Paycheck 2

Well guys I received my second check and began the second period today. Before we go into this upcoming period I would like to take a quick review of this last period.

I had a budget for the last period of $466.65. My spending during the period breaks down as follows:

Gas : $103.35
Movie date: $21
New Shoes: $56
ATM Fees: $9.25
Food: $204
IN Income tax: $8
(Both groceries and restaurants)

This totals out to $401.60 with $65.05 remaining to go into my emergency fund. Looking at my expenses there are some definite areas where I can do better. The first thing that I need to do is to carry more cash that way I don’t have to use other banks ATMs. This is a simple step that could have saved me $9.25. The second thing that I need to do is to start packing more lunches for work. Even a couple of lunches a week will bring my food costs down immensely. I will be trying to cut about $25 from my food budget over the next period by eating out less and bringing my own food and drinks to work. Although I spend a lot of money on gas there is not much that I can do about it as I have a lengthy drive for both school and work.

This period went pretty well. I kept a rough estimate of where I was at during the period and had no difficulty in keeping under budget. As stated above I plan on cutting out the ATM fees and reducing my food budget by at least $25 dollars by planning my meals better.

As for this coming period I received my check today and it totaled $671.86. I will be breaking it down as follows:

Savings 1/10th: $67.19
Debt 2/10ths: $134.37
Living 7/10ths:$470.30

This should be a good period for me and let me focus on further decreasing my expenses and increasing my emergency fund. As always feel free to comment or ask questions!