By: Revanche

What a DHSI Saves

April 22, 2010

[This budget was developed before Sunday and Monday‘s situations, so of course it’ll have to change to accommodate the new developments. But I worked hard on it, so this series is going up anyway!]

These goals are beyond stretch goals since my disposable income doesn’t actually cover saving an average of $2900/month from the end of July through year-end.  That’s fine, I prefer to set high goals and find ways to meet most of them than settle. Some of these are overlapping from the previous post so they’ll look familiar, or they might have been expanded. Until my benefits and paychecks settle out, which they will by the end of May, these goals will remain soft.

Long term Savings Goals
Emergency Fund: Doesn’t need too much work. I’d like to ratchet this up to $40,000 by next year so that I can roll $20,000 into any decent interest-bearing, mid-term CDs.
[Need: $5,400]
Expense Account: It’s less than half its former glory. Let’s take it back up to $10,000.
[Need: $5,000]

ROTH IRA:  Haven’t made a contribution in years. Let’s fix that by April 2011.
[Need: $4,000] 

Short term Spending Budgets
Taxes:  If I earn enough freelance income this year, taking no exemptions throughout the year may not cover my 2010 tax liability. If that starts to look iffy, I will restart this savings account and put away 30% of all freelance invoices.
[TBD] 


Auto MaintenanceCredit card rewards alone won’t be enough to cover this category of expenses. I should have at least $1000/car per year.
[Annual Need: $2,000]

Insurance: Car insurance costs $1200/6 months for two cars.  I’ll be canceling my current -very costly- private life insurance because my employer-sponsored version has become active at $9/month and “save” $41/month. Renter’s insurance is another $500/year.
[Annual Need: $2,900; current policies are paid through to October or this time next year]

Travel: Oh for an endless travel fund! Realistically, I should save for the two trips I’ve already committed to (San Diego and going home for a graduation).  And maybe two more trips back home this year.
[Need: $2,000; have some travel credit on hand already]

Clothing: I must have a budget for 2011. The budget strings will simply be too tight for me to steal a little bit here and a little there from the Expense fund like I used to do (shhh!).
[Need: TBD]

4 Responses to “What a DHSI Saves”

  1. I should do something like this

    Why not put money into your ROTH IRA as #1 rather than into your $40k EF?

  2. Revanche says:

    Hm… because my instinct is still cash-oriented, I think. My inclination is that moving my parents, whenever that happens, would require $5-10K and I’d rather have the money on hand in cash. It’s not set in stone, and it’s not a bad idea to put it in the ROTH since I DO have quite a bit of cash anyway.

    Something to consider!

  3. AMD says:

    Why is your renter’s and car insurance so expensive?

  4. Revanche says:

    @AMD: Because I’m paying for myself and my parent, in two separate locations. The rate remains commensurate with the cost if I were only paying for one location and one person.

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