Money Mondays Archives - Page 5 of 5 - My Pocketful of Thoughts

How much money did you spend on Valentine’s Day this year? Did you plan ahead or are you a last minute shopper? How ever much you spent I hope that you remember always that its the thought that counts. February 14th is actually named Saint Valentine’s Day. A day of remembrance of the priest, Valentine. Intrigued to know the story…Click here to read more... Today Valentine’s Day is SUPER commercialized! With the symbols of chocolates and flowers being a testimony of someone’s undying love, its no wonder the market cannot help but capitalize on the feelings of lovers. I hid some money here and there to make sure I’d have enough to buy something for my sweetie.

Hiding your money is a term I like to use for putting money aside, either in an envelope or in a savings account for a specific goal. Last week I talked about my addiction to budgeting. It is important to make sure that all your bills and expenses add up to what your total income is for the month. I know from personal experience how it feels to not have that happen. To see a negative number in your checkbook registry and feel that pang in your stomach that things are not going right and you wonder when and if things will change for the better.

The first time it happened to me was the weekend I deposited my Express payroll check into my checking account on a Saturday in February many moons ago. By that Monday all my bills had cleared and I was hungry. Assuming my check would clear by the end of Monday’s business day, I made a small purchase for food on my debit card. $4.23 was deducted immediately, however, my check, still being processed had not. Tuesday morning it cleared. $4.23 had come out of my account on Monday though, that could NOT wait. My account was over withdrawn by $1.19. Wednesday morning I got a letter in the mail saying what i already knew in BOLD CAPITAL SCARY LOOKING letters. A charge of $20.00 would be added to my account as they were so kind enough to pay Subway the $4.23. I hoped that it would never happen by putting an extra $20 in my account without recording it in my checkbook registry. Of course all was fine and dandy until the over withdrawn amount was more than that. So I hid $100 in my checking account. It was then that I began reading more money articles and listening to advice of experts. I then became addicted to working on my budget, so I’d never have that feel again when I knew I was gambling with funds and not be afraid to get the mail. Some banks charge $36.00 for over withdrawn fees, let me know if that amount has gone up since the last time I looked at their site.

I do not hide extra money in checking account anymore and I’ll tell you why next Money Monday. Enjoy the rest of this marvelous day!

Until then,

djrelat7

I had some fun this weekend on the Wii Fit. I do believe that I doubted its ability to work me out enough to break a sweat, but that it did. I’ve started working on my goal towards a healthy weight and I completed day 7 of the journal I started, to see what I was actually eating. I’ll share with you what I learned on Wednesday, so stay tuned for that 🙂

I have made it 38 days on my first goal of spending less money this year. Of the things I’ve had to buy, I’ve gotten some pretty good deals on them. I’ll be sure to share with you some of my fabulous finds! One of the things I believe that keeps me focused on my bills, savings and future purchases is my budget. What is a budget and why do I need one? What an awesome question and the answer came to me in my early twenties.

In eighth grade, Mrs. Robinson taught us how to balance a checkbook. I remember that once the adding and subtracting was done the number you should end with SHOULD BE positive. In ninth grade I learned how to identify an Isosceles Trapezoid and calculate the values of a specific angle. In tenth grade I learned how to do some funky algebra. In eleventh grade, I tried but was never truly successful in finding the answer to
Polynomials and I must have been out of my mind to attempt to try a harder version of the course in twelfth grade. When I went to study Engineering I learned math that still gives me nightmares. Now where do you see when I learned to budget?

I learned this all the hard way…after seeing a negative number in my checkbook registry before the purchases and bills cleared on my account I did a lot of praying and crossing my fingers….”Please wait to clear til I get paid next or my paycheck is actually deposited.” I knew that when I got that super thin envelope from the bank that my deposit did not clear and post to my account in time.

It has been a while since that has happened, and if you are reading this thinking I was taught in school how money works, then that is GREAT!! Make sure you teach it to your children and do not assume that they to will be taught.

I started using my budget to see the next month. It was a notebook, wide ruled lines and empty. I started with the month, so we’ll use February. Next to that was written the amount I made for the month. I’m going to use my algebra skills here and call what I make for the month X. On the lines that followed I would write out all my bills that came every month like clockwork, savings, gas and food. I’d rearrange them next month according to the order that they came in. I would add up all the lines and hope that they equaled X. Most of the time I was close or else I would have to figure out how things would be paid if there was no additional income. This budget, when I first started gave me an idea of how next month’s bills were going to go and how much money would actually make it into savings as that number was usually written in last after everything else was added up and subtracted from X. More times than not there wasn’t any money for savings and trying to figure out how to make my bills equal my income were a constant headache… until I learned what I’ll share with you next Monday.

So remember, your budget is all your bills and expenses added up, which should then equal to what your total income is for the month.

Giddy Up its Monday Y’all, MAKE it the best one EVER!!

djrelat7