When it gets this close to Christmas this is the time of the year that I'm very tempted to overspend. I get into the spirit and I see things that remind me of people and I just impulse purchase them because I like to give gifts. As much as I would like to have money left over from my Christmas shopping money as long as I can stay in my budget I'll be okay with it. I have finished most of my shopping, but I do have a few more things I want to pick up for people and I have a gift I need to get and then send out as part of a secret Santa that I'm in. I also have to somehow budget in getting my wife a birthday present because her birthday is in January. When your birthday is that close to Christmas you get shafted a lot of times and people give you a combo gift or they hold back one Christmas present and give it as a birthday gift so I have to make sure that I don't do that!
So we are at week $50 and according to my budget paper I only have this weeks paycheck and one more paycheck for 2013. Now because I am on vacation for two weeks, starting today, and because my work pays in advance for vacations my paychecks will be coming in early. I have to make sure that I figure out exactly what is supposed to happen with each one and I will try to do it on the usual weekly schedule so that I don't overspend just because there is more money in a certain account. Today is December 20th, so I will get the paycheck I would normally get plus I will get paycheck I would have gotten on January 3rd and the check from January 10th! The paycheck I would get on December 27th will have to be mailed to me because I wont be at work that day. I'm not as concerned with the two checks for January, but I will need the check for the 27th so that I can finish up my year end budgeting and savings!
I also have a little gambling update for you. My year end total for playing poker puts me at +$11 for the year and that comes from playing cards 113 times at work and 1 times with friends at home. I also ended up making the 'Super Bowl' in the fantasy football league that I'm in. Now I'll be honest and say I know nothing about football and my wife picked and managed the whole team, but we still get to split the money, with her getting a little extra for actually knowing about football! We had originally thought the two teams that made the 'Super Bowl' would split the total prize money $559.00, but the other team consists of a guy I work with and his 14 year old son and the kid said no to a split. I'll lay it out for you... If we split the kid would have gotten $107.25 and if he him and his dad win the Super Bowl he will get $198.00, BUT if he loses the Super Bowl he will only get $18.50. Now I'm not a huge gambler, but I feel like its not worth the risk of losing $89 to try and win an extra $90. I also can't believe that $100 means that little to a 14 year old that he is willing to risk it when our two teams are very evenly matched. We'll have to wait till next week for me to let you know how it turned out. If my team wins the Super Bowl my wife and I will end up with $455.00 and if we lose we will still end up with a profit of $100.00 which is still pretty good!
I already mentioned that this week I got three paychecks, but I'm only giving you the low down on one of them today. I got a check for $646.46 and $41.32 went to my 401k. This is the third check of the month and it has to go to my mortgage so I'm putting $460 in the mortgage account and the remaining $186.46 will go in my regular checking account to make sure my bills are all set by the end of the year. I did do my usual vacation transfer for $20, but I still didn't make it to the store to return my cans and bottles yet. I will do that by the end of the year though, I promise! That's about it for this week so here is the wrap up...
Here is the week 51 wrap up:
$41.32 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1810.62 in my 401K
$1020.00 in the vacation fund
$109.90 in the piggy bank
$700.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$288.87 in my vet bill savings
$2277.41 in my money market
$1877.40 in my car account
BONUS!
You know why so many places and services offer to give you something for free for a month? Because they assume that you're going to forget to cancel it and if nothing else they will get at least one months worth of money out of you. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of a free trial, but if its not something you actually want make sure you cancel it! I'm actually including this as a bonus, but its more of a note for me so that I remember to cancel my Amazon Prime membership that I only signed up for to get free shipping on my Christmas orders!
DOUBLE BONUS!!
Since the next issue of this blog will come out after Christmas I want to give you a little gift card advice. Most people rush to the stores the day after Christmas to use the gift cards they just got. Now if the store is having a great after Christmas sale then go for it, but if stuff you want is regular priced then don't rush! Most of the stores don't restock that well until January and you will have more to choose from if you wait. There is no reason to rush and get something that isn't exactly what you wanted just because you got a gift card!
TRIPLE BONUS!!!
I have been using my cash back reward credit card to buy gas for quite awhile and talking about how great it is to get the cash back. I recently found out about a program they have at a store called Cumberland Farms (most of you probably know of it). If you sign up with them and have the money for gas taken right out of your checking account you can save .10 cents per gallon every time! You can either use an app on your smart phone where you just put in the pump and station numbers or you can get a card in the store and sign up online. Either way its a huge savings. Much better than 1 or 2% cash back! Check it out at www.cumberlandfarms.com/smartpay
I hope everyone has a great holiday no matter what you believe or celebrate. Be safe and enjoy some friends or family!
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