Best Cheesecake EVER!

Normally, I'm not a fan of cheesecake, it's too dense. When I make them myself, however, I found they turn out incredibly light and fluffy. I don't know what the difference is. Maybe it's the recipe? Maybe it's my method? The key to a light and fluffy cheesecake is to beat the crap out of it; you know, work a lot of air into it. I beat by hand 'cause I don't have a mixer. I've also read recipes that calls for baking it in a shallow pool of water to prevent cracking on top. That's too much work. If you pile a whole crap of berries on top, no one sees the crack.

2 8-oz boxes of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 pre-made ghram cracker pie base

optional toppings/extras like fruits, chocolate, bananas, whatever.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl until it becomes thick and smooth

Add vanilla extract and beat some more.

Add one egg, mix thoroughly into the cheese goop. Add the second egg, mix thoroughly into the cheese goop. At this point, the cheese goop should be considerably runnier than before.

Pour into the pie crust and bake for 40 min.

You can fancify your cake in many ways:
1) grate some dark chocolate onto the pie crust before pouring the cheese goop for a nice chocolate accent.
2) replace vanilla extract with some other flavored extract.
3) add berries and nuts on top, or just berries, or just nuts.
4) sprinkle some grated chocolate (or chocolate chip if you like chunks of chocolate) into the cheese goop.
Possibilities are endless!

New Addiction

I've become obsessed with personal finance blogs lately. I should have, could have, been n bed an hour ago but I felt the need to read like a bazillion pf blogs. This needs to stop. Some of them are very informative and or inspiring but for the most part, I'm just using them to make myself feel better, or worse. I love reading about how someone is like $50K in credit card debt and hate reading about how someone is younger than me, married, with a house, and like $200K in savings/retirement.

I need to stop being so obsessed and I need to stop comparing myself to others. Daria pointed out that I really need to stop being so obsessed with how I don't have money. All it does is invite negative poor energy into my life. Be gone poor energies!

Instead, I will go to sleep and focus on something that makes me happy, such as...
I should focus on this and bring some Davey energy into my life.

And those shoes... super cute!

Oh Noes! What to Do?

So I read an article saying that duel income married couples need 3 months of income saved in their emergency fund but single people need 6; the logic being that in a duel income household, it's unlikely that both will be out of a job at the same time. 6 months of worth of income? Even on my modest income that's kind of stretching it. Well, if 6 months is the standard, than I'm a little over half way there.

Given the industry I'm in, and the position I have, I don't think it'll take me 6 months to get back on my feet if I lose my job (unless the economy goes down the shithole). Realistically, I can probably find a job that pays more than what I make now in a little over a month.

Seeing as how I have a nice cushion, I'm seriously thinking about putting savings on hold and start paying off my debt. This is going to require some major changes in the way I think about money. I just started seriously saving so to stop now it's... I don't know. Financially, it makes sense but... Damn it, I wish I was more serious about my finances earlier on.

So the only debt I have are my car loans and my student loans. I have no desire to pay my student loan off early. The principal is low so I actually have the money to pay it off in full now if I wanted to. Why the hell would I want to though? It has a fixed interest rate of 3.375% which is lower than the interest offered at my ING account. Therefore, I'm actually losing money (off interest I could earn by keeping my money in savings) by paying it off early. Not only that, but the interest is tax deductible. The only reason to pay it off early is if the monthly payment is a financial burden but at $50 a month... yeah, I don't even feel it.

My car on the other hand... I saw on the statement how much interest I paid on that loan last year... Yikes! So after my attempt at budgeting on January, I know that I can save a certain amount of money every month. If I divert that savings effort away from saving and apply it towards paying my car off early... there's a real chance that I could have the car paid off by this time next year. My monthly car payment... yeah, I do feel it every month. Not having a car payment will be pretty sweet.

Sigh~

I kind of have this all or nothing mentality about a lot of thing. I guess I can go half and half but... augh, so not about the slow and steady.

Maybe I need a new job that'll pay me more (and contribute to my 401(k)).

Crush!

