financial hygiene 1.16.09

January 14, 2010 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $52.34
January 14, 2010 PAYMENT PROTECTION 1-888-527-6904 Other $39.33
January 11, 2010 SAVERS 1094 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $14.83
January 11, 2010 BREAD BASKET Q80 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $34.61
January 11, 2010 SUGAR MAMA'S BAKESHOP AUSTIN TX Merchandise $36.00
January 11, 2010 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $19.75
January 09, 2010 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $5.89
January 09, 2010 THE BRIXTON AUSTIN TX Dining $20.50

  01/15/2010  Debit Card TransactionBREAD BASKET Q80 A 01/14BREAD BAS$34.61     $745.57  
  01/14/2010  ACH DebitDLSS EDA PAD STUDNTLOAN PPD ID: 9102000601$147.03     $780.18  
  01/14/2010  Account TransferOnline Transfer to MMA XXXXXX6466 transaction#: 305517566$160.00     $927.21  
  01/12/2010  ATM TransactionATM CHECK DEPOSIT  $857.50   $1,087.21

redesigning our underwater video library. again.

Comp

revisiting the presentation of our underwater content for the nth time, i no longer expect this time to be the change that makes the conversions flow.

presently, a page containing links to stills and paypal buttons to purchase underwater videos lives here: http://thepopularpodcast.com/?p=2227

its not been touched since we adopted our current theme. we both forgot about it. 

until one lovely patron purchased two videos while we were parked in a gas station parking lot, on our way to FL. that was enough motivation to give it another shot. we know the videos can sell, we just haven't presented them in a way that has successfully converted over and over.

notable changes:
  • will be hosted on own domain. not on TPP where it doesn't belong, and not on a non-sensical domain like putamadres.com. it makes it nearly impossible for anyone searching to find the content.
  • large video previews
  • single page site, no CMS. single page sites are the new black.

financial hygiene 1.9.09

Capital One

January 07, 2010 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $13.91
January 07, 2010 WHOLEFDS LMR 10145 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $25.65
January 06, 2010 JCPENNEY STORE 2040 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $21.64
January 05, 2010 WAL-MART #1253 AUSTIN(S) TX Merchandise $81.09
January 04, 2010 SHELL OIL 575295376QPS QUINCY FL Gas/Automotive $24.98
January 04, 2010 SHELL OIL 57543843700 GRAND BAY AL Gas/Automotive $6.20
January 04, 2010 SHELL OIL 57543701908 OCOEE FL Gas/Automotive $26.98
January 04, 2010 E-Z MART Q39 OCALA FL Gas/Automotive $15.11
January 04, 2010 KANGAROO EXPRESS 13Q90 GAINESVILLE FL Gas/Automotive $2.12
January 02, 2010 WINN-DIXIE #2333 QPS PALM BAY FL Merchandise $68.01
January 02, 2010 BEST WESTERN PANHANDLE MIDWAY FL Lodging $76.64
January 02, 2010 COCOA BEACH PIER COCOA BEACH FL Dining $49.52
January 02, 2010 WINN-DIXIE-LIQUOR #235 PALM BAY FL Merchandise $12.71
January 02, 2010 PILOT 00004QPS MIDWAY FL Gas/Automotive $2.00
January 02, 2010 PILOT 00004259 MIDWAY FL Gas/Automotive $14.02
January 02, 2010 SHELL OIL 575288302QPS COCOA FL Gas/Automotive $21.18
December 31, 2009 SHELL OIL 575423107QPS ELLINGER TX Gas/Automotive $3.38
December 31, 2009 TEXACO 0309192 BATON ROUGE LA Gas/Automotive $17.67
December 31, 2009 TEXACO 0309192 Q61 BATON ROUGE LA Gas/Automotive $1.95
December 31, 2009 EXXONMOBIL 97418859 LAKE PANASOFF FL Gas/Automotive $17.84
December 31, 2009 WM SUPERCENTER PALM BAY FL Merchandise $38.29
December 31, 2009 STORE #1070 QPS MILTON FL Gas/Automotive $18.74
December 30, 2009 EXXONMOBIL 47616313 AUSTIN TX Gas/Automotive $22.62
December 30, 2009 EXXONMOBIL 47792379 CHANNELVIEW TX Gas/Automotive $12.29

I put the entire trip to FL on this card, looks like it only ended up costing me around $350. I'm rounding up to account for some groceries and a meal that i didn't split with jess, in addition to a couple gas tabs she paid. That is pretty cheap for an awesome trip! B00t!

