Tomorrow is my wife's payday, and as a result another $200 is being deposited into her credit union. I don't know exactly when- it's one of those nebulous concepts, so I thought I would post it now.
In a lot of ways, this $200 means more than the overage check. After all, any idiot can save money they didn't earn- this $200 represents more of a lifestyle change we've made. Namely, we choose a house over instant gratification. It took us a while to figure that one out.
We now have more money saved than we've ever had before.
Current savings: $11,908.11
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Angel Food Ministries
Saving is just as much about cutting back on spending as it is about saving what you don't spend. I think that makes sense. Regardless, one must lower their bills if possible and save the difference in order to maximize gains. (I'm starting to sound like a dreadfully boring economist, I know.)
My wife and I, in an effort to lower our grocery bill, are going to partake in a program called Angel Food Ministries. (Clicking on the link will give you much more information that I could ever hope to transmit here.) It's a program where local churches act as distributors for a charity. You order a box of food for $25-28, and then two weeks later you pick it up. Generally the food in the box is worth about $50-65 if you were to buy it at a store. The program is for anyone wanted to get discounted food, not just those who might need it. In other words, it's not income-based at all.
It would be silly not to try out this program once. So tomorrow we'll be headed to a local church to place an order. I'll be sure to post how it goes.
Total Savings: $11,708.11
My wife and I, in an effort to lower our grocery bill, are going to partake in a program called Angel Food Ministries. (Clicking on the link will give you much more information that I could ever hope to transmit here.) It's a program where local churches act as distributors for a charity. You order a box of food for $25-28, and then two weeks later you pick it up. Generally the food in the box is worth about $50-65 if you were to buy it at a store. The program is for anyone wanted to get discounted food, not just those who might need it. In other words, it's not income-based at all.
It would be silly not to try out this program once. So tomorrow we'll be headed to a local church to place an order. I'll be sure to post how it goes.
Total Savings: $11,708.11
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Other Mentionables
I forgot to mention a few things we've purchased over the past few days.
Yesterday, we put $8.03 worth of gas into the truck. It came out of regular checking.
Today, I used the $20 bill in my wallet to buy two cookies and an energy drink from the cafe at my school. The total was $4.46, so I got back $15.54 in change.
On Sunday and Monday we spent no money. This time last week we had spent $70- we're only up to $12.49 now. A significant improvement.
Current savings: $11,708.11
Yesterday, we put $8.03 worth of gas into the truck. It came out of regular checking.
Today, I used the $20 bill in my wallet to buy two cookies and an energy drink from the cafe at my school. The total was $4.46, so I got back $15.54 in change.
On Sunday and Monday we spent no money. This time last week we had spent $70- we're only up to $12.49 now. A significant improvement.
Current savings: $11,708.11
$8,537.75 Overage Check
Today I received my overage check from my law school. I am fortunate enough to have received a full scholarship for tuition, but I still take Stafford loans to pay for housing, transportation, and other sundries since I am unable to work full-time right now. However, with my wife working and making a decent wage, we don't desperately need it right now. I still thought it prudent to take it, however, since I don't know how the future is going to work out.
Perhaps we'll have to move out and find our own place. Perhaps my wife will lose her job or quit. I doubt either of these will happen, but you can't be sure. Regardless, we can't afford to not have money in the bank- or create liabilities that drain that money away. It took bankruptcy, sadly enough, to teach us that.
This blog has also drifted in another way- originally my wife and I had planned to save $100,000 for a house. We still are going to save as much as we can, but it may or may not be for a house. Paying that much money for a house would deny us the chance to enjoy the interest that money would create- so we'll probably just put down 20% or so of the asking price. Regardless, money can solve a LOT of problems, as much as I dislike the stuff. So we'll keep saving.
Old Total: $3,170.36
New Total: $11,708.11
Perhaps we'll have to move out and find our own place. Perhaps my wife will lose her job or quit. I doubt either of these will happen, but you can't be sure. Regardless, we can't afford to not have money in the bank- or create liabilities that drain that money away. It took bankruptcy, sadly enough, to teach us that.
