Friday, September 28, 2007

it's a bad morning....

The bad:

  1. Emigrant Direct: 4.75%
  2. I Go Banking 5.17%
  3. I miscalculated my take home pay. I get at least $1,083.79 a paycheck. [$2,167.58 a month] ... not $1,101 a check... unless they just took a whole lot of taxes out of this check...

Paycheck 1: $1083.79
Groceries $170.00 ; AAA Insurance [car and renters] $127.00; Basic Necessities $45.00; Roth IRA $100.00; Gas and Auto Maint $200; Utilites and Cell Phone $100.00; Fun money $50.00; Invisline minimum payment 130.00 [$4.00 savings]; 3 Month Emergency Fund $100.00; Gifts Fund [birthdays, showers, christmas] $50.00

extra 7.79

Paycheck 2: $1083.79
Invisiline fund $245.00; Rent 600.00; Future W $15.00; Laundry $20; House Downpayment: $25.00

extra $178.79

on an up note... after meeting all my goals... i have $24.03 for "money games"... and $100 extra to add to the roth!!!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Simplifying


To make things easier [since all the money would eventually go to the same place] i went ahead and used some of the tuition money to cover my spendy spendy month. This way, when my paycheck comes on friday in I can pay my rent [600]; pay my extra invisiline [245]; stick $15.00 in my wedding fund; and get $20.00 in quarters for next months laundry.


-----------> That's only $880.00


I'll take $132.55 and put that towards my invisiline to eliminate all the extra money i needed to collect for this year to get the debt to $2,000.00 ... that then becomes $1,012.50 yeah for overtime. Anything over this will be used for some money games and then added to the emergency fund.


the Emergency fund is at $3,281.75... i chose to send the extra money to invisiline instead of tacking it to the emergency fund because i needed some positive encouragement [like a goal met] to make me feel better about my very very very spendy month. I had to pay to graduate at school so that money also came out of the tuition check.


recap of paycheck:

  • Invisiline total: 377.55
  • Wedding $15.00
  • Rent $600.00
  • Laundry $20.00

AWE, isn't that net worth pretty???? [all of these friday figures are included in the networth.]

Monday, September 24, 2007

common sense that's not so common

So i was browsing the message boards at MSN Money's-Woman in Red... and it dawned on me.

Speed bumps... they come and go... but the real truth behind them is to remind you that finance is a journey that has no real destination. You'll continually revise your budget when you forget things, rely on savings at times when the world leaves some dung on your doorstep... but what i've come to realize is that you have to go through the speed bumps to understand why things are the way they are.

The Journey:
You wake up one day, most likely after a speed bump from life that you charged with your CC and you can't understand where your money is going and the debt is starting to rack up.

So you start watching where everything is going and you eventually set up a budget.... after awhile you think you got it down... but then life throws you a speed bump--auto repairs, a broken household appliance, medical bills... whatever... and you realize that you can't just try and pay off your debt with everything leftover at the end of the month.... because when you get into a pickle you just end up racking the debt back up....


but this bump reminds you that you really should have an emergency fund... so you keep paying off your debt but you put aside some money for emergencies.... even if its only $10 bucks a week... you begin to plan to not rely on credit cards.... and eventually, (yup you guessed it) another bump comes your way.

While this time that emergency fund you created will get dented or completely used up, you'll be able to avoid adding that to your CC hopefully.... you realize its importance and you start bumping that emergency fund back up...

but you get kind of tired seeing that fund drain everytime you need new tires or forget about that annual car insurance bill you need to pay. Are those really emergencies??? or can you plan for those kind of things?????? This leads you to start focusing on that real emergency fund... the "i lost my job" kind of emergency fund....
and eventually when you get that real emergency fund set up and you start planning for those annual bills...

and all along speed bumps will continue to happen at various intervals in your life... you could be laid off, injured and can't work, find out your having an unexpected family.... the list goes on...