This is Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw and Head Automatica. Dude, you have to check out Decadence! Everyone says it's very Brit-pop influenced. I don't know what Brit-pop is suppose to sound like so I'll take their word for it. All I know is that it's a really fun album to listen to, a guilty pleasure without the guilt. Every time a Head Automatica song plays on my ipod it makes me angry at the world that a band this fun doesn't get any airplay while crappy bands gets heavy rotation.

Based on his voice, you'd think he'd be like some scrawny man-boy-esq twit but no! The dude is quite hirsute and has rivaled David Ghrol in the simian factor. They're both pretty hot.

Head Automatica is suppose to come out with another album this year, sweet!

Fiscal Year 2008 FTW!!!

So January's budget... yeah... let's not talk about that.

I was doing fine until like the last week and then pfffffffffffft!!! I didn't blow it by that much, I guess I could have still reigned it in but I decided to just start over in Feb.

I did learn a lot from my budgeting attempt. I have to re-allocate funds in some categories. I also learned where I can cut corners. For instance, $1.50 on coffee every morning, I really didn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it does; it's like $40 a month!

So, the way I see it, I'm not starting the year off on failure 'cause there year hasn't started yet. I decided to go by the fiscal year, which starts on Feb. 3rd. Fiscal year makes much more sense.

More Interest-ing

So the Feds cut the interest rate like .75 which resulted in the .45 interest rate drop in my ING account. Oh wait... let me clarify. My interest rate did not drop .45%, as in less than 1%. If it did, it would be so nominal, who would notice? I meant that my interest rate went from 4.10 to a 3.65. I realize that I won't really feel the effect, it's not like I have skads of money in there. I know I'm only missing out on like a few dollars, but still...

I would balance this bad news out by calling my credit card company and asking them to lower my interest (since the Feds cut it, they should too) only I don't carry a balance so I don't know what the point of that would be... Should I do it just in case I have to carry a balance in the future? But... in the future, if the Feds increase the interest rate, they're just going to follow suite so what's the point, right? I don't know?

Maybe I should use this cut to finally buy that house I still can't afford! Or trade in my '06 car for an '08! Or... Oh duh! I'll charge a MacBook Air to my credit card, call to get my interest rate lowered, and pay it off slowly. Or better yet, maybe there's a store credit card I can get to save 10%. Is there an Apple Card I can sign up for?

This rate cut is doing nothing but slowing my savings progress! Boo!

Speaking of savings. I have a little over $1000 in my physical bank that's losing money due to the fact that it collects and annual interest of like 0.5%. I got the account with my mom when I was a minor and even though I am far above the age of 18, they won't let me withdraw money without my mom's okay. I need to get that money out of there and close it but but... augh. I'll put that in my 2008 To Do List, right there with "Get a physical".

Eggs!

Paco Underhill wrote that he knew he was successful when he realized that he could buy a $5 jar of mustard. $5 jar of mustard! I was young when I read that and I recall discussing it with Daria, $5 jar of mustard! When something like 80% of your income is purely disposable, $5 jar of mustard is laughable.

Fast forward a few years and now my grocery spending is almost purely dictated on what's on sale. What am I eating for dinner? I don't know, what's on sale? My problem is that the Food Network and various cook books has brain washed me into believing that it's absolutely imperative that I use nothing but the best raw ingredients. Best raw ingredients are a bit pricey. I've since realized that it's kind of stupid for me to pay top price for top ingredients. I'm not a gourmand, I can't really tell the difference, and my cooking skills are not skilled enough to really warrant gourmet ingredients. It's just kind of fun to cook with them, I guess.

I bought a small, $8 block of Parmesan the other day. It's aged 24 months and it is so fabulously good. I could eat the entire block. It's real parm, not the fake stuff and, like I said, I could eat the entire thing. My taste bud's not that refined but even I can tell the difference between this and the stuff in most cheese aisles. I'm not brave enough to try it, but I think parm and dark chocolate in some kind of combo could be really good. Yum!

Another luxury food item for me is truffle oil. A small bottle will run you $13 but it's well worth it, especially since the bottle will last you a very long time. I drizzle truffle oil on a lot of thing and it always makes it taste better.

