One Lucky Girl

As of  today, we have managed to save a total of $3100 . Not much but it is a good start. Today alone, I was able to transfer $1000 from our paychecks to our saving account. I am happy and glad that we’re able to save some money. In another 2 weeks, we’ll be able to save another $750. So by July 2nd, our saving should grow to $3850.

My husband sold his cellphone on Ebay and he is getting $85 from it. He is going to save in to our saving account.

Looking back, I always wonder what we did wrong. Both my husband and I have been working for more than 6 years and we only have $3100 in saving??? Kind of embarassing. I know I was so stupid financially when I was younger. I bought whatever I wanted not thinking about tomorrow. Now everything has changed. I am about to have a baby in less than a year. I have to have money saved. Plus I never know how the economy is going….. Never know if my company will still be there tomorrow. Don’t know if I am still going to have my job next week. Or even tomorrow. In this economy, it is better to save than to spend I guess. Yeah sure it is easier said than done.

Right now, we are setting aside $1750 to our saving account each month. We bring home a net total of $5400. So $1750 is about 32 – 33% of our net monthly take home income. I save 10% in my retirement through my company and my company gives 3%. So in total I save 13% of my yearly salary for my retirement.

I really wish I had saved more since I was younger.

Today I looked at my total CC debts again. Scary. I had $4000 (0%) in chase. Then $2000 in providian. Then $3000 in my discover card. Ouch. So I have almost $10,000 in CC debts. My mom owes me $5000. So I hope so much she will pay me back so I can pay off my providian and my discover card. Then I will be able to pay off the rest of my CC debts easily. Honestly, I don’t even know if my mom will ever pay me back. As much as I love her I think sometimes she is sneaky. Sigh.

I am so confused. I wish I could find another job. I wish I was happier at my workplace. I wish everything was better at my work place. I wish things were better. I wish people were not as bitter at work. I hate working with people in  my department. They are never nice. I don’t know why.

I know this sounds like desperate but I really need to win the lottery. Sure yeah who does not need to win the lotto right????? if only. If only.

Ok time for me to go to bed.

Just got back from the farmer’s market. I got 8 huge mangoes, one pinneaple, about 3 lbs of lychee  and some salsa + crackers. Also went to another market in town and got myself 2 croissants. I was in the mood for some caesar salad so my husband took me to panera to get a bowl of caesar salad that we shared.

Right now, my husband is sanding the floors in the hallway. He should be able to finish it today. And I am expecting to have gleaming wood floors in less than 2 weeks!!!! Yay.

Not much going on today. Yesterday I came home tired. I went to bed at 6.30PM after I had my dinner: half burrito. I woke up this morning at 7AM.  I was so pooped out. It was nice to be able to sleep that long though. I was too tired. Now today I feel ready to do some stuff. Maybe I will sew again. I miss sewing. I haven’t done it in weeks.

My husband sold his oldvespa yesterday. The bike was pretty beat up since my husband fell from it and the bike was bent all over the place. He sold it for $450. We’re going to save $350  and use $100 for this week and next week. We get paid next week. With the $350 from the sale of my husband’s vespa, we should have $2500 in saving now. Next week, we should be able to save $1000 so that would make the total to $3500 by the end of June. In July, my goal is to save $2500. So that should bring the total saving to $6000 by the end of July. I am pretty excited. Although the sucky part is that we’d have to pay minimum on our credit cards until we reach $10,000 in saving (which should be achieved before the end of the year). Then after that we can send half money to saving account and half to debt payment.

I am thinking I need to sell the junks around my house. Maybe do a big garage sale next weekend on Saturday. I can sell old books, magazines, dishes, old furnitures, etc.

As many of you know, I am expecting. I am on my week 11 of pregnancy. Still young but I am glad it is because that means I have time to save!!! LOL. A friend of mine is expecting too and I know she makes at least $20 – 25K less than me but she has been splurging on things such as $3000 cruise with her family and hundred dollars computer table and some other stuff. I know she has been telling me she has CC debts and student loan too. How can she afford that? I was going to NY this July to meet a penpal of mine who is visiting from Norway but unfortunatelly I will have to save that plan for another time. After doing some calculation, it would cost $2000 for me and my husband to take a 4 day 3 night trip to NYC. That is just not in the budget right now. I am bummed yes but what can I do? I do not want to put any more charges on my CC thinking I will pay it off later. I have already done that A LOT and look at my CC statements!!! They are still the same amount if not more from months ago when I acquired the debts. Sigh. I am just sick of acquiring more and more debts and no money for me or my family. I want to save  money. Spend a little but save more. I deserve the money. I work for it.

We still have about $8000 left to pay on my husband’s car and then for my car, we have about $15,000. Dang. A LOT!!!!!!!! Then I owe $5000 with Chase (0% until March 2010) and I have about $3000 total on Discover card and Wamu. Holy crap. Only a financial miracle will get me out of this mess. If I can keep working until the end of 2010, I should be able to pay everything off. Well, the $5000 is actually the money that I had to loan to my mom and she said she is going to pay me back–keep my fingers crossed. If she pays me back that means, I will only have to pay the $3000 on my discover and wamu. I hope she pays before March 2010.

In January 2010, the baby is going to be born. We’ll have to send the baby to the daycare to start in March/April 2010. We looked around (online) and most daycares charge between $700 – 800/month for infant. My dream/big goal is to save $30,000 by March 2010 (after I get $10K in bonus money from work–keep fingers crossed). The reason I want to save that much is with the economy going the way it is going right now, I am very afraid of losing my job. I am afraid the company would be closed all of the sudden. I just want to prepare for the worst that’s all. I am really scared. I think my company is safe but you never know. I pray so that at least my husband and I can save more and more money.

However, assuming our take-home paychecks are the same next year $3400+$2000 = $5400/month, we still should be able to save between $1000 – $1500 per month after cost of daycare is being accounted for in our budget. I hope I will get a raise but even if I don’t get one, I will still be thankful for having a full time job, at least, when the economy is so beat up.

Darn. I am craving for some burritos now. I hope my baby won’t look like a burrito when he/she comes out. LOL.

I want to go shopping but I have to wait until I get my paycheck next week. I hope I can squeeze $50 out of my budget next week to buy some maternity clothes. Need more tops and pants. I have bought enough baby items for now. I still need to buy diapers and other neccessities but I will wait until later. Maybe I can put them on my registry. So far I know I am going to put several boxes of diapers, a high chair, maybe a stroller, one car seat, baby gym playmat, some toys, and bunch of gift cards!!!! I think I’d rather get money than anything else. We have the majority of the  nursery items covered already–bought most of them from craigslist  and some on store’s clearance.  

K. Time for lunch.