BeyondtheWrap's Journal

[BeyondtheWrap]

JUNE 2015

INCOME: 1136

EXPENSES: 1553
Housing: 400
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 121
- Internet: 61
- Insurance: 107
- Roommate: -160
Groceries: 143
- Food: 64
- Personal Care: 60
- Supplies: 20
Transportation: 117
Health: 295
- Insurance: 36
- Services: 235
- Pharmacy: 23
Hobby: 349
Entertainment: 250
- Socializing: 188
- Fast food: 37
- Gift: 14
- Candy: 10

SAVINGS RATE: -36.8%

Big expenses this month included a dentist appointment (checkup and cleaning) and another improv class.

[jennypenny]

and another improv class.

Why are you taking the improv class? Is it to learn how to be more outgoing, or are you interested in performing?

[BeyondtheWrap]

Why are you taking the improv class? Is it to learn how to be more outgoing, or are you interested in performing?

It's been a hobby of mine for several years. I was in improv club when I was in undergrad, so I did a lot of practicing and performing back then. Now I take classes when I have the free time for it, partly for fun and socialization. Longer term, I am interested in performing, so I am building my skills toward that end.

I know that classes are expensive, but they are worth it to me. There are cheaper ways to keep practicing outside of class, but I still want to receive formal training along the way in addition to that.

[BeyondtheWrap]

JULY 2015

INCOME: 1549

EXPENSES: 2388
Housing: 1723
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 121
- Insurance: 107
- Internet: 61
- Water: 1164
Groceries: 85
- Food: 40
- Supplies: 17
- Personal Care: 28
Transportation: 117
Health: 48
- Insurance: 36
- Pharmacy: 12
Hobby: 55
Entertainment: 306
- Fast food: 95
- Socializing: 198
- Electronics: 13
Clothing: 54

SAVINGS RATE: -54.2%

This was an expensive month, mostly due to the annual water bill being due in July. Other than that, I also spent a little more in certain categories, but it's okay for the most part, as my life-happiness levels are currently high.

I'm currently doing a lot of improv-related activities. I have my class and also meet with 2 practice groups per week outside of that (which is the cheaper, more effective way of practicing improv). I also play in the free mixer/jam once a week and see shows 2-3 nights per week.

So I have been very busy and have a long commute on top of that, so I have not had time to cook recently. Because of this, my fast food expenses are up. I usually go to Subway for lunch during work if I have activities after work to go to. If not, I eat something smaller. In general, I've also been eating less. I know these things are not sustainable in the long term and have not figured out the best way to proceed. I can't use the excuse that this schedule is only temporary, since I like the things I'm doing now.

In addition to not having time to cook, I haven't had much time to go food shopping either. I'm wondering if maybe I should give up my compulsion to only shop at the cheapest stores and instead shop at the stores in my neighborhood even if they're more expensive; this way I can more easily fit grocery shopping into my schedule.

My headphones still don't last very long, and I've decided to try a different solution, Sugru, as a way to reinforce the wire near the jack. We'll see if this makes it last any longer.

I decided to buy some new T-shirts this month. I'm kind of sick of the T-shirts I had already, which mostly had funny references on them. I've come to realize that it's kind of annoying to have people repeatedly ask me what my shirt means, and my strategy of wearing them out is taking way too long. The one T-shirt I had without any words on it was actually my favorite shirt, so I decided to get the same design in different colors.

[BeyondtheWrap]

AUGUST 2015

INCOME: 1354

EXPENSES: 2747
Housing: 1883
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 121
- Internet: 71
- Insurance: 1421
Groceries: 101
- Food: 42
- Supplies: 57
- Personal Care: 3
Transportation: 117
Health: 36
Hobby: 91
Entertainment: 518
- Socializing: 349
- Fast food: 63
- Music: 100
- Candy: 6

SAVINGS RATE: -102.9%

I decided to pay a year of homeowners insurance as a lump sum in order to meet the minimum spend on a new credit card.

As you can see, I did not spend very much at the grocery store. Like during July, I was very busy with improv (which forms my "Hobby" spending), though now I'm now taking a break to focus on school. Additionally, I have taken up another hobby, genealogy, which has consumed a great deal of my free time as well. In the meantime, my previous hobby, manufactured spending, has become much less convenient, taking away another reason to go to grocery stores. So recently, being so focused on activities that I enjoy, I just haven't felt like spending as much time on survival tasks like food shopping anymore. Even when I do have the time, I'm either too tired or too lazy and would rather just go straight home. So often I either eat less or eat out. I've been trying to mitigate this by shopping at the stores in my neighborhood, despite knowing that they're not the cheapest possible. It's challenging.

