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Apr. 20th, 2006 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2For years I paid around $315.00 a month in rent, and that included all utilities. Now I pay $725.00 a month in rent and that doesn't include the energy bill, the water bill, the garbage bill. I realize I didn't always make as much money as I do now, but all those years of low rent, you'd think I could have saved up some money and invested it. My big investments were in cds and comics. :p
My excuse was always that I wanted to pay off my credit card debt first, and it's true that a credit card that once had a balance of something over $7,000 is now about $250.00 and will be gone forever in another month. That's good. But in the meantime my "emergency" credit card that I was keeping a low balance of $500.00 or less has ballooned quite a bit -- due to plane tickets to Midwest Furfest, Christmas shopping, $300.00 car tabs, and all sorts of things as a result of moving.
I still live paycheck to paycheck pretty much, and I wonder if I'll ever be able to "get ahead" or find some way to save and invest and be smarter about my finances. Anyway, this time of year is always a tale of feast or famine for me -- first comes Norwescon and April 15th (tax day), and then at the end of the month, I get my extra vacation pay check -- double my normal pay. Since I took time off for Norwescon, my paycheck today was extra small (I don't get paid for days I take off, instead I get all my vacation pay in an extra check on my anniversary date). I have to pay my rent out of this check too, so that's most of it already spent. If only I could know ahead of time whether they were going to hold it for a full week like they did last month, I'd be much better off. ^_^
Well anyway, I'm still adjusting to having more bills and less free money I guess. But it's nice to have an apartment to myself, and to live so much closer to work.
My excuse was always that I wanted to pay off my credit card debt first, and it's true that a credit card that once had a balance of something over $7,000 is now about $250.00 and will be gone forever in another month. That's good. But in the meantime my "emergency" credit card that I was keeping a low balance of $500.00 or less has ballooned quite a bit -- due to plane tickets to Midwest Furfest, Christmas shopping, $300.00 car tabs, and all sorts of things as a result of moving.
I still live paycheck to paycheck pretty much, and I wonder if I'll ever be able to "get ahead" or find some way to save and invest and be smarter about my finances. Anyway, this time of year is always a tale of feast or famine for me -- first comes Norwescon and April 15th (tax day), and then at the end of the month, I get my extra vacation pay check -- double my normal pay. Since I took time off for Norwescon, my paycheck today was extra small (I don't get paid for days I take off, instead I get all my vacation pay in an extra check on my anniversary date). I have to pay my rent out of this check too, so that's most of it already spent. If only I could know ahead of time whether they were going to hold it for a full week like they did last month, I'd be much better off. ^_^
Well anyway, I'm still adjusting to having more bills and less free money I guess. But it's nice to have an apartment to myself, and to live so much closer to work.