A great breakfast that I like to make (when I have time) is eggs, sunny side up with parm and truffle oil. I love eggs sunny side up. My mom used to fry eggs all the time when I was young and I've always loved the sizzling sound. The one time I was homesick in college was when I woke up from a nap to (what I thought) were the sweet sounds of sizzling eggs. I was half asleep and I thought I was at home and my mom was down stairs cooking me breakfast. It was a very warm, cozy, cared-for feeling. I opened my eyes to find myself in my tiny dorm room with it's linoleum flooring and it's cinder block walls painted a putrid sage green. Poo.

So! Here's what you do. You fry yourself some eggs, sunny side up. You put the fried eggs on a plate. You drizzle some truffle oil on top. You grate some fresh parm on top. Voila! Best. Eggs. Ever! If you want to get all fancy you can fry you up some bacon and toast you up some bread. I prefer ciabatta. The smell! Ooooooh!!! Ciabatta, however, is expensive and, unlike parm or truffle oil, they go stale in a day, moldy in like a week.

Charity Case

And last week's allotted Charity money goes to... (drum roll please!)...

Central Union Mission!

They have a Charity Navigator rating of 49.45% and two stars out of four, not as good as CAP but certainly better than the Spinal people. They don't send me any address labels or calenders or wrapping papers (poo) but I guess it's better they use the money to feed the homeless and what not rather than sending out greeting cards. They're also a local charity (serving DC)- which really doesn't mean anything to me but I felt it should be pointed out for some reason. Here's what they do (copied from Charity Navigator):

Established in 1884, Central Union Mission is one of America's oldest social service ministries. Central Union Mission serves hurting people throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area. We serve homeless men, families living in poverty, children from at risk neighborhoods and the growing Hispanic population in the city. Our mission is to glorify God through proclaiming and teaching the gospel, leading people to Christ, developing disciples, and serving the needs of hurting people. All of our highly regarded, life-changing services and programs are provided free of charge.

Thanks for helping the homeless Central Union Mission! I hope you make good use out of my money!

Interest-ing

According to the Business section on this Sunday's Washington Post, the interest rate has been around 2.6% for the past ten years. The good news is that my IRA account is (at least) beating interest rate. Tax free aside, I'm still better off putting that money in my ING account (only I can't without paying penalties). I once read that, unless you're old, you shouldn't put your money in a conservative plan. Me, being very risk aversive, used to sign up for the conservative plan when picking one for my 401(k). I think the one I have now through John Hancock is something like 90 mild and 10 aggressive. I'm still young so maybe I'll change it to be more 50-50. But... aren't the stocks are poopy now due to the impending recession? I've also read that now is a good time to buy some stocks 'cause I can get some awesome deals. Speaking of stocks, should I sign up for my employee stock purchase plan? Augh! Retirement planning is hard.

Bills! I'm Late?

I've always been a a tiny bit of a luddite. I was one of the first kids in my school to have email and IM and on-line chatting and what not but that's about where I peaked. And really- does technology really need to broaden beyond that point? For many, yes. For me, meh- not really. The latest technology doesn't really hold my interest (unless it's for an aesthetic reason- like the MacBook Air, which has me thinking my laptop looks a little lame) and I'd rather lead as much of my life off line as I do on-line.

I know that some transactions are just more efficient on-line such as shopping, bill paying, registration, etc. but unless it's going to prevent me from waiting in a long line, I'd rather do it off line. I've given in on some things but on-line bill pay was always where I drew the line. And yes, I do realize that there's no logic in paying bills via the USPS anymore. It's safer, quicker, easier, and cheaper to pay on line. I, honestly, don't know why I still prefer the check and stamp method, I really don't.

I've been thinking though...
It's greener to pay on-line. I'm not into going out of my way to be green but if it's effortless, it'd be insanely selfish of me not to do it, right? I mean, I'm the one who insists that everyone re-uses printer paper (print on the back of old papers you don't need) at work. It's also cheaper to pay on line. Those 41 cents add up... not to mention the cost of ordering checks. I need to save my stamps for personal correspondence (I still prefer snail mail over email).

