Living Paycheck to Paycheck

What a nice weekend!!  I’ve always loved the Fourth of July and even though B and I didn’t wind up going to any cookouts, we had a great night at my apartment, sitting on my balconey, watching fireworks a little ways in the distance.  My complex is very close to some townhouses and residential neighborhoods, so there were a bunch going off at once.  B is from Connecticut where fireworks are illegal (I think?) so he wasn’t used to fireworks that were unassociated with a public show.  We decided not to drive out to a public show because it was somewhat rainy, so we saved gas and any expense to get in (though the nearly all are free to get into, you can get charged for parking or any food you may want to buy).

We also rented a couple movies at the Redbox at the Giant close to my apartment.  I looked online and got codes, so got the movies for free.  Only we didn’t return them on time, so I still had to pay a dollar (plus tax) for each one.  B and I have trouble agreeing on movies, so we ended up with The Comebacks and P.S. I Love You.  He lucked out and didn’t have to watch the chick flick with me; I watched it yesterday after he left and cried buckets.  It still makes me want to cry right now when I think about it (It’s soooo good, though!!).

Saturday was my cousin’s wedding, and we got there late.  It was all my fault.  And when we sat down, I was under a drip (we were outside and it had rained earlier) that kept hitting my right shoulder every thirty seconds or so.  After coming in late, there was no way I was going to draw MORE attention to myself by trying to scoot my chair and B’s, so I just dabbed at it with a tissue that my dad handed to me.  I also had to deal with him laughing too loudly right behind me.

It was a lovely ceremony and a fun reception for such a small wedding.  I’d estimate that there were fewer than forty people altogether, and only about four or five single ladies which made it easy as pie for me to CATCH THE BOUQUET!!!  This is the second time I’ve caught one, and here’s what’s funny:  both times the bride threw it too high the first time, it hit the ceiling, I picked it up and handed it BACK to the bride to throw again, and THEN caught it.  That first wedding, though, a year ago, has already ended in divorce.  I hope that’s not an omen for my cousin.  I hope that it’s not an omen for ME, either!!  B  said that if I want him to propose, I have to get the hat trick.  I don’t think those are the rules.

On the way home, we filled up on gas at $3.97!!  Cool!

Please read “Tear Down That Wall” by Michael Reagan.  Mr. Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan, discusses what should be done about our gas crisis, namely allowing drilling in United States territory where it isn’t presently allowed.

I know that many who might read this completely accept the global warming myth, despite the earth’s temperature actually getting colder each year for the past ten years or so.  Unfortunately, the scientists that speak out against global warming alarmists are largely ignored by the media which dictates what average Americans know about the world.  As a bonus, please read “Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of Gas”, John Coleman’s Comments Before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.  The creator of the Weather Channel is outspoken and makes much sense.

If we are allowed to drill in Alaska and other places in our own country, we won’t receive gas for another, what, 10-15 years?  That’s absolutely true.  Our economy is heading for a recession; unemployment rates are going up.  One way to combat this is to open more refineries, allow more drilling, and create more jobs.  Maybe it won’t help much and maybe it won’t help for a dozen years or more, but we have to do something now so that our economy isn’t completely crippled by proposed cap and trade laws and astronomical gas prices.

If you feel like I do, please visit AmericanSolutions.com and sign the “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” petition.  If you completely disagree with me, I don’t really care.  Simply disregard the post.  I’m not here to argue, but to give my opinion.

One of the new big gas-savers I’ve been reading about is hypermiling.  For those of you not in the know, hypermiling entails driving in certain ways to save gas.  For example, trying not to use your break, accelerating slowly, driving the speed limit, coasting, etc.  I decided that it wouldn’t hurt much to try it out a little.

Except I couldn’t do it.  At least not significantly enough to save much gas.  Most of the driving that I do is during high traffic times, so unless I want to leave a space long enough for a semi to cut in front of me, I have to use my breaks constantly.  I can coast a little bit, and I do try to accelerate slowly.  My dad recently inflated my tires to the appropriate pressure which will also save a little on gas.

Aggressive driving is a no-no for hypermiling and I am an aggressive driver.  In the DC Metro area, I have to be.  A person can’t be afraid to change lanes quickly to get out from behind some douchebag driving too slow in the LEFT LANE.  God save me from idiot drivers!  I have no problem with people who want to drive right at the speed limit, whether it’s for law-abiding reasons or gas-saving ones, but for the love of God, get out of the fast lane!  Slow drivers balk and complain about aggressive drivers tailgating them when they’re just going the speed limit, but do they ever add that they were in the right lane and the guy should have gone around them?  Not often.  What I see are people that want to control how fast the people behind them are driving, so they match speeds with those in the right lanes making it impossible for the faster drivers to get around them.  This is what leads to tailgating and road rage.

I’ve found that hypermiling just pisses me off.  When I do it, cars get in front of me because I’m not going fast enough and then they slow me down.  When other cars do it in my lane, they annoy the heck out of me.  So aside from the little things I’ve started, I’m not going to bother with it.  The money I don’t save is what I’ll pay for less stress.

