Oh. Duh.

Statue at my Mom's house

The last couple of weeks I have just been racking my brain trying to work out how to save up enough money to get the deposit, first, and last month's rent together on an expensive Austin apartment. I planned and schemed, worried and worked, talked to everyone I knew, made a facebook post, and could not work out how to pay an $800+ monthly rent even if my husband and I could weasel our way into a lease in the first place.

The solution was so simple, so neat, and so obvious, I almost don't want to admit it. I am simply out of gratefulness that the interminable weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can breathe again.

How does someone live in a city that is expensive to live in? How does someone live comfortably in an an expensive apartment? By earning more money. Duh. Heck, go ahead and earn lots of money. Why  not?

I'm amazed to realize that although I have no doubt whatsoever of my ability to earn a high income (albeit not a professional one), it never occurred to me that this would be an acceptable way of making money to buy things I need and want. Ever since I left my last high-paying server job, I've worked for some higher standard or other. Learning a trade, like baking or carpentry. Or filling some social niche at an organic farm or International Non-profit. It's been a long, long time since I thought to work to earn money to pay rent and buy groceries.

So I basically gave myself permission yesterday to get a job that earns enough money to pay an average Austin rent, get a fantastic apartment, and be comfortable. It feels really groundbreaking and exciting. Yes, we could have lived for free in a Detroit squat and grown and dumpstered our own food and blah blah blah, but my family and business is not in Detroit, it's in Austin. Austin, the land of trash compactors and $700 studio apartments. I still plan on pedicabbing, and if that doesn't work out I should be able to get a good job as a waitress in the near future. And we will have our home by June, I think :)

My Spending Choices

The lovely Lost Goat recently commented on the fact that we spent more than we earned in the past few weekly reviews (and wouldn't you know it - I'm behind again!).

It's all swings and roundabouts, as my British husband would say. Some months we earn significantly more than other months. Our spending remains consistently very high, because anything "extra" goes to debt. We're basically spending every penny we earn (with 50% going to debt), though not necessarily on the same week we earn it - if that makes any sense. Don't worry, we're not fostering any secret lines of credit or over-drafting with the bank.

Right now I'm looking at my spending with a very sharp, and extremely forgiving, eye. Chalk it up to raking in more cash than ever before, and working more hours than I ever imagined, but I'm being lenient with myself. Not negligent, but definitely lenient.

This is how I dole out my cash every week. I'm not saying it's the right way, or even a very good way, but it's just where I'm at right now:

Darling and I both get paid on Friday. He receives sporadic per diem checks, I get the occasional bonus for dog-sitting or such, we both make over-time sometimes, and we both miss a day of work here and there.

I reserve some cash to buy a couple of sandwiches with on Monday; when our commute crashes into an evening meeting that leaves us delirious with exhaustion and potentially grumpy with hunger, for Darling's $5 daily carpool contribution, and for extra lunch supplies and snacks. We started buying extra groceries specifically for lunchboxes because making a meal at 4:30 in the morning that will sustain us for twelve hours has been a challenge. I also fill the truck with gas.

I mentally add up the cost of those purchases (roughly $150, most of which is gas), include some sort of cushion (probably another hundred dollars), and transfer the rest to debt. The first or last week of every month, of course, I allow for the rent payment as well. 

Like I said, the system is lenient. That weekly cushion covers everything from phone bills to doctor appointments, from sodas at work to a day at the strawberry farm. The only rule I try and abide by is that 50% of our total spending is on debt.

The biggest (only?) problem I have with this slipshod system is my recent graduation to Step Six of Your Money or Your Life, which can roughly be described as Spend Less Money. The book has over a hundred suggestions on this matter, but no real specific way of knowing whether or not I've completed the task.

Naturally, the task isn't meant to be accomplished and forgotten, but to introduce a new style of living...but I like goals, start points, and end points (says the person who took fourteen months to make a simple line-graph). Also, it would just be too easy to say, "eh, I'm frugal. Next?"

So I'm contemplating a mini-challenge, maybe a year-long endeavor to correlate with Year Six of the blog, in which I would set various saving goals. The intention would not be to stash away a certain amount of cash, which would not be an accurate measurement of cost-cutting as my income fluctuates so much. The intention would be to develop and practice certain skills, habits, and patterns that would reduce my consumption regardless of income.

This will be especially beneficial for Year Six because it will be the first one not affected by my debt - my spending will actually drop, because "savings" won't immediately be transferred to debt servicing. It will also force me to consciously deal with having so much extra money surging into my bank account.

Potential goals to meet this end might include learning repairs, finding ways to lower the co-op's overall budget (and therefore my rent), and learning to balance full-time work with sustainable choices without giving up union carpentry - which will come in handy for Step Seven: Maximizing Income.

