Saving Money

I got paid yesterday. Yay!
Last night, I paid my bills: mortgage, co-op fee, cellphone bill, and a (very) small donation to Elon University.
This morning, I balanced my account.
Let's just say I transferred some money from savings into my checking account.
Usually I'm OK. My co-op fee check never clears until the first or second week of the following month.

The sad thing is that this was the month I supposedly started "saving money." GAH! I have avoided buying morning coffee at Starbucks. I haven't purchased breakfast out. For the past THREE WEEKS, I've packed my lunch Monday-Thursday. I've been cooking at home every night.

WHERE ARE MY SAVINGS?!?! WHERE?!?!

I should check my VISA bill to see if it is significantly less this month. It had *better* be, or I'm going to be slightly irate.

I suppose I should go back to manually maintaining my budget. I have been keeping a budget for so long that I could mentally track my expenses, knowing when I had overspent/underspent in certain areas. Now, that I'm trying to save, it's a whole nother story.

I'm also toying with the idea of getting a part-time job when I get back from my trip to London. I think it might be fun to work a few nights per week at Borders. I have toyed with the foolish idea of opening a bookstore (small, focused on environmental/nature books with a cute little fair trade coffee shop attached). Maybe working at a big bookchain would provide me with some useful experience.