I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.

This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.

So again to clarify (since I get so many questions), this shows the cash FLOW for the month. On Day 2 of every month I will have a negative FLOW because I have paid rent etc so money has LEFT my checking account. I have not had any money come in on Day 2 of the current month since I got paid on day 27 or 30 or 31 of the previous month so that income is counted for LAST month.

twentyIncome for the month to date: $290.55

Expenses for the month to date: $2696.41

Net effect: -$2405.86

Since the last posting I spent $6.49 (including $1 tip) on lunch with coworkers as I went to a training. The food was not very good, but I did not expect much for a ‘lunch special’ that cost $5 at a full service restaurant. It was a good way to socialize and network with other staff members AND it fit into the budget so I am not mad at all.

It is payday so I will have my salary coming in later today but you know that I never post the figure!!!!!!

I spent $35.90 on food for the week to replenish my fruit and other staples for the week, including milk and yogurt. I spent $17.36 on household stuff including cleaning supplies for the car and spent $44.82 on personal items. This expenditure on personal items included $27.22 for heads for the electric toothbrush and I had a $5 coupon for that. I redeemed $7 in coupons this week, but did not buy any newspapers so I am at a net of $7 this month on coupon redemption.

I also spent $18.16 on gas to fill up my tank from just slightly under half full, leaving me with $41.04 in the budget for gas for the rest of the month. I do not plan on driving much next week so I am sure that gas will last until the following month. As I have mentioned earlier, I will not be reducing the budgeted $60 for gas because during the summer I spend closer to that amount and do not wish to be constantly adjusting the budgeted figures. Any money that has not been spent on gas during the month will simply go into the Car fund for future use on car related items that are not part of the monthly budget.

Last month (and this month too) I failed to correctly implement my zero based budget as I only zeroed out some of the accounts by transferring money that was not spent. I plan on keeping better tabs of that in May but instead of doing random transfers I will simply apply that unspent money as a snowflake payment towards the car loan. The car loan is currently the only interest bearing debt that I have to deal with right now. I do have two personal loans and one credit card (dental expenses) but those are at 0% interest so I am not worried about them right now.

The car loan is currently set to be paid off in full in May of 2011 if I keep the current payments. Since I am snowflaking little payments over I should be able to pay the car off before that time if things continue to progress they way they have been going. I do know that I will be spending a few hundred dollars in testing fees and certifications for my career advancement over the summer so I will not be able to send as much money to the car as I would like.

I will see you guys and gals later as I continue my journey to save money and become debt free!!!!