Hello all... long time lurker, first time poster
I stumbled across the MMM blog a while back, and I've read it daily. At the same time, I've watched my financial situation literally crumble (of my own doing). I'll start from the top.
Several months ago, my budget (or lack there of) was literally eating every dime that I was earning. No savings (literally 0!), and living way beyond my means was a real recipe for disaster. Heres a snap shot of how I was living at the time:
Rent $1200
Power $225 (4Bdr, 3Bth, 2 people and a dog. I know, ridiculous)
Water $35
Cable $120 included internet
Phone $185 (2 phones, one for me and my son)
Truck $585 at 22%!!! I have bad credit, much through bad choices, like the ones above
Car $262
Insur $128 Full coverage on the truck, GF paid the insurance on the car
Totaling $2740
Monthly income: $736 / wk = $2944
Surplus $204, which was stretched to the max to feed the two of us and the dog. No room for ANY issue. This a prime example of living beyond your means. Sad but true. I knew that changes HAD to be made, but was in no position to make them. I couldn't put the money together to downgrade a car or to move. I felt suffocated and trapped.
In July, the girlfriend and I parted ways, and without her small income to help along, my situation fell apart. I met another woman in August, who has a much more "grounded" outlook on life than I've had. Together, we've corrected my spending habits. With a little help from her, I've been able to perform a wicked fast corrective 180.
After painfully admitting my situation, the new GF offered to make a small loan to me to help out of this situation. We made a plan, wrote a few checks, and made some massive changes in a week. Literally, all of the changes below were made in a week.
Rent $655 -dropped the large house, and rented a 1 bedroom apartment closer to my job
Power $40 - the small apartment is much cheaper to power
Water $0 - included in the rent
Cable $60 - cable is included in the rent, but I retained my internet
Phone $185 - no change. one phone still on contract, but I have an Airvoice card for the other. Need to activate it.
Truck $0 - Sold the truck at payoff. Purchased a small, older truck for commuting
Car $0 - Old GF took the car, and the payment
Insur $26 - liability on the older truck
Totaling $966
Total borrowed from the new girlfriend: $2700 (Currently paying $500/mnth on it). She covered all moving expenses, including deposit, moving truck, power deposit, etc. Also, the older truck that I'm currently driving was purchased by her and loaned to me until January when I can buy my own vehicle or buy this one from her. It was an eye opener that as little as $3000 could make such a HUGE impact on my life.
Kinks in the plan:
-shortly after moving, I lost my job (that I was at for 5 years) I landed another job the same week. The commute is 25 minutes to the new job, but the pay is better.
Total income $4800/ mnth
Total bills $966
Surplus $3834
Monthly income: $736 / wk = $2944
I've still got some work to do, and I'm working to pay back the borrowed money. I'm planning to be able to SAVE $2500 / month after all this is cleared up.
Thoughts?????
