I started this blog to share my experiences with my fellow Pokèmon trainers and others. One of my experiences is receiving a monthly bill where the total amount due is $0.00. It may seem sillier than a mime jr. tickling a hydreigon, but I have been in those occasional situations. (both of them) To clarify, I’m talking about monthly bills that I knew I would be receiving more in the future. I’m not talking about that letter saying that I finished paying something off and no longer owe money. My rule for these situations has become that I need to pay at least $1.
0 Comments
Budgets are like pokémon. They are great tools to help us through our journey and reach our goals. This four-part series takes a look at my budgeting history and my journey to finding my current budget. In Part One I shared my experiences of how my budgeting developed over the decade before moving to New York City. In part two, I look at the challenging battles from my first year living in New York City and my close wins and loses. Moving to New York City was the beginning of a new game generation of my life and my first year was really exciting and had a lot of wins. I made a whole new batch of friends. I fell in love with my now fiance. It was my first year out of school where I got to put my master’s degree into practice and live life as a grown-up. I worked 11 out of 12 months shopping, assisting and designing. I designed costumes for a total of eight shows and assisted a costume designer on a Broadway show. My budget was fighting an eventually losing battle. I knew moving to a very expensive city and I would have to adjust my lifestyle for a higher cost of living. However, my budget wasn’t able to adjust and evolve fast enough to counter the challenges that were to come. When I started my budget, it gave me a weekly $20 food allowance. This is cash that I can only use for food and groceries. Once it is gone, it is gone. If I run out but have other money available I can use that, but I have to decide whether or not I want to use that money on more food or save it to use on something else. Over the years my food allowance has fluctuated as high as $30/ week. Currently, it is sitting at $25/week. I have developed a bunch of strategies and tips that help me stay within budget each week. Welcome to February which means that it’s time for January’s Review and Net Worth Update. For those who are new to The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer, each month I write a financial review to xatu my net worth. Here I share these summaries so everyone can get an insight into my personal finances and my thoughts behind them. I started tracking my net worth to measure my progress, inspired by Budgets Are Sexy, which has naturally helped me pay better attention to my personal finances. I have been tracking my net worth since January 2015 and writing monthly financial reviews for myself since 2016. I recommend tracking your own net worth because I find it to be such a helpful tool to see everything all in one place. |
Bag Pockets
All
Blog
|