Still Looking For A Job
So I am still looking for a job and it is harder than I thought. I have joined a number of job boards and posted my resume in a few different places. I got referrals from people who thought there might be openings but all I was told is they will keep my resume on file.
I have gotten a TON of rejections and they mainly stem from two major issues:
-I am overqualified
-I lack experience
Why Aren’t You Buying A House Instead Of A Car
I recently had a conversation with a friend who asked why I was buying a Lexus instead of saving up to buy a house. I had never really thought about that but it did trigger a set of emotions in me. I do have a fund in my ING account called Car Fund where I am currently putting in the amount that I used to pay on the car loan before I get debt free. I have been thinking about getting this Lexus for a long time and it has been one of my biggest dreams as well.
img from pensionriskmatters.com
My Sinking Fund Accounts
A Sinking Fund account is one where you put money into a savings account to pay for future expenses. I did not know that was what they were called, even though I have been using sinking fund accounts for a long time now.
I still question the use of the word ‘sinking’ because the money is actually growing until you decide to use it but there must be some explanation that I am too lazy to look for right now.
Here are the various sinking fund accounts that I use:
Splurge Fund
Facing A Reduction In Force (RIF)
There is a lot of turmoil in the world of education now as school districts are forced to cut spending. One of the ways they have decided to do this is to enact a Reduction In Force or RIF whereby teachers are simply told there is no longer a job for them in the upcoming year. This is similar to a regular company performing layoffs, it just has a different terminology.
Emergency Fund/Car Fund Alert: New Windshield
So recently the weather has been just TERRIBLE and we had lots of ice everywhere. After the ice melted I noticed that I had a very long crack running across the driver’s side of my windshield.
Tracking My Finances In June: Day 16
Welcome to How I Save Money and tracking of income and expenses for the month.
Income for the month to date: $31.24
Expenses for the month to date: $1750.03
Net effect: -$1718.79
According to my Excel spreadsheet I have already paid off all the regular monthly bills except the bill for the LASIK which does not come until the end of the month. I am not paying this bill early because it is at 0% interest for the next three years so there is no incentive to get rid of it while I still have debt that actually carries an interest rate.
How I Save Money Montly Update: May 2008
I just realized that it has been a while since I last posted my Monthly Update here. I have been working on the daily summary but I neglected to provide the monthly round up with all the details.
In May I did come out ahead after my salary came in on the last day of the month. Amt Spent/Budget is listed below
Areas over Budget:
Clothes $51.94/$30 I ended up buying a complete outfit for graduation that I had not planned on, going $21.94 over my budget.
Baz over Budget
Here at How I Save Money I use a budget. I recently read a post that said Why You Do Not Want A Budget . I think this is one of the worst pieces of advice you can ever give someone, especially if they have debt.
This is honestly a rather disturbing article to me because it states that your finances will take care of themselves without any interference on your part . Now while I agree that there comes a point where your finances will be automatic you will still need to check up on things every once in a while to make sure that everything is running smoothly. You will need to do this in cases where you get a bonus or need to make an extra payment on something.
Baz from Life Of Baz actually has a budget and uses it..until the one time it failed him. He got so dependent on technology to track his finances that he never noticed that Money was not alerting him that he was over budget. Since he was not getting the red flags he assumed that he was right on track.
He looked under his budget today and noticed that he was actually over his budget on many items . Now this was not a big deal because he has discretionary income that can cover the excesses and he does not have to dip into savings or go into debt.
If he was in a situation where he did not have this free cash flow or an emergency fund then he would really have a problem. He would have been over his budget and might have to incur debt to cover his daily living expenses. Having a budget keeps you on track to know what you have coming in and what you are spending so that you can manage your money better.
His budget showed him that he was overspending on some areas that he could really cut back on and it also showed him areas where he was saving money so that he could use that savings to get the things he really wanted.
A budget does not mean that you are in a financial straight jacket but it does mean that you can monitor what you are doing so you can see that you spent $250 on dining out in one month….which is bad when you have a humongous amount of loan money to pay back for example.
