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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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Now that you all know what this blog is about and who I am, I guess I should lay out what my starting point is. You already know that I don't make much money, have no real bills, but may have a bit of an online shopping problem (particularly when it comes to clothes). But how much do I actually earn, save, and spend? I'm choosing to use July 1st as the first day of the rest of my life, so let's look at what I had at the start of the month.
July 2018 Starting Funds
Checking: $200.00
Savings: $5833.43
Cash: $1200.76
Gift Cards: $468.20
401(K): $363.08
Obviously, the assorted gift cards aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. But they're part of my meager stash, so I included them. The main focus here is my Savings account and to a lesser extent my Checking and Cash.
I don't know enough about 401(K) to make any comments on that, but in writing up this post I realized that I had it set up incorrectly. My employer matches up to 4%, so I thought I was suppose to set my contribution to 8% (thinking we both give 4%; it's worded weirdly when you enroll). Well, that's not the case! I was wondering why so much was being taken out of my checks and why my contribution was twice as high as my employer match! Now I know! Maybe I should have left it alone, because I was doing fine. But I'd rather have that extra 4% right now for my immediate goals. I can consider upping it once I get there and learn more about all of this.
Anyway...
Checking
I've always kept a small sum in this account just in case I need to use my debit card. That rarely happens, but it does. If for some odd reason I'd need more than $200, my bank automatically moves money from my Savings account.
Cash
I definitely have more cash on hand right now than I normally would. I actually don't even carry cash with me. My wallet only contains my debit card and my two Visas (both with $0 balance!). So, why in the world do I have $1,200? Tattoo parlors only take cash. I'm in the middle of a fairly large tattoo, so I needed to withdraw a hefty amount of cash. I know this completely goes against my goal of saving more, but this was started before I 100% committed. And I'm certainly not going to let my beautiful sleeve go unfinished.
When all is said and done, I'll be keep the extra cash on hand to pay for my monthly bus passes, which are also cash only.
Savings
Now to the real money! I like to think that I have a fairly decent sum of savings. I know for sure that I have a lot more than a lot of people. This is my starting point towards financial freedom! Like I said before, I should be investing this in order to earn higher returns. But I'm in debt! I need to pay that off as soon as possible according to the wise Mr. Money Mustache. The sooner I pay it off, the sooner the real saving can begin.
Anticipated July Expenses
Tattoo: I already mentioned this one. I'm not sure how much I'll still owe on this, but I'm guestimating somewhere around $600.
Dentist Copay: I actually have this appointment tomorrow. I'm ashamed to say that I don't know what my copay is, but I'll find out!
Bus Pass: $40 for unlimited bus rides in August. I get a hefty discount through my employer (original price is $93.50).
That should be all. At least that's all I have in mind. You'll notice that there's no rent up there. That's because I've already paid for the rest of the year and the entirety of 2019. I'm sure that seems strange, but my mom wanted to pay down some of her own debts so she collected early. I'd have more in my savings otherwise, but then again, I'd also have higher expenses. Now I really can save most of my paychecks!
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