The Steps to Financial Peace

It's my last post of the month and I would like to go over the steps for Financial Peace. It doesn't just stop at becoming debt free...

1. Save $1,000 - This will take some people a month or two, and others already have it.

2. Debt Snowball - We will be working on this for about 3+ years, but most people only need 18 to 24 months. In this step you will be aggressively paying off all debt except for the house.

3. 3-6 month emergency fund - A fully funded emergency fund will cover 3-6 months worth of expenses, which now that you are debt free except for the house, should take 2-4 months.

4. Invest 15% - Invest 15% of your income into your company matched plan, Roth IRAs and other pre-tax investments.

5. Fund the kids college - Using an ESA and 529 save for college, while investing your 15% into retirement.

6. Pay off the House - While investing 15% and saving for college, every additional penny you make should go into paying off the house.

7. Build Wealth and Give! - You are now 100% debt free, you have the college fund funded, your 3-6 month emergency fund is comforting you... it is now time to give, invest and have some fun!

401k, 403b, IRA, WTF?

Let's be realistic, how much do you know about a 401k?  Or for that matter, if you contribute to your 401k do you know where your money is going?  Dave recommends this when planning for retirement.

1. Do not invest in your retirement unless it will take longer than 18 months to get yourself out of debt. (Obviously it will take us much longer...)
2. If your company offers a match, take it! It's free money.
3. Do not put your money into things you do not understand.

I had a 401k at my last job and I needed to do a rollover into my current company 401k. I began my 401k at my current job in July of 2010. When I opened my 401k I was not asked what I wanted to invest in... it defaulted to a Money Market fund getting on average a .66% return.  If inflation is about 4% a year than I am losing money in this fund.

After listening and reading Dave's chapters on "Mice and Mutual Funds" in Financial Peace, I decided to find out about what I could invest in.  With my rollover, 2010 contributions and my company match I have $5,000 to work with.  Although Dave says the beginner with less than $10,000 should probably do Growth Funds... I am young enough to invest and not touch the money for about 35 years.  So I decided to put 25% into American Mutual Funds, 25% into Foreign Funds, 25% into small company funds, and 25% into balanced funds.  Totally diversified with an average rate of return over 10 years of about 6%.

What is a 403b?  My husband has a 403b at his company which is the same as a 401k except it is for nonprofit companies like hospitals, schools and churches. His company also matches at 4% after 1 year of employment.  Currently he is only investing 1% until July (his 1 year anniversary) and then he will start contributing the full 4%.

When I came home feeling excited, intelligent and grown up yesterday, I talked to him about the mutual funds I invested in and he started to get interested in where his money might be invested.  :)

The best part is that I can't wait for my first statement to come in so I can see how my money is doing. This is so exciting!  If you are really interested in investing your money, you MUST have some knowledge about what to look for in these funds.  I recommend Dave's book as always.

Today's Lesson: Know and understand where your money is going!

Damn Taxes!

Pretty Accurate, Right?

Just when I think things are going to be okay... We received all of our W2s and most of our other paperwork this week. I decided to get an idea of what our tax bill would be, before I send my packet to the accountant.  Using the free service from taxslayer.com, I started to panic when I saw our bill is going to be around $5,000!!!  Time to start praying...

What I want to know is why can't I write off all of our student loan interest?  I have statements here totaling more than $19,000 we paid in student loan interest.  Grrr... The $11,000 in mortgage interest only lowers the bill by about $2,000.  We did donate about $2500 to charity this year, put $1500 in 401ks, and have several work expenses to itemize but there is really only one thing we can do... Change our W2s for next year!

Lets hope someone with a little more skill can work some magic.

January 2011 Month End Summary

Wow what a month! It isn't over yet, but all bills have been paid and groceries have been bought. Plus I will be on a short hiatus this weekend visiting family in Boston.

This month we paid:

Student Loans Paid			4396.50
Mortgage			1427.73
Credit Card Payments			650.00
Car Payment			502.52
Groceries			505.94
Utilities/phone/cable/internet			395.11
Gas			200.31
Hobbies			185.95
Car Ins.			128.03
			$8,392.09

We paid more on student loans by $124.98 (I know, lame!).
We paid $450 more on the credit card than the normal minimum payment.

How did we come up with so much money this month?  We sold $408.46 worth of old sports goods and used up any christmas bonuses we might have had left, and any additional savings aside from the $1000 emergency fund.

