Goal #43, on it's way, with headaches in tow

I previously mentioned that I had decided on Quicken software to help me create my money management system. I went to Office Max and bought the software. $60 bucks later, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm terrible with numbers and the last time I took a math class was junior year of highschool.

I thought I would be able to upload my checking and savings accounts, sync it with the program so it knows what transactions and deposits I make and then it was going to tell me what to do to make it better. It turns out that Quicken is not so user friendly. There was no manual because all the help features are built in. I work much better with manuals because it's all laid out for you but with help features where you type in the question, I never know what question to ask because I don't know what I'm doing in the first place.

I've managed to upload my accounts, but other than that, I have no idea what to do. I can't figure out where it's getting it's numbers from and why it keeps counting my monthly bills as misc. expenditures. Another problem I am encountering is the fact that it lets you put in your paychecks so you can see how much money you expect to come in that month. The problem is, I do not get paid salary at any of my jobs, so my income changes paycheck to paycheck. Especially with my recent reduction in hours, I have no idea what my next paycheck will look like. Even writing about it is stressing me out.

But I've enlisted the help of my coworker who happens to be really good with numbers. So hopefully I can have this figured out by the end of the month and I will be well on my way to saving more than I'm spending.

Goal # 52 ALMOST completed, but not

So I attempted to complete Goal #52 and bake my very first cake from scratch. Below is the visual journey through the attempt. This picture is all the ingredients I intended to use in my Tyler Florence Ooey Gooey Decadent Chocolate cake.



I then added together all of the "DRY" ingredients aka the flour, salt, baking soda.



The next step was to melt 4oz. of bitter chocolate and let cool. Tada. So far, so good.



Next up is a before and after shot of the sugar and butter being mixed together in yet another bowl. To me, the after shot looked like diced up eggs.




To that, I added the cooled chocolate to the batter. It's looking good.


All mixed together, but still thick and chunky looking, I add in the eggs, mixed bowl of dry ingredients and some cold water, alternating that with the dry ingredients. I'm not sure if the alternating actually helps the process or if it's just an added pain to the process.




Batter is ready!!!!!

Two 9 inch pans are greased and waiting for the batter.

*IMPORTANT* This is where I unknowingly mess up.Batter is poured into the greased pans. The pans go into the oven.



Meanwhile, while the cake is baking, I make the frosting, starting with a TON of powdered sugar.



Then to the sugar I add a lot of Vanilla and some more melted dark chocolate.



Perhaps because I am used to the commercial Betty Crocker frosting loaded with preservatives to allow for a long shelf life, I was not expecting my frosting to come out in the consistency that it did. To me, it was thin, almost waterlike. I reread the directions several times to make sure I did it right. I followed them to the T. To the frosting I added cut up pieces of chocolate to give more volume to the frosting. While the frosting was waiting to be used I realized that I indeed had made the frosting correctly because while it sat, the top of the bowl got hard. The frosting hardens as it sits, but is easily mixable if you are not ready for it to harden.



After the cakes were done, I let them cool for 40 minutes just like the directions said. After they were sufficiently cool, I attempted to take them out of the pans and this is where I epically fail. *NOTE* I failed earlier in the blog when the directions said to grease the pans. I did exactly that, but in addition to greasing the pans, the directions also said to cut two large circles of parchment paper to place in the bottom of the pan for added no stick security.

1. I didn't have parchment paper.
2. I thought it was more of a suggestion if you didn't feel secure in your pam spraying abilities.

Needless to say, I couldn't get the cakes out of the pans. I got so angry, I almost just dug my hands into the cake and threw it on the cake holder.



After much arguing with myself and talking to the cakes, I eventually got the cakes out, but not without huge chunks missing, cake ALL OVER my kitchen and not a single nice layer of cake to be seen. Even after feeling defeated I decided to finish the endeavor. I poured the Chambourd liquer over both layers and then attempted to move one ugly layer on top of the other ugly layer. It took me a minute to decide which of the two was least ugly.

THEN, I realized I didn't have any spatula things to spread the frosting with. The cake was already in a very delicate situation and I didn't have the proper utensil to safely spread the frosting. I located the most spatula looking spoon I could find and spread the frosting. The cake kept falling off on the corners and wouldn't stay in places after I put the frosting on. I ended up using the frosting like glue in order to keep my cake from looking like a pile of poo. Below are pictures of what I think is the ugliest cake ever!!!

Needless to say, I will not count Goal #52 as complete due to its ugly nature. I am going to try again on Friday. Hopefully my OCD will allow me to cross #52 off my list the second time around.

Progress is forthcoming...

After scouring the Internet and comparing programs, it looks like I will be going with the Quicken Money Program. It seems to be the most user friendly and will tell me in plain English how much more I'm spending than I should. Now that I've made the decision, I just need to go do it.

Today, I went to my best friend Katrina's mother's memorial. Glenda was like a second mother to me. Something the pastor said this morning has really stuck with me today. He simply said "Fear Not". There is nothing to fear since God is with us and will help us along. I do not need to fear making a budget, I just need to do it and God will help me along the way when it says on paper that I am living FARRRRR beyond my means. There is no fear. A little trepidation perhaps, but no fear. It needs to be done.

So the reality of it is - #43 - Create a money management program is in full swing. I am aiming to have the numbers set up by the end of the month so I can start September with all the numbers in place to see where my money goes.

On another note/goal, tomorrow will be my attempt to complete goal #52 - Bake a cake from scratch. I ended up going with a Chocolate cake recipe from Tyler Florence of The Food Network fame. When my dad (a diabetic) caught wind of the fact that I am going to be making a cake, he somehow jumped to the conclusion that I was making the cake as a practice for the actual cake I will be baking for him on his birthday (2 weeks from now). I never said I was making a cake for him, but I guess I am now. So the cake tomorrow has a twofold purpose.

1. To help me complete #52 on my life list
2. To act as a practice cake for the second cake from scratch I will be making in 2 weeks.

I hope all goes well. I will take picture throughout the process.

Forced Progress

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I've been forced to start working on Goal #43 aka, Create a Money Management Program aka Make a Budget. It's a good thing to have a budget, I just didn't want to be forced into making one. I have many jobs, but my full time job has cut my hours almost in half. Damn this recession BS.

Due to the depletion of my income, I have been forced to closely monitor my money so that I can make rent, pay school loans and my car note. Those are the 3 big ones. All my other bills are not as important. I'm very good with my money, but I find as I am getting older, I am starting to worry more and more about retirement, the future etc etc etc. If I think too much about it, I get overwhelmed and can't think straight, so I try to live in the present as much as possible.

Therefore, I've started looking into budgeting programs. What I would like is a program that I can plug numbers into and it does the work for me. If you know me, you know that I am terrible with numbers. If I have a program that can tell me how much I'm spending versus how much I take in, and tell me how to make it better, then it's one less headache.

When I wrote this goal for myself, in my mind, I really wanted to write everything down so that I could figure out a way to put more money away in savings. But the reality of it is that I've actually directly been affected by this recession of ours. Just the other day I was talking to a friend saying how grateful I was that I hadn't been affected by it, but I suppose I spoke too soon. I better make sure to knock on wood next time. My manager says it's only temporary, 3-4 months tops, but I don't believe her. She is assuming the state of the economy will be better in that time frame and that our company will have more money. I think that's a huge gamble.

I'm not much of an optimist sometimes, so I'm just going to assume that this is a permanent change. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. I'll make it through August with my current situation, so I figure I have the rest of August to get this budget thing in order. Any ideas?