supercharged

A year ago, I wrote this post about our electric bill(s). In February 2012, we paid $289 for electric which inspired me to make the leap to Constellation Energy as our energy supplier. They gave us a fixed rate of 9.55 cents for twelve months. My, how time flies! I was in denial when I received the renewal notice in January, thinking I had until April, at least.

In January 2013, our bill was $289 - a little higher than I expected, but it was pretty cold all month and we had the heat on in more rooms than normal (like the downstairs half bath & kitchen). But early on Saturday morning, I got my monthly e-bill from Atlantic City Electric and you'll never guess how much it was for.

Seriously, it's crazy. You'll never guess. Unless I've already told you, of course. Just pick a number in your head.



just a friendly reminder from Homer


It was $400!!!!!! $408.15 to be exact. What. The. Fudge. Shut the front door. Expletive after expletive after expletive. The real kicker is we're still using less electric as compared to other homes in our neighborhood!

Yesterday, I went online to see why on earth it was so high. AC Electric charged us about $170 to deliver the electric. Then Constellation charged us almost $240 in supply fees for the month. It boiled down to about 10.22 cents per kilowatt of electricity use. This means we're out of our fixed rate contract and now in the variable rate period. Yesterday, I was ready to cancel my service with Constellation, but after calming down and doing a little more research today, I found they were still about a cent cheaper than AC Electric's current rate of 11.77 cents per kilowatt of use.

I'm going to call Constellation this afternoon to see what kind of rate they'll give us if we renew our contract  for another year. Hopefully, we'll be able to get our original 9.55 rate back, but if not, I guess we'll stick with the current rate.

After all, a penny saved is a penny earned, right?

two certainties

First, let me say - giving up buying food at lunchtime is much harder than I anticipated. I've already messed up at least three times and it's only been a week! Big bummer. Like any good perfectionist, I was ready to give up and throw in towel for the rest of Lent, but I'm trying to trudge on.

Last night, The Hubs and I had our taxes done. Unfortunately, we have to hold off on filing (or rather, our accountant does, since she has the return) because we're claiming a residential energy credit.
I need to point out to all of you how imperative it is to have a great tax professional, especially if you have exemptions. Obviously, you want someone who knows all the laws, but you should also look for someone who understands your line of work and who can help you max out your benefits. Ours works with a lot of teachers in The Hubs' school district, which is how she came recommended to us, but she's also very knowledgeable about what I should be tracking as well. Even better, she has a great personality. Two years ago, we went to a guy that was very old school and we didn't feel like we were getting what we paid for. Now, I'm happy to hand over a check because I feel like she's working hard for us.
In any case, I'm happy we're getting a modest refund from the Feds (about the same as last year) as well as about $200 from the State. Last year, we owed NJ a few pennies (literally, it was only about $15), so I was super thorough this year about documenting any expenses to avoid that. Here are a few tips our accountant gave us that might help you as well!

Sidenote: Please remember I am *not* a tax professional and only dispensing some handy advice that has worked for our two-income, no-children household. Always, always, always checks with your own financial expert in regards to your taxes.

1. Track any job-related expenses, such as mileage and tolls, which were not reimbursed by your employer. Make sure you have documentation of such expenses (such as a spreadsheet, or even a notebook in your car), in case you're audited. This year, we were also able to include The Hubs' airfare & hotel expenses for the Cross Country trip to Disney, as well as little expenses like supplies for his classroom. I was able to deduct the fees to obtain my Notary Public license, as well as the money spent submitting applications through the Civil Service Commission.

2. Keep all your health care receipts. This includes co-pays, prescriptions, and glasses/eye exams. The Hubs and I are state employees, so our bi-weekly contributions to our health care plans are too small to write off on our taxes. But, we were able to combine all of our other health care expenses as a write off. This includes the miles we traveled to get to and from our doctor's offices! We forgot about this perk in 2012, so we had to give a rough estimate, but I'll be much better in 2013 about tracking our miles. You can get a print out of your yearly prescriptions at most pharmacies (as long as you consistently use the same place) which is so much easier than trying to keep a years worth of receipts. If I forgot to grab a receipt from the doctor's office, I just printed a copy of the check online or printed out a bank statement with the charge highlighted.
3. Donations are your friend. The key is to strike a balance between monetary donations and product donations. In 2011, we had all monetary donations, so our accountant told us we needed to start making trips to Goodwill (or any other like organization, Goodwill is just what we have around here). What you donate to Goodwill is considered a portion of your income.  In 2012, we were able to donate three separate times, which led to a deduction of $1,700! That's definitely not chump change. Unfortunately, our monetary donations took a hit - less than $150 - so that's something we need to increase this coming year. I enrolled in a "Charitable Contribution" payroll deduction through my job this year, which will (hopefully) help even us out.

