Balancing Money–DECEMBER Update

And just like that, its time for another Balancing Money account update!  Check out Novembers update below as well as my best tips for saving money during the holidays.

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  Remember, your holiday savings for next year starts NOW!

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Balancing Money – NOVEMBER Update

Balancing Money – Saving Money During The Holidays

Transfers

This month I was able to transfer $300 into my Balancing Val account.  This I am very proud of!  However, I did have an unplanned sick day and there was that day we didn’t have to work because of the blizzard so I will not be getting paid for those days.  I will surely need to fall back on this money.  I also am desperately in the market for new brakes and tires on my car so I expect this to use up a BIG chunk of my savings for this.

Debits

This month I did use some money out of my savings for 2 things . . .

1. Holiday Trip to NYC – $92
2. Random iTunes and App  & iBook Purchases – $29

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I feel that the trip to NYC was obviously worth taking the money out for. Its important that I make sure I have fun as my life can easily get in a rut with my schedule being so tight.

The other purchases were not necessary. I honestly did this out of convenience as it is linked to my checking account and it would take too long to deposit the exact allowance money and then pay for it when I could have it right NOW!  In the future I will try and purchase an iTunes gift card for these things.

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Thoughts

I’m thinking that things may be even more tough in the months ahead.  I realized that I am cutting it close with all the commuting costs and I also need to take off some days of work for school.  I have also realized that I need a meal makeover as we run out of groceries way too early and end up going somewhere out to eat.  I am developing a plan for this!!

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Allowance Update

I really have not went OVER my allowance besides the debits above.  It depends what happens during the week but I usually have most of it left over as I only use it to buy two cups of coffee throughout the week.  Another thing that is helping TREMENDOUSLY is that Chris has been paying for a lot of my meals out.  Through our relationship we have always split everything 50/50 (I believe in teamwork and independency). But now I really do appreciate the help as doing this will help make our lives better in the long run if I can pay off that loan as early as possible. I must say though, it is REALLY hard accepting the help and having somebody else do something so nice for me.

I still feel that $20 per week is ok for right now, but we shall find out in the months to come!

Do you have any plans to save money for 2011?  What are they and how will you do it?

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