I got a text message from Sprint today letting me know that my bill was re-sent to them. I've never had a problem with Sprint sending me my bill so I don't understand what happened. I called and of course my bill was due yesterday. I decided that this is sign from God that I should join the 21st century so I decided to pay my bill on-line only their system is down so I can't so maybe God's actually telling me to stay a luddite?

Anyhoo... Sprint's taken care of (and I don't care what the Consumerists says, they're nice folks) and I might start thinking about paying my bills on line from now on.

Cappuccino Biscotti

Michael bought me a hazelnut biscotti at Starbucks like two months ago and I was hooked. After about a week of obsessive biscotti noshing, I decided that it would be cheaper and more greener (no plastic wrapping) to make my own. Now that I have mastered the art of biscotti baking, I can't really stand the store stuff anymore. I don't know, they dissolve too soon in my coffee and there's like no real texture. It's fun, easy, and cheaper to bake rather than buy.

3/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and coarsely chopped
3 larg eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 3ooF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) beat the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices, and espresso powder until combined. Gradually add the egg mixture and beat until a dough forms, adding the chopped nuts and chocolate chips about halfway through. With flowered hands divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of the dough into a long about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide. Transfer logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until firm to the touch (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

On a cutting board, with a serrated knife, cut each log crosswise, on the diagonal, into 3/4 inch slices. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

No, You're NOT F-ing Awesome

Yesterday a customer paid with a H&R Block debit card and I just wanted to be like, really? Really? You get an RAL and you're using it to buy a $20 t-shirt (a pretty ugly one to boot).
RAL (Refund Anticipation Loan) is a bad idea. It's essentially a payday loan (w/ the huge interest to boot). I can see if you needed to pay for something that came up unexpectedly but really? An ugly tee-shirt?

You know what though... I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Maybe, she's very rich and has more money than she knows what to do with. Maybe she's so fucking rich she, not only wanted to pay H&R to do her taxes, but wanted to pay them a 400+ interest rate to get her money a couple of days earlier. She then thought, "You know what, I don't really need this money- I'm going to use it to buy something that I absolutely do not need!"

Oh, what the hey. Who am I to judge? I don't care how they spend it, as long as they spend it in my store.

I Hope Cat Food Tastes Good

I just got my year end statement for my IRA account through BB&T.

SHIT!!!!

It's only earning a 3.15% interest. I get more than that from my ING account!!!

This is a testament as to why no one should make any financial decisions without doing a modicum of research. After I left my jobs, I would roll over my 401(k) contribution to my IRA account. I didn't research, I didn't really give it much a thought. I just wanted to put it in something to avoid paying penalties. Maybe I should've gotten a Roth IRA account. Maybe I should find out what the difference is.

What I need to do is roll it over into my John Hanncock account, I think that's earning like a 7+% interest. AUGH!!! I hate anything that requires like paperwork!

3.15%!!??!! Is that even keeping up with inflation?!

Cheese Thing

Seriously, everyone (non-vegans that is) needs to learn how to make this. It's ooey. It's gooey. It's filling and it's yummy. Oh, and it's very easy to make. I got the recipe from a book titled "Cook Something" by Mitchell Davis. It tries to be a little too Gen X (it was written in 1997) but there are some good, tasty, easty recipes in there. One of the gem in there is Cheese Thing.


I have found, from personal experience, that it is best to bake individual servings in an oven-proof, single serving bowl, rather than baking the entire thing and reheating the left over. It yields 6 servings and the left overs (if already baked) aren't as good. The cheese doesn't melt as well the second time around. If you do have to reheat it, I definitely recommend doing it in a pot on a stove and not the microwave.

Oh, and the truffle oil is purely optional but truffle oil is so fantastic.

Seriously, everyone needs to know how to make this dish.