All in all... for our first month we KICKED ASS!!! Let's see if we can continue the momentum in February...

Car Insurance - Switch it!

Our car insurance is up for renewal. Instead of just renewing the policy we decided to look up some quotes. We were with Geico and our next bill was going to be $1004 for 6 months. Our deductible has been $250 and we have a special engine policy on my car that covers everything except normal wear and tear.

We decided to switch everything to Progressive.  We raised my deductible to $500, dropped the engine policy and lowered our bill to $750 for six months. That is a $254 savings!

Our current policy was paid in 1 payment every 6 months. We switched it to monthly to make it easier to budget.

Murphy's Law: Whatever Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong

Yesterday I checked into my flight to Boston at about 3:30pm. Before I went to bed that night I checked my flight status just because I one of those feelings. Sure enough my flight was canceled due to a pending snow storm the following day.  

My old boss used to say "Chance favors the prepared." Boy was I prepared to go on this trip! I had directions to the cheap parking lot printed, directions from the cheap parking lot to over flow lot if that was full.  Directions to the airport from home just in case I was running late and couldn't wait for the shuttle, and directions from each of those locations home. I had the house stocked full of food for my hubby. All his favorite snacks & sodas, to home made shrimp dip, chili, chicken soup, pizza, muffins and brownies.  I was packed, had the iPod,  Kindle and DVD player charged (you see why I am broke?!) and my girly netflix movies ready to watch. 

I called the airline when I saw my flight was canceled (thanks for letting me know JetBlue grrr...) and they had booked my on the next days flight.  No good! I was only going for 3.5 days and now one day was gone. So they issued a credit for my next ticket. I wasn't mad, just disappointed.  My mantra is everything happens for a reason and I firmly believe that. The worst part was delivering the bad news to my mom. 

Today I went online to rebook the trip, and not one flight no matter how I tried, was as cheap as my original one.  So I had pay $40 to rebook the trip.  This was NOT in our budget of course... but luckily we had our emergency budget meeting and penciled it in.  

What did I learn from all this?  Even if you prepare as much as possible Murphy might still creep in and try to ruin things.  Also, never book a trip in January to a location that gets a lot of snow. 

Give: to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation

When you start working on your budget and actually sticking to it, you will find you have a lot more money at the end of the month.  Rather than having too much month left at the end of your money! Money is fluid... it moves and changes.  Dave Ramsey compares it to a fist.  If you put money in your hand and make a fist money isn't going out, but money also isn't coming in.  If you put money in your open palm, it has the ability to flow in and out.

Let's face it, money is going out wether we want it to or not.  Either you are working on your debt snowball and paying the bills, investing in 401k and mutual funds, or taking care of Murphy. (Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.)

We have more than enough money to make out minimum payments and keep the lights on. Yes we want to put all extra money into our debt snowball but it is time to start giving. Giving is a habit. If you don't normally do it, you don't want to do it. If we start now, we will make it a habit.  Plus it is one of the few things you can do in your adult life that gives the warm fuzzy feelings.

We are starting with $50 a month.  I highly recommend if you are going to give, use this website: Charity Navigator. Not only will it match you with WHAT you want to give to... like children, animals, or natural disaster victims... it also tells you how many employees they have, what there annual revenue is, what they are spending their money on, and most importantly: how much their CEO makes.

This month we have chosen to make a donation to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.  In fact we have setup automatic withdrawals for next 3 months to this organization.

Remember my blog about "The Path." If you do the right things, karma, God, the Universe... whatever you believe in will start giving you a pat on the back.  Don't get me wrong, I don't expect anything. The feeling of giving is enough but lets just see where this takes us.

Today's Lesson:  Giving is good for the soul.  Do it!

Good-bye Smart Phone :(

Well 2010 was a good run. I could check my email, surf the web, text, download free apps, download pictures, and more often than not... hang up on someone simply by pushing my face up against my smart phone.

This used flip phone to the left of the Droid was sent to us by my mother-in-law who had upgraded a while ago.  This phone comes complete with calling ability, antennae and a car charger.  No regular charger... that must have gotten lost years ago.

"Can you hear me now? No? Ok let me pull up the antennae."

