Feb 26, 2008

March Budget

I start making a good chunk of more money next month at my next payday, but for now I'm going to try to be careful to stay within my paychecks that I cashed today.

$3,700 Total to Spend/Save for March

$1050:
Rent / Utilities
$71.33: Cable/ Internet
$57.00: Verizon Phone
$128: Health Insurance
$138: Car Insurance (paid in advance)
$200: Gas
$27: Gym

SAVINGS

$1000 ING Direct for Taxes Account
$300 Roth IRA
$250 Sharebuilder
------------------------------
$3083


LEFT FOR SPENDING IN MARCH...

$617

$250 Gift for Boyfriend's Birthday
$300 Food
$67 Entertainment / Other


............

March is official "be fucking frugal" month. Next month my income goes up $1500, so there will be a lot more flexibility. Unfortunately my boyfriend's birthday falls BEFORE that. Well, I'll take him out to a nice dinner and get him a gift that won't be as extravagant as last year's Wii. Oh well. I could invest less in my Sharebuilder account this month if I want to spend more on the birthday, so that's always an option.

I also hypothetically have another $825 owed to me for one of my freelance jobs and another $300+ owed to me for that cell phone bill that my old company was supposed to pay. So if I actually get paid that money, then I'll be doing fine. But I don't know when those checks will come, if ever. If they do come, I'm going to put more towards my Roth, and spend a little more on the bf's birthday.

The good news is that I won't have much time for spending money in March. My show opens March 28, which means the major cost of the month will be GAS to get to and from rehearsal at the theater about 30 minutes away. That's why I put $200 in gas for the month. BUT I'm getting paid $500 to direct this production, after the fact, so my balance is going to look a lot healthier in April. It's March that will be tight, since I don't know when any of these other paychecks will be coming in.

Sadly, March is also the month when I wanted to seek out a tax consultant to discuss how to arrange my accounting as a freelancer. But I guess I'll have to take a stab at figuring out my estimated quarterly tax for Q1 08 by myself. Meanwhile, I also have to file my taxes, but I'll wait to April to do that, so I have some money to at least go through TurboTax or something.
Although my income last year was pretty low, prob about $34k or less, so maybe I can get away with filing for free. Hmm. That's for another entry, eh?



1 comments:

Single Ma said...

Federal e-filing with TaxAct is free, no matter how much you earn.

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