Living Paycheck to Paycheck

I hung out with my potential roommate last night and I’m thinking that it can work out.  Even though she would leave fairly soon after me in the morning, she wouldn’t be home until at least a couple hours later than me in the evenings, so I’ll get some alone time.  She’s also studying for her GRE, so many of her evenings she will be holed up in her room while I watch TV or something.  She likes my boyfriend and doesn’t care if he’s over a lot on the weekends which is pretty important.  B and I can switch back and forth between out places, but his house kind of sucks and at least one of his roommates is always trying to get us to go out places with him (so he can mack on chicks even though he sort of has a girlfriend–he’s only “dating” her for the sex, I believe, and wants to trade her in for a hotter, less slutty model–drama, drama, drama!) and tries to make us feel bad if we don’t want to go spend money or we just want to be by ourselves.  Also, I won’t cook for B at his place and he does like his free food.

So J and I might make good roommates.  My concern is her salary and how much she can afford for rent; right now she makes slightly less than $30K/year, though she’s due for a salary increase in August.  Right now about 38-40% of my take home pay goes to rent and I know that it should be between 25-35%.  With a roommate, I can definitely get it within that range without a problem, but I’m concerned that J won’t be able to pay enough rent to get a reasonable place.  She’s pretty well fine with living at my complex in Loudoun because she likes the slightly country atmosphere, and my complex does have some awesome apartments for less than one would find closer into the city.  J plans to take a Loudoun Connector Bus, either all the way to D.C. or to a Metro, which will cost a fair amount.  I’ve also offered to take the bigger bedroom/adjoining bathroom and pay extra per month, but I’m not sure how much that should be.  I was thinking adding $50 to my rent and subtracting the same from hers for a $100 difference, but I’ll ask B what he thinks–he had this same problem with his roommates, but he’s the one getting screwed by the guy with the biggest room (also, the same guy who’s trying to trade in his girlfriend.  Hmm).

So those are some new concerns, but I still think that it can work.  Luckily, I still have time to consider things.

This weekend I found out that an old friend of mine wants to move out of her parents’ house soon and that she was looking in my area (because she wouldn’t be able to afford something closer to where she works in D.C.).  My first thought was, “Come live at my complex!” which led to my second thought, “We could live together!!!”

She and I won’t have to decide this for a while; my lease is up in September, after all.  But it got me thinking about what I’m looking for in a roommate, and wondering whether she fits the description.

We’ve known each other since we were four and were “best friends” from eighth grade through high school, despite going to different schools.  After that, we went to different colleges and drifted apart so that we only talked or saw each other a few times a year.  Our interests changed and it got to a point where I didn’t mind terribly that we weren’t as close because we had less to talk about.

So now I wonder if she’d be a good roommate.  My last roommate was my current best friend, and she and I got on extremely well together.  If she came to my room wanting to hang out, I didn’t mind stopping whatever I was doing or resent the interruption– I was all too happy to hang out.  By nature, though, I like my privacy.  Despite the financial issues of living alone, I’ve loved every second of it.  It’ll be quite an adjustment from leaving pots soaking in the sink or sitting on the stove to making sure things are always cleaned up.  I’m also terribly messy, but once I get in a cleaning mode I hate when others don’t clean up in the main areas.   

If we lived together at my current complex, I could save almost $3000/year on rent, and even more on utilities.  If we got a place closer to where we work, I could save money on gas, too.  I’m not sure how worth it that will be, though, to move away from Loudoun.  I love where I live and don’t want to leave unless I have to.

Welp.  Stay tuned.

It’s here!  I received an e-mail from my bank this morning saying that I’d received a direct deposit and I opened it to find that I got my paycheck (which I was expecting) and the $600 rebate (which I wasn’t).

Now, I think that the economic stimulus package was foolish, personally.  It’s not going to make a big impact on the economy.  The rising prices of food and other things are probably going to eat up a bulk of that money and I can’t see it do more than slow down the fall of the economy.  I also don’t agree with only giving the rebate to those who fall into certain monetary categories.  It’s a roundabout way of taking money from the rich to give to the poor.

We’re supposed to be a society that encourages its citizens to strive to be the best; we say that working hard will lead to success.  How are Americans supposed to believe that?  Right now, we are penalized for our hard work and success.  We work hard to get raises only to find ourselves in a higher tax bracket and bringing home less money (until we get more raises and the same thing happens again).  Many Americans recently found out that they made too much money last year to qualify for the stimulus check–which means that THEIR money is going us, the ones receiving this money.

Now, don’t get me wrong–I think that getting $600 in my account today was pretty rad; however, I would much rather have gone without it than let my country sink deeper into socialism.

Okay, maybe it’s not a windfall…it’s more like I’m an idiot.

When I created my Bare Bones Budget, I settled on $2409.97 as my monthly limit by adding two paychecks together since I’m paid every other week.  I failed to realize that there are 52 weeks in a year, and I’m paid 26 times…which becomes 13 months.