Enough pouting... lets focus on the good...  We will now save an extra $15 per month because we
no longer need to have a data plan.  $15 doesn't seem like a lot so lets extrapolate that out:

$15 x 12 months = $180 for 1 year

Now we expect to keep things pretty tight for the next 3 years $180 x 3 = $540.

Our December cell phone bill was $204.36
January cell phone + home phone bill = $25

Just for fun lets take a long term look at that savings:  $204.36 - $25 = $179.36
$179.36 x 12 = $2,152.32 savings in 1 year!!!!
Now how about over our 3 year plan = $2,152.32 x 3 = $6,456.96

That is some good savings!!!!   I know you are thinking "My cell phone bill isn't $200!"
Alright lets look at some average cell phone bills:
1 personal cell phone bill is about $80 a month.  $55 savings each month if you drop to a $10 cell phone and a $15 land line from vonage.  $55 x 12 = $660 in the first year.  $660 x 3 = $1,980 savings in 3 years.

The average couple has a cell phone bill of lets say $125. Drop the cell to $10 a month and add a $15 land line and you have a savings of $100.  $100 x 12 = $1,200 savings per year.  $1,200 x 3 = $3,600 over 3 years.

Today's Lesson:  When you are giving up something small, like a $15 payment a month, take a look at how much you will save long term.  It will give you the motivation you need to 'cut the cord'.

The Path

I wish I had nice pics to post again... but this post is about knowing you are doing the right thing.  So back in April of 2008 when I first started budgeting and making changes, good things started to happen. My husband finally got his bonus we had been waiting too long for, refunds I had forgotten I applied for came through, and I got the first job I sent my resume to.

Flashing forward to January 2011... I had my first glimpses at rewards for what we are doing. We were sent a $50 check from an Aunt and Uncle for Christmas (arrived in Jan because they do not live in the US). I won a $25 gift card at work. I found a $20 target card on the ground. On Saturday I received a belated Christmas card that had $30 gift card to Jimmy Johns... oh yeah! I actually didn't notice this trend until I went grocery shopping...

The first isle I hit at Wal-mart was the hair dye section... (it is my major indulgence that can't live without). I had the color I wanted in mind but I didn't see it on the shelf. I bent down to look at some of the lighter colors and low and behold I spotted it.  There was a piece of paper in front of it I brushed away and excitedly threw it in my cart.  Then I thought... what was that paper? I picked it up and it was a $3 off coupon someone had cut out and left right in front of the box I wanted. I was shocked and pleased!

Next I picked up a few items from the dairy isle and went to go get some detergent.  Why do they put the purex washer/dryer sheets on the top shelf?  I reached up and snagged a 24 pack... then I started to ponder if the 38 pack was a better value at $9.  I reached up and grabbed a $9 pack to compare and a coupon was stuck to the side for $2 off!!!  Ok now I am dancing around like an idiot.

My grocery bill came to $104 after the $5 in coupons.  If I didn't have that extra $5, I would have been under my budget by pennies.

Today's lesson is:  When you are on the right path, there will be small signs telling you: Good Job, Keep it Up!!!!

Plastic Surgery

This was the first one to go. Good old Wells Fargo. The one we have a balance on... This was the scariest one to cut up since this was always our "emergency" card. Obviously we haven't had $10,000 worth of emergencies this year... so that card had to go.

"If you can't afford to buy it now... don't buy it!" - Dave Ramsey

No more secret purchases, no more living beyond our means, no more paying 14% interest on food, booze and tips from restaurants... :)

Good-bye safety net...

Now for Home Depot... I guess we will have to wait on that bathroom remodel, deck, flooring, porch stain, giant christmas wreath, and the 1000s of other projects we dream about.

Sure no interest, no payments sound great... until the year is up and you don't have the money to pay it off!

Everyone that dreams of owning a house has no idea the amount of money that goes into it. We have had our house for 1.5 years and already we have a leaky pipe, clogged dishwasher (which was brand new), ruined hardwood floor and issues with the garbage disposal.

Good times...

This card was purchased ($4.95) as a joke. You could put whatever picture you wanted on it and my husband put a pic of his friend and himself from Halloween on it.

We went white water rafting over the summer and while making a purchase at the gas station he tossed it on the counter in front of his buddy.  It was a good laugh until the statement came in.

It takes disipline to use credit cards.  So if you don't think you have what it takes... don't start!  Credit is almost an addiction. You have it to use... then you start using and abusing it until all you have is debt.

