February Budget & Climbing

Time again for the recap. I'm in a budget crunch due to taking out a large portion of my emergency fund to buy a car. The good news is I now have a car that works & does not stall from point A to point B.

Meet Kori. She's a '99 Toyota Corolla. She currently has a little over 160,000 miles, but runs strong. Best part is I got her within 'budget' and I will not have any car payments. And I didn't have to borrow any money from my parents. She is mine free & clear. Yippie!

Not sure what's going to happen with Lizzy. She's a good car, but needs some work. Hopefully once I get a little extra money ($200?) I can take her to another mechanic and get a second opinion. If she's really easy to fix I'll get her fixed and give (sell for the price to fix) to my sister who doesn't have a car yet. That's what I'm hoping for. I really think she could go for another 50,000 miles or more. She runs great except for that stalling problem!

That all being said, my emergency fund was wiped out to about $200. Ouch! I need to rebuild that stat! Luckily January was a very kind month in the way of working. So I've doubled what was left in the emergency fund. February is not looking to be so lucky. This is going to take some time. With that in mind some adjustments are to be made.

Ice storm took out a few tress around here.

The Budget:
Bills (Electric) $103
Bunnies $30
Car Insurance $36 *Stayed the same!
Cellphone $36
Free Money $40 *$10 a week isn't much, but it's enough
Gas $180 *Small adjustment. Kori uses far less gas already, but I don't want leap before I take a good hard look. I'll give it some more time.
Groceries $100
Rent $280
Student Loans $472

Grand Total: $1277/month (Take home pay.)

Extra Funds Notes:
1. Everything extra goes to rebuild the emergency fund. There are no 'savings' as this fund gets rebuilt.
2. Categories on hold: Car Repair, Clothing, Health & Savings. All current funds in these areas are holding steady until the emergency fund is full. These will be treated temporarily as emergency funds if a situation warrants between now and then.


Emergency Fund:
Last Month: $202.84
This Month: $419.32
Goal: $1,000.00

It looks so pretty!

I'm not doing to well on a lot of non-finical goals. Really, it's been a bad month for it. Maybe it has to do with having a lot of hours at work? Things are slowing down so here's hoping for free time and a chance to make good on those goals. Although that will slow down the finical goals.

2011 Goals

Finical Goals

1. Buy A Car (A Reliable Car)
2. Rebuild Emergency Fund
3. Pay my parents Back Not applicable
4. Pay off another smaller loan
5. Save $750 for Cruise 2012!
6. Start a Gift Fund for Presents

Non-Finical Goals

1. Develop a sleep pattern - Getting there. I need to try and get up on time. Going to bed isn't too bad.
2. Lose 20lbs. - This is the next one to really work on. I need to plan exercise time.
3. Do more stuff that doesn't involve sitting & playing games on the 'couch'. - Um . . working on it . . .
4. No more dirty dishes in the sink @ the end of the night. - Getting closer?
5. Clean the apartment more often. - Totally didn't happen. Time for a major clean up this weekend.


Monthly Climb!!!
Grand Total Last Month: $43,140.15
New Grand Total: $42,844.31
Amount Paid Off: $295.84


This is going to be SLOW!