The Weight of Money

Even though my April Money Goals did not get met fully, I’m not giving up. However, I’m going to take a slightly different approach this time.

Goal #1: Food – I will make/eat at least 31 meals at home.

My previous goal to not cross a certain dollar amount dining out was too much of a stick than a carrot. Yes, I was going to reward myself if I made it, but it didn’t solve the problem. So, instead I will aim to eat 31 meals at home that can consist of basic meals like sandwiches, leftovers, or something I’ve made special. I will count breakfast, lunch, and dinner in calculating the meals at home. By counting more meals than just dinner, I hope to be able to reach what feels like a high number at the moment — but one meal a day at home when I should be eating 3 a day should NOT be difficult..

Current progress: 3 meals, 28 to go

Goal #2: Call to reduce the partner credit card intereest rates

I’ve done this before and there was one card that refused and one card I did not call. The other two cards that I called easily reduced their interests rates with little negotiation. I want to be sure and get fixed rates this time since I didn’t clarify that variable rates aren’t acceptable last time. Also, will hope for a credit card payment holiday. This just means that the payment will be $15 versus the full amount which helps us in applying for the mortgage since it lowers what they see as a monthly payment — we still pay the normal amount regardless what the amount due is.

Goal #3: Get the partner to turn on online banking for one of his accounts.

This may take some effort but I hope that it will be progress.

Goal #4: Call student loans and verify upcoming payment amounts and due dates since I’m exiting school. I also want to see if I can get the last loan consolidated into my consolidated loan. One loan payment is so much easier for me to deal with. Otherwise, I’ll work pretty hard to pay off the smaller loan first (plus I think the interest rate is higher on it).

Dining Out: I did better than Feb, but it is still too high. Sigh. This is really a struggle right now. However, last night I set out some meat to thaw and cleaned out the upstairs fridge in order to cook this week/weekend. I’ve not been upstairs because it was a mess since I stopped cleaning — now the the new cleaning people have really made some major improvements in the kitchen and I can stand to be in it. Also, cooking in the basement apartment is unacceptable because it heats the place up and makes it unbearable.

Savings: The amount listed will be my last deposit for a while. I’m not getting paid to clean anymore and that was what funded my savings account. I’m not going to worry too much about it right now since I’m hoping to hear back from a new job later this week or next.

Transportation: My biggest problem this month, other than over spending on dining out, is the unexpected repairs on the car. Also, connected to that incident was a citation for failure to display parking permit on campus because I took it out of my car when it was being towed and forgot to put it back on — I’ve sent in a review letter and hopefully will not be spending another $75 for that single incident.

Cash: the cash column is higher than usual because I was without a bank card for a week. In reality, I probably spent more money this month but used cash reserves from the partner versus my account.