This month I came in at $2870.05 in the red as I expected because I have not been working. This was actually a lower figure than I originally predicted because I got a little more in advertising than I expected. Things are looking a little better for December so I should not be too far in the red at the next posting.

I received a total of $43.57 from Lending Club, which is almost double the amount that I required to invest in new loans. Every month that I receive $25 I use it to fund a new loan via a transfer from ING. I withdraw all the money that comes in every month and record the totals on the spreadsheet so that I know if I can fund a new loan or not. Hopefully I will get $50 next month so I can fund TWO new loans and then I should be able to get even more in returns from my investment.

Areas where I remained under budget are:

Home- : I spent the budgeted amounts for rent and insurance and put $30 into my house down payment fund as well.

– Utilities: Even with buying some international air time I was under the budgeted amount for utilities. The electric bill was slightly below the budgeted amount but I think that with the cold weather coming in now it might go back up.

-Entertainment : I normally budget $35 for miscellaneous entertainment expenses but this month I did not use any money out of that fund.

Areas where I went over budget are:

-Car : I had that unexpected expense of over $900, even after the discount and that money came out of the Lexus Fund. I guess I won’t be getting that new Lexus Rx350 any time soon.

– Health: I paid once again for COBRA insurance because I do not have a full time job that I can get insurance through. I value my health highly, especially after the health cares I have had in the past. I know that paying for the insurance myself is expensive but I would rather pay for the insurance than to not have it and have something happen where I land in the hospital again.

-Food : I went over my food budget by $15.02, which I could have taken out of another category that was below budget, but I am keeping my categories separate for accountability purposes.

I am looking forward to the new year and a new job so that I can stop seeing all of these negative figures and I can get back to saving once again.