Those of you that know me know that last time I did not come with a budget in mind at all and when I came home I didn't come in the negative but I didn't come home with as much as I should and could have.
As my "plan" had been to stay at home, work, and save money for when I go back to school I decided that I needed to come to Taiwan also with a plan or budget to helped me succeed.
So this is my budget:
Every month I am paid approximately $900 US, this money is put in a savings account (of which I have a ATM card to and have full access to)--my plan is to leave that untouched for the next 6 months and take it all out at the end and put it into Travelers Checks to take home and put directly into my savings/checking accounts.
This time I will have 6 tutoring jobs every week and from each of those I will receive $300 NT (Taiwan dollars, so about $9.50US). From each $300 I will put:
$30 for Tithing
$100 for any spending that I want to do (includes food, shopping, special supplies that I want for my lessons, etc.)
$100 for any traveling. Andrea and I have talked about going to somewhere in China or somewhere else but before I can do it I want to have most of it put aside in this envelope so that I am not putting out more money than I have.
$50 for savings--my goal is to have enough money between this envelope and what is in the savings account her to pay for 2 semesters of school by the time I go home.
$20 towards paying back my Mom what I owe her.
Last week I went through my desk and found envelopes, I wrote on each of them what they are for and how much I should be putting in each one. Every night after I have received the money from my tutor students before Andrea and I go anywhere I divide the money up and put it in the correct envelopes.
I haven't always been good at saving my money or keeping a budget but I believe that this budget can work for me and I am excited to work towards my goals!
Last Thursday I had tutor group and when I walked in Kristy walked up and handed me this box, last time I was here she or someone else gave me a box of these Anka crackers, I didn't like them the first time that I tried them they were a little different but I quickly did like them. They make a great snack cracker, not too sweet, and not too dry.
It's a good thing I liked them as that big box came with 12! of these boxes and then each box has 6 of these packets. Because they are rather small I generally end up eating more than one at a time (good thing I have lots of them) :D
It is tradition for Chinese New Year that you give a red envelope (I think generally it's parents to children, bosses to employees, etc.) and inside I was told that you give new money. Yuling came in after our afternoon classes last Friday and handed these out to each kid in the class and then gave Andrea and I one also. She said Happy New Year and then told us not to open it until the New Year.
Inside I found these chocolates, sadly they weren't very good :( and I only ate one but they still looked really cool. This boat looking thing plays a big part of the New Year, I am not quite sure what it means--that is something I need to ask as soon as I see people that would know again.
Thursday Andrea and I went to another computer district (more about that later) and when we walked in this guy walked up and handed us these red envelopes. I didn't think that it would be polite to open it there so I waited until I got home...
Inside I found a shiny new $1NT, yeah for free money!