FAM– I am back on budget. At least for March.
As it turns out, I still havenāt (fingers crossed), had to pay anything extra for the car rental in Italy. Iām still expecting some large bill to randomly show up, but Iāve got insurance to help that when it happens.
If you canāt tell, when it comes to finance (ok, and most things), I like to plan for worst case scenario just so Iām prepared. Because itās better to be prepared and it not to happen than it is to be unprepared and it to happen!! Right? Yes.
Now, Iām not going to share the spending report for Italy, but you can see my categorical spending in the last Budgeting Bare post. Itās too long because I had so many little purchase, and youāll really just be reading āpizza, pizza, gelato, pastry, pizza, train ride.ā
As for the rest of March– I did better than expected!
March 2019 Victories:
- Got back from Italy and had enough leftover in savings to put down $2,000 on my car! That means I owe a little bit over $5k which is SUPER exciting and also means Iām likely going to hit my first major goal of paying off the car by this fall sooner than expected! YEAH BUDDY.
- I saved enough money to live off of cash while getting paychecks that were less than half of my normal paycheck since the majority of my trip to Italy was on unpaid leave. And I still put down all that money on my car! Pretty excited about that.
Itās nice putting money down on debt again, and it reminded me of how excited getting closer to debt free makes me. Itās motivating, and putting down that $2k to get to about $5k on my car debt feels SO good. $5k seems like a much more manageable number than $7k and as soon as I pay off that car loan I get to start putting all that money PLUS my car payment onto my student loans.
That means Iāll be putting:
$450 (current student loan payment) + $350 (current car payment) + $1,000 (extra a month on average)= $1800 on my student loan debt a month. Thatās almost two grand!
If I divide my $56,261 of debt into payments of $1,800 a month, Iāll have all my student loans paid off in 31.3 months which is LESS THAN THREE YEARS!!!! That is if interest stays the same. And that’s also if my expenses stay what they are now. Which is unlikely because I’m looking to move out and get my own apartment sooner rather than later. The “live alone” bug has bit me and I’m preparing what I think I can afford and what I want to afford.
But even so, I could be debt free by the time Iām thirty. Thatās THREE years earlier than 33. And the fact that’s even a possibility???
That gets me very excited.
Anyway. Thatās if everything stays according to plan. Iām optimistic but I know how life goes, and thereās undoubtedly going to be a few twists, turns and bumps in the road.
On to spending categories, my friends.
March 2019 Spending Categories
| Category | Budgeted | Actual | Difference |
| Groceries | $150 | $125 | +$25 |
| Clo Bare | $50 | $40 | +$10 |
| Health/medical | $30 | $46 | -$16 |
| Home | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Transportation/Car Insurance | $260 | $250 | +$10 |
| Personal | $250 | $251 | -$1 |
| Entertainment | $150 | $146 | +$4 |
| Utilities/Cell Phone | $250 | $275 | -$25 |
| Travel | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Debt | $2,000 | $2,000 | $0 |
The Fuck-Upās Explained
Health/Medical: Iāve been dealing with a lot of brain fog lately, and Iāve considered trying out Vitamin B for a while. Iāve had several friends recommend it specifically for that reason, so I decided to splurge upon returning to Chicago on some vitamins. Are they working? Juryās still out to be honest. I canāt decide if the brain fog is gone because my allergies have been pretty terrible the last two weeks, so even if the fog is gone– itās been replaced by the fog of allergies. So, still TBD.
Utilities/Cell Phone: I forgot that Iād be charged extra for my data plan while in Italy, and I didnāt budget for it in this round of budgeting. $25 is the exact cost of one week of data, and my next budget I actually will include that amount in the budget forecast since I had two weeks of data.
Thatās it thought! I guess we can count that as another victory– I only had two real fuck-ups in two weeks. Not bad. And I donāt really mind them either.
On to the spending report!
