I’ve read through MMM’s blog, and really taken all of it to heart over the last few months, but I’m unsure where to focus now. Here’s a lot of information, rambling, and long…
I’m 26 years old. No current debt, but rebuilding my credit from the ashes of my early 20's. I had old bills go to collections, but I've paid them all off over the last two years. I moved my money a few months ago to a great local CU with a much better checking/savings interest than the big bank I had been banking with.
I only gross $30k a year at a technical manual labor job with no promotion potential. I receive dental/medical insurance coverage through my employer. I live with my partner of two years, and we've arranged that I pay all the groceries for the month plus $200 in rent. (He makes significantly more income.) For the two of us I average $300 total a month in groceries. We prefer to keep accounts separate for the foreseeable future, and I agree to pay a proportional amount of unusual expenses, such as travel or large household purchases.
I picked up a library card a few months ago, and then sold off about half my books. I’ve checked out dozens of cookbooks with a focus on greens and beans. I scan through each cookbook and choose a few recipes I find interesting, then take a digital picture of the recipe and file it away on my computer. I plan to use the library benefit of 75 free b&w print pages per week to create my own notebook of recipes. We’re going to switch to mostly bean/lentil/rice/egg protein for 2013, to see how low we can reduce our grocery bill.
I’ve been paying insurance on my old car for the last year, but I find that I only drive at most 2 days/week and usually for trips I could otherwise be taking on public transit. My low credit score has heavily affected my auto insurance premium, and I currently pay $1600/year. I already pay $44/month for an unlimited bus pass through work, which I use it to bus to work 5 days a week.
I'm planning to cancel my auto insurance in February, sell my old car, and use Zipcar for any driving that I can't use my partners' car for. I would have switched to Zipcar earlier, but we currently live too far away from any Zipcar locations. In January we move closer to my work, and into a more urban area, which puts me very close to a few Zipcar pick-up lots.
After I drop my auto insurance in February, my monthly expenses will look like this:
$1975 (monthly income)
-$200 (rent)
-$300 (groceries)
-$30 (cell phone plan)
-$44 (work transit pass)
-$55 (estimating 2 3hr Zipcar trips/month)
-$35 (dog food)
- about $60 in incidentals (lunch w/ friend, seeing a concert, ferry ticket)
= ~$1250 to savings each month
I don’t have much in savings right now, only about $3500, as I’ve only recently really tightened down on stupid purchases (eating out for lunch, buying coffee at work, drinking soda). But, my savings is growing and I don’t know what to do with it at this small of a scale. Is there anything I could be doing with this tiny stash?
I’m considering going back to school to finish a bachelor’s degree, as I only have an associate’s so far. At the earliest this could happen Fall 2013, but I’m not sure if I could float it that soon with savings + part-time work + financial aid. I feel like if I went towards the career that I think would make me happy, I’d be looking at becoming a Licensed Therapist. The best available option in my area for graduate school has an estimated cost (w/o considering financial aid) of $46k total for their program. I don’t know what I would be looking at income-wise after that, and I'm wary of such a large student loan (never having had one before). Any advice?
I’m also looking to develop a side-job to increase my income. Currently considering pet sitting/walking and creating art to sell at local art fairs, or to sell through Etsy. Does anyone have experience with this?
Am I on the right track? Any suggestions for other ways to move forward?