Welcome to week #13 which is exactly one quarter of the way through my year of saving. I have to admit that I'm no where near where I would have liked to be at this point, but only getting 1/2 my pay for a month while I was out for gallbladder surgery and then getting medical bills on top of the time out didn't help. That being said, I still have a decent amount to be proud of in terms of my savings achievements so far this year.
So this is week I got my 5th paycheck of March which will go towards making my mortgage payment (which I already scheduled online). The check was for a total of $645.33 and I'm going to take $50 off the top to put into my loan repayment account and the remaining $595.33 is going into the mortgage account. Now with next week being the 1st paycheck of April it usually goes into my regular checking account for bills, but I actually took off today (April 29th) from work because its 'Good Friday' and we are allowed to miss 'Good Friday' without it counting as an unexcused absence. I figure if you have to work it might be 'Good Friday' but if I can stay home then its 'Awesome Friday'! So because next weeks check will be missing 1 days pay I'm going to alter the budget a little, but we will go more into that next week.
So this week I made my standard $20 weekly transfer into my vacation account and I also made a trip to the supermarket with some deposit cans/bottles from the soda my wife drinks. Its been awhile since I went because I still haven't been drinking any soda, but no matter how little it is, its still free money and this week I got $6.85 in free money! Not bad for stuffing cans into a crushing machine for 5 minutes. Ok, so lets get on to the fine points....
Here is the week 13 wrap
up:
$41.13 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$6.85 into the piggy bank
$50 to the quarterly loan payment account
which makes the 2013
totals:
$375.34 in my 401K
$260.00 in the vacation
fund
$26.90 in the piggy bank
$100.00 in the quarterly loan payment
account
$50.00 in my vet bill
savings
$259.95 in my money
market
$259.94 in my car account
Now for the the end of the first quarter I can say that I have saved a total of $956.79. A lot of that money is kind of set a side to be spent at a later date, like the money in my vacation account, loan payment account and the vet bill account, but what is important to remember is that now when I want to take a vacation or some kind of emergency comes up I have money specifically set aside for it. I also have added $259.95 to the savings that I generally never touch and $375.34 to my 401K which will sit till I retire, but I could always get a loan from if really need be. All and all I don't think the totals are to bad. How did you do saving so far this year?
*added bonus:
So as much as people make fun of me for actually going to the bank sometimes it works to my benefit. I have had the same money market account for awhile now and it was literally getting .05% for an interest rate. My bank recently had a promotion for customers with a certain amount of 'new money' to open a money market at 1% interest. Because I have a good relationship with the bank and I do all my banking there they considered my federal tax return to be enough 'new money' even though it was automatically deposited to my checking account and it didn't meet the minimum amount of 'new money' required to open the 1% account. So they took my tax return plus all the money in my current money market and combined it into one of the new 1% money market accounts. Its not going to make me millions, but the interest % difference is substantial and will definitely be noticeable by the of the year. So no matter where you do your banking, just keep an eye out and see what they are offering. Even if you have direct deposit maybe just head to the bank once every few months ask if there is anyway to get more interest or anything they can do for you. It never hurts to check!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Week #12 - how many bank accounts do you have?
Well its Friday again which is always nice. Not only is it the weekend, but its also payday! When I first started working at my current job (11 years ago) we actually got paid on Wednesdays which to me was really nice. Usually Mondays suck just because its Monday and the rest of the week is just spent looking forward to Friday. When we got paid on Wednesdays, Monday still sucked, but on Tuesday you could look forward to the next day being payday. Then Wednesday we would get paid, Thursday would be the day before Friday and then Friday was the start of the weekend. So anyway, now we just get paid on Fridays and pretty much the whole week sucks.
This is the week you've all been waiting for! I got my paycheck which was for a little less than usual because I had to leave work early for an appointment one day last week. Its only a few hours short and it had a correction for a bit of time I was shorted last week so in total my check was $569.89 This is the fourth paycheck of March and so far I have deposited 1 into my checking account for bills, 1 into my mortgage account and 1 has been set aside to pay the bills from my gallbladder surgery when they come in.
