And now a word from the Department of Homeland... I mean Financial SecurityPOSTED JAN 20, 2007

I've just crunched the numbers for the first full year since I moved from New York. No month got above "Lean", but fortunately none slipped as far as "Failing", either. Overtime from A-Team production helped boost income in the Spring, but serious problems arose when that show ended and the paycheck numbers fell. A cash holiday and part-time job kept things from falling apart too much, and now the storm seems to be passing (so to speak). A new auto insurance company and a second roommate have given 2007 a sunny forecast... and if overtime materializes to any real degree this spring, I may see something I haven't since June '05... a "Balanced" month. Anywho, here are some fun new statistics:

The Good:

• 2006 had the most income of any year so far.
• 2006 was the first year in which career income ranked highest.
• In 2006, month-by-month annual income set record highs six times. The current high is December 2006. This was influenced by Office Depot and will probably drop again over the next few months.
• The highest check from any job was cashed in September 2006.
• Supra - Maintenance ended well under budget, down 89% from 2005. Alas, I don't plan on being so lucky in '07.
• Supra - Insurance, well... any car insurance, continues to fall from year to year. The 2007 projection is a nice one too.
• Keeping gas in that Supra cost 33% less in 2006 than it did in 2005. Mind you, it was a different commute until 18 months ago.
• Tithing/ Good Deeds, with a goal of 10% of total income, jumped from a puny 0.1% in 2005 to 0.3% in '06. Whoopie!

and The Bad:

• 2006 had the highest expenses of any year so far.
• 2006 was the first year in which no credit card statement was paid off.
• 2006 was the first year not to have a single "Balanced" month and had the most "Tapped" months of any year yet.
• Rent and utilities are up 299% from 2005, but that was expected since this was my first full year "out of the nest".

oh yeah, and The Food:

• 20.4% of all food/grocery money was spent at Taco Bell, 10.0% at BK, and a mere 3.9% at Wendy's (which I'm still not used to paying for at all)
• Speaking of Snackage & Groceries... up 68% from 2005. Gotta figure that one out 'cause I was a pig back in '05, too.

 Previous Post: PHP coding! Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!
 Next Post: Implimentation Complete