March 2019 (Two Week) Spending Report
| Date | Amount | Description | Category |
| 3/15/2019 | $94.00 | Insurance | Transportation/Car Insurance |
| 3/16/2019 | $158.89 | Utilities | Utilities/Cell Phone |
| 3/17/2019 | $35.00 | GrubHub | Entertainment |
| 3/18/2019 | $5.00 | Coffee | Entertainment |
| 3/15/2019 | $116.40 | Cell Phone | Utilities/Cell Phone |
| 3/18/2019 | $103.37 | License renewal | Transportation/Car Insurance |
| 3/18/2019 | $50.00 | TJ Maxx and Walgreens: Hair products, mints, toothbrush, etc. | Personal |
| 3/19/2019 | $2,000.00 | Car Payment | Debt |
| 3/19/2019 | $10.00 | Car Wash | Transportation/Car Insurance |
| 3/19/2019 | $11.91 | Lunch | Entertainment |
| 3/19/2019 | $48.31 | Groceries | Groceries |
| 3/20/2019 | $31.16 | Tickets to US | Personal |
| 3/21/2019 | $17.00 | Amazon | Personal |
| 3/21/2019 | $36.00 | Pleather Jacket (Link to pleather jacket that I love) | Personal |
| 3/21/2019 | $117.00 | Birthday Dinner with Bestie | Personal |
| 3/23/2019 | $60.00 | Froyo and Lunch with Brother | Entertainment |
| 3/23/2019 | $17.00 | Another Bday | Entertainment |
| 3/24/2019 | $77.00 | Groceries | Groceries |
| 3/24/2019 | $6.00 | Water | Entertainment |
| 3/25/2019 | $11.00 | B12 Vitamins | Health/medical |
| 3/25/2019 | $35.00 | B Complex vitamins | Health/medical |
| 3/27/2019 | $11.00 | Panera | Entertainment |
| 3/27/2019 | $23.00 | Gas | Transportation/Car Insurance |
| 3/27/2019 | $40.00 | Clo bare Pinterest | Clo Bare |
| 3/27/2019 | $20.00 | Tolls | Transportation/Car Insurance |
Total Spent in 2nd Half of March 2019: $3,134
Total Debt: $60,731
Iām almost under $60k in debt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who would have ever thought that would make me so excited?
April 2019 Goals
Now, I know it’s already mid-April but I do have a few goals.
- Budget: I want to stick to the budget. Duh.
- Eating Out: I also want to stop spending so much money on eating out. With my dating life revving up a bit, I’ve started to get back into eating out and I don’t want that to creep up on me.
- Clothing: I want to start budgeting for some new clothes. I want a little bit of a wardrobe update, and in the past I’d go crazy and just spend a bunch of money on a whim. Then, since I was in the “I’m shopping today” mindset, I’d end up spending money on stuff I didn’t end up actually liking or needing. I didn’t end up wearing much of the stuff I bought on my last “buy all the clothes” spending spree (before this budgeting adventure started) so I’m going to try giving myself a monthly allowance to start adding things I really want to my wardrobe. We’ll see how it goes.
- CAR: I want to put another $1,000 down on my car!!!! Get that shit under $4k!!!!!
- Freelance: I want to make at least $400 this month in freelance.
The Interesting Shit I Bought Segment
Time for the affiliate links section! This post contains affiliate links to products. If you use the link and choose to purchase an item, the Bare will make a small commission from it. At no extra cost to you! As always, I will never link to something that I don’t actually like. I promise.
Pleather Jacket
I’ve been wanting a black pleather jacket for FOREVER and the other day I saw a cute one that my friend had on so I asked her where she got it.
Turns out, she got it from Amazon and it was LESS THAN $40!!!! So I got it. And I love it. It’s perfect for something over a dress or to add a little something something to an otherwise bland outfit. You can expect I’ll be wearing it all the damn time.
B12 and Vitamin B Complex
I’ve been thinking about purchasing a vitamin B supplement for a while, but I’m usually very hesitant about purchasing vitamins in the US because I don’t know enough about them. Vitamins are complicated, and it’s not just as easy as taking a vitamin and then feeling great. There are things like absorption and release time and whether or not I’m even deficient part. But I’ve heard a lot of hype about Vitamin B, so I wanted to try it for myself to see if it helps with my brain fog and lack of energy.
So far? The jury is still out. I haven’t seen a noticeable difference and I’ve been taking the supplements for a few weeks. I’m going to finish the bottles and provide an update once I have one!
Your Turn
Howās sticking to a budgetgoing for you? Any tips or tricks you’ve learned along the way? Share in the comments below!
It was so inspiring reading your detailed budget-congrats on paying almost $2k towards your debt! Weāre trying to save up for a house addition but itās been a slow process.
Saving money is tough! It’s definitely that delayed gratification long game. Thanks for the support, lady!