This blog has also drifted in another way- originally my wife and I had planned to save $100,000 for a house. We still are going to save as much as we can, but it may or may not be for a house. Paying that much money for a house would deny us the chance to enjoy the interest that money would create- so we'll probably just put down 20% or so of the asking price. Regardless, money can solve a LOT of problems, as much as I dislike the stuff. So we'll keep saving.
Old Total: $3,170.36
New Total: $11,708.11
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Deposit
Went to bank and deposited $40 I had in my wallet.
Might be the first time in a while that I've had that much money in my wallet and not spent it within 24 hours. Certainly it would have been seriously defrayed with my smoking habit a few weeks ago.
Total Savings: $3,170.36
Might be the first time in a while that I've had that much money in my wallet and not spent it within 24 hours. Certainly it would have been seriously defrayed with my smoking habit a few weeks ago.
Total Savings: $3,170.36
No News
Haven't spent any money yet, though we will need to get a bit of gasoline this afternoon.
Did a few more hours work for the boss, so that should eventually pan out.
Current savings: $3,170.36
Did a few more hours work for the boss, so that should eventually pan out.
Current savings: $3,170.36
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Spending Week in Review
Here's the weekly spending breakdown:
Monday- $25.00
Tuesday- $40.00
Wednesday- $5.00
Thursday- $0
Friday- $11.00
Saturday- $21.00
Sunday- $0
The total is $102. We can do better.
I shouldn't have to buy any more nicotine lozenges. I've still got over half the pack, and I've only taken two today. And since I haven't brought any cigarettes since Tuesday, that's at least $15 not spent. By the end of next week the lozenges will have paid for themselves.
What's most troubling is that we spent over 50% of that money on gasoline. Fifty-five dollars, to be exact. I hadn't realized we drove that much. Of course, some of that is still in the gas tank, but one gets the general idea.
On the bright side, we increased our earnings by $32.70 this week through babysitting and finding loose change.
I'm somewhat excited, because we have some money coming in that should move the balance up. The guy I work for owes me at least $100, my sister owes me $160, and my wife will save another $200 this Friday. So that's (eventually) a $460 swing in the right direction. But for now, it's pretty constant.
I've decided to put $40 of the $60 we have into "savings," so we'll only touch it in an emergency.
Total savings: $3,170.36
Monday- $25.00
Tuesday- $40.00
Wednesday- $5.00
Thursday- $0
Friday- $11.00
Saturday- $21.00
Sunday- $0
The total is $102. We can do better.
I shouldn't have to buy any more nicotine lozenges. I've still got over half the pack, and I've only taken two today. And since I haven't brought any cigarettes since Tuesday, that's at least $15 not spent. By the end of next week the lozenges will have paid for themselves.
What's most troubling is that we spent over 50% of that money on gasoline. Fifty-five dollars, to be exact. I hadn't realized we drove that much. Of course, some of that is still in the gas tank, but one gets the general idea.
On the bright side, we increased our earnings by $32.70 this week through babysitting and finding loose change.
I'm somewhat excited, because we have some money coming in that should move the balance up. The guy I work for owes me at least $100, my sister owes me $160, and my wife will save another $200 this Friday. So that's (eventually) a $460 swing in the right direction. But for now, it's pretty constant.
I've decided to put $40 of the $60 we have into "savings," so we'll only touch it in an emergency.
Total savings: $3,170.36
Update
Let's see- on Friday I spent $1.00 of the change I found from the day before on a Coke. Then I used $10 from our regular spending money to get gasoline for the truck. So on Friday, my wife and I spent $11.00.
On Saturday, we attended a niece's birthday party (we had already brought the present a few weeks ago, so that wasn't a problem) but I did give another niece there a dollar for change so she could use the gumball machine.
Earlier on Saturday (4:45 AM to be exact) I got up to help a friend test out a boat on a lake near where we live. Of course, I needed more gas- so I had to get $40 more dollars out of savings to buy it. The lake wasn't far, but we'd already burned up much of the gas from the day before. Gasoline prices blow.
I spent $20 of that on gasoline, and I still have the other $20 in my wallet.
The good news is that my wife and I made $30 this weekend watching my sister's children while they went out for a night on the town. Since she owes me $170 anyway, she just gave me $40. So now she owes me $160 by the end of September.
