Lost and More Financial Whining
I just caught the end of Lost (what must have been the premiere episode?) I can see why so many are into it. It's interesting to see the different personalities and how they react. I don't know that I'll be able to watch regularly; it freaks me out a bit, the whole idea. I think being stranded on an island invokes all the claustrophobia in me, and it's not pleasant. And man, watching the bit with the handcuffs on the plane ... ::shudders::
Well, despite my dramatic post of earlier, I did actually make a lot of financial progress today. I entered in and categorized and balanced all my accounts for the last three months (that's how much data I could download from my bank, so I decided it was a good starting point). It's actually better, I think, that I don't have my first month here on there, because I made so many one-time purchases for moving in. Is it sad that I have a category called "Half Price Books"?
I was pretty nervous about seeing the results. I've been vaguely aware of my spending this semester, but I wasn't very good about being exact, mostly because for now, I have savings to fall back on. That pretty much has to stop, of course. I've been playing with the "Create a Budget" feature, and it's a little depressing.
Oh, now that's just mean. I'm using their little wizard, and I decided to just click 'Next', even though my budget is still negative $192/month. The next step is "Savings Goals" - except they grayed everything out and wrote "Since your expenses exceeded your income, you have no money for your goals."
I have no money for my goals!
If I entered everything correctly, it appears that even if I never go out, never buy any DVDs or books, never eat at restaurants, cancel my DSL, and never withdraw cash, I can successfully have a negative $100 budget each month. That's extremely heartening. /sarcasm
You know what would be good? Some more income.
Well, despite my dramatic post of earlier, I did actually make a lot of financial progress today. I entered in and categorized and balanced all my accounts for the last three months (that's how much data I could download from my bank, so I decided it was a good starting point). It's actually better, I think, that I don't have my first month here on there, because I made so many one-time purchases for moving in. Is it sad that I have a category called "Half Price Books"?
I was pretty nervous about seeing the results. I've been vaguely aware of my spending this semester, but I wasn't very good about being exact, mostly because for now, I have savings to fall back on. That pretty much has to stop, of course. I've been playing with the "Create a Budget" feature, and it's a little depressing.
Oh, now that's just mean. I'm using their little wizard, and I decided to just click 'Next', even though my budget is still negative $192/month. The next step is "Savings Goals" - except they grayed everything out and wrote "Since your expenses exceeded your income, you have no money for your goals."
I have no money for my goals!
If I entered everything correctly, it appears that even if I never go out, never buy any DVDs or books, never eat at restaurants, cancel my DSL, and never withdraw cash, I can successfully have a negative $100 budget each month. That's extremely heartening. /sarcasm
You know what would be good? Some more income.