Spending Reports: Week 9-11

Week 9
Work Expenses: 161.59
Debt:150
Stuff For Truck: 3.25 rope (I've found that if you need a truck, you need a rope...and other people will need that rope, so your rope will disappear)
Entertainment: 17.14 beer and snacks with friends
Health: 28.99 supplements
Rent: 950 Rent

Total Spent: $1,310.97
Total Earned: $1,216.23

Week 10
Work Expenses: 228.37
Debt: 1,180
Entertainment: 59.64
Gifts: 10.94

Total Spent:  1,478.95
Total Earned: 1,331.95

Week 11
Work Expenses: 93.17
Misc. Groceries: 13.09
Debt: 188
Entertainment: 40
Health: 176.23
Hygiene: 15.14
Fees: 1.75

Total Spent: $527.38
Total Earned: $633

Are We On Track?

Just a quick post before running some errands...I've been crazy busy with work during the week and the rest of life concentrated into the weekends. Took just enough time to have a cup of coffee (I'm down to just one or two during the week, btw), and attempt to answer The Lost Goat's question on my last post. Actually, I've been trying to answer that one for myself for a while now.

To be totally debt free by my birthday I would need to pay roughly $8,100 by April 9th. I'm a never-say-never sort of person, but at this point I will be more than happy to have paid my student debt by April 30th. That would give me a positive net worth to post just in time for the sixth anniversary of this blog, as well as three extra weeks to work with.

Because Darling and I get paid weekly, that's about how often we make payments. To reach my "By May" goal, we need to pay $788 a week (this is assuming that we do, in fact, transfer the tax refund directly to debt). This is possible about three out of every four weeks, as on that fourth week we pay rent.

However, $1000 of that debt is owed to my mother, who is not actually an evil corporation. She swears she doesn't actually want the money back, which is technically forgiveness. I WILL pay her back, but I would consider myself a success if, by May 1st, family debt was all that I owed.

That brings my weekly payment down to $677 a week, which is actually feasible...assuming, of course, that neither Darling nor myself get laid off. And guess who is finishing a project in March? That's right, both of us. Which, in a different post, would bring up the matter of how intelligent it is to spend ALL of one's money on debt in the face of lay-offs...but that's not the post I'm writing.

I will almost certainly be sent home for at least two weeks in early March. Darling's career is up in the air, but his current position likely expires in March or April. We are both positioned move directly to bigger and better things, but a month between jobs seems to be the norm. So there is no guarantee that, as we slide towards home-base, we won't find ourselves benched (look at that: a sports metaphor. See what one cup of coffee does to me now?).

So, to answer the question: I don't have a clue whether or not Darling and I are on track. One might be able to come up with a formula in response, but no one could guess its accuracy. We're just throwing as much money at the matter as possible, watching it shrink every week. I think about paying debt so much that I forget which payments have actually been sent in yet. Darling caught me the other day referring to our $6,700 debt when it was still $7,700. Yet I was still shocked to log on just now and discover our last payment really was $600. I'm bummed we sent less than $700 in January, but psyched that we'll triple that in February, and desperate to discover how we'll manage a repeat performance in March.

Spending Report: Week 7

Work Expenses:
$20 Darling carpool
$3 Darling bus fare
$3 My junk food at work
$6.16 My lunch at class
$16.22 Dues
$61.36 Gas
$37.89 Darling's phone
$148.98 Tools
Total: 296.61

Entertainment:
$9.50 Coffee with my Dad
$16.03 Lunch with Darling
Total: $25.53

Debt: $895 (!!!)

Unfortunate Circumstances
(I can't think of a better title for this category, maybe low-level emergency? I  locked my keys in the truck at the bank right by where I work, which is basically in Narnia. It took me about five hours just to get home, and there was this whole series of events that I might tell you guys about after this post. Work or Entertainment just don't cover it)
$13.69 Lunch to regain composure
$2 bus
Total: 15.69

Total Spending: $1,232.83

I'm psyched about how much we paid off debt. We finally reached - and exceeded - my goal figure!

Darling and I shopped all last weekend. Saturday we bought him clothing, which showed up on last week's report, and Sunday we purchased tools. Although we spent more than I'd normally feel comfortable with, we bought exactly what we needed and stuck to our budget. Immediately afterwards, I risked a debt payment that would leave us with exactly what I felt we would need to get us through the week.

Fortunately, my estimate was correct and we coasted just fine until payday. It was strange, though, because it basically created this sense of living paycheck-to-paycheck. At the same time, I decided to accept that Darling and I purchase a certain amount of convenience in our lives to smooth out the rough edges of working full-time. Right now I barely have time to check my e-mail, much less cook three meals a day, my company will be working Saturdays for the next couple of weeks. If that means picking up the occasional sandwich, I'm going to accept that for what it is and enjoy the freaking sandwich. As long as debt is paid, of course.

Darling is more on board than ever before with debt payment. I think it's because we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're talking debt freedom in a matter of weeks rather than months. He is really adamant that we apply our entire tax refund to debt, no matter what. That's always been our ambition, but never reality. This time it is going to happen.