So my REAL monthly budget should be $2608.33.  I just “found” $200 a month…sort of.  I was paid three times in February and will be again in August.  This is pretty great, all in all.  I figure that I’ll still try to keep to the Bare Bones Budget, but I probably won’t cry if I fail or something (I hate failure.  The best way to get me to do ANYTHING is to make it into a competition with someone.  I’ve never lost a staring contest because I will keep my damn eyes open while tears are pouring out from the strain before I’ll let myself lose—this is not terribly good for my eyes or for curing my stubbornness, but it’s awesome for my self-esteem).

Since I already had the one paycheck, I’ll only count the August one in with my budgeting and things.  I figure that a lot of it will go to gas as I travel this summer, and some gifts from July through Christmas.  And I can use this to show my best friend that yes, I can afford to live without a roommate.  YAY!

End of the third week! 

Income (from beginning of May):

Paycheck: $1204.98
VA State Tax Refund: $165
Revolution Money Exchange Pay-Out: $35
Federal Tax Refund: $1529
Money Paid Back to Me: $100

Total: 3033.98

Expenses (for this week):

Gas: (Three trips):  $147.75
Tolls: $35
Groceries: $84.17
Internet: $44.99
Gas Bill: $38.84
Target Bill Payment: $105.47 (Since this was for last month, this includes stuff from my party, my mom’s birthday, a couple general expenses).
Charity Donation: $30

How does this look for my Bare Bones Budget Categories?

Category 1:  Rent/Utilities/Phone/Internet/Food — $275.43 / 1,345
Category 2:  Savings — $1010.61 / 250
Category 3:  Loans — $262.72 / 262.72
Category 4:  Gas/Tolls/Car Insurance/Car Maintenance — $330.89 / 480
Category 5:  Entertainment/Gifts/Clothing/Donations/Miscellaneous — $135.47/ 70

NET EFFECT: $2015.12 / 3033.98 OR $1015.12 / 1204.98 if you look at what I actually earned for the month so far and take away the $1000 I put into my Money Market account from my tax refund.

Coming soon: another paycheck and a big ol’ rent payment.

My wonderful boyfriend has put together a diet/fitness plan for me!  Now I wish that I’d waited and not bought groceries so that I could have just followed his list.  Since he knows what he’s doing, he tailored the grocery list and meal lists to things I generally like to eat…only I hardly bought any of those things in an attempt to eat smart and cheaply.  There’s only a couple problems with the diet at all and one is that it focuses more on dieting food than healthy food, but I think that after I finish the first 21 days and we reevaluate what I need to do, I’ll be able to choose my meals better.

The other problem is the cost!  If I were to go to the grocery store today and buy everything that I don’t already have, I estimate that I’d spend about $150…that is well over the $2.04 I have left for the month.  So I have to decide whether to start this diet on Thursday or wait until June, a week and a half from now.  I’m very excited to start this and the exercise plan NOW while I’m still motivated, though I hate like hell to have to blow my budget.  What’s a girl to do?

I’m afraid that I’m going to get into a fight with my best friend.  Not one of those “I hate you!” fights, but one of those “I’m so frustrated with you for not doing what I say when I know I’m right!” kind of fights.  She’s the frustrated one, though, not me–at least not yet.

A week ago she asked me if I was getting a roommate when my lease ends and I said “no”.  Now I’m not 100% sure about this, but right now I have no options and I flat-out refuse to live with just anybody.  I learned the hard way that living with someone that you hate (and hates you right back) sets you up for a world of depression; having to stay cooped up in your bedroom so that you won’t have to see the roommate, trying to find things to keep yourself out of your own place, arguing about bills, chores, etc.  At one point in college, one of my only outlets for my inner turmoil (I know, I’m overdramatic) was coming to class early and telling my friends what my Psycho Roommate had done that day in great, story-teller fashion.

Anyway, my best friend said, “But you have to!” and I immediately bristled.  I HATE being told what to do by anyone (except my bosses…because that’s their job).

I told her that I didn’t have to and she said something about how if I were living paycheck to paycheck (which made me wonder if she’d found my blog–but I don’t think she has because she hasn’t said anything about it) I needed to save money.  I know that she is definitely concerned about whether I have enough money to live, but I also know that her big complaint is that I’m not going out to restaurants and bars with our friends anymore.  This month it was mostly because of not having enough money until my tax refund came in (got in on Friday morning, $1529 woohoo!), but also because I haven’t missed it.  At this point, I don’t enjoy going out to dinner and seeing my money going down the tube, even if I stick to water and something cheap.  I’d much rather hang out at my place or someone else’s.  I don’t consider dining out to be a necessity and I don’t know how to express it without someone getting upset with me.

