I have to admit, I'm a sucker for testimonials. I recently spent hours on Dave Ramsey's website reading the "I did it" section about how people got out of debt, how much, how much they made, and how long it took them to do it. When I come across a new blog, I often decide whether or not to subscribe to it based on the author's 'about me' section.
This is why I try to create a balance on this blog between 'objective opinion' (quite the oxymoron-- I mean opinions and explanations of issues outside myself) and personal issues. There are a lot of things on this blog (and more to come) that most people wouldn't share with their best friend, but I chose to share them because I want to help and inspire people to be more and do more with their finances and lives.
With that in mind, I want to offer a little bit of inspiration today by encouraging you to take a serious look at what you have and what you really do with it.
I have to smile, laugh, or shake my head (depending on my mood) when I hear people talk about what they've been able to accomplish with only $3,200/month take-home. Now, I understand that $40k is a decent middle-class income. Still, my husband and I count any month we bring home $1,600 as a good month. That's half of the above-mentioned figure!
Do not get me wrong; I am happy for anyone who is making progress to get out of debt and save for their future, et cetera. What I want to know is, "where is she spending all of that money so that she thinks she is barely able to live on double my income?"
Do you know where our money is spent? Of course you do: on bills, groceries, gas, and some debt. I've posted that information for all to see. Even with some of the glaringly obvious omissions from our budget (such as health and car insurance--we have them, just not in our current monthly budget), $1,600 would cover them all. Whatever we make above our minuscule budget is gravy we use to advance our financial goals.
What would you do if you had to live on $1,600 a month? What would get cut? Before you go crying that it is impossible to live on so little where you live, let me tell you that I live in a big city-- not NYC, but not Podunk, USA either.
What would I do with $3,200? I would pay off my car yesterday, have a close-to-funded Roth IRA for 2008, have two maxed-out Roths for 2009, dollar-cost-averaged, add $7-10k to our savings, and start saving for a nice, 7-day Caribbean cruise to be taken some time next winter (because, after that much saving and investing, we deserve to take a vacation!).
So ask yourself, what do you do with the money you have? Really, the above scenario sounds like the testimonial of a rich person, but it's actually the testimonial of a lower-middle-class person who tells her money where to go rather than wondering where it went.
Showing posts with label beginning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beginning. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Long-Term Goals
There has been so much to post about that I have not yet posted about our personal long-term goals when it comes to life and money.
First, take note that my husband and I are 23 and 21, respectively, so we have quite a bit of life ahead of us. Also, with that much life ahead of us, our future is very fluid-- compounded by the facts that (1) he's still in school, (2) I still haven't had my first 'real' job, (3) he's a minister, which means we don't have a lot of say about where we'll end up or for how long even after he finishes school.
With all of this uncertainty, it is difficult to make plans and goals. However, there are certain things we each want out of life, so we make goals based on what we can do now to make sure those things happen.
First, take note that my husband and I are 23 and 21, respectively, so we have quite a bit of life ahead of us. Also, with that much life ahead of us, our future is very fluid-- compounded by the facts that (1) he's still in school, (2) I still haven't had my first 'real' job, (3) he's a minister, which means we don't have a lot of say about where we'll end up or for how long even after he finishes school.
With all of this uncertainty, it is difficult to make plans and goals. However, there are certain things we each want out of life, so we make goals based on what we can do now to make sure those things happen.
One goal that we have is to be financially secure. This means many different things to many different people. What it means to us is that we have an emergency fund in place (3-8 mo.) and are free from debt as much as possible, including paying of our home (when we buy one) as soon as we can, so that our expenses are minimal compared to our income. That way, no matter what happens, we have a roof over our heads. This is currently a work-in-progress, as our income is just now starting to equal even our minimum expenses. Still, we expect the debt-free portion to be accomplished in the next few months. I see this goal as a goal everyone should have.
Another goal is to save up for a down-payment on a house. At least 20%. The specific amount we do not know, since house prices vary widely from state to state. We would like $20-40k. Our strategy for this is to rely on one source of income for our regular expenses and save the other income in its entirety.
