New Article

I feel that I'm not being honest with myself this time around about how well I'm doing with my budgeting. After last weekend my booze envelope is empty, my toiletries envelope is empty (and I didn't use that money for toiletries); luckily I have money in my grocery envelope so I can eat, the animals have full bags of food and my dine out envelope is still full (and by full, I mean it has $20 in it, so I won't be going to fancy places). I think that having a partner that is so generous makes this process tougher; I want to become financially stable and be able to take care of myself in case something ever happens, but my significant other keeps on insisting on paying for things.
On the weekend we went to the casino (that's where my toiletry money went) and he won quite a bit of money so has been paying for dinner and drinks all week. I feel a sense of guilt about this because he shouldn't have to 'pay' because he's good with money and I'm not.
Those are my thoughts for the week.

I've included a link to an article I read today. It's US based, but I believe could still be applicable to Canadians. The question being posed is can you save money by taking public transit vs. driving? Let me know your thoughts.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1771236

Now what am I going to do?

So a few weeks after bouncing my rent cheque I decide that enough is enough and I"m going to take action. Taking action included actually answering the phone when the credit agency called and dealing with the unpaid phone bill I'd been avoiding for a year. Feeling empowered by the thought of finally getting my stuff together, I picked up the phone only to find out that the amount I owed last year was accumulating 25% a day. Needless to say I was once again beside myself and once again had to rely on someone else to help me out of this jam for now.

So as of today I have a clean slate. Pay day is in a week and I have a plan.
This blog is set up to document my journey and hopefully help other women be empowered to get control of their finances. I'd appreciate comments, articles...anything you can contribute.

My plan so far includes:

A budget - I've completed my budget and allotted a certain amount of money to everything and anything I spend money on.
I'm the QUEEN of debit. I LOVE my debit card, but I don't pay attention to the amount of money I have (or don't have) in my account. So as of my next pay day the debit card stays at home. I've put together envelopes for everything and I am going to stick to my budget.

Will let you know how that goes!

How did I get here?

I woke up on the morning of May 3rd, 2010 and thought to myself 'Oh my god, my rent cheque is going to bounce this month, how is that possible?'. My heart was beating out of my chest and I was thinking to myself 'if only I could explain to my landlord that I....'; what? That I make the same amount of money as most double income families living in this city? That I don't know where my money went, but wherever it is I hope it's having more fun than me right now?

After borrowing money off my boyfriend (for the umpteenth time over the course of our 2 year relationship) I felt a bit better and decided that today was going to be the day to get my head above water.

Little did I know that I was going to be hit with another "biggie" that would just dig me deeper. This is where it all began and this is the beginning of my journey to get out of debt and be able to stand on my own two feet!