And all you hypermilers out there, good luck, I hope you save money, and stay out of the left lane (especially the left non-HOV lane) if you live in the DC area…that’s where I’ll be.

Final Tally! 

Income (from beginning of May):

Paychecks: $2409.97
VA State Tax Refund: $165
Revolution Money Exchange Pay-Out: $35
Federal Tax Refund: $1529
Money Paid Back to Me: $100
Federal Rebate: $600

Total: 4838.97

Expenses (for this week):

Gas (three trips): $144.82
Tolls: $35.00
Entertainment: 17.65
Rent/Water/Fees: 1033.66
Groceries: $158.69 (Got a lot of June’s groceries, hair dye, and allergy medicine)
Other:  $9.00 Service Charge on my bank account…I had less than $750 in my checking at one point, I guess.

How does this look for my Bare Bones Budget Categories?

Category 1:  Rent/Utilities/Phone/Internet/Food — $1467.78 / 1,345
Category 2:  Savings — $50 / 250*
Category 3:  Loans — $262.72 / 262.72
Category 4:  Gas/Tolls/Car Insurance/Car Maintenance — $460.26 / 480
Category 5:  Entertainment/Gifts/Clothing/Donations/Miscellaneous — $121.04 / 70

TOTAL: $2361.80 / 2409.97 from the original budget, with $48.17 going into savings (*along with “extra” tax money and things).

This also goes to $2361.80 / 2610.80 (the ACTUAL amount I have per month because of the two extra paychecks per year) for a difference of $249.00.  So this isn’t so bad, especially since my June groceries won’t be so expensive.

My savings will be allotted thusly:

$25 into Gift fund
$25 into Emergency fund
$1500 into Car Lump Sum (due NOV 2008!) account
$83.17 into Revolving Savings — this account is for when I go under or over on a given month and to fund “wants” periodically.

Other ”extra” money will stay in my checking for now.  My car insurance lump sum will be coming up this summer and I can’t even guess how much it will be.

Also:  Anyone closely following the blog might note that I’ve switched things from different categories and removed some expenses (like the Target bill payment).  I switched the Loudoun car tax to Misc., and I removed the bill payment because the point of this was to show what I spent vs. earned in May, not what I’m paying for now because of April or March.

I’m glad that I did this, but in the future I might just put down my Bare Bones Budget categories instead, since this turned into a lot of searching online for my online banking totals and credit card “recent activities”.

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.

Today was one of those worse-than-usual traffic days in Washington.  I left my house on time for once and was happy NOT to hear about any of my usual roadways on the traffic report.  It wasn’t until I hit the GW Memorial Parkway that I heard on the radio that it was “closed” at 123 due to an overturned vehicle.

The GW Parkway is one of my favorite things in Washington—maybe because I actually dislike the D.C. Metro area quite a bit.  It’s not usually as trafficy and it gives a gorgeous view of the river.  As I sat in my car, practically parked on the parkway, I thought about my options.  First, I could wait it out because they had to clear the accident eventually; second, I could try to get off at 123 and try to find my way to work from there (this would have been slightly tricky, but doable); third, I could drive over the grass that divides the two sides of the parkway and backtrack to 495.  The grass that serves as a median strip is about 2-3 inches above the road; it’s where cops park when setting up speed traps, where disabled vehicles move, and where speeders pull off when caught by said cops.  It was also quite muddy by this time.

Nervously, I waited until I HAD to make a decision; I approached a spot where I couldn’t drive in the grass.  So, right before it, I made sure things were clear on the other side of the parkway and did it.  I drove over the grass, made it to 495, and it took extra time (and 16 freaking extra miles), but I made it to work less than an hour late.

Thank God for my SUV; I think a smaller car would have gotten stuck in the mud.  I felt myself stick a little, but I knew that I could use my 4-wheel drive, if necessary.  What’s funny, though, is if I’d taken the Greenway this morning, I would have missed the accident, been to work early, and not wasted as much gas.  That would have been worth the $3.00.

Living where I do, I have to take the Dulles Toll Road commuting each day, 50 cents getting on and 75 cents getting off, for a one-way total of $1.25.  I drive about 3 1/2 miles to get to Route 28, then take 28 to the toll road.  On most days.

Twice this week I’ve been late enough leaving my apartment to have to take the Dulles Greenway which turns into the toll road.  Before I moved out to Ashburn, I had no idea what the Greenway was, or how it was different from the toll road; I quickly learned.  The Dulles Greenway is a privately-owned toll road, where a one-way trip costs $4.25, so I avoid it whenever possible, even though it is much faster.  If I leave at 6:45am, I’ll only save about eight minutes by taking the 65mph Greenway;  if I leave at 6:55, I generally save about 15 minutes, which is the difference between being late and not.

I noticed, though, that I got much better gas mileage this week.  Normally I average between 17-19 mpg commuting, and have gotten as good as 22 mpg highway (I know it’s horrible and I’d do better without an SUV, but I HATE driving small cars).  By the time I get gas this afternoon, I’ll have driven about 280 miles instead of about 225 (my gas tank is rather small; I usually don’t fill up past 14 gallons).  I think that this is due in large part to my two Greenway excursions (totalling an extra $6), and one afternoon that I met up with a friend for a few hours and drove home without any traffic.

