How to Make a thousand dollars...

My piggy bank

As my car progresses to break down faster and faster every day I worry about the day my car will fail me as I try and get somewhere important and leave me stranded somewhere. The cars’ body and inside are not too bad, however what really worries me is the engine. (LIGHT BULB!!! - I should look into a new engine it may not be too expensive)

My plan is to sell the car, save up some money and buy a better car.
How am I going to get money for this car?
I need to cut down on all my extra expenses and this might mean cutting down my gym membership... Tun tun tun!

First, I will no longer eat outside of home meaning I will take my own food when I know I will be away from home for long time periods. This could benefit me two ways: One by improving my diet by avoiding fast food restaurants and secondly and most importantly I will save precious cash. Calculating from my last bank statement I spent $95.98 which was 28.54% of my spending in the last month.
Also, from now on I am going to carry all the change from my piggy bank in my car for emergency situations instead of using my ATM card.
By doing this I can save approximately $100/month.

Second, I will try to sell anything that I do not use and put that money directly into my savings account. This can be like selling an old Xbox and Gameboy that I have or even selling myself to older women... Well maybe not my body, but things like that. I would be happy to make a hundred dollars from that. (LIGHT BULB!!! - I can try to find things that people are giving away for free on Craigslist, fix/polish/renovate things and them sell them online again.) $100/one time.

Third, this might be the more realistic way to save money. I will analyze and inspect every aspect of my cell phone plan to cut down the costs. The cell phone bill is something that has surprised and hurt me the most when I have to pay around S100 each month. For real, AT&T is a sneaky mofo!
I can probably save around $40 monthly by doing this.

Fourth, obviously I have a job and that will be where most of my money comes from, so I need to save some of that money. I think that once I pay my monthly bills I can save about $200/month

My expenses in the last three months.

As seen in the graph above when taking all my expenses in the last 3 months into consideration the cell phone bill and food expenses which make up about 25% of my total expenses are what seem to hurt me the most. Those are exactly what I need to cut down on.

When adding everything up I would have a thousand dollars in about 3 months not counting my car being sold or anything else. 3 months is too long! I need to do this get a new car as soon as possible. Ugh I hate being broke! I’ll gladly take any donations from anyone!

Even though these were the only things in my pockets that won't stop me because....
I'm Still Thinkin of a Masterplan!

My Goals for the Summer

Today has been a good day so far. I took one of my last finals, and I have the rest of the day to myself. During the exam I was daydreaming about the things I needed to do over the summer and I took a mental note. Once out, I came up with a list of goals for this summer and it looks something like this:

1. Join a gym and get in shape.

2. Find a second job.

3. Sell my current car to buy a newer and better one.

These are only a few of the things that I came up with and of course with each goal there has to be a plan of action. Maybe by doing this, I will actually accomplish my goals, unlike all the New Year resolutions people come up with.

1. Join a gym and get in shape: This is probably the first thing that I will be able to accomplish. One of my friends in school has been going to a gym throughout the whole semester and has been inviting me the whole time. I did not want to do it because I felt like I had a full plate on my schedule and did not want to add more. So I was waiting until school was out. Now that school is basically over. I am going to talk to him and have him take me to gym and show me around. I’m going to do this today.

2. Find a second job. This is something I been contemplating for a while, but I also hadn’t really looked into it because of school. The reason why I want another job is to have more money for more things. I know I know, that might sound greedy, but more money is always good. This week I’m going to look through the classifieds on craigslist and the local newspaper to find a second job. Preferably, I would want to work indoor that way the weather would not affect me and somewhere really close to home or downtown.

3. Sell my current car to buy a newer and better one. Sometimes I hate myself for not listening to advice given by others and this is the outcome or my naïve self. A few weeks ago, thinking the car was just being stupid I ignored the warning lights on my car and I let it overheat. No, I didn’t stop on the side of the freeway when I saw the warning lights. Instead I kept driving and let the entire tank of coolant fluid leak to later find out that the engine was smoking like a chimney. Ever since that day, my car hasn’t been the same and I have to keep putting water in before going on long drives. My car can break down any day, and that is why I need a new one. This goal may be the hardest to accomplish because it relies on me finding a second job.

Looking back at the goals that I came up with, I realized that everything is about me. Of course, those are my personal goals and should be about me, but maybe I’m too selfish. I need to stop worrying about myself and do something for someone. I am going to come up with a fourth goal. My goal will be to help or contribute to someone or something other than myself.

Taking the few items on my list into consideration I know that everything on that list is possible, so my plan will be to fulfill each goal before the summer is over in September and I have to back to school.

My Goals for the Summer

1. Join a gym and get in shape.

2. Find a second job.

3. Sell my current car to buy a newer and better one.

4. My goal will be to help or contribute to someone or something other than myself