“I Have to Stop Spending $5,000 a Month!”
Monthly Money Check-in: October 2017
Published in
5 min readOct 2, 2017
This is what I yelled, alone in my apartment, when Mint came back with its verdict.
This is when I start to call myself bitch.
- Bitch, what made you think you could afford to go to Italy?
- Bitch, stop fucking leaf-blowing money out into the world.
- Bitch, learn math.
Bitch is the voice of my responsible side chastising my irresponsible side. Sorry Amanda, (who would not like to hear me talking to myself this way.)
If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, then the thing I’m going to do differently this time is try to not hate myself.
Trying…
Tryyyyyying.
Ok, let’s get to the facts here.
The Good:
- My organizer friend and I went through my storage unit, and she thinks I can get out of there this month, which would save me $91 a month. I invested in a shoe cabinet and a larger medicine cabinet, $200 for both. When you live in a tiny place, these things make all the difference. I commit to getting out of my storage before the next payment is due.
- $230 of that $4,800 was really savings. And I paid two of my insurance bills in one month, $600 total.
- I’m working on Mrs. Frugalwoods’ Month-long frugal challenge from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15th. It’s doing really good things for me as far as adjusting how I’m presenting myself to my friends. “Consider me your poor friend until further notice,” I told a buddy last night. If you just set the standard, then you don’t have to feel that tug every time you turn something down. I’m an artist, and I need to be living with an artist’s standard of living.
- I’m almost done with my book, which has been taking up so much of my time and feels like it’s unpaid. But I should be getting the next installment of my advance so, so soon. I can taste it.
- Australia still owes me $2,100. I invoiced in May.
- I have two completed essays sitting with editors that just need to publish them and Pay. Me. Already.
- I’ve implemented so many repeatable money-saving habits into my life, like cooking vegetarian at home, drinking maté instead of coffee, and getting books from the library.
So why aren’t I saving money???
The Bad
- Ok, so I went to Italy. We know this.
- I tried to cook for a friend at home, who is an interior designer and doing some work for me, and I ended up spending $50, because I wanted to impress him. Trust me, he’s better than me. He’s my Karen from Will and Grace.
- Then there’s this, a perfect description of my life in one screenshot:
The Ugly
- I cancelled the automated bi-weekly payment of $230 to my retirement account, because it fucked me over so many times.
- I took on a job that is outside of my scope because I needed the money, and it’s going horribly.
- I got charged two fees of $20 for transferring money back over to my checking from savings too often, and one $25 NSF charge. And yeah, a $20 for being late on paying for my storage unit.
- I asked my mom if I could “use her credit card” to cover my health insurance and some payments I need to make, because “using your credit card,” are not the words “borrow money,” that somehow felt ok. And yet suddenly, I owe my mom almost $1,000. Again.
To the charts!
Money Check-In
- How I’m feeling about money this month: Ugh I hate myself I hate myself I hate myself. Oh wait.
- Checking account over $500: Fuck no.
- Biggest expense this month: Ill-advised trip to Italy
- Expected to save this month: $0.
- Did save this month: $230, only because I didn’t cancel the check in time.
- Saved at least 10% of income: Nope
- Made a budget for next month and reviewed my bank statement? Yes!
- Donated to the Fuck This Fund: Yes. I donated $20 to help Mexico.
- Best thing I did for my money last month: Started the Frugal Month Challenge.
- Most important money task for next month: Get out of my storage unit to save $91 a month, (more than $1,000 a year).
I feel better.
Join us on the Facebook group Fuck Off Funders if you need to make your own money confessions or get support.