Anyway, I just saved about 3 gallons of gas at $3.59/gallon near my apartment.  So, I’ve saved about $5.  This wouldn’t work every week;  in no way do I think that if I took the Greenway five mornings a week, I’d save five gallons of gas.  Maybe I could save about 3 gallons.  So if gas really skyrockets, it might become cost-effective, after all.

I realized the other day that I really have to start earmarking money for some upcoming expenses.  I am way past due to have my oil changed, for example.  I’m saving money by not taking it in, but I’m running the risk of much more costly expenses if I don’t, so I’ll use the $5 off coupon to Jiffy Lube from their website (instead of the $4 off coupon I received in the mail) this week or next.  I realize that it’s probably much cheaper to change my oil myself, but I honestly don’t know how to do that, and I like going to Jiffy Lube and knowing that they’re looking at more than just my oil.

Along with cars, I’m going to have to pay for my car insurance in July or so.  I pay the six-month lump sum up front so that I’m not charged an extra $4 a month.  Last time, this total was around $371, but I’m expecting that to go up because of my accident.

I’m also planning some beach trips this summer.  I’ll have one week in North Carolina at the end of July and one week in Ocean City, MD at the end of August.  Both times I will have free lodging because they are family vacations; I’ll only have to pay for gas.  I’d like to do a couple of day-trips, as well, where I’ll once again have to pay for gas, but not much else.  I’d like to buy a couple of beach chairs, an umbrella, and a cooler, but I can borrow all of these from my parents, so I most likely won’t.  Either way, the gas itself will be expensive, despite the 5% back I’ll be getting from it from my credit card.

The other major expense looming on my horizon depends on whether I move or not.  That I won’t know until July, though.

I may start putting aside some money each month into my ING Direct Savings account to earmark all these travel expenses.  The rest of my savings will continue to go in my Vanguard Prime Money Market account.

This morning was not the first that I saw a Loudoun County Transit bus on my way to work, but it was the first that led me to actually looking it up online and then looking up Metro fares and things to determine if it would be more cost effective for me to bus/Metro/bus into work than to drive.  Here’s what I figured out:

First, I have averaged my gas+tolls expenses per week to be $107.50.  This includes commuting five days a week, one trip to my best friend’s place, and one trip either to my parents’ house or my boyfriend’s.  Also about ten miles leeway for shopping, if necessary.

Round-trip Loudoun bus will be $4/day.
West Falls Church Metro to Pentagon will be $6/day.
Bus from Pentagon to my work is FREE!
Weekly gas ($40)+tolls($5)

Hypothetical Weekly total:  $95

Weekly difference:  $12.50

Now, $12.50/week or $50/month would be nice.  But I’ve heard that you should take your payrate per hour and compare the money you’re saving versus the time that you’re losing.

I’m estimating that I will add two hours a day to my commute in this scenario, based on scheduled times, average wait times, and the times I arrive at and leave work in the morning.  Dividing $12.50 by ten hours a week comes out to $1.25/an hour.  Since I make (before taxes and all) over $20/hour, I have to determine that this isn’t worth it for me.

Back to the drawing board.

When I was apartment searching last summer, there were some things that I swore I would not compromise on; I would not live in a first floor apartment, or in low-income housing, or anywhere that I didn’t feel safe.  I didn’t need lots of amenities or even a lot of space.  I did want a one-bedroom instead of a studio because I’m quite messy and needed a place to keep my mess.

I was trying to keep rent to about $1000/month.  So I started searching.  I started with a free Apartment Guide from the grocery store and marked everything in my price range.  Then I went online and looked up information.  By the time that I had crossed off all the low-income housing, I was freaking out; I had only a handful of options.  Even after expanding my search to apartments.com, rent.com, and Craig’s List, I was still down to almost nothing.  I also was running out of time to get a place before my current lease ended. 

After visiting a few places, I finally found something.  It seems like it’s 30 miles from everything in the world.  It’s definitely that far from my job.  I live in Loudoun County, in a third floor, 867 sq. ft. unit that I love.  Even though it is the largest one bedroom they have, it was the cheapest one available at that time.  The base rent is $930/month, but there are mandatory add-ons.  For $30/month I get valet trash pick up, and for $49/month I get cable, neither of which I need.  Last year I used an antenna for service and while it was touch and go, it got my roommate and me through.  So I’m paying about $1019/month when monthly fees are added in. 

I love living there because the town still has a slight small town feel to it, even though it’s expanding like crazy.  Nothing’s perfect, though; I have to take the Dulles Toll Road to work and home which costs me $2.50/day.  If I’m running late for work, I take the Dulles Greenway which costs $3.00 extra, so once every week or two, I waste $3.00 taking it to the Toll Road.  Now that gas has risen so high, I’m averaging more than $350/month in gas alone and when you add the tolls, it’s more than $400/month just for driving. 

My lease is ending in September and I’ll have to decide (in about June or July) whether it’s worth it to move closer to work and pay higher rent and moving fees, but less in travelling expenses?  Will it be any less, anyway, if the gas prices go higher?