But here's where the light bulb comes on... when these speed bumps come along, ask yourself how your going to be able to avoid this happening in the future... then start making that a priority..

A lot of people have trouble with raiding there emergency funds with non emergencies... they treat their emergency funds as a savings account for anything and everything.... but eventually the real emergency comes and they realized they spent that important stash of cash on tires...

So how to not raid that E-fund as often? Try to learn from your mistakes.
  • EXAMPLE: have trouble remembering that car registration, smog, and auto insurance fee? take those fees and divide them by 12 if you pay annually or 24 for that every other year smog... add them up and every month take that amount and set it aside in a savings account and call it something fun like "keeping my car legal fund" or whatever... when these bills come along you got your basis covered... You might also want to call that auto service place and get a quote on your next maint. check.... and depending on how much you drive find out the "monthly cost" and set it aside in a different account or the same account...

yes... less will go into your emergency fund each month if you only have so much you can save... but you begin to learn to plan for regular expenses... and that Real emergency fund becomes more real..... and it won't be depleated for your car's normal stuff...

you'll have a car fund... and it also won't hurt as much to pull money from a car fund since that was your intentional purpose.... to keep your car running...

That model can be used for a lot of things... you can even have it automatically taken out... treat it like a bill if you need to.... but the nice thing about it is that you'll earn interest on the money you set aside...

When you take the money out to pay for that service repair or whatever... you can also withdrawl whatever interest you've earned over the months... (hey all those pennies and dimes add up) and you can use that money to treat yourself to ice cream or some fancy $4.00 coffee as a reward for planning ahead.

make it fun... but learn from your past experiences... Take a look and see over the past 6 months, what came up that made you dent it??? how can you prevent that from happening again? the move back what about over the last 12 months??? Xmas shopping go crazy??? set up a small account for it!

honesty

I totally blew the budget this month... and that whole frugality thing... it went out the window too...

... it all started with the fact that i had to get a few gifts for some people this month... 3 birthdays!!!
  • "Aunt" Nancy...
  • Mom's birthday...
  • another birthday...

and while i was out... i had to replace a few things that broke... and i found the perfect winter coat [which was a need!! but was still $50 [normally $150] and i bought 2 dresses.... [its sale season for dresses because of winter... but i live in Ca... and we don't really have winter... more like extended fall with rain... ]

While i covered these purchases from money allotted for other things in the budget like extra gas money, etc the jacket and the birthdya presents set me back... i'll still need to take $114.85 from my paycheck on friday to cover the spending... i know i have some overtime on there... and at least the $200 less in rent that I have to pay... and that unbudgeted money games cash... so the charges will be paid in full.... which is why i went ahead with the shopping....

but still i had to confess, especially after i decided to shoot for that 30 days of frugality...

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Emergency Fund



My Real Emergency Fund is now over $2,100.00!!!! WOOT!!!!

This does not include the 2 refunds from my tuition... when the tuition money is added in, were looking at $3,400.00!!!! That's more then half way there!

If you remember, my real emergency fund-- the i lost my job, i can't work, etc. fund is set at $5,000.00 which is ruffly 3 months worth of my expenses, including the costs to continue to pay off my dental by the end of the zero percent period.

But, if I include all of my emergency funds [meaning the $1,000 padding over at ING in my checking account and the $200 padding in my BofA checking account] i'll have a nice nest of $4,600.00

That's a really nice feeling.

Winter Blues???



I kind of feel like i've got the winter blues...
lately, and i'm not sure if it has anything to do with winter starting to roll in [or extended fall as i like to call it] or if its all the drama that's gone down the past couple of weeks...


but regardless of why i feel more reserved, i do... i feel like i need to calm down... to close up... to blend into the background and not shine on the stage with all the pretty lights. To follow the rules and to not really stand up and make waves... i feel kind of passive.
Even the last 2 nights i went to bed early and got 8 hours of sleep... which is abnormal for me... i normally aim for 6 and settle with 5...
it didn't really bother me when my boyfriend forgot to call and tell me our maybe plans were cancelled... i figured it out on my own... and just smiled at his absentmindedness... and laughed when he told me why his phone was off... [a friend of his got plastered and called him 15 times while drunk... lol]

To be honest, I think i have the winter blues... but i'm not sure its really a bad thing. All i really want to do is curl up next to my boyfriend on the couch and watch funny TV shows or a football game.