Financial Belly Binge

Oh man, you guys, what a week.

I was good. I've been good. I defy anyone to say otherwise. I was cooking every freaking day, going without so much as a fifty cent can of soda at work, swallowing my pride at work, taking extra classes at the hall, paying dues and paying debt and waking up at 4:30 in the morning to drive Darling to his carpool pick up and, on Sunday, I went to a meeting and put up curtains in the den and went shopping for affordable and beautiful frames for the house and suddenly...

Things went downhill very quickly.

At first, I thought it started with the pasta maker. Thirty dollars at Savers, seeming to have all the bells and whistles and exactly what I've wanted for years at an unbelievable price. Never mind that I was there to scope out frames and pillow fabric: I grabbed the toy with both hands and raced to the register.

I felt guilt, and felt angry for feeling guilt. Because do you know what I've spent money on lately? Food, and gas, and rent, and WORK. And you know, publishing this stuff makes me feel vulnerable. Later, I realized that my resolve did not snap at the moment I saw that pasta maker. My resolved snapped days before, as I looked at my (until now unpublished) spending for the week, and saw that all of my money goes to debt and work, except for the occasional meal out. Meals I barely enjoy at all, because they are usually a last resort, a vice I indulge in at the point that exhaustion makes the idea of cooking absolutely unbearable. Because then I will have dishes to clean, and then it will be nearly ten, and then I will have another restless night followed by another stressful day followed by having to cook dinner AGAIN!

Monday went simply enough, besides the fact that I just about snapped at the house meeting for no reason whatsoever. Tuesday after work, however, I stopped on my way home and bought junk food. I bought a bag of gummy worms, peanut butter cups, chips, and another small thing of chocolate. I ate them all in, like, six minutes. Do you know what a gummy worm food baby feels like? Not great. But that didn't stop me from going to Dog Almighty and buying a vegan chilli dog (I love Austin) and stuffing that down my face.

Then I went home and went comatose. It was maybe five in the evening, and I slept until the alarm went off this morning.

I don't typically binge like that, but...well, I did. And because I am Cathy Tells-All...well, here it is. Why? Because there are good days and bad days and sometimes I need to vent. I also paid $355 on my student loans, won $45 on a superbowl pot at work (peer pressure actually worked in my favor, for once. Also, my peer group is now predominately middle-aged Mexicans), Darling actually received a small per diem check, I passed my metal-stud framing class, got my forklift license, and, best of all, I HAVE A PASTA MAKER! So it's not like my life is misery or anything.

Anyway, spending report for Week Five:

Work Expenses
- Darling's Carpool: $17.50
- Bus: $6
- Maya's Dues: $70.75
- Gas: $21.13
- Maya Work Food: $7.57
- Darling Phone: $37.89

Health
- $107.40 Labwork
- $2.60 Food for change (long story)

Rent
- $910

Student Loans
-$12

Total Spent: $1,192.84

Total Earned: $858.91

Again, this was the good week, not the one I was just ranting about. You can see those numbers next week.

Spending Review, Week Four

Dom and I didn't eat out ONCE this week. I didn't buy any food or drinks at work or during break at class. We made big dinners (pizza, pot pies, quiche, casserole...) and packed leftovers for lunch. The only time we came close to what someone might consider a cheat was due to a miscommunication that resulted in my desperately needing a phone.

Unlike many Americans, I don't feel entitled to walk into a business, demand free samples, steal all the sugar packets, use the restroom, and complain about its cleanliness on my way out...at least, not until I've purchased something from said business. I purchased a $5.24 sandwich at Thundercloud before requesting the use of their phone. The funny thing is that I LOVE Thundercloud and fantasize about it pretty much constantly. But I had just made dinner. Darling packed the sandwich for lunch the next day.

This week Darling and I also spent...

...$10.81 on a good pair of work gloves
...$76.53 on gas
...$3 bus fare
...$20 carpool
...$116 on debt

...Total Spent:  $231.58
Total Earned: $750.38

I'm pretty pleased by these numbers. There's a little bit of illusion at play here: our frugality is a matter of getting rent in the bank before it's due next month. I actually came very close to not paying any debt this month to that end, but...well, I'm obsessed.

EDIT: 

On Saturday, Darling and I ran around to do truck-related things. We ended up paying $28.75 on renewing the inspection sticker, as well as $30.91 on personal groceries to celebrate not having to pay for an oil change which was apparently covered by the dealership. We also received another paycheck, bringing the total spent to $291.24 and the total earned to $1372.76. Hello, rent!

Weekly Spending Review

Darling spent last week in Temple, a 1 1/2 hour drive north of our home. After several months of planning, we chose to rent out a room in an extended stay hotel directly across the street of his work-site for the first few days.

This turned out to be an excellent idea. There was torrential rain that first day and many people didn't even show up, and the actual site is difficult to find at the best of times. Darling had almost no problem rolling out of bed, having coffee, and wandering to work.

