I Spent $400 and All I Got Was the Wrong Coffee

I’ve been having a rough go of things for the last week or so.  It all started a few weeks back when my landlord asked me if I’d mind helping him with some move-ins/outs for some extra money while he was out of the country.  I’m trying to save money right now of course so I agreed.  I made sure the places were cleaned before the move ins got there, that payment had been received electronically, and saw that all of the little bits and bobs were handled.  Except…the new tenant wasn’t exactly making it easy. 

I think I’m a pretty good judge of character so when information wasn’t correct, he failed to follow through with stuff, and he made it clear he only wanted to speak to me via phone, text, or email and not face to face, I got suspicious.  A half hour of Google skills later I was able to find out that my landlord failed to do a background check on the new guy and he’s a felon.  Plus, the constant herbal smell drifting into my unit would probably have tipped me off that this guy was not someone I wanted to live next to. 

Between the bad smell (to the point where I’ve had to leave or open a window in -20 degree weather or else get sick) and the partying, I haven’t been able to get much sleep.  Last night wasn’t a problem though so maybe my slamming doors whenever I’m ticked and the fact I’ve suddenly taken to playing death metal as loud as possible at 5AM may have influenced the change in behavior. 

On top of that, yesterday morning my car wouldn’t start.  I mean, when it’s consistently as cold as it’s been, I can’t expect my ten year old car to behave perfectly.  Just to be on the safe side I called into work and took it to the shop to have it looked at when it warmed up outside a little that morning.  Turns out, everything needed replaced.  A (really expensive) battery, all the connectors to the battery, and a serpentine belt all needed to get changed out.  Apparently the battery was extremely corrosive and basically fused with the battery cables. 

While they were working on my $375 car repair I slid next door to grab a coffee at Starbucks when I learned that the Chestnut Praline latte has been discontinued (for this year at least).  I know it sounds silly, but after having to take the day off and paying all that money, that was the one thing that I was looking forward to all day!  And it’s gone.  Long gone.

source

What’s your light at the end of the tunnel?  Shockingly mine is usually food or drink related.

Have you had sketchy neighbors?  How did you deal with it? A Molotov cocktail would be an overreaction ,right?

Financial Friday

 It’s been one week since Operation: Stop Spending Money began and so far I think it has gone well.  Especially for the first week ever on a true zero balance budget.  I separated all of my envelopes by how my paychecks fall.  Since I get paid biweekly, I’ll be refilling every paycheck approximately half of my monthly budget for those items.  My monthly budget is:

·         Home (groceries/house supplies/basic toiletries/paper products/cat food/any food related purchase, including restaurants): $300/month ($150/paycheck)

·         Personal (mostly for clothes, cosmetics, and any entertainment expenses):  $100/month ($50/paycheck)

·         Gas:  $90/month ($45/paycheck)

Things like rent, car insurance, cell phone bill, etc., all get paid directly out of my bank account.  I tried to give myself a reasonable amount of money so that I wouldn’t just get frustrated and quit.  It’s not quite perfect yet, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s because I didn’t give myself enough of an allowance in personal or home.  When I replenish my envelope funds next Friday (payday), I’ll probably keep the amounts the same and see how it goes.  I’m really hoping that I can get by on what money I have in envelopes through next week but I won’t be too upset if I have to “borrow” $40 from my bank account to get me through just so I can still enjoy the holiday season, especially since I’m not traveling home.

Right now I have $4 left in the home budget (mostly due to an unexpected rodent problem due to a neighbor who is less than immaculate) and two or three restaurant splurges I should have avoided (once I left my lunch for work on the counter at my house, which not only caused me to have to buy lunch but also ruined a frozen dinner.  This left me one meal short for my week.).  I have $20 left in my personal budget and $20 left in my gas budget.  I did go off completely off plan once due to a necessary midday wardrobe malfunction that lead to me putting $30 on a credit card.  (Full disclosure:  I still have money in my checking account but all of my bills for the first part of the month haven’t been deducted yet and I wanted a bit of a buffer zone so the money I have sitting in my savings account didn’t get moved over to checking.  Plus, my interest rate on that card is pretty low so it’ll only end up costing me around 50 cents to get it taken care of next month.)

In theory, any money that doesn’t get spent in the home budgets roll over into my travel fund.  The travel fund doesn’t really get funded like a regular envelope though.  It’s just any extra, unexpected income that I might get.  For example, I just upgraded my cell phone and may be selling my old one on Craigslist or eBay.  Since that’s not money that I banked on coming in to pay bills or direct to another purpose, that money would go into the travel fund.  The gas fund will keep rolling over in case emergency or unexpected travel by car is needed (this would have been great to have earlier in the year for a death in the family).  And the personal money left at the end of the month will roll over month to month into a clothing allowance envelope because clothes, especially winter clothes, aren’t cheap, wear out, and require replacement/dry cleaning/mending/alteration, etc.  (If I had had this earlier this week then I wouldn’t have put any money on my credit card!!)

On Monday I’ll go over some plans that I think might help in planning my  budget for the upcoming year as well as some mini goals to hit by certain dates.

Do you work off of a budget of any kind?  If so, what works for you?

What percent of your take home to you commit to household needs and groceries?  I think I’m around 11% total for all home purchases including groceries.

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.