~ Ongoing updates to this story can now be found in my journal. Most of the info here is a bit out of date. :) ~ .
.
.
.
My life is basically a dumpster fire right now.
I actually found MMM after Googling "how to make money selling soap on Etsy" or something like that, because I am bored to tears with my entire current life situation, and I have a sudden and desperate interest in having offspring and doing some kind of fun, plant-based work-from-home kind of work instead of my office job. Complicating factors to achieving ANY of that include the fact that I am currently on my way OUT of a marriage (though we are great friends, he and I now disagree on having kids) and am kinda considering eventually doing the kid thing on my own since age (36) and impending singleness are a factor.
I currently share a one-bedroom apartment with my husband, but our lease is up come June, and I'll be trying to find a roommate situation or studio/efficiency apartment. I've been very financially stupid for a very long time and in the past few months have been trying to spruce up my frugality—I only discovered MMM last week and read the entire thing. These stats are based on my current Mint budget
Life Situation: IRS filing status - Currently married filing separate, expecting to be single next year
Number & ages of dependents - 0
State/country of residence - Los Angeles, CA; though my job is based here, I am not opposed to moving somewhere cheaper, up to and including in with relatives back East
Age - 36
Gross Salary/Wages: $1923.07 every other week
Individual amounts of each Pre-tax deductions: - Just 20.35 for the cheapest health insurance offered. My company is small and doesn't offer 401k
Other Ordinary Income:
- I get a fluctuating amount of royalties from books I've written twice per year (historically $800–$2800)
- I have a temporary side hustle writing some blog posts for a friend ($300–$375 per month), which I don't expect to last longer than a year because they rotate bloggers
- I get paid $5/mo in Amazon credit for doing a 10-minute longitudinal survey
- While not "ordinary," once in a while I'll get a windfall like getting paid $500 for a photo shoot, or $20 from a gig with my band, or $800 for a yearly bonus at work
Adjusted Gross Income: - It's hard to say...? To be conservative, maybe leave off the "other income"?
- My dependable take-home per month is about $2822, with two months having an "extra" paycheck.
Taxes: Federal - $200.48/paycheck
State/local - $89.15/paycheck
FICA - $147.11/paycheck
Current expenses, monthly: I'll put after the slash what I expect them to be when I move back out on my own...
My half rent/water/trash - $808 (one-bedroom apt) / $800 (room for rent, if findable) – $1200 (tiny studio apartment)
My portion of car payment (2015 Ford Fiesta hatchback) - $50 / $0*
Car insurance (non-owner policy) - $54
Gasoline - $20
Lyft (due to shared car) - $30 / ??
Utilities (gas/electric, my half) - $59 / I expect this to actually go down because I use way less energy than he does
Cell - $50 (pre-paid 5GB-before slowdown unlimited talk/text/data plan through Straight Talk on an iPhone 6)
Band Costs - $24 (my portion of the hourly practice space rental, website costs, and data storage)
Personal Data - $2 (Google Drive)
Food & Dining** - $145–200
Therapy - $110 / $0 (this was marriage counseling that will be no longer a factor)
Yoga (via Groupons and coupons) - $15–33 (willing to consider free internet yoga, but I do it with a friend and it's motivating for both of us to do it that way)
Renter's Insurance (my half, required by current lease) - $9 / $0
Personal Care*** (vitamins, toiletries) - $6–40
Pet Costs**** (2 house rabbits, 2 cats) - $70 / $50
Music (Pandora & Family Spotify) - $20 (I pay the whole Spotify in exchange for access to their Netflix)
Gifts - $0–$300 historically, trying to trim that down but I'm more generous to others than I am to myself
Other - I put $20 on a public transit card every few months
*My portion of the payment is so low because I put the lion's share down. Come September, we were supposed to even out to both paying $89, but I intend to suggest to him, since we're still friendly, that he can keep the whole thing if he continues to pay for it and let me borrow it occasionally for hiking and educational day trips to make up for my equity. The hatchback part is super important because we are in a band together and use it to haul gear.
**Mostly medium-fancy pescetarian groceries such as organic veggies, tofu, frozen seafood, and dairy; occasional cheap tacos under $5
***I am already a super low-maintenance person who does not shower very often and uses a diva cup. The rare $40 months are a touch up for my laser hair removal (approx. every 3 months) which saves on razors and shower time, and makes biking tolerable for me.
****Hoping to get the dude to take custody of the rabbits when we part ways. Yes, I know I am too poor for pets, but I am very emotionally attached to the cats, and I didn't know till last week that I was too poor.
Assets: I'm not much of a "stuff collector"
- I have four cheap-range musical instruments (a 4-string bass, a 5-string bass, a 6-string guitar, and a clarinet). I mostly play the 4-string but tend to noodle on the others occasionally to improve my skills.
- Medium-sized circa 2015 flat-screen TV, not currently used much but I'll use it to cast Netflix (which I share a friend's account for free) when I'm in my own place
- 2012 MacBook Pro upgraded in 2014 with 1TB SSD and extra RAM, useful for working from home. I do most of the work on it myself except once when there was a spill.
Liabilities:- Back Taxes (2013/2014) - Balance was $4,589 in March of 2017. I've been paying $100/mo on it since and need to re-check the balance now. I expect any refund I might be due to be gobbled up by that like it was previously.
