YOU KNOW WALK THE EARTH… MEET PEOPLE… GET INTO ADVENTURES

Before I graduated, the only thing that really caused me stress in life was school work. Otherwise, I was pretty happy with my life. Now that I’ve graduated and have a full-time job, the only thing that causes me stress is figuring out where I’m going to live in September.

Actually, that’s not the only thing that’s causing me stress. Now I’m also wondering if I can actually afford to live elsewhere in September since I have to start paying off my student loans. I’m going to see this apartment tomorrow night. It’s in a nice location and the building has just gone through renovations and upgrades. It seems very impressive and the people who are running the place have been courteous and professional the entire time I’ve talked with them. As far as the building itself goes, I’m getting a really good vibe from it.

However, I took the weekend to do some really grown-up things like taking a hard look at my finances. I went online and downloaded all my bank transactions for my primary account from January on. I put all the data into a spreadsheet, separating it into months. Man, I was spending money like crazy some months. It was all very irresponsible from a financial point of view.

The point of this was to see what my spending patterns were like to keep me in a relatively happy lifestyle. I then made a budget of what I’d be spending each month if I did move into this new place. I discovered that it’s my loans payments that causing some trouble. If I didn’t have to shell out $450 a month to pay off my debts I’d be fine. That’s not my minimum required payment but that’s the amount I think I should be paying. I could pay less, but I wind up giving the bank more in the end because of the interest. Isn’t it a rule where you’re supposed to pay off your loans as fast as reasonably possible?

Anyways, according to my best calculations if I stick to my own monthly repayment amount, each month I’d have about $1000 left over for food, entertainment, clothes, doctor/dentist, sundries, paper towels, and miscellaneous items. That works out to be around $250 a week. Can I live on $250 a week? I guess I could. I’ve look at some random seven days periods during the last two months. Some weeks I’m under that amount, but others I’m over.

Here’s something to think about: I’m eating most of my dinners at SJC still which costs me about $5 a meal which is a great deal. If I move to this new place, I either spend more on dinner each night or try to eat for the same amount (which I think an idiot like me won’t be able to do). Even if I keep my budget to $250 a week, that would mean every dollar I make a month would be accounted for. Nothing would get saved. Aren’t you supposed to save even a little bit of money each month just in case of rainy day?

I’m getting tired, I report back when I see the place tomorrow.

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