The big downside is that the room was $249.72 for the week, we spent $108.91 to stock his little kitchen, and driving to and from Temple even twice not only ate up quite a bit of gas (we put $71.68 in the truck), but I ran out of gas on my way to pick him up, walked three hours along the highway, and spent $20 on the cab ride back to it.

Fortunately, next week Darling will have a carpool option from Round Rock. RR is still pretty far from our house, but only two exits further on I-35 than I take to get to the plant every morning. So that will add maybe an hour to my personal daily commute, and the driver is charging $20 a week for gas, but overall we will be saving quite a bit of time and money. Not only that, but the big boss agreed to pay Darling some per diem to offset some of the costs of this week.

I got laid off from my own job on Friday. Our crew wasn't supposed to come back until February 15th, but he asked four of us to come back January 23rd. Granted, I've been extremely unhappy with this job and was half-desperate to get into one of the drywall gigs closer to my house. But with Darling's carpool situation being what it is, it might be best for me to carry on up north for a while longer.

I fell into the habit of buying food at work, unfortunately, even on days that I brought my lunch. This was actually a peer pressure thing that I stepped away from before the end of the week, but it still hurt the wallet. I spent a total of $25.29 on sub-par tacos and bottles of juice. Walking along the highway for lack of $10 in gas was all the retribution I needed for this foolish spending, thank you.

$32.27 spent on dues brings the total amount of money we spent on work this week to a colossal $507.87. Scary, even knowing that some of that will be reimbursed and we'll get about $32 discounted from our rent for the days Darling wasn't here.

We also spent $35.60 on a dinner out, and I spent $1.09 on a bag of chips.

Only $250 went to debt, twice more than last week but only half of what I would have liked.

That brings our spending total to $794.56, which happens to be $14.09 more than I earned. Boo.

To have earned so much, and yet spent so much simply to work, is really frustrating. We could have spent a lot less on Darling's food for the week with a little planning. I could have (and will in the future) abstain from buying lunch at work. Otherwise, much of the spending was inevitable, and most of it - like the hotel - was a one-time thing.

My goals for this week are to spend significantly less on working, cover our medical expenses, update the registration sticker for the truck, and make a larger debt payment.

Why I'm Not Living Within My Means

For what felt like a long, long time, Darling and I could claim to live within our means. Looking back on that golden era it seems like we did everything right: we did NOT eat out, we worked side jobs for food and debt servicing, we lived in the smallest space anyone would rent a couple, we borrowed cars to drive to the Mennonite bulk store, every single piece of furniture, and some of our food, was rescued from the garbage man...ah, to be young and wise again...Despite our pitiful income, we were able to pay off debt and save like maniacs!

Why were we doing so well with a fraction of our current income, when we can't we get it together here and now? What went wrong?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

I'm finally - FINALLY - coming to terms with the fact that although we did many things right, we were not living within our means.

Living within one's means is often defined as spending less than one earns. Without access to credit, Darling and I had not problem spending less than we earned. After paying rent and bills, there was too little to take to the store. Paying debt online was the least painful way managing the pitiful remnants of my paycheck. Over the course of a couple of years, that amount naturally increased, and we tucked it away out of habit. Which looks good on paper, but misses the finer points.

Those years of hardcore frugality Darling and I never addressed our dental or vision needs. Heck, we didn't even get haircuts for a couple of years! We were paying debt, sure, and even saving a good deal, but investing in personal care was put on a permanent back-burner.

After moving to Austin Darling and I started seeing an optometrist, which is fairly expensive. We also started playing the health insurance game. Someday I'll sit down to do the math for a precise figure, but we definitely spent several thousand dollars on health insurance that saved us, at most, a thousand bucks. But it was a necessary learning experience. In the meantime, actually getting the dental care we needed - with or without insurance - was an incredibly trying undertaking. It took four years to find someone I could trust and afford, and only in the past two years have I actually received any beneficial treatment!

The more we earn, the more capable we are to address such needs, and the more we spend on a monthly basis as we try and repair the damage of previous neglect.

The good news is that we're finally coping with these expenses with the help of neither the credit nor insurance industry. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel, and a realistic limit to our needs. Soon, very soon, Darling and I will be healthy, working, and debt free. Then we can honestly claim to live within our means.

From Ahead To Behind: Story Of A Windfall

Despite my best intentions, the first thing to get knocked off my financial priority list upon turning in my two-week notice was my student loan payments. I'm so far ahead on these payments that I haven't received a bill in over a year, and I'll be very surprised if I ever get another bill again (they'd much prefer I stop paying and start racking up that interest).

Of course it's never been my plan to lay off the student loan payments at all. Quite the contrary: I desperately want to be done with the matter by April 2012. Unfortunately Darling and I got hit with a really big bill last May that took grudging precedence over student loans for the past couple of months.