Lesson for the day: If you don't have the money in the bank to buy it today, DO NOT BUY IT!!!!

FPU - Get your mind out of the gutter!

My co-worker has so graciously let me borrow her FPU (Financial Peace University) kit.  The kit comes with the book Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey, a hard cover workbook, the envelope system to keep your money, tip cards and 15 audio CDs breaking down the lessons in the book.  We were going to sign up for FPU but it was $100 and I have already read The Total Money Makeover... I know the steps and I just have to put it in action. Plus we have tickets to see Dave live in March. 

These CD's are truly inspirational and if you need a kick in the ass to get going on this then make one last purchase. 

I have considered calling in to Dave's radio show but I work during the hours he is on the air. I have thought about writing to him but I think he only answers on the air. What I would ask is:  Of all the examples you give in your books no one has as much student loan debt as us.  What are your recommendations?  We have started investing in our company match 401Ks... should we hold off for now?  How drastic should we go on this?  With gazelle intensity when do you see us being debt free? 

I guess we will have to come up with our own answers.  Step 1:  Save $1000 in an emergency fund... Done. Step 2: Work the debt snowball.... (for the next 5 years for us). The journey continues...

My Personal Mission Statement

I have been thinking about this since the beginning of the new year and I have finally condensed it to one long sentence. 

To focus and work as hard as I can, at home and at work, and do all jobs to the best of my ability; so that one day I will live debt free and be able to save more, spend more and give more.

I am going to post this at home and work and remember that when I start to struggle... this is my mission. It's all for the cause!

When Two Become One

I pulled copies of our credit report today to see what is still open.  We have been married since 2006 and this year is the first time I have pulled my report and saw his student loans.  Yikes!

You are allowed 1 credit report from Equifax, Transunion, and Experian a year. If you have not done this annually... DO IT!  It is amazing to see what accounts are still open even though you called and wrote letters to have them closed. Plus you will be able to see any fraudulent activity.  Click here for your free annual reports.

My report shows that I have credit cards open under Bank of America, Capital One, Paypal, Home Depot, Wells Fargo and New York & Company. That is just on 1 report!!!  All of these accounts except the wells fargo credit card have been closed at one point... by phone call or letter.  Well I guess the customer retention rep decided they would rather have a bonus than do as I asked.

Some people will say: it looks bad to close your credit card accounts. That may be but who cares?  The whole point of this is to no long go into debt... ever again. If that means performing plastic surgery on my card, than that's what I have to do! So this weekend my plan is to call and cancel these open cards and cut up any remaining plastic.  I will be posting pics so stay tuned...

1-13-11 Allowance

How much is acceptable for a weekly allowance? $20, $40, $60? My friend and fellow bean counter told me she takes an allowance of $20 a week to do whatever she wants with. That seems like a great idea, but lets take a look at what would be acceptable for us.

We both take $20/week = $40 x 4 = $160
Disposable income = $400 - $160 = $240

We both take $10/week = $20 x 4 = $80
Disposable income = $400 - $80 = $320

I just can't see giving up our cell phones for that.  Am I being unreasonable?  I did go from freaking out about the budget to basically putting an iron clad lock on our spending.  Where is a happy medium?  Food for thought...

Last night I got home from work and got the mail.  To my surprise there was an insufficient funds notice from an account that I closed 4 months ago.  You can only imagine the rage running through my veins at that time. I decided to worry about it the next morning and put it out of my mind.

6:00am alarm goes off and my first thought was... great... I have to spend an hour dealing with this mess.  I called first thing, knowing it was 8:00am eastern time, and after hitting the pound button a hundred times to bypass the "enter your account please" I finally got a rep on the phone.  I explained that my account should have been closed 4 months ago and then was put on hold.  Shockingly the lady came back on the line and said that it was the banks fault. THE BANKS FAULT! Have you ever heard a bank say that?  Ever?

A wave of relief hit me and I couldn't help but assume this day was going to be awesome! I headed to work and then realized the phones were not working properly, my software froze up and the heating duct outside my office sprung a cold air leak.  Well so much for starting your day on a good note!

1-14-11 update: We spoke last night and decided that until March we will not have an allowance. These months are for correcting bad habits and spending the cash in our pockets is a VERY bad habit. 

1-12-11 Sell everything!