I also turned in my time sheet for my work, so I should have roughly $120 coming my way soon.
So, our "current" savings stands at $3,130.36, but we have $60 in my wallet. We'll need at least $20 of that to get more gas throughout the week, but hopefuly we'll be able to put the $40 back in when we get paid.
On Saturday, we attended a niece's birthday party (we had already brought the present a few weeks ago, so that wasn't a problem) but I did give another niece there a dollar for change so she could use the gumball machine.
Earlier on Saturday (4:45 AM to be exact) I got up to help a friend test out a boat on a lake near where we live. Of course, I needed more gas- so I had to get $40 more dollars out of savings to buy it. The lake wasn't far, but we'd already burned up much of the gas from the day before. Gasoline prices blow.
I spent $20 of that on gasoline, and I still have the other $20 in my wallet.
The good news is that my wife and I made $30 this weekend watching my sister's children while they went out for a night on the town. Since she owes me $170 anyway, she just gave me $40. So now she owes me $160 by the end of September.
I also turned in my time sheet for my work, so I should have roughly $120 coming my way soon.
So, our "current" savings stands at $3,130.36, but we have $60 in my wallet. We'll need at least $20 of that to get more gas throughout the week, but hopefuly we'll be able to put the $40 back in when we get paid.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
No Money Spent Today!
Today my wife and I spent ZERO dollars and ZERO cents. That's a good feeling.
I also raided different areas of our bedroom and our old car for change, and came up with $2.70! That's over a gallon of gasoline. (And it's exactly the kind of money I would have spent on cigarettes in the past.)
With any luck, I'll get paid tomorrow by work. It should probably be around $120, but with us having such little money, I'll probably have to save $100 of it and keep the other $20 for odds and ends during the week.
Still, today was a financial accomplishment.
Look at it this way- if we had a CD worth $20,000, it would generate roughly $1000 a year at 5% interest. That comes out to $2.73 a day. So today, we earned the interest we would have made on a CD worth $20,000. And we didn't spend any of it!
(Not adding $2.70 to savings total because we'll probably end up spending it.)
Total saved: $3,170.36
I also raided different areas of our bedroom and our old car for change, and came up with $2.70! That's over a gallon of gasoline. (And it's exactly the kind of money I would have spent on cigarettes in the past.)
With any luck, I'll get paid tomorrow by work. It should probably be around $120, but with us having such little money, I'll probably have to save $100 of it and keep the other $20 for odds and ends during the week.
Still, today was a financial accomplishment.
Look at it this way- if we had a CD worth $20,000, it would generate roughly $1000 a year at 5% interest. That comes out to $2.73 a day. So today, we earned the interest we would have made on a CD worth $20,000. And we didn't spend any of it!
(Not adding $2.70 to savings total because we'll probably end up spending it.)
Total saved: $3,170.36
House For Sale
From time to time I'm going to post pictures of houses that are actually for sale, just so I can get a gauge on what we could buy for the money. (And no, I don't want to buy any of them- that's years down the road.) Now I know you're thinking, "Gee, he's only got $3,000 saved up, what does he expect to buy with that?" Well, we're currently in a buyer's market, and we live in a pretty poor part of the country, so I did some quick searching online, and apparently my wife and I can buy this house right now for $2,400! Notice how the realtor has opened up the plywood door to get an inviting shot into the house. I'm also tempted by the concrete walk- very classy indeed. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we'll save up enough money to hypothetically buy a place that actually has windows.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
$5.00
Today we didn't spend any money until 4:45, when we put $5.00 worth of gas in the truck.
Why such a small amount? Well, we share the truck with my wife's parents, and we knew that if we filled it up they'd just use it all. That said, we didn't want to leave such little gas in the tank that they couldn't get anywhere, so we raised the needle up to about a 1/4 of a tank.
Went all day today without cigarettes- it's been pretty easy, with the lozenges.
Did some more research for the boss today- roughly 2.5 hours. Think I finished one of the research topics, so now I'm on to the other one.
Total money saved: $3,170.36
Why such a small amount? Well, we share the truck with my wife's parents, and we knew that if we filled it up they'd just use it all. That said, we didn't want to leave such little gas in the tank that they couldn't get anywhere, so we raised the needle up to about a 1/4 of a tank.
