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August 2005




This budget was drafted August 1, 2005, for use from August 1, 2005 until September 30, 2005.

Savings

Weekly Deposits:
$50 - Navy Federal Credit Union Share Savings
$20 - ING Direct High-Yield Savings Account

Notes:
Deposits will be made into savings accounts on a weekly basis. Deposits are made on a weekly basis because it is important to "Pay Yourself First", i.e., before any other bills get paid or any other money is spent. Plus, the more money in a savings account for longer periods of time, the more interest it earns!

Navy Federal Credit Union Share Savings will be for short-term savings, due to the easy accessibility of the money should the funds be needed in a pinch. Currently, this account is being used to save up for a car or a down payment on a car.

ING Direct High-Yield Savings will be used for long-term savings. This is primarily because of the higher interest rate and also because the funds are not readily accessible.

Upon savings up enough money for a car or a substantial down payment on a car, the allotted amounts will be switched, meaning $50 a week will go into the ING Direct "House Account", while $20 a week will go into the Navy Federal Credit Union "Short-Term Savings".

Credit Cards

Monthly Payments:
$100 - Navy Federal Credit Union Visa
$100 - Discover
$100 - Providian Visa
$50 - Home Depot Consumer Credit
$50 - Old Navy Credit Card
$50 - Target RedCard

Notes:
As smaller account balances are paid off, the allotted money for payments on that account will be moved to the accounts with the highest balances. For example, after the balance on the Target RedCard is paid off, $25 will be applied to Navy Federal Credit Union Visa and $25 will be applied to Discover. The date that this occurs will be recorded and the allotment figures will be updated.

After all credit card debt is paid off, the total of all the allotments will be put into the ING Direct "House Account."

Medical Expenses

Monthly Payments:
$100 - Underwood-Memorial Hospital
$50 - Emergency Physician Services
$10 - Quest Diagnostics
$10 - Booth Radiology

Notes:
As a balance on a medical account is paid off, the alotted payment will be applied to the highest balance credit card. Since there is no interest charged on outstanding medical balances, it is more economical to pay credit card balances first. For example, upon paying off the Quest Diagnostics bill, the alotted $10 would then be applied to the Navy Federal Credit Union Visa (or other applicable card, if this balance is paud lower by the appropriate time).

As of August 1, 2005, the Underwood-Memorial Hospital bill and the Booth Radiology bill are under further insurance review. Any necessary changes to the allotted payments will be made at the time of the insurance company's final decision.

Loans

Monthly Payments:
$61.37 - Navy Federal Credit Union Personal Expenses Loan

Notes:
As of August 1, 2005, this loan is two payments paid ahead. The intention is to make the monthly payment, plus an extra transfer payment is possible. This transfer will be considered after all monthly expenses have been paid.

Once this loan has been paid off, $30 of the allotted payment will be applied to the highest balance credit card, and the remaining $30 will be put into the ING Direct "House Account."

Raymour and Flanigan

Monthly Payment:
$100 - Raymour and Flanigan Furniture, c/o Wells Fargo Financial National Bank

Notes:
Once this balance is paid off, $50 of the alotted payment will be put towards the Navy Federal Credit Union Visa and $50 will be put towards the Discover Card.

Budgeting

Budgeting for all monthly expenses (both debt repayments and regular fixed expenses) will be done on a weekly basis, after deposits have been made into both savings accounts as noted above.

In order to budget on a weekly basis, the monthly payment will be divided by four, which will show how much money should be put aside each week in order to have a full payment each billing cycle. The money put aside for these expenses will stay in the Navy Federal Credit Union ShareChek account, which earns a dividend based on balance.

If this is done properly, there should always be enough money to make the required payments on every bill and still have money left over each week.

Notes

August 2, 2005
August 2005 payments will be as close as possible to the written amounts. This is due to missing two weeks of work at Home Depot and the placement at AmerisourceBergen not starting until August 8.

August 3, 2005
Upon review of the interest rates on the three hgih-balance credit cards, the most economical thing to do would be to apply the extra allotments from paid accounts to the Discover Card and the Providian Visa, which have smaller balances than the Navy Federal Credit Union Visa, but higher interest rates. For comparison, The Discover Card has a 21.99% interest rate; the Providian Visa, 20%; The Navy Federal Credit Union Visa, 11.9%. Discover would receive the allotments first because of the higher balance and higher interest rate. The exact breakdown of the extra allotments will be determined when these allotments become available.

August 4, 2005
I have determined that I should be shoveling money away now to pay for my school loans when I graduate. So I'm going to put $10 a week into a separate account just for this purpose and cash that it when it comes time to pay them off. Must always think about the future!


This budget will be reviewed and any needed revisions will be made on September 30, 2005.