This weeks paycheck will be the first significant saving of 2013! I promised lots of monthly saving when you first started reading in January and hopefully you stuck with me because here comes the pay off! I already mentioned that my paycheck this week was for $569.89, usually I just take the monthly check that I want to save and split it 1/2 in my money market account and 1/2 in my savings for car repairs/a new car. Since I haven't saved much money so far this year I'm going to take $50 off the top and put it in the savings account for in case my cat gets sick. That leaves me with $519.89 to divide up and put $259.945 into my money market and my car savings account. Obviously I can't put 1/2 a cent into each account so one will get a penny more than the other this week.
I also made my weekly $20 vacation transfer to my vacation fund. If nothing else what you can see here is that just by transferring $20 a week from my checking account to a savings account I have saved $240 since January! If you were only able to do half of that you would still have $120 set aside for a vacation, a car repair or some kind of unforeseen emergency that pops up! Even at $5 a week you would have $60 that you could keep adding to or use for a night out to dinner. What I'm trying to show you is that you don't have to save much for it to add up, you just have to commit to saving and keep up with it!
Here is the week 12 wrap up:
$36.10 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$50.00 to my savings for Beetus' potential vet bills
$259.95 to my money market
$259.94 to my car savings account
which makes the 2013 totals:
$334.21 in my 401K
$240.00 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
$50.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$50.00 in my vet bill savings
$259.95 in my money market
$259.94 in my car account
*added bonus: Here is a reminder about how many accounts and different savings I have, exactly what they are called in my online banking & an explanation of each one...
Beetus Money - Checking
money set aside for my 20 pound, 12 year old cats potential vet bills
Car Money - Checking
money set saved for potential car repairs or a down payment on a new car
Checking OG
my original checking account that I use for all my debits and monthly bills
Married - Checking
wedding gift money my wife and I had left over after the whole thing was paid for
MM Savings - Checking
my main savings, money goes in and does not come out
Mortgage - Checking
used only to pay my mortgage each month. I usually try to keep an extra payment on hand
Online Spending - Savings
account linked to my paypal for online shopping
Loan Repay - Savings
money set aside to pay an interest free loan that I make quarterly payments on
Vacation Fund - Checking
this is the one I transfer $20 a week to for a future vacation
Plus I have...
The Piggy Bank full of deposit can/bottle money
A small bank of loose change that I should roll & deposit into the real bank
This is the week you've all been waiting for! I got my paycheck which was for a little less than usual because I had to leave work early for an appointment one day last week. Its only a few hours short and it had a correction for a bit of time I was shorted last week so in total my check was $569.89 This is the fourth paycheck of March and so far I have deposited 1 into my checking account for bills, 1 into my mortgage account and 1 has been set aside to pay the bills from my gallbladder surgery when they come in.
This weeks paycheck will be the first significant saving of 2013! I promised lots of monthly saving when you first started reading in January and hopefully you stuck with me because here comes the pay off! I already mentioned that my paycheck this week was for $569.89, usually I just take the monthly check that I want to save and split it 1/2 in my money market account and 1/2 in my savings for car repairs/a new car. Since I haven't saved much money so far this year I'm going to take $50 off the top and put it in the savings account for in case my cat gets sick. That leaves me with $519.89 to divide up and put $259.945 into my money market and my car savings account. Obviously I can't put 1/2 a cent into each account so one will get a penny more than the other this week.
I also made my weekly $20 vacation transfer to my vacation fund. If nothing else what you can see here is that just by transferring $20 a week from my checking account to a savings account I have saved $240 since January! If you were only able to do half of that you would still have $120 set aside for a vacation, a car repair or some kind of unforeseen emergency that pops up! Even at $5 a week you would have $60 that you could keep adding to or use for a night out to dinner. What I'm trying to show you is that you don't have to save much for it to add up, you just have to commit to saving and keep up with it!
Here is the week 12 wrap up:
$36.10 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$50.00 to my savings for Beetus' potential vet bills
$259.95 to my money market
$259.94 to my car savings account
which makes the 2013 totals:
$334.21 in my 401K
$240.00 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
$50.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$50.00 in my vet bill savings
$259.95 in my money market
$259.94 in my car account
*added bonus: Here is a reminder about how many accounts and different savings I have, exactly what they are called in my online banking & an explanation of each one...