"Sell everything... make the kids think they're next" - Dave Ramsey

We have people coming to town... we know we are going to be spending some money. So instead of putting things on credit cards or dipping into the emergency fund, we are going to sell, sell, sell! All of my husbands ice climbing equipment has been put on ebay or craigslist. He is the one that decided to retire from ice climbing, and he is the one that made this decision.

Tonight I am quite sure I will be next in line to have to sell something. Luckily I have dresses that have never been worn ready to sell and all of my stuff from my cake decorating business from 9 years ago that never opened up. :p I was an ambitious young girl that never really followed through on anything.

I think the quote goes: "In 5 years you will be the exact same person except for the people you meet and the books you read." - T. Jones (?) 9 years ago I was not the same person I am today. I have read countless self help books about money, making friends, work, health and marriage. Each one has taught me to be a better person.

I now have a job I love, friends I can count on, a weight that is manageable, and a husband who is a hand full but worth it. Although our money problems will be with us for a few years it is manageable. I will follow through on my debt snowball. I know that about myself. If selling a few items will make it happen all that much faster... why not?

1-11-11 Snowboarding

Yes last fall I spent $450 on a ski pass to 5 mountains in Colorado. That was stupid. Last year I used my pass. A LOT. I enjoyed snowboarding. I was also only working 25 hours a week and have plenty of time to get shit done before work. Now my weekends are sacred. Only 2 days to meal plan, grocery shop, run errands, clean the house, workout (ok I do this during the week too) and most of all relax.

I would love to relax after work but instead I come home, feed the dogs, workout, make dinner, do the laundry, start the dishwasher, get my stuff ready for work the next day (clothes, lunches, etc.) and then go to bed. I read for about 30 mins and its lights out. I hate having to commit a whole day to snowboarding when my legs only last about 3 hours. Factor in the 2.5 hour drive to and from the mountain and an extra 2-3 hours because there is no way my husband is going to the mountain for only 3 hours... and boom the day is shot. I come home exhausted.

Not only is my pass a complete waste but this whole season eats up enormous amounts of money on gas, dining out, hotels and everything else that comes along with the ski weekend. The winter months in CO are making us BROKE!

How is spending money on a hotel going to help us get out of debt? "There are a bunch of us going so we can split it." It is still money going toward a place to stay. You have a place to stay. In fact we are making payments on right now and they are a hell of a lot more than a damn hotel.

It's not just snowboarding. In summer it will be something else like Mountain Biking or Running. Which you would think running would be cheap. You have two legs already right? But no... we have to buy multiple pairs of shoes, pay race fees, a running coach, hotels for the races and in some cases plane tickets to get to the races!

Does the avarice ever end?

1-10-11 I will not fight, I will not fight, I will not fight

So my husband got home from a 4 day trip to see some family and run an ultra marathon in NC last night. Before he left we were about to kill each other over the budget. Let's go over a typical budget conversation prior to his departure:

Him: "I think we should give up more than just cell phones."

Me: "Well you could give up your $90 a month running coach, your $80 a month mandolin lessons, and I could give up my $40 a month violin lessons."

Him: "Oh sure... (insert attitude here)... it's a waste of money for you to take violin anyway since you never practice! I actually use and enjoy my hobbies."

Me (angry): "Well my hobbies don't cost us $170 a month!!"

Him: "At least the money I spend is being put to a good use!!"

Me: "Yeah getting you out of the house for an hour every other week while you go to your mandolin lesson is worth the $80 for me!!!!!!"

You see what's happening? We can't have a conversation without turning on each other. So today when I asked him. "Did you eat the lunch I packed you?" (knowing full well he didn't or else the dish would have been waiting to be washed in the sink) He answered. "No. But I will tomorrow." I quietly left the room to go and vent to my blog.

Having gotten all of that out, I feel much better. What I am pissed about isn't the lunch though... it is that he has been eating out for 4 days and then chooses to eat out again RIGHT after he gets home. (calming breath...)

It just isn't worth fighting over or at least not yet. I am going to bide my time... and then perhaps use all his extra spending against him during our February budget meeting! (evil laugh) Muahahahaha! Sadly, I wish I was joking.

