New Challenge: Banking!

As a Hite, I am notoriously poor at managing my money. The only person in my family that has always been good with it since forever that I can really be sure about is Karl. He never trusted banks and instead kept all of his money in a Gundam pencil case tin. When he finally had real income, Karl had to enlist the help of a major banking firm and to ensure his money's safety, Karl buried the Gundam tin right outside the bank near the entryway. I am not this awesome. I am in fact anti-awesome at banking. The only thing I have going for me is that the more money I have, the better I am at keeping/managing it. I rarely have enough money for this to come into play. Therefore, my next challenge for 2010 is to help me overcome my constant fear of overdraft. This is a major problem to fix and comes in many parts. I call it, "The Three 'B's".

PART I: Budget
I will make myself a weekly budget that includes all of the necessities and niceties of living; food, gas, rent, entertainment, utilities, and free money. I will stick to this budget. I will put my budget in my wallet, on my wall, and all over my planner.

PART II: Bills
I will pay my bills on time and with no grief. I am lucky to be able to have the conveniences that are directly associated with bills and I will therefore smile as I give Portland General Electric $30 a month.

PART III: Balance
I will balance my checkbook and keep a current and complete record of all transactions made. I will keep one for my checking, savings, and credit card accounts. I will see where I spend my money and adjust my spending accordingly.

It's a nice, simple, and complete plan for altering my spending/banking. I can dig on this. I'll make it happen.

Poor Hite-itous

like it's a virus or a illness or something. And I've got it! I am a Poor Hite. With a current $123.47 to my name, I am poor. I do have the tiniest bit of hope though. I have not over-drafted since December 17, 2008!!! Isn't that amazing!? To most of you out there, it probably isn't amazing. But to me it is. It's amazing because I used to over-draft near monthly. And now it's been several several months. I can't say that this is just because I'm naturally just sooo good with money. No, in fact I'm not. This is mostly because I, after that last time over-drafting, started maintaining one of those check book ledger things. And then I started balancing it!!! That is a truth fact! So, after that over-draft scare I had last week, I decided I'm going to get on back to it. Because I never want to over-draft again in my life. And I also just decided that if I can manage to get through this ENTIRE year without over-drafting I deserve a present. A nice present. From me to me. Maybe a small shopping spree at H&M while I'm down for Christmas. Or a gift card for Powell's. I love BOOKS. Anyway. That's the plan. Rule the world. You and me. Anyways....

POOR NO MORE!! That's my campaign for not-poorness anymore.

My dollars are more valuable than yours.

I want to buy everything in the world. Rather, I want to have everything in the world. Fortunately(?) for me, I get no pleasure by spending money. No holes are burned by cash money in my pockets. The federal refund that showed up in my bank account today will be spent on nothing (savings) and student loans. I'm doing fine. When I want to have something badly enough that I'll spend the time wearing down my wife and scratching together the dough, then I'll jump (after careful market research and thorough cost-benefit analysis). 

I spent $80 on a bicycle recently. Ask Allison how I felt about it. I love having my bike, though.

http://www.creditpanda.com/blog/2007/top-50-frugality-bloggers/

F-Squared

Financial Fast.

It is how I plan to save some money and see how much I frivolously spend...which I am sure is a lot.

The rules:
Spend no money...other than the necessities, of course. Necessities are defined as the following:
- rent/mortgage
- loan/car payments
- utilities/insurance
- gasoline
- groceries and personal necessities (i.e.-deodorant, tampons, Tucks pads, and Preparation-H)
THAT IS IT!!!!

No restaurants. No shopping. No stops at the 7-11. No movies. Nothing extra.

Now, there are some who say that is unrealistic. There may be a need to have a set amount of flex-cash for entertainment, etc.

I am kind of a purest and think that a true financial fast should be done without the flex cash.

I would like to start the Financial Fast as soon as possible. Any takers?

Poor Hite

Green was chosen as the color scheme of this blog because it's also the color of money. Or so I've been told. You see, I'm a Hite, and therefore, I have none. We're poor and we're Hites. We can't help the one, but we aim to improve the former. Come with us on a journey through time, space, and cold hard cash.