Yesterday I picked up my last full paycheck from the pub and was pleasantly surprised to find it $200 more than the one before. I had two trains of thought on this matter. The first was that I could write a check to the house for October's rent ASAP. In many ways, that would have been the right thing to do. The house is my largest expense and most vital obligation. Sure, I'd only have $12 left to my name afterward, but it might be worth the weight off my shoulders.

That train of thought derailed the moment I came home from the bank and checked my student loan account. Since my last payment of $100 in June I've accrued $98 in interest! It was just too much - without thinking I applied the full $200 "windfall" to my debt.

Once I gave into that single reasonable expense, they started multiplying like gremlins. Tired of counting nickels for daily bus passes, I shelled out $30 for another monthly. Then I remembered how desperately my cleaning supplies need to be restocked, which will cost me another $15-20. And oh, the tools Darling needs for work. And, come to think of it, how the heck are we nearly out of soap again? Didn't we just buy soap?!

Blah. In the space of a few hours I went from thinking we were financially set for another month to being as far behind as ever. But perception is everything, innit?

I May Not Be A Dreamer...

One of the things weighing very heavily on my mind lately is how much I should focus on debt servicing.

We started this year off with a bang by allotting $650/month - basically most of my tax refund - to debt servicing. Then I hit that employment snag and and haven't made a significant payment in a couple of months. Nor will I until August.

In order to reach my goal of being debt free within the first five years of this blog, Darling and I need to pay about $1,000/month to this goal. I'll go ahead and say right now that such a thing is narrowly, barely possible. Assuming Darling and I only spent money on transportation (bus passes and bike maintenance), and basic hygiene (including shampoo, but not hair cuts), and did spend any money on any holidays at all (including birthdays, weddings, and our 7th wedding anniversary),  we might be able to meet this goal.

I love a good challenge, and ten consecutive "spend nothing" months would probably be good for Darling and me. We could nip our my convenience snacking in the bud. Instead of fantasizing about buying a not-quite-new bike I'd be forced to repair my broken bikes like a true hardcore cyclist. We could even technically forgo riding the bus altogether come September when it might be cool enough for me to ride both ways to work. Heck, maybe I could even cut down on shampoo and conditioner by switching back to baking soda and vinegar. Much as I would hate to continue missing capoeira and yoga classes, I'd certainly maintain my fitness levels cycling 8-16 miles six days a week.The possibilities are enough to make a frugal girl giddy!

However, how much we could reduce spending is only half the story. In about a month I will have insurance. The day after getting my card I intend to find a dentist and have a lot of work done. We're talking two root canals, three caps, and many, many fillings. As my company employs fewer than 20 people, I'm thinking ours is not the best HMO in the entire world. In other words, even if Darling and I are able to cut our "regular" expenses down to the bone, we can expect a massive surge in borderline-emergency medical expenses. I'm expecting to spend roughly $2500 in this area alone. And lets not forget another $300 in optometrist expenses in the next eleven months.

Obviously our best course of action is to reduce our spending as much as possible while pursuing both dental health and debt freedom. But the moment a dream becomes the impossible dream, commitment is less exciting. Sure, Darling and I could scrimp and save for ten months. We could even make it feel fun. But scrimp and save for eleven, twelve, thirteen, or a year and a half? Not so exciting a concept. Especially considering that we would be putting off other sound financial choices, such as building an emergency savings fund.

I haven't given up the dream yet, these are just my concerns. The radical in me wants to jump in and make the commitment, come hell or high water. Hopeless as it seems, Darling could land an excellent job he's been circling like a hawk, a tax refund or bonus from work could give us a massive boost - or at least cover the medical expenses, or I could find a way to make an extra $50 a week (another $2600 over the course of a year to cover medical expenses). We really won't know unless we try.

I'll definitely seek Darling's input before making any promises. But how absolutely awesome would it be to spend ten months kicking butt and, come my 27th birthday, find ourselves not only debt free but having effectively doubled our monthly spending money?

May Tabulations

My monthly tabulations for May are pretty bizarre. I received my last couple of paychecks from my old jobs and worked a few restaurant shifts, but since I didn't get a paycheck from my new full time position, I brought home less than $600 despite working over 200 hours. Salary folks have not told me this is a normal, albeit frustrating, way of starting a new job.

So, technically speaking, last month my real hourly wage was just over $2/hour. It would have been slightly more had I not spent over $100 between commuting and work lunches.

Obviously I'll get paid significantly more than $2 for all those hours worked, and I'm looking forward to climbing out of this cozy little hole I've dug. But the fact remains that I spent more than half of what I earned this month. One wouldn't even think this is possible without the use of a credit card.

The first thing I did after tallying up my bus fares for the month was buy a $30 monthly metro ticket. I didn't want to do that at first because my official plan is to ride the train to work and bike back, which shouldn't cost more than $24 a month (and the bus ticket doesn't work on the train). Considering I've only made things worse on the bike front (don't ask), and have ridden the train to work twice so far, it makes sense to go ahead and invest in the bus ticket.

