NYC By The Numbers

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Last week, I had officially been in NYC for an entire month. Since it's now May, I am going to try to get my budget back on track...keyword is TRY because I've had such an influx of cash recently from my first two paychecks earning a higher salary to selling my car to a gift from my parents for their tax purposes. Here was my April spending breakdown. Keep in mind that this is an expensive city and I also wanted to let myself have as much fun as possible!

• Rent: $1,100
  This included utilities, internet and cable at the one-month sublet.
  
  
• Metrocard: $104
  Unlimited monthly. Starting in May this is pre-tax through work!
  
  
• Cell: $30
  Still on my parents' plan, I pay for the data portion of my iPhone.
  
  
• Groceries: $92.73
  WOW...I can't believe how much I spent on groceries! Mostly breakfast foods, a few trips to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for quick dinner meals and snacks. Groceries are expensive here!
  
  
• Restaurants: $380.90
  I expected this to be high. I ate out for almost every single meal except breakfast during the week. This includes Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts stops, lots of meals with old/new friends, trying a lot of food trucks...and some even had leftovers that would last me 2 additional meals!
  
  
• Alcohol: $191.63
  I knew this was going to be high, too! My close friends in the city are solid weekend drinkers and I spent two weekends with them. I also bought three bottles of wine (one as a thank-you gift) and there was one week I went out for drinks four days in a row! It's been worth it for my social life, though. :)
  
  
• Miscellaneous: $99.27
  Everything else. Taxis, quite a few toiletries, indoor rock climbing, a case for my iPhone, a trip to Target, flowers and laundry.
  
  
• Savings: $600
  Regular $200/month to my Roth IRA and then I sent $200 to my Travel Fund and $200 to my Gift Fund. It feels good to increase my savings amounts! (I'm also contributing 4% to get the 4% match on my new employer's Roth 401k, but that gets taken out of my paycheck before I see it.)

So even with all my out-of-control spending, I still managed to save money this month AND I have a few hundred dollars leftover! This was due to the fact that I got paid for 5 weeks of work instead of 4 since I started on March 28 (I get paid bi-monthly now) so my first paycheck included a week's worth of retro-pay. Side note: I did do a lot of shopping as well, to the tune of $313. All of that came from my remaining bonus money from my old job and some of the money I got from selling my car instead of out of my regular budget since I generally don't shop much!

Still, this feels amazing. I'm ready for May to be a little less crazy with spending...but hey, if I can afford a bit of lifestyle inflation in a pricier city, why not?! As long as I continue to budget and save consistently. :)

"Found" Money

I have various savings funds in my ING Direct account. The biggest one, of course, is my Emergency Fund. I have a few others like my Travel Fund and Gift Fund that get used on a semi-regular basis. Then... I have other smaller accounts. Some of which I sort-of forgot about over the past few months, especially the two related to my car: Car Maintenance and Car Insurance.

Clearly, I don't need either of those anymore since I sold my car! My Car Maintenance Fund has $650 in it and my Car Insurance Fund has $930. I was canceling some automatic transfers from my checking account which included those two and made me remember to check how much was in them. Oh, and there's the $615 in my 25th Birthday/Christian Louboutin Fund which I clearly never spent and after some thinking, I just can't bring myself to buy such expensive heels! (Maybe one day. Because I AM madly in love with them!)

I'm not sure what to do with some of this money. Save it? Spend it? Half and half? I'm thinking of making some near-future pricey purchases like a new laptop (my first Mac?) and getting a few items tailored for work like pants (~$70 each) and a skirt.

75K Car Maintenance

My car needed a little bit of TLC. It hadn't had an oil change in over 5,000 miles and had recently passed the 75K mark. It's 8 years old and also had not had an sort of maintenance in... well, a long time! I'm honestly not the best at taking care of my car.