Went all day today without cigarettes- it's been pretty easy, with the lozenges.
Did some more research for the boss today- roughly 2.5 hours. Think I finished one of the research topics, so now I'm on to the other one.
Total money saved: $3,170.36
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Investment for the Future
I've decided I'm going to quit smoking. For Good.
Like every other smoker, I've tried off and on for the better part of a year. This time, with the help of the blog, perhaps I'll be successful.
In that vein, I committed the cardinal sin of withdrawing $40 from my savings account to buy 108 mint-flavored 4mg nicotine lozenges at Walgreen's. However, that's probably not a bad thing.
I typically spend at least $3 a day on cigarettes- that's not counting the cost of a lighter, the soda I buy with them (only because I'm in the store) or the various snacks.
If we assume a daily price of $3.50 (not too unreasonable) that means that within a year I'll have saved $1277.50. Within two years, it'll be $2500. That's a lot of money. If I found over a thousand dollars on the side of the road, I'd tell everybody I knew for the next ten years. And yet I contentedly set that money on fire ever year. Ridiculous, I know.
I will replace the $40 with money from our next check- since we won't be using it for cigarettes, that shouldn't be a problem.
Total money saved: $3,170.36
Like every other smoker, I've tried off and on for the better part of a year. This time, with the help of the blog, perhaps I'll be successful.
In that vein, I committed the cardinal sin of withdrawing $40 from my savings account to buy 108 mint-flavored 4mg nicotine lozenges at Walgreen's. However, that's probably not a bad thing.
I typically spend at least $3 a day on cigarettes- that's not counting the cost of a lighter, the soda I buy with them (only because I'm in the store) or the various snacks.
If we assume a daily price of $3.50 (not too unreasonable) that means that within a year I'll have saved $1277.50. Within two years, it'll be $2500. That's a lot of money. If I found over a thousand dollars on the side of the road, I'd tell everybody I knew for the next ten years. And yet I contentedly set that money on fire ever year. Ridiculous, I know.
I will replace the $40 with money from our next check- since we won't be using it for cigarettes, that shouldn't be a problem.
Total money saved: $3,170.36
Monday, August 20, 2007
Visual Saving
I've taken a picture of a house and cut it into 100 squares. Each $1000 my wife and I save, we'll fill in another square. We have roughly $3000 saved right now, thus the three filled in squares. Hopefully this will inspire us to save!
Apparently, our current savings would allow us to buy part of a chimney, half a window, and some sort of terrace thing- without any sort of foundation, mind you. Oh well. It's a start.
Spending
Today we did pretty well, all things considered.
On the way home we stopped at the store and bought prescription medication ($25.00) and a $15 phone card. I had to get the phone card, because it's the number on my resume, and I don't want to lose my job because I run out of minutes. So it's an investment.
All of this came out of our "everyday" savings account, so our savings is the same.
My wife and I both use prepaid phones because a) I really don't want a monthly phone bill (this way I can just throw the damn thing away if I choose) and b) we don't use the phones enough to warrant $40 or $50 dollars a week of expenses.
So that's roughly sixty dollars spent today on gasoline, medicine, and a phone card. All somewhat necessary, I think.
Total saved so far: $3,210.36
On the way home we stopped at the store and bought prescription medication ($25.00) and a $15 phone card. I had to get the phone card, because it's the number on my resume, and I don't want to lose my job because I run out of minutes. So it's an investment.
All of this came out of our "everyday" savings account, so our savings is the same.
My wife and I both use prepaid phones because a) I really don't want a monthly phone bill (this way I can just throw the damn thing away if I choose) and b) we don't use the phones enough to warrant $40 or $50 dollars a week of expenses.
So that's roughly sixty dollars spent today on gasoline, medicine, and a phone card. All somewhat necessary, I think.
Total saved so far: $3,210.36
Gasoline and Job Interview
Today I got a job working with an attorney in a neighboring town. It pays more than I was making last semester, and should actually be less work. So that's good- my plan is to sock every penny I make there into the savings account, since we don't need it to get by. It should come to roughly $800-900 a month. Pretty big deal.