For this week, I bought some running pants at JCPenney, but i'm counting my xmas gift money as paying for that :) 

We ate at WF, which was 9.00, so that's 4.50 in incidental. The rest of WF was food and HEB was carpet cleaner and a can of garbanzo beans. I guess I could count $6 toward incidental for that. 

That's 10.50 / 40 so far this week. Gonna spend some $ today on cupcakes and drinks for a little get-together we're having. I better not spend more than $25....

Chase
 01/06/2010  ACH DebitTIME WARNER CABL CABLE BILL PPD ID: 9126650001$56.37     $229.71  
  01/05/2010  Debit Card TransactionGRC CINCINNATI OH 01/04GRC CINCI$88.30     $286.08  
  12/31/2009  ACH DebitHSBC RS Online Pmt 000000519921132 WEB ID: 1000000077$25.00     $374.38  
  12/28/2009  Debit Card TransactionATTM *232013597061 08003 12/24ATTM *232$85.12     $399.38 

Bills, bills, bills. the only thing i've been paying with cash lately. work is picking up, though, so hopefully i'll be able to start using real money again. :/  My goal for this week is to not use my credit card and get back to being diligent about consuming in moderation. the holidays really have a way of throwing one off track. 

oh yeah, and make more money.

financial lifestream update 12.29.09

my, how over 2 weeks can slip by.

and how much money can be spent in that time. i bought so much shit recently, its sick. thanks capital one for increasing my limit, you got what you wanted. i bought a bunch of shit because i could and ran up my limit. that limit increase really came at a perfect time because i'm pretty much broke right now. i'm definitely putting this road trip on the card. then my goal is to get my shit together when we get back from florida. because i'm going to have to, because that card will be close to full again.

i disgust myself. i have dreaded writing this post for that very reason. i started thinking about irresponsible spending as a parallel to overeating. my goal in 2010 is to conquer my finances in the same way i feel like we are conquering food. i need to take control and exercise moderation.

i also need to make more money. maybe i'll have some ideas for that in my next update. ok here we go...

Chase

  12/22/2009  Debit Card TransactionAGI*RENTER INS EXCEE 800 12/21AGI*RENTE$21.20     $484.50  
  12/21/2009  ACH DebitBLUE CROSS BLUE INS. PREM PPD ID: 1361236610$43.00     $505.70  
  12/18/2009  ACH DebitCAPITAL ONE ONLINE PMT 935139910081057 WEB ID: 9279744991$50.00     $548.70  
  12/16/2009  Account TransferOnline Transfer to MMA XXXXXX6466 transaction#: 292989755$60.00     $598.70  
  12/15/2009  ATM TransactionATM CHECK DEPOSIT  $595.00   $658.70  
  12/14/2009  Debit Card TransactionSTARBUCKS USA 00086QPS A 12/11STARBUCKS$4.22     $63.70  
  12/14/2009  Debit Card TransactionSHERLOCK'S AUSTIN, AUSTI 12/12SHERLOCK'$10.00     $67.92  
  12/14/2009  Debit Card TransactionJ AND J LIQUOR AUSTIN TX 12/12J AND J L$17.45     $77.92  
  12/14/2009  ACH DebitDLSS EDA PAD STUDNTLOAN PPD ID: 9102000601$147.03     $95.37  

i decided to leave the amounts on there. what the hell does it matter anyway? the worst that could happen is someone will see how poor i am and feel sorry for me and send me money. right? maybe it will keep me more accountable and motivate me to make more money.

looks like about $16 in incidentals since my last update 12.11. not bad, eh? didn't us this card much. wait till you see this next bullshit.