Simply stated... I'm craving the simple. Perhaps this is why I feel the need to simplify my finances [not have 80,000 different accounts....] ... my housing [plan to get away from the drama]... my life [not dealing with the "mom drama" anymore]...
Guess we will see how long this stage lasts.

Friday, September 21, 2007

I've decided!!!



After weighing the options around...and calling the one place i found for $900 a month [month to month... trying to sell the place]...

I'm going to rent a room from someone looking for a roommate or multiple roommates when my lease is up with D and B.

Cost wise, Living by my job alone will put me back around $1,300.00 a month [the cheapest place is $1,200.00 ... and i'd have to get some furniture.] and when you only make $2,200 a month, that's just way too much money to shell out for housing. I'd be living beyond my means... and my rent would equal the mortgage payment on a condo... [but buying is out because no dp, and who knows how long i'd be there... if a one bedroom would work in the long run...]

If i choose to live further from my job, even a couple cities away, the commuting costs will even it out in the end... especially since most of my friends live in my job area or surrounding areas... and i'd still be driving up to long beach to see my boyfriend.

So, reality hits and i know i need roommates... I'm not going to be stupid and get into a situation that keeps me screwed. But i don't really have anyone who needs and wants a roommate... all my 21-22 year old buddies are still at home or in dorms. Plus theres always drama. I think i'll try and find some people in their last year of college or up. I've always gotten along well with the slightly older crowd.

So, i figure if i keep looking, for $600-$800 including utilities... i can keep my transportation costs down, stay close to my friends, and have a liveable rent payment.

I'll be able to put money aside for retirement, future school costs, a one day in the future wedding, a house downpayment, and get to meet some new people. and I like people! I'm quite social like that.

Sounds like a plan to me.

money... and accounts....what to do with it all?


Okay, I'm finally getting my tuition cash back from my colleges [woot!!!]... and I'm facing a little bit of a "me" dilemma..
I'd really love to simplify all my accounts, especially with interest rates changing after the fed made their rate move....
Part of me is just tired of having X amount of accounts at Emigrant, X accounts at IGO... etc. and watching each of the accounts bearly grow just a little bit here and there because the capital is all spread around. So while i did mention putting the money into a Tuition account, its not going there anymore.
I've decided to put the money into my Emergency Fund to simplify everything. So, the money remaining in my tuition fund will move there, and the refunds as they come in.
This will be a huge bump in my emergency fund... around $2,000 when i count in all the money remaining in the old tuition account and the refunds. I won't be counting this money towards my annual savings goal tho. I'm going to round up and say i need to find $50.00 more by the end of the year, plus the regular $100 a month contributions. This should all be accomplished by the end of the month because i have that $200 in extra rent to play with too.
Okay, time to change settings and move some money around.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

here... take my money for less



Yup... the FED changed their rates... and business are following suit.

  • ING Direct- As of TODAY 9-19-07
  • 4.30% APY on Savings Accounts
  • 3.50% Electric Checking
  • 4.90% on CD's


Expect drops from this institution and possibly others... I won't be surprised if Emigrant Direct and IGoBANKING follow suit next... although i hope not because my money is sitting over there since their rates were always better then with ING Direct.