Beetus Money - Checking
money set aside for my 20 pound, 12 year old cats potential vet bills
Car Money - Checking
money set saved for potential car repairs or a down payment on a new car
Checking OG
my original checking account that I use for all my debits and monthly bills
Married - Checking
wedding gift money my wife and I had left over after the whole thing was paid for
MM Savings - Checking
my main savings, money goes in and does not come out
Mortgage - Checking
used only to pay my mortgage each month. I usually try to keep an extra payment on hand
Online Spending - Savings
account linked to my paypal for online shopping
Loan Repay - Savings
money set aside to pay an interest free loan that I make quarterly payments on
Vacation Fund - Checking
this is the one I transfer $20 a week to for a future vacation
Plus I have...
The Piggy Bank full of deposit can/bottle money
A small bank of loose change that I should roll & deposit into the real bank
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Week #11 - Monthly or Weekly... just be prepared!
Welcome to week #11 of my obsessive compulsive savings blog. If you've been here since the beginning then you have seen the lunacy that is my budgeting and you know that I like each weeks paycheck to go into a specific account for a specific purpose. Usually its like this...
week 1 - deposit into checking account for monthly bills
week 2 - deposit into mortgage account
week 3 - deposit into mortgage account
week 4 - deposit into 2-3 different accounts for saving
In addition to this month being different because March has 5 paychecks for me, last week threw a small wrench into my works because I missed a day of work due to a snowstorm. So the paycheck I got this week is only for 32 hours instead of the normal 40 hours. I also had to leave work after only 5 hours (instead of the normal 8 hours) on Wednesday of this week so next weeks paycheck will be a little short as well. Ok.... today's check would normally go towards paying my mortgage, but since its not a full paycheck I'm going to alter my usual plan to this...
week 1 - deposit into checking account for monthly bills
week 2 - deposit into mortgage account
week 3 - extra paycheck held aside to pay hospital bill
week 4 - deposit into 2-3 different accounts for saving
week 5 - deposit into mortgage account
I usually like to save extra money on 5 paycheck months but because of my gallbladder surgery I'm going to have some hospital bills coming in soon. I actually just got a huge envelop of those 'This is not a bill' explanation of benefits things from my insurance company and based on those the total amount I may owe my providers is $615.90. As much as that sucks it could have been much worse so I can't complain to much. Hopefully the paycheck for next week covers a good portion of that and I don't have to stress about where to get the money for the rest of the bills to much!
Even though this weeks regular paycheck ($477.60) is 'extrta' and being set aside to pay some bills I'll probably get next month some still went to my 401K and I did still do my $20 vacation transfer. I also got a small bonus check that was part of an incentive program my job offered based on last years production. The company didn't do very well, but we still got a small bonus and since its free money I'm not complaining at all. My bonus check is for $264.61 and I will be setting that aside with today's regular paycheck for my medical bills. That means I have $742.21 which should be more than enough to pay for all my surgery related bills without negatively effecting my regular budget.
Having that 'extra' paycheck & bonus set aside is a good example of how pre-planning your budget on a monthly basis can be helpful. Most people find a weekly budget to work better & they just take a certain amount of each weeks pay and put it towards all their large bills, but looking at things on a monthly basis just works better for me. Which ever you do just make sure you're covered for all your bills by the end of the month!
Sadly I haven't really had any deposit cans/bottles to return because a little over a month ago I stopped drinking soda. We do still have some cans from the soda my wife drinks, but I was drinking 5+ cans a day so there hasn't been enough cans to make a trip to the recycling machines worth it yet so no new money has been added to the piggy bank in the last few weeks.
Here is the week 11 wrap up:
$48.16 to my 401K (total from this weeks regular & bonus checks)
$20.00 to my vacation fund
which makes the 2013 totals:
$298.11 in my 401K
$220.00 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
$50.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
*Last week a friend of mine was making fun of me because I actually use my checkbook register and I go to the bank instead of having direct deposit, so as this weeks added bonus I'm going to show you a picture of the insanity that is my checkbook.
