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I'm starting to settle into my new place and establishing a rhythm of sorts. I have a couple of priorities I'm trying to honor--the main one is financial stability. After buying the new place I have a larger monthly nut than I did when I lived with Anya--the mortgage + maintenance is more (not much more but still), plus I now have twice the cable/internet bill (since I got Fios) and an electric bill (when Anya and I lived together I paid for the internet and she paid for ConEd, and we would figure the difference once a year). So for the past month or so I've been seeing how much I can cut other expenses--how much fat is in the budget? A lot more than you'd think, and I've eliminated a lot of it. When I shop for groceries now, I force myself to get *only* what's on the list. If I hang out with my soccer team afterward I get one beer and that's it. No Pinkberry, no afternoon treats at work, turn off the lights every chance I get--it's what I like to call my Nicolae Ceaucescu Austerity Program. So it's worked quite well so far! My ConEd bill went WAY down and I cut over $200 from my monthly MasterCard bill. I know I can get it down even further, but that will have to wait until the winter. Between taking Thing 1 and Thing 2 to the vet last month and this (each visit is a cool $95--yikes!), plus travel home for the holidays, plus presents and other assorted holiday expenses, I'm hit a little hard the next couple of months.
It's difficult for me to earn much more money than I do right now unless I get a raise or an outside job (both possibilities) but there are other sources for funds. For one thing, my income tax refund in the spring which is usually pretty sizable. Another is the cash rewards program on my credit card--it is tallied every month and awarded to me at the end of the year. Since I pay my balance in full every month, I don't pay interest so that's free cash, as it were. Not a lot, true, but every bit helps!
The money I'll be saving goes to two purposes--1) paying down the mortgage faster (I'm adding extra money every month toward the principal) and 2) savings (not that it's doing anything there, rates are so low right now). Although I think some of that will also go toward my Roth IRA--I'd like to up my monthly allocation.
It's difficult for me to earn much more money than I do right now unless I get a raise or an outside job (both possibilities) but there are other sources for funds. For one thing, my income tax refund in the spring which is usually pretty sizable. Another is the cash rewards program on my credit card--it is tallied every month and awarded to me at the end of the year. Since I pay my balance in full every month, I don't pay interest so that's free cash, as it were. Not a lot, true, but every bit helps!
The money I'll be saving goes to two purposes--1) paying down the mortgage faster (I'm adding extra money every month toward the principal) and 2) savings (not that it's doing anything there, rates are so low right now). Although I think some of that will also go toward my Roth IRA--I'd like to up my monthly allocation.