finance

Planning to take a sabbatical

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

As mentioned in my recent post, I’m trying to take a sabbatical in a few years. I haven’t brought it up with my employer yet, because it’s several years out and also there’s a good chance I will have to quit my job altogether. I’m planning to take off 9-12 months, although this plan could change over time based on any number of factors. Maybe I’ll get a new job! Maybe I’ll buy a house (ha) and need to pay the mortgage! Maybe there will be another recession! Fun things…

However, the current plan is to take some time off and reset, and I want to plan for that in advance so that I have enough money. Really there are two separate, but intertwined goals.

  • Save enough money to take a significant period of time off and not feel overly stressed about having enough money.
  • Feel like I’m in a good place with my retirement savings knowing I won’t contribute to it for a year.

Maybe there are other finance related goals to consider, but these are the two I’ve come up with for now. I’ve laid out how much money I need to save each month to get these two goals in place.

Spoiler Alert: It’s A LOT.

Some considerations:

  • I will have to pay for my own health insurance
  • I need to make sure I have money on top of my emergency fund in case anything disastrous happens
  • I want to have more money saved than necessary in case it takes me a long time to find a job

Again, I’m sure I’m missing something, but this is my thinking for now. I’ve definitely let lifestyle inflation creep into my life and I’m aware I’m going to have to cut back on a few things to make this happen. More on that in the future!

Do you think there’s anything else I should consider? Let me know!

Monthly Check in Pt. 7

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Time for my seventh monthly check-in! Gosh I really do need 30 day challenges to continue blogging. There’s just so much to do and not enough time and not enough will power. Blah blah blah. All the usual excuses. I’ll try to do better.

  1. Work on my Novel – Finished my third edit! (forth edit? – I can’t keep track). I’m letting it rest for the month of February and then I’ll edit it again in March. It’ll all come together…hopefully. In the meantime I’m compiling a list of agents I can query, learning how to write a query letter, writing a TV pilot, and working on a few essays to submit. (Gotta work on that rejection muscle too!)
  2. Ballet – I had to work a bunch over the weekends, so I sort of fell out of going to yoga and ballet, but I’m back at it! I did not do my 30 days of exercise like promised, but I think it was too much too soon. I’ll try to work up to just exercising 4 days a week and then we’ll see.
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – This is going really well! I got my tax return and my bonus, so I was able to pay off a large chunk. I still have debt, but I think I’ll be able to pay it off much sooner than anticipated barring any major expense. I may not have it done by the time this “project” is over, but definitely by the end of the year.
  5. In a relationship – Not bumbling and didn’t go on any dates. I’m thinking of trying to find a club or activity I can do which will introduce me to more people for both friends and dates.

Seven months in and I feel a bit as if I’ve stalled on a few things, but this is why check-ins are good. I can snap myself back into working on the things I want to work on. And it’s important to note that just because I can’t cross everything off, I’m still moving forward. I’m working on my finances and my writing pretty consistently. Exercise is always going to be an issue for me, but I’m working on that too and I’m going more often than I used to. Progress not Perfection.

Until tomorrow.

149 Days to go.

Day 93: Credit Card Debt Life

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Credit-cardsI’ve written about this before, but when I was unemployed I got myself into some pretty deep credit card debt. I know I shouldn’t have, but what was I going to do? My budget was very strict, but still a girl has to eat. Anything that didn’t need to be paid by cash or check, I put on credit cards. It was kind of a desperate time for me, but I found some temporary work and then a full time job and now I’m getting promoted. 🙂

Saving and paying off debt is hard, so every week I have a portion of my paycheck directly deposited into my savings account and another portion directly deposited into an account strictly for paying off my credit cards. I schedule out the money each week from that account, so by the next day it’s gone and paying off those high interest rates. If sometime urgent comes up, I can always cancel it, but I don’t think that’s ever happened.

I also keep an excel doc tallying how much money I’ve saved and how much debt I’ve paid down. It’s not really for anything, but I get a tiny rush every time I see the numbers tick up and down, so it’s its own reward.  It is going to be SUCH a relief when I pay off the first card and then the second. I’ll be able to afford to live on my own and really bump up the amount of money I’m saving in my retirement account and savings account. Maybe I’ll even invest in something, but that’s another goal for another time.

Until tomorrow.

272 days to go.

 

 

 

 

Day 91: Monthly Check in 3

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Time for my third monthly check-in! It’s been three months since I started this self-improvement plan (project?) and I think I’ve done relatively well so far! The holiday season is quickly approaching so it’s best that I come up with a few ways to stick to my goals (next post!)