This is one of the reasons why my boyfriend and I work so well together: he’s just as broke as me, maybe more so.  When we’re together, we’re able to back each other up about not spending too much.  All his money is going to pay the normal expenses and whatever is leftover is paying off loans or things that will help him out in the future, like a personal training course that will pay for itself in no time once he’s done and finds a part-time job at a gym.  He never encourages me to spend money when I don’t think that I should (although I’m not always as supportive of him–if you lose a razor, buy a new one, don’t wait two weeks until I can bring you your spare!).

Anyway, I’m not going to live with someone who is not a trusted friend.  It’s also a lot easier for my friend to say that I should since she’s married and doesn’t have to live with anyone but her husband, the person she loves and trusts the most.  I’m going to try to avoid this becoming a real disagreement, though.  I know that she cares about me and that’s where this comes from.  What it really boils down to (after all the rambling) is how much my peace of mind is worth.  What is the dollar amount per month I am willing to pay just to let go of a huge amount of stress?  The only stress in my life right now is being judged for my financial choices (and, a little, about what my living situation will be in September); nothing is wrong with home, work, family, or my boyfriend.  I’m curious as to how much anyone reading this blog would pay to block out the biggest stressor in his/her life.  If you feel like commenting about it, please do!

I totally caved.  Yesterday, I bought groceries for the first time in well over a month.  I really wanted to stick to the Pantry Diet, but, honestly, the only way I had left to do that was to have spaghetti or mashed potatos for every meal–including breakfast.  So, as I sat at my computer yesterday morning, eating leftover mashed potatos before getting ready for Mass, I made up a grocery list and went directly after church.

I’m just under the $100 limit I set for myself at the beginning of May for the May Grocery Challenge at Give Me Back My Five Bucks, though I’m running low on milk, but I don’t want to go over the $2.04 I have remaining.  On the other hand, I’ve never stayed this close to $100 with groceries and I’m pretty proud of myself.

I wasn’t expecting to have to buy Drain-O for my bathroom sink, but it didn’t cost too much.  I also had to buy things that I was out of (due to the pantry diet) that I like to have on hand: flour, baking powder, pancake mix.  Other non-monthly expenses were toilet paper and toothpaste.  The most “luxurious” item purchased was boxed wine.  My best friend and I (and sometimes her husband, sometimes my boyfriend) get together every Wednesday, usually at my place, for Boxed Wine Wednesdays.  It’s cheap and delicious, if unclassy.  One box will generally last 2 1/2-3 visits depending on how much we drink and how often I imbibe on other days of the week.  I wouldn’t be able to afford BWWs otherwise.  Two weeks ago, for example, my best friend and I killed two bottles of wine between us (I was given a few bottles for my birthday last month and haven’t bought boxed wine in a while), one of which she brought.  If we each bought a bottle of wine each week at $7 apiece, we’d spend approximately $672/year, for a total of $336 each.  Instead, I’m paying under $200 a year on the boxed wine and drinking tons of beer and wine at her house on most weekends, evening it out.

In the future, I think that I’ll try to keep my grocery budget to something slightly easier like $120/month, especially during allergy season when I live off of generic Claritin.

My Pantry Diet is still going, but it won’t last much longer.  I have approximately enough food to last into next week, but not much else.  My dad gave me two 2lb. bags of frozen ground venison (that he killed and butchered himself with my uncle and their pals); I used one bag with two boxes of Hamburger Helper and felt like I was committing sacrilege.  Venison is soooo good and I used it with Hamburger Helper.  I’m so ashamed.  So I’d rather save my other 2 lb. bag for something better, so I might not count it in with the rest of the pantry diet.

 My boyfriend is going to create a meal plan and exercise plan for me to start as soon as I’m off this crazy pantry diet even though he doesn’t want me to lose any weight.  He’s really into fitness, though we both suck at keeping to a healthy diet: me because I don’t know where to start and I’m bad at sticking to things, and him because it’s easier not to stick to it.  Translation: laziness.  I’m looking forward to what he puts together for me.

About once a week I’m going to try to post what I’ve spent…for everything.  This is for my second week.  I’m also going to include money I’ve received.

Income:

Paycheck:  $1204.98
Revolution Money Exchange Payout: $35
VA State Tax Refund: $165
TOTAL: $1404.98

Expenses:

Gas: (Two trips):  $102.51
Tolls: I’ll post this when the $35 is automatically taken from my account.

How does this look for my Bare Bones Budget Categories?

Category 1:  Rent/Utilities/Phone/Internet/Food — $107.43 / 1,345
Category 2:  Savings — $10.61 / 250
Category 3:  Loans — $262.72 / 262.72
Category 4:  Gas/Tolls/Car Insurance/Car Maintenance — $148.14 / 480
Category 5:  Entertainment/Gifts/Clothing/Donations/Miscellaneous — $- / 70

NET EFFECT: $528.90 / 1404.98

I was able to avoid shelling out money for Mother’s Day by using a gift card I’d received at Christmas, so I was pretty happy about that.