As the Fall approaches, there are many changes that are coming. The biggest is grad school. I am almost positive I have been accepted to Cal State for the Fall of 2010, and I will be studying like a madman while my wonderful girlfriend is adventuring in the land of the rising sun, (that’s Japan – the country with the Japanes people). I at least know what the two of us are doing for the next year, but after that is all a blur.
I’m apprehensive, which is a nicer way of saying scared, of the future. What to do, what to do, what to do. At some point I will need to move on from my current job, so that will imply saving some money. Since I will be in school, I won’t be able to tutor on the side. I could be saved by finding a paid internship, but I know that I will not find an intern position that pays the same as what I make right now. I also want to, no need to see Amanda before a year has passed. I miss her.
What does this all mean? I need to change my lifestyle. I realized this when I had a visit to the dentist and he told me it would be $620 for a crown and buildup – that’s not the total price, that is my out of pocket expenditure. Ouch. I looked at ticket prices for flights to Japan in August – $1700 was the most common I could find. That is a lot of money, anyway you look at it.
As a percentage break-down of my take-home paycheck, 10% goes to savings, a little more than that goes in retirement, 18% in rent and utilities, 16% on food, 13% on tithe, 6.5% each on Auto Insurance and Education funds, 9% on shopping and entertainment expenditures, and the last bit to pay off my tv, phone, gym membership and gas. I wonder if I can realistically cut my spending by 20 – 30%?
Where to cut? First, on food. When Amanda was here, we ate out a lot and I spent a lot on groceries, but in the past year, I think we ate out less. This is going to be an easy cut, because she isn’t here. So let’s say I do that – I can easily cut my food budget in half. Auto insurance – by paying it off at the beginning of the billing cycle, I can save myself a lot in interest. I’m saving some by paying it off early, but could have saved more if I planned ahead. Education is a cool one, because working full time gives me tuition reimbursement at 80%. I still have to pay for incidental costs, such as supplies, books, and parking, but reimbursement always means some of it comes back. I need to do a better job of socking away whatever I get back, but most of it has gone to pay for credit cards.
Here is the line on that – I have some cc debt. Stupid, I know. There really isn’t another way to describe that. I used credit cards and spent more than I earned, and now I am literally paying for it. On the bright side, I am also close to paying it off. Two cards are paid off and the last one, the one with the lowest interest rate, is really close. That makes me feel good, and it serves as a great reminder to never do that again. It was a useful lesson, one I won’t forget, and one I needed.
Now, to the studies – I really need to think about the future. I want to finish school and get a job that can support a family, the kind of job I can buy a house with, save some money, that kind of thing, but most importantly, I want a job that I would love to do. Something that is significant – I worry sometimes that the pursuit of comfort will curtail significance.
May it never be.
Man, do I ramble. When I am unsure of some parts, like the future, I try to get a grasp on what I can control. It’s the serenity prayer – accept the things I can’t change, change the things I can, and be wise enough to know the difference. I’m scared but I’m not sure of what I am scared of – getting what I want or not getting it.
Either way, it is time to start making some decision about the future and living with the consequences. It’s time to grow up, at least a little. Esquire had an article on how to be a man, which sounds funny, but a lot of the advice was really good. It was looking to heroes, realizing that behaving the same at eighteen and eighty is weird, and transitions should occur in there somewhere. It jokingly said when one hits thirty, it’s time to pick a haircut. Kind of funny, but I get it.
It’s time to buckle down.
Dave,
You’ll get there soon enough. You actually sound as if you’re ahead of the game. There are plenty of men who couldn’t even do what you just did with your budget and document where their money is really going each month. Someone once told me that the difference between being a “guy” and being a “man” is this: A guy does what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. A man does what he needs to do even when he doesn’t want to do it. Being responsible means being “response-able”…in other words, recognizing how powerful you are to respond to life in ways that move you in the direction you need to go. You demonstrate the responsible David all the time…the only piece remaining is the direction.
Robert,
That means a lot. I kind of think that I have been avoiding making choices, shirking some responsibility, being afraid of being “the guy”, all that stuff.
Thanks.