The very next thing I did was pack a dinner to take to work with me, which took all of six minutes. I will be doing this every night for the rest of forever.

Today I also made a payment on the bigbadbill and paid a hundred dollars to my neglected student loan company, to whom I only sent $75 last month. In July I should finish paying off the former, and come August I will commence hacking away at my student debt again.

Where Did April Go?

What did I spend my time working for in March?

1. Rent, which also covers my basic living expenses, clocked in at 69 hours.
2. I dedicated 33 1/2 hours of my life to paying off debt. The bright side? Interest in April cost me less than half what it did in March.
3. I'm really unhappy to say that the phone bills took an unwelcome 19 hours of my life. Time to go the frugal route and purchase a tracphone.
4. 13 Hours are listed under my entertainment budget because of my birthday. I should confess that I didn't sort the categories properly. Most of that amount is food, and about 40% of it was unnecessary. Live and learn.
5. Speaking of food, even with half of it hidden in the entertainment category we managed to spend another 8 hours paying for the rest.

This is the first month that I've looked at my totals and really regretted an expense. I really want nineteen hours of my life back. Basically, someone misread the fine print on the phone plans and assumed that certain fees were one-time-only. I honestly can't believe anyone could afford a phone for at that price.

I wanted a real plan with a real company, though, and didn't even really take advantage of the research that was offered to me for free in my comments section. Which turns my normal fail into and Epic Fail. Then I had the phone cut off just days before I really needed it, the day my dream employers called me up for an interview. And what did they do? Send me a freaking e-mail.

9/72

Yesterday I made the ninth payment of $162.50 to the student loan company. Only 63 more to go!

Last month we chose between paying massive amounts of debt and building a savings fund. We went with the former, whittling away at our tax refund week after week. Now I wonder if we can keep up our momentum without that cushion. Every month is maddeningly different from the last. I'm still job hunting, of course, and much more likely to succeed now that I'll actually receive phone calls. I applied for a position today that I'm really hoping to hear from later this week. Theoretically our income could double in April. It's just as likely to diminish by half depending on my employers' moods. And I've known myself long enough to know that a doubled income isn't the answer to all our problems, that financial math is stickier than that.

Technically it's not the money at all I'm craving from a new job. It's the change. At this point it will likely take Darling and me 63 more weeks to become debt free...and in the meantime? No plane tickets, no road trips, no whimsical adventures, two-week notices, relocation, or major lifestyle experimentations. No moving to East Austin and adopting a dog. No high-tailing it to Bangalor to chill with Agni. No bicycling to San Diego to tell Beany how awesome she is, or going "home" to Virginia, or touring the English countryside. No purchasing a cheap travel trailer and a biodiesel truck to see what it's really like on the road, or moving to the country to work on a farm, or retiring to Twin Oaks or Yogaville, or, most discouraging, paying tuition to return to school. Not when I'm just sixty-three payments away from freedom. Not when I'm currently paying nearly $50 a month for the privilege of owing that debt.

I know this childish impatience is the reason I'm still paying this debt to begin with. I know that it will be over in the blink of an eye, relatively speaking. But still, the thought of needing to maintain a steady income - and therefore, a consistent lifestyle - is totally maddening. For me, the root of debt freedom is that of movement and flexibility: not needing a type of job, a style of living, a daily routine. Being able to wake up one morning in New Orleans, spend the day writing a noir detective novel, work that evening in a grocery store, and take off for Nepal the next afternoon with a shoulder bag, my husband, and a passport...it doesn't seem like so much to ask. And it would be affordable, too, if not for that niggling "minimum payment," an ever-blooming balance of money owed like a cancer on my psyche.

So...63 more payments. The only thing that can really change is income, and the only direction we can go with that is up, really, for various reasons. Which means job hunting, in the most traditional, non-romantic way, and continuing to work at the jobs I do have, and continuing to support my husband in his own endeavors...for 63 more payments.

What Time Is It?

The Last Asparagus Of The Season

Debt Time!

Well, at least so far as March went. I spent roughly sixty-seven and a half hours of my life paying off debt last month! The next largest amount of time I spent on any single endeavor was a meager fifty-one hours on rent!

Sadly, the third most expensive category of my budget was "lazy spending," which encompasses every expense incurred as result of my sloth. This month I paid $15 not to make a phone call, $30 not to go to the bank, and $205 not to read my mail. In hourly terms, it took me nearly 12 hours not to do this stuff in March, all three of which were done today before noon today.Fortunately, the first won't happen again and the latter will be refunded. And I've gone to the bank at least three times this week, so maybe I learned my lesson.

I spent nearly nine hours paying for Darling's vision and dental appointments this month. On the bright side, he has finally been issued a clean bill of dental health! Hopefully I'll follow suite after my dental appointment this month.

