It’s been 26 days since my last post. As I expected, my financial situation has taken a plunge.

The total bill for the car repairs cost $1,360. That totally puts me in a place where I’m no longer keeping the $5,600 of assets. After this bill, I was definitely in the negatives for my net worth. After reallocating large chunks of my savings, I decided to pay this off completely after charging it on my Citi Driver’s Edge card for some rebates. And then I paid off my Citi Diamond Preferred card as well. That much amount of debt for me right now is not fun to look at. Now I only have three credit cards that carry a balance: my Am Ex Sky Blue, Citi Driver’s Edge, and BofA’s World Points (MBNA).
Because I paid off two credit card debts all at once, my emergency savings account is sitting at an ugly pitiful $755. I am at less than 10% of my goal now. Sigh.

Speaking of my savings account and as ratna commented on my previous post, FNBO kicked their rates down to an incredibly sad 4.3%. The fed rates getting cut is always a bad thing for online savings accounts. Surprisingly, Savings Square is still riding high at 4.80%. Maybe I should just join them. Here’s an updated list:

ING Direct is so pathetic. They chop down their rates more and faster than any online savings accounts out there. I’m surprised WaMu hasn’t made a cut since November. Impressive. I’ve tried to register an account with them online but it’s been freaking impossible because their system won’t recognize my information. Maybe I’ll try going into the branch next time. In other news, I’ve been using my Am Ex Sky Blue credit card for everything and it’s been working out great. I’m racking up points like crazy. I’ll be going away on a vacation soon. But probably later.

After I saw this guy carry something around in a dirty old tube sock when I was at work, I was thinking about some stuff last night and I had an idea. These are painfully lame ways to save money but they work! You would have to sacrifice your dignity and self-respect, but you will have extra money left over at the end.

10. Drop the name brands. You can eat, wear, and use no name brands and still get by. If it’s got a brand name you can recognize, then stay away from it. You’ll probably get made fun of for wearing NIEK or BEEBEE, tell them your knock off cost you only a 1/10th of theirs!

9. Never turn on the heater. Just keep on putting on layer after layer depending on how cold you are. I personally don’t have to do this because it doesn’t get that cold where I live, but you can give it a shot.

8. Never buy clothes until they are not salvageable. Let your clothes go out of style, who cares about the latest fashion trend when you’re saving money! Got a hole or a tear in your jeans? Good, because a lot of jeans nowadays come like that anyway. I think I’ve bought new shoes in 4 or 5 years.

7. Bike to work, school, grocery store, video rental, friends house, and everywhere else. Of course you will end up sweating like a pig by the time you get to your destination, especially if it is during the warmer seasons, but you’re saving a lot of money on gas!

6. Give up your diet. Often times a new work out regime requires you to eat less or more. Just forget about it altogether because dieting sucks and working out and exercising is even worse. Well, it’s really tough to get started on. However, the point is, healthy foods and extra meals are money spent.

5. Get a hair cut twice as less than before. I usually get a hair cut once a month, which means I’m spending $20 each month. That’s $240 on just hair cuts alone! Cut that down to once every two months. You get to try out a new hair style with your longer hair on the second month .

4. Don’t shower everyday. I shower everyday 99% of the time, but that is a massive amount of water that is being wasted. You don’t need to have Spring scent fuming from your hair everyday, nor do you need to smell like mountain fresh air at work.

3. Eat every part of everything that is edible on spoiled food. Did you leave the rest of your loaf of bread out too long, and are you starting to see mold grow on the crust? Just cut it out, and eat it! It’s technically not good for you, but if you got a strong stomach, it won’t kill you. Same with cheese.

2. Blow off your friends. Stop going out all the time and you’ll save tons of money. Every time you go out you spend $20 on drinks, $25 food, and other things here and there. If they are your true friends, they’ll still consider you part of the group even after you ignore them.

1. Cold morning showers. If not showering everyday was bad enough, try waking up in the morning to freezing cold water pouring on your head during Winter. Cold water doesn’t work as good as hot water when it comes to cleaning more effectively, working with soap, or providing an enjoyable time in the morning, but it’s cost effective. The thought of this makes me sick.

I get paid anywhere from $800 to about $870 every other Monday. Those paychecks are my normal ones, and during our rush period, which is about a month or so, I generally make $1100-$1500 per paycheck. But I’ll exclude that in my calculations for now because it happens once each quarter and this is just a temp job until my next career.

So, how much of this money do I put in towards my savings account, my credit card bills, food, rent, utilities, entertainment, and others? I’m not sure. Honestly, I haven’t really figured out a good way to divide up my paycheck so I want to be more consistent on depositing into my savings. I don’t have a retirement plan yet, which means I don’t have a Roth IRA or a 401(k). Either way, I still need to put some money in my savings account on a regular basis. Let’s say on average my paycheck is $835, that’s $1670 a month. Because I get paid every other Monday, sometimes I receive 3 paychecks per months (best months ever!), but let’s just assume the worst case and do this on 2 paychecks each month. Here’s a break down of how I want to budget a single paycheck.

22% into FNBO Direct (high yielding online savings account) - $184
27% into my CC bills - $225
- 21% into AmEx - $175
- 3% into BofA - $25
- 3% into Citi - $25
15% into rent (utilities included and only until January) - $123

*each figure is rounded up

Then I have $303 left over, but at the end of the month, it’ll be $606 over money to spend on food, entertainment, car gas, and other junk. I think the recommended amount to throw in savings is anywhere from 20%-25% so I think I’m OK in that department. I’ll still be able to meet my goal for purging my AmEx debt, and still have over $600 left over for everyday stuff. I’m sort of happy.

For now.