Since the fed funds rate went down, its now cheaper to borrow money. Cheaper money means that banks will get less in interest charges overall because they will give loans to people for a smaller rate, and therefore they will offer lower interest rates to savings accounts and CD's.

a little change

Paycheck 1:

  • Groceries $170.00
  • AAA Insurance [car and renters] $127.00
  • Basic Necessities $45.00
  • Roth IRA $100.00
  • Gas and Auto Maint $200
  • Utilites and Cell Phone $100.00
  • Fun money $50.00
  • Invisline minimum payment 130.00 [$4.00 savings]
  • House Downpayment: $25.00
  • 3 Month Emergency Fund $100.00
  • Gifts Fund [birthdays, showers, christmas] $50.00

Paycheck 2:

  • Invisiline fund $245.00
  • Rent 600.00
  • Future W $15.00
  • Laundry $20 [since i won't be going "to my mom's" house anymore...] Man i feel kind of homeless right now...

$221.00 is leftover from my second paycheck.

  • September: Emergency Fund and Invisiline
  • November: Invisiline and Roth
  • December: Invisiline and Roth and Christmas spending.

Sad Sad truth...



[that's not me... i'm not blond... which is the only joke of this serious post]


The otherday i went to pick up some recycle at my mom's... and as i was going through the b0ttles i found 3 bottles of wine "hidden" in the bin... [they were put at the very bottom... back in the brown wine bags they came in and then put inside another paper grocery bag so no one could see them...] my heart broke

I'm not sure if i ever mentioned it on this blog before, but my mom is an incloset alcoholic... and after i move out, i got her motivated to try and stop... she even went to a few AA meetings and was "trying" to be clean.... but the 3 bottles told me the truth...

And the 5 unopened ones hidden under her bed stung even deeper... I called my sister to see if she knew... she did and didn't care... infact she tried to cover for my mom... My sister likes my mom drunk... it means she can walk all over her and drive her further into the bottle by force and keep her there.


Well after finding that, I took the bottles and left them in plain sight and told her to call me in a note... after a short conversation with her... i knew i needed to think...
after lots of conversations with close friends, i finally told my mom over the course of an hour that she had to choose alchohol or her daughter.
For the past 8 years, since i was 13... i've done everything i could to keep my family functioning, regardless to the emotional or physical costs it would mean for me... But i can't be her parent anymore... if i have kids one day, i want them to know a sober grandma... So until she decided she wants to do it all the way, i'm a birthday and holiday daughter...
I told her i won't fix the issues and fights with her and my sister...
I won't fix corie's life no matter how much they tell me to " be a christian" and help out...

It was weird... but after this all happened, i went "home" to my apartment... lit some candles, took a bath, and read one of my books for class...

i felt different... kind of like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
I won't see my mom or my sister until her birthday... oct 4th after my night class. I went by the house yesterday to drop off my godmother's present... it was awkward...
After that, then thanksgiving, my sister's birthday, my graduation, and xmas. I hope she'll see what its costing her in the long run and get a sponsor...

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Sept 15-October 15th Frugality "30 days of frugality!"

Okay, for the next 30 days i'm gonna push my budget... why???? because two of my goals for the year are finally under $200 each.
  • Emergency Fund: $48.99
  • Invisiline- $132.55

While this is the "Extra" money i need to find in addition to the monthly amounts i normally send ... i wonder if i 30 days i can cut back enough to find 181.54

  • I'll try not to eat out as much... or when i do, choose cheaper options...
  • try and keep the fun and shopping in line...
  • look for other ways to generate income. [pick up a shift and get some overtime...]

When this is all done, i'll only need to worry about getting the extra cash for my roth and paying off my invisiline... Which i'll need to do sooner rather then later... [move out day is in June cause July 1st i'm homeless not Aug 1st.]

Saturday, September 15, 2007

housing market makes me antsy



Now... there are two condos... on the same street... both asking 199,000 for a 1 bedroom/1 bath... in a really nice area! the cheapest i can find

I refuse to look at the 2 bedroom places... cause its only 50,000 more... but unless i'm hitched, its a no go.

but i'm soooo antsy... I actually called the relator man to ask about the association prices... because one of the places i had been watching for months...

went from 209,000... to 205,000... then 2 days ago it hit 199,000.... and I needed something to remind myself that i can't afford it without a dp...

and the $240 a month in Association fees did it.