4. Make sure you're maximizing your pre-tax retirement contributions. Obviously, the more you sock away pre-tax, the lower your taxes will be in the first place. In 2011, I had about $2,000 I was able to write off due to my Deferred Compensation plan. In 2012, though, I dropped my contributions by a lot, and I didn't have anything to write off this year. Boo.

So those are a few things that helped us maximize our refund this year. Are there are tips or tricks you've learned over the years?

the sacrificial lamb

Friends, Readers, Countrymen (& women): Although it hasn't been an official year yet since I started this blog (that happens next Friday), we are on the eve of what prompted the blog last year: Lent

Last year, you traveled with me when I resolved to give up shopping for forty days. While it wasn't a total success, it definitely helped me reflect on how I think about money and, more importantly, how I spend money.

I wish I could tell you now that I'm better off financially than I was almost a year ago, but sadly, I'm not. In fact, I'm worse off now due to having to purchase a new vehicle and various financial roadblocks we've hit along the way. For all my new-found understanding of how I spend, I really haven't changed my habits very much, if at all, which is disappointing on a lot of levels. But I'm not going to throw in the towel just yet.

This year's Lenten challenge is kind of a doozy. It's definitely going to be hard, but in a good way. Starting tomorrow, I am not allowed to purchase any food or drink item at work. If I didn't bring it in my lunch bag, I don't get to eat it. No work cafeteria, no Wawa, no Real Pizza, no lunch outings with my co-workers (sorry, girls!), no snacks or soda from the vending machine, no buying a candy bar from the sheriff's officer trying to raise money for his kid's sports teams. Nada. Since I started tracking my spending, I realized I'm wasting around $30 a month eating out when I can easily bring it from home. In fact, on some of the occasions where I grab something at lunch, I already did bring something from home, but didn't feel like eating it. That attitude has got to go. Yesterday, I had my last turkey sandwich from our work cafeteria. Today, I'm going to have my last $5 lunch combo from the pizza place down the street. Tomorrow, I'm finally going to finish off those leftovers from this weekend. Hopefully, it's not moldy.

Are you giving anything up this year?

get down (payment)

I finally input my December expenses into the online tracker. I was still in the hole almost $500 for the month, which actually isn't as bad as I thought, taking the extra Christmas spending into consideration.

We're still spending way too much money on groceries. By my count, it's between $300-$400 a month, and that doesn't include when I ask the Hubs to stop on his way home and pick something up. I definitely need to get back into the Fresh 20 groove (which I still owe you a post about) and start using coupons more frequently. I started drinking green smoothies again, which pretty much eliminates the need for any breakfast foods (the Hubs isn't a big breakfast eater).

I did cut down on the Wawa spending, though I didn't give it up totally like I wanted to. I think on every visit to Wawa, I would buy something, get back to my car, and then say "shit! I'm not supposed to be coming here!" But ya live and learn  - I have yet to buy anything there this month!

I've been putting in applications left and right for part time jobs. I recently received an e-mail from Revel Casino for a Restaurant Host job; However, they want to interview me next Wednesday at 1:00 PM. Uhhhh, clearly, that's not going to work out, since I work a full time job. Of course, there's no contact information for the Recruitment Office in the e-mail so I'll have to try to get a hold of someone on my lunch break today to see if it can be changed. I also received a call from my current job's Human Resources for an interview for another position in the Courthouse's Civil Division. I'm pretty excited for that - hopefully, it will come with a pay raise!

But enough about me, let's get to the point of this whole post. You're already aware of my car troubles (if not, see here) and the subsequent search for a new one. The other night The Hubs and I were talking about what we were looking for, how much we can afford per month, and what we plan to put down. Since 2012 was a pretty disastrous year for us, financially speaking, we really don't have a big pile of money to throw down on a car. The Hubs thinks this is fine, since we're not purchasing a new vehicle, but I'm leery that not paying anything except taxes & tags will screw me in the long run.