What you see below is pretty much my entire budget. Inside the checkbook cover is the register to keep track of my balance, some actual checks, the yellow paper I keep track of my weekly pay amounts on, the yellow paper I keep track of my vacation transfers on, a few random but relevant notes & a book of stamps. The yellow paper on the outside is a list of what I owed to my credit cards and a few other bills, that paper is thrown away or updated as bills are paid off. The envelopes behind the checkbook are bills that were not paid yet. I keep them with my checkbook until they are paid and then I throw them away. Lastly the 3 pens (red, blue, green) are to help me keep my checkbook balanced. I write in all my deposits and withdrawals in blue. As things clear to & from the account I check them off with the green pen. When things go badly and my balance is negative (even though its not actually overdrawn because of the 'hidden' money in the account) I write the balance in red. Once again folks... I admitted from week #1 that I'm crazy!
week 1 - deposit into checking account for monthly bills
week 2 - deposit into mortgage account
week 3 - deposit into mortgage account
week 4 - deposit into 2-3 different accounts for saving
In addition to this month being different because March has 5 paychecks for me, last week threw a small wrench into my works because I missed a day of work due to a snowstorm. So the paycheck I got this week is only for 32 hours instead of the normal 40 hours. I also had to leave work after only 5 hours (instead of the normal 8 hours) on Wednesday of this week so next weeks paycheck will be a little short as well. Ok.... today's check would normally go towards paying my mortgage, but since its not a full paycheck I'm going to alter my usual plan to this...
week 1 - deposit into checking account for monthly bills
week 2 - deposit into mortgage account
week 3 - extra paycheck held aside to pay hospital bill
week 4 - deposit into 2-3 different accounts for saving
week 5 - deposit into mortgage account
I usually like to save extra money on 5 paycheck months but because of my gallbladder surgery I'm going to have some hospital bills coming in soon. I actually just got a huge envelop of those 'This is not a bill' explanation of benefits things from my insurance company and based on those the total amount I may owe my providers is $615.90. As much as that sucks it could have been much worse so I can't complain to much. Hopefully the paycheck for next week covers a good portion of that and I don't have to stress about where to get the money for the rest of the bills to much!
Even though this weeks regular paycheck ($477.60) is 'extrta' and being set aside to pay some bills I'll probably get next month some still went to my 401K and I did still do my $20 vacation transfer. I also got a small bonus check that was part of an incentive program my job offered based on last years production. The company didn't do very well, but we still got a small bonus and since its free money I'm not complaining at all. My bonus check is for $264.61 and I will be setting that aside with today's regular paycheck for my medical bills. That means I have $742.21 which should be more than enough to pay for all my surgery related bills without negatively effecting my regular budget.
Having that 'extra' paycheck & bonus set aside is a good example of how pre-planning your budget on a monthly basis can be helpful. Most people find a weekly budget to work better & they just take a certain amount of each weeks pay and put it towards all their large bills, but looking at things on a monthly basis just works better for me. Which ever you do just make sure you're covered for all your bills by the end of the month!
Sadly I haven't really had any deposit cans/bottles to return because a little over a month ago I stopped drinking soda. We do still have some cans from the soda my wife drinks, but I was drinking 5+ cans a day so there hasn't been enough cans to make a trip to the recycling machines worth it yet so no new money has been added to the piggy bank in the last few weeks.
Here is the week 11 wrap up:
$48.16 to my 401K (total from this weeks regular & bonus checks)
$20.00 to my vacation fund
which makes the 2013 totals:
$298.11 in my 401K
$220.00 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
$50.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
*Last week a friend of mine was making fun of me because I actually use my checkbook register and I go to the bank instead of having direct deposit, so as this weeks added bonus I'm going to show you a picture of the insanity that is my checkbook.