It's funny how the 2 places i've been seriously thinking about were both on the same street... and are now listed at the same price...

EDIT!!!!

OMG!!!! 160,000 in the same area.... 1 bedroom condo!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Car Insurance

okay, so... it dawned on me today that i'm not a student after december... which means i won't get a student discount on my car insurance plan...

if they send me a letter for my current status... i'm gonna owe the difference... if they don't, i'm good... [she said they might not send one a second time... but i doubt it] but the difference will be around $100 bucks... So after thinking a few minuets... i called again and raised my deductible from $250 to $750... and the rebate should cover the difference if i loose the discount... at that time they might be able to figure out a quote for me for the next year so i can make sure i'm saving enough for it a month.

a really good friday!

My raise and retro pay were on my paycheck! 15.22 an hour... and after taxes [and with the help of some overtime in a ddition to retro pay...] $448.01 is going to the emergency fund on top of this months contributions! woot

  • Emergency fund: If i keep the monthly stuff at 100... i only need to find $48.99 to meet the year goal!
  • I got the Title to my Toyota in the mail yesterday so that's really offficial! Own Toyota.... DONE
  • Networth will jump with the car paid off and the extra cash now in savings!!!
  • Roth IRA: With the raise, i'll still need to put in $350 extra ....
  • Invisiline- only $132.55 more on top of the monthly amounts.

Monday, September 10, 2007

woot woot woot... its official



well on Friday toyota will mail my title to me.. but i called and they said i'm good to go.


It was a long battle, but low and behold, i own my car outright!


14 months... what a journey! thanks for all your support and encouragement along the way!

and now, my only debt is at zero percent till july of next year!

EDIT: Here's the paydown journey! I wanted to clean up the sidebars on the site and couldn't part with this!

Auto Loan: Original Amount $13,623.75 @ 8.25%

  • 11/08/06 $12,385.15
  • 11/10/06 $12,335.14
  • 11/11/06 $12,343.48
  • 11/15/06 $12,266.79
  • 11/18/06 $12,275.09
  • 11/22/06 $11,866.74 !!!!!!!!!!!
  • 11/25/06 $11,874.77
  • 11/29/06 $11,717.13
  • 12/02/06 $11,725.05
  • 12/05/06 $11,727.69
  • 12/09/06 $11,342.44
  • 12/15/06 $10,572.60 !!!!
  • 12/29/06 $9,911.45
  • 01/10/07 $9,394.27
  • 01/24/07 $8,660.69
  • 02/09/07 $8,170.19
  • 02/21/06 $7,450.66
  • 02/28/07 $7,400.73
  • 03/08/07 $6,898.50
  • 03/20/07 $6,170.69
  • 04/18/07 $5,656.62
  • 05/01/07 $4,790.51
  • 05/16/07 $2,407.29
  • 06/11/07 $1,899.03
  • 06/17/07 $1,710.93
  • 06/23/07 $1,413.26
  • 06/27/07 $1,359.74
  • 07/07/07 $961.88
  • 07/20/07 $864.29
  • 08/04/07 $816.61
  • 08/12/07 $517.78
  • 09/04/07 $00.00 WAHOO!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Hello Reality... But i'll welcome you with a smile not a frown



My living situation is working out for the time being [thank God!!!!] Me and D are playing nice for now... and frankly I love living with B so all's good there!

But, and yes there always seems to be a but... I guess our personalities don't match up as well as i wish they did.... The reality check hit me the other day when i was looking at some stuff on-line... mainly apartments and condos.... Aug 1st i have no home because I'm not resigning the lease.

Unless by some marvel of miracles something happens to come my way, like if D moves out and B wants to stay.... It's time for another change and adventure in my life, living on my own own.

