All posts in category budget

Figuring It Out

Well, my computer would need a processing fan. The good news is that in the meantime it has not overheated again. I have managed to get some work done in the time that I have had it back. I prefer to work online but I have been working offline for the most part. I think I need a new keyboard, or I just want one since all my keys are sticking.

I think I got my new budget figured out but I’m not completely sure. I still need to buy Theresa’s supplements that are running low. The first of the month I bought the vitamin D drops that were right at $26. I lowered my phone bill and am only paid $10 which of course I hit something that opened a web  browser and cost myself some money. OOPS. That will not happen again. I am merely going to make phone calls from now on.

I got the new light bill budget amount this month.$245 which was a bit of shock but not unexpected. I have to bring that down the next year. I think if I block off part of the house I can manage that fairly easily. There is one room used just for storage and hanging clothes so I’ll start there. I have to come up with the money for my divorce before we end up with a legal issue that would be rather difficult to explain.

Well, I have to go get my laundry out of the machine so I’m going to go now.

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by Laurie on November 14, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in budget, computer, supplements

Posted by Laurie on November 14, 2011

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/figuring-it-out-3/

UGGH!!! Can it Get Any Worse??

That is a rhetorical question, not a challenge. I finally got enough figures for next month’s expenses to realize that they are more than my projected income for next month. That is not a good thing. I was able to look at my light bill this morning and the new budget amount is $245. We were $96.29 under budget this month which is good at the end of the year if the trend continues, bad at the moment because I’ll be giving them extra money that I desperately need in my pocket right now. My Internet bill so I can continue to work is $50.50 and I am thinking of having the Internet cut off for a month or so until I get caught up. I already turned the cable off. Of course I could just go to a prepaid plan and only use the Internet for work instead of the million other things I use it for. The rest of the expenses are not important at the moment as sitting down and actually looking at the numbers past my regular monthly expenses would cause my to panic and do something else stupid.

At the moment I would be happy to find another morning as productive as I had the morning I had four articles rewritten, the laundry done and a couple other things by noon. I don’t see this day being as productive. I do see me rewriting a couple of my own articles after I check on my earnings. I’m not looking forward to checking my earnings by any means. They appear to be going down which means I have to get a move on and make something happen quickly…..

Well, complaining isn’t doing so I’m going to be going.

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by Laurie on October 27, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in budget, expenses

Posted by Laurie on October 27, 2011

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/uggh-can-it-get-any-worse/

worrying

OK so my grocery budget for this month is gone, the good news? There is food in the house and a new month begins Friday. That means that all the bills are due once again, they seem to come in back to back in a never-ending stream that often makes me wonder if I’m losing my mind.

I have to reduce the expenses that we have but I’m spoiled and Theresa will be the one suffering if we cut out the luxury of the television and her movies so that’s an area that has to be examined carefully before anything is done.

I haven’t gotten much work done lately which is putting a strain on the budget as well. OK I’m going back to worrying and attempting to get a little bit of work done. We only have a half hour of speech today during which I’ll read my book for a while to take a break.

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by Laurie on March 29, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in budget

Posted by Laurie on March 29, 2011

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/worrying/

Pleasant Surprise!

Well, I paid the cable/Internet this morning. It was $56.93 for both instead of $79.51 because I ended up with a credit when I downgraded my Internet speed. I redid the budget after the adjustment and found that the bills alone are below $400 this month. That doesn’t include supplements and other items but it’s a good start! I can work from that!

I hit the request payment button at $55.85, less than I’d have liked but more than I thought I’d have. I can pay both phone bills with that in the event I can’t hit cash out again before the 15th. I’ve managed to earn $12 toward the next payout so far. That’s not bad for a little bit of work.

I have just over $31 at Sidetick. I’m still holding out to request payment at $200. I may settle for $50 so I can reopen my savings account without causing problems in the budget. I have $10 worth of gift cards to use at Amazon.com. I think I’ll go check to see if there is anything we need for under $10. I’ve got books on my Kindle application and a lot of paper backs that I haven’t read yet so I’m going to focus on finishing what I have before I read any more books.http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=workinga-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001H53QDK&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

I plan to review each and every one of them in an effort to earn something from the readings. I also bought a new stain remover today that I can review. Well, that’s about it so I’ll be going for now. I’ll update the other two blogs here later.

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by Laurie on December 30, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in budget, gift cards, Sidetick, supplements

Posted by Laurie on December 30, 2010

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/pleasant-surprise/

Held hostage by cartoons and other useless items

Well, I’ve decided that I’m just giving up on having a vacation in this life. It seems that I’m always broke come time to take a vacation and even the most basic of plans end up being cancelled because something comes up. I can’t stand it. Oh well, that’s life.

Yesterday our speech therapist was out taking care of her son because he was sick. Well, she went to work this morning just to be called away to go pick him up because he was sick again. She did manage to get the green form I left for her yesterday so I picked that up. Tomorrow when I drop Theresa off for those four hours I’m going to pick up her progress reports from the speech therapist. That made me realize that I didn’t ask the ABA therapist for the copy of the ABLLs chart. Oh well, I’ll get it after the holiday.

