Jackpot! And Monthly Expenses

Here's the information that I was looking for. It's on the American Public Transportation Association's website (again, click on the image to expand it).

This is a good estimate. The numbers are close to my actual costs, wrt to gas and oil, so I'll assume they're close for everything else. The reason I was looking for these numbers was because I'm fairly certain I should be putting money aside for car maintenance, instead of covering it as it occurs because I never have enough money to pay for damages.

SO.

I drive about 1000 miles a month, and at the MIDSIZE car rate of 5.8 cents/mile for repairs, that comes to $58/month.

Another expense that tends to bite me in the butt is gifts. Now, assume I spend $35/gift. Assume 5 b-day gifts/year. Assume 12 Christmas presents. Assume 3 general presents (Weddings, etc). That's 20 presents a year, or $700/year for gifts, which breaks down to: (ha!) another $58/month. That comes to about $120/month for both.

Now, I NEED to put this money aside.

SO.

I (just) set up an HSBC account that withdraws from my Wells Fargo account. It took about ten minutes, all online. This account offers a 5.05% interest rate, which kicks the shit out of the 0.25% (or whatever) Wells Fargo pays. I was in the process of setting up a Wells savings account when I remembered the HSBC. I had to stop the nice woman from completing the transaction. She was a little embarrassed when I explained why I wasn't going to go through with it. I felt like a Runaway Bride. I set up the HSBC with $1, because the second deposit gets a 6% interest. It will be a week before all the paperwork goes through. I was immediately accepted, but I have to wait for my access code to come via snail mail, and then I can deposit the rest of the money.
SO.
Here's the rundown for the month:

BEFORE MY MONTHLY PAYMENTS (the only thing I might be off on is the car loan, but if so, I’m over, not under)

School Loans:
$12551 - Wells Fargo (my account)
$3605 - Wells Fargo (my father's account -- money he took out for me that I pay back)
$1998 - Mac Loan (money I borrowed from the school itself)

Car:
$4600$4249 @ 9% APR

Credit Cards:
$0 - Wells Fargo Visa (wohoo!)
$519 @ @ 29.24%APR - Chase Visa
$3760 @ 0%APR – Discover (expires in April unless I make 3 purchases/mo)
$1706 @ 2% APR - American Express (life of loan)

GRAND TOTAL
$28739 $28388

SUBTOTAL
$5985 in credit card debt.
$18154 in school loans
$4600$4249 for my car

BILLS THAT GO OUT VIA WELLS FARGO AUTO-PAYMENTS
$40.00 AMEX
$45.00 Cingular
$50.00 Chase
$55.00 Macalester
$90.00 Car Ins
$100.00 Discover
$120.00 Wells Me
$120.00 Wells Dad
$130.00 Mom
$270.00 Car
$500.00 Rent
$1,520.00 (TOTAL BILLS)

EXPENSES
$120 - Gas
$550 - Food (have to look at this-I think this does include some entertainment)
$100 - Entertainment
$770 (TOTAL EXPENSES)

MONEY ON HAND
$2,350.96 – Wells Bank Account
$582 – Work Account
$2932 (TOTAL CASH ON HAND)

SO
My Total Bills + Total Expenses is: $2290
My Cash On Hand is: $2932
That means I have $642 left for the credit card machine… and I will give Chase an additional $469 to PAY IT OFF, and an additional $150 to AMEX (I’m keeping the extra few bucks)
(and… DONE!)

After my monthly payments

$12451 - Wells Fargo (my account)
$3505 - Wells Fargo (my father's account -- money he took out for me that I pay back)
$1946 - Mac Loan (money I borrowed from the school itself)

Car:
$4365$4095 @ 9% APR

Credit Cards:
$0 - Wells Fargo Visa (wohoo!)
$0 - Chase Visa (wohoo!)
$3660 @ 0%APR – Discover
$1516 @ 2% APR - American Express (life of loan)

GRAND TOTAL
$27443 $27173

$5176 in credit card debt.
$17902 in school loans
$4365$4095 for my car
Wohoo! I paid 13.5% of my CC balance this month!!!!

I know, I mention (WAY UP!!!) on this post that I’m going to put $120 in my HSBC account. My sister B owes me about $100 for the walker I bought my mother, and I know she’ll get that to me this month. I’ll take that and put it towards my HSBC when she gets it to me.

I’m done. Stick a fork in me.
I think it might be time for me to invest in Quicken.