Week #31 - negative balances & weekend plans

ok... so I've always known that my budget has some flaws in it, but doing this blog for the last 30 weeks has helped highlight them even more for me. If it wasn't for the 'hidden' money in my checking account I would have been overdrawn multiple times over the last few months, but having that cushion means that if my checkbook register says I'm negative $37.72 I'm actually still okay. Every once in awhile if things get real bad I'll take a bit of money out of my 'hidden' money and add it to my balance, but I haven't done that in a long time. Generally if I even have to borrow the 'hidden' money for something I make sure I replace it.

Well this month the budget holes are pretty obvious because when got my paycheck this week and looked at what I owed on my credit card (which was used only for gas last month) and the little bit that my checkbook was in the 'negative' it looks like I only have a couple of hundred dollars for the month and that would mean paying for everything I need to do for the next FIVE weeks! I'm pretty sure that I can't make that work, but I haven't figured out what I'm going to do about it yet. One idea is to take a little bit of cash from each of the other monthly paychecks and put it in my checking account. It will mean I don't save as much, but its what I will probably have to do.

I've got a couple of things coming up this weekend that will all cost money and I've been so wrapped up with being in school that I didn't really prepare for them like I usually do. This Saturday my wife and I will be getting up early and heading to Boston for the comic-con. Usually I only go to things like that where there is something very specific that I want to see or do and I didn't plan to go this year, but then they added my favorite artist, Terry Moore to the list of guests. I bought a book that Terry did a couple of years ago and each was supposed to come with a sketch in it, but he ran out of time and shipped them without the drawings. Because of that he said that anyone that has the book and can meet him will get a free sketch in the book. So I will be going to the comic-con mainly to get my original Terry Moore sketch.

After the comic-con we will be heading to a birthday party for one of my friends. He is turning 8 years old and the only thing he wants for his birthday is an XBox 360. Most people will be getting him gift cards to go towards getting the XBox, but I haven't decided what I'll be getting him yet even though the party is only 2 days away! I really need to figure that out asap!

That is all for this weekends plans, but there are other things coming up that sadly I will most likely skip because I'm being cheap with myself. I wanted to go to a Monster Movie convention in New Jersey this month to meet a few people that I would like to have sign a movie poster I have, but its a long drive and a very expensive day just for something like that! There is also a great music festival that I wanted to go to next weekend, but again its so expensive to be away and out of the house for 2-3 days plus the price of tickets to see the bands.

Ok... enough complaining... this week I got a paycheck for $613.82 ($39.12 to my 401K). I already mentioned that the check would be going into my regular checking account and the only money I really saved at all this week was my $20 vacation transfer. August is a 5 week month so we will see how that plays out when we get there. I know I have to miss a day of work (probably unpaid) next week because I have to complete a job shadowing at a school as part of the grade to get the certificate for the program I'm in right now. That will probably effect what I do with the check that ends up being short, but we'll deal with that when it happens. Also, I might have some cans to return for next week! So here is the wrap up for this week....

Here is the week 31 wrap up:
$39.12 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1066.05 in my 401K
$620.00 in the vacation fund
$65.30 in the piggy bank
$400.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$150.00 in my vet bill savings
$1583.00 in my money market
$1032.99 in my car account

For this weeks bonus I will just ask you a question. If you are paid weekly then there are 4 months per year that you get an extra paycheck (5 week months), what do you do with that 'extra money'? I've given you examples of how it works out for me. In March I used my 5th check to help pay for the bills from my gallbladder surgery. Then in May I used it to pay for a trip I took to New York with some friends. I'm hoping the one for August can either be officially saved or at least set aside for something unforeseen as of now, then I get another one in November that I will probably save for Christmas shopping bills! So, if your budget is usually based on 4 weeks worth of pay then what do you do with the 5th week? If August is 5 weeks for you (if you're paid on Fridays) then why not try and save at least a portion of that extra check! Whether you save it or not leave a comment with your plans for that extra check & let me know how it works out!