Life Archives - Page 55 of 55 - Making Sense Of Cents

The goals that I completed in September

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 Comments

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I made a post in September about goals and what should be completed in September, What needs to be done in September.

Here’s how I did:

Reassess Your Budget. Deadline: Thursday, September 1 – Check!
- I accessed my budget and realized that I desperately needed to curb my food spending, me and the BF used to spend an astronomical amount on food, but now it’s fixed! We’ve been eating dinner in every night!
Go Through Your Closet. Deadline: Middle of September – Check!
- I went through my closet and sold around $75 worth of stuff! I was extremely happy that they took everything, but I still have so much more stuff to get rid of.
Plan for Holiday Travel. Deadline: End of September – I have no travel planned.
- I’m not the type to plan my travel way ahead of time, but I usually don’t leave for the holidays anyways.
Make a Holiday Gift Plan. Deadline: End of September – FAIL
- Haven’t made a gift plan. I usually just like to go to the store and wing it.

September was a pretty good month I think. I accomplished a lot and managed to curb my spending really well! I’m so happy.

How did September go for you?

Signed up for volunteer work

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I recently signed up for a local food pantry near my house. I’m not sure how much they’ll need me just yet, but this is a start!

I’m also not sure how I’m going to find time for this, as I work 50 hours a week, commute about 10 hours a week, go to class for 12 hours, and have homework and all of that other good stuff, but I’ve been wanting to volunteer for awhile, since I haven’t done steady volunteer work in awhile.

Where do you volunteer? How do you find time?

Weekly Money Check-Up: 9/26

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Here’s my weekly money check-up, courtesy of My Pretty Pennies.

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on… school books, the bill is now up to $239! And this doesn’t even include the textbooks that I bought during the first week of classes.
2. Today I am thankful for my family, friends, and the fact that I am getting my MBA.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was going to the local Octoberfest in my town. People watching there was fun, and funny…
4. I will consider this week a success if I pass my exam today and I manage to finish all of my homework for this week.
5. A talent I wish I had is to be a great dancer. I’ve been thinking about taking dancing classes. Whenever I’m at the bar or out with friends, there’s always that one girl who can dance by herself and looks amazing, I want to be her!

Made $75 selling a few items, HBO popped up on cable, and made dinner

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I went through mt closet last night and found some things that I could part with. It hurt though, I HATE getting rid of clothes! But I decided that if I hadn’t worn it in 2 years, that it was probably time for it to be gone. I just brought it to Plato’s Closet and made $75, they took everything I brought in, so that was nice also.

Have you ever tried selling your stuff? How did that work out?

As many of you know, I cut HBO and other movie channels out of my cable package around 1 or 2 months ago. This has been very hard and me and the BF decided we were going to add it all back. Surprisingly, we turned on the TV the other day and we had all of the HBO channels and around 30 other channels that we didn’t have before, and we didn’t even pay for it! I hope the cable company keeps making their mistake. I’m glad I didn’t call the other day.

Last night I made chili and sandwiches. It was very tasty!

Also take a look at these different grilled cheese ideas. They look good.

Good Bad UGLY

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Misty over at Digging out from our Mess has been posting her Good Bad Ugly (GBU’s) for awhile now, and I wanted to join in. Check hers out please too!

Good:

Did good with my food budget for the month. Averaged around $50 a week on groceries and only went out for dinner on average of about twice a week, each week. I’m going to try and continue to make dinner every night like I have for the past week (see my recent dinner here) and here’s my post on my goal to eat in everyday.
Cleaned out my closet today and will bring it in to a store to sell
Doing good in school, so far. My first exam is tomorrow so I guess I’ll find out.
The weather is great right now, and our electric bill went waaaay down this month, I’m so happy.

Bad:

Need to get new stickers for the license plates on the truck. That will be around $85, not including the amount needed for the inspection. The total will most likely be around $120, and we hardly ever drive this truck, so this amount stinks.
I have a ton of homework to do and exams to study for, all due this week and next week. I’m starting to have a hard time budgeting my time.

The Ugly:

I’m going to need some winter clothes soon, so that’s going to cost a lot of money most likely.
Lots of birthdays, weddings and holidays coming up, so I’ll need to start buying things ahead of time so I’m not shocked to death soon.
My dogs need to go to the vet and get shots. My bigger dog just needs the routine rabies and other shots, but my smaller dog needs around 10 shots every year because he’s so small and gets sick easily, so this will be an expensive vet appointment

What’s going on in your life?

School is draining me

Last Updated: July 14, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Well, two weeks have passed since I started this semester for my MBA. It’s been very tiring. I took 12 credits last semester while I worked 50 hours a week also, but this semester just seems so much more hard. I have barely even had any homework yet, which really worries me. What do you do to stay motivated?

It’s also been harder for me to save money when school is back in session. I go to class right after I’m done with work at 5pm, so I can’t go home and eat. Any tips on what I could do to save money on after work snacks?

Update on my student loan: It’s not going down a big amount yet. If I graduate next semester, then my loans won’t be due until the end of 2012/beginning of 2013, so I’m in no rush to pay those down aggressively right now since only one gains interest. I am paying down the loan that gains interest though.

My car loan is just inching down a little by little. I pay $400 a month but I plan on upping that so that I can be done faster. My car is worth about $5,000 to $7,000 more than the loan amount that I have left. I’ve been wondering if I should just sell it and get a cheaper car, or if I should just keep my car and driver it for long after I’m done paying for it. What does everyone think?

My emergency fund has barely been creeping up due to my vacation last month, but I plan on building it back up after this month. With all of my school fees that I had to pay, there won’t be much leftover this month.

Any tips, advice, or anything about any of this? Thanks!

Weekly Check up

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I decided to participate in a post courtesy of My Pretty Pennies.

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on our hotel room for our vacation.
2. Today I am thankful that I am able to go to school for my MBA. Even though I complain about going, it is definitely a privilege.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was play with my dogs!
4. I will consider this week a success if I make dinner every night.
5. The best prank ever pulled on me was uhhh I can’t really think of anything at the moment.

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