What you see below is pretty much my entire budget. Inside the checkbook cover is the register to keep track of my balance, some actual checks, the yellow paper I keep track of my weekly pay amounts on, the yellow paper I keep track of my vacation transfers on, a few random but relevant notes & a book of stamps. The yellow paper on the outside is a list of what I owed to my credit cards and a few other bills, that paper is thrown away or updated as bills are paid off. The envelopes behind the checkbook are bills that were not paid yet. I keep them with my checkbook until they are paid and then I throw them away. Lastly the 3 pens (red, blue, green) are to help me keep my checkbook balanced. I write in all my deposits and withdrawals in blue. As things clear to & from the account I check them off with the green pen. When things go badly and my balance is negative (even though its not actually overdrawn because of the 'hidden' money in the account) I write the balance in red. Once again folks... I admitted from week #1 that I'm crazy!
Having 3 pens and using a checkbook register may not work for you and that's fine, but I still can't stress enough that no matter if its in a jar, envelope, bank account or under your mattress you should try to save some money once a week. Cut out one meal out, trip to Dunkin Donuts, a pack of cigarettes or a soda. Any little bit you can save will help and probably motivate you to save even more!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Week #10 - A Whole Lotta Money!
So after the how screwed up last week was, week #10 is going to clean up all of those loose ends and finally give us the fresh start I promised you at the beginning of January. You can look at this as your 2nd chance to join in the fun of saving money. Maybe this week you start putting $10 a week in a new bank account or even just stash it in your sock drawer. Maybe you'll start returning your deposit cans or stop spending your loose change and put it in a jar at home. However you choose to save and whatever you choose to do with the money it will be money you wouldn't have had if you didn't start saving today!
Ok... last week I mentioned having a $600 check from extra money my wife made working overtime in February and that the money is going into my checking account to help me catch up on my Discover card bill. I never went to the bank last week so that check will go to the bank this week along with a bunch more stuff that I'm going to get into now. I also mentioned having a $326.28 check from Aetna that will still be going into my checking account for bills (normally this would have been money to save if I wasn't so behind on bills). I went into great detail about how I didn't get a paycheck because the people that work with me screw up everything. Well that check finally came in the mail on Monday so that $622.09 will go into my checking account. This is normal for the first check of the month (*see the end of this blog for a refresher on what money I deposit where over the course of the month). This week I also got a final check from Aetna for $136.21. This check is to make up for the taxes that they took out of my previous checks even though they were not supposed to tax it.
After the posting of last weeks blog I got $300 from a friend for something I paid for, for him on my credit card. That money will be going into my checking account so that it can cover the $300 I charged for him. I also got $215 from another friend that I did the same thing with. Now you might be wondering, why I'm so generous in terms of paying for things for people. Well the way I see it, if I charge something on my Discover card and I can get the cash back rewards and all I have to do is get the money from someone, deposit it and pay the bill then I'm making free money in cash back rewards! I cant recommend a Discover card enough for anyone that does us a credit card. If you use a Discover card for things like food, gas and other necessities and pay it off each month you will actually turn a profit on everything you buy! I've been using my Discover card for a little less than 2 years and I currently have $294.56 in cash back that I can request a check for or use to pay my bill at any time I choose!
Let me give you a dollar recap of money going to my checking account this week....
$600.00 (from my wife)
$326.28 (from Aetna)
$136.21 (from Aetna)
$622.09 (my paycheck)
$300.00 (from a friend)
$215.00 (from a friend)
A total of $2199.58 going into my checking account in one week sounds awesome, but I'll remind you that I have a credit card bill for about $1500 and about $100 in other bills (mostly from pretesting for my gallbladder surgery). I also have a negative balance in my checking account that I have to clear up with part of this weeks deposit. My guess is that this week I will be paying the $100 of assorted bills and about $1750 on my Discover leaving a few hundred dollars in my checking account for the next few weeks.
Now that we're done fixing all the screw ups from last week lets get into this weeks money. The only other income for this week is my regular paycheck which was for $594.14. This is the 2nd paycheck for the month which means it goes into my mortgage account. But this week I'm also going to take $50 out and put it in the account I use to make quarterly payments on a loan that I mentioned a few weeks back. I pay $200 per quarter on that (interest free) loan. The first quarters payment was made and there is still some money left in the account from last year so as long as I keep putting some in I'll be all set for the 2nd quarter payment too. I will also be doing my weekly $20 transfer from my checking account to my vacation savings.
