Unplanned Trip

I am heading home for an unplanned trip tomorrow morning. My Grandma is very sick and in the hospital, so I will be heading back to visit her. I keep extra funds in my gas budget at all times for things like this. I will be driving, so I will be able to use that money without it ruining my entire budget. I am fortunate that I am able to drive since flying is so expensive now. I shouldn't spend too much money this weekend since I will be staying with my parents (and eating their food).

Have a good weekend.

Shopping

It's still early on Saturday morning, and I am itching to shop. This is not good!! I am really trying to save money and not spend it. Some days you just want to go spend some though! I am thinking about going to the mall this afternoon if I still feel this way. I am hoping that the feeling will go away. I really want to save as much as I can so that I can build up my emergency fund, travel fund, and house down payments fund as quickly as possible.

I am getting sick of living in an apartment, but I don't have much choice right now. I don't have the money for a down payment or the continued upkeep on a house if I did buy one. With all of the changes to the lending industry, I think I might have to save longer than I was initially planning for a down payment.

Some times it just seems like even though you're saving, it's never enough. I really don't like those days.

Always Something . . .

It seems like there is always something that comes up. First, it was the hail damage to my car. I thought that was all taken care of. I paid my deductible and got my car back looking like new. Now today I checked my credit card statement only to find out the my insurance company did not pay my entire rental car bill. Of course, being Sunday, the people at the rental car place and the insurance agency are not able to help, and I have to call back on Monday. It's not like my Monday was not busy enough already!!

I feel like grocery prices are really impacting my budget. For medical reasons, I have to follow a special diet. This means that I can't always just buy what's on sale at the store each week and make it work in order to save money. I make a trip once a month to Trader Joe's to get certain items that are approved for my diet that I can only get there. I then shop at a lower end grocery store, Walmart, and Target the rest of the month. I have noticed an increase in price in a number of my basic food items I buy each month. I will either have to adjust my budget or adjust what I am eating.

I had two of my four cavities filled at the dentist this week. I have the others scheduled for a few weeks from now. It is so expensive to get cavities filled even when you have dental insurance. I brush multiple times a day, floss 4 times a week, and use mouthwash everyday. I guess I better get to flossing more or something. Good thing I have money set aside in savings for medical/dental bills. It still hurts though!!

I feel like I need to cut back somewhere to make up for all of these things, but I don't know where I can cut. I really try not to spend money unless I have to. I did rent two movies on Friday night from Redbox. I used a code though, so I only paid $1.07 total. I think I deserved that since work and finances are stressing me out lately.

This Past Week

It's been a little bit since I have updated on the happenings in my life. It's been a busy week.

First, we have been having a number of storms in the area. My car was severely damaged by hail last weekend. I was told by the auto body shop that they should be able to fix it. They will have to replace a number of the parts though. Luckily, I have insurance to cover hail damage. It does mean that I will have to pay my deductible though. I do have a certain portion of my savings account set aside for car related repairs/emergencies, so that helps. It's very time consuming taking care of getting your car fixed, dealing with the insurance company, and getting a rental car. They said that it will take a couple of weeks to repair my car. I take very good care of my car, so it's hard to be without it and have a rental. I can't wait to get my car back. I just hope it turns out looking like it did prior to the hail damage.

Second, I received my annual review and merit increase at work this week. Even though I knew it was coming up, it's still makes me nervous. The review went really well, and the merit increase was what I expected. There are days where I feel that I deserve to be paid more, but when I consider benefits and flexibility at my company, I like where I am at for pay. The merit increase resulted in having to re-work my monthly budget. Part of the increase is going to my grocery fund due to rising food prices. The rest is going towards debt in order to pay that off sooner.

Last, I increased by 401k contributions this week. I decided to put more in my 401k since I don't feel that I can fully fund an IRA at this point in my life. I thought that putting more in my 401k was better than doing nothing right now. It's a nice feeling to know that I am saving for retirement, but it also makes me nervous when I come home and hear about how bad the stock markets did today. At least I am young and have time for things to turn around.

I will try to post my budget this weekend so that everyone can see how I budget things out each month. I will explain the details of it soon!