No Clothes June

I have been doing so much clothes shopping lately, and honestly, I'm kind of tired of it. As far as I can tell, I have everything I need and then some, so I need to STOP. Ergo... my goal for June? Not to buy any item of clothing (including shoes, jewelry and underwear). My credit card bill is uber high this month and I definitely cannot have a repeat next month. I can think of a million and one different things that my money can be used for other than buying a bunch of clothes that I'll just give away in a few years anyway. I'm not gonna lie, this is going to be a hard one to stick to. I need a kick in the butt though, and I'm not going to let myself mess up this goal.

UN-BROKE on ABC

So I found out from Budgets are Sexy that ABC is doing a new special tonight called UN-BROKE: What You Need to Know About Money. It looks really cool-- they have these funny previews on their website. I think they're all hilarious, but my favorites are the speed-dating with Antonio Banderas (yum!) and the Cribs spoof with Seth Green! I'm definitely going to have to check it out. Unfortunately, it's on at the same time as What not to Wear (9pm), but I suppose I'll have to make an exception, just this once (*sigh*). I hope it's good... so many people out there need to learn what to do with their money!

Meet my new Love…

Mint! I may be behind the times or something, but I only just tried Mint today. But seriously, now I’m hooked. I get it now- it’s so much easier just to sign into one account that organizes all your finances for you. And this way I won't develop carpal tunnel typing passwords into 492,376 different bank account pages! Everything you could possibly need is listed right there on your front page, plus you get your net worth, awesome little pie charts to see where your money’s going, comparisons and other cool stuff. I’m a big nerd, so I think it’s so much fun-- I’ve been playing around with it all morning. If you guys haven’t checked this out yet, I’d suggest it. It’s really just too cool not to check out, and it's definitely going to make my life easier.

Not as bad as it could have been?

Welllll, das Auto needed some new brakes, not that I didn't see it coming or anything. The mechanic actually said I'd let it go so long that the back brakes weren't even good for anything anymore, which is sorta scary (sorta doesn't come up as a misspelled word??). So the good news is that the inspection, tire rotation and new brakes only cost me $375. But the bad news is that the inspection, tire rotation and new brakes cost $375. I still have one more paycheck coming my way (a wonderful perk about working at Penn State-- getting paid for months you don't work), so I suppose that's how I'm going to pay for it. For now it's on the credit card to earn some reward points, though (there's the silver lining)!

Memorial Day Weekend

Hey everybody, I hope you had a great memorial day weekend! Mine was really good-- I went to visit some friends in Lanc, so we could all hang out before one of my best friends left for marine bootcamp. I spent probably more money than I should have, as I always tend to do when going out to visit friends in Lancaster, but it was so worth it! We went to the baseball game ($11), out for dinner ($10), out for ice cream ($3), and out for drinks ($8). It made me miss the city so much though-- there are so many cool new restaurants and bars open since the last time I visited, and I want to check them all out. Ugh sometimes I get soooo antsy spending my life in small towns!

In other news, my car is going in for inspection tomorrow... eeeek! Hopefully it's not a disaster!

A perfect June wedding...

... no, not for me, silly! My friend is getting married in a few weeks, and I am so flipping excited. Let me describe for you some of the awesomeness about her wedding, so you may better understand why I can't wait.

a) All the girls from college will be together again
b) We are road-tripping to Punxsutawney, PA
c) We are staying in the same hotel where Bill Murray stayed when shooting Groundhog Day! (Maybe that’s pretty lame, but I think it’s neat)
d) My mom is letting me borrow a really pretty dress to wear

Needless to say, it's gonna be a rockin' good time. And to make it better, I think my personal expenses for the wedding will be pretty minimal. We each only have to pay $50 for the hotel and about $25 for gas. And yesterday I used my financial smarts and used my JCPenney gift card to buy them few things from their registry. So in theory, I only paid $2 to buy them something that they wanted!

The Summer of Travel Begins

Considering I don’t have a job this summer (first summer I haven’t worked in about 8 years—so weird!), I am overloaded with free time. So I have determined that this is going to be the summer of travel. I mean, I will probably never have a free summer with no job and no classes to take again, and I have a fairly good amount of money stashed away for travel plans, so I’m all set! Here are my big trips for this summer:

1. Williamsburg, VA (1 weekend in June)
2. Newport, RI (1 weekend in July)
3. Memphis & Nashville, TN (1 week roadtrip in July)
4. Montreal & Quebec City (1 week in August)

I would pick one trip that I'm most excited to go on, but truthfully, I'm excited for all of them!! I've been wanting to see these places for a really long time, and now I actually have the chance to do it! I just have to remember to balance having TONS of fun with not spending like crazy. I'm not too worried though—investigating good deals and reading reviews on tripadvisor are actually fun for me, so I should be able to find some awesome deals.