After doing a little research, I've found we're both right, but The Hubs is a little more so in our case (but don't tell him that). If we were buying a new, or even slightly used (say a Certified Pre-Owned), then I would be correct by wanting to make a larger down payment which would cover the car's depreciation during my first year of owning it. But, since we're buying an older model, it's already had it's maximum depreciation. Edmund's recommends 10% for a used car. At the $9,500 price tag I'm looking to spend (or stay under), that's about $900 plus the $600-ish for sales, so about $1,400 all together. I think that's a number we can handle, provided that the dealerships are willing to negotiate their sticker prices.

The one thing I'm not worried about? My interest rate. Even though I might be the worst credit user in awhile, my credit score hasn't suffered, and I think I'm still bound to get a nice rate. I'm hoping for 4%. In any case, I better bone up on my negotiation skills:

car shopping pretty much makes me want to jump off a building

P.S. if you follow me on Instagram (@kathyquicktick), you'll see just what I did to my Kohl's card the night after this post.

tracked

I think I've told you all about how I've been tracking my daily expenses in a notebook, right? If I didn't, the concept is pretty simple: buy a small notebook, carry it everywhere, & write down everything you spend money on. Last week, I filled my first notebook. It lasted from just after Labor Day (September 4) to the end of November.

The problem I ran into was categorizing what I wrote down. It would've been pretty difficult to go through by hand and see where I spent the most money. I was unsure of how to create my own Excel tracking sheet, but I found online (of course I can't find the link to now), which was easy to use & I could customize my own categories as well as my method of purchase (auto-debit, credit card, check, etc).

I spent most of the day Friday organizing my notes into the Spreadsheet. By lunchtime, I was thoroughly depressed by how much money I was spending needlessly. Even though I was writing it down, I guess I had become desensitized to the process - just writing my spending didn't mean anything anymore. But seeing my monthly shortfall in big red numbers sure did.

That process spurred this month's challenge: No Wawa for one month. It is downright embarrassing how much I was spending on food at Wawa on a monthly basis. $22 in September, $31 in October, and $59 in November! More than $100 in three months. It was probably just because I didn't feel like eating whatever lunch I brought that day, or we hadn't gone food shopping so I needed breakfast. This was in addition to the other money I spent on food/eating out (but not groceries). Ridiculousness.

We're only five days into the month, but I'm doing good so far. I did buy an orange juice there on Saturday morning before we went to my in-laws (& I bought The Hubs a breakfast sandwich, but he's not included in the challenge), but I drank half & saved the other for another morning. The Hubs was kind enough to go grocery shopping on Monday afternoon so now we have food to eat at dinner (and consequently, leftovers for lunch the next day).

An informal and totally non-scientific poll of my co-workers found that most don't track their spending on a daily basis, but log in weekly/monthly to make sure everything is hunky-dory. Even though PNC's Virtual Wallet can do the tracking for me, I've realized I'm the type of person who needs to do everything manually, otherwise my brain just doesn't register that money is flying out the window.

What about you?

hey hey what can I do?

Every time I've opened a blank post up this week, I haven't been able to come up with something to write. I like to try and keep my posts focused, lest this become reminiscent of my teenage LiveJournal days; However, clarity has been elusive. I'm going to indulge my stream-of-consciousness today in the hopes a more focused blogger will appear at the end.

When we last left off, pre-hurricane, we had just spent $1,800 on the Hubs' car. Prior to this, we had about $2,200 on our joint Chase card. We made a lump payment of $1,000 before the car repair; However, now we have a $3,300 bill. Ugh. At least at the end of this month, we'll get the Hubs' check for coaching track and that can get paid off. Sandy delayed that by at least a week though, since the whole season was pushed back a week (including the bonus pay schedule).

Speaking of Sandy, I had a bit of a panic moment this past weekend, when I believed there was a very real possibility we weren't going to be paid as scheduled tomorrow (since no one was in last week to submit their time sheets). Thankfully, it looks as though the State of NJ is going to come through and deposit a much needed paycheck in my bank account tomorrow. Phew.