After going through some Yelp reviews, I called around. Per my owner's manual, I was under the impression that my timing belt/water pump/spark plugs needed to be replaced, as it stated at either 110K miles OR 7 years, whichever came first. One of the repair shops I called told me that I was definitely okay on waiting for that until I hit 105K miles since I don't drive in extreme conditions and have a very reliable car. What an honest, trustworthy mechanic to discuss that with me! The other places all just gave me quotes of $800+ without batting an eye!

I got the 75K mileage service which came with all the necessities and then, at the recommendation of one of the mechanics after they had checked out my car, I also got the brake fluid/transmission fluid/cabin filters flushed/fixed. I don't think any of that had ever been done!

I got a discount for providing my own air filter (which had been sitting in my trunk for over a year!) and a 10% discount for being a AAA member. Total cost came to $403.17. Pricey? Sure, but it would have been at least $200 more at the dealership plus I didn't do any "unnecessary" repairs! And now my car is happy...even if it still needs to washed and vacuumed. (They don't have an on-site detailer.) Glad I have enough in my car maintenance fund to cover the costs!

Three Paycheck Month

October is the other three paycheck month of the year! I am so excited, and it couldn't come at a more perfect time. I'm leaving for two vacations in 11 days, my car tabs expire at the end of the month and so does my gym membership - which I will probably try to negotiate. It's already been spendy but as Suze Orman says: People First! :) Here's what I plan on doing with my extra paycheck, which will be about $1K even.

Travel Fund $250
Roth IRA $200
Gift Fund $200 (needs to be padded before Christmas!)
Car Registration Renewal $150 (I used this calculator and am over-budgeting by $50)
Self $200 (gym renewal or shopping or whatever!)

What are you doing with your extra paycheck this month?

March Month-End & Networth Update

I forgot to do a March month-end post! Well, here it is, a week into April! ;)

March was the first month since I started working full-time in June 2008 that I did not have any budget leftovers! This was because I decided to do a little spring/summer shopping early... but it was all worth it. :) And, I took out $450 from my Travel Fund to go to Vegas for a weekend with friends, so my cash savings decreased.

Even with the lack of extra savings, my networth still increased by 2.70% thanks to my retirement accounts. I'm going to try to rein in my spending in April, but I have one weekend where a friend is visiting from out-of-state. Though when my parents visit mid-month, they will probably spoil me a bit as they usually do! I can't wait! :)

Three Paycheck Month!

October is the other three paycheck month of the year! Below is my breakdown of what I am going to do with my extra $1,000.

$375 Emergency Fund
$375 Roth IRA
$50 Gift Fund (trying to boost it up in time for Christmas!)
$50 Travel Fund
$150 Self (new clothes/shoes, books, other splurges!)

What are you doing with your extra paycheck for October?

Officially Autumn (or, it's October!)

And another month goes by! I had $250 leftover from my September budget. I am putting $100 into my E-fund, $100 into my Roth IRA and $50 into my Gift Fund, since the holiday season is getting closer! Here's my re-cap of my September goals:

1. CFA studying. Pass! I feel like I am doing okay... there is just SO MUCH material! :(
2. Finish my book. Fail. But I'm really close!!
3. Try some new recipes. Pass! As usual, some worked and some didn't. Haha.
4. Renew passport. Pass! I actually received it back today, hooray! Cruise, here I come!!
5. Finish knitting my first scarf! Fail. Studying has been my priority, so my other hobbies get pushed aside :(
6. Spend no more than $400 on vacation. Pass! Well, technically, because even though I did spend over $500, it was mostly from the surprise money my parents gave me! :) I have no idea if I would've spent that much of my own money...maybe.

Checking Account Cushion = Extra Cash

I track every single purchase that I make in my budget spreadsheet. At the end of every month, I reconcile my budget and put my leftovers into savings, which is usually my E-fund and Roth IRA.