Before the recap, I'll also say that I got a little bit of cash from some family members for my birthday (which was March 3rd). I haven't completely decided yet, but I will either be keeping the cash in my wallet to spend as I see fit or I'll deposit it into what I call my 'online spending account' which is linked to my Paypal account and used for anything I order online where Paypal is accepted. If it goes into the bank it wont actually be 'saved' it will be spent the next time I find something I 'need' on eBay!
Here is the week 10 wrap up:
$38.97 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$50.00 to the quarterly loan payment account
which makes the 2013 totals...
$249.95 in my 401K
$200.00 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
$50.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
As this weeks bonus I'm going to give you the refresher on where I deposit my weekly income based on my very rigid predetermined budget...
monthly paycheck #1 - deposited into my checking account for the months bills, food & fun
monthly paycheck #2 - deposited into my mortgage account to pay the mortgage each month
monthly paycheck #3 - deposited into my mortgage account to pay the mortgage each month
monthly paycheck #4 - the saving check which is split between 2-3 different savings accounts
money from deposit cans & bottles - put into the piggy bank whenever I return the cans
money from my wife's overtime hours - going forward most of that will go toward paying down the mortgage & saved for any issues with the escrow payments.
*editors note: when I got my paycheck this week I noticed that my health, dental & life insurance costs were all exactly double. I checked last weeks paycheck and realized that they didn't charge me for those 3 things last week. Even though the payments are the same the OCD is killing me because I rather have the right amount taken out each week. Next week I'll speak with payroll and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Ok... last week I mentioned having a $600 check from extra money my wife made working overtime in February and that the money is going into my checking account to help me catch up on my Discover card bill. I never went to the bank last week so that check will go to the bank this week along with a bunch more stuff that I'm going to get into now. I also mentioned having a $326.28 check from Aetna that will still be going into my checking account for bills (normally this would have been money to save if I wasn't so behind on bills). I went into great detail about how I didn't get a paycheck because the people that work with me screw up everything. Well that check finally came in the mail on Monday so that $622.09 will go into my checking account. This is normal for the first check of the month (*see the end of this blog for a refresher on what money I deposit where over the course of the month). This week I also got a final check from Aetna for $136.21. This check is to make up for the taxes that they took out of my previous checks even though they were not supposed to tax it.
After the posting of last weeks blog I got $300 from a friend for something I paid for, for him on my credit card. That money will be going into my checking account so that it can cover the $300 I charged for him. I also got $215 from another friend that I did the same thing with. Now you might be wondering, why I'm so generous in terms of paying for things for people. Well the way I see it, if I charge something on my Discover card and I can get the cash back rewards and all I have to do is get the money from someone, deposit it and pay the bill then I'm making free money in cash back rewards! I cant recommend a Discover card enough for anyone that does us a credit card. If you use a Discover card for things like food, gas and other necessities and pay it off each month you will actually turn a profit on everything you buy! I've been using my Discover card for a little less than 2 years and I currently have $294.56 in cash back that I can request a check for or use to pay my bill at any time I choose!
Let me give you a dollar recap of money going to my checking account this week....
$600.00 (from my wife)
$326.28 (from Aetna)
$136.21 (from Aetna)
$622.09 (my paycheck)
$300.00 (from a friend)
$215.00 (from a friend)
A total of $2199.58 going into my checking account in one week sounds awesome, but I'll remind you that I have a credit card bill for about $1500 and about $100 in other bills (mostly from pretesting for my gallbladder surgery). I also have a negative balance in my checking account that I have to clear up with part of this weeks deposit. My guess is that this week I will be paying the $100 of assorted bills and about $1750 on my Discover leaving a few hundred dollars in my checking account for the next few weeks.
