Moneybyakua's Personal Finance Blog

hope all is well..!
just made a $983 payment towards my tuition for the spring semesters.. 3 more payments of the same amount, and that would be paid off..!!

My personal training business is doing fairly well, considering that i do it on a part time basis..
MY goal is to save enough money each month from training to pay my tuition without having to tap into my savings..SO far, so good..

been keeping track on my spending by logging everything on paper.. i am curious to see the total at the end of the month

well stay warm

so i know it has been way too long since i checked in..! well much has changed since last time.. i got engaged in september and got married in november.(yes quick i know..lol). Well since we were not spending most of our savings on a wedding, we just got it over with. Things are great.. I also started graduate school in september. I will be done with my program in May 2011. It has been a lot of hard work and dedication, but i know it will be worth it in the end. My husband and i have decided to hold out on buying a house so we can save enough money to either buy in cash or at least put down 50%.. I KNOW we can do it, because we are both disciplined and focused..My part-time business (personal training) is doing great.. I run a bootcamp this past summer and it was a success.. i am currently training clients one on one.. Since i am paying for graduate school from my pocket, i am taking better control of the money from my training since this my main source of income for paying tuition.. so far, after paying off $4000 for 6 credits this past fall, i have a balance of $1080 generated from the month of Decembers' training.. my goal is to have enough at the end of each semester to payoff the tuition in cash.. SO far so good.. i am grateful.. i will keep you all updated..! God bless

so i've been gone for some time now, in that time period, i have spent way too much money on unnecessary things.. I am back and ready to save..

just setting sympathy to all who are getting laid off.. i pray for you and your families in these hard times. I hope for strength and continued blessings even as we all struggle. I know that with courage and love for each other, we will get through this...
God bless you all

so this weekend i must say that i spend way more than i anticipate.. Friday, Dinner with current and an old friend in Hoboken, NJ, Pricey, but great company.. Saturday, DMV, for license renewal, $24(wow) 6 week visit to the hair salon, way too much money.. but very much needed..
This week begins my new extra healthier diet.. i need to loose at least 5lbs so i can improve my race time for my half marathon in May.. i went to Costco and bought some water, spinach, lettuce, oranges, chicken, etc.. i plan on not eating out during the week for the month of feb...
I need to save money and loose some weight..
wish me luck,

Oh so is it me or do you notice how people flood to big name wholesalers and supermarkets and spend money on food and items that they may not need just at the mere mention of SNOW? I cannot fathom the idea that people are so quick to run and spend money simply because of snow. Now i will understand if these people really needed the things they were buying..But some of them are are just so clueless about consumer buying behavior and the tricks and subliminal messages that drives them to buy unnecessary things...
People, smarten up!! SNOW has been coming for visits every winter since the beginning of time..
Get what you need... stay home on a snow day and just relax..
I will stop snowing, we will get out the house, and life will resume again!!

today, i was able to pull off a surprise baby shower for my dear friend SS. .. we had a blast.. I imperative as it is for all of us to be careful with our spending in this economy, there are times when it is OK to spend a little more than we are comfortable with, especially if it brings joy and laughter to the one's we love. In to total i spend a little over $200 on gifts and a few other things... I have to say that i was HAPPY to have spent that money.. No impulses,No regrets, no items to anticipate returning, Just Pure and outer love of giving to a friend who deserves so much more...TODAY, I declared A NON-FRUGAL day!!,,, I am glad to know that i brought happiness and joy to a friend today!!

had a wonderful evening!! dinner and a movie courtesy of my dear friend S.S... I will take the money i would have spent on the evening on a well needed oil change!!!

full belly and a nicely oiled car, Mmmmmm live is good! at all for the cost of one!

years ago i worked for bank as a teller.. one day, a customer came in to cash in her savings bond. Occasionally you get customers who cash in bonds for a few hundred dollars maybe a thousand dollars.. On this particular day, the lady standing before me had over $20,0000 (Purchased price) approx. $35,0000 with the interest in bonds to cash. (wow).....I was amazed!!! Now let me explain that it took approx. 10years for her bonds to gain that much interest.,, what fascinated me the most was her reasoning behind the her choice of savings. She said that when she was 21 and started her 1st job right out of college, her company was offering a direct deduction from their paychecks to purchase savings bonds, she signed up for a deduction of $100 per paycheck ($200 per month..