1 lb penne rigatte or similar tubular pasta
1/2 lb extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 lb mild cheddar cheese
1 (28oz can) whole, peeled tomatoes w/ juice
1/3 to 1/2 a stick of butter- depending on how much you like butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
truffle oil (optional)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 min. Meanwhile, cut both cheeses into small cubes. Leave tomatoes in their juices and cut them into bite size pieces.

When pasta is done, drain and return to pot. Add the butter and stir until almost melted. Add the cheese, tomatoes, sugar, and salt and stir well. Pour mixture into a 2 quart baking dish- glass or ceramic is best. Drizzle some truffle oil. For optimal results, cheese thing should sit for 12-24 hours before baking, but can be baked right away.

Preheat oven to 400F. Bake until it's bubbly and the noodles poking out of the top have browned considerably (about 1 hour if cooking the entire thing).

Penguin with A Face Eating Fish

I need new contacts. My contacts rip easily and if this pair goes, I'm SOL. I didn't have the money to get new contacts however.

Well, let me clarify. I'm insured through VSP. I went on-line and found out that my exam is covered but because I got my eye glass prescription updated last year, I don't qualify to have my contacts covered until next year. Lame! Had I known that, I would've gotten my glasses updated at like Wal-Mart or Four Eyes or where ever the uninsured go.

My insurance only covers the basic eye exam, it doesn't cover the additional contact exam. Plus, the place I go to is kind of expensive. Actually... I don't know how much they charge. I should've researched this but I have insurance so... I don't know, it's just me, being lazy, and not like all frugal or whatever. The receptionist also really sucks. If I stop going to this place, it'll be 'cause of the bitch-ceptionist, not the price.

Anyway, I scheduled an exam even though it's not in my budget 'cause I need new contacts. I mean, I have money for it, I just don't have it budgeted which means I won't be able to save my targeted amount but... I need to see!

Well... God provides, yes he does. I got my paycheck and it's a bit more than my usual.. not enough to completely cover the cost, but a good chunk. I have a way of getting extra income when I need it, usually before I even know that I do. For instance... my bonus check usually arrives around the time of Mother's day, car tax, and random unforseen expenses, like new tires.

Killing 3 Birds

Trader Joe's frozen fried rice are AWESOME! Oh wait, I take that back. Trader Ming's Shrimp Fried Rice is AWESOME!!! Drizzle a little big of truffle oil during cooking and it's amazing! They cost about $4 a bag but I can get 2 servings out of the bag if I'm not starving. They also have a chicken version for like $3 but they use dark meat and yeah... I'm not too into dark meat. I'm not a big fan of chicken in general. The white meat is too bland and the dark meat is too... chicken-y.

I decided to try the vegetable fried rice since it's half the price. I mean, are a few of those little shrimps really worth paying double the price? I've noticed that Trader Ming got a bit lazy and half the shrimps aren't properly de-veined and I didn't want to pay $2 more for poopy shrimps. That bag of vegetable fried rice has been sitting in the freezer for about a month or so. I don't know, I've always believed that a meal isn't really a meal unless it involves something dead and the fried rice just wasn't very appealing to me. There are days (like today for instance) when I go without meat but it feels weird.

So I finally decided to eat the fried rice 'cause it was either that or a $.50 box of mac and cheese... at that point, it wasn't a hard choice. What I discovered, however, is that the fried rice is actually pretty good. It tastes a little more... I don't know, the rice has a bit more of a taste, to compensate for the lack of meat I suppose. I did notice that there is less stuff in there (4 oz I discovered later, I guess the others have 4 oz of meat) and it didn't seem as filling as the shrimp version but that could all be in my head.

So yeah... going vegetarian is not only cheaper, it's also greener. According to the Japanese, eating beef is very bad for the environment. As a matter of fact, eating four 4 steaks or 9 quarter pounder hamburgers is the same as leaving a 100 watt light bulb on for 20 days! Yikes! It's a good thing I order my Taco Bell Mexican pizza sans beef. Y'all can thank me later.