Post car, but pre-Sandy, we went to the Hubs' cousin's wedding in North Jersey. Seriously, people, I love you all, but we need to get out of this wedding phase. I forgot to buy a card & we didn't have time to grab one before the wedding on Friday, so I figured I would mail it to them when we got back, but then I thought that having the cash might be in our best interest if the power was out for an extended period of time. Well, our power came back on sooner than most (so so lucky), but I just can't be trusted with money. In general. Ever. Plus I kind of over spent on groceries right before the storm, so I was doubly broke. Luckily, we didn't lose any food with the storm (again, so so lucky). I just wrote them the check this morning. Whoops.

I did fall into a bit of money yesterday, though! I'm in a football pick-em pool at work and I scored the most points two weeks ago and won $100! I would've won $185, but I hadn't paid my entry fee yet, so that had to be subtracted. I'm currently 13 points off the leader, so I don't know if I have a shot of winning any of the top three prizes, but I'm trying not to think about it or I'll mess up my winning strategy (which is really no strategy at all, but quickly trying to get all my picks in before the start of the first game on Thursday night). I already spent the $100 in the form of a check to the above mentioned bride and groom though. Whoomp whoomp.

I've been spending more money on food lately than I should, specifically lunches. I'm in one of those funks where whatever I've brought doesn't actually appeal to me by the time I need to eat it. Yesterday was one of those days and today is shaping up to be one too. Plus we're going to lunch tomorrow for my co-worker, who already transferred to another county, but we couldn't celebrate since we weren't at work last week!

Lastly, I'll leave you with a little quip about spending money to make money (kind of). After Financial Literacy Month was over, I was reading other personal finance blogs and came across Man vs. Debt. I saw he offered a "class" of sorts called "You vs. Debt" and I thought it would be interesting and relevant to the blog so I signed up. I just started getting the e-mails and was getting pretty excited about the whole thing (well, as excited as you can be for a personal finance class). Yesterday, I got the e-mail to complete my registration and when I went to the website, you had to pay a one time fee of $97! I guess in the grand scheme of things, $97 isn't a lot of money, but really, what could they possibly tell me that I don't already know? I get it - I need to spend less and make more. It's harder than it seems when you're a spender. That's the secret. I just put it out there for free. It was definitely a major WTF moment for me.

It feels to get that jumble of money related "stuff" out there, as disjointed and unorganized as it might have been. How are my lovely readers out there doing? I haven't had any comments on the last four posts - did I lose you all?

tricks for treats

Well, Readers, I'm all packed up for our four day Disney excursion. I'll be back Monday to detail if I was able to stick to the budget. I am happy to report that I did not buy any new clothes for this trip, which honestly, might be a first. Actually, I did buy a new pack of socks, but those I can use all the time, so we won't count that ;-)

I'll leave you with a Yahoo article about how stores trick you into spending more money. There's some sneaky stuff going on- like increasing the size of the shopping cart so you spend more money (just another reason to use the handheld basket on smaller trips).

One of the points I could definitely relate to was rasing the price on an items just to mark it down so you feel like you're saving more money. Their example was people are more likely to buy a mixer for $399.00 marked down from $499.00 rather than buy the same mixer which isn't on sale for $349.00. Another trick is the 10 for $10 "deal": I definitely will almost always buy more of something when it's marked 10/$10 (which is what they want!) I can't tell you how many times The Hubs has said something like "You know, you don't have to buy ten of them."

Do you ever fall victim to one of their price tricks? Knowledge is half the battle!

Also, speaking of knowledge, check out my sister's blog for a post about Banned Books Week and see how many of the classics you've read. I've read a paltry 9 out of 46 books. Had I read this morning, I would've gone to the library instead of buying magazines for the plane ride tonight!

mish mash

I have a whole mess of financial thoughts running through my head today.

First, Molly is sick today. Actually, she's been sick since about Wednesday, but this morning it started to get worse instead of better. I took my child to the doctor like any good mother, only she's not covered by my health insurance. $255 later, we had blood drawn, a shot, meds, and new food to take home. I had to put that on our joint Chase card since this is the paycheck where the mortgage comes out and we're going to Disney next week.

Speaking of Disney, I managed to put aside $300 to take with me. We leave Wednesday night and come back Monday afternoon. Saturday will be taken up with race day, so I'm hoping that other than food, my expenses will be minimal and I'll be able to come back with some of that money.

