Total Money Monday

 I’m not a natural when it comes to personal finance.  I love shopping and having nice, top-of-the-line, shiny, brand new things.  However, I’d also really like to be financially secure.  I read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover a few years ago and the envelope system definitely worked for me.  I just stopped when I moved to Minnesota two years ago and since then I haven’t been the best budgeter.

The truth is, I’m in a better financial situation that I’ve ever been.  I mean, I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination.  There’s just no reason for me to live paycheck to paycheck at this point in my life.  And that’s exactly what I’m doing.  That’s why I was at the bank withdrawing cash on Black Friday instead of standing in line for a new TV (something I REALLY, REALLY WANT too BTW). 

After looking at my particular financial situation, I will be changing a few things though.  For example, I only have two credit cards and will be concentrating on paying off the bigger of the two first.  The interest on the bigger card is significantly more and paying that card off will save me upwards of $80 a month to roll into other debt.  My student loans, however, have the same interest rate so I’ll go ahead and concentrate on the smaller one first.  Those are my only current debts (~$2,800 in credit cards and ~$45,000.00 in student loans) but my student loans are more than what my grandmother’s house cost when they bought it in the 1970s!

The next difference is I won’t be pouring all of the residual cash after I pay my monthly expenses into my student loans or credit cards quite yet.  Why you ask?  Because rent in MSP is expensive.  I’m pretty sure that what I pay for my 500 square foot basement studio actually pays the entire mortgage on my landlord’s triplex.  Since this is actually one of the few major cities where buying actually makes more sense than renting, I’ll be buying a house. 

I’m hoping that I’ll be in a place by the end of winter or beginning of spring in 2016.  There’s no way I’ll be able to save up a full 20% down payment by that time but even if I do an FHA loan with 3.5% down and have to pay PMI, I’ll still be paying less than I am now.  And then I can deduct an interest from my taxes.  I’ll also have more space and the opportunity to have family come visit, maybe even move up, or at least look at getting a roommate to help fund my debt snowball. 

After I buy a house, then I’ll start focusing one student loan at a time, followed by my mortgage.  In the meantime, I’ll be visiting the bank every two weeks and filling up envelopes.   I’ll do another post on how I setup my envelopes to work for me right now.

Do you have problems budgeting?  This method is the only one that has EVER worked.

Do you regret taking out student loans?  I wish every day that I could turn back time and not go to graduate school.

I’ve been busy, okay! Only God can judge…

That’s not a lie.  I have had a lot going on.  I’ve missed two weeks at work, one planned and one unplanned.  The unplanned one was for the sudden death of one of my closest family members.  My cousin passed away of, what we learned yesterday, a freak heart condition that went undiagnosed  for the past 4 years.  Actually, that’s not quite right.  She was misdiagnosed earlier this year with a seizure disorder.  She was having episodes of passing out that the doctors immediately attributed to a seizure disorder without much testing.  I attribute the less than stellar medical care partly to my cousin not having private health insurance and partly to the area where I’m from (looking at you NELA) not having optimal medical care.  

Anyway, to say that I took the death hard would be an understatement.  We were the same age, grew up across the street from each other, and pretty much stayed together every weekend until we were teenagers.  She had a 4 year old kid that witnessed her collapse and, ultimately, her death.  And her partner was working in another country at the time and unable to reach family much sooner than I.  

I ended up having to drive the 20 plus odd hours to Louisiana and back again because I couldn’t find a last minute flight under $1,800 because it was a holiday weekend.  Honestly, at least driving kept my mind busy.  And Missouri is a beautiful state.  Iowa isn’t my favorite. 

Pretty sure Iowa doubles as Purgatory...

Anyway, I was fortunate that I have a boss that immediately sent me packing when I arrived at work with the news and told me not to come back to work until my family was seen to.  I know how rare that is in today’s world and I’m very thankful.  I was gone around 7 days in total.  I was back at work for one week doing triple the workload because I had to do the previous week’s, that week’s, and the next week’s workload.  You see, the following week I was moving into my new smaller, more cost efficient apartment.

So I was strapped for cash (traveling+moving=expensive), working a lot, packing, and just generally stressed to the max.  I was also eating a bunch of crap (high sugar, high saturated fat, nothing green).  I’m so thankful for my two buddies that helped me the weekend before the move to get everything into boxes.  Otherwise, I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have gotten done.  

As of this past weekend, I am 100% settled.  All my bags are unpacked, things are mostly where they need to be, drapes are up, and pictures are on the wall.  The cat likes creeping under the blinds and peering at the people walking past to go to the park.  By the way, did you know it’s legal to keep a rhino in an apartment?  It must be because I’m pretty sure one lives upstairs.

I also do laundry after midnight.  That’s cool, right?

Anyway, we’re having a celebratory BBQ at my house (here’s hoping the fancy grill my landlord let me keep works!) after work.  It’s going to be in the 50s/60s tonight but I figure between the grill, the beer, and the small partially enclosed space, we should be fine.  If not, I can pull out some heaters and make it work.  And I think the rain has moved on now so we should be in the clear.

What’s your least favorite state?  I think Mississippi is on my short list too.

What’s your favorite part of moving?  Mine is trying to find new go-to places to eat.