The Cost of Living Messily

I'm a mess right now. 

I'm recovering from some stupid injuries, struggling to stay on top of school and work, and worst of all, I'm living out of boxes and am too disorganized to find a darned thing. 

I moved into a house with an acquaintance about two months ago and I've been too busy to unpack. The house was already furnished with her things and so most of my stuff is unneeded. I've got boxes on top of boxes tucked into random corners of the house or stuffed forcefully into closets. I can't find anything. I can barely move around in my upstairs bungalow space. 

I'm not much better in my car or my office either. My car still has stuff in it from the move too. I couldn't begin to tell you what's in the trunk. My desk/cubicle looks, and has always looked like a bomb went off in it. 

When I'm too messy to pack a lunch or to find a pair of socks when I need them, I go buy new ones. When I can't find receipts or keep track of my budget, I spend more money than I should. When the tower of books is lopsided, I purchase more. 

I've decided that a major part of getting financially secure is going to be getting organized and de-cluttering my life. This is probably going to be a huge challenge. 

The cube at finals time.

Today I looked Hard at the Debt

Today I took a long hard look at my finances. I cataloged all of my debt and entered it not only into my monthly YNAB software, but also into a spiffy Excel program that helps arrange a debt repayment schedule. 

In the interest of being cheap, the Excel sheet is free, and YNAB offers a free trial, or if you're like me, you'll have found it already handily installed (an old version) on the office computer, and therefore, also free. 



I'm going to level with you now. I'm going to put it all out there on the table. 

I have three credit cards and six student loans.

I pay rent. I pay phone and electric bills. I have no tv and my home computer is so old that it mostly works only as a paperweight. My car is paid off, and I pay the insurance and for the registration. I pay for fuel and a deeply discounted Crossfit membership (it's for physical AND mental health, see here.) I am currently putting myself through a Master's degree and paying for courses and associated field research trips directly out of pocket. I get paid an entry level wage for my work as a laboratory analyst doing microscopy. I buy all my own groceries, and they're usually of the perishable produce variety. 

I have no extra income. I have no one paying bills for me. 

I thought this information should be put out into the world because as I was looking for other, similar blogs about reducing debt and being more thrifty, I didn't see any that were written by people like me.

I have no family to support, no husband, don't live with my parents, and don't have any form of assistance from DHS. My parents are both retired, and live off of Social Security and Disability and I wouldn't ask them for help anyway.

My insights and challenges may not be applicable to those who have to worry about supporting children, and may not seem helpful to those who make less money than I and have more bills to pay.  

I found myself getting discouraged as I read thrifty blogs that discussed extra money coming in from a side-business or having a partner to spit the bills with. I had trouble considering how I'd spend my own money when I would compare my circumstances to financial bloggers who are feeding a family of four and not one. 

That's why I've started writing, to hold myself accountable in the world, and to shine a light out for anyone else who is just starting and can't figure out how to think about the value of a student loan when it's overshadowed by years of imprudent spending. 


So far, the spending hiatus is off to a bumpy start, and my car is starting to make even more distressing noises than usual. I just paid out $1340 for my summer tuition (I think my wallet is lying dead under my desk right now, insides ripped to bloody ribbons) and when I look at my software, spreadsheets, and bank statements I see mighty big numbers:

Debt: $42,361.17

Estimated Interest to be Paid: $8,343.65

ETA at Debt Free Life: August, 2018


Wish me luck. 

Injury is Expensive

Well, I began my spending fast with a real bang. Or perhaps a "BAM" would be more accurate. Fell a few feet onto my neck and subsequent pills prescribed by the doctor have amounted to about $50. The office visit at urgent care was also $55.

The mini fruit tart that I got myself at Holiday Market as an "I'm sorry you're so bad at taking care of yourself" was $4.99 and the pre-made turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans was $6.99.

Cute and sweet, just how I like them!

I feel a little bad about spending too much on dinner last night, but I didn't think I'd be able to stand around the kitchen long enough to cook, and I was right. I ended up laying down most of the evening, getting stiffer by the second and feeling very pitiful. My only consolation is that when I designed my plan to limit my spending, I left food as one of the only areas that I wouldn't cut.

Part of my goal for the new year was to eat good, healthy food. Unfortunately, it's a lot cheaper to buy nasty chemical laden food, which means that my new found economical living has to have an element of flexibility in order to remain healthy. I'll avoid shopping at Whole Foods and Holiday Market most of the time, and hit up Randazzo's instead for my produce, but I refuse to descend to mac and cheese level just to save some money.

If I can avoid injury, I'm hoping the cost of healthcare will be recouped by boosting my immune system and vitality with a whole foods plant based diet. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my "This, Not That" list today. This is a loose guideline for what I'm supposed to be spending on and what I'm not.


This:
-Packed Lunch
-Dinner Parties at Home
-Read MY Books
-Garden/Farm Market/Randazzo's
-Self Trimming
-Strict School Trip to Costa Rica (no extras)
-Watch MY Movies
-Compliments & Phone Calls


Not That:
-Lunches Out
-Dinners Out
-Buy More Books
-Whole Foods/Holiday Market
-Expensive Haircuts
-Sloth Sanctuary
-Emagine Movies
-Gifts for Others



Already, this is harder than it should be. Yesterday I had a reading date with the boy in order to force myself to rest... but I didn't have a book. So I went and got one at Barnes and Noble. Silly me. At least I chose the cheapest paperback I could find that still interested me, and it is turning out to be quite good!

Next weekend I've got a wedding I'm involved in. I'll write in more detail about the financial obligations incorporated with that later. For now I'll go back to nursing my head injuries. 

A Fool's Journey

I have been a fool. For the past several years (I remember the moment as a freshman in college when I signed my life away on a promissory note) I've been accruing large amounts of debt. Each month I dig the hole a little deeper. Each month I hemorrhage more money.

I spend on things like books and exercise equipment. I toss my money at $9 beers and extra miles on my car  and in my gas tank as I commute to three or four different suburbs of Detroit each day.

I don't budget. I impulse shop. I don't plan ahead for car repairs or new eyeglasses, and I take a hit each time fate deals me a lousy hand.


WELL. 


That stops now. You see, I've got big plans for my life, and many of those plans are not going to be possible as long as I'm hauling around massive amounts of debt. As it is, I'm currently putting myself through my Master's, so I'm even more broke than usual and can't make major debt repayment strides as long as my university keeps walking off with whole paychecks at a time. If I ever want to be financially secure enough to go back and grab that PhD (meaning not working a lucrative job), I need to get myself debt free.

I made myself a snowball plan with the few extra pennies I can scrounge each month, and if I keep on track, I can have everything paid off by August 2018. With a big spending freeze, and with finishing school in December, I can probably do it a little quicker. So that's where I'm starting today.


This is day one of a complete spending shut-down, and already I've had to suppress several knee-jerk spending inclinations. In retaliation, I'm going to write on this blog as I go in order to remind myself of my precious goals and hash out ideas for making a go at life without all the usual spending. 

Today I've got a draft due for a manuscript for publication for school. Once this draft is out of the way, I'll be updating regularly to keep myself in line. 

Thus begins a Fool's journey. 

Wish me luck. 

Sorry Friends, I'll be laughably boring for a while.