I just got paid $100 for some admin services (from July!)...I'm still owed $500 more for July, plus Aug and Sept!...slowly but steadily collecting this money!...right now, it goes into the bank account (to pay the overdraft!)...

I know, I shouldn't even be using it, but, just think, a year ago I was using the overdraft AND paying up to 47% interest on cc's!...next year, by this time, I shouldn't even be using the overdraft anymore (I have 2 more debts that will be eliminated in August 2007, and the total monthly payments for those is $104...)

forgot to add this, I finally got paid for my translations, so that's $54 for my October challenge...yay!

Well, I made it to payday...I got a (very) slight pay increase this year... $42 gross/month...which amounts to about $30 after tax...still, it will pay for my half of the water and electricity bills!...woo-hoo!!!...but, SHHHHHHHHHHHH...my boss asked me to keep it a secret (out of embarrassment at the amount, I would imagine! LOL!...still, it's SOMEthing...and last year I got $0, so....)

Now, the first thing I will do is pay for my half of last month's rent (this month's will still be outstanding, though! ) ...then I need to pay for my debt and then leave at least something for gas and the nanny on Monday...hmmmmm...I guess I won't be filling the tank!

This time, it DID go to Ale's school...together with $47 more I had in my account...

Next crisis, please!

Oh, yeah, I have to pay $165 towards debt and $157.50 for late rent...plus the $157.50 of this month's rent...

The money for toys should start coming in by the end of next week...

In the meantime...I'm off to juggle numbers and see what I can do with what I've got!

Got paid another $100! woo-hoo!...
sadly, this will not go towards debt, but rather into Ale's school...foolish spending + unexpected expenses (going to the all-inclusive place + changing the lock to our main entrance!) really took a toll! ...oh, well, the "old me" would have charged it! (or, even worse, taken a cash advance from the cc to pay for the school! )

Total for September
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$20.00

Earned in September: $450.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Net for August: $835
Net for September: $430.00
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$2,776.95

TARGET: $4,000

$1,223.05/ 3 months to go!

unfortunately, it'll take $60 to pay for the new lock installed in our house (weird stuff has been going on!)

I got paid $100... I went out of the city this weekend and paid $10 for gas, and $2 for beverages at the gas station...upon my return we ordered a pizza and I paid $8.99....today I gave Ale her $2...but, I only got $57.01 in my purse...meaning $20 are "missing"!...My nephew hasn't had any access to my bag (nobody really has...except at the hotel where we stayed on Saturday, since we were at the pool all day!...)...hmmmm, will have to check my room tonight to see if the bill turns up....(it was all $20's originally, and, I DO have all the "change": 2 X $1, 1X $5 and 1X $10, so I'm missing a $20 bill!)...weird, weird...

much-needed money coming in! $100 more for my $20 challenge...

Have separated $20 for our long weekend and, the rest has to go towards debt!

Made my first payment for boss #2 for the 5% loan...yay!

Some day, I'll REALLY be debt-free!

$100 collected on 060909
$100 collected on 060912

This goes to my $20 challenge for Sept.

Total for August
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$0.00

Earned in July: $835.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Net for August: $835
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$2,346.95

TARGET: $4,000

$1,653.15/ 4 months to go!

collected another $200 for services! yay!...this one goes with August!!

another $250 collected to be added to my $20 challenge for August....
pending $1,450....

$120 more paid for services - delayed payment....to be added to my $20 challenge for August...

paid for services...
to be added to the $20-challenge
(August will be a good month!)...
I'll keep pressing to get all my money this month!

Forgot to post this one!!

Total for July
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$0.00

Earned in July: $210.00

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50
Net for July: $210.00
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$1,511.85

TARGET: $4,000

$2,488.15/ 5 months to go!

I got paid $100 more for services yesterday (still pending $1,900...this covers 4 months and, should have been paid month by month, but wasn't...at the moment, I feel like I'm doing "salvage" on collecting this money)...since this was work I took in replacement of the English lessons, these $100 go to my August challenge! ...

gas: 7.10 gallons @ $3.66

... and this is at one gas station that is consistently on the "lowest price" list published by the Center for Consumer Defense! OUCH!