I was at Trader Joe's yesterday and I did buy one bag of shrimp fried rice but 2 bags of vegetable fried as well. I did play with the idea of cutting the shrimp with the veggie but that's just seems sad and desperate... not to mention too much work. While at Trader Joe, I noticed that turkey versions of meat stuff is cheaper (turkey bacon and turkey meat ball for example). So eating poultry instead of cows and pigs are not only better for the environment but also cheaper and healthier. It's a win win win situation... except for the taste... yeah, that's a big loss! I think the turkey meat ball will be okay since it'll be bathing in marinara sauce... I'm planning on using the turkey bacon for a carbonara sauce so... we'll see how that works out.

Fresh Pits Causes Cancer!!!

According to this article, deodorants are bad for you. The triclosan causes cancer and the aluminum can lead to Alzheimer. It's a good thing I started using Trader Joe's Unscented Deodorant yesterday. It doesn't mention anything about being triclosan free but it is paraben free. Paraben has been weakly linked with breast cancer. I didn't buy it for the "health" benefits and I highly doubt that a deodorant is going to cause me to get cancer or Alzheimer. Still, if I can buy something with less chemicals that's just as effective for less money, why not?

Spiced chocolate Pudding

Spiced Chocolate Pudding
yields: 8 serving

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup butter milk
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cup backed light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 boiling water
whipped cream or ice cream, optional

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 2 quart oval casserole dish. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in 3 Tbsp cocoa and 1/2 cup walnuts. Add buttermilk and melted butter, stirring to form a thick batter. Spread butter evenly into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine remaining cocoa, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over batter, top with remaining walnuts.

Pour boiling water in thin streams over the entire surface of brownie; do not stir. Bake until top is set and a bit crispy, 40-45 min.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Lamest

Sigh...
So yesterday I decided to finally go in for some new contacts. I'm wearing my last pair now and if something happens to them, I have to wear glasses, which I definitely do not want to do. I'm not a big fan of my contacts. They rip too easily and slip when I'm in the shower. I bought a years worth so they're under warranty but every time they rip, I've been too lazy to go and get them replaced. I now wish I did.
I didn't factor "Health" into my budget. Even though I have some bad habits, I'm pretty healthy so I guess it slipped my mind. I do have vision insurance through VSP but I have to pay a $10 co-pay and since I got my glass prescription updated last year, I don't think it covers my contacts, this year... so lame. Oh, not only that, contact exams costs extra. There is a list on there that says that if I get the contacts on those list, I can get the contacts and the contact exam covered for free. I don't know... I get the bad feeling that my eye doctor tries to screw me over as much as possible. Shit. This is going to blow my budget.
I also wanted to go to the dentist and the doctor this year. I have both dental and health insurance but I still have to pay the co-pay and whatever. I don't know where I'm going to find the money. I mean, I have the money, I have savings, but I don't want to touch it. How do people do it? I mean, there are single moms out there with kids making what I make and make do, how?
I went to the grocery store and balked at the fact that I had to pay $26. I'm standing there at the isle trying to discern between two similar items that with a ten cent difference. I wanted to go to either Trader Joes or Wegmen but I ended up having a five hour discussion about religion with my brother (which was exhausting but a lot of fun) so I didn't have time. I got really fed up at Giant, I swear Wegmen's cheaper. I did get an awesome deal on some chicken breasts however.
I also ended up having to eat out today. I was originally going to cook at home but because of the theological marathon discussion, I went seven hours without having eaten anything so I just needed food, fast (not that there was any real food in the house). I ended up having a burrito bol and chips with salsa at Chipotle for like $8. We split it so it's not a bad deal, $8 for two people. Well, it wouldn't have been a bad deal if I got reimbursed. He was in an accident and got his car totaled so I thought I'd be nice. I am so nice.

