I hate Finances
Mar. 17th, 2007 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksSo I've been back here in Monterey for three months now. And things have been alright. Finances are annoying. It doesn't help that we're paid every two weeks; we don't have a set time durring the month when we get paid. Sometimes I'll get paid on the 1st and 14th, or on the 14th and 28th, or just about any combination in between. It probably doesn't fluctuate quite that much, but it's significant, and I've found my paycheck to be several days late relative to my bills several times, and at least a couple times it's been as much as a week late. This period is one of those times: I'm effectively broke until next Friday.
I say effectively because I do have a significant amount of money in savings. My mom is quick to note that, at my age, dad had a wife, too kids, they were living in an apartment in San Diego and living paycheck-to-paycheck, without anything to speak of in savings. I'm single, no kids, living in a room in a house, with almost a month's pay in the bank. So I'm doing alright.
But I still don't like messing up my finances, and this month I really have. I've had to dig $700 into my savings this month because the money wasn't there when the bills came, and I can't quite recoup that and finish paying my bills even when my next paycheck comes. My first paycheck in April comes on the 7th, and if I watch myself I think I can right my accounts shortly thereafter, but I don't like it. It's frustrating. I can't stand feeling disappointed in myself.
My friend Laurel sat down with me this afternoon and we went over what I get paid, what I HAVE to pay out, and what I'm left with to do as I will. She used a preset Excel template and we covered all the bases; the 'money paid to myself' in lower than I'd like, but a few of the entertainment and luxury bits she put in are higher than I think I ever spend. I'm gonna go around with a notebook through April and keep track of where my money's going and adjust my budget respectively. I really think that, when I started in January with my very informal budget, I forgot significant bits; like, hundreds of dolors of bills I have to pay each month. Sloppiness on my part, but it would explain why my finances are broken right now. That it took three months to crop up just says how flexible my banking can be, I guess.
I hate finances.
I say effectively because I do have a significant amount of money in savings. My mom is quick to note that, at my age, dad had a wife, too kids, they were living in an apartment in San Diego and living paycheck-to-paycheck, without anything to speak of in savings. I'm single, no kids, living in a room in a house, with almost a month's pay in the bank. So I'm doing alright.
But I still don't like messing up my finances, and this month I really have. I've had to dig $700 into my savings this month because the money wasn't there when the bills came, and I can't quite recoup that and finish paying my bills even when my next paycheck comes. My first paycheck in April comes on the 7th, and if I watch myself I think I can right my accounts shortly thereafter, but I don't like it. It's frustrating. I can't stand feeling disappointed in myself.
My friend Laurel sat down with me this afternoon and we went over what I get paid, what I HAVE to pay out, and what I'm left with to do as I will. She used a preset Excel template and we covered all the bases; the 'money paid to myself' in lower than I'd like, but a few of the entertainment and luxury bits she put in are higher than I think I ever spend. I'm gonna go around with a notebook through April and keep track of where my money's going and adjust my budget respectively. I really think that, when I started in January with my very informal budget, I forgot significant bits; like, hundreds of dolors of bills I have to pay each month. Sloppiness on my part, but it would explain why my finances are broken right now. That it took three months to crop up just says how flexible my banking can be, I guess.
I hate finances.