Capital One

December 28, 2009 WAL-MART #1253 AUSTIN(S) TX Merchandise $112.20
December 28, 2009 WHOLEFDS LMR 10145 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $25.69
December 24, 2009 RAIN ON 4TH AUSTIN TX Dining $20.00
December 24, 2009 ALAMO DRAFTHOU00000869 AUSTIN TX Dining $32.00
December 24, 2009 WAL-MART #1253 AUSTIN(S) TX Merchandise $82.53
December 23, 2009 DISCOUNT ELECTRONICS AUSTIN TX Merchandise $325.83
December 23, 2009 J AND J LIQUOR AUSTIN TX Merchandise $12.99
December 23, 2009 BREAD BASKET Q80 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $8.65
December 22, 2009 WISH (GUADALUPE) AUSTIN TX Merchandise $80.08
December 21, 2009 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $59.71
December 21, 2009 TEXACO 0303741 MARBLE FALLS TX Gas/Automotive $25.98
December 21, 2009 BREAD BASKET Q80 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $11.90
December 21, 2009 CHINATOWN MIDTOWN CHIN AUSTIN TX Dining $17.00
December 21, 2009 WAL-MART #0781 MARBLE FALLS TX Merchandise $61.93
December 19, 2009 RUNTEX -CENTRAL AUSTIN TX Merchandise $211.08
December 17, 2009 CAPITAL ONE ONLINE PYMT AuthDate 16-DEC Other ($50.00)
December 17, 2009 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $47.64
December 14, 2009 F21 -#790 AUSTIN TX Merchandise $35.50
December 14, 2009 PAYMENT PROTECTION 1-888-527-6904 Other $20.45
December 12, 2009 WAL-MART #1253 AUSTIN(S) TX Merchandise $202.13

most of my expenses since the last update went on this card. what's sad is that most of it i could live without. i'll be paying this shit off for awhile ;_:

i'm super tired, but i'm doing this update before i leave for my trip so i can at least have comfort in knowing that i know the status of my finances, however dire. my spending got out of control recently, and evaluating those purchases is a great way to remind myself to not spend what i dont have.

financial lifestream update 12.11.09

Current Incidental Budget: 55.24

Chase

 


 12/09/2009  

Debit Card Transaction 6 STREET COOL STORE AUST 12/086 STREET $4.31        
  12/07/2009   ACH Debit TIME WARNER CABL CABLE BILL PPD ID: 9126650001 $52.04        
  12/02/2009   Debit Card Transaction J AND J LIQUOR AUSTIN TX 12/01J AND J L $13.99        
  12/02/2009   Debit Card Transaction GRC CINCINNATI OH 12/01GRC CINCI $88.30

GRC is my uofi bill that i'm finally paying after 2yrs. yes, they had 2 come after me. only 2 more payments of that i think. here's 2 being forced to pay off debt.

J&J is a handle of skol vodka. this is not frivolous because it is a lot cheaper than going out and drinking at bars. so $7/week on booze is a steal. and v. necessary. 

Time Warner cable bill

6 st. is incense. not necessary. deduct 2.16

55.24 - 2.16 = 53.08



Capital One

December 09, 2009 ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEM AUSTIN TX Entertainment $15.50
December 09, 2009 UNIVERSITY CYCLERY AUSTIN TX Merchandise $8.24
December 08, 2009 ALAMO SOUTH LA00000851 AUSTIN TX Dining $69.43
December 08, 2009 SUNSTONE YOGA AUSTIN TX Other $10.00
December 05, 2009 MURPHY7209ATWALMRT AUSTIN TX Gas/Automotive $21.44
December 05, 2009 WAL-MART #1253 AUSTIN(S) TX Merchandise $90.11
December 03, 2009 JIMMYJANE, INC. 04158643474 CA Merchandise $160.00

rut roh.

i told u this larger balance on this credit card was going 2 get out of control. here we go...

jimmy jane is two new vibrators- jessica's and my xmas gifts to each other. they are nice. its nice to mix things up. probably wouldn't have purchased if it weren't for the credit though. part of it is that i owe jessica money and am trying to pay her back by paying for shit on my credit card. it sucks. 

wal mart groceries. 90 is not bad. we went again today and spent 200. hopefully that will last us awhile. i think i want to do something with grocery budget for my next financial goal.

murphy gas

sunstone they were supposed to charge me twice but it seems like they only charged me once. weird. should subtract this.

