About Me

Denise T.

Denise is a freelance journalist and crafter who dreams of starting her own business-- a hometown Tiki bar. She is a former New Orleans Bourbon Street bartender.

The challenge: I can't use my primary income to fund the tiki bar. I can only use money I earn in other ways. Part of the challenge will be to develop new, creative revenue sources. It's like a pumped-up,long-term $20 challenge.

***2008 Tiki Fund goal: $1,500***
$990.56 in fund, $509.44 to go

***Monthly Tiki Fund Total***

June: $2.21
$2.21 interest on tiki saving act.
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May 2008: $98.70
$9.00 Web sales
$87.61 Google Adsense
$2.09 Tiki savings interest

For a full breakdown of Tiki fund money, visit my $20 challenge page.

***Personal Savings Goals for 2008***
$5,000 into my IRA
$2,000 into hubby's Roth IRA
$2,000 into 529 plan
$6,000 into savings account
$3,600 into brokerage account
$650 into new car fund
Total: $19,250

***Progress Report***
$4,199 in my IRA, $801 to go
$1459 to Roth, $541 to go
$1100 to 529 plan, $900 to go
$5200 to savings, $800 to go
$1995 to brokerage, $1605 to go
$357.25 in car fund, $292.75 to go
Total: $14,310

***
Debt to pay off:
Student Loan: $14,841.42
(Down from $40,000 in 2001)

***
No Drive Days (where me AND the hubby don't drive! Since May 15):2

New car fund balance: $285
For a Hybrid Honda Fit!!

***
All of these goals will be a little harder to reach this year because I am now a self-employed journalist and the hubby and I had our first baby in April. Last year, I was a staff reporter at a major metro newspaper so saving was easy.

We have always lived on one salary only. But we aren't quite sure how a new baby is going to affect our finances.

***The Big Picture***
Me 33, Hubby 35
-No credit card debt
-No car loan
-House paid off because we moved to a cheaper city

My Pages

$20 Tiki challenge

Baby Bean is saving us money...

April 19th, 2008 at 05:06 pm

I don't want to jinx myself just yet but Beanie is approaching 3 weeks old. I just paid the bills and our spending has taken quite dip during that time. I guess all the late night feedings and changings, the need for 24 hour care, etc. is saving us money so far. No energy to go out, I suppose. Although, we are heading out to a rock show tonight. Just waiting for grandma to show up to take over. But this will be money well spent on a well-deserved night out!

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Baby Bean is saving us money...”

reginaastralis Says:
April 19th, 2008 at 05:11 pm

Aww ... congrats. I love to look at new baby pictures.

Enjoy the night out, they come to few and far between it seems.
reginaastralis Says:
April 19th, 2008 at 05:19 pm

Just checked out your house blog ... so cute!
sillyoleme Says:
April 19th, 2008 at 06:33 pm

What a cutie!
compulsive debtor Says:
April 19th, 2008 at 06:35 pm

What a cute little guy....
DeniseNTexas Says:
April 19th, 2008 at 06:49 pm

And what a good lookin' baby bean he is!! Enjoy your night out.
monkeymama Says:
April 20th, 2008 at 08:11 am

I remember being pleasantly surprised how much our bills went down when we had our first little one. Since my spouse was not working our income was mostly 0 our maternity leave, and our saving stretched much further than we realized.

Yeah I think it is just the staying in more and life revolves around baby. Little time to go out and spend money.
Hope you enjoyed the show!
thriftorama Says:
April 20th, 2008 at 10:11 am

It felt nice to go out last night. A little taste of of our old life. Thankfully my mom is happy to provide free babysitting once or twice a week so we can have some couple time. I don't know what I'd do without her!

Thrift-o-rama and the quest for a Tiki Bar

One girl's quest to shore up her personal finances and save for her own business

Baby Bean is saving us money...

7 Responses to “Baby Bean is saving us money...”

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