On with the case study. *cringed*
Life situation: single 34 one child. I claim zero deductions on taxes coming out of my check so more comes out. I had thought to live within my means monthly then this lump sum could be put towards paying down towards student loans and save. My mom does my taxes and finds ways to push me into spending every last cent of it. This past year that included lending her $2000, because she claimed she was behind on the mortgage. Then she got package after package from hsn.Back to case study.
I’ve read through both of your big posts a couple of times. Have you read it and thought about what it says about the toxic money relationship you have with your mom? Not only are you and your mom not bringing out the best in each other, you are modeling bad behavior for your young daughter. You can’t change the past or your mother’s attitude, but you CAN change your future and your daughter’s life by being strong and standing on your own, and showing your daughter how to live independently.
Gross wage- $1603.52 biweekly (includes employee benefit/company paid insurance-$181.90 and Ltd/std company pay in of $10.42) GET YOUR TAX DEDUCTIONS CHANGED RIGHT NOW. YOU NEED MONEY ON A MONTH TO MONTH BASIS TO PAY FOR BILLS, NOT A LUMP SUM THAT YOUR MOTHER CAN GET HER HANDS ON.
Deductions biweekly:
Roth-$80.16(company adds $64.14 and I am fully vested)
Insurance-$233.87 (includes health/dental/vision/std/Ltd- note company pays into gross to cover most of this)
Fsa-$38.46 ($1000 covers insurance deductible)
Dsa-$46.15 ($1200 should cover daughter's daycare for the year.first year I tried it. I heard getting reimbursement is a pain so daycare has the paperwork so I can start getting that money back or at least the largest chunk incase it's really bad.)
Taxes: Federal $164.02 state-$90.24 FiCA-$99.17
Adjusted Gross Income- $1704.58/mo
Expenses: $1,296.22/mo
Groceries-$500-600 (sometimes $100 of this is pizza Friday night/ this has reduced dramatically I used to spend almost my whole pay check to groceries literally every 2 weeks trying to keep peace. I finally put my foot down and put my mom on a budget for what I will spend. There is still a bunch of food spoilage and we have Tons of food in general.) SO, YOU ARE SPENDING THIS ON GROCERIES, BUT WHAT ARE YOU BUYING AND WHAT ARE YOU COOKING? WHY IS FOOD BEING THROWN AWAY? DO YOU PACK A LUNCH EVERY DAY FOR YOU/DAUGHTER? CAN YOU TRACK YOUR FOOD SPENDING FOR A MONTH AND SEE WHAT YOU ARE SPENDING, WHAT YOU ARE USING, AND HOW YOU CAN GET THAT DOWN?
Gas-$60 (I used to spend $15 but since my BF lives 36 minutes away that has increased, but we take turns on who comes to see who.)
Daycare-$100 PER WEEK OR PER MONTH?
Daughter's School Lunch-$50 WEEKLY OR MONTHLY?
Internet-$48 with taxes and fees (My mom had dial up.. I couldn't deal so I priced it and got her permission to have it put in. She now uses it for her work and complains it's slow, but it meets my needs.)
Cellphone- prepaid US cellular $53 with tax and fees (I wasn't spoken to then ranted at when I got a smartphone and my own plan. After going on the website and pricing it it appears my mom was severely overcharging for me using the family plan with a flip phone I could no longer get a battery for. I had to pay for a phone upfront, but I am now saving money every month.)
Daughter's insurance-$53( this is cheaper, because they don't have a single parent and child package. I would have to bump up to the family plan.)
Student Loans-$243
The following expenses are frivolity, but I don't want to give them up.
IF YOU WON’T GIVE ALL OF THEM UP, HOW ABOUT SOME OF THEM? CUT THE HULU AND THE SPOTIFY. SOUNDS LIKE YOU WATCH A LOT OF TELEVISION. HAVE YOU CONSIDERED SPENDING YOUR TIME READING SOME BOOKS ABOUT FRUGALITY, FINANCE, ETC? I GET THE NEED FOR THINGS TO LISTEN TO AT WORK. I PAY $0 A MONTH FOR AUDIO BOOKS FROM OUR LIBRARY. I LISTEN TO LOTS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOOKS: HISTORY, MYSTERY, ROMANCE, FANTASY, ETC. YOU COULD DOWNLOAD FREE PODCASTS AND LISTEN TO THEM. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN – THERE ARE FREE PODCASTS OUT THERE ABOUT EVERY HOBBY AND INTEREST I CAN THINK OF, AND A LOT I CAN’T BEGIN TO IMAGINE.
