Week 34 : Jury Duty

I had a really bad week (budget wise), when you scroll down you will see that I have spent a lot on food/drinks. However, I was able to hang out with one of my best girlfriends this past weekend. It was so great being able to catch up finally with our busy schedules - there may have been a few margaritas on scene.

Speaking of, we also went to watch a movie this past weekend. They have revamped the AMC by our house and they now have reclining and assigned seating - they will also have a dine-in theater soon, which is a good and bad thing - of course they raised their prices... If you were curious we saw American Sniper - hellooOooO Bradley Cooper!

Then I spent most of my week in court because I was selected as a Juror. It was actually my first time as a juror although I have been called a couple of times before (no excuses, I know, but that's why I haven't packed my lunch as well). Actually, I am not even too sure what happened the first time and the 2nd time I did not live in the area - so I got excused.

Current Debts:

Its payday this week and were setting aside $300 for debt payment.

Current	Current	Paid	Ending
Personal Loan	4,124.00	200.00	3,924.00
Student Loan	6,017.00	60.00	5,957.00
Credit Cards	9,407.00	50.00	9,357.00
TOTAL	19,548.00	310.00	19,238.00

Starting Debt: $19,548 || Paid/Interest: $310  || Ending Debt: *$19,238

Weekly Spending: 
Well this is embarrassing... I have spent almost half of the total on food. Bleh!

Sat - Food/Drinks $45 | Entertainment $7 | Parking $3
Sun - No Spend Day!
Mon - Food $22
Tue - Drinks $10 | Food $18
Wed - Food $8
Thu - Food $6 | Shopping $91
Fri - Food/Drinks $52

Weekly Spending : $262

Have a great weekend! 

Week 33 : We are such great hosts

*pat in the back* 

My cousin, who just turned 21, and a couple of his friends came out to San Diego the past weekend. We had a blast hosting them. I felt like I was 21 again... my body and liver, however, probably didn't like it so much. But at least I was able to log in a couple of miles into the FitBit - my little daily motivation that I need to move around all day.

Anyway, we took the 'kids' around North Park, Pacific Beach and Downtown San Diego. I wish I had the energy to keep up, but by the end of the night (which creeps at 11pm for me) I was exhausted. I'll definitely post some recommendations here when visiting San Diego - which you should because it is such a lovely (expensive) city!


Current Debts:

Payday is next week! The payment I made towards the Personal Loan last week hasn't posted yet (get on it people) and that's why it seems like I added into my debt.

Current	Previous	Current	Difference
Personal Loan	4,124.00	4,624.00	(500.00)
Student Loan	6,009.00	6,014.00	(5.00)
Credit Cards	9,552.00	9,546.00	6.00
TOTAL	19,685.00	20,184.00	(499.00)

Starting Debt: $19,685 || Paid/Interest: $21,184  || Ending Debt: *$499

Weekly Spending: 
Whats great about hosting or hanging out with a group of people is some will always get a round of drinks =) I got a couple on Saturday!

Sat - $32 Drinks
Sun - $15 Shopping | $19 Breakfast | $21 Gas
Mon - $9 Lunch
Tue - $9 Lunch | $37 Gas | $32 Shopping | $20 Withdrawal
Wed -  No Spend Day!
Thu - No Spend Day!
Fri - $4 Lunch

Weekly Spending : $198

2015 Goals

Happy 2015! I had a lot of fun in 2014 and I am so grateful for the past year, but I honestly felt like I kind of put my life on pause last year - it was a year of let’s see what happens instead of steering my own life. In 2015, I would love to change that. 

First things first, I want to gain control of my goals by PAYING OFF ALL MY CONSUMER DEBT. This will be my main goal this year and the primary purpose of this blog. I also listed some of my savings, blog and personal goals below.

Financial Goals :

• Pay off Debt Completely - I will be paying them off at this order

• Personal Loan - end of 2014 $5,145 | approx monthly $450

• Credit Cards - end of 2014 $9,466 | approx monthly $800

• Student Loan - end of 2014 $6,062 | approx monthly $520

• No credit card spending - I am not leaving my credit card into my wallet. I am kind of nervous about this, but as much as possible – I do not want to add any more debt into my CC.

• Learn about retirement – what’s the best thing to do with my old 401k and an old investment

 Savings Goals : 

• Build an Emergency Fund – Increase to $1000 liquid funds

• 401k - Increase contribution to 6%

• Roth IRA – Increase to $1000

 Blog Goals : The main three things that I will still keep posting are

• Weekly Spending Report - I will keep posting my weekly spending just to keep myself in line of the goals

• Monthly Update - I will also post monthly goals that I would want to accomplish during the month.

• Month End Updates - A closing on what I did during the month - see if I accomplish the goals I have set for myself.

 Personal Goals : 

• 1 International and 4 Domestic Travels - I want to do a big trip this year and maybe little trips spread out each quarter 

• Start running again - Log 10k+ each week

• Do yoga or a Barre class - and commit to it!

