Weekend Spending

I had a great weekend! I went out on Friday to the bars and to a "Tacky Christmas Sweater" party on Saturday night, which was a blast! I spent $0 on Saturday night because it was a house party and someone bought me a drink at the bar we went to later in the evening. :) During the day on Saturday I ran a bunch of errands and on Sunday I put together my new Ikea dresser after sleeping in. (My Mom bought the dresser for me over Thanksgiving weekend while she was in town.)

Friday
$0, I drove to the bars so my roommate bought me 1 beer

Saturday
$15.98, Drugstore.com (using E-bates so I got a $10 sign-up bonus thanks to SavingDiva! Technically that means it only cost me $5.98 and I'll get some cash-back.)
$12.91, Ikea (returned a curtain rod & bought a new one plus some other things)
$9.10, Whole Foods (for a specific shampoo that I use)
$19.02, Trader Joe's

Sunday
$0, I was lazy!

Total: $57.01

Net Worth

I have been tracking my net worth on NetworthIQ since July. I have added it to my sidebar.

It's all explained in my profile if you're interested. My net worth did increase, but only by a small amount: 0.68%. (I did a lot of spending last month and my retirement accounts are worth less than what I have put in!)

Priceless!

Britney Spears Concert Ticket for April 2009: $82
Driving to LA: ~$25
Parking: ~$10
Food: ~$10

Having a night to remember with my best friends while dancing at the venue? Priceless!

December Goals

Here are my December goals:

1. Purchase remaining Christmas gifts (my parents, my brother, a few friends) and Christmas cards with the $270 I have left in my Gift Fund (Anything leftover will go to the Travel Fund!)
2. Learn to knit.
3. Finish the book I am currently reading.
4. Crunch the numbers to see if using a Flexible Spending Account is worth it for 2009.
5. Try to keep dining out to below $100 (I did this in November even though it wasn't an official goal - this time I want to try to make it happen!)
6. Save for Vegas and set my budget - and don't go over!

So far, it's a busy month. I've been putting in overtime at work this week. I am still going to my kickboxing classes 3x a week. I need to figure out what to buy for my family for Christmas, wrap/send others plus cards. I can't WAIT for my Christmas vacation, where I am taking the week of December 22-26 off to fly home to Washington State to be with my family, then a half work week after that due to my Vegas trip! Oh, and then my company's holiday party is on December 13th! Yes, it might be a busy month, but it's an EXCITING month as well! Plus my birthday is the first week of January, so I just love this season. :)

November Budget Remainder

I had $150 leftover from my November budget, thanks to the Thanksgiving weekend and time with my parents.

It is all going into my Travel Fund, which needs to increase for my Vegas trip!

I also updated my sidebars: my E-fund increased by $100, my Roth IRA is getting closer to the maximum and my Travel Fund increased slightly, even after I took out the $190 for my Vegas flight. :)

November Month-End

Review of my November goals:

1. Stay within budget & contribute $200 to my new Roth IRA. - Pass! Thanks to my parents & Thanksgiving!
2. Learn to cook more than one new meal. - Pass! I cooked a new soup and some other meals like chicken a la king and I made popovers. :)
3. Work out 2x per week & try a different class such as pilates or yoga. - 1/2 success. I realized I love my kickboxing classes, so I now go 3x a week to those classes.
4. Purchase Christmas gifts. - Pass! I purchased gifts for my roommates plus 3 other friends. Still have to buy for my family, though...
5. Buy a vacuum and keep the apartment clean(er)... it's rough with a 1,900 sq. ft. townhouse, 3 of us roommates & a constant stream of friends! - Pass! So great and now our apt is nice and clean!
6. Finish a book & start a new one. (I want to spend more time reading instead of watching TV.) - Fail. I continued reading the book I have but did not finish it...

Suze Says: Dollar-Cost Averaging

On Saturday's episode, Suze Orman discussed dollar-cost averaging. Most pf bloggers know that dollar-cost averaging is a great way to invest in the stock market. Suze reiterated how important it is to continue to dollar-cost average even through turbulent markets such as these.

Definition, from Investopedia.com: "The technique of buying a fixed dollar amount of a particular investment on a regular schedule, regardless of the share price. More shares are purchased when prices are low, and fewer shares are bought when prices are high."

Most people use dollar-cost averaging without even thinking about it: 401k elections are taken out with each paycheck, which is automatic dollar-cost averaging!

I dollar-cost average with my 401k and my Roth IRA with bi-weekly contributions of $75 and $100, respectively.