Things I am Willing to Spend Money On // Bucket List

Saving money/getting out of debt isn't solely about being frugal and never having fun (although it can feel that way....a lot). For me, saving money is about eliminating unnecessary spending so I can save towards doing something I really, really, REALLY want to do. I want to make a list where I can keep track of things I want to motivate myself. Skipping a fancy $5 coffee is easy when you think of all the fun stuff that 5 bucks can go towards.

Things I am Willing to Spend Money On
1. Laser hair removal for my lower legs: I found a deal for $500!!
2. New iPhone: around $300
3. Fix my computer: DC jack repair is usually $100
4. Getting my passport: Total cost for fees and paperwork about $165
5. Laser eye surgery: my insurance should pay for some of it and I've seen deals for as cheap as $600 per eye


Bucket List
1. Travel to Canada: Boyfriend has found flights for as cheap as $350. First I have to get my passport (see #4 above)
2. Travel to Europe
3. Travel to East Coast w/ my boyfriend: we're in the middle of planning this trip, I want to save around $1000 to cover all the museums and restaurants I want to  visit.
4. Pay off my college debt
5. Own a home
6. Have/adopt/foster a couple of kids

My laptop is back from the dead!!!

I cannot accurately express in words how lovely it feels to be typing on my laptop again. Don't get me wrong, my iPad has been a life saver these past 2 weeks but I much prefer typing on keys than a touch screen (first world problems, ha!). What better way to celebrate my laptop's revival than to celebrate how much freakin' dough I saved fixing it?!?!

Usually, when something I own breaks I either buy a new one or take it to a shop and let them handle it. This is done due to a mix of laziness and ignorance. I know jack shit about laptops. I tried to fix mine which resulted in multiple pulled wires, lost screws, and the application of craft glue to the inside (I swear to you, at the time it really seemed like a good idea). My laptop has been unable to keep a charge for a while now but I was perfectly fine with just leaving it plugged in (as explained in this post) but then it fully died. Now, it's not that I had never heard of Amazon before but it just seemed like a hassle and it made me sort of fearful. First, I had to hope that I ordered the right part THEN I had to hope that someone on the internet would send me a working product. I don't really have much trust or faith in the common man. Chalk it up to years working in retail and now working in government. After looking at these savings I can't believe I ignored Amazon for so long.

Let's compare and save!

What I needed: a Toshiba battery and power cord, an HDMI wire and an AppleTv (okay, those last two things are more "wanted" then "needed").

Now, like I said before, my old instinct was just to be lazy and buy from whoever was fixing my laptop. Since I took my laptop to Geek Squad I would have been purchasing the parts from Best Buy. Here are the prices that the Best Buy website listed for the products I needed:

Yikes, that is poor quality. I think if you click the image it might be easy to read? Either way, here is a screen shot for HDMI cables. Now, I "need" one of these because it's what connects the AppleTV to my TV and I need this done in order to fulfill my dreams of making Netflix appear on my TV. DREAM BIG.

Here is a blurry screen shot of Toshiba battery costs.

Again, blurry shot but this time of power cords.

Now, let's head over to Amazon and see what their prices are.

Toshiba power cords costing less than $10 bucks. Are you freaking kidding me?!

Here is a blurry picture of my bill from Amazon for the rest of the products I ordered.

Comparison:

Best Buy

Battery: $84.21 (cheaper price listed)

Power Cord: $25.16 (cheaper price listed)

HDMI Cable: $24.99 (cheaper price listed)

AppleTV: $99 (not shown because I couldn't find it on the Best Buy website but this is average retail price)

TOTAL: $233.36

Amazon:

Battery: $49.61

Power Cord: $9.00

HDMI Cable: $7.99

AppleTV: $97.98

Shipping and Handling: $11.44

TOTAL: $164.58

Savings from using Amazon instead of Best Buy: $68.78

Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't a post trying to bash on Best Buy. In fact, there Geek Squad rocks and some people prefer to spend a little extra money for the convenience of not having to wait for a package to come in. I'm just trying to get the word out to those who, like me, were afraid to purchase certain things on the internet. The savings are real and the time waiting for the package to come is minimal (I placed an order on Friday and the package came by Tuesday). Amazon is a great resource for certain items and I will definitely be using it in the future.

Cable Savings

So I made the dreaded cable canceling call today. Luckily (or perhaps she was just doing her job properly) I got a service representative that was willing to cut me a deal. She was able to offer me the new customer service price and free DVR services (for only six months) at a rate of $83.98 a month. After 6 months $10 will be added for DVR services. Since my old bill ranged between $127 and $130 I have a total savings of around $43!! Yes, it could be better (I could have had the balls to cancel completely and discount myself from the time sucker that is my tv) but saving nearly 50 bucks a month after a simple phone call is pretty legit.

So, let's review my current stats!
Rent, water, and utilities: $736 or less a month
Texas has had an unprecedented heat wave of a 100+ temps and my utilities bill has never topped $99 so (hopefully) the max I will pay for these services is 736 bucks.

Netflix: $16.23
Gym: 17.31
Total for credit card: $33.54 (less than the $50 I guessed on my last post)

Fixed bills
Cable: $83.98
Phone: $100
Loans: $300
Total: $483.98

Subtotal=$1253.52 a month (not including food or gas). I estimated (or hoped) that I could get by with spending $200 on food and $100 on gas a month which means the final, super awesome, brand new grand total (hopefully!!!) is $1553.52 a month.

So after being more precise in my calculations and making some phone calls I have saved an estimated $59.48 a month.

It's probably pretty premature to start preening over savings I haven't seen yet but I feel that I'm on the right path to fixing my finances. Also, once I actually start getting some paychecks (and, you know, buying food) I want to possibly start selling things on Etsy. If through refurbishing furniture and selling it here in Austin and selling things on Etsy I can manage to come up with a couple extra bucks a month then I'll be in an even better spot.