- Student Loan #1 - $10,000 / 3.25% /$10,597.16 / 10 yrs / $110 (this loan is not federal and my mom co-signed in 2003)
- Student Loans #2 & #3 - I actually don't know what they started at, as I consolidated / 5.62% / $66,401 / IBR payments / $271 (the non IBR amount would be $722, but I didn't think that was possible until reading MMM; IBR is scheduled to go up to $358 in July due to a raise last year)
- Bank Line of Credit - $454 / 21.90% / min is $25 but I'm paying this off completely with my next couple paychecks due to MMM principles
- CC #1 - $10,596 / 14.24% / $244 min
- CC #2 - $6,921 / 12.99% / $152 min
- CC #3 - $2,275 / 12.74% / $47 min
- CC #4 - $2,473 / 11.15% / $50 min
A few notes about the positive stuff I'm already doing as of relatively recently:
- I live less than 5 miles from work and bike in any case other than illness/injury, even in the rain with special rain gear; I would keep up this habit after the move, as I value my biking
- I almost always do store errands on foot and buy food supplies only for every couple of days
- I shop for clothes VERY rarely, and either at Goodwill or at Target if Goodwill doesn't have the exact thing I need; I take a lot of hand-me-downs from a fashionable, easily bored friend
- I buy shoes only when my existing ones in that category wear out (have been using the same workout shoes since 2007 and make a pair of high-end boots function as work/rockin'/hiking shoes all in one). I don't even wear heels, much less collect them...
- Most household supplies come from the dollar store
- I've stopped dyeing my hair recently and have cut it myself for years
- I've always been a big DIY proponent and tend to try to fix my own stuff rather than replace it (in the past, this has led me to learn how to install car stereos, replace blower fans and hoses, do my own bike maintenance and computer upgrades, sew, and more, including my last phone dying in a fireball because I tried to replace the battery myself—lesson learned there)
- I rarely drink anymore unless it's free; my friends are often happy to provide me with booze in return for my company
- I mostly use the public library's e-book collection for books, though I occasionally do succumb and buy a hard copy (usually used)
- I wait till someone has given me a gift card to top off my supply of fancy makeup, and have been using it less and less lately anyway
- Long before I discovered MMM, I have been low-maintenance about laundry, showers, nails, perfume, etc.
A few notes about my weaknesses:
- Travel. I get a lot of offers from friends to crash or that they'll pay for everything but my plane ticket, so I totally overspend on plane tickets. My yearly holiday (read: pricey air-fare) trip to see my family and watch my nephews grow feels non-optional to me, but I'm willing to cut most/(all?) of the rest of it out.
- Classes. I have a habit of dropping $20–$50 occasionally on classes to learn more about plants, like instructional hiking tours, etc. I have been supplementing those with some free volunteering and free stuff, but the paid instruction has taught me so much more that I still crave more.
- Admission. Once every few months, I buy concert tickets, and once per year, I go to the Ren Fair (sneaking in my own mead under my floofy skirt).
- Windfalls. Up until VERY recently, every time I got a windfall, I immediately decided it was an excuse to live like a "regular person" until it ran out, including sushi, movie tickets, drinking benders, gifts plane fare, etc... A lot of this is also in the form of generosity, as I feel bad usually being broke and want to "pay back" friends who have bought me meals, drinks, lodging, and nice gifts when I haven't been able to afford it.
Additional comments:
- Though I moved back here for work and increased pay and responsibility, my job has previously let me work remotely for a couple of years, and I believe there's a possibility they might let me do that again. It might be in exchange for a pay cut and/or going back to 1099, but that might make sense, depending on WHERE I go.
- I believe I am currently UNDERPAID for my job, and I am DEFINITELY pinched by the constraints of only 10 paid days off per year. But I'm not sure I want to try to find another job doing the same thing, as I am already bored with the work and at least like the people here and have some loyalty. I also just got a $5k raise less than a year ago, so I'm not sure how soon I can ask for more...
- Though I never, ever pay late, I have a bad credit score just due to my available credit ratio. Literally all the credit-score analysis sites I've visited say "excellent" in every measure but this one. So I don't qualify right now for any personal loans or lower interest-rate cards. It's super frustrating, because I know that the only thing standing between me and 800+ is my balances. Any tips on finding a way to transfer my debt in this situation would be very helpful. Otherwise I guess I just pay down till it DOES go up on its own, then try again...
- My main use of the car is for reaching nature locations for hiking and plant classes. I've discovered a bus route that takes me into the foothills of the mountains, so this may scratch that itch.
Specific Question(s):- Obviously not at this very moment, but is it possible for me to be able to crawl out of debt quick enough to afford a child or two, possibly on my own (via sperm donor), before it's no longer a thing I can physically do? It's important to me, especially since I am ending my marriage over it.
- What kind of capital and safety net would I need to have to transition from a 9-to-5 that I used to love but now bores me, to a home-based entrepreneur job as a maker? That's the dream for me at this point—not yet to retire, but to do work I love, from home, indefinitely, while I raise a child.
I know I have a debt emergency. The best places I can see to trim fat are these
- Try to find the cheapest roommate situation that will also house my bike and cats; if none available, get cheapest roach-hole efficiency and a hot plate.
- Replace class yoga with internet yoga and chalk the diminished social time up to a cost of having been stupid
- Stop ever using Lyft or borrowing the car (so as not to replace gas)
- Cut out the cheap tacos out and replace with cheaper tacos at home
- Add more rice and beans to the diet, and less organic veggies and frozen seafood
- Cut out all non-family air travel
- Sell my TV and watch Netflix on my laptop alone; go to friends' houses if they want to watch together
- Stop taking plant classes and focus on learning all I can from the books I've already purchased; make additional books known to be my gift preference from here on out instead of more makeup
- I could stop attending concerts until at least my CC debt is paid off, unless the ticket is a gift.
- Feel out my boss on the remote working situation for a few years, and move to a cheaper area and/or move in with my (also recently single) mom back East), therefore also cutting out air travel
Sorry that's all so long! Any help appreciated! :)