Note: Content reposted from another blog to minimize my internet footprint
Just a few updates this week since my personal and professional life have both been super busy!
First and foremost, I am finally figuring out how to use Mint.com, and managed to increase my Net Worth by about 10k! Turns out my car actually counts as an asset, and I didn't have the KBB value listed, lol. My Net Worth is now only negative nine thousand dollars!! I realize nothing has actually changed, but it makes me feel that much better!
Although, Mint & KBB aren't taking into account the baseball-sized dent in my fender from a hit-and-run, nor the squirrel remains charred to my battery. Yep, you read that right. Yesterday, I took my car for my biannual RI state inspection and the mechanics found a dead squirrel fried to my battery! I have no idea how long it has been there since I probably haven't popped the hood since the Obama administration. Still passed!
Thanks to some clever categorical spending, I managed to get $21.44 cash back from Discover to put towards this month's bill! #SmallVictories
Speaking of credit cards, I have toyed with the following idea for a while, but I finally pulled the trigger on the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred Card this week. I noticed that the only necessary yet non-budgeted portion of my monthly spending is groceries - especially now that I am eating at home more! The BCP gives 6% cashback on groceries, 3% at gas stations and department stores, and 1% on everything else!
With the help of Reddit, I got a sweet referral link for $200 cashback if I spend $1000 within the first three months, PLUS no annual fee for the first year! It is normally $95, but if the cashback doesn't seem worth the annual fee in the future, I will either close the card or ask for a waiver on the fee.
Now, this sadly does NOT mean I am going to run out and upgrade my computer which is in desperate need of replacement. The $1000 will go to bills, since both my Renter's Insurance and Sirius XM (yes, this is a necessity) renewals fall into this timeframe. If I really can't stretch to a thousand on my regular monthly bills and groceries in the next three months, I will just make an advance payment on my car insurance to make sure I hit the goal! The $200 will go back towards the bill of course, and the rest will be paid according to my usual methods.
I also read about something called the 52-Week Money Challenge, and plan to start this coming Monday! I would love to see you all start with me! The 52-Week Money Challenge is a simple savings plan, where you deposit a dollar amount that corresponds to what week of the Challenge it is. You will deposit $1 into Savings on Week One, $2 on Week Two, all the way up to $52 in Week 52! Then, presumably, you start over?
I read this Challenge came about to help combat the fact that most Americans don't have any savings and zero emergency fund. I have about $200 in Savings myself, and that only happened within the past few weeks. I have no emergency fund. I hope to save more (and also get some compound interest on this bad boy), but this would at least net me $1378 with no interest by the end of the 52 week period.
I'm also courting some higher interest savings and money market accounts for the money I just put into a new savings account. I will post more updates when I decide what to do next.
Enjoy the weekend!
M
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