Yesterday, I received an email that my job is not continuing my health plan in 2013. Next month I have to decide whether to jump onto the hubs plan or to take the other plan that's offered. I'm leaning towards the former right now, but it'll depend on what kind of coverage they'll offer for my post-op doctor visits and physical therapy when I get knee surgery later this year. It's very frustrating decision to have to make. I'll admit I had a "poor poor Kathy" mindset last night, but I'm getting over it.

It's not all bad news, though. I've been very good at documenting my spending this month and I think I've managed to reduce spending - not by much - but a little. I was able to stick to a budget when buying a bridal shower gift last week and spent less than I usually would. I even went to Home Goods yesterday with some co-workers and didn't see anything I wanted to buy! That's huge.

Any news with my readers - who's got big weekend plans? We're having people over for the Jets / 49ers game on Sunday since the tickets were too expensive for us to actually go.

under my umbrella

2011 to 2013 has been, is, and will be an exciting time for us as well as our family & friends.

In October 2010, we kicked off the start of "Wedding Fever" with one of my best friend's wedding. In April 2011, we got married. We had weddings in May and June 2011. Then our two other best friends got married (to each other!) in September 2011 and with that came the responsibilities of throwing a shower & a bachelorette party.

Then we had a lull - we missed a wedding in November 2011 due to Brian's track schedule. In June 2012, we started back up with a wedding in the Poconos. In August, we not only had two weddings, but the weddings were on the same day. I went to one, while the hubs went to the other. Besides the wedding, I also went to the shower, bachelorette party, & helped plan her office shower. The day after her wedding, I went to a bridal shower for Brian's cousin. Three weeks later, I attended a wedding for my co-worker.

Besides the weddings, I've also been to at least two baby showers in January 2011 and May 2012 (which was for triplets!).

Which brings us to the present. Lots of presents.

But don't get me wrong. I love weddings. I love bachelorette parties and I love showers. I'm a weirdo. I love planning them and I love going to them. Most women I know dread going to showers, but not me. Food? Presents? Cheesy games? Possibly Mimosas? Count me in.

Remember way back in April when we were talking about Financial Literacy Month? I briefly discussed back then that I have a hard time sticking to budgets when it comes to gifts. Weddings are fairly easy because all you have to do is write the check and buy a card (although our standard amount has risen about $50 since we first started dating). But now having gotten married and done the whole she-bang I find it harder to stick to a budget for my engaged friends because there are so many products out there that are useful.

Coming up, I have a shower in mid-October followed by a family wedding two weeks later. Throw in multiple birthdays in October/November and that takes us right to Christmas. We have a wedding in January 2013 and a long distance wedding in Colorado in May. I *think* Wedding Fever offically ends in October 2013 when two of our close friends get married, but a lot can happen in one year.

So we have some friends who are engaged, some who are married, and some who have started to segway into the baby portion of their lives. With all of these life events intersecting, it's become even more important that I stick to any budgets I set for each event.

I've been hoarding collecting as many Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons as I can so when the time comes for wedding showers, I'll be able to buy a few mid-range items without totally breaking the bank.

Anyone else hanging out at the intersection of weddings and babies? It looks like I'll be here for awhile, so get comfy!

sidenote: There will be no budgets, ever, for my future neice. That goes against the Aunt code (that totally exists, right?)

little green notebook

No, you don't need to re-wipe the crusties from your eyes (although you might want to), this really is a blog entry. Unfortunately, since the last time we spoke, nothing exciting has come to pass, either financially or otherwise. However, I knew I needed to fill you all in on my May challenge - documenting each outgoing dollar on paper - and not just reviewing it later in my bank statements.

I'm happy to report that I was successful, for the most part, in writing everything down. The weekends were the hardest and sometimes I would need to log into my online banking to review the previous days expedentures, but I did it. I'm not sure it helped me spend any less per sey, but it did make me more aware of my spending which has carried over into this month. It definitely wasn't as hard or burdensome as I made it out to be and it was pretty much second nature by the end of the month.

Just by doing a quick  flip through, my biggest expenses was Molly-related items (two vet visits, day care, food, etc), gas, and eating out... there were a lot of birthdays in May, and therefore a lot of celebrating. Nothing was budget-busting, but I probably could've planned it a little better. Luckily, June looks like it'll be a bit easier to digest.

We're halfway into the month, so it's a bit late for a monthly challenge, but if you have any suggestions for a July financial challenge, I'd love to hear them! It keeps things interesting (and keeps me blogging!).

sugar lips

That title has nothing to do with money and everything to do about the massive amount of sweet treats I've eaten today. Free breakfast at work... is there anything better? (actually, a glass of milk would be awesome right now, but I'll manage.)

