Yesterday was a very sticky day with 30 + degrees celcius weather and my wonderful car decided it wouldn't start. I could hear the starter trying to turn but no ignition, the warning panels were illuminated So I knew the battery wasn't dead so I played around with the battery terminal and it started YAY! Only to not start again the second time. I tried cleaning the battery terminals with distilled water and CLR and trying to sand down the metal bits but nothing worked so I had to go get another battery from Walmart ($95) and new set of termminals ($8) and replace the whole thing. I'm glad I did it myself because the garage would have charged me $100 for the battery and at least $22 dollars for installation not including tax and terminal replacement.

I also used my $1 off pantene pro-v coupon and got a two-in one shampoo for $3.47 in stead of paying $4.37

Since I did the work myself I will add $4 to my challenge bringing my new total to $33

1) Save $600

2) Spend less than $200 on BF's birthday present (tickets to Medieval Times)

3) Eat out less than 2 times in the month

4) Exercise 4 times a week

5) Go outside and enjoy the weather more

6) Invest!

I'm at work trying to catch up work to meet important deadlines but i'm procrastinating and I thought I’d add to my challenge.

I took some leftover spaghetti for lunch (+$1) and yesterday me and my boyfriend didn’t go out to brunch like we do every Saturday morning so thats another $5 to my challenge.

I'm also looking for a part time job, I want to earn an extra $200-$300 per month to pay down my student loan faster

Previous Total - $24
Weekends Savings - $6
New Total - $30

I dont know where to save.... help!

I get paid $2600 a month

Expenses:
I pay $760 to my parents to help pay for the mortage and groceries

I pay $311 towards my student loan, this a 10 year repayment plan, 9 more years to go. Ouch, I want to pay this off in the next five years

$299 per month for the car payment, 3 year financing

$201 for car insurance (young driver)

$200 for gas, I drive almost an hour and half for work everyday

$62 for cellphone for me and my dad, a combo plan

$160-200 spending money (trying to cut that down)

$40 gym membership (i'm actually using it, I go to the gym 3 times a week before work, trying to anyways)

That brings the total expenses to $2073

I put $300 into a TD waterhouse account(saving for wedding, we are planning on getting married in less than 2 years)

I put $350 into my ING account (me and my boyfriend are trying to save for a down payment, we want to put at least 13% downpayment)

I dont know where I can cut down to accelerate my debt repayment plan, any suggestions to decrease my discretionary spending such as gifts, clothes, food

I spent $15 for lunch today for me and my boss. We are taking a project management course twice a week at a community college so it was my turn to buy dinner. Oh well at least i'm further educating myself. I took leftovers to work for lunch and made my breakfast and made my own tea at work.

I'll put $1 for going to class, $2 for lunch and $1 for not buying coffee

Previous total: $20.00
Contribution: $4.00
New Total: $24.00

My very first blog

I'm a 22 year old from Canada and about a year ago I started my very first job. I'm been trying to save up money to pay off my student loan but I havent been very sucessful so I hope this $20 challenge will change that. I have more than $25 000 in government student loans to pay off and $10 000 in car loan. My goal is to have both loans paid off in the next 5 years. My $20 challange goal is to save $5000 by the end of the year.

Usually I spend around $30 on lunches/breakfast & coffee a week at work and i'm planning on not buying any food at all at work. Since this is the middle of the week, i'll put $15 dollars into my challange account