It's weird, I'm starting to value my time.

That's part of why I'm considering moving next year. I do want to continue living in this city, but I'm just so far away from everything. My improv friends tend to live in Brooklyn or thereabouts, and they think that 35-40 minutes is a long commute. Whenever I tell new friends that my commute is 1.5-2 hours, the response tends to be shock and disbelief. I know that no one I meet will be coming to visit me, and that this may be an issue when I start dating again. I do have friends local to me, but I am feeling less and less invested in staying around. Another reason to move is that my sister is currently living with me, and I really don't like not having my own space. Or I could stay and just learn to deal with how things are here and enjoy the cost savings. The long commute can be partially mitigated by taking the express bus instead of the subway to work, but there are disadvantages to that as well. I'm very undecided about this. I'll wait until my income increases before making a decision.

I paid for another year of eMusic. Despite the reduction in their music catalog at the end of last year, there still is enough that I'm still interested in that will take me another year to go through.

I just started my last semester of my M.Sc. program. Almost done...

[BeyondtheWrap]

SEPTEMBER 2015

INCOME: 1199

EXPENSES: 934
Housing: 391
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 121
Groceries: 129
- Food: 78
- BJ's Membership: 44
- Supplies: 6
Transportation: 117
Health: 44
- Insurance: 36
- Pharmacy: 8
Hobbies: 106
- Improv: 40
- Genealogy: 66
Entertainment: 148
- Socializing: 102
- Fast food: 32
- Candy: 13

SAVINGS RATE: 22.1%

Due to a combination of laziness and being busy, I decided to loosen up my frugality a bit and shop at the stores that are more convenient to my location but more expensive. So instead of shopping at BJ's and Aldi, I've been shopping at Target. As you can see, even when I try to spend more money, it doesn't come out to much. Even though I've been buying avocados!

My BJ's membership came up for renewal, which I had previously set to automatic in order to get a $10 discount on the membership. However, if by next year I feel the same way, that going to BJ's is just too inconvenient at this point in my life, I'll just cancel it. (Last time I went to that store was in early August.)

[BeyondtheWrap]

OCTOBER 2015

INCOME: 1592
5 Paychecks: 1492
Gift: 100

EXPENSES: 972
Housing: 463
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 121
- Internet: 72
Groceries: 125
- Food: 113
- Supplies: 12
Transportation: 140
Health: 49
- Insurance: 36
- Pharmacy: 12
Hobbies: 109
Haircut: 14
Entertainment: 67
- Socializing: -24
- Fast food: 84
- Candy: 8
Education: 5

SAVINGS RATE: 34.9%

I decided to order a box of the new bottled Soylent to see if I like it. It's a little expensive (about $3/bottle), but not as expensive as fast food and healthier, so I figured it would make a good lunch for those days when I don't have leftovers to bring to work. I found that I somewhat like the taste, though the portion size is small, making it still not optimal. Still, I think it's a good option to have and I'm going to order more.

Instead of paying for a 30-day Unlimited MetroCard, I decided to just pay per ride. I figured that since I'm not doing improv right now, I wouldn't have that many extra trips to make. I also figured that I could sometimes take the Express Bus to work if my usual bus is running late, and I can't use my Unlimited to pay for the Express Bus. Well, what ended happening is that I still ended up making extra trips because I went to the library a lot on weekends as part of my genealogy research. So, I probably should have gotten the Unlimited anyway but just made sure I had extra funds in case I needed to take the Express Bus.

So, as you know, I've been researching my genealogy. I already found a line back to Charlemagne through my New England ancestors, but the other branches are more elusive. I've also gotten my brother interested in this pursuit, so he's been researching a lot as well and posting the findings on WikiTree. I'm very close to knowing the names of all of my great-great-grandparents. I also decided to take a genealogical DNA test to see if I find any distant cousins who can add to my research. I probably won't find anyone who's researched the family further back than I have, but I may be surprised.

[m741]

How did you get started with genealogy research? It's something I've been thinking about doing a little of.