I will be a stay at home mom. This is a very, very important issue for me. I do not want someone else to raise my kids. I do not mind doing home-based businesses, but I do not have plans to work full time after we start having kids. Financially this means that we need to be taking full advantage of the second income while we still have it (maybe two more years). Putting 100% of my income toward savings and retirement then becomes a two-fold benefit-- achieving the goal faster and keeping us used to relying on only one income for daily needs.
We want to comfortably retire. I've touched on this in a previous post entitled "How to determine how much money you need to retire". To me this is also a part of being financially secure. I do not mind living on so much less than I may make so that we can reach our retirement goals sooner. The sooner we can live indefinitely on $0 income, the more comfortable I will be!
Even when life seems completely unpredictable, it is important to have long-term goals. Of course, we have short-term and mid-term goals as well.
What about you? Do you have your long-term goals in place, and are you actually working toward them rather than wishing for them? Is there a gaping hole in my list of goals?
Monday, February 23, 2009
Rebate Fun!-- good for newbies
We're up visiting my family for the weekend, and yesterday my mom and I just happened to have to go by Walgreens to pick up a prescription...
Mom has been following my couponing adventures through my blog and phone calls, and she was really excited to get all of her free stuff! We are both get in, get out, no extras kind of people, so there wasn't any danger of us picking up extra stuff just because it was nearby on the shelf. Following is a play-by-play, so if you're new to rebates this should be helpful.
As we came in the store, I picked up my papers, the circular, and the rebate book. Flipped through the circular; there were no fantastic deals that lined up with the rebates this week. (I knew this because I already knew what the rebates were. If you are a newbie you will likely want to go home and check it out, or resign yourself to only getting things for free and not getting two or making money this month).
Opened the rebate book to the center yellow pages and pointed out the first few that had the giant, red FREE next to them. We then went on a scavenger hunt for the items listed, making sure the size and price matched up. (Note: Found out from a cashier that at this particular Walgreens they had their rebate items in shelf-displays. I did not see where it said 'free after rebate' or anything, but knowing they were on displays makes them easier to find. Also, if you check out a display, it may behoove you to check the rebate book to see if it's on special.)
Checked out. She got $10 lip gloss, $10 foundation, $2 contact solution, $4 hair-spray-type-stuff, and 4 papers ($6). One $1 coupon (provided by the cashier who clips her coupons and brings them to work-- Thanks!) made the total after tax $32.98.
With the rebates, she'll get the full purchase price with a 10% bonus for getting it on a Wags GC. The rebate will come out to 28.56. I gave her $3 for my two papers. So, her total was/will be $1.43-- She didn't even have to pay for one of her papers if you look at it that way.
We came home and I had her log on to Walgreens.com, find the EasySaver Rebate section (which took some finding, but we got it), create an account (it's free), and enter her rebates.
She's very excited and looking forward to adding coupons to the mix as well. She keeps saying, "I'll never have to pay for milk again!" I like that.
Mom has been following my couponing adventures through my blog and phone calls, and she was really excited to get all of her free stuff! We are both get in, get out, no extras kind of people, so there wasn't any danger of us picking up extra stuff just because it was nearby on the shelf. Following is a play-by-play, so if you're new to rebates this should be helpful.
As we came in the store, I picked up my papers, the circular, and the rebate book. Flipped through the circular; there were no fantastic deals that lined up with the rebates this week. (I knew this because I already knew what the rebates were. If you are a newbie you will likely want to go home and check it out, or resign yourself to only getting things for free and not getting two or making money this month).
Opened the rebate book to the center yellow pages and pointed out the first few that had the giant, red FREE next to them. We then went on a scavenger hunt for the items listed, making sure the size and price matched up. (Note: Found out from a cashier that at this particular Walgreens they had their rebate items in shelf-displays. I did not see where it said 'free after rebate' or anything, but knowing they were on displays makes them easier to find. Also, if you check out a display, it may behoove you to check the rebate book to see if it's on special.)
Checked out. She got $10 lip gloss, $10 foundation, $2 contact solution, $4 hair-spray-type-stuff, and 4 papers ($6). One $1 coupon (provided by the cashier who clips her coupons and brings them to work-- Thanks!) made the total after tax $32.98.
With the rebates, she'll get the full purchase price with a 10% bonus for getting it on a Wags GC. The rebate will come out to 28.56. I gave her $3 for my two papers. So, her total was/will be $1.43-- She didn't even have to pay for one of her papers if you look at it that way.
We came home and I had her log on to Walgreens.com, find the EasySaver Rebate section (which took some finding, but we got it), create an account (it's free), and enter her rebates.
She's very excited and looking forward to adding coupons to the mix as well. She keeps saying, "I'll never have to pay for milk again!" I like that.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Net Worth-- Day 1
In order to truly prove that you can live on next to nothing and still come out ahead, I'm going to post our square-one stats.
First off, my husband and I are both, for all intents and purposes, unemployed. I have a business that has the potential for substantial earnings, but we've recently moved to a new city and I have not restarted that venture yet. I am a certified teacher, so substitute teaching is a definite possibility in the interim. My husband is looking for part time work while he pursues his master's degrees (yes, he's working on two).
Liabilities:
4.5k-- car loan
Assets:
2k-- checking
2k-- savings
4k-- total
Monthly expenses:
Rent $450
Utilities $150
Gas (car) $300
Car pymt $103
Internet $ 30
Groceries $300
Total $1,333
As you can see, our current net worth is in the negative to the tune of about $500. However, our monthly expenses are negligable. We watch movies, out-of-the-air TV, and play video games for entertainment.
Goals for 2009(ish):
Our plan:
Our financial plan is to divert any income in excess of our expenses toward paying off our car liability. This, of course, is after tithing 10% of our gross income. The goal is to have the car paid off by June, thus freeing up money to set up an emergency fund of 3-6 mo. of expenses. By the end of the year we should have completed both of these goals with some (or maybe a lot) of wiggle room for retirement and possibly saving for the downpayment on a house.
Why I'm telling you this:
Never despise meager beginnings. I'm posting all of this so that I'm accountable and so that the readers can see what progress can be made on a very limited income. If you are searching for hope for your finances, if you don't believe it can be done, or if you want to see what we do to pull this off... subscribe. I'll keep you posted on what jobs we do, how much we're making, where that money goes, and all else related to our progess toward a $1,000,000 net worth.
On that note, tomorrow I'll do my first subbing job and make about $80 gross. That will be our total income for the month of January. It has been a month of many unknowns, changes, and challenges. Stay tuned: our future is bright!
First off, my husband and I are both, for all intents and purposes, unemployed. I have a business that has the potential for substantial earnings, but we've recently moved to a new city and I have not restarted that venture yet. I am a certified teacher, so substitute teaching is a definite possibility in the interim. My husband is looking for part time work while he pursues his master's degrees (yes, he's working on two).
Liabilities:
4.5k-- car loan
Assets:
2k-- checking
2k-- savings
4k-- total
Monthly expenses:
Rent $450
Utilities $150
Gas (car) $300
Car pymt $103
Internet $ 30
Groceries $300
Total $1,333
As you can see, our current net worth is in the negative to the tune of about $500. However, our monthly expenses are negligable. We watch movies, out-of-the-air TV, and play video games for entertainment.
Goals for 2009(ish):
- Pay off the car
- Compile an emergency fund of 3-6 mo. expenses (about 8k)
- Fully fund Roth IRAs for the two of us
- Should either of us obtain full-time employment w/ retirement, contribute up to the full employer match
Our plan:
Our financial plan is to divert any income in excess of our expenses toward paying off our car liability. This, of course, is after tithing 10% of our gross income. The goal is to have the car paid off by June, thus freeing up money to set up an emergency fund of 3-6 mo. of expenses. By the end of the year we should have completed both of these goals with some (or maybe a lot) of wiggle room for retirement and possibly saving for the downpayment on a house.
Why I'm telling you this:
Never despise meager beginnings. I'm posting all of this so that I'm accountable and so that the readers can see what progress can be made on a very limited income. If you are searching for hope for your finances, if you don't believe it can be done, or if you want to see what we do to pull this off... subscribe. I'll keep you posted on what jobs we do, how much we're making, where that money goes, and all else related to our progess toward a $1,000,000 net worth.
On that note, tomorrow I'll do my first subbing job and make about $80 gross. That will be our total income for the month of January. It has been a month of many unknowns, changes, and challenges. Stay tuned: our future is bright!
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