The Situation

Some details:

$592 in weekly take home salary.
About $200 to $250 a month in other income

Expecting about $5000 lump sum in November
Possibly another $2500 in lump sum as well, around the same time.

Current Savings:

eMoneyMarket account: $2500
Standard Savings: $1300
(I'm keeping my retirement accounts out of the equation at the moment.)

Debts:
Car payment: $408 a month,(Minimum) amount remaining on loan: $12,500
Credit Card: Balance of $2250

Those are the two things I hope to have paid off by June 2005.

Monthly expenses:
Rent: None for the rest of the year...good deal.
Gasoline: about $300/month
Cell Phone: $75/month
Food/Recreation $600/month (budgeted)
Car Insurance: $102/month
Utilities: N/A

So really, I have less than $1100.00 in monthly expenses outside of my Car and CC.

What I plan to document here is where money is going each week, what I do with "extra" money and how the plan is shaping up. I'll also try to post any tips I get for generating a little extra income and how to make the most of the money that I have.

Again, the goals:

$6000 in savings by the end of 2004.
Pay off the Credit Card by the end of 2004
Pay off the Car by June, 2005.

Wish me luck.

BSF

Where to begin

This Blog is meant to serve as a diary for my personal finance goals. In short, I hope by the middle of 2005 to be able to support myself on a part time income, and have as little debt and as much savings as possible.

To get there, I have some hurdles to overcome. Not as many as some people, but enough that this project is going to need some creativity and serious budgeting.

I'll lay out the details in coming days and how I hope to proceed. Advice and feedback is always welcome.