• Walk my dog - I just want to spend more time with him this year

• Read/Listen 12 books this year

• Learn something new - I want to learn how to knit, scuba dive, design a website and drive a stick shift

• Become a Yelp Elite =)

Lets do this 2015!

Donut do it!

So much for giving up sweets as a New Years Resolution and being good with my budget. There have been so many specialty and unique donut places have been popping up around our area.

I mean look at how good this looks on this picture #foodporn right? haha.

Jay and I decided to walk and check out this place which was about half a mile from his place.

Total cost $18 for 4 donuts and 2 coffees

The coffee was worth it, but the donuts - not so much. Its good to try out, but just stick with the good ol American donuts for 50c. You'll get your extra calories and sugar rush for the day - but your budget wont complain.


Hey - at least we got a couple of thousand steps logged into our FitBit!

Week 32 : Hows that New Year Resolution goin for ya?

I hope you had yourself a great Christmas with family and/or friends. Is it just me or are you also sad the Holidays are over? I loved my work schedule, nap schedule and food schedule (seriously, there we just friends and family parties back to back).

I guess we are "back to the grind" now - back to sticking with the weekly goals!

Current Debts:
Its payday today and after all these payments post I will be back down to less than $20k! Whoooo!

Current	Current	Paid	Ending
Personal Loan	4,624.00	500.00	4,124.00
Student Loan	6,069.00	60.00	6,009.00
Credit Cards	9,602.00	50.00	9,552.00
TOTAL	20,295.00	610.00	19,685.00

Starting Debt: $20,295 || Paid/Interest: $610  || Ending Debt: *$19,685

Weekly Spending: 
Can you believe how cheap gas is right now? I don't even think I remember a time I filled up my tank for under $35! Thank you Costco =)

Sat - $34 Groceries | $4 Drinks
Sun - $10 Groceries | $20 Withdrawal | $10 Drinks
Mon - No Spend Day!
Tue - $35 Gas
Wed - $21 Dinner | $7 Drinks
Thu - No Spend Day!
Fri -  $39 Drinks

Weekly Spending : $180.00

Have a blessed weekend! xo

January 2015 Goals

I am still gathering my thoughts on what to post for my 2015 goals. I know I really want to get my debt paid off this year and do some traveling (I think we already have a pending trip this May - yay!). The personal loan is now under $5k mark - so maybe I can get this done *hopefully* by the end of the first quarter.

Financial Goals

• Pay $1,300 to debt this month

• TWO no spend days per week

• Have $700 into the Emergency Fund 

Personal Goals

• Finish a book 

• Exercise / Gym at least 3 times per week

Have you done your new years resolutions?

December 2014 Month-End Recap

Here is a quick snapshot of my December goals.

Financial Goals

• Pay $616 towards debt this month PASS!
• I paid $1041 This month

• 	Extra	Dec 12	Dec 26	TOTAL
  Personal Loan	396.00	-	175.00	571.00
  Student Loan	-	60.00	60.00	120.00
  Credit Card	250.00	-	100.00	350.00
  TOTAL	646.00	60.00	335.00	1,041.00

  
  
• No credit card spending FAIL
• TWO no spend days per week Fail
• Build Emergency Fund Pass-ish
• Current E-fund is at $445

Personal Goals

• Finish a book PASS!!!
• Finished Serial and listening to Tony Robbins MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom
• Exercise / Gym at least 3 times per week FAIL-ish
• Just became more active this month since I got my fitbit

Week 31 : Happy 2015!

I hope you have a blessed 2015!

Grand Park - Downtown Los Angeles

We weren't planning on going out NYE, but we eneded up going to a FREE event in LA. This is the downtown city hall where they had a pretty cool light show to welcome 2015!

Current Debts:
Well this doesn't look right - Yes, the credit cards were my fault. I had a last minute gift and bought (expensive) cakes for both family parties. The Personal Loan difference is because the payment has not reflected on my Mint.com account. I'll have the correct PL amounts by next week. I am excited this will be under $5k! I am hoping to get this paid off by the first quarter.

Current	Previous	Current	Difference
Personal Loan	4,945.00	5,145.00	(200.00)
Student Loan	6,060.00	6,063.00	(3.00)
Credit Cards	9,344.00	9,466.00	(122.00)
TOTAL	20,349.00	20,674.00	(325.00)

Starting Debt: $20,349 || Paid/Interest: $325  || Ending Debt: *$20,674

Weekly Spending: 

Sat - $10 Drinks | $8 Shopping
Sun - $55 Lunch
Mon - $24 Commute | $10 Breakfast
Tue - $7 Lunch | $66 Groceries
Wed - No Spend Day!
Thu - No Spend Day!
Fri - $40 Shopping 

Weekly Spending : $220

Thank you 2014

Thank you for being the best year yet....

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE