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Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Bills

So I got paid today. A lot better of a check than normal, I worked a little overtime. So I'm going to break down my basic bills below, not to include Auto Gas and Food. Why? Our gas varies a lot, same with food. I haven't been tracking it with the way I budget, but it's a task for a later date. Here we go!

  1. Rent - $500.00
  2. Utilities - $250.00
  3. Car Insurance - $90.00
  4. Auto Payment - $248.00
  5. Internet/Cable - $104.00
  6. Washer and Dryer - $94.00
These are rounded up figures, and it's how I figure it. My Utilities number is high, but never has it been over that much, some months they total about half of that. With my internet/cable bill, those are through 2 different providers, so with my cable service, it's $57 a month, and getting ready to be in the $80 range here soon. As soon as my contract is up, I'll be cancelling this service and using a combo of Xbox Live/Hulu Plus/Netflix to bring that number to about an average of $25 a month. That could change if I find another cheaper route. My washer and dryer is through rentacenter. We sold off the ones we had when we moved to low-income housing, as we didn't have need for it. It's cheap enough to work with, and it's warrantied the entire time we are paying on it and for a year after it's paid off, so that works for me.

As far as debt, I have some. I haven't looked at my credit report this year so when I do, I'll post the figures here. She got paid today also, and set some money aside for us to start saving. Now to set that up. I've already put a Emergency Fund progress bar up on the side. It's not three months worth like I am ultimately going for, but its a good amount to have so I can start paying down my debt. I have my next post already running through my mind, so stay tuned for that.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Situation

     The last time I blogged here I was jobless. I was dependent on my $7,300 tax return to hold me over until I found employment. I bought an $1800 piece of junk car and paid my mom her $1000 back. I was dependent on my mother to pay my cell phone bill and my car insurance, and those two items were paid by her for a very long time, even before I had started blogging. That summer I got a little paper route, and made about $100 every week, until I wrecked my car into something unknown in the middle of the night. I could no longer do the route and had just spent $1000 trying to fix all the problems I was having from the car.
     What saved me though was the fact that I had enrolled in school right after I started blogging. I signed up for all the student loans I could get (Bad Mistake!). Right around the time I had that wreck my financial aid check came and I bought a nice mini-van for $3400. The car would never start again after I wrecked it, and it sat outside my apartment for a year. I sold it for $150 and had it crushed.
     I was in school a little over a year before I got bored, and irritated. It got to where I was arriving to school an hour early and still was late to class because I couldn't find a parking spot.  Plus, I had broken my foot and it was not fun going to class during the winter with ice on the ground. I could never get approved for a temporary parking pass so I could park closer while I was on crutches.  I ended up dropping all the classes that semester.
     I took summer classes in 2010, and passed those, but didn't feel challenged, or I was just lazy. I wanted to work. I applied for a state corrections job in Oct. 2010, a field I have experience in. I got that job, with a raise to start because of my previous experience. Thing is, my state is THE lowest paid state compared to all the surrounding states, and I rake in a whopping $24k a year.  Bright side is, it is $24k I didn't have.
     As of today I'm still at this job, and due for a 5-10% raise Nov. 1st. Not much, but I'm not complaining.  During my college time my wife was able to get her Nurse Aide license and is now working in a nursing home.  We have moved into a house we rent, and it's right in the middle distance wise to our jobs. Hers is 30 minutes one way, mine is 30 minutes the other way. Needless to say, our gasoline bill is through the roof. I sold off the mini-van in Feb 2011, and bought 2 cars for us.
     For the first time since I was 19, roughly 8 years ago, I'm completely independent and pay all my own bills.  That is sad to say, no one should be my age and still depending on their parents. I don't feel very good about that, but that stage in life is gone. Me and her both are enrolling back in school next year, without student loans, and going to further ourselves in the careers we have chosen. I'm always on the lookout for better paying state jobs, but I'm not being very active in the search as I'm satisfied in my current position.
     This is a quick run-down of what has went on the past couple years. It's not a thorough description, but you get the point I hope. I want my next few posts to cover my financial situation, and what you, as the reader, can expect to see content wise on this blog. I'm still working on giving the site a new look and updating lots of information, so please be patient and subscribe, comment, and all that good stuff!!

Stay Tuned...

I am updating the site and going to be blogging again. A lot has changed. I'm changing up the design on the blog so stay tuned. In a couple days I'll have a fresh post and we'll be back at it like we never missed a beat. Thanks!