Hi there!

[jamethiel]

Hello, actyourwagers! I'm jame, your friendly mod. Sorry I've been so absent of late, my life kind of exploded a couple of months ago and it took me a while to adjust.

Just a quick modly note before I ramble on: it's great to see so many new people here! There are a couple of people who I haven't approved yet, largely because their journals have no userinfor/public posts, and haven't got an approved email so I can't send them a message. If I haven't approved your membership yet, could you please comment to this post stating you've read the rules (check the comm userinfo) and you'll abide by them? Thanks.

So. Thank god for parents. My parents really helped me when I had to move in a hurry. Now I'm all settled in my new place. I can afford the rent but obviously I would have about twice as much if I got a flatmate.

However, there are lots of ways where living with a flatmate is just not as cheap. Living by myself, I will put on a cardigan and wear gloves and a hat rather than put the heater on. I also turn everything off at the powerpoint--the only appliance in my house that runs constantly is the fridge. No "standby" mode for me! Lights go off if I'm not in the room.

However, if I get a flatmate, I know from experience that it takes a bit of retraining yourself to turn things off. And it may be that they won't be willing to do that. Also, I'm REALLY enjoying having my space. Everything's clean! And neat! I can control what I eat without driving other people crazy! I have budgeted for gas/water/electricity/the internet, and we'll see if things happen.

I've got a post in the works about food costs and waste. I'll think about that a little more though.

I have a little bit still on my credit card, but I have about twice that amount in savings. In addition to that, I've got a separate account just for my computer and that doesn't get touched. The thing that makes me happy is I've got almost $300 in there--10% of the way towards my goal!

I haven't quite got the hang of expenses yet. The first round of bills hasn't really come. I'll feel better in a couple of months time, but right now I just give myself an allowance for food and take that out in cash. That's my weekly money. Everything else gets transferred to my online, high interest account and I transfer it back as I need it.

I've been thinking about my goals. As you know, I'm a big believer in goal-setting. Concrete goals allow you to make concrete plans. For those who've just joined, short term is in the next 2-3 months, medium term is up to a year, and long term is longer than that
Short term: Pay off credit card to avoid interest charges (done by Monday)
Medium term: Save up enough for a new computer (On track! I've got the direct debit transferring money to a specific account every fortnight when I get paid. And I just don't touch that account)
Save enough to get the start of a cash/term deposit ladder: I would say three months time, but I may allow a little while to get used to bills, so maybe 4/5 months?
Long term: Trip to Hong Kong
Bespoke Suits
House deposit

So, how are you going? What are your goals?

Comments

[bewize]

Short term: Rebuild emergency fund, which was depleted due to the need to pay my taxes and a family emergency; also repay two people that I owe money to (and I hate owing money!)

Medium term: Finish paying off 3 remaining credit cards; get CD ladder started; open a retirement account; open a HSA

Long term: Save up enough for house down-payment; save up for trip to Japan

[jamethiel]

Yay for rebuilding emergency funds! Do you have a timetable for when you will have repaid the cards off by? Be sure to update so we can celebrate with you!

[holyschist]

1. Get a job.

2. Get a job.

3. Get a job.

*sigh*

[jamethiel]

*pets* Keep on trying. You'll find something

[jenett]

Previous goal:
Pay off all of my consumer debt (which I did in May, just before losing the job.) Good timing, me! Divorce was not kind to my finances: I took the debt to avoid having to deal with the ex not paying it, to the tune of about 25K. Ugh.

Current goal: pay my bills while unemployed.

(I can manage them on unemployment *except* for health insurance, where the full $450 payment for me kicks in next month. Fortunately, my mother's helping me out with that one. And if I don't find a job by the end of October in my field, I'll be aiming at temping. For folks wanting perspective: that sum is 3/4 of what it costs me in rent for a very small studio-sized apartment.)

Short term stuff:
- Get really solid on tracking my budget and expenses. (I'm using a program called YNAB (You Need A Budget), which has both a desktop and iPod app version: so far, every entry this month is fully up to date, yay me.)

- Get job (which may involve a move, which will throw all sorts of new variables into the budget) One of the things I like about YNAB is it's fairly easy to play with practice future budgets and erase them while I'm trying to figure out what kind of salary would be my absolute minimum in Other Location.

Longer term:
- I still have a student loan out there (currently in deferment due to the unemployment). I'd like to start paying that down much more aggressively now the consumer debt is out of my way.

- Save up for a car down payment and a few months of car payment in advance. (My current car is 10.5, and while it's okay now, clearly needs replacing sometime sooner than later to be reliable in northern climate conditions.)

- I want to save up between 3 and 6 months of expenses after that for emergency savings. (I'm single, no kids, so still trying to decide where in that I want to fall.)

- And then I'd like to look at saving up money for a house down payment, though depending on where I end up, that might be a long time coming. We'll see.

[jamethiel]

Ugh, sympathies on the divorce. When my partner and I split up, there were just... so many things that I ended up paying for myself just to GET OUT, OMG. It took me three years to get out of debt from that.