53.08 - 10.00 = 43.08

alamo yikes, one of our addictions! this was to celebrate jessica being done slash avoiding stress that she still had a paper to finish. this is the only time we ate out in over a week, so i am going to allow some for that. however, it is an extravagant expense, and i said i would wait until my month was over to go to the drafthouse. i blatantly ignored that pledge. the total was about 86, so i think fifty is fair for a nice dinner and drinks. that is only $25/person for a nice date once a week. that is not frivolous. that leaves 36 left over in extra spending, or $18.

43.08 - 18.00 = 25.08

university cylclery is bike repairs. i paid for jessica since i owe her

Wells Fargo
12/01/09 BILL PAY SERVICE FEE ON 12-01   $6.95

This is from our joint checking acct. $7 for a bill that was only $24????????? we need to do something about this!

Cash

We spent $30 at the strip club on lap dances.

25.08 - 15.00 = 10.08

Conclusions
So, after giving myself a little wiggle room, i came out with $10 to spare. I keep feeling like i rationalized too many expenses, but looking back, most of them seem to make sense. 

I had only had one occasion of eating out in each week(in the case of this week, almost two). We bought wine, but i charged myself for some, and the other was for a special occasion. like i said before, we drink the cheapest shit possible, so i am not going to feel guilty about that. i would rather be poor than sober every single day. 

i feel guilty about the jimmyjane purchase, but 'tis the season.

i think i may have spent a little too much on replacing my fan, but i am glad to have the money to do it right and hopefully not have to replace it again.

the sao paulo and alamo expenses were extreme, but not considering it was our one night out a week. i even charged my budget for the amounts i felt were 'over the top'.

What's Next
moving forward, i think it will be more helpful for me to figure out what i actually spend on entertainment, or items that are not absolute necessities like food, etc. eating out is not absolutely necessary, but i see it as an important part of my life, so i need to budget for it. 

all of my expenses from the last month that are not necessary for survival: $159.92
that is not including the newegg and jimmyjane. new egg would go into 'unexpected' and jimmyjane would go into...'xmas'? however, $40/week is what i was estimating after evaluating everything! i think i am making progress in figuring out how i spend my money!

i'm going to mull this over over the weekend and try to come up with a new financial lifestream goal. i think it should be something with extending my budget to other aspects (namely, groceries), and evaluating my expenses vs. income. i would also like to stick to the $40/week for entertainment / incidental expenses. 

update 11.30.09

Thoughts from last week's post

I originally planned to give myself back some money in my budget for the east side pies we had last weekend. then i read through last weeks post and saw that i had written unnecessary in all caps. why did i feel so strongly about it then? was it because i was still food-hungover or because i regretted the expense? as i thought about it this week (trying to make my $100 budget work), i realized that was the only time we had eaten out that week. it was one meal that we didn't cook for an entire week. that is not frivolous. that's actually pretty impressive. so i am going to give myself back $12.

55.74+12 = 67.74

Unfortunate Events

Before i began this financial documentation, jessica and i purchased a new power adapter for her old powerbook and a new apple airport as ours was malfunctioning. the total of my half of these costs was $75 :/ we have since found out the powerbook needs a new logic drive and the airport was not working properly so we are using our old one again and it works fine. we are not sure about returning the power cord (to macworks) and we missed the return date for the airport. so thats $75 for nothing. not sure what else to say about it except that is aggravating. what lessons do we stand to learn from this? i'm wondering if there is still something we can do about the airport (sell it on ebay? use it as a repeater?). maybe dudes at macworks will still let us return the power cord. 