The taste of independence has left its mark so I won't be moving back home. That and when i went over there to bum the internet off for an hour or so to submit an assignment, i found myself wondering why i didn't just go to a cafe, order a cup of coffee and use their free wi-fii. [which i made a mental note to do from now on after that lovely encounter from my sibling. I'm not really returning her phone calls unless she leaves a message and needs something.]

I guess the drama never really goes away... but how you deal with it can. So I'm choosing to look at this as an opportunity. I now have 10 months to find a place to call my casa. And while I know it will be a little lonely living alone, i think i'm going to PLAN to live alone, and if something changes, well then its icing.

Starting in January [i'm going to enjoy the flexibility of my budget until then and have a little fun here and there-- I believe I deserve it!] I'm going to be cutting back on the spending to get used to paying more in rent. Kind of what i did before i moved out by sending the money to my car payment. But this time i'll get to keep it and earn interest off it...
  • Groceries $140.00
  • Car Insurance $110.00
  • 3 Month Emergency Fund $25
  • Renters Insurance $17.00
  • Basic Necessities $45.00
  • Roth IRA $100.00
  • Gas and Auto Maint $200
  • Rent $600.00
  • Utilites $50.00
  • Cell Phone $50.00
  • Fun money $50.00
  • Braces fund [min 130* + 249] $379 overtime will continue to go towards this. I want it gone as soon as possible... especially since i'll need this money to afford to live on my own.
  • Holiday Gifts and Birthdays $50.00
  • House Downpayment: $25.00
  • Future Wedding: $25.00

    $336 a month will also go into my 3 month emergency fund so i get used to paying $936.00 total in "rent". I'll use this money for the security deposit, first and last, refrigerator and couch. Then my braces money, once paid off, will take me to $1,315.

I might take more then a symester off before i get my masters. We'll have to see when i actually get my money back from my school.

*The new bill indicates that the min. payment is now $130.00 a month, not $134 anymore... guess it goes down each month as i pay off the balance...

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Remember that bad feeling i had...

Well, it almost came true. I sat down with one of my roommates and we had to have a discussion about how i was feeling with everything that was going on in our apartment... it was long and honest... but this time we both listened and created some new ground rules for what was going on.

in the end all is well... but for about 2 days i thought i was going to have to find another place to live and break the lease... ouch eh? drama drama drama...

and the electricity was out for a few hours last night... crazy! and a couple of guys tried "picking me up" in my apartment complex... and i got to proudly tell them that i'm a very happily taken content girl... luckily i didn't have to throw in the fact that my boyfriend looks like a mountain man with that beard of his!

I also might be getting back more money from my college since i'm graduating... but i won't believe it till they guarantee it.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

i have a bad feeling

With the way things are going monetarily [which latley seems to be getting better, not worse which i'm thankful for]... i'm just waiting for the backlash. And by backlash, i mean the oh crap! I don't have enough to get through... ie the something horrible comes and the world flips upside down.

Now i could be paranoid... but i'm worried about the new roommate situation not fully working out...which in all likelihood, it should work out just fine... but i'm worried none the less... so far so good... but i have a bad feeling that B and D will have it out before the lease is up... and it might come down to a who leaves deal... like i said i could be paranoid... but ya.

So, looking at my manditory expenses every month, even with my rent being lower then before.... i'm not sure i'm really comfortable with the $379.00 a month for my dental work...

I'm really wondering if i want to play the "balance transfer game" any longer then needs be. Even though i have a payment plan worked in, Part of me really wants to have all that money put together ASAP incase something happens... that way i can just deduct the monthly payments from my savings accounts instead of using money allotted in the budget. Either way, the interest still goes to my efund... and 379 is a lot of money to half to set aside each month to make sure i won't pay back interest when the thing expires.

So, i've decided to radically "pay down the dental" [ie put the extra cash into savings] as apposed to saving more for other things... So my two main priorities for this year are stock piling the dental and getting that efund to cover at least 1 months total rent. Which should be way easier with an extra 200 a month from my rent. If i don't get that retirement fund where i want it, then i'll have a few months of next year to try and catch up with contributions... plus i should get a tax refund.

