March 2009 Budget Recap

ORIGINAL BUDGET

Here was my original budget for the month (just for general living), which was blasted wide open as shown by my handy dandy budgeting sheet.

Haha. Hahaha.. HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!

*wipes tears from eyes*

I ended up taking 2 trips in March without expecting to. Well, I knew I’d go back to Ontario, but the NYC trip being extended to almost a whole week caught me off guard (spur of the moment).

Let’s take a look at what my “budget” ended up being this month, just for fun.

TAX RETURN of $4500:

I am getting back $4500 this year.

I decided to invest $3600 into stocks because my gut feeling tells me that even though we’re still skittish about the stock market and the economy, it’s about to pick up VERY soon, by the summer in my opinion.

I was watching the U.S. news intently (I don’t own a TV in Canada, I only watch TV in hotels), and the sign of certain stocks starting to pick up was a good sign.

Although investors were so excited about the upturn that they SOLD their stocks, eager to see a high, the markets took a bit of a dive but I do think that the worst is over and the stock market is bouncing from having hit the proverbial bottom.

My other indicators are just my gut feeling and the fact that I am getting a crapload of offers from the States, but NO ONE will sponsor Visas yet. So I can’t accept any offers or contracts.

Boo-urns.

If there was ever a time to be an American for me, it is now.

I wish my parents had snuck over and gave birth to me on American soil so that I’d have dual citizenship.

Anyway, that leaves me with around $900 which was enough to cover my entire trip to NYC.

Not only that, I made some more money before I went, so that helped as well.

ONE-OFF TRIPS:

Trip back to Ontario: $814.26

This is what my budget looked like after I came back from Ontario.

It’s a bit deceiving because I haven’t put in Rent, Utilities, Groceries or the Internet yet.

Trip to NYC: $869.70

Here’s my budget after my trip to NYC, with the extra money I’ve been making during the month. I also rejigged some budget categories and tried to even out amounts across the board.

FINAL BUDGET

I basically blew my budget of $1500 by $1700. But since I made around $242 this month, It helped offset the damage and I ended up going over budget by $1245.66.

Not too shabby considering I took 2 trips this month — one back to Ontario, the other to NYC.

Plus I put another $3600 into my retirement fund, but I don’t call it a deficit. It’s just shifting my assets.

Here are my categories in my budget, followed by a cute lil’ pie chart:

FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

ASSETS = $76,894.14

• Emergency Fund for 1 year @ $2000/month = $24,000
• General Savings = $13,572.36
• Retirement = $19,480.27 (Market Value) and Book Value is $27,631.03
• Business = $16,808.20

LIABILITIES = $0

FIRST QUARTER SPENDING CHECK IN

Inspired by Meg, I’m going to try quarterly updates on my total spending for the year so far.

Took the numbers right off my budgeting spreadsheet so I didn’t have to calculate or do anything. Sweet!

They say you can tell where a person’s priorities lie, based on what they spend their money on, so here is what I’ve spent my money on lately with their respective rankings:

Clearly, shelter, good food, and secure future filled with electronics is my idea of nirvana.

And I can’t believe I’ve already spent close to $12,000! Where does the money go? 🙂 At this rate, I’ll need $48,000 to survive each year.

Got to cut back on the travelling and electronics. *mental reminder*

NYE 2009 Resolutions Tracking:

• Save 50% of new income =CHECK!
• Tracked expenses and set a budget – CHECK!
• Stay on $1500 budget when not working – CHECK! *without the 2 trips, I stayed on budget*
  
• Increase Net Worth to $150,000 – CHECK! *increased by $2954.19 or 4%*