So now we have to decide what to do about a new computer. Jessica feels very strongly that we need a backup computer. I think i agree. i'm not totally convinced, but we both use our computers for work, and it would cause serious problems if either of us were ever without a machine for an extended period of time. especially when both of our machines have been on the fritz lately. i think we've settled on buying a cheap pc that we can possibly also use as a media server and editing machine. the cost to fix the powerbook is $400 so we're looking to spend about that on a new machine. i see that as a totally justifiable expense, especially if it could help the TPP workflow.

Good Decisions

We've decided to take up running. A huge motivator for that, outside of being able to eat more, is the self-tracking. We went from never running in our lives, to deciding to take it up, to being convinced that we needed to purchase some sort of 'device' to self track in all of, oh, 45mins. We wanted to buy they fitbits on black friday! we thought on it though, and realized we don't need it. we are using an iPhone ap that does basically all the same things and it is free!

Capital One Card

November 28, 2009 WWW.NEWEGG.COM 800-390-1119 CA Merchandise $119.99
November 27, 2009 WAL-MART #0781 MARBLE FALLS TX Merchandise $114.36
November 27, 2009 PAYMENT PROTECTION BENEFIT PAYMENT Other ($34.67)

I forgot to tell you last week that my limit on my credit card was increased. i have two CCs, one is a best buy card that i used to buy my computer two years ago and the other is a capital one card that i got before i moved to texas in case of emergency. The best buy card is almost all the way paid off (i would have paid it off, but i used it to purchase my iPhone a couple months ago). The capital one card was sitting pretty close to its limit for awhile, but i had been paying over the minimum payment and incrementally working it down. When I logged in a couple weeks ago, I saw they had increased the limit. This is cool, but it also sucks. Its nice to have that padding in case i really need it, but all it does is burn a hole in my pocket! i feel i am going to have to work hard to not blow the 'money'. 

As you can see, I have already charged over $300 on the card since finding this out. Work is slow, so i was thankful to be able to charge the groceries (wal-mart). The new egg purchase is for a new power source for my PC. I went with the most expensive one because i wanted to make sure it lasts. i probably would not have done this if i didn't have the extra credit, but it will probably save me money (and stress/time) in the future to not have to deal with it again.

Obviously neither of those charges is frivolous ;)

I did save myself $26 by calling capital one to request my payment assistance service be stopped. they charge you a percentage of your balance each month for a service that takes over your payments for you if you can't make them. i figured it was time to let this go since they were charging me $12/mo for it. when i called to cancel, customer service mentioned that part of the service was that they could make your minimum payment for you once per year. so instead of cancelling the service, i had them pay my bill. so i really only saved $14. the lady also told me that i can call next month and have them pay january's bill as well since it will be a new year. so i will save another $14 and then cancel the service. that's pretty good, i guess.

Chase Checking

 PendingACH DebitPAYPAL INST XFER WEB 46R223YAJ9ASA Link to more information in a new browser window. $1.00     
  11/27/2009  ATM TransactionNON-CHASE ATM WITHDRAW 004596 11/252701 E 7T$42.50       
  11/25/2009  ACH DebitHSBC RS Online Pmt 000000509029645 WEB ID: 1000000077$50.00      
  11/25/2009  Debit Card TransactionSAO PAULO S AUSTIN TX 11/23SAO PAULO$72.28       
  11/25/2009  Debit Card TransactionATTM *232013597061 08003 11/24ATTM *232$85.12       




    
  11/24/2009  ACH DebitCAPITAL ONE ONLINE PMT 932739910266441 WEB ID: 9279744991$50.00       



    
  11/23/2009  Account TransferOnline Transfer to MMA XXXXXX6466 transaction#: 282568773$50.00       
  11/23/2009  Account TransferOnline Transfer 282556257 to wells fargo ######2358 transaction #: 282556257 $150.00      
 