The first paycheck i get with the raise on it will go to my efund since that retro pay will be included on it.
After that check, anything over 2202 a month goes to dental.

when $14 is worth it... a job story

I'm at work right now and i was chatting with a couple who came in and each paid $7.00 to use the gym and the pool today.

Now normally, i think its kind of a high price for the gym personally... meaning i wouldn't pay it to come in, even though were a nice gym cause i'm more "frugal" and i can always walk outside around the Lake by my mom's house or something like that.... plus i get a free gym membership with employment so i work out on my lunch breaks... but anyways...

Well after chating with this couple, i found out her hubby is an accountant and since its over 103 degrees outside, actually considered going into work because the building would be cooler since they didn't want to use the AC...

well instead they decided that $14 bucks was a good way to curb the want of ac... and they get to go swimming and come and go as they please thought the day... plus use the gym... heck we even have TV's here....

now that's doing something with your money to truly enjoy its value!!!!!!

REMEMBER:
  • local library's are free zones with AC
  • and malls, if you can actually "window shop" and not buy are always places to beat the heat and save a few bucks.

The Housing Market is looking a lot better for me right now.


I decided a while ago that i won't buy a house/condo, or anything... until i have a 20% downpayment...
now while that seems crazy daisy to some, especially with people trying to "get in" on the housing market since its "never been better for a buyer"... its also smart business because i don't want to pay for PMI... and this should insure that i have some equilty if the market goes worst or i end up moving after a couple of years.
I went looking [ie using the net] and a 1 bedroom condo was low listed for $199,000 in an area i would be happy to move to... its a bit farther from work, but a nice area still.
Now were looking at $40,000 for a downpayment.
Once a month i'll be re-evaluating how much of a downpayment i'll need... i'm also keeping track of how long some of these units stay on the market as well. The one i was considering last month is still there....

Saturday, September 1, 2007

You wouldn't believe yesterday if i told you...



So... I get a call from my roommate D about something important... her friend moving in with us... [a fellow co-worker who i've met who seems nice... and who recently decided not to go to school, but stay up here... ergo... she doesn't have roommates or a place and has been crashing with friends, but really wants to have a place of her own were she's not inconviencing anyone]

after some chit chat over the phone, i told her that we should all sit down together and talk this over together...

well, after some heated debate over some things... and to be honest... i'm not sure i really liked our conversation very much... I felt as though it had to be D's way exactly or she'd do it anyways.... or at least that was the way it came across and I told her so...

but on a positive note [because the moving conversations negativity had nothing to do with B...] B's moving in!!!!!

Actually, we're all doing a little moving...well it already happenened last night but.... I'm taking the smaller bedroom because i didn't feel right about them sharing the little one, and i'm keeping my own bathroom and gargage for $600 a month!!! [i just cut off $200 in rent!] Here's how my logical self "sold the deal" to the others

  • Rent for me is $510, plus $50 to park in a space, $40 more for that space to be the garage
  • Rent for D is $400, plus $50 to park in the space
  • Rent for B is $400, and nadda to walk from behind the apt complex.

Financially, i feel really good about this situation.

I'm paying more to have my own room and bath but still paying porportionally the same as before... which after explaing how i came up with these numbers was the only way to break D who just wanted to split her original rent in half with B in the smaller room.

Before i was essentially paying $40 more for the better parking... and $110 more for the master... Now i'm paying $40 more for better parking and $50 to have parking... and $110 for the ability to have my own room. Essencially the same!

So last night D and I flopped rooms... I'm on 3 hours of sleep and i'm at work... i'm going to write a 5 page paper hopefully at work after i read the book the paper is on... busy day eh? [i'm also helping the bf move into his place today too! and putting stuff were it belongs in my casa] B's stuff is getting brought in from San Diego today.

Looks like i have some more cash... cash to save towards my master's maybe? Since i have to do it in a 3 years... which means i'll be paying for every other symester myself.