Budgeting for a dummy...

As 2013 comes to a close, I am left pondering how my life choices this past year have affected me, and what I have done to better myself. One of my biggest struggles for probably the past 5 years has been money (whose isn't). Graduating from college left me feeling alive and vibrant, ready to take on the world! What I wasn't ready for was taking on the >$50,000 worth of students loans my education cost me. YIKES! To top it off, I have been trying to tackle my mountain of credit card debt as well.

The past year has been a roller coaster of emotions. I landed my dream job, at the most amazing elementary school I have ever been apart of. I moved out to an apartment all by myself, and I continue to work at the cheesecake factory, but I transferred to the store closest to my apartment. These life changes while necessary for both my age, and my career were not the smartest moves financially. Keeping up with my debt while moving out and into a new life was impossible. I had to postpone my loan payments, and pay only the minimum on my credit cards. October my students loans went back into repayment, and now here we are in December and I continue to live paycheck to paycheck, dwindling my bank account down to pennies every month.

I think it's about time my budget got a SERIOUS makeover! I consider myself to be an extremely organized person, to the point of OCD at times, but balancing my personal finances has never been a strength of mine. I have however started (tonight) a pretty thorough spreadsheet to track my expenses. I have also have signed up for a website I found called Ready For Zero which tracks all of my debt in one place, and helps me set goals, and track my progress. I look forward to using these tools to help be gain financial freedom! Like I said, tonight is the start of all of this. Stay tuned for updates on how I manage my spreadsheet, and what I think of the Ready For Zero website.

For the next month my goal is to keep track of my spending by holding onto all of my receipts and entering the amounts into my spreadsheet on a nightly basis. I'd like to give myself until January 31st to live out this goal before re-evaluating how I am spending my money, and assessing my budget. I look forward to tracking and updating my goal(s) regularly using this blog.

In the spirit of the new year, my one and ONLY new years resolution this year will be to figure out how to live within my means so I can stop living paycheck to paycheck. I'd like to begin to focus on the next chapter(s) of my life, beyond living alone in my apartment ;)

Be Careful What You Wish For?

My last blog posts have revolved around what I have been waiting for and hoping for my whole life. A teaching job, an apartment, being able to support myself, etc. I have lived in my apartment now for about 4 1/2 months, and I have been teaching for 2 1/2 months.

I wish I could say that everything continues to be peachy, but I would be lying. In order to be able to support myself I have to continue working at The Cheesecake Factory even though I am working full time as a first year teacher. Working both of these jobs means that I work 7 days a week, and never have a full day off to recover. This is taking a huge toll on me, and I find myself often longing for the days when I could sleep in, and not have to wake up to an alarm clock. When I could spend a whole day in my pajamas, and doing things simply because I wanted to, not having deadlines to meet. Today is Veteran's day, and it is the first day I had off from both jobs since school started.

Just writing these words is making me realize that I need to be taking more time for myself. I'm already contemplating if I could afford to take off 1 day a weekend every other week? If not maybe once a month? I will be sure to report back regarding this matter ASAP.

I wish I could say that working at The Cheesecake Factory in addition to teaching renders me enough money so that I do not really have to worry about my bills, and buying groceries and other various materials that I need to survive... but I would be lying. I've gotta be honest... I have a lot of debt. The largest chunk of that debt is of course student loans. I am so thankful for my education, and I understand that I was making an investment in my future, but I do regret my choices which brought me to those loans. If I was properly educated about how these loans would have affected my life, I would have made some different choices. I also have a lot of credit card debt. Looking back, I do not have a very financially responsible past. I was a frivolous spender, and I am learning now how to be more frugal. Unfortunately it is affecting my well being since I am using all of my energy to work, and I still feel that I don't make enough money to feel comfortable.

Teaching is also not what I expected it to be. I have worked in many different classrooms, and with many different grade levels. I thought I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, and how to handle having my own classroom. I have to admit that I was wrong about this. Having my own classroom has been the biggest challenge I have ever faced. The amount of work I put into this job is unreal! I have had to make a schedule for myself to force myself to stop working to MAKE SURE that I take some time for myself each night. It has taken me all of this year so far to learn that I need to do this in order to stay sane, and I continue to learn what I need to do in order to survive.

