Another Great Blog

So I was doing my daily reading and I found a pretty nice blog that detailed a man's 20-year battle with $35,000 debt. He has since paid it all off and the only debt he has left is his mortgage. It looks like a very decent blog with a lot of interesting topics and links. He definitely has a lot of stories to tell. Sure, everyone has stories, but having the time to write it down is different. I hope to put some of mine on here when I have more time as well.

I just came back from vacation, and boy did I spend quite a bit. I was reviewing my finances and I noticed a large jump in expenses. I was quite annoyed for a bit since that with my vacation added up to a large draw on my funds. But after doing some research, the expenses were things I couldn't have prevented or I had already accounted for. This is where having an emergency fund/extra cash tucked away is a great idea. I spent $200+ on new tires, when my front passenger tire went flat. I spent another $200 on a Nintendo Wii (haha, I'll admit this was a splurge, but I had $125 in Best Buy cash, so this hit could've been worse). I also have some extra fees from signing up for the gym, but this monthly expense is still lower than my kung fu class which I quit a couple months ago.

In any case, I was prepared for this spike in my monthly expenses and will spend the next few months building up my emergency fund again. I have avoided tapping into my cash at my ING accounts, so this situation played out nicely. I just have to spend less the next couple weeks (I've been cooking/preparing my own lunches to avoid spending during the week) and then work at saving again.