I got a real life job offer yesterday!!
At first I thought it was a hallucination, induced by depression from months of being unable to go shopping. tragic. But it's real, and I'm so relieved and excited!
It's pretty much exactly what I wanted (but didn't really think I was going to be able to find). The school is so, so cute and reminds me a LOT of Centenary (but you know, bigger). The people who interviewed me were so, so nice and I feel like I clicked with them right away, and when I got the call for the offer, my boss told me she felt the same way. So amazing.
Plus I get my own business cards!
I don't start my job until August, which is good because I have a week or so to get organized. If I had the cash I would buy some new clothes but I'll have to save that for my second paycheck. (My first paycheck is going to be catching up on bills from this month!)
Anyway, speaking of, lately all I do is worry about is money. So now that I'm going to have actual income coming in, I know I need to make a budget. I have SO MUCH debt, which I know isn't uncommon, but if I ever want to buy anything new in the next 10 years or so (car? house? doggy?) I'm going to need to clean up my credit score and get it together.
What do you use to budget or keep up with your spending? If you have a husband or live-in bf, do yall split the bills each month? Do you use a software program or some kind of online banking tool? I used to have a co-worker who would cash all her paychecks and put the money in separate envelopes for each monthly bill, which she had stuck to the back of her pantry door.
I'm pretty much open to any system that I can stick to, even if it's a little strange. I found that I spend less if I buy things with cash (but I mean, seriously, that's such a pain!). The good news is that that new student loan repayment law went into effect this month. It's based on your income, so if you don't make much you don't have to pay back so much each month. This means you might be paying back for longer, but they if your debt lasts longer than 25 years, the rest gets forgiven. As in, goes away forever. How amazing, right? Seriously, call your lender and find out.
Anyway, I'm super relieved and finally feel like a bit of a grown-up. I will feel even better when I can get some new clothes. :P
3 comments:
First off, Congratulations!!! I'm so glad you got the perfect job. :)
Next off on the budgeting, Mark and I are married but still keep separate accounts. A lot of people find this strange, but it works for us. And we split the bills, well kind of. Right now I pay more because of him owning his own business situation.
We don't have any kind of running budget. I just know in my head how much everything runs and how much I can spend at the grocery store. And I check my online bank account regularly.
During the summer though, when our electric bill is sky high I work on not spending much extra on going out to eat, buying things, etc.
Good luck!
Abram is pretty much in charge of our budget. We combined our accounts into two, one checking and one "saving." We try to keep only about 3,000 or so in our checking, which we use for bills, paying off the credit cards, and general spending, and everything else goes into the savings account. Everytime one of our paychecks gets deposited, Abram goes online and moves the money around so that we're constantly in a state of equilibrium. I'm not sure how efficient this is, but it keeps us from overspending even if we really do have the money to do so. It makes it easier for us to save since that money isn't staring at me :)
Thanks for the info yall!
JR- I don't think it's weird...my parents have separate checking accounts (in both their names, so they share checks, does that make sense?) and a joint savings.
Jess- I also don't think letting Abram keep track of it is weird either (lord knows I would rather let someone I trust do it so I don't have to).
Seth and I came to the conclusion that we'll be happier if we keep our spending separate...it's just better he not know exactly how much I spend on shoes, and him on video games.
But, he's much much better at budgeting than I am. My shoe expense ends up costing him a little extra when I go over, and more than once he picks up my slack.
Anyway, I'm just trying to be more responsible, but it was really tough when I was making next to nothing (and my "shoe budget" was actually more like "bathroom stuff, school books, and coffee addiction budget").
Done rambling. Thanks for the tips!
Post a Comment