The wedding fund got a kick in the pants the other day. That's about all that'll be getting a kick in the pants. That's the first goal that NEEDS to be done in the next... ooo, lets say 6 months? I'm 1/3rd of the way there, at least.
The wedding is 11 months away. So I figure 5-6 months of paying people for things would be good enough? Bah.
All my other savings goals are for after the wedding. And I have to admit, I've always been a "do one thing quickly" kind of person. Well, unless we're talking about procrastinating. Haha.
Oh yes, and I need to go to the bank today.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Fortnightly Expenditure
I kind of want to do this every fortnight as I get paid each fortnight. I need to set up a reminder to do it, though. Haha. I only started this from yesterday
Gas:
$38.70 - (11 Nov)
Groceries:
$98.25 - (4 Nov)
$135.77 - Countdown (10 Nov)
$4.33 - Valley Fruit Veg & Spice (11 Nov)
Entertainment:
$4.80 - Hollywood Bakery
$21.65 - Coffee Club
$4.90 - Dairy (Cookies)
$50 - Tickets to MMA promotion
- $4 - Water at fights
- $23.10 - McDonalds after fights (cheapest place that was open at that time, we didn't have dinner before we left, so I'm including it in entertainment).
Bills:
$68 - Gym
Things:
$779.94 - Bikes
Total spending: $1,233.44
Income: $1,243
Why am I doing this? I'm trying to track how much we spend on groceries and gas, mainly. But I figure it'd be cool to see where the rest of my money is going too.
I get paid tomorrow so we'll restart tracking again from there. Yay!
Gas:
$38.70 - (11 Nov)
Groceries:
$98.25 - (4 Nov)
$135.77 - Countdown (10 Nov)
$4.33 - Valley Fruit Veg & Spice (11 Nov)
Entertainment:
$4.80 - Hollywood Bakery
$21.65 - Coffee Club
$4.90 - Dairy (Cookies)
$50 - Tickets to MMA promotion
- $4 - Water at fights
- $23.10 - McDonalds after fights (cheapest place that was open at that time, we didn't have dinner before we left, so I'm including it in entertainment).
Bills:
$68 - Gym
Things:
$779.94 - Bikes
Total spending: $1,233.44
Income: $1,243
Why am I doing this? I'm trying to track how much we spend on groceries and gas, mainly. But I figure it'd be cool to see where the rest of my money is going too.
I get paid tomorrow so we'll restart tracking again from there. Yay!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
My Life, Previously
So I don't know if I mentioned, but currently I work as a teacher aide, helping out with reading, math, and ICT.
This is the first regularly paying job I've had. My first REAL job.
Before this, my source of income was non-existent. I lived with my mom and grandma, and yeah. I didn't need a job. I was also severely depressed and a shut-in. I've been blogging for a few years now, and I have another blog that dealt with that and such, but I don't want both worlds to mix for the moment because it's very public.
I dropped out of school at 16. I'm 24. I went back to an institute of technology earlier this year to get an entrance qualification for University and passed all my classes with A+. I want to become a teacher. I need to apply soon before time is up and I have to wait another year.
Aside from loving imparting wisdom and guiding kids towards their goals, teaching represents financial security, and freedom. Teachers are wanted all over the world. And I know I can be an amazing teacher. I've worked with teachers, I've seen how bad, and how great they can be.
I don't know why I posted this, but I felt like I needed to vent a little, so there we go.
This is the first regularly paying job I've had. My first REAL job.
Before this, my source of income was non-existent. I lived with my mom and grandma, and yeah. I didn't need a job. I was also severely depressed and a shut-in. I've been blogging for a few years now, and I have another blog that dealt with that and such, but I don't want both worlds to mix for the moment because it's very public.
I dropped out of school at 16. I'm 24. I went back to an institute of technology earlier this year to get an entrance qualification for University and passed all my classes with A+. I want to become a teacher. I need to apply soon before time is up and I have to wait another year.
Aside from loving imparting wisdom and guiding kids towards their goals, teaching represents financial security, and freedom. Teachers are wanted all over the world. And I know I can be an amazing teacher. I've worked with teachers, I've seen how bad, and how great they can be.
I don't know why I posted this, but I felt like I needed to vent a little, so there we go.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
DEBT!
I'm lucky at the moment in that I don't have a lot of debt. My only debt right now is a student loan, however I'm going to be adding to that over the next three years. I'm planning on becoming a teacher, so I need my degree. It's almost ironic that I'm becoming a teacher as I dropped out of school, but that makes me realise just how important education truly is.
I know I'll be getting a mortgage too. I want a house. It's security to me. Not worrying about whether or not I can pay the rent. Knowing that once the mortgage is gone, it's gone and I own a house and land, it's just cool. Something I can pass down.
Hopefully that will be the only debt I personally acquire. My fiancée has some debt due to family circumstances that we're going to be working towards getting rid of too, but she posts about that on her personal finance blog. She's so smart and is helping me understand lots of things.
I suppose it's kind of like debt, kind of like saving, but I'd like to get life insurance and a retirement fund going too. The retirement thing is kind of foreign to me. I get the basics, saving money for use later, but the options and such confuse me. Life insurance is just a necessary evil, I think. If my heart stops beating I want my family not to have to worry.
Oooo, I also want to start a college fund for my kids. Probably should have posted that in the last post. I don't have kids, but I want to, and I want them to be able to go to college. It'd be cool if they could go in NZ because it's cheaper, and awesome, but America could be cool too. Just so much money for those big colleges. Maybe they'll get a scholarship into Harvard or something? Haha.
Anyway, I'll post those things up later. Peace!
