Number Crunching 127

Weekly Budget Catch-Up

Quicken Cash Flow = 95.78
STEF Total = 129.96

No, I haven’t numbered wrong. I’m not finished with “Number Crunching 126.”

Back to doing weekly budget reviews. Only I think I’m going to be calling them Weekly Budget Catch-Up now. The goal is to keep the information updated and let me know what I did wrong or right on a weekly basis when it comes to spending. That way I should breeze through the more thorough monthly budget reviews. I just can’t keep the information in my head that long, or remember to look at anything I wrote it down on.

Seriously, sometimes, I wonder if I have a mild form of attention deficit disorder or if I’ve trained my brain that way with years of trying to multi-task.

All receipts have been entered into Quicken. Reconciled Quicken register with online account balances. Updated the September spreadsheet.

Wow, found another spreadsheet goof-up. Forgot to transfer the leftover balance from April to May. Fixing now.

ARGH! Why can’t I make it make sense?! I would think that the amount at the end of September should match my Quicken Cash Flow total minus the totals in the savings account. 95.78 - 17.53 = 78.25 – 149.96 = -71.71 as of right now, this is the total I should be worried about. I will go back and adjust the leftover amounts from last month until April. There is a 113.72 difference between the spreadsheet and Quicken totals, so I check Quicken for that amount. Nothing in September, so it must have happened in a previous month.

Having to wait on the computer, it freezes up while saving the spreadsheet. It shouldn’t, but *shrugs.

Fixed! Now to check if it is working. Took care of the $20, I have to pull out. Quicken and spreadsheet totals match!

Confession time: about the no taking any cash thing out, I declared that before remembering we had a birthday dinner at work. I don’t mind participating in those, and had I remembered, I wouldn’t have paid the October portion of the cell phone bill ahead of time. I took it out of the STEF fund, so I wouldn’t overdraw the checking account.

Next confession, I threw away $10 this month. Hollywood Casino send out free money based on how many points you have earned in the players’ club, usually broken into coupons good for a week or so.

Mom likes playing slots. Me, I like playing slots like computer games and when I’m winning. (I think I would do better if they actually figured out how to monetize some of the computer games I like to play.) I lack the guts to play blackjack for money, which is the only card game I know, so I usually end up blowing through my allotted money and wait around bored out of my skull every six months or so when Mom talks me into taking her to a casino. (Next time, I’m bringing my purse and a book.) Not to mention, drinking far too many diet soft drinks than can be good for me—no alcohol since I’m the driver. During the trip to Hollywood Casino around Mother’s Day, Mom talked me into joining the player’s club. We went again after that, so I put points on the card twice.

In August, I got a promotional flyer with four $5 coupons for the month of September. Now, they want you to stick into a slot machine but since gambling is so not my thing, there is no temptation. Coupon #1 expired in the week aftermath of Gustav. Coupon #2 expired because I kept telling myself I’d get it tomorrow and took my tired ass home. I have no excuse that week, and I could have probably argued to get the Coupon #1 amount if I had gone in September 8th. Plus Hollywood Casino is two blocks away from my paying job.

Today, I went in and cashed Coupon #3, enjoyed a free diet Coke while sitting outside on the deck overlooking the muddy Mississippi River and wrote these notes. Monday, I have to come get the other $5.

I don’t know if they’ll mail me any more coupons, but I just noticed the “open twenty-four hours” sign. I could get it in the morning before I am exhausted by the paying job.

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The BookWorm