New Budget

Not a lot of ceremony for this, but I think I've decided on a new budget... here's my old budget. And here's the new one:

1st check: (between 1st and 15th day of the month)
$200 car payment
$200 food/personal/gas
$85 car insurance
$430 savings

2nd check: between 16th and end of month)
$500 Rent
$200 food/personal/gas
$45 Verizon (cell)
$170 savings

Main difference is that I wont be leaving the car payment or increased car insurance to chance. They are accounted for in full. (Yes, the car payment is only $167, but I want to pay it off as soon as possible, so $200 was the arbitrary number I picked while doing my math.)

This gives me a total of $600 in savings, short by $210 which I had originally planned. From June on, my goal will be to make up as much of that missing amount as possible.

Also, starting June, I will be keeping mind of my goal a bit differently... I know I need $12k before the end of next May, so I will count down to it. On paper as of right now, I will be 4k short from the goal by the deadline. We'll see how close I get to it! It's only $200 a month... how hard can it be?

I've also cooked up something as far as my... rental situation, but I'll cover that later. I'm glad we're having such nice weather. It gives me plenty of time to think and enjoy some quality vitamin D!