Now that we're done fixing all the screw ups from last week lets get into this weeks money. The only other income for this week is my regular paycheck which was for $594.14. This is the 2nd paycheck for the month which means it goes into my mortgage account. But this week I'm also going to take $50 out and put it in the account I use to make quarterly payments on a loan that I mentioned a few weeks back. I pay $200 per quarter on that (interest free) loan. The first quarters payment was made and there is still some money left in the account from last year so as long as I keep putting some in I'll be all set for the 2nd quarter payment too. I will also be doing my weekly $20 transfer from my checking account to my vacation savings.
Before the recap, I'll also say that I got a little bit of cash from some family members for my birthday (which was March 3rd). I haven't completely decided yet, but I will either be keeping the cash in my wallet to spend as I see fit or I'll deposit it into what I call my 'online spending account' which is linked to my Paypal account and used for anything I order online where Paypal is accepted. If it goes into the bank it wont actually be 'saved' it will be spent the next time I find something I 'need' on eBay!
Here is the week 10 wrap up:
$38.97 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$50.00 to the quarterly loan payment account
which makes the 2013 totals...
$249.95 in my 401K
$200.00 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
$50.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
As this weeks bonus I'm going to give you the refresher on where I deposit my weekly income based on my very rigid predetermined budget...
monthly paycheck #1 - deposited into my checking account for the months bills, food & fun
monthly paycheck #2 - deposited into my mortgage account to pay the mortgage each month
monthly paycheck #3 - deposited into my mortgage account to pay the mortgage each month
monthly paycheck #4 - the saving check which is split between 2-3 different savings accounts
money from deposit cans & bottles - put into the piggy bank whenever I return the cans
money from my wife's overtime hours - going forward most of that will go toward paying down the mortgage & saved for any issues with the escrow payments.
*editors note: when I got my paycheck this week I noticed that my health, dental & life insurance costs were all exactly double. I checked last weeks paycheck and realized that they didn't charge me for those 3 things last week. Even though the payments are the same the OCD is killing me because I rather have the right amount taken out each week. Next week I'll speak with payroll and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Week #9 - everything is still screwed up, but we're getting there
Hello all... its Friday and I've been back to work for 2 full weeks now after being out of work for 4 weeks recuperating from gallbladder surgery. Most reasonable people would think that everything was back on track, but not here, not in the land of General Electric where no one cares if you have a dollar in your pocket or if you can pay your mortgage! Yeahhh for big business!
I worked a full week last week (4 days + 8 hours of holiday pay) so you can imagine my shock when my supervisor had no check for me today. After going back and forth to payroll and HR I found out that someone screwed up and forgot to list me as back to work so one division of GE thinks I'm still on medical leave so they mailed my paycheck to my house. Now how could I possibly be on medical leave if I was at work punching in and out for 4 days... good question, but no one seems to know! My paycheck was mailed from Texas, but they don't know what day it was mailed so I could get it Saturday or I could get it Monday, but GE will continue to over pay execs and not pay taxes so they don't care about my issues!
I'm also still waiting for 2-3 checks (depending on how they 'fixed' the issues they screwed up) from Aetna the insurance company that was supposed to be paying me while I was out after surgery. Funny that the money didn't start coming in until I was back to work... thanks Aetna and once again Yeahhh for big business! I'm actually on hold with Aetna as I'm typing this and I'm speaking with another customer service specialist that has NO clue what shes talking about!
So it looks like this weeks income (even though its not all here yet) is a check I got earlier in the week from Aetna that is paying me for February 11th-15th and my paycheck from work which is currently somewhere between here and Texas. The check from Aetna was for $326.28 and normally the check I get the 4th week of the month would go towards savings, but because I'm behind on some things I'm going to deposit it into my checking account. The check I will get (in the mail eventually) from work is going to be for $622.09 and that would be my first check for March. You may remember that I always put the first check of the month in my checking account to pay bills so that is where that will be going also.
