BeyondtheWrap's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
zazz
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Post by zazz »

Did you get a new job or are you still working on Grad school apps?


BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

@zazz: Those things are the same as before.
I still am working as a cashier, though I did get a raise last week from $8.85 to $9.20 per hour. The raises feel pretty negligible, since my paycheck normally fluctuates by larger amounts anyway.
I am still working on my grad school app which has a May 31 deadline. I'm only applying to one school right now; if necessary, I will apply to more in the fall.


BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

MAY 2013
INCOME: 1498

5 Paychecks: 1332

Employer Health Insurance: 166
EXPENSES: 1205

Housing: 400

Groceries: 68

- Food: 47

- Supplies: 9

- Pets: 11

Clothing: 11

Transportation: 153

Cell Phone: 109

Health: 171

- Insurance: 166

- Supplies: 5

Entertainment: 58

- Eating Out: 40

- Candy: 18

Education: 176

Student Loans: 60
SAVINGS RATE: 19.5%
Nothing too atypical here. The clothing expense was to buy new sunglasses to replace the ones I lost. The cell phone expense is paid once a year to recharge my minutes.
The "Education" category refers here to spending incurred by applying to graduate school. The application is now finished, so I am currently waiting to hear back from the school.
This past month my family (and I, when I have time) has been working to repair the house in response to the violation. We're almost done with that stuff, and soon we'll be able to go back fully to repairing the flood damage.


BeyondtheWrap
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Re: BeyondtheWrap's Journal

Post by BeyondtheWrap »

JUNE 2013

INCOME: 1282
4 Paychecks: 1150
Employer Health Insurance: 132

EXPENSES: 1289
Housing: 400
Groceries: 70
- Food: 60
- Pet food: 10
Transportation: 100
Health Insurance: 132
Entertainment: 157
- Eating out: 65
- Socializing: 52
- New headphones: 10
- Candy: 30
Education: 250
Student Loans: 180

SAVINGS RATE: -.5%

My income was slightly higher than usual (for only four paychecks) due to holiday pay for Memorial Day and the fact that I took one paid vacation day.

Well, my application to grad school was accepted, so I will be attending school part-time starting in the fall. I'm wondering if I should count money paid for school as expenses or savings? Savings would make sense, as education can be considered a human capital investment that will give me a return down the road. Whenever people brag about how cheaply they used to live as students, they conspicuously leave out tuition, so maybe I should too. Then again, if I consider educational expenses to be savings, maybe I should do the same for student loan payments, since they are technically payment for past education. If I omit educational expenses and student loan payments, my expenses for this month are only 859, and my savings rate becomes 33%.

I bought new headphones at RadioShack. I originally wasn't going to; I wanted to go the more ERE route of repairing my broken ones myself, like discussed here. However, I would have needed to replace the jack plug, and the same headphones that I had previously were on sale for half-price at $7.49, which wasn't that much more expensive than a plug. I also decided to get the insurance for them for an additional $2 to hopefully avoid this purchase next year.

As for the house, my family is still working on the outside. Hopefully we can get back to working on the inside soon. After we're done, my father will probably be moving in with my brother and me next year so we could all share expenses.

m741
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Re: BeyondtheWrap's Journal

Post by m741 »

Wow, that's a lot of candy! I like that it has its own expense category.

llorona
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Re: BeyondtheWrap's Journal

Post by llorona »

What kind of candy do you eat?

DutchGirl
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Post by DutchGirl »

Enjoyed reading your posts. Yes, money spent on education definitely is an investment for your future (and hopefully one that will pay off), but still I would not put your tuition and educational books in the "savings" category. You are spending that money, after all.

jacob
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Re: BeyondtheWrap's Journal

Post by jacob »

In the short run, tuition cost is definitely an expense and not savings.

In the long run, it's not an expense.

Also, in the long run it's still not savings. I'm presuming that you won't deduct the amortizing of your human capital from your future income? ;-)

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

All right, I'll keep it listed as an expense.

I see how it's not savings. The increased wages in the future are not passive income like dividends are; I'll still have to work for the money, and when I stop working it won't make me money anymore.

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Post by jacob »

Also you can't sell your human capital without selling yourself.

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

llorona wrote:What kind of candy do you eat?
Generally, fruit-flavored non-hard candy. The specific name depends on whichever ones my store offers sales for each month.

BeyondtheWrap
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Re: BeyondtheWrap's Journal

Post by BeyondtheWrap »

JULY 2013

INCOME: 1197
4 Paychecks: 1035
Employer Health Insurance: 132
Money for food: 20
Gift: 10

EXPENSES: 1104
Housing: 400
Groceries: 125
- Food: 83
- Hygiene: 16
- Supplies: 7
- Pet food: 20
Transportation: 100
Health: 164
- Insurance: 132
- Supplies: 7
- Doctor co-pay: 25
Entertainment: 144
- Eating out: 56
- Socializing: 70
- Alcohol: 8
- Candy: 11
Student Loans: 171

SAVINGS RATE: 7.7%

Eh, not much to say. We're still working on the house (although we're mostly done with the outside). I still work at the same job. School starts at the end of August.

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

So, for the past two months, I've been using baking soda as deodorant. I pour some out of the box into my hand, then turn on the faucet to the lowest possible setting and trickle water over the baking soda until it is completely wet. I then let the excess water run off and apply the remaining mixture to my armpits.

It does a decent job as a deodorant, but I find that it dries and chafes my skin. I've tried using less, but then it doesn't work as well. Using lotion helps heal the dryness. The skin also chafes less if I shave the hairs more often and use fabric softener on my shirts. The problem still persists, however.

I feel that if I'm really using baking soda because I believe it's healthier for my skin, it shouldn't be damaging it like this, which regular deodorant does not. I think I'll switch back to regular deodorant for a while before trying another alternative method.

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Post by theanimal »

I use baking soda myself and while it doesn't affect me, a fair amount of people battle chafing/dryness because it's too strong. I've read the solution is mixing it with cornstarch. I don't remember the ratio but it's pretty easy to find through Google

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jennypenny
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Post by jennypenny »

Do you have to mix it with water? Can you mix it with a balm instead (like beeswax balm)?

If it worked, you could learn to make your own balm to save some money. It's easy to add scent to balm (like citrus), which might be nice if you are using it for deoderant.
----------

I just saw that you're in NYC. If the balm doesn't work or isn't practical, could you try mixing the baking soda with Eucerin or Nivea instead of water?

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

theanimal wrote:I use baking soda myself and while it doesn't affect me, a fair amount of people battle chafing/dryness because it's too strong. I've read the solution is mixing it with cornstarch. I don't remember the ratio but it's pretty easy to find through Google
I had read about mixing it with cornstarch, but I assumed that the purpose of the cornstarch was to absorb sweat and to help the baking soda stay on. I wasn't having problems with either of those two. But if cornstarch helps with my problem, I guess I could give it a try. At least I have other uses for cornstarch in case it doesn't work.
jennypenny wrote:Can you mix it with a balm instead (like beeswax balm)?
I haven't read of anybody doing this.
jennypenny wrote:could you try mixing the baking soda with Eucerin or Nivea instead of water?
I've thought about mixing it with lotion, but wouldn't that be counterproductive? I'm guessing that making the area moist would facilitate bacteria growth, which is the opposite purpose.

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Chris
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Post by Chris »

Have you tried one of those Thai salt crystals? I've been testing one out for about 5 months now, and it works well (better than Tom's deodorant at least). It really hasn't worn down much at all, so I expect it will last quite a long time.

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

So I tried using a mixture of the hand lotion I already used normally (specifically Vaseline Men Body & Face Lotion) and baking soda as a deodorant solution. I had assumed that it would smell worse by creating a moist environment for bacteria, but it actually smelled quite nice due to the scent of the lotion. However, I would still get itchy after several hours.

Then I tried using generic-brand Aquaphor with the baking soda, which worked better to combat skin dryness/itchiness.

However, after several days, I disliked both of these methods because I would have to wash my hands afterward, and these products take longer to wash off.

Most recently, I've been using Purell for free at work, which works fine for the time being.
Chris wrote:Have you tried one of those Thai salt crystals?
I looked into those. I'm going to pass on them. Their ingredient list is vague; it just says "mineral salts" and I suspect that this includes potassium alum, and I'd like to avoid aluminum.

Right now I'm leaning towards Old Spice deodorant, the cheapest brand at my store that does not contain aluminum.

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

AUGUST 2013

INCOME: 1433
5 Paychecks: 1168
Employer Health Insurance: 166
Gift: 100

EXPENSES: 1306
Housing: 400
Groceries: 113
- Food: 78
- Hygiene: 20
- Supplies: 15
Transportation: 90
Health: 249
- Insurance: 166
- Copay: 65
- Supplements: 18
Haircut: 15
Entertainment: 179
- Eating out: 58
- Socializing: 17
- eMusic: 100
- Candy: 4
Education: 80 (textbook)
Student Loans: 181

SAVINGS RATE: 8.9%

I got worried during this month. My paychecks were individually smaller than usual this month. My employer hasn't been giving me quite as many hours as they used to, and they gave me 2 Sundays off; since I get time-and-a-half for working Sundays, having that day off affects my paycheck significantly. Additionally, expenses were somewhat higher this month: my student loan payment was higher than previously because I hadn't renewed my IBR yet and my annual eMusic subscription came up for renewal. Those things won't be coming up again for a while.

To combat my smaller paychecks, I should probably stay on the lookout for a full-time $10/hr job that would work with my school schedule, but I'll most likely stay at my current one.

BeyondtheWrap
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Post by BeyondtheWrap »

SEPTEMBER 2013

INCOME: 1196
4 Paychecks: 1064
Employer Health Insurance: 132

EXPENSES: 1011
Housing: 400
Groceries: 205
- Food: 113
- Hygiene: 9
- Supplies: 61
- Pet food: 22
Transportation: 112
Health: 159
- Insurance: 132
- Supplements: 27
Entertainment: 15 (Candy)
Student Loan: 120

SAVINGS RATE: 15.5%

A relatively good month, financially. My student loans just went into deferment, so those payments will be gone from this list for a while. I'll still be paying them down, but that will be included in my savings rate. You'll notice that there is no "Eating out" category this month; I did actually eat out quite a bit, but that got included in last month's numbers.

Going to school while working full-time is proving difficult so far. Specifically, most days, I'm not able to get enough sleep anymore. It's not like during undergrad when I lived, worked, and studied in the same place. The commuting time makes my day much longer.

Additionally, I have much fewer opportunities to do my grocery shopping. I used to be able to buy a few things after work, but now I have school after work, so I am limited to weekends for my shopping. Same goes for cooking. This means that my eating out has increased.

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