Haven't spent any of the savings today, which is good. Haven't added to it either. I had planned on going by the bank with my wife today and cashing a $15 check she had received, so we could save it, but I had the aforementioned job interview.
Did spend $20 on gasoline today. Came out of our "everyday" checkings, so it doesn't effect the total.
Total saved so far: $3,210.36
Haven't spent any of the savings today, which is good. Haven't added to it either. I had planned on going by the bank with my wife today and cashing a $15 check she had received, so we could save it, but I had the aforementioned job interview.
Did spend $20 on gasoline today. Came out of our "everyday" checkings, so it doesn't effect the total.
Total saved so far: $3,210.36
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Introductions
My name is terribly unimportant. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my goal of saving $100,000 in order to buy a house with cash. I do not wish to carry a mortgage.
I am 27. I was born quite poor, and once I graduated college and found a job teaching that (to me, at least) paid quite a bit of money- $30,000 or so- I went overboard. My wife and I spent too much on credit cards, bought a house, and simply overspent. Even though we made a combined $60,000 a year, we were still spending more than we made. Pretty sad. Roughly two years ago my wife and I declared bankruptcy- a low point in my financial and personal life.
It was, however, both the best and worst decision I've ever made with money. Now that the debt is gone (I'm still paying back what I can when I can out of a sense of moral responsibility) we can actually start to save. Here's where we stand now:
I am currently a student at a law school in the southeastern United States. As a result, any work I get is part-time. I worked over the summer, but am currently looking for employment during the school year. My wife works at a job that pays roughly $30,000 a year, very good money for the part of the world we live in.
We are currently living with her parents, both in an effort to save some money and help them out financially. Later, I'll post a detailed budget- this is just a broad stroke.
We plan on living here at least another two years in order to reach our goal of buying a house. The bankruptcy has left a very sour taste in our mouths for debt- other than student loans, I don't want any. No credit cards, no mortgage, no car payments.
As of right now, we have this much saved.
Wife's credit union: $ 900.00
Online checking account: $ 15.34
Online savings account: $ 4.27
Conventional savings account: $2,290.75
Total saved so far: $3,210.36
We consider money "saved" if it's not to be touched unless a) one of us is dreadfully sick or bleeding, or b) some other emergency occurs. So that number will fluctuate at times, but should go up a lot more than down. That's the whole purpose of this blog- to keep us accountable, so that if we're tempted to get out a $20 bill to go to a restaurant, we won't.
Well, that's it for now. Time to go to bed.
I am 27. I was born quite poor, and once I graduated college and found a job teaching that (to me, at least) paid quite a bit of money- $30,000 or so- I went overboard. My wife and I spent too much on credit cards, bought a house, and simply overspent. Even though we made a combined $60,000 a year, we were still spending more than we made. Pretty sad. Roughly two years ago my wife and I declared bankruptcy- a low point in my financial and personal life.
It was, however, both the best and worst decision I've ever made with money. Now that the debt is gone (I'm still paying back what I can when I can out of a sense of moral responsibility) we can actually start to save. Here's where we stand now:
I am currently a student at a law school in the southeastern United States. As a result, any work I get is part-time. I worked over the summer, but am currently looking for employment during the school year. My wife works at a job that pays roughly $30,000 a year, very good money for the part of the world we live in.
We are currently living with her parents, both in an effort to save some money and help them out financially. Later, I'll post a detailed budget- this is just a broad stroke.
We plan on living here at least another two years in order to reach our goal of buying a house. The bankruptcy has left a very sour taste in our mouths for debt- other than student loans, I don't want any. No credit cards, no mortgage, no car payments.
As of right now, we have this much saved.
Wife's credit union: $ 900.00
Online checking account: $ 15.34
Online savings account: $ 4.27
Conventional savings account: $2,290.75
Total saved so far: $3,210.36
We consider money "saved" if it's not to be touched unless a) one of us is dreadfully sick or bleeding, or b) some other emergency occurs. So that number will fluctuate at times, but should go up a lot more than down. That's the whole purpose of this blog- to keep us accountable, so that if we're tempted to get out a $20 bill to go to a restaurant, we won't.
Well, that's it for now. Time to go to bed.
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