As of today, I have $995 in my checking account which seems abnormally high! I made sure that my full rent amount for next month is waiting in my brick & mortar savings to be debited and sent to my landlord via automatic bill pay - yes, it's all there. So it wasn't because I missed putting that away. After the rest of my monthly automatic expenses get debited and I pay my roommates for utilities/cable for September and spend about $100 from now til next week's paycheck and save my September monthly leftovers, my checking account will still have $500 in it!

I went back into my spreadsheet and went through each month (different tabs) to see how much I had leftover after putting the leftovers in savings. Sound confusing? Let's say I had $200 leftover for a particular month, which is after all my expenses and savings is done, including $200 to my Roth IRA and $250 to Emergency/Travel/Gift/Car Funds. I would probably split $175 of the remaining $200 between my E-fund and Roth IRA, or whatever I feel like adding to in that particular month. So that leaves me with a $25 cushion. Some months seem random, it looks like I've left as much as $80 unallocated to just sit in my checking account.

I like a cushion, but I don't need THAT much of a cushion! After all, I have $1,000 for random emergencies in my b&m savings which I can access/transfer immediately. Usually I leave around a $250 cushion in my checking account, but it looks like over the past 8 months, I've been leaving enough that it slowly built up to $500!

Now I am trying to figure out what to do with it! After all, October is the other 3-paycheck month of this year and I will be saving almost all of that extra paycheck anyway. Essentially, I am giving myself $250 to play with! I am thinking a new pair of designer jeans and some shoes/accessories, or new workout shirts and a sports bra... I'm not big on gadgets, my camera and iPod work great even though they are both a few years old.

Any suggestions, or should I just go shopping?! :) Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend!

August Networth & Budget Leftovers

Oops, forgot to put this in my last post! Anyway, my networth increased by 6.20% in August. This was due to savings and increases in my 401k and Roth IRA.

I had a REALLY good month in terms of my budget! Due to not much spending in "entertainment/fun" and "dining out" plus a few other categories, I had $300 leftover! I put $200 into my Roth IRA and $100 into my E-fund.

Is it bad that I like extra savings on top of what I save automatically every month? ;)

Emergency Fund: What To Use It For?

Some recent events - like my car being towed and getting locked out of my apartment - have had me thinking what my emergency fund is really for. Obviously, yes, anything that constitutes (in my opinion) as an emergency; any unexpected, rare, sudden occurrence.

For instance, if May had not been a 3-paycheck month, I would have had to take the towing fees out of my emergency fund. If one of my roommates had not been coming home soon when I was locked out, I would have called a locksmith and would have paid for that out of my emergency fund. Luckily, I have not yet had to dip into the fund to pay for anything!

I then made a list of what I would personally use my E-fund for:

• Job loss
• Medical expenses
• Taxes (if owe any)
• Other: out-of-city/state moving expenses, major car repair (if car fund doesn't cover it), plane ticket to wherever in case of a family emergency/death
  

I am sure I am missing any sort of incidents, because who knows what could happen - but these are the "big ticket" items I could come up with.

Is there anything else you would add? What have you used your emergency fund for?

Sidebar Updates

I've updated my sidebars. I am easily within reach of the $8,000 in my E-fund! And hopefully soon I'll be using more of the money in my Travel Fund... Though that could be easily wiped out with a plane ticket or two!

Three Paycheck Month!

May is one of two 3-paycheck months of the year! Here is how I am budgeting the extra $1,000 coming in:

Towing Fees* = $263
E-Fund = $300
Roth IRA = $300
Myself = $137

*I am hoping to get this reimbursed by the HOA/security company as it was an unlawful tow. In the event that it does get reimbursed, it will go towards savings in some form.

Savings Changes!

I am making a few adjustments to my savings goals after looking over my budget today. The economy is still not great, people are still losing jobs and this recession might go on for longer than people think! (Or shorter - let's be optimistic!)