The truth is budgeting is hard. For one person it is hard but for two completely different people it is damn near impossible. I have been semi-budgeting since April 2008. Yes I can remember the exact day I started a budget. This is the very first time my husband has been involved in the finances at all and I should be thrilled that he finally came around. I guess instead of fighting about the spending and holding it over his head, I will celebrate how great he has done this month. And just maybe... the encouragement will fuel him to do even better next month.

1-9-11 Sick

I ended up with the stomach flu last night... that's one way to get out of going places. Plus it cuts down on the grocery bill. At least for the next 3 days I will want to stay away from most food.

Today I still must go to the store and buy my groceries for the week. Here is a great tip on saving money: Make a grocery list once a week and shop 1 time. In other words do NOT stop at the store after work or have your spouse "pick a few items up." It's once a week for everything and if you forget an ingredient... improvise. This is a time and money saver.

I do all my grocery shopping at Walmart. I am not a big fan of Walmart but you can buy the same items for at least $1 cheaper. When we first moved here I shopped at Safeway and my bill was about $120 each week. Then I tried King Soopers (Kroger) and my bill dropped to $90 a week. Then I bit the bullet and drove to Walmart one week and my grocery bill fell to about $65 a week. When you are on a budget beggar's can't be choosers, right?

My new 2011 grocery budget is $110 per week. Last week my total was $95. This week's meals consist of:
Dinners: Homemade chicken soup (using 1 rotisserie chicken), lasagna, homemade pizza, enchiladas, Asian Stir Fry, Minestrone
Lunches: Leftover Soup, Veggie & chickpea sandwiches (I try to make a few vegetarian meals), salmon salad pitas, Any other leftovers from the week
Snacks: Pita & Hummus, yogurt, apples, clementines

Total grocery bill for this week: $51.96

1-8-11 No Mistakes

Last night I was invited to the bar with some friends. I chose to sit home and work on my blog... not because I am huge nerd (well ok I might be) but because I knew that if I went out I would spend money. I am starting to get used to my new life as a recluse.

The pros: Saving money, house is always clean, I have been exercising steadily, spending more time with the dogs, working on my blog, reading

The cons: Pulling away from my friends, harboring feelings of resentment toward the people that are making fun of my cut backs, boredom.

I guess I am exaggerating a little. Today I set up a book swap at my house with the members of my book club (ok yes I am nerd). So I will have a little social interaction. That should get me through the weekend. It is kind of weird to look forward to work just to be able to socialize.

Cell Phones - Gone!

December 27th, 2010: My husband got angry. Angry at our money situation and angry at the insane amount of bills we have. He called Verizon and canceled his cell phone plan in the morning. We were paying $188/month for unlimited text, data and 700 any time minutes.

I thought... he is going crazy! Meanwhile, I hid in my room reading, knowing that I can't avoid the inevitable. Then it happened... "In order for us to be serious about this we need to BOTH get rid of our cell phone." Here we go, eye roll. Long story short at 30 years old I had to call and ask my parents to take over "financial responsibility" of my phone. Which means I didn't have to pay a cancelation fee on my phone and the bill is only $9.99/month... or would be if he hadn't gotten us Droid phones. So now we have to pay an extra $15/month for a data plan that isn't supported by Droid.

We also had to get a house phone. Vonage for $15/month (including taxes) so we could communicate with other people. See I can only use my verizon cell phone if I am calling verizon to verizon so I don't use any minutes.

Original Bill: $188

New Bill Cell: $27 ($10 + $15 data +$2 taxes)
Land Line: $15
New Total: $42

Total Savings: $146 a month

Week 1 - The Mission

2011 New Years Resolution: To pay off as much debt as we possibly can and document out journey along the way.

Fears: Major strain on our marriage, not making any purchases that aren't "necessities" for 1 year

Hopes: To see a huge difference in the amount of debt we have by the end of this year

Debt Snapshot:
Credit Card: $9792
Car Loan: $14,676
Mortgage: $235,728
Student Loan Debt: $556,398
TOTAL DEBT: $816,594

Monthly Bills:
Student Loan Payments: $4281
Mortgage: $1428
Car Payments: $503
Utilities: $300
Phone: $15 (see next post for explanation, was $188)
Internet/Cable: $87
Credit Card: $250
Hair Cut: $25
Netflix: $15
Groceries: $521 (budgeted)
Gas: $280 (budgeted)
Total Monthly Bills: $7,705


I owe, I owe, so it's off to work I go...