The "Get Out Of Your Car!" Fund

Monday, February 20, 2017

July review

Youtube is my cable. I have learned to re-love old television shows and even fall in love with some new ones. I recently watched Diagnosis Murder and the Beverly Hillbillies. Those shows are great! I want to watch more.

Here's something I found out about budgeting last summer that I never posted:

When my monthly bills change drastically, it's better to budget weekly or biweekly. That helps keep up with the fluctuations.

When everything is smooth sailing, then I can budget monthly.

While I was renting a basement, my budget was the same every month, so I didn't pay attention to it much. I just stuck with the budget.

During the summer, I started budgeting again because of the changes in rent, storage fees, and not making car payments to myself but instead paying extra money back on debt again.

Now that I'm renting a room again, I find myself not using Everydollar consistently. I just fill the envelopes, let the bills get paid automatically, and even the debt is on auto-pilot.

Here's a blessing: I noticed in December that my envelopes are getting rather full of money that is not being spent. That's because I'm cooking more at home and carrying lunches to work (my lunches this week amount to $2/day!), and also because my commute to and from work is shorter than it was a year ago. I'm going to make a bank deposit and put that cash back into the bank. Then I'm reducing the amount called for on my envelopes.

Food dropped from $100 a week to $75 a week to now $50 a week.

Gas dropped from $40 a week to $30 a week.

scrambled eggs, sweet potatoes, and my money

1-2-17
Happy New Year.

I’m excited.
2017 is going to be a good year. I will achieve more goals than ever before. How do I know? Because I slow-cooked scrambled eggs, tofu skins, and a sweet potato today and they turned out really well.

??? 

Yeah, so here's the thing. 

I like to experiment in the kitchen, but I don't like foods that take a long time. Transferred to other areas of life, I don't like saving goals because they take so long to complete. I don't like waiting for a good real estate deal to come around. When I have an idea of something new to try in the classroom, I like to try it the next day - not inform my teaching assistants, wait for them to think about it, put it on next week's lesson plan, etc. I don't like waiting. 

However, getting out of debt has helped me develop the discipline to wait. It pours over into other areas of my life - like my cooking today. I cooked the eggs on a lower heat than usual. Sometimes I microwave my sweet potatoes. They don't taste as good as baked, but they get done faster. Today I let that baby slow roast in that oven. I also cooked tofu skins for the first time, and let them simmer not according to any clock time set by the recipe, but until they looked done. 

So, 2017 will be a good year because I have more patience. 

I started looking at real estate deals this past week. I found a house that looked like a good deal on Thursday night. Friday afternoon I checked and it had been delisted. I didn't freak out. More good deals will come, I said. 

On a more practical note, I rejoined MAREIA and WREIA, local real estate investing clubs, and put their upcoming classes on my calendar. I signed up for a Chinese language meetup. I signed up for 2 hikes this month. I signed up with MyHouseDeals. 

Update on finances: The house is ready to be moved into with new appliances, floors, window, roof, electrical wiring, retaining wall, bathroom toilet and vanity, kitchen cabinets, paint. Whew! That’s a mouthful. What hasn’t been done? As you can see by the amount of work done, that’s why it took 3 years to complete when you’re cash flowing it and you’re not rich. The estimated cost is $30K. Final touches include siding on the outside and gutters.

Last debts are a line of credit, money owed to an HOA, and a student loan. I expect to pay them in that order. I’m knocking out the LOC by paying weekly instead of monthly and I’m paying double the minimum amount.  

Not only am I NOT livinginmyhonda anymore, but it doesn't look like I'll be doing that anymore since I have Jefferson back with me.