ORIGINAL BUDGET: $1500
(I’m half laughing & crying as I’m reviewing the amounts for each category. More laughing than crying.)
I re-jigged around the categories and put less in Eating Out, and Gas/Car Maintenance because I ended up buying that Netbook.
INCOME: $2367.11
From Savings $1500
To pay for living expenses – that was the budget I set for myself as close to bare bones, but I tend to always go over by a hundred or so but I don’t really sweat it.
Earned $867.11
Cash on the side doing side jobs.
Am waiting for a contract that may be coming up soon at the end of April. Will know more then, so I’m not sweating it for now.
WHAT I ACTUALLY SPENT: $2508.08
So as you may have noticed, I killed my budget sheet this month.
But only by $141.47!
UPDATE: I forgot about interest earnings on my accounts, I actually earned $71.52 in interest this month, so really, I was only over budget by $69.95.
I can’t totally blame it on my Netbook because I bought things for my trip next month (allergy pills, train ticket)..
So to compensate a bit, I also didn’t spend any cash on gas or car maintenance (car is fully paid off, insurance was $300/year) and I barely ate out this month.
Here’s my cute little pie chart in my budgeting sheet to show you that Savings, Rent, Food & Electronics are clearly my priorities in life.
Decreased by $3378.76 (the stock market dropped by another $1500 for me and I spent money living.)
ASSETS = $70,896.74
- Emergency Fund for 2 years = $36,000
- General Savings = $1914.55
- Retirement = $15,150.68 (Market Value) — Book Value is $24,489.14
- Business = $17,831.51
LIABILITIES = $0
NYE 2009 Resolutions Tracking:
- Save 50% of new income = $450 (a little over half of $867) – FAILED? Because I spent $141 of what I “saved”
- Tracked expenses and set a budget – CHECK!
- Stay on $1500 budget when not working – FAILED
- Increase Net Worth to $150,000 – FAILED FOR THIS MONTH.
NOTES
Wow this is a nasty month. March will not be better.
Am going back to Ontario to see my sister, pick up my mail and my taxes (FINALLY!).
Then I am going to NYC with BF. Heh 🙂
Oh well, it has to be done, and there’s no need for me to freak out until I really don’t get a contract by August 2009. So I’m going to take it easy until then and keep working on getting a contract and/or a job in the States.
I am however, going to try and tighten my belt on extraneous spending. I foresee some meals at home with my family LOL. No eating out extravagantly.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
Steve: Ugh. 🙂 Tough for now, but it’ll get better later.
Barry: Don’t say I didn’t tell you that I may be an enabler for technology. Truth be told, I love it. I think it’s a great portable device and I can see it having more uses than originally planned.
I really think it’s a great idea especially if you want a home set up but not another computer entirely. I’d set it up against a monitor and a full sized keyboard with a mouse and use the processor in a docking system.
LAL: August 2009 because it’s the end of my fiscal year as the corporation and that means I’ve gone about 9 months without working which is a huge gap in my resume.
I’d have to pick up something quick on the side and travel .. or something.
I just read through your review of the HP netbook. It was so enticing that I want to get one too.
I agree that this was a nasty month, especially for the stock market.
Unless President Obama clears up the financial institutions and the stimulus package trickles down to the economy, I doubt investors will be in a hurry to buy stocks.
wow. sounds like a bit of a tough month, not too bad though. you do have a long way to go until August, so you do have a lot of chillaxin’ room.
enjoy yourself and do some networking while you’re chillin’. always works for me.
best of luck and have lots of fun! that’s really what life’s for i think!
-Steve @ fluxlife