Your plans sound great! Keep us updated on how they go!

[jenett]

Mine was a bit longer - we got divorced in 2005, so we're coming up on five years, and I was repaying the debt for 4.5.

Being done, though = truly priceless. (And not having to rely on him not affecting my own credit, equally good.)

[rivenwanderer]

My partner and I had worked out a method of saving/spending that seemed to work--when I got a paycheck, some went to rent, some went into savings and some went to the credit card bill, all right away. Now that we have a bit of a cushion in savings (not a lot, but as much as any of our Unexpected Big Expenses have been in the past), we're switching to a different format--when I get paid, I pay rent and a larger amount towards the credit card bill, and any leftover money in the checking account at the end of a pay period goes into savings. I'm a little apprehensive about my money going into a black hole of credit card payments rather than something that feels "useful" like savings, but I think that being debt-free as soon as possible is worth it (we should be on track to be rid of credit card bills in May if we follow the schedule I've come up with).

[jamethiel]

*nods* I built up a SMALL emergency fund, mostly focusing on paying the debt down. I got rid of credit card debt and then I had to move, which... well, bye bye savings.

Then I had to move AGAIN (I love my parents and it was really kind of them not to charge me rent, but I can't live with a smoker. I just can't.) and they helped out a bit with that, and also I got into a LITTLE debt with buying stuff. Well. It wasn't essential, but it makes me much happier. Still, I've only been carrying it for a month and it should be gone before I have to pay interest on it.

Now that you have a savings buffer, I would really encourage you to put as much as you can on the card. Because interest you pay is money lost. I promise you, you'll get used to the payment level. And being debt free will be AWESOME!

Well done for building a buffer! It's something I'm working on.

[vorvolaka]

Short term:
1. Get a job.
2. Don't touch savings - pretty easy as I live with my parents at the moment.
3. Try not to max out overdraft - it's interest free so I'm not worried about it yet.

Medium/Long term:
1. Pay off overdraft when interest kicks in.
2. Keep an eye on student loans - pay them off if interest is higher than that of savings accounts (UK student loans are weird).
3. House deposit.

[sapote]

Short term:
1) Get a roommate - DONE! My old roommate gave notice for the 10th, my new roommate's taking residence the 22nd (oh holy crap, that's Wednesday, I have to go clean things now). I hear you about the hesitancy - it's been nice to have privacy, and know that the only messes to be made are my messes. But that's a sixth of my income back!

Mid-term
1) In my no-roommate panic, I managed to live under my means pretty successfully this month. I'd like to continue that and treat his rent as credit card paying-off / emergency savings building-up money, minus $25 for the gym (water aerobics!) and $50 for a recurrent medical cost.

Long-term:
1) I used to have good electricity habits and now I'll regularly go for a walk and leave four incandescent lights on. I think the habit of having the laptop going all the time has inured me to other power-using equipment. Also, I need to convince my boyfriend about standby power - we haven't used some of his multimedia equipment in months, and it's been on standby that whole time.

[waywardcats]

Hi,

I have no idea if I have been approved for membership or not. In case not, I have read and understood the rules. FWIW I agree with them too. :)

[dorothean]

Hi! I just joined Dreamwidth today and found this community on rydra_wong's journal. I don't have any public posts yet (or private ones) but I will soon.

I'm trying to save as much as possible from my paycheck in order to finance (short term) some part-time college courses, and (long term) graduate school. I'm also trying to prepare financially for replacing my current, aging vehicle. I'm looking forward to getting some good tips from this community.

[kizzy]

Hi! I just joined -- I just realized I don't think I have any public entries, but my journal's been here for over a year. Does that count?

[kizzy]

Oh, and yes, I did read the rules and I agree with them :)

[karel]

Approved already, but I have read the rules and will certainly abide by them!

Short Term: Work enough to be able to pay all of the bills without grabbing more money out of savings! I have a part-time job that really amounts to "as long as you work [x piddly amount], you will keep your job." It's very demanding as far as willpower in order to work more than that, as I don't like the job very much, but the fact is that with my college class schedule, it's all that I can realistically get. I need to knuckle down and just do it, because I'll be able to get a less miserable job once I've got degrees.
Also, I need to get my out-of-control retail-therapy habits under control. Every time I'm the slightest upset, off I go to buy new clothes or junk food or a movie or anything else. The less money I spend on that, the more I have to furnish my condo!
Medium Term: Become financially independent of my parents. This is tough, as they really are not opposed to my taking their money and in fact encourage it. I feel like the fact is that I could be independent, and that would make me much happier, if more busy keeping myself that way.
Long Term: Build up a decent savings account. I have very little fallback for emergencies, aside from money that's refunded from my scholarships, and that's currently what I'm lazily living off of. I'd like to actually have a bit of a "nest egg" for the unexpected. My health, unexpected necessary travel? All of those things could easily happen, and I'm completely unprepared for it.