  1. Work on my Novel – I finished my novel (again!) after cutting out the whole middle section. Now it’s just time to edit again (and again and again and again. Will the editing never stop?) I do think I’ve learned a lot in this process and hopefully my next book will not require so much cutting and rewriting and editing (but it probably will.) I’m hoping by the end of the year I can have a solid book and begin sending query letters to agents.
  2. Ballet – The cycle for the beginning of class started again, so hopefully it’ll stick this time! It’s definitely been a struggle (clearly), but I’m always hoping to do better.
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Blargh. Still working on this and I will be for quite some time. Hopefully with my promotion I can start paying it off more aggressively (plus that bonus and tax return next year will hopefully help!)
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. I’m not sure if anything is going to work out. Usually I get irritated with people by the third or fourth week and I can feel it happening again. There’s just an expectation with online dating that everyone wants to either just hook up or jump directly into a relationship. And I don’t want either of those things so I feel people are often disappointed.  And I’m resistant to both so we get nowhere in the end.

So there’s my third monthly check-in. Ninety one days in and I’m a little farther along with all my goals except Ballet. Perhaps November will be Ballet month, just like October was meant to be Ballet month.  Eventually I will figure out a way for it to stick!

Until tomorrow.

274 days to go. It’s a lot of time and it’s no time at all, right?

Day 62: Monthly Check-in

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Gah! I’ve sort of neglected this project the past few weeks. It’s been busy! I took a cooking class and a ceramics class and have been going to a whole bunch of events after work. It’s been two months already since I started so it’s time for my second monthly check-in!

  1. Work on my Novel – I cut out the whole middle part of my novel, so that was sort of a set back, but I feel it will be stronger in the end. (And make more sense!) I’ve been working on it pretty steadily, so I’m pretty pleased with my progress here.
  2. Ballet – I haven’t done much here! I had some really special events come up, so I skipped class for the past month. It’s not great, but I’ve planned out my week this week so hopefully I’ll get back on track!
  3. Promotion –  A position opened unexpectedly in my department and I applied! It’s looking good so far, but we’ll see what comes of it. I’m not sure if it’ll be a good decision in the end or not, but I guess we’ll find out. Stay tuned!
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Still chugging away. I think by end the end of the year I should be out of one and then I can start seriously paying off the second. (Ugh!) But hopefully if I do get that promotion, I’ll be able to pay it off more aggressively. 🙂
  5. In a relationship – I joined Bumble. It’s still early stages, but at least I’m making an effort. I don’t want it to take away from my other goals, so I think I’ll limit how much time I spend on Bumble and going on dates. It is a very time consuming thing.

So there’s my second monthly check-in. Sixty two days in and I’m a little farther along with all my goals except Ballet. It’s almost October so perhaps that will be my October goal. I’ll also try to blog more.

Until tomorrow.

Day 47: A Half Week in Review

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Soooo….I did a half week in Finance. Not what I wanted to do, but good enough. I like these week long challenges and this is the first in a series (next one will start on Monday!). Perhaps I’ll make them rotating challenges so that I’m constantly working on the things I want to be working on. It’s definitely a good way to keep myself accountable!

I noticed I have spent less money since the beginning of the month, which is good! I’ve been keeping an eye on everything I’m spending and have made a conscious effort to spend less on food and random cups of coffee. (Yay me!) It’s only September 9th, but that means a third of the month is almost done!

I haven’t been tempted to buy much recently, although I may need to take a peek in a bookstore soon. 🙂 The main lesson which helped me is Time vs. Stuff. Buying less stuff or rather buying stuff that is of equal value to the time I spent earning what it costs will help me cut out extraneous purchases from my life. Honestly there’s not a whole lot of things I would happily spend ten or twenty hours working towards. I really think I’d much rather spend time working towards experiences than things (not really news to anyone….) but it’s hard to remember sometimes.

Until tomorrow.

Day 44: Side Hustle

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Side Hustle! Everyone should have one in this day and age. Maybe it’s my millennial mind speaking, but I feel like jobs can be touch and go nowadays. It’s nice to have some extra income, but it’s also nice to have an extra stream of income if your job is made unexpectedly obsolete. Or if you decide your boss is terrible or your coworkers are terrible or if your commute is terrible and you just can’t stand them anymore.

I am currently working on two side hustles: this blog and my book. While it’s my dream to be a writer without another job to support myself, I’m a realist and I won’t let myself believe it until I’m well past the mark of success. In the meantime, having a hobby I enjoy is nice and some extra cash wouldn’t hurt too.

Perhaps it’s too transparent to say I want to monetize this blog someday, but it’s true. Even if it’s only a little extra, at the moment I enjoy it and every bit helps. (Doesn’t everyone hope to monetize their blog someday?!?! Perhaps not?)

And of course writing. It’s a lot of work and it may take years for something to come of it. (Or never…) But I think that’s usually the case with a side hustle unless you already have a set of skills which you can apply as a second job (piano teacher, graphic designer etc.) It’s definitely a risk that all my hard work and time will amount to nothing, but that shouldn’t stop me. And if I earn some extra $ on the side to help me pay off my debt and work towards my other financial goals, that works too.

