December 2010 Budget Roundup: +$20,355.57

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a great holiday off from work (and from being online) and you got to recharge your batteries to to speak.

I also hope you don’t have any debt hangover.

Also….

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!

I AM DONE MY SHOPPING BAN!

ONE WHOLE YEAR WITHOUT SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES & JEWELLERY 😀

I started in November 2009 and I made it to January 2011 only using up 2 of my 3 exceptions (bought 2 trouser pants)

Maybe these as a treat? 😛

Haha. Who am I kidding? I can only walk in 2″ heels.

Now for the last budget roundup of 2010: DECEMBER!!

If I could put it into a picture:

“Because I thought I’d stay on my $1000 budget this month!! :P”

SIDE NOTE: SHOULD I KEEP POSTING THESE UPDATES?

Hey, should I stop tracking my monthly progress/goals?

This is a genuine question that I’m struggling with.

I know what people think. I know how they feel. I just want to know if it is enough to make me consider to stop posting these updates.

I really like doing it because I have a quick way of seeing how I felt about each month in a mini diary post. It helps me when I review each month and think: Oh yeah,  I said I’d do this. Or I should be more careful here next time.

It also helps me compare month-to-month (at least, that’s the plan for 2010 versus 2011) to see how things went and if I can find a pattern of sorts.

I also want to note that I don’t normally work like this (hello? freelancer…). It’s rare for me to work more than 2-3 months at a time.

For instance, I didn’t really work for all of 2009 and this is kind of the first full year where I’ve made a lot and saved a lot. I didn’t make this kind of money before, and I was in a lot of debt to boot.

Coming up in 2011, I just have January and February and then I might be done with making any money for the rest of the year.

I guess I feel bad. I just don’t want to make people feel bad or have anyone think I’m bragging.

I am not in the business of de-motivating, quite the opposite actually.

INCOME: $22,900

  • Regular job, no overtime
  • Did some freelance work on the side

EXPENSES: $3965.49

  • Pretty evenly split between business & personal (50/50)
  • Blogs blew up due to my tinkering and I paid to get them fixed (PHP whut?)
  • Holiday season gets expensive with dinners and eats
  • No gifts purchased except a little something for BF
  • Will be about $1300 over my $20,000 goal for this year
  • Not worried 🙂 I didn’t expect to be staying in a hotel for this long

BUSINESS: $1969.72

  • That hotel really eats my money.

You can click on images to make them larger.

Here’s a depiction of how I feel about my hotel cost:

  • Necessary evil. Godzilla taught us a lot about taking things for granted*
*like assuming huge giant lizard dinosaurs don’t exist and won’t come and rampage our cities

Image via Just Jenn, modified by yours truly using MS Paint which really sucks. I suggest Paint.net.

PERSONAL EXPENSES: $1995.77

  • 2 words: Holiday Season
  • I also went a bit makeup crazy 🙂
  • But the good news is I’ve purchased everything I wanted!

NET WORTH: $185,355.64 +$20,355.57 or 12%

Ending with a bang!

ASSETS

  • Cash: $365.56
  • Savings: $5013.16
  • Emergency Fund: $34,133.47
  • Retirement: $55, 255.67
  • Investments: $10,662.94
  • Business: $79,924.84

I don’t include my car or my things in the estimate, but it would probably increase it by another $5000 or so.

Investments went up a bit, I transferred money out of my emergency fund and savings to investments, because I have a lot more cash available in my business account in case I need it.

DEBTS

  • None.

Hello 2011!

(Don’t forget to let me know about whether you want to keep seeing these monthly net worth updates or not.)

About the Author

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 my story here, or visit my other blog: The Everyday Minimalist.