[llorona]

Genealogy ideas: If you have ancestors from the colonial era or early years following the American Revolution, you might be surprised at the information you can potentially find. Vital records and church records can be scarce, but wills/probate records, land records, military records, and county histories can be treasure troves. Also, the Mormons have done an awesome job of digitizing books, including family histories submitted by genealogists. If you go to www.familysearch.org -> search -> books, a quick search for the family names you're researching might yield fruitful results.

[BeyondtheWrap]

As llorona mentioned, FamilySearch.org is a great resource. And it's free! I find that I use it mostly for U.S. census records.

How hard it's going to be is largely dependent on where your ancestors lived. My grandmother is descended almost entirely from British American colonists, so it was relatively easy. It's much easier to trace your ancestors back if they're all in the U.S., since the records are pretty consistent for a while. Also, the further you go back, the more descendants your ancestor will have that are currently alive today, so it becomes likely that your ancestors have been researched by other people already. It's even easier if those ancestors are from New England due to the efforts of the New England Historic Genealogical Society to document every family that descends from the original colonists. I only had to trace back to about the mid-1800s before everyone started showing up in genealogy books. Of course, it still takes a lot of googling, but the information is there.

So I got very lucky with my grandmother's ancestors.

On the other hand, my other three grandparents are the children of immigrants from various countries. That's way more of a challenge, since how do you connect your family back to a family in the old country? You have to look at things like Ellis Island passenger lists to hopefully find the town they came from and see if they list family members. Alternate spellings of family names and town names can make this a nightmare, especially if you don't understand the language. Even if you do have the right names, you might find that these names were way more common in the old country than you'd expect. Also, genealogical resources for those countries are way more decentralized, so you may have to look up church records at the town level. Or they might not even have records at all over there if your ancestors were the wrong social class or if the records were destroyed by warfare. For these ancestors of mine, I haven't found anything further back than the names of the immigrants' parents.

Where are your ancestors from, m741?

[m741]

Thanks guys, I'll check out those resources.

I'm third-generation German on one side of the family, and a mix of British colonial, German and fourth-generation Hungarian on the other side. The British colonial part came over very early and it sounds like there's lots of resources there. I'm talking to my German grandmother in a month or so to see what I can figure out on that side of the family.

[George the original one]

Definitely start by gathering the stories in your family. Even if they're not true, there's usually a germ of truth to help guide the way when you're searching records.

I was lucky in that both my mom & dad's paternal lineage is well-documented in books. Their maternal lineages are where I've had to do a lot of digging. My in-laws were fun to do as well until I got stuck with the "Jones" and "Murphy" problems of searching records. Father-in-law's line is colonial English & French, they fought on the wrong side of the American Revolutionary War, took up land in New Brunswick per the King's offer, married into French-Canadian family, then the Irish, and descendants emigrated back into Maine after a century of living on the border, LOL.

Beware of made-up stuff as you get further back in time. The Mormons, while generally a good resource, frankly pulled stuff out of their hat without documentation when you get to the 1500s for my paternal line. Also beware of connections that amateurs make; double-check that dates are appropriate, etc.; especially true when you get into US census records prior to 1840 where only the male head-of-house is listed.

[BeyondtheWrap]

In earlier entries, I counted in the "Food" category only food that I bought at the grocery store; other sources of food were counted under "Entertainment" because they were recognized as either the result of poor planning or frivolous expenses that make me happier. I no longer think this is a good tracking system because I do not get the majority of my calories from the grocery store anymore.

In fact, I have basically given up on the idea of cooking at home for the time being. Since I am busy with school and such, I do not have much time to go shopping, and when I do, I am limited by what I can carry, so I can only bring home a few things. So it normally takes me multiple shopping trips to get all the ingredients that I need. However, because I am so busy, I will not end up cooking and eating my food right away, so what ends up happening is that my sister just eats it. This makes it pretty much impossible to plan my meals, because I think about what food I might want to eat later and come home only to find that the food is gone. If I try to hide my food, she finds it. I have also run out of ideas for food that I like and she doesn't. Well, except for avocados, but now I'm out of counter space to put them because she spreads out her stuff everywhere and never puts anything away. And even if I can cook my food, the sink is always full of dirty dishes, and even if my sister does finally wash her dishes, she doesn't do a very good job of it (the clean dishes are still dirty). This is no way to live, so I'm just not even going to try anymore.

