Getting my budget together. I think this is the first time I've put this on here. LOL. My bar is updated with all my debts that I pay on. My parents do pay on several and I've decided that in the meantime, I will let them keep up with the amounts.

DEBT:
Apartment reno: $10
Timeshare: $85.07
Rewards Card: $160
Navient: $240.73
Car Loan: $360
Nelnet: $102.16

Expenses:
Rent: $931
Water: $61 - Apt utilities
Sewer: $11 - Apt utilities
Trash: $10 - Apt utilities
Common Area Electric: $4 - Apt utilities
Service Fee: $4.68 - Apt utilities
Electricity: $85 (average)
Renters Insurance: $11.41
Motorcycle Insurance: $28.36
Car Insurance: $213.38
Petrol: $180
Groceries: $200
Cellular: $150 (multiple phone lines)
Hulu: $7.99
NetFlix: $15.98
Internet/Cable: $60.00
F.I.T. Radio: $3.99
Entertainment: $50 (consists of movies and books)
Restaurant: $50


Adds up to $3,145.07 for expenses.

My take home is approximately $3,400.00.

I need to get my expenses down to less than $2,000 hopefully by early next year. Those expenses will not count rent, apartment utilities, and electricity.

Now with the 2.6% raise the military received, I should be able to pay down debt with almost an extra $300. But I'm still spending too much on restaurants. I need to get that portion of spending under control. I'm already at my limit for the month on restaurants and it's only the 7th... SMDH...

I've updated my debts and put them from lowest to highest amount left. I'm going to snowball them that way. Although I'm still not paying off the apartment reno because there isn't any interest on it.

My plan when I get my tax refund, is to pay off one of the lower amounts which will be my timeshare. Then I can pay off the maintenance fees (which I'm trying to find out what it is but I'll say it's approximately $1,000) that went with it and sell it off. I doubt I will get any money back on it. But I'll be rid of it once and for all. YAY!

Never will I ever get another timeshare....

I will get the interest rate down on my car loan. I have to wait 6 months at least. But I'll keep working on it until I can get it back down to as close as what I had on the previous vehicle which was 4.5%.

I do know that my budget will be impacted by two things this month. I will be cooking food for a friend because she will be having surgery and I want to make sure that she's good to go. Also I will be going on a field training exercise this month so therefore, the food I buy for the meals should be a wash.

My ultimate goal is to get divorced which will be sometime next year. I need to make sure that I have enough money to pay my bills and expenses when that happens. I want to be able to move forward with my life.

I've started my search for a new apartment. I currently have a 1bdrm, 1bth, 649 sq ft for $931. So, especially with the new car payment, I would prefer a lower costing apartment. I don't want to live in a "bad" neighborhood, but there have been several incidents since I've been here. The latest being a woman stabbing both her boyfriend/husband when she found him and another woman (she stabbed her too).

It's not that I live in bad neighborhood, just stupid people....

So back to the issue. I do have certain needs:

Needs:
full size washer/dryer
storage
walk in closet
decent water pressure

What I'm willing to compromise on is getting a 2 bedroom instead of a 1 bedroom and using that as storage. Also if I get a 2 bedroom then I wouldn't need a WIC.

Water is expensive here. When I had my other apartment (in a different state), it cost me about $20 a month. Here, I've paid as much as $60... So I do have to consider that as well.

Apartment utilities can cost as much as an extra $100 a month. This is not including electricity which can cost as low as $60 to as much as $112.

So I have to add there there can be as much as $200 for all utilities.

So I've paid as much as $1,131 for everything, and I definitely would like to get lower than that.

I'm hoping to find what I'm looking for at $800 or less. I've seen them. I just don't know if it would be possible to lock in the rate now if I applied for it. Or would it be the rate of when the apartment becomes available... which is in July.

Decisions, decisions.

Well it's that time of year again... TAX TIME!!!

I've already started inputting my information but of course I haven't received everything to put in the system yet.

So I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. I already know I'm going to go on holiday with some of it. A couple of my best mates and I will be going on a cruise. We'll be sharing the same room so that will make it cost a bit less.

The rest...

I should have my reimbursement by then hopefully so emergency fund should be re-funded. I'd pay off one card but my parents will be doing that. So the other things that are left are things that wouldn't get paid off with it.

I'm thinking if I should fund all the things that I should save for such as Christmas presents, property taxes and whatnot. Especially for the move I plan on doing in July if I don't move sooner. (If another incident happens at the apartments, I may need to see if I can break my lease for safety reasons. Last week a woman stabbed her husband/boyfriend after catching him with another woman)

What are ya'lls plans? And/or maybe you have some opinions on what I should do.