The phones cost us seven hours. And they were worth every penny.

Saving $300 By Being Less Lazy Than Usual

I'd fallen into a bit of a funk regarding my mailbox, ignoring all but the most pressing bills and information. I gave most notices the briefest of scans, tossing them aside or back into the box for "later."


Tallying my net worth last night was a rude awakening. $211 was being transferred out of my account to renew my dental discount plan! Last year that program saved me over $300 in root canal fees, more than paying for itself. This year I'm on the MAP insurance plan, which means the dentist visits that must be scheduled six months in advance only cost $10, and a surgery will only cost $30. So I'd decided not to renew the plan, but didn't actually read the letter telling me that my membership would be automatically renewed unless I took two minutes to make a phone call!!!

Fortunately I made that phone call this morning and was assured a refund in the next few days. Since I was canceling memberships anyway, I finally went ahead and ended my subscription to a sustainable energy company which has been automatically transferring $15 a month from my account for over three years. So, in less than half an hour on the phone this morning, I'll have saved myself over $300 over the course of 2011.

How I SPENT My Day Off

I've never been able to bother with Quicken or other computer technology when it comes to tracking my money. Frankly, dragging out my planner and noting the money I earn every day (as a waitress I walk home with tips), along with how many hours I worked and what I spend every penny on is a big enough pain in the butt without entering it into a computer at the end of the night. My scribbles are fast and easy and require only a couple of hours once a month to arrange into categories of focus. I keep a record on a spreadsheet saved as a google doc I can access wherever and whenever the mood strikes.

Tracing through these notes in my planner is a nostalgic game. How quickly I forgot my last coffee date with Raja before Oblio was born, how fleeting was that shared fifth of Jameson! At the same time it's a good feeling flipping through the no-spend days, and I want more of those.

My focus right now is not to suppress my spending, but to streamline it. No more popping into shops out of boredom or on my way to or from work. If I need to make a purchase, I'm going to make a day of it and get as much spending out of the way as efficiently as possible.

With that in mind, today was my first Big Spend Day. I wrote a list of things to spend money on days in advance. I started out making the executive decision to go ahead and pay my student loan company $650. My intention has been to pay $162.50 every week until next April, at which point I will be totally debt free, but a change in loan services put a major damper on my aspirations since I was only able to make one of four transfers. Because I am habitually an all-or-nothing person, I really needed to not drop the ball on that. So, with the help of my tax refund, I was able to catch up with the added benefit of letting my new student loan company know who's boss. I transferred the majority of my tax refund into an interest bearing on-line account and hope it stays there for a goodly long while.

In the spirit of attacking debt I also wrote out a $200 check to my bother Ob. He loaned us a thousand dollars a couple of years ago during our immigration crisis and although we paid the first $800 in immediate, regular intervals, giving him that last installment took over a year. It's such a relief to have that done with.

Having played with the really big money, I headed towards St. Vincents on South Congress, stopping at South Austin Soap on the way to pick up shampoo and conditioner, which cost me $15.16. At my favorite charity shop I tried on every single pair of size eight jeans they had and three shirts, buying six of the former and one of the latter. I now have seven pairs of jeans that fit me, far more than I've ever owned at one point in a very long time. In the coming days I hope to do an honest and serious inventory of my shirts and sweaters and see where I'm at with that. The six pairs of jeans and one shirt also cost me $15.16, which is something to think on.

On my way home from St. Vincents, I bought a bottle of local peach cider for $3.50. An expensive indulgence, true, but what I really wanted was a $10 slice of pizza and soda. The cider was a pleasant alternative which tided me over until I made a salad at the house with garden carrots and spinach.

Darling and I enjoyed our late lunch of salad and he headed to his eye appointment, where he had an eye exam and ordered a new pair of glasses for $160.

This is an exhausting amount of spending, even though the majority was done from my bed with the help of my computer and check book. The only purchase that could have been reasonably avoided was that peach juice, which at $3.50 I can't bring myself to regret. A lot of todays spending was the result of finally mustering the energy and reserves to attack items that have been lingering on lists for weeks, months, and years. And, quite amazingly, we can afford it.

Still, having parted with over $1000 on this, the 4th of the month, I'm suffering serious wallet fatigue. I look forward to spending the rest of the week counting the money on its way in rather than out.

March 2011 Net Worth

One of the first things you learn with consistent budgeting is that there is no such things as a "normal" month. Every four weeks or so something is bound to go wrong with a large and necessary appliance which will need immediate and expensive repair, you will require some sort of medical attention or at least a day or two off work, or some holiday, birthday, or semi-annual bill will roll round to empty the bank account.

That's why February was so weird for me: it was a normal month.

My Godson was born, but that didn't cost me more than the two dollar bus ticket to go see him. My loan was sold to another service company, which did throw me off my regular payment schedule. And - oh yes - I finally paid my late fees at the library and Vulcan Video, which came to A LOT. I quit one of my cleaning jobs because I can only juggle so many bosses. But that'll probably hit March's net worth. Ultimately February was just...well, as could be expected.

