Photo by neONBRAND via Unsplash.com
Hey Team,
I have to admit that I felt very reluctant to write this post for a number of reasons. Firstly, I decided to entirely pause contributions to my 457 in favor of saving for some midterm goals. For some reason, I feel guilty about this. I think it’s because I’m missing out on the power of compound interest, but also that it’s not a very personal-finance-blogger thing to do. I wasn’t contributing much to begin with while I was getting out of debt, so it’s not like I was being an amazing example anyway. But it feels a bit like giving up.
But that’s why I’m in this space to begin with. I have no special gift, other than the motivation to be financially independent and the self-teaching I have done in favor of reaching this goal. I don’t have a fiscally responsible family to learn from, an amazing income, an extreme level of will power, or a formal financial education. I’m figuring it out and making decisions that work for me.
So here’s the change in income:
This income change has given me about $100/month more to work with for the next two months I have of receiving paychecks from my teaching position. It’s not a lot, but it’l make a huge difference when I’m living off of less than my typical income during the summer. I’m also babysitting once this month, so I determined a low estimate of what I should be paid.
As you can see, I have a lot of midterm goals I’m saving for right now, including the new addition of a laptop to replace my current one. I’m also upping contributions to my travel fund in order to reach the budget amount my friends and I determined for our trip to Iceland in July/August.
As you can see, my housing, gas, and insurance are the same as usual.
As for food, I decided last month to increase my grocery budget to $150, but I found that if I plan well, $125 is more than enough for my personal grocery budget. My restaurant & bars budget will remain the same for May.
My subscriptions are the same as always, and I’m keeping my miscellaneous fund at $80. I’m also putting aside $80 this month for a wine festival 🙂
Looking at the totals, it’s clear that I’m still living on much less than I make, putting aside 59% to savings. However, these midterm savings represent money that I expect to spend in the near future, so I’m not exactly patting myself on the back for these savings. At the same time, though, I’m satisfied with my choices based on my circumstances right now.
Teachers Talk Money 
Hi Rachel,
Thank you for talking so honestly and openly about money.
As many people, I was raised in an environment in which talking about money was a huge taboo, even asking about how much a friend was making or paying for rent was considered rude.
I’m learning my way to a better relationship with money, and is good to have you as an example.
May I ask, what app/software do you use for this budgeting? It looks very neat. =)
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Larissa,
I can completely relate– money was not an acceptable point of conversation in my family at all. I still feel wrong asking about it sometimes, but I have found that many people are relieved or even excited to talk about it because their families/friends were the same way growing up and they are eager to share and learn.
I use EveryDollar– it’s an app for your phone but also has a website version that I enjoy.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Rachel
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