Other money things going on this month include my wife working some extra hours each week and being able to give me $600 towards the mortgage. She gave me a check yesterday, but I already paid the mortgage bill. I could (and maybe should) put it in the mortgage account because its currently lower than I like. I like to have 1 months payment in there in case of an emergency, but last month was kind of an emergency with the checks from Aetna being so much lower than my normal pay and coming so late. So my plan is to put the check from my wife in my checking account also. Lastly I will be getting $300 from a friend because I paid for something for him. The $300 is on my Discover card so I will take the $300 that I'll get from him tomorrow (Saturday) and put it in my checking account with all the rest of this weeks money and hopefully pay off my Discover card. If its not paid off it will be close. So total for this week I will be depositing $1848.37 into my checking account, but my Discover bill is over $1000 right now and my checking account is still in the red! If I feel like once the bill is paid there is enough to justify some savings I will make a transfer and let you know next week, but if nothing else I will be making my $20 deposit into my vacation account as usual.
Now ladies and gentlemen that have stuck with me so far. I promise you that after this week I am back on track and March has 5 paychecks in it so there will be some saving going on... I promise!
So let me give you the week 9 wrap up:
$38.26 to my 401K
$20 to my vacation fund
which makes the 2013 totals...
$210.98 in my 401K
$180 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
If you're still reading this leave a comment and let me know what you think. Have you saved any money so far this year? We are 2 months in and I don't have much saved but I think it shows that with little effort you can put away a few bucks a week either for an emergency or for a future vacation!
I worked a full week last week (4 days + 8 hours of holiday pay) so you can imagine my shock when my supervisor had no check for me today. After going back and forth to payroll and HR I found out that someone screwed up and forgot to list me as back to work so one division of GE thinks I'm still on medical leave so they mailed my paycheck to my house. Now how could I possibly be on medical leave if I was at work punching in and out for 4 days... good question, but no one seems to know! My paycheck was mailed from Texas, but they don't know what day it was mailed so I could get it Saturday or I could get it Monday, but GE will continue to over pay execs and not pay taxes so they don't care about my issues!
I'm also still waiting for 2-3 checks (depending on how they 'fixed' the issues they screwed up) from Aetna the insurance company that was supposed to be paying me while I was out after surgery. Funny that the money didn't start coming in until I was back to work... thanks Aetna and once again Yeahhh for big business! I'm actually on hold with Aetna as I'm typing this and I'm speaking with another customer service specialist that has NO clue what shes talking about!
So it looks like this weeks income (even though its not all here yet) is a check I got earlier in the week from Aetna that is paying me for February 11th-15th and my paycheck from work which is currently somewhere between here and Texas. The check from Aetna was for $326.28 and normally the check I get the 4th week of the month would go towards savings, but because I'm behind on some things I'm going to deposit it into my checking account. The check I will get (in the mail eventually) from work is going to be for $622.09 and that would be my first check for March. You may remember that I always put the first check of the month in my checking account to pay bills so that is where that will be going also.
Other money things going on this month include my wife working some extra hours each week and being able to give me $600 towards the mortgage. She gave me a check yesterday, but I already paid the mortgage bill. I could (and maybe should) put it in the mortgage account because its currently lower than I like. I like to have 1 months payment in there in case of an emergency, but last month was kind of an emergency with the checks from Aetna being so much lower than my normal pay and coming so late. So my plan is to put the check from my wife in my checking account also. Lastly I will be getting $300 from a friend because I paid for something for him. The $300 is on my Discover card so I will take the $300 that I'll get from him tomorrow (Saturday) and put it in my checking account with all the rest of this weeks money and hopefully pay off my Discover card. If its not paid off it will be close. So total for this week I will be depositing $1848.37 into my checking account, but my Discover bill is over $1000 right now and my checking account is still in the red! If I feel like once the bill is paid there is enough to justify some savings I will make a transfer and let you know next week, but if nothing else I will be making my $20 deposit into my vacation account as usual.
Now ladies and gentlemen that have stuck with me so far. I promise you that after this week I am back on track and March has 5 paychecks in it so there will be some saving going on... I promise!
So let me give you the week 9 wrap up:
$38.26 to my 401K
$20 to my vacation fund
which makes the 2013 totals...
$210.98 in my 401K
$180 in the vacation fund
$20.05 in the piggy bank
If you're still reading this leave a comment and let me know what you think. Have you saved any money so far this year? We are 2 months in and I don't have much saved but I think it shows that with little effort you can put away a few bucks a week either for an emergency or for a future vacation!
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