Over the 10 year period she completely put out of her mind the amounts that were deducted. she received the bonds in mail each month...
Ten years later when she left that job for another job, she decided to cash them in.
so on this day she was cashing in all her bonds plus interest, to buy her dream car ( a Mercedes Benz)

NO CAR NOTE!!(WOW)

How awesome is that? 10 years of forgotten savings, leads to One HOT RIDE!!!

so about 8 years ago i applied her technique,(i actually went to the banks to purchase my bonds up until recently, i now buy online.....treasurydirect.gov,,,, you can do automatic purchases directly from a bank account)

It is great!!! i continue to save money and since its automatic now, i really don't even get the chance to miss the money!!,,
Now i know that getting a Mercedes has no appeal to me.. (frugal... remember?) My hope is to one day use that money as down payment for a home or college tuition for my children (if/when i have some)

Just letting all my FruGal friend know one of my savings tips! Try is out!
You can never miss money you don't see!

wow... what have we gotten ourselves into America? Buying now and hoping to pay later..!! well look as us now.. broke, depressed and blaming everyone but ourselves. The good news is that we have learned a valuable lesson from this crisis..IF YOU CAN'T PAY FOR IT IN FULL NOW, DON'T BUY IT!!! If we took the time to really think about our purchases and save for them, we will realize that we really do not need a lot of what we buy.. Stop the impulse purchases! Impulse often leads to debt.! THINK ONE, THINK TWICE, and walk away!! Stop trying to live up to the JONes'.. Trust me, the Jones' are also BROKE!!

Just had to vent on how much i hate making car payments.. i cannot wait till it's paid off.. I plan on keeping this car for a while after it's paid off!! Once paid off, i plan on still making the payments, but this time to a special online savings account @ least for 3 year.. I will then use the money to buy a new car (in cash) NO MORE CAR NOTES!!!
Balance as of today =$6350

Ok.. so about a year back i decided to really get serious about buying a townhouse or a condo... a the time, i had and still have a decent down payment for it... due to the high gas/oil cost, i knew that paying a mortgage plus the utilities will cost me a whole lot more than my $1000 a month rent with all utilities (except, light and cable).. By my calculations, i pay about $1200 month now .. and a townhouse or condo with utilities will cost me approx. $2200.
SO, here is what i did to just keep saving while still staying in my apt, I started Making my rent payments as a mortgage payment. Every month when its time to pay the rent, i would pay the rent as usual but also have approx to $1000(diff b/w mortgage and rent) transferred to an online savings account.. so for i have saved close $12000 that i can add to my dwnpymt when i decide to buy.. Simple concept really, but it takes a bit of discipline..Just pay yourself as if you were the mortgage company and you will rack up cash before you know it.. share some of your ideas with me!!!

looking for pretty, yet simple wedding gown for a destination wedding in Jamaica... the will be outside, on the beach..THIS in NOT for me.. It's for friend of mines.. iam trying to help her save some money. any ideas,???/

so let me start off by saying that i am blessed to have been a part of history and to witness history today... Go OBAMA!!

so back to the task at hand, BEING CALLED FRUGAL.. i don't know about anyone else but the word does not offend me at all... especially in an economy as uncertain as our current one.
This past weekend, i took a trip to mall with a friend of mines to look for a wedding dress.. i was amazed at how much money she was willing to spend on the dress and everything else in the mall. I walked beside her in complete shock because the idea of buying a handbag for $500 or a pair of gucci sandals for $275 just did not and could not sit anywhere in my frugal(sane) mind. after about an hour of the madness, i finally said something about how crazy she was to for even considering such expensive product. Her response, " oh please, you only live once, just enjoy your money, and stop being so frugal." I have to agree with the first part of her response, yes, we only live once, and we should enjoy ourselves, but i am also aware that this "one" life of mines might be a long one and i plan on having some money for later so i can live a nice comfy live, especially at a time in life when i might not have the strength, health, or ability to do so..
People, think twice before you spend your hard earned money on things you can live without, and stop making all these designers rich, while you scrap to pay for your basic necessities... be blessed!!