Pumpkinpie's Personal Finance Blog

I ran the numbers today and in 2010 I:
- put $3,400 towards SL Principal
- $2,000 in my 401(k) - not including my employer match
- put $2,000 in savings

My goals in 2011 are to:
- $5,000 towards SL principal
- $2,600 in my 401(k)
- $5,000 in savings

Very excited that thanksgiving is almost here. I am in charge of making the dressing and pies for 25+ people that will be at my dad's home. I took off work tomorrow to start cooking.

Today, my bf dropped off our thanksgiving basket for our adopt-a-family. In the end we were able to donate:
- a $25 gift certificate for turkey
- 5lbs of potatoes
- 3lbs of onions
- 5lbs of apples
- celery
- a large can of sweet potatoes
- cranberry sauce
- stuffing
- a pumpkin pie
- juice
- dinner rolls
- pasta
- pasta sauce
- tuna
- corn bread mix
- peanut butter
- jelly
- cereal

The total cost was probably around $40 (not including the gift card). I tried to shop sales and use coupons. We live in the 6th wealthiest county in the nation but the projected demand for help far outweighs what is available.

I also found out my bonus this year will be $2k, its a bit less than last year but I am thankful I am getting one at all. I plan on putting $500 in savings and the rest towards the loans.

This week I signed up for Safeway's new coupon program advertised on their website and added a bunch of coupons directly onto my club card. I then went through the circular and wrote down things that we need for ourselves and our thanksgiving adopt-a-family. I stuck to the list of things with coupons and discounts and ended up buying more groceries than usual. When it all was rung up, the total was about $85, $15 below my weekly budget. Afterwards, my bf told me he was shocked we didn't go over budget. I finally revealed the club card secret. We looked at the reciept and we ended up saving $28 with coupons and discounts. Best part was not having to cut anything out!!

I am excited about the progress I made this month.

I paid $1,200 toward student loan debt. It made a nice dent in my principle ($540 is interest)

I put $200 into long term savings and $100 into my christmas savings.

I bought my lunch only 4 times this month.

I stuck to my $200 grocery budget, but went $45 over my eating out budget.

I had a few unexpected expenses, like an emergency vet visit, but overall I was able to plan for most things. I want to keep this up!

Sometimes I like to take walks on the weekends. I live in a very commercial area, so these walks frequently involve walking into stores. Usually this is fine because I am a picky shopper, but this weekend Ann Taylor Loft was having a sale. The evil marketing geniuses had everything 30% off, then for every $50 you spend, you get a $25 discount on your next purchase. I ended up spending $100 and getting two discount cards. I am not upset about buying the clothes because I need them for work and I lost a bit of weight and my older clothes aren't fitting so well. What I am upset about is that the two discounts are burning a hole in my purse. Maybe I should throw them away? I do need another pair of work pants...

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. Here is my budget, like I said, this is relatively new since I am now splitting rent and got a raise this month.

My take home pay after everything is 3600.00
rent $875
utilities $175
cell $55
perscriptions $85
groceries $200
eating out $100
misc. $300
savings $200

student loans - my minimum is $560/month and that only covers interest. I have been paying around $800 every month. Ideally, I want to boost this up to at least $1000.

If I can stick with the above budget, I should be able to put ~$1600 towards the loans every month. I am going to see if I can hit that goal this month.

I also forgot to mention that my food costs have gone way down since we stopped eating out. We used to go out at least 3x a week, now its 1x every two weeks. I am loving cooking at home now.

I have been looking for part time jobs but I am sort of limited in time. I work a pretty intense job from 7:30 until 5 and commute by train 45 mins each way. Also, I do occasionally have to travel for work. I am trying to seek out some type of work from home stuff, and will keep posting on craigslist. I am a lawyer and my job won't let me moonlight with legal stuff, but i can write, edit, tutor, etc.

My bf is being supportive, and splitting rent, home expenses, and food costs has been great. We have both noticed a savings in the food department. However, my bf has no student loans, a great income, and money in the bank, so he has trouble seeing why he needs a budget. He has the car in the relationship and pays all car related expenses, so that has been a big help for me.

It could be worse, I know. I keep thinking about how money was approached growing up. We were middle class, but never were in a tough situation because mom has been very successful in her job. We never talked about budgets, savings, planning ahead, education debt, etc. If I ever have kids, I am going to make sure that these life lessons are imparted from the begining.

I once asked a financial advisor for his opinion of my financial situation, he responded after a long pause "well, it doesn't look good does it?"

So here it is:
I have $120k in student loans
I make $75k a year
I have no other debts - cc, etc.
I have 7k in savings
I have 4k in a 401k
I live in an expensive area and cohabitate with my bf
I don't own a car

Right now my student loans are killing me. The interest rates vary from 4 to 7.5%. I have stretched some over 25 years and opted for graduated repayment for others. I am over the salary threshold and can't take any interest as a tax deduction.

About two months ago I started to live on a budget. So I have gone from buying coffee, lunch, and snacks everyday to bringing everything from home. I used a special discount program to reduce the price of my cell plan. I am not shopping unless its necessary,I replace clothes only when something gets worn or stained.

I don't want to deal with these loans for the rest of my life. But I may not be able to buy a home or switch jobs until these things are gone. Any ideas on what else to do would be much appreciated!