December Goals

For December, I want to apply all the budget tools I will be starting in January with the exception of the auto loan payment and the car insurance payment because the amounts won't be exactly what i'm planning for in January. This is going to be huge for me. It's a dry run for the real budget. I've learned (hopefully) from this months mistakes and i'm ready to try it in the "Real World." Here goes... i'm commiting it to "paper" (or rather the internet):

• Gas: $200.00 (Extra will be siphoned off to car insurance/tag money. Tags are due by March and i have no idea how much they will be. Maybe I should call AAA and ask them...)
• Cingular: $50.00 (Extra will go towards Auto Loan... every little bit helps)
• AOL Internet: $10.00
• Groceries: $150.00 (Extra is going to an "odds and ends account" incase one month I need more Groceries than another)
• Basic Necessities: $50.00 (Extra is going to an "odds and ends account" incase one month I need more Basics than another)
• Offering: $50.00 (25 per check---> taken out in cash and put in an envelope to be given the following Sunday... it's only 2.5% of the projected income for January... I slowly want to increase this until its 10%)
• Fun Money: $70.00 (Cash to be taken out and put into my wallet, $35 per check. What is left over, half will be kept, the other half will be re-deposited and applied to my auto loan.)
• Short Term Savings: $90.00 Once i hit the magic number of $1,000.00 I will add this money to the auto loan. If my Short Term Fund drops below $1,000.00 (once i get there) I will being the $90 a month until it reaches the goal again, then continue adding to the auto payment... and hopefully when the auto loan is gone, put this money towards moving out.
• Long Term Savings (A.K.A Moving OUT): $30.00 Just because i'll be too depressed if my moving out fund doesn't some what grow while i'm paying down debt.
• ----->ING Direct CD: transfer the $400.00 to Emigrant Retirement Fund The approximate Negative $725.68 that i need to "find" inorder to attempt to reach the currently "impossible" retirement goal of contributing $2,500.00 more by the end of '07 is now reduced to Negative $325.68... making the goal a little less impossible.
  

That totals a nice even $700.00... If i make $1800 after taxes next month, [i still have no idea what i make every month because i'm constantly getting Overtime on each paycheck and that always throws off how much money they take out for taxes and the like... plus my Nov review has not happened at work and that December raise isn't in place yet (since its not till mid Dec) so i'm not making $2000 a month yet after taxes] that means i'm left with $1100.00 dollars or so.

• Auto Loan: I promised to pay $420.00 (+ Overtime and Recycle Money)... I want to break the $11,000 debt marker and i think i can since i have 16 hours of overtime coming on one paycheck alone for december.

Now i'm left with $680.00 I'll leave the $80.00 as fudge money incase of an emergency since i'm dry running the budget this month and i did do that X-mas spending mistake in Nov. the other $600 bucks will go to the auto loan... for a grand total of $1020.00 before overtime... meaning i should break that debt marker.

If only Toyota knew my financial plans... they would cry like babies...