THE LIBRARY IS THE FRUGAL PERSON’S FRIEND. OURS HAS FREE MUSIC CDS, FREE DVDS, AUDIO BOOKS, DOWNLOADABLE BOOKS, AND REGULAR OLD BOOK-BOOKS.
Date night/lunches-$100 (My BF and I pretty much Dutch when we go out which is usually 1-2 lunches a week and every other weekend dinner or activity. Since we have gotten more serious we have gone out with the kids and when it's just us instead of movies out its now netflix on the couch at his house lol.)
Netflix- $11.99
Hulu-$11.99
Spotify-$9.99 - to me it's worth it instead of Pandora. I can download playlists from their huge bank of music while on WiFi then I can listen for 8hours at work. I don't have to buy music from iTunes or use all my data up steaming Pandora.)
Amazon Prime-$8.25
Misc.- $50 ( daughter gets hers cut every 6 weeks/ mine they are lucky to see me every 3 months)
(I pay car insurance of $500 by the year with money I keep from my income taxes, so I don't pay the installment fees.)
IF YOU GOT SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR SMALL LOANS, YOU COULD PAY THEM OFF EARLY. CAN YOU PRE-PAY? NOT KIDDING. FIND AN EXTRA $90 IN YOUR BUDGET (GIVING UP SOME OF YOUR EXTRAS) AND DOUBLE UP ON THOSE PAYMENTS.
Liabilities:$21,935.70
Student loan1-$3,948.81 @6.75% fixed $40.67/mo for 142mo
Student loan2-$14,798.78 @6.75% fixed $152.41/mo for 142 mo
Student loan3 -$3,188.11 @3.5% fixed $50/mo for 78mo
Assets:
Roth- $14,157.67
Local Bank- $50 (rates .1%if you have more than $100-$5k)
Bank 2 -$500 (rates 1%/ had $3k before I mentioned a car ended up with $0 now I am building it back up)
2000 Hyundai elantra ( I am the second owner but I bought it at the end of 2000 for $7k... car prices, gas mileage, and all the major recalls makes me go eeek/ blue book mint $900 - most assuredly isn't mint.. I would be lucky to get $200 out of it.)
Credit: (I just recently talked myself into credit cards. I have never had them, because I had this feeling they were evil due to so many abusing them. I carry no balance on either card and there's no annual fee.)
Amazon Store Card-$800 limit - 5% back on Amazon as cash credit on statement for Prime members ( Added with the Subscribe & save program where 5 items gets you 15% off and free shipping that's 20%off)
Amazon Rewards Card-$2000 limit -3% on Amazon, 2% restaurants/gas,1% everything else given as points 100=$1 on Amazon.
I’D BE CAREFUL WITH AMAZON CARDS. IT IS SO EASY TO GET SUCKED INTO SPENDING LIKE A MADWOMAN, TELLING YOURSELF, “I’M ACTUALLY SAVING MONEY BY USING THESE CARDS AND GETTING CASH BACK.” WELL, ACTUALLY, YOU SAVE MONEY BY NOT SPENDING MONEY!
ARE YOU CAREFUL ABOUT NOT RUNNING TO THE STORE FOR THIS THING AND THAT? BUNDLING YOUR ERRANDS AND NOT JUST DRIVING AROUND WILL HELP YOU SAVE GAS.
YOU NEED TO GET OUT ON YOUR OWN. YOU AND YOUR MOM SOUND PRETTY TOXIC TOGETHER. NOT SAYING THAT SHE’S BAD OR YOU ARE…JUST THAT TWO GROWN WOMEN LIVING TOGETHER ISN’T ALWAYS POSSIBLE, WHEN ONE OF THEM CHANGED THE OTHER’S DIAPER. OUR PARENTS OFTEN HAVE A PROBLEM LETTING US BE GROWNUPS. YOU ALSO SOUND LIKE YOU HAVE SOME TROUBLE SAYING NO TO HER, OR YOU LET HER GUILT YOU INTO THINGS. RUN THE NUMBERS ON BUYING A HOUSE OR RENTING (I’D PERSONALLY GO FOR RENTING), BUT GET YOUR STUFF TOGETHER AND MOVE, SOONER, RATHER THAN LATER.