At the moment I’m stuck on an article so that page is open below this one as I think about what I’m going to write next. I did some thinking about the budget. I have figured out that I have to focus on earning $44 for two phone bills and $100 for gas for my truck each month. That’s in addition to the other bills. Add at least $40 for pull-ups and that’s $184.00 that I have to earn. I have a feeling that’s not all of what I’ve got to earn. Actually I know it’s not.

The two week vacation that was cut down to a week has now cut down to so few days it’s like not having one at all. Since I have some work to do during the holiday I might as well just wait until the next time the kids are out of school to figure out what I’ll be doing and if I get a vacation anytime soon. Never mind the fact I haven’t had one in four years. I think I’m over due since I don’t get a day off.

Oh well, I’ll be going back to work now. I found the next thought for my article and some work I can do while I write it.

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by Laurie on December 17, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in article, budget, holidays, school vacation, write

Posted by Laurie on December 17, 2010

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/held-hostage-by-cartoons-and-other-useless-items/

Can’t budget without all the facts

Well, I keep saying I’m going to redo my budget but I can’t. I don’t have all the facts of my budget at the moment. There are changes to it right now that I can’t get until later in the month and next month. The best that I can do is to estimate them as best I can. I know about how much money I have coming in on a regular basis now I have to figure out how much more I need to come in.

What are the bills that I know each month?

Debt $20.00 (it’s gonna take a while to pay off at that rate but that’s fine to)
My phone $21.80 (can be reduced if I think hard enough)
Hubby’s phone – undecided at the moment it’s gonna be a while before it’s put back in the regular bills
Cook’s pest control – $33.00 (could cancel but then I’d have to deal with wasps and things myself, not sure about that)
that’s $74.80 if I could leave it at that then I’d be doing flips.

The co-pay for ABA therapy is $3 a week, that’s not much only $12 to $15 a month which isn’t bad considering that the full cost of the therapy is $55 an hour. The light bill is being figured again and I should have the new monthly budget amount about the middle of the month so that I can figure that into my budget. Then there are Theresa’s supplements and her diet, the food is a bit expensive but she does great on it.

How much are Theresa’s supplements every month? I have no idea how much they average out to; I just know they help her so I buy them. I think I figure it out though, well when I have all of them and the prices in front of me. Of course I’d also have to have her doses in front of me to figure it out, the best I can do at the  moment since they just increased is to get myself a rough estimate.

She has one vitamin C tablet a day which is $7.50 for 100 tablets or $14.75 for 250 tablets. The larger bottle works out a quarter cheaper than the smaller bottle. Which bottle depends on the budget that particular month since the drive to get it involves going farther than I would on a normal week. One pharmacy carries it or I can order it and pay shipping that’s more than the gas I use to go get it.

A bottle of her multivitamins is $14 for the chew-able and $16 for the capsules that are easier to get in her. They last two months when she takes them like she’s supposed to which makes the average cost $7 to $8 a month which isn’t too bad.

The fish oil is cheaper to order online and have delivered to the house. A 4oz bottle is $35.96 and a 8oz bottle is $62.53. The 8oz actually lasts all month and part of the next month. One 8oz works out cheaper than 2 of the 4oz.

Complete Powder is $35 for a month supply. That’s a big savings over the 4 bottles of HLC at $38 each she was going through because of the dose.

75 days worth of calcium powder is $13.

OK this is getting to be rather confusing. I need to sit down with all the supplements and the costs then average them out by the month to get a true picture of the monthly expenses once again. I know how much money I have for groceries each month now it’s time to make the amount I spend on them match that.

It’s also time to get back to work.

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by Laurie on October 11, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in bills, budget, debt, supplements

Posted by Laurie on October 11, 2010

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/cant-budget-without-all-the-facts/

Painful Time Off

The time I took off the past couple of days was rather painful. Thursday I poked myself in the eye with the arm of my glasses. The pair I’m supposed to be wearing is broke so I’m wearing an old pair that is actually too old. The arm I poked myself with is just metal now. Rather painful to say the least, more painful was cancelling Friday and this coming Monday’s therapy sessions to go the doctor. I scratched my cornea and added to the list of things I never wanted to know. There are more nerve endings in the cornea than the rest of the body.

I don’t have insurance because it usually costs me more to pay for it than it pays out as little as I go to the doctor. Well, my visit required $50 upfront and then I could pay half of the remainder to set up a payment plan. The remainder was just under $45 and I have to go back again. I decided to go ahead and pay that to make the balance due after the next visit the only portion I have to make payments on. $95 plus that was not planned for.

I estimated and I figure I have about $70 to get everything that we need to get me by until I get paid again on the 10th. Then the last bill for the month will get paid. I have to put gas in the truck to get my kid to therapy out of that $70 too. I have a feeling I’m going to end up rolling my change to get something I forget to put on my shopping list. I may take it and pour it into one of the counting machines that gives gift cards and use that to get what I need.

Well, I’m tired and I have a few things to do. I wrote one article today, it was about Christmas dinner. I still can’t get into my AC account so I can’t submit content there for upfront there. It’d be really nice if I could because they pay faster and I could actually use the money at the moment. Well, back to work.

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by Laurie on October 2, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in budget, Christmas, scratched cornea

Posted by Laurie on October 2, 2010

https://dazedconfusedandupsidedown.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/painful-time-off/