$24.54 --gas, @3.551 per gallon ((faint))

Ok, since the DETAILED results are just too embarrassing, I'll just confess to this:

the only categories where I was at or below budget were:
CAR
SCHOOL
CELL PHONE

That leaves me overbudget in
GROCERIES (ALMOST made it!)
ENTERTAINMENT (the trip killed me!!)
LUNCH (no excuse, I just didn't pack enough lunches this month!)
CLOTHES (again, no real excuse, just: the deals at Ross were too good to pass up!)
EVENTS (Ale's b-day distorted this one...my b-day is in July, so we'll see how this goes!)
OTHER (no excuses, just plain stupidity!)

so, for June, the result is 3/9

Hopefully, on 060801, the news to report will be better!

((remember this covers variable expenses only))

The Trollmobile and I are still in our honeymoon phase --which means it hasn't given me any problems! :: knock on wood ::
I have to change the oil and do a preventive maintenance...I'll do this at the end of the month, because we have national holidays during the first week of August, a lot of people travel outside the city and, workshops tend to have specials for oil changes and free inspections for brakes (they don't charge you unless something needs to be replaced) and stuff like that...

As far as gas goes, the car performs exactly as I predicted...not as economic as my old car (that would have been impossible, the engine on this one is 1500, the one I had was an 800!, and, this one has a/c...which I don't use all the time, but, still!)...also, taking into account the difference in gas prices from the time I had the old car (Feb 2006) to the prices now, I'm below budget for gas expenses! woo-hoo!

AND, on Thursday I actually parallel parked it with only 3 motions!!! (hey, it's MUCH bigger than my old one!)

Total for June
Challenge statistics:
to discount from challenge this month:
-$0.00

Earned in June: $32.50

net for January: $12.15
net for February: $318.40
net for March:$380.00
net for April: $222.00
net for May:$336.86
Net for June: $32.50*
Total ytd for 2006 (net):$1,301.85

TARGET: $4,000

$2,698.15/ 6 months to go!

* was expecting some $$ owed to me for services, but, apparently, they'd be paid until tomorrow...so that will go into my July challenge (If they pay, I'm starting to have my doubts!)

2.92 gallons @$3.42
Must admit I cheated by only buying $10 worth of gas, just enough to get me to Saturday so the full tank will be registered as July's expenses...

8.55 gallons @ $3.47 = $29.67

Not as bad as I thought it would be, considering my sister's car broke down while I was away and, she used my car to get around!

It was announced in today's newspapers!!...I filled the car last Thursday, and obviously have been very good at not driving unnecessarily this week, because the needle has barely moved down, but, I'm still going to try to fill it today (unless the stations have already upped the prices!)...

You DO realize how gas at $3.69 totally messes up my budget (well, everyone's), don't you?? aaaarrrghhh! -- I had based my budget with gas at $3.50 max, which seemed kind of reasonable, seing that when I did that, gas was at $3.24!!-- ((sigh))...

At least, since it's cool most mornings and evenings (when I drive to and from work) I'm not using the air conditioning during the week...only on the weekends, and only around noon!

$20.57 for 5.91 gallons of gas (price is same as last week $3.48)

Well, last year in June I was literally DROWNING in debt!... the apt still hadn't sold and my car was giving me very serious problems (this was the beginning of the end for that car!)...

It's good to see so much progress!

Thanks to all for your support in the process!!

I didn't even use up half the tank this week! HOwever, I'm not fueling today..I'm waiting until tomorrow, so that this goes on June's expenses...(that will make June a 5-week expense period for gas, and keep May at 4 weeks, but I'd rather do this, considering that in April I had to FILL the tank as the car was delivered to me with an empty tank!...also, because I had a lot of "set-up" or initial expenses on the car!)

$16.87 for 4.84 gallons of gas, due to more "normal" driving this week!

Now that we know each other a bit more, we are getting along better!...I can now park it without problem in our garage (even when our neighbor across the street parks his monsters in our -very narrow- street!)...the strong smell of solvents (used to take off about 1,000,000 stickers on the dashboard) is starting to go away...and, thanks to a more "normal" driving week (no trips outside the city!) we only spent about half a tank of gas (less than half, actually! yay!)...I still have to make a real attempt at parallel parking in it, though...I did park it at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the other day, but, the space was so large, it was embarassing to think about the effort it took for me to get that car in!...
There's a couple of things I need to check...the left front light is sometimes on, sometimes off...a lock needs to be lubricated.....couple things like that...I'm taking some time off this Thursday to take it for a check up...