Monday, April 05, 2010

Weekly Progess Report...

April is here and today is the first day of my new life. Change is in the air. My boyfriend of a year and a half broke up with me on Friday. Apparently the feelings weren't mutual. Enough said there right? So now I am starting over and starting new.

A lot of my dining, entertainment and transportation expenses increased with the relationship. For the first six months of 2009, my ex was unemployed and I superficially picked up the slack with dating expenses using debt. Since I will no longer be traveling into the city to stay/visit with him, my transportation expenses will decline. Just this month, I bought another 10 parking passes so I won't need them as often.

After a long and tearful weekend and some really kind works from my new friend and blog buddy Aaren, I am going to close the book and start anew with better choices.

Here is my monthly progress report thus far. Remember that I only get paid once a month so I pay ALL of my bills at the very beginning of the month and then I have to budget carefully until I get paid again at the end of the month. My next payday is not until April 29th. I am going to try for a lot of "no spend" days this month so I will often bring my lunch to work so that I can meet the $200 budgeted amount.






















  • Utilities are $105 higher due to my quarterly water bill.
  • Transportation costs are $190 higher for parking passes.
  • Medical bill from physical therapy is under misc/irregular expenses.
  • My blow dryer died this weekend so I purchased a new one under personal care.

7 comments:

Theresa d said...

Hang in there!!! In the past when I need no spend days I made a list of of free activities. So from gathering items up for charity, going for a walk, reorganizing a spot in my house, Visit to the library, maybe a trip to Starbucks when I had a gift card, a visit to see my niece. Anything to keep me from the mall or Target. G

Unknown said...

Good job Chi! First, my boyfriend says that your ex is a dumbass, because if I like you then you MUST be awesome :D. I tend to agree.

Second, isn't it nice to be able to budget in the parking costs into your budget? It'll be tight in a few other areas, but you'll be fine. I can feel it!!

When will you get the final word on your increased payments for the loans? I can't believe they're almost due already :(.

Anonymous said...

I like Aaren, she always has good advice. Enjoy the new beginning!

Chitown said...

I almost fell out of my chair this morning when I logged in to Access Group and saw that my monthly student loan payment set to debit from my account today was $1,225. I was like....No way. Three of my loans are still in forbearance.

So I called and just $781 was coming out today. My forbearance actually ends May 5th and not June 5th so that will be the payment unless I submit the form for graduated repayment which I will. So at the most, my payment will be $1,225 provided the rates on my private loans don't increase. I will submit the form and will be placed on interest only for the first 2 years so it should be less (I hope) although it was close to what I anticipated which was $1,100.

I called Access Group and the woman and I laughed on the phone when I assured her $1,225 is NOT in my account.

Unknown said...

Y'all are gonna make me blush, lol! Chi, what would your payments be if you did the MGRS plan? You mentioned it some time ago, and not wanting to use it because it's a one-time shot, but it may really help with cash flow issues in the short term. When I graduated my payments were scheduled to be $1348/month on a $60k salary, and that just was NOT happening. The MGRS plan was a life saver, and right now, you need the liquidity so you can get other debts eliminated. Just an idea :-).

Sallie's Niece said...

I'm sorry to hear about the breakup. Having been through a bunch myself, I know how rough they can be. Hang in there Chi!

Eve said...

You are on to bigger and better things. I agree with Aaren that your ex is totally dud. Now you have more money to save and go to student loans.