Instead of $75/month to Travel, I am decreasing it back down to $50/month.
Instead of $50/month to Car Maintenance, I am decreasing it back down to $25/month.
Instead of $100/month to my E-fund, I am increasing it up to $150/month.

My travel fund is still doing very well, though I might be using it to buy some plane tickets soon! (Once I figure out my travel plans for the rest of the year, that is...)

My car fund has $350 in it right now, which I believe is sufficient for the 60K tune-up I need to get done and other on-going maintenance like oil changes. I have been looking at prices for the 60K and I know some people who can help me get a decent deal and not get over-charged, which is my fear!

I want my emergency fund to keep going until it's at a level I am comfortable with. Yes, I realize that over $6K is a fantastic place - but I want it to get to $10K to feel totally okay! That would be 8 months of my bare-bones budget, with no savings or little extras. Once it reaches around $8-10K, I'll allocate the monthly savings to something else... perhaps a down payment fund? :)

Have you made any changes in your savings habits recently?

May Goals, April Review & Month-End

April Month-End
I had $250 leftover from my April budget, so I am putting $200 into my Roth IRA and $50 into my E-fund. Here is my review of my April goals:

April Review
1. Do more outdoor activities - preferably free/low-cost ones! PASS! K and I went hiking twice and a few strolls around town. I'm really enjoying it!
2. Gifts: My brother's 21st birthday present & my girlfriend's bachelorette present. PASS! I spent $71 on those 2 gifts.
3. Finish 1 book. Really! Fail. Again. Though I am really enjoying my new book.
4. Start studying for December CFA Level I. Fail. I decided to start in May instead of April. Though I now have all my study materials!
5. Take car in for 60K mileage (and try to keep cost around $200) Fail. Though I did wash it by hand...
6. Get renter's insurance. Seriously!! Fail. Again. Ugh, I am taking this off my list.
7. Enjoy my vacation to NYC and try to keep spending around ~$300. PASS! I only spent $84. The clothing ($218) came from my bonus. Total was $302.

May Goals
1. Begin studying for CFA Level I.
2. Add $20 prescription and $30 Blackberry Data Plan into budget.
3. Take my car in. Really...
4. Go out more often with friends! But keeping "Entertainment" spending at $75 max.
5. Use Crock Pot for new, quick and easy meals.
6. Look into taking ballroom dance lessons with K who keeps mentioning it!

Net Worth & Side Bar Updates

I have updated my net worth and savings sidebars for April. My net worth is still increasing - but this was mostly due to my retirement accounts this month, as my cash actually decreased since I finally finished spending my bonus money!

March Month-End

March was a long month! 31 days, no holidays or vacation, but I did start full-time in my new position (definitely enjoying it) and started dating K. :) It was also both of my parents' birthdays, so I did spend a bit on them. The "Make Work Pay" stimulus showed up in both my paychecks as well!

After putting in the few items I purchased yesterday into my budget spreadsheet, I was happily surprised to find out that I had $275 leftover from my March budget.

$250 is going into my Roth IRA and $25 is going into my E-Fund!

Survey Checks!

I received 2 survey checks in the mail today. $3 from Pinecone Research and $10 from Your2Cents.

That $13 is going into my Car Fund!

CA State Refund!

My California state tax refund of $332 was directly deposited into my E-fund on Monday.

Hooray!

Survey Checks

Last week I received 2 more survey checks from Pinecone Research.

The $6.00 is going into my Car Fund this time. I need to make an appointment to have it checked out/tuned-up since I am basically at 60,000 mile mark! (It's a 2002 Honda Civic.)

February Month-End

My savings side-bars have been updated!

I had $250 leftover from my February budget! I decided to put it all into my Roth IRA for 2008, bringing me to $4,750 in total contributions for that calendar year. I was not sure if I would be able to max out my 2008 contributions to $5K, but it looks like that should not be a problem if all goes well in March with my budget and any leftovers! Just in time for the April cut-off date for 2008 contributions, too.