generation) is that I want everything NOW and it’s all about the tangibles. I need to embrace the idea that things won’t make me happy in the long run. True happiness is found in things you can’t necessarily pay for with cash.

And so it begins….

Our recent economic ‘situation’ has been my inspiration to start this blog. Actually, I didn’t know what a PF blog was and happened to stumble upon this unknown world via a Google Search entitled, ‘What Would Suze Orman Do?”. It was there that I came across my first PF blog.

My finances are FINALLY in order after years of credit card debt ($12,000 was my highest balance at one time – yikes!). Now that I’m finally out of unsecured debt and aggressively working on building a savings, I wanted a place to jot down my thoughts and be accountable for my at times frivolous spending. Hopefully this will help me reach my goals and provide some entertainment along the way! More to come!