*blank rows indicate deposits or repeated transactions that were pending last week

transfer to wells fargo is our joint account. we are working on being able to pay all of our bills from this account

other transfer is to savings(!). i have not put anything into savings in ages, so im making a conscious effort to contribute even small amounts from each check. it really adds up quick when i just contribute little by little.

capital one credited my account so it ended up only being the 34.67 from above

ATT  is $20 more than verizon bill. i guess its worth it, but still seems steep

Sao Paulo with sharon im having a hard time with this one. paying for sharon's meal was definitely not frivolous because she has been so generous to us in the past. ok so im gonna guess $18 for meal, one drink, and tip. That leaves 54.28 that jessica and i consumed n mostly drinks. i'll subtract $6 for food since all we had was a couple sides. so then we split 48.28 in drinks. my share is 24.14. i can justify dinner and drinks with a friend / colleague, but i think i spent a little too much on drinks (had like 4). i'm going to deduct $10 from my budget for excess drinks and give myself the rest.

67.74 - 10 = 57.74

HSBC is my best buy card 

the 11.27 atm withdraw is for cabs to joy's. we had $15 left over so that means the cabs combined were $25. split between jessica and i that's $12.50. i am torn on what to do about this. it is not a typical expense, but it is better than driving and cheaper than a DUI. jessica mentioned i should have a budget for 'emergency expenses' such as this, which i explained is what my 'incidental budget' is supposed to be for. so that would stand to reason that i should subtract it from my budget right? i think what i have to learn from this instance is that even though your budget seems like a lot in the beginning of the month, you never know what is going to pop-up. i realize now i shouldn't have spent the money in the beginning just because i didn't have any incidental charges that week. i should have saved that money for this instance. so i am going to begrudgingly subtract the $12.50 from my budget.

57.74 - 12.5 =  55.24

paypal charge is me testing a button

wells fargo joint checking

11/27/09 CHECK CRD PURCHASE 11/25 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX 486830XXXXXX3907 331940000404436 ?MCC=5411 111900659DA90   $52.76
11/25/09 JPMorgan Chase Ext Trnsfr Nov 25 XXXXX6257 KELLY CREE $150.00  
11/24/09 BILL PAY TEXAS GAS SERVIC ON-LINE xxxxxxxxxxxxxx7309 ON 11-24   $21.78
11/24/09 PAYPAL TRANSFER 091124 4XHJ23XYRRKUU JESSICA MULLEN DESIGN $82.43  

these are a couple shared charges from our wells fargo account. paypal deposit is podcast money, w00t!

gas bill, duh

the HEB charge is for misc. Thanksgiving charges. we bought a pie and whipped cream to bring to joy's. that's justified because they made us dinner. we also bought chocolates to bring to the mullen's on TG. justified. then we bought about $33 worth of wine. is this justified?? i really don't see it as frivolous to drink wine on the holidays with family. how could one do it without wine? plus we drink the cheapest shit possible. i'm going to give myself this one.

Things to deal with
  • Verizon - pretty sure those sick fucks are still charging me! need to call them and deal with this

update 11.23.09






 
  PendingMisc. DebitPOS DEBIT WHATABURGER 162 AUSTIN TX Link to more information in a new browser window. $9.70     
  PendingMisc. DebitPOS DEBIT EAST SIDE PIES AUSTIN TX Link to more information in a new browser window. $20.75    




 
  PendingMisc. DebitATM DEBIT 2119 E 7TH ST AUSTIN TX Link to more information in a new browser window. $40.00     
  11/20/2009  Debit Card TransactionHEB GROCERY #46 AUSTIN T069623 11/19HEB GROCE$21.04       
  11/20/2009  Debit Card TransactionAGI*RENTER INS EXCEE 800 11/19AGI*RENTE$21.20     $  
  11/20/2009  ACH DebitBLUE CROSS BLUE INS. PREM PPD ID: 1361236610$43.00     $  
  11/19/2009  Debit Card TransactionWHATABURGER 162 Q26 A 11/17WHATABURG$4.85     $  
  11/18/2009  ATM TransactionATM WITHDRAWAL 007624 11/182414 GUAD$400.00     $  
  11/17/2009  Debit Card TransactionMURPHY7209ATWALMRT AUSTI 11/16MURPHY720$23.53     $  
  11/17/2009  Debit Card TransactionWAL-MART #1253 AUSTIN(S)031330 11/16WAL-MART$206.17     $  
  11/16/2009  Debit Card TransactionHEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN 11/14HEB GROCE$16.19     

