Some Wins & Losses

Scorecard:

• Impulse Purchase of new computer: Win! (Did not purchase)
  
• Lunch Out (today): Loss (Mini-win: No beverage purchased with lunch)
  
• Monster: Loss
  
• Clear/Amber-lens motorcycle glasses: Win! **
  
• Dinner Out (today): Win! (Eggs & Toast. Don't laugh, I can't yet cook many dishes...)
  

Today's Tally:

3.5 W - 2 L

After both feeling under the weather, and recovering from some computer downtime (filesystem failure = fun!) over the weekend I have returned. I must begrudgingly admit to briefly considering purchasing financing a new computer out of frustration. (I'm currently using a 2005 PPC Mac Mini*)... The good news is that I did NOT pay the impatience tax this time. A reinstall and some TLC to my application preferences and it's running like new!

Even with my small lost battles, I feel that I've begun taking the first steps forward and it is invigorating. Sparing the whole cliché, "Even the longest journey..."

All things considered, since internally committing myself to this blog I've paid much more attention to every purchase. Saying no to myself is hard, but not as hard as I thought.

On an unrelated note (and contrary to what I wrote in the introduction blog) I have no initial expectations of anyone other than myself really reading this blog, an ulterior motive for writing is to refine my style -- I may have something interesting to say someday and I'd like to have at least a basic ability to express myself. But, on the off chance you're reading this and you're not me... let me know what you think. I'm all for some constructive feedback!

*I have to say until this past weekend it has performed spectacularly!

** Going to the local Honda & Harley dealers over lunch today was such a tease... Don't go places where everything is a fabulous, expensive toy...

Step 1: The Catch-Up

I've been terribly lazy about my finances of late, and as a result, I'm pretty much back where I began. I was doing well, making great headway all things considered - But in two short months I undid what I had worked six months to achieve.

So - Here it begins... again. I'm not going to post expenses until the end of the month, but an interesting note - I've spent $20 on Monster drinks already this month! They are the first thing to go. OUCH. (Not to mention the probable negative health aspects of drinking those things...)

I'm going to try to get the "low-hanging fruit" savings first. Lunches out, bar, and such will have to be on hold for a while. I know that at the moment this blog is totally generic. I agree, it sucks but I figure that I will have some spare time on my hands as I begin reeling in the social life a bit. I have a handful of social obligations left to fulfill for the summer (Concerts for which I've already paid, and family gatherings) but they should be of modest expense - hopefully just gas.

On the subject of gas, I have to say - if you have the means, get a motorcycle or scooter! What more fun could you have getting to work?! On a 25-year-old motorcycle I get twice the gas mileage of a newer car, and really enjoy my ride to work. I'll admit, it's not for everyone, but if you've ever thought about it - it's time.

The "Know Where Your Money Goes" Challenge

I think a good first step on this journey toward Financial Freedom is encompassed in the "Know Where Your Money Goes" challenge.

I'm a bit of a nerd, and do already track probably 90% of my purchases and spending, but I have a bad habit of slacking off after several weeks of diligently tracking my expenditures, causing "gaps" in my spending analysis and worse, "missing" money. Which is really just money I've spent but cannot recall where or what I spent the money on. So for this month, I'll be watching my money like this:


I think here is a good place to mention that I've been using Buxfer to track my income/spending in generic terms over the past few months and I'm overall very happy with it! While there are a handful of improvements on current features that I would like to see implemented (*ahem* multiple account transfer transaction entry and better split-tag-item entries), it is overall a very good and flexible method of tracking your spending. I should say that it does store your information "in the cloud" making some people very nervous. I combat this by using generic terms/abbreviations to de-personalize the information a bit, and I do not use the automatic downloading of statements (though I understand that their plugin stores all account information locally, not in the cloud). I also very much like the ability to export my data to standard CSV/Spreadsheet formats for even further detail analysis not available on the website. In my opinion, it's friendly and easier to use than Quicken -- And does a better job with reporting (though I have to say, I miss the forecast function from Quicken).

The Impulse Spender

Hello, and welcome.

As the name of my blog implies, I am an impulse spender. I hope that by the end of this exercise I will be in control of my purchases and out of debt!

I feel that keeping an ongoing blog of my progress, trials & tribulations, and (hopefully) successes will keep me focused on the end goal: Financial Freedom!

A little background on me:

I'm a very late-twenties computer professional. I was good about not collecting any credit card debt until later in my college career but made up for it by buying an endless supply of DVDs, nights out on the town, and making larger-ticket impulse buys on credit card before graduating. The move to a major metropolis area for my first job required an unsecured loan and my combination of lifestyle and living in a city really hurt my finances. While I've not yet been in serious trouble because of my finances, I've begun feeling trapped by them. I'm currently in no position to handle an emergency, and with a recent house purchase and birthday (with the accompanying feeling of mortality associated with birthdays), I've decided it's time to change my ways.

Since I've found so much help and inspiration from other "personal story" finance blogs, I'm going to contribute my story for the greater good!

With my birthday money I made an impulse purchase of a 1/10 model RC car... It's very cool, and goes VERY fast, but had I waited even a day to make the purchase I would still have the money and not made the purchase as that is something I definitely do NOT need. As such, I want to make it my very last Impulse spend.

I hope anyone that joins me on this journey finds at least some nugget of hard-learned wisdom or inspiration to improve their own personal finance situation. I'll also be calling out to the "cloud" for advice and personal stories of successes and/or failures, etc. as I determine what works and doesn't work for me!

I'm excited to begin my path toward a debt-free existence and see what transpires...