I'm back!

I've been without a personal computer for almost a year. Can you believe that I survived that long?!  Although, to put things into context, I've had my iPad/iPhone at home and can do anything I need a keyboard for while I'm at work. It hasn't been terrible, but I am SO glad to be back online!

Why have I been without a laptop? Well, I woke up one morning to find my latptop on the floor...which isn't odd except that I hadn't put it on the floor but on my side table the night before. When I opened the laptop I saw that my screen was broken. I went to Apple to see if I still had AppleCare (because all that info was on my laptop of course), and of course it had expired. The cost of a new laptop screen?? $350-400. Oy. So instead of putting money into a laptop that I was hoping to last another 6 months before buying a new one, I just decided to go laptop-less until I saved enough for a new one.

My saving strategy started off with a monthly saving plan. I wanted a laptop that would be at least $1000 plus taxes & AppleCare, so I budgeted $1200. If I saved $200 a month, I could have a laptop in 6 months, easy! I already was saving about $100 a month, so I knew I could save another $100 by reducing my "dining out" budget.

Well, as happens most times in life, I wasn't able to execute my plan as I had hoped. I was without a roommate for 2 months and had to pay both halves of the rent/utilities until I found one! I also had to dip into savings to pay for one of the months rent, so the 6 month plan stretched to a year or more plan.

Thanks to a little creative saving (and buying a refurbished laptop instead of a new one) I finally have my new laptop! Be on the lookout for more posts on saving money as well as recipes!