my car is paid off! (and a budget update)

as of today, my car is fully paid off! i am so excited. it is only $200 a month but i am really excited to have that extra money. i have already planned future months' budgets to allocate that money to debt so it's not like i'll see anything extra, but it is nice to know that one more debt is paid off.

speaking of the budget, it's in the toilet this month. i don't know what happened (well yeah i do) but i totally overspent. i am over on like everything. it sucks.

i think part of my problem is that my budget was just a guess and now i am finding that it is not accurate in terms of what i spent. for example, today i got my hair cut. there goes $50 right there. and of course haircuts are not in the budget. i do have $50/month allocated to clothes and shoes. however, this month i already had to buy two pairs of shoes, one for work and one for christine's wedding.

i also had to buy a bag. the only large bags i owned were like these cloth bags from guatemala or else tote bags and it was ridiculous that i would drag those around to nice restaurants, court, etc. between the bag, the shoes, and the haircut alone, i have spent $235.

household items were also a big expense this month. i ran out of citronella candles which are a summer necessity for me in order to enjoy my backyard. i probably spent about $40 on that. then i decided i wanted to plant some herbs. there goes another $20 for plants and dirt.

my sister came to visit me at the beginning of the month. note to self: no more visitors at the beginning of the month. dinner out was $47. a trip to the aquarium was $18. beer and wine for her visit was probably another $25. i either need to stop having visitors or make them buy me things. or else we sit home and watch cable.

don't even get me started on entertainment costs. first there was all the money i spent during my sister's visit. then there was the cincinnati imports westside bar crawl (i spent $53 that night alone). i am taking a golf class and, while my aunt very awesomely gave me her old set of golf clubs, i needed a putter and a glove... that was $40. i was over my entertainment budget on like may 20. how could i get through over a third of a month, including a holiday weekend, and not spend anything on fun? i couldn't. (i didn't go to chicago by the way for anyone who was wondering.)

i am depressed over my spending this month, but the thought of having paid off my car is nice. i just need to do better next month. i really feel like some of my spending is related to the weather. it's nice out so i want to go out and do things and spend money rather than sit at home and be a hermit. the weather is only going to get nicer so i am going to have to figure out some way to deal with this.

budget woes

so for the first few months sticking to the budget was easy because it was winter and there wasn't a whole lot going on. now it is warm out and almost every day it seems like is an invitation to dinner out or a happy hour or a party or something. i try to keep costs down by ordering cheap beer and eating at home as much as possible but my budget is hurting.

it's only may 18 and i am already slightly over my entertainment budget. the good thing is that i am way under my grocery budget so i have some flexibility. i figure with entertainment + groceries + eating out, as long as it all comes out under then i am ok even if i overspend in one of the areas.

another problem i have been having is things breaking or needing new things. like for example my car repairs last month. but also stuff like this month my belt broke so i need a new belt. i also had two pairs of pajama bottoms fall apart and had to get new ones. i needed new black shoes for work and i used up all my citronella candles so i had to restock. my budgets for these types of things (clothes, household items, etc.) are pretty low so i am constantly going over. it's ok so far because i really did not spend on any of these things in the first couple months of the year, but it's annoying. there's no way i can get through two more years like this so i'm probably going to have to adjust my budget... which means paying off my credit cards will take longer. blah.

i really really want to go to chicago this weekend for memorial day, but according to my budget i totally shouldn't. i have no entertainment money left and only a little eating out money. i did just get a $120 check for transportation reimbursement from work, so that is available, but what i should do is put it in the bank for my friends' wedding that i am saving for at the end of june. and anyway i know there is no way i am going to go to chicago for 4 days and only spend $120.

on the other hand, i am damn sick of being stuck in cincinnati. the only time i have gotten out of here recently was for the final four in detroit, and it's not like that was much of a vacation because while it was fun, i'm from detroit so it wasn't that exciting to hang out there. however i am going to chicago at the end of june anyway for the wedding, and i have no money, and the final four was amazing and i did just go to new york for new year's.

ok, i think i have maybe talked myself out of it. i guess maybe i really do not need to go out of town right now. dammit. saving money is so boring.