By: Revanche

January Snapshot

February 1, 2010

Shooo-eee, I can certainly spend when I’ve a mind to. Some blame to be placed on school and textbooks, and some on household expenses.  I won’t go through the litany here because it just sounds like a bunch of hooey excuses. I’ve already got a few returns in mind (gifts never given), and a mental note says that quite a few of those expenses would have come out of the gift fund. If I still had one for the year.

This, by the by, is what comes of relying on the stock market for NW gains.

To make matters appear worse, I’m going to add another layer of transparency here.  According to my spending tracking via the new spreadsheets, I only managed to stay out of the red with regards to cash flow thanks to the last minute arrival of some irregular income checks.  It’s not fair to label that as a problem area yet, I knew that I’d be paying some (major) debits of last month out of this month’s cash flow.  I didn’t anticipate some of the interruptions in the unemployment income.

Am continuing to bear down on the job search harder, looking out for more freelance opps, while doing justice to my schoolwork.  And if the blog becomes an avenue for income, that’d be a-ok by me!

6 Responses to “January Snapshot”

  1. eemusings says:

    Im inspired. I want to know EXACTLY what I’m spending on this month and have a proper breakdown. I shall do this if it kills me! Will have to be manual; I am an excel noob.

  2. moneyfunk says:

    Much like everyone else… the stocks went down a bit. 🙁

    Still doing a great job, Revanche!

  3. So, why the huge $36k emergency cushion? Do you not have insurance?

  4. Revanche says:

    @eemusings: Hahah don’t let it kill you! Go check out Pearbudget, it’s free for 30 days and the formulas are preprogrammed. I’ll be doing a giveaway for a free year soon.

    @moneyfunk: Yeah, I actually don’t mind the fluctuation in stocks as much as I do the money outflow. But I’ll just have to make Feb and March less expensive. 🙂

    @seeJaneGetRich: Yes I have health insurance but only subsidized COBRA which will become VERY expensive after the subsidy ends. I was laid off last June. I knew it was coming, so I wanted to be ready to live off my cash for as long as necessary.

    Plus I have a history of family emergencies, expect to have to move for my next job, am taking classes which all = cash expenses not covered by insurance.

    It’s not all cash, though, about half is in CDs earning a pittance more than a pittance.

  5. Wow that’s pretty darn awesome that you’re over $100 grand and you’re only 20-something. That’s my goal in the next couple years, to save up over $100 G’s too. =P

    AND you paid off $75,000 in debt?! How’d you do it? =P

  6. Revanche says:

    @youngandthrifty: You’re going to have to read the About section for a decent synopsis with links, it’s a long story! 🙂

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