At this point, I am not quite sure what my life has in store for me for the future. I am constantly contemplating what my life's work is meant to be, and I have recently been exploring many natural life choices in order to find these answers. I must say, that in doing so I have learned a lot about myself. I look forward to continuing on this journey of exploration, in order to find out who I am, and where I belong in this world. I also look forward to sharing more of this journey with the world, if I can stick to my schedule :)

School Photo 2013-2014

First Night

Last night was my first night sleeping in my new studio apartment. A lot of work went into the studio yesterday, and let me just say it takes a village! But, I am extremely happy with the results, and I feel so much more less stressed about moving out!

I woke up early yesterday morning to start packing up my bathroom, and take all the things I had in the kitchen. Billy was having a phone interview with Northrop Grumman, and as soon as he was finished we were planning on getting as much stuff to my apartment as possible. I never knew I was taking up so much space in our kitchen... (sorry mom). We also had to pack up my bed. I had originally decided I wasn't going to take it, and that I was going to purchase a sofa sleeper... but after much shopping I wasn't able to find one that I loved, and in the end it would have cost me close to $2000 so I decided against it and chose to take my bed instead. So... I packed that up as well...

After we got to the apartment, and unpacked all of my things (as best we could), it was off to IKEA to purchase a few other things. I pretty much owe my entire apartment to Billy. Yesterday he put together a storage unit, two bookshelves, a table, two chairs, an over the toilet storage unit, hung a rack, and put together my TV. There is NO WAY I would have been able to put any of that together, let alone all in one day... I am so happy that I had him with me. 

Ikea Haul

While he was doing all that, I went to the grocery store, got some things for my fridge, and stuff to make dinner. Billy requested my baked mac n cheese, so of course I had to comply after all his hard work :) By the time I was finished with dinner, Billy was finished putting everything together and we were ready to eat! It was so nice being in a place that was just ours, and not having to worry about anyone else! Of course we had some wine so we could toast our first dinner in the new place! 

I'm OBSESSED with my placemats :)

My mini indoor bistro :)

The whole spread!

View with TV

View with bed :)

Bed, minus my comforter because I forgot it...

Moving forward, I still have all my clothes, and a few other knick-knacky items to bring over from my parents house... and after that... My apartment will be ready for visitors ;)  

Summer So Far

Just when I think my life can't get any better...

I got approved for the small studio apartment that I wanted in Sierra Madre... 

entryway into kitchen

Entryway into closet and laundry room

Laundry room/ back door

Closet

View looking through kitchen into living/bedroom

Kitchen

Old stove that I LOVE

Stove + New Microwave :)

Sink

Billy graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with his Bachelors Degree in Aerospace Engineering...

Before gratuating

Awaiting graduation

After graduation

I was sent to New York with my partner teacher to participate in an annual conference that we also presented at...

Checking out our presentation space

LOVE NEWSIES! I Highly recommend it!

The whole gang in Greenwich Village

At Stonewall Inn the day Gay Marriage was legalized :)

We LOVE us some free NY pizza!

Presentation Space (so intimidated)

Beautiful Skyline

Grand Central Station

After our second presentation :)

Feeling official!

Times Square Exit

AND... I got to spend a week in Montreal with my family... 

At the Chalet, so BEAUTIFUL!

So happy to be back together!

Meeting new cousins :)

My cousin Miguel and I

Fun statue in Old Montreal

Jazz Festival in Montreal

Hiking up Mount Royal

Jean-Christophe and I 

New Found Cousin Dominic

Jean-Christophe and I at OKA 

Poutine-- So wonderful!

Jonathan, Louis, and Myself on my last night

Love this guy!

Can't believe we never met before!

Last night in Montreal

Dominic, Miguel and I celebrating my last night

Chloe and I in Old Montreal

Jonathan and I on our Mount Royal Hike

View of Montreal at the top of Mount Royal

Sylvie, Nick and I at OKA

I feel so incredibly lucky to have had all of these amazing experiences so far! I can't believe summer has just started and already all of these amazing things have happened.

Since coming back from my vacation, Billy and I have started planning out my apartment which I cannot wait to move into :) I will obviously be posting more pictures of that as I begin to move things in and get situated. I will also be uploading the video of my presentation to my blog Ms. Jenelle's Class  within the next week, so lookout for that as well.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as I am!!!