I'm currently waiting on Card #1's decision about my credit line (read more about that here) and I have another financial transaction pending that I'll be able to divulge more information about soon, hopefully. In the mean time, it's been awhile since we checked in at Financial Literacy Month, so let's catch up!

Step 17: Save for Your Goals. The tips for savings are "make it automatic, turn a hobby into an income, downsize, & use gifts wisely." I already started the automatic savings ($50 taken out pre & post tax into separate accounts), but I don't really have a "hobby", unless you know somewhere I can get paid to lay on the couch and watch Law & Order SVU. We don't really have a lot of stuff to begin with in order to downsize, and we recently used our tax return to re-bolster our savings account; However, if I get monetary gifts for my birthday or Christmas, I'd be lucky if they lasted a week in my wallet. That'll be a goal to work on at the end of the year.

Step 18: Where Does All the Money Go? Seriously! Where is it? This step is about tracking expenses. I hate tracking expenses, even though I know it's a necessary evil. I just can't seem to commit to carrying a piece of paper or a notebook around for more than a week. Instead, I've been trying to log onto my online banking every few days to analyze/catagorize where the money is going. Next week, I'll be breaking down this month's spending and see where I can do better.

Step 19: Identify Fixed Expenses. Sounds easy!

Mortgage: $600.00 (includes taxes)

Water/Sewer: $40.00 (paid quarterly)

Cell Phones: $178.00

Cable: $125.00

Student Loans: $205.00

Credit Cards: $300.00

My total fixed expenses are about $1,200 or one paycheck per month. I did not include the electric bill, because that's our biggest variable expense! It's like a roulette wheel every month on what it's going to be.

Step 20: Identify & Plan for Periodics. It's crazy that I never even thought to pre-budget for these expenses before now. "Often, we know when these events will occur, but still fail to plan for them." Uh, hello, that's me! As I touched on yesterday, birthdays are an expense I don't specifically budget for, even though they come at the same time every year. Renewing my car's registration is another one (for the hubs too!). I do a fairly good job at budgeting for Christmas. Usually around October I start pestering everyone for gift ideas, but I've also been known to buy things throughout the year in order to spread out the spening.

Step 21: Document Your Spending. FLM suggests uploading your monthly expenses into their worksheet or a similar one in Excel or Quicken. I know my SIL uses a spreadsheet tracker. I guess I better jump on this bandwagon!

Step 22: Identify Ways to Reduce Spending. One way I've reduced spending that I've briefly mentioned before is carpooling. I now only have to get gas 3-4 per month instead of 5-6 times. It doesn't seem like a lot, but with as prices on the up & up, saving an extra $60-$70 a month comes in handy! I also use the GasBuddy app on my iPhone to locate the cheapest gas near me. A penny saved is a penny earned, right?

Step 23: Save Money on Groceries. Ugh, yes, this is what we need. You may recall the other week when I noticed we spent almost $500 on groceries in March 2012. And there's only two of us in the house. FLM's website encourages weekly meal planning. One of my co-workers does this with success, but I really haven't been able to get into it. What I plan out on Sunday just doesn't translate by Thursday when I want chicken instead of fish. Instead, I've been utilizing my favorite stores apps to make lists and stick with them and trying to set an overall budget. It's a work in progress, but I'm getting better.

Step 24: Share a Financial Tip for Change."When you identify ways to reduce spending, you are being honest with yourself about your finances.  Being honest with yourself and others about your finances will ensure your success." Well this blog is one big lump of honesty - the good, the bad, the ugly, it's all here.

Step 25: Document Your Desired Spending. In other words, indicate how you would like to change your spending. I actually just revamped my budget last week and set up e-mail alerts so I know when I'm at or near my budget threshold. I decreased spending in a few catagories (namely personal catagories like health/clothing).

Step 26 (for good luck): Protect Yourself by Performing Personal Financial Check-Ups. Check in on your home/auto/health/life insurance policies to make you're covered in a way that best fits your lifestyle. There's no sense in paying for stuff you're not going to use!

How is your financial literacy month shaping up? I think it's clear my goal for May needs to be an exhaustive documentation of my month's expenses! Has anyone received a good financial tip lately?