I know I'll be getting a mortgage too. I want a house. It's security to me. Not worrying about whether or not I can pay the rent. Knowing that once the mortgage is gone, it's gone and I own a house and land, it's just cool. Something I can pass down.
Hopefully that will be the only debt I personally acquire. My fiancée has some debt due to family circumstances that we're going to be working towards getting rid of too, but she posts about that on her personal finance blog. She's so smart and is helping me understand lots of things.
I suppose it's kind of like debt, kind of like saving, but I'd like to get life insurance and a retirement fund going too. The retirement thing is kind of foreign to me. I get the basics, saving money for use later, but the options and such confuse me. Life insurance is just a necessary evil, I think. If my heart stops beating I want my family not to have to worry.
Oooo, I also want to start a college fund for my kids. Probably should have posted that in the last post. I don't have kids, but I want to, and I want them to be able to go to college. It'd be cool if they could go in NZ because it's cheaper, and awesome, but America could be cool too. Just so much money for those big colleges. Maybe they'll get a scholarship into Harvard or something? Haha.
Anyway, I'll post those things up later. Peace!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tired
There's a certain satisfaction that comes from earning money and saving it. It stays there, and it even grows. But when it's not growing, when you're not adding to it, it's like... so what? What's the point? That's what this past week has felt like.
Last week we bought bikes. They were on sale, and they're an excellent brand (GT), so we jumped at the chance. However, they were slightly over our original budget, and that meant we had absolutely no money left for the rest of the week. We didn't even have enough money to buy helmets, so we've only ridden them once.
I'm tired of not having money to save. Which sounds weird, but it's true. And I'm REALLY tired of having a bike with no helmet!
Last week we bought bikes. They were on sale, and they're an excellent brand (GT), so we jumped at the chance. However, they were slightly over our original budget, and that meant we had absolutely no money left for the rest of the week. We didn't even have enough money to buy helmets, so we've only ridden them once.
I'm tired of not having money to save. Which sounds weird, but it's true. And I'm REALLY tired of having a bike with no helmet!
Saving Goals
So I just updated the saving goal sidebar thing with some new goals. They're not so much new as they are... revealed.
The wedding fund is going alright. It's all I'm saving for, really. I'm trying to get as much saved before I have next to no money to contribute.
I want to have enough money to be able to buy a ticket whenever I need to to fly to Memphis. It's my second home and I have family there.
I learned from my fiancée that it's important to have an emergency fund so I don't have to put things on a credit card. The emergency fund is for things like if tires blow, or something needs to be fixed right away.
I've seen on my bank's website a thing called a term deposit. As I understand, if you put a certain amount of money in a term deposit (leave the money for a certain amount of time), you get a higher interest rate than if it were in a savings account. That sounds cool!
I'm getting married, and I'm gonna need a house for my family! So I need to save for a down payment for a mortgage. Gah, a mortgage. Now that's not so cool. It's possible that the term deposit above will filter over into this :) The term deposit is a "just because" kind of thing.
The wedding fund is going alright. It's all I'm saving for, really. I'm trying to get as much saved before I have next to no money to contribute.
I want to have enough money to be able to buy a ticket whenever I need to to fly to Memphis. It's my second home and I have family there.
I learned from my fiancée that it's important to have an emergency fund so I don't have to put things on a credit card. The emergency fund is for things like if tires blow, or something needs to be fixed right away.
I've seen on my bank's website a thing called a term deposit. As I understand, if you put a certain amount of money in a term deposit (leave the money for a certain amount of time), you get a higher interest rate than if it were in a savings account. That sounds cool!
I'm getting married, and I'm gonna need a house for my family! So I need to save for a down payment for a mortgage. Gah, a mortgage. Now that's not so cool. It's possible that the term deposit above will filter over into this :) The term deposit is a "just because" kind of thing.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Hey
Hey all. So this is a personal finance blog where I'm going to be talking about my experiences with saving and paying off debt and such.
At the moment, I'm saving for a wedding, trying to help my mom pay off debt so she can come, and trying to pay off my (soon to be growing) student loan.
I work as a teacher aide, helping with reading groups, ICT things, and math recovery. If you think teachers don't get paid much, teachers aides get even less by comparison, but I feel strongly about helping kids, so I'm planning to college to become a teacher.
I'm lucky that I've never had a credit card and racked up large amounts of debt. I've always been scared of that happening, so I've always tried to save for things myself. Being 24 now means those "things" cost MORE, and I don't have someone buying me everything.
Oh well, that's all for now. I'm going to chuck some bars up on the right that will track my progress towards some financial goals later.
I want to post about my financial goals too. Some that are obvious that will come along with wedding related things. Others that are just some things I've had in mind to do. But more later. At the moment I need to sort out why my browsers is acting weird.
Peace!
At the moment, I'm saving for a wedding, trying to help my mom pay off debt so she can come, and trying to pay off my (soon to be growing) student loan.
I work as a teacher aide, helping with reading groups, ICT things, and math recovery. If you think teachers don't get paid much, teachers aides get even less by comparison, but I feel strongly about helping kids, so I'm planning to college to become a teacher.
I'm lucky that I've never had a credit card and racked up large amounts of debt. I've always been scared of that happening, so I've always tried to save for things myself. Being 24 now means those "things" cost MORE, and I don't have someone buying me everything.
Oh well, that's all for now. I'm going to chuck some bars up on the right that will track my progress towards some financial goals later.
I want to post about my financial goals too. Some that are obvious that will come along with wedding related things. Others that are just some things I've had in mind to do. But more later. At the moment I need to sort out why my browsers is acting weird.
Peace!
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