Life Update: There's no place like home!

My last few blog entries have been about a positive and healthy self, despite my demanding situation and being more financially responsible. I have to report that I have in fact made a big decision that will affect (hopefully) both of these areas. I am going to move home with my parents for the summer, and part of the fall.

In taking an extremely close look at my finances, I have a very clear picture of what I can afford at this point, and what is too much. It has been determined that living in my apartment is causing me a very large amount of financial stress. I love my apartment, and I love the town in which I live, but when I moved in, in true Jenelle fashion, I did not take the proper steps to make sure that I was going to be able to afford it. I was so stubborn. Loved ones in my life told me that their was no rush, and to stay at home as long as possible... but I wanted to live on my own, I thought (and still think) I was too old to be living at my parents house, and I wanted to live closer to my work, to cut down on the commute.

So in looking at what I wanted out of moving out, here is what is true. I have lived on my own for almost a year now. I am proud of myself for being able to do this. It is not easy! I have learned that I am NOT as much of a neat freak as I always thought I I am too old to be living at my parents house, but I think it is important for me to suck up that pride, and do what is best for my future. I enjoy living with my parents, spending time with them and just being there gives me a sense of calmness I never got while living alone. I also succeeded in cutting down on my commute. Living 15 minutes away from work is conducive to pushing snooze at lease three times each morning,  and causing Billy and I to have to drive quite a distance in order to spend time together. I found myself driving home (commuting if you will) about 2-3 times per week. Does this not almost defeat the purpose of cutting down on my commute?

was, that I enjoy and relish the peacefulness that comes with living by myself, and that I get very lonely. I can say that I have had the experience, and I am proud of that fact, but I'm ready to move on from that experience. I still believe that

All in all, I am glad that I got this I have to move out right now! mentality out of my system. I learned a lot about myself, and even more about what it means to be responsible. I have given this decision a lot of thought, and I am excited to be moving back home. I miss my parents, living close to Billy, and more than anything I miss my Bellatrix! I will miss my apartment, and being a Sierra Madre local, but my home is calling me back, and I am excited to indulge this opportunity.

With that being said, I AM moving back home with a plan, how long I will be there, and what I need to do to ensure the success of moving out when planned. I am not planning on just inevitably mooching off my parents.

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