11/23/09 POS WHOLE FOODS MARK 525 NAustin TX   $26.44
11/23/09 CHKCARDWHATABURGER 162AUSTIN TXU $12.00
11/23/09 CHKCARDBREAD BASKET AUSTIN TXUS   $5.37
Posted Transactions
11/16/09 CHECK CRD PURCHASE 11/14 HEB GROCERY #465 AUSTIN TX    $29.01

the above is everything i bought since my first update on 11.16.09

first, we can eliminate all the HEB and walmart purchases as those were necessary food and other staple purchases.

11.17.09 MURPHY is gas

400 atm withdrawal was for medication

11.19.09 whataburger. ok this counts toward my budget. there was no reason for this. we had a serious WB problem this week. wtf. they put crack n their shakes. should just bought a crack rock with that $5

11.20 blue cross is health insurance. though i'm not sure it would actually do me any good. not sure why i even pay for this, but it seems 'necessary' and jessica would worry if i didn't have it ;)

11.20 renters insurance - very necessary.

11.20 atm debit - this was for the metaphysical fair. jessica paid my way($8), so i only ended up spending $2 from the first $20 (ice cream truck yum yum). we still have the other $20.

pending - east side. this was totally UNNECESSARY! (also, add $4 for tip)

pending - whataburger. wth were we thinking?!

11.23.09 bread basket was ice cream

11.23 whataburger. told u we had a problem. again, obv not necessary. 

11.23 whole foods. we got food but also wine. the wine was $12. im gonna count that as not necessary b/c we didn't really neeed it. 

wow. i ended up spending a lot of money on bullshit!! mostly junk food, now that is something i truly do not need! 

after adding it all up, i spent $38.76 on CRAP this weekend. it just shows how quickly purchases can add up! i'm shocked i spent this much of my $100 budget on nothing but garbage.

i now have 61.24 left in my incidental budget for three more weeks. wow, i need to not buy anything until the hostess gift for crystal's party. 

except i just realized we are supposed 2 go 2 sao paulo with sharon 2nite and go 2 jimmy and sheima's on tues. what am i gonna do?!?!!?

ps just realized that we bought another big bottle of wine at bread basket last night. jessica paid. im gonna guess that's like $11 so another 5.5o i have 2 subtract from my budget. 

this is annoying.

current incidental budget remaining: -55.74 

wow, so i spent almost half my budget in one week. pathetic. i am very disappointed in myself. i am glad i am doing this though, it is eye-opening to see how much money can slip away so quickly and easily. :[

30 days of no frivolous spending

the rules: no buying anything that isn't absolutely necessary for 30 days

there a couple things i already know i have to buy: a $10 yoga trial and a hostess gift for a holiday party we are attending in dec.

i feel both of these things are neccesary, so will spend the money on them. this led me to think that perhaps the 'absolutely no buying anything besides food' rule might be a little strict. and if it is too strict, i may not stick to it.

so, i am going to allot myself $100 in the 30days for these type of expenses. If i spend $10 on the hostess gift, this leaves me $80 left for misc. entertainment or 'non-essential' expenses.

just now, i was thinking about two other things i 'really needed': yoga attire and a warm hat for my bald head. i was going to let those things slide too, deeming them essentials. but i dont think those things really are. i can find something to wear to yoga, and i already have a hat that serves the purpose. i just wanted one that...doesn't have ear flaps. now that i am thinking about that, why would i ever want a hat without ear flaps??

also, now that i've imposed the $100 limit on 'possibly essential' expenses, they seem even less necessary. i will probably save the rest for a nice meal out or a trip to savers ;)