Lamer

Okay, so I guess I suck at this budgeting thing 'cause my budget is $35 over what I make. I over-budgeted in some areas to add a cushion for things that might come up but even then I think I might fall short. Oh well, this month will be like a trial month and I can readjust for the next month as needed. I have allotted a certain amount to be put into my savings account every month and I don't want to take money out of that category since the whole point of budgeting is to save as much money as possible.
I spend a lot on food. I budgeted $150 a month on eating out. This might seem enough but I eat out every day at work. I decided to budget $5 a day- which is doable, but that leads to $100 just on work day lunch. That only leaves me $50 for actual eating out... like for fun... that's only like twice a month. I eat out a lot. It's what I do with friends. I don't drink, I don't party, I eat out. Argh! I might be able to dip into my entertainment budget but I only have $40 a month on that!
Pout.
As soon as I got to work, I debated coffee. I still had some money left over on one of my Starbucks card so I figured I can get some coffee without having it effect my budget. $1.75 for a tall drip?! What the hell! It's only $1.50 some cents at Nordstroms. I saw that their bagel was only $.85, I might keep that in mind as a cheap meal alternative. Again, I hate that I have to think about a fucking cup of coffee but I'm glad I am. I still have some Starbucks cards to get me through but I think I'll save that for when I got out for coffee with people so I can save some money on my entertainment budget.
For dinner I got a grilled chicken sandwich which cost $3.56. I could've gotten the chicken nuggets, which are cheaper, but those nuggets are... blech! Next week, before work, I'm going to withdraw $20. I think that'll really drive home the point that that's all I have. Besides, if I have cash, it'll let me buy some cheaper stuff from other places in the food court so I'm not limited to just Taco Bell, Nordstrom Cafe, and Chic Fil A.
I also spent $10 today on a gift card for my ASM. I budgeted $100 a month on gifts. That leads to $1200 a year and that seemed like a lot until I considered all the birthdays, Christmas, and other misc. gift giving occasions... I'm actually worried that it might not be enough.
So far...
I am $.32 over on eating out. It's too early to tell how I'm doing in the other categories.
I have $150 budgeted for groceries, $40 for beauty/personal hygiene, and $40 for household. ARGH!!! I never really thought about grocery shopping before. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Who sells the cheapest chicken breast? I never really had to think about this before. I think I'll go to Trader Joe. It's far but they have good prices. Augh, maybe not. I have a tendency to go overboard there. It's going to be too tempting to come home with 5 bags of chestnuts... that's $25 right there. Besides, they don't sell Kosher salt or Heinz Ketchup. They do have really good prices on chicken though... and on pasta and sauces...

Start

This year I decided to be more fiscally responsible and have even created a... gasp... a budget.
Augh, budgets scare me.
Today I spent $6.93 on food and drinks, I budgeted $5.
I spent close to $4 on a cup of coffee and some vegan cookies, $2.93 on some chicken nuggets from Chic Fil A.
I debated on the coffee. Normally, I don't buy coffee when I close. If I'm closing I've gotten a decent amount of sleep and had enough time in the morning to get my full cup of home brewed coffee. However, I'm trying a new brand, Wegman's Donut Shop. It tasted good at Wegman's but I must not have brewed it right since it tastes like dishwater. Blech! I can't stand weak coffee. So I went to Nordstrom on my break. Nordstrom had a deal where if I bought a $25 gift car, I got an extra $5 added. While I was there, I saw the double chocolate vegan cookies and I couldn't resist. The vegan chocolate chip cookie tastes a little odd but the double chocolate ones were awesome.
As for dinner, my default lunch/dinner is either soup from Nordstrom or something from Taco Bell. However, since I'm trying to be cheap, I decided to opt for something from Chic Fil A sans the value meal option. I suppose I could've done the same thing at Taco Bell but I like the ppl who owns it so I didn't want to stick them with the Visa transaction fee. I'm so nice and considerate like that.
So I went $1.93 over budget today. Augh, being on a budget is kind of lame. I mean, in a way, I like the discipline, it makes me feel I have some control. On the other hand, I'm so used to buying coffee and cookies without a thought... which is a bad thing.
I even created a little spreadsheet to track my spending.
For a Luddite I'm doing pretty well. I started tracking my purchases on line, I actually opened up Quicken, I'm using Excel...
And I guess it was about time that I moved to a real blog site instead of the one I was using. If I could upload pics on the others, I totally would've get that one. Oh well. I don't think that I will be telling Daria that I have a Google account...