I also have a farfetched plan to make candles, but that’s another story for another day. 🙂

Until tomorrow.

Day 43: The Dreaded Credit

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Ugh. So I was dumb and dug myself into a hole of credit card debt when I was unemployed. Basically I put everything which wasn’t rent on a credit card. Which is dumb! But also, what else am I supposed to do when I don’t know where my next paycheck is coming from.

Thankfully, I found a full-time job which I mostly like and offers me sweet health benefits and a steady paycheck! That means it’s time to start digging myself out of the trouble I got myself into. And I’ve been steadily working on it. I’m almost done paying off my lowest balance credit card and should be done by the end of the month. (Yay!)

It’s been hard, but I’m so excited to get to 0. I keep an excel chart (of course) of how much I pay off each month and if I hit it then I get to mark it green and if I don’t then I mark it red. It’s a little bit like crossing of a to-do list, which gives me the little bit of reward I need to be happy. 🙂

Then it’s on to the next one! Hopefully I’ll be able to pay off more of it if I get an increase and a promotion, but I’m not counting on it. It’ll be so exciting to be free of debt. Yay for financial freedom!

Until tomorrow.

Day 42: Expense Tracking

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Now that I’ve written down all my goals, it’s time to track what I spend money on each month. I like to use excel because I find it helpful to physically input everything I spend rather than pulling information directly from my bank account. Here’s a sample of my Budget Spreadsheet for your viewing pleasure.

Basically I input everything that goes in and out, where the money came from (Checking, Credit or Cash) and place it into a category, so I know how much I’m spending on things. I use the following categories, but of course everyone’s lives are different so you’ll have different spending buckets.

Necessities: The big stuff. Rent, water, power, gas. Stuff that I have to spend money on to get to work, have a place to live and eat.

Entertainment: This is anything I do for fun from art classes to going to see a movie.

Food: Grocery bills are counted under necessities, but Food is any extra food I buy out and about that I don’t absolutely need. I’ll admit this bucket has been taking more and more of my paycheck as I’ve settled into my job from being a contractor for awhile.

Shopping: Anything I buy which falls under the clothing/skincare/gifts basket.

Exercise: I could put this under entertainment since you don’t have to spend money to exercise, but I think it falls between an extraneous cost (yoga is NOT cheap) and a necessity (My health is important to me.)

Travel: Blah. This also eats up a large chunk of my paycheck when I do buy things for travel (hotels, airfare!!! or a rental car). I don’t use it often, but I like to have it separate.

I suppose I could break it out into more categories, but this works for me. It allows me to see if I’ve overspent each month and what most of my money is going to (Food! Eek!). Some months are better than others. I suppose the next step would be to track my spending habits over several months to see what my long term patterns are. I’ll work on that.

Until tomorrow. Budget away!

 

Day 41: A Week in Finance

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It’s the beginning of September! And it’s time to talk about finances! Personal finance, not like the great big world of Finance (capital F). I do think a good place to start for anything is to write down your goals. I prefer pen and paper because I find it really gets into my brain, but whatever works.

Today I was reading the Refinery29 Budgeting Slideshow and I stumbled across their financial goal tracker. I have a less pretty, less organized version of this, but who doesn’t love a good worksheet, right? So here’s what I have:

Near Term Goals (2 months)

  • Increase savings to 1000
  • Have no more debt on Credit Card 1
  • Buy my black dress!

I think I’m well on my way to these. I have a weekly deduction from my checking account to my savings account and I’ve calculated that I’ll have paid off all of Credit Card 1 by the end of October. Yay me!

Maybe then I can buy that black dress I’ve been eyeing forever.

Short-term Goals (Less than 2 years)

  • Pay off Credit Card 2
  • Save enough to go on a European vacation
  • Have a second stream of income

I’ve calculated it out again and after I pay off Credit Card 1 (which has been quite a struggle), it should take another year to pay off Credit Card 2 if everything continues as it has. That means no raises and no huge emergency purchases. (Fingers crossed!) I’d like to go on a nice vacation without worrying about how much money I’m spending and I’d also like to pay for most of it in cash. And I’m also working on having a second stream of income with this blog and potentially my book. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but every little bit helps! Here’s hoping!

Mid-term Goals (2-10 years)

  • Buy a house
  • Own a horse
  • Go on one super fancy vacation
  • Max out my retirement every year

These are getting sort of out there and they seem kind of hard to imagine given my present circumstances, but a girl can dream, can’t she? .

Long-term Goals (10+ Years)

  • Have a million dollars saved?

Honest 10+ years seems so far off I can’t even imagine who I’ll be or what I’ll want by then. Financial independence is a must though, so that’s what I’m aiming for. A million dollars is a lot, but dreams, right?

So there they are. The big picture. Tomorrow I’ll get into the nitty gritty of all the budgeting goodness.

Until tomorrow.

P.S. I’m not 100% sure I’m labeling these days correctly, but oh well.