My assets dropped by an entire $4.02, which I can honestly live with. I've got $2,911.93 to call assets until I pay rent.

My debt dropped $112.13 to $11,156.86. I was really hoping and expecting to see a much larger drop, but I couldn't make a payment during the debt transition period. Well, I could have mailed cash into the ether, but didn't.

This brings my net worth to -$8244.95, which is one of the most beautiful numbers I have ever seen. In the next week I'll be getting a tax refund which will become a much-needed emergency fund, pay off some small clingy personal debt, and pump my net worth up to an amount I never imagined. My goal is to hold onto my jobs and work like crazy despite this good fortune, I'd really like to catch up on my incredibly ambitious debt servicing plan of $650 a month.

Money is Time Update

Today I calculated January's Real Hourly Wage and determined how many hours I worked to cover the month's expenses. As I expected, this month we spent much less money on transportation, alcohol, and gifts. This is where my time went instead:

• Rent: 71.76
• Debt: 11.43
  
• Food: 7.08
• School: 3.31 (spent on books for which we have a refund coming)
• Work Expenses: 2.23 (includes cleaning supplies and subtracted from my real hourly wage)
• Lazy Spending: 1.88 (most people would call this misc.)
• Licenses: 1.9 (drivers license renewal)
• Transportation: 1.83 (bus tickets)
  
• Hygiene: .36
• Clothing: .23
• Office Supplies: 1.52
• Entertainment: 1.91 (this includes books, gifts, and bath stuff

I spent more time in all categories because my real hourly wage (RHW) decreased by about six dollars. This is in part due to the fluctuations in tip income, but I also took into account some of the ways I spent money as a result of my jobs. Purchasing cleaning supplies, for instance, or schmoozing with my manager (whom I absolutely adore) after work over a hot cocoa. If I spend three bucks stocking or sucking up, that's three bucks less earned in a shift.

Last month my three largest expenses were rent and medical expenses. Nothing else took more than six hours of my time (though food and snacks, gifts, and the phone bill were next in line). This month it's nice to see that the only expense that took more than a week of work was rent, and my next largest expense was debt, followed at a distance by food. The amount we spend on snacking and eating out is strongly influenced by the amount of money Darling and I keep at hand, so I expect that as the amount we spend on debt increases, the amount we spend on food will drop dramatically. That's one of the benefits to weekly debits: the money needs to be in the bank, not accumulating at home or in our pants' pockets.

Lazy Day, Busy Thoughts

Today was spent almost entirely in bed. Woke up with a headache and a cough and no shifts until this evening. It would have been a good day to research jobs and tidy my resume, but I didn't even turn on the computer until after five in the evening. I have croissant dough chilling in the fridge from yesterday, starting to dry. I answered the phone but didn't catch up on correspondence. I didn't return library books or pick up my paycheck. The clean clothes need folding, craft projects need finishing. Instead I read, glancing at the clock every hour or so, counting down the hours before getting up and readying myself for work.

I took some medication and drank lots of orange juice and listened to Darling and other house mates remodel our pantry. The mice have inspired a near-complete overhaul of every room they have infested, which is kind of a good thing. A better thing is that the mice have been neither seen nor heard from in a couple of days...maybe we chased them out?

As of the first of next month I will have new employers at my second job. There is a chance that business will improve dramatically, which would be a relief. My search for an office job has been put on tentative hold for this and a number of other reasons, and I am weary of the limbo.

I really want to give up house cleaning, which I honestly detest, but it is the best paying employment I have and takes less than four hours a week. I took on the extra work to catch up on rent, which we have finally managed, but I'm thinking of carrying on for a while more.

Yesterday I used a calculator to determine what it would take to be out of debt by May of 2012, in the hopes of paying my debt within the first five years of my Challenge. $650 a month. It's such a large, depressing number. Could I devote $650 a month to debt payment every month for eighteen months? It seems ridiculous, but the years seem to flow by so quickly in retrospect, and it would be nice to chart our progress in such concrete terms.

It seems that whatever our income, Darling and I scrape by, even in absurdly unusual months. And in easy months as much as $200 can slip through the cracks of our personal economy. Maybe if Darling and I were really determined, we could find a way to devote $650 to my student loans. Maybe the excitement of watching that huge number melt away like a candle would make up for the scraping by. Maybe we'd find ourselves pre-disposed to higher paying jobs to sooth the inevitable bruise to our lifestyle.

I'm thinking of experimenting in February. We'll pay rent on the third and then, the moment it's earned, send a $650 payment to that company and force ourselves to make up the difference. The first month will be hard, the second equally challenging, but it seems like we can adjust to anything in twelve weeks or so.

These are the things I think about, moments before heading to work, on such cold lazy days.