Hopefully she'll move out soon. If not, hopefully I'll be able to move out soon.

NOVEMBER 2015

INCOME: 1200

EXPENSES: 1406
Housing: 500
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 158
- Internet: 72
Food: 477
- Socializing: 301
- Fast food: 110
- Soylent: 29
- Groceries: 23
- Candy: 15
Hobby: 172
Transportation: 157
Supplies: 38
Health: 36
Entertainment: 27

SAVINGS RATE: -17.1%

[Chris]

Any chance you can cook at school or work?

[BeyondtheWrap]

Any chance you can cook at school or work?

Creative! I like your thinking.

The office kitchen has no stove, just a microwave, but it does have dishes I can use. There is also a refrigerator, which would allow storage of a limited amount of cold food. I can keep a stash of non-perishables in my desk easily.

Perhaps some kind of canned food, such as a soup, would work best for this as it could be stored easily and heated in the microwave using the available dishes. However, as much as I like a can of soup, it tends to be less filling than I expect.

[Chris]

While hotel livin', I'll do chicken and veg. 1 rotisserie chicken + 2lbs frozen veggies will cover 5 meals for about $9. You can throw in some soy sauce as well. If you want, rice with that, it's probably easiest to pick some up from a Chinese take-out place.

[BeyondtheWrap]

DECEMBER 2015

INCOME: 1397
5 Paychecks: 1297
Gift: 100

EXPENSES: 1180
Housing: 500
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 158
- Internet: 72
Food: 328
- Socializing: 124
- Fast food: 111
- Groceries: 43
- Soylent: 29
- Candy: 21
Transportation: 203
Miscellaneous: 17
- Personal Care: 12
- Household Supplies: 5
Health Insurance: 36
Entertainment: 82
Hobby: 15

SAVINGS RATE: 15.5%

My fast food spending was still high this month, mostly due to late nights at school doing end-of-semester projects. Apart from this, I have been able to reduce lunch costs. For now I'm going with the strategy of eating canned soup for lunch when at work. Hopefully I'll come up with something healthier that's still convenient.

I'm done with school now.

My supervisor at work has expressed a desire for me to stay with the company as a regular employee, and that is what I'm planning to do, though the details still need to be worked out.

[BeyondtheWrap]

JANUARY 2016

INCOME: 1256

EXPENSES: 1404
Housing: 428
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 158
Food: 207
- Socializing: 96
- Fast food: 67
- Soylent: 29
- Candy: 15
Transportation: 229
Other Purchases: 23
- Personal care: 17
- Household supplies: 6
Health: 53
- Insurance: 36
- Pharmacy: 17
Hobbies: 451
- Improv: 428
- Genealogy: 23
Other Entertainment: 14

SAVINGS RATE: -11.8%

[BeyondtheWrap]

FEBRUARY 2016

INCOME: 1161

EXPENSES: 1331
Housing: 500
- Rent: 270
- Gas & Electric: 158
- Internet: 72
Food: 455
- Socializing: 292
- Fast food: 88
- Groceries: 40
- Soylent: 29
- Candy: 6
Other Groceries: 88
- Pets: 13
- Personal care: 37
- Household supplies: 38
Transportation: 140
Health: 24
- Insurance: 16
- Pharmacy: 8
Hobbies: 115
- Improv: 100
- Genealogy: 15
Clothing: 9

SAVINGS RATE: -14.6%

I still need to increase my income. During mid-January I did interview for another position at my current company, but I didn't get it. I know I need to do something about this because it affects the long term, so it does weigh in the back of my mind.

In the short term, however, things feel much different. The job I currently have allows me the freedom to do what I want with the rest of my time, and I have been using this opportunity to engage more in my hobbies. I always have something to look forward to in the next few days.

At the beginning of January I reunited with my improv practice group which had formed last summer but from which I took a break for school during the fall semester. I practice with them once a week and also perform with them 1-2 times per week. (I'm also taking a regular improv class like I have in the past, but I'm finding that I learn way more with my practice group nowadays.) However, since our most common performance venue is a certain bar in the city, I have been spending a lot of money there recently, reflected above. I need to cut down on this. Specifically by resisting the urge to have a second beer.

I've also been making progress on my genealogy. Recently I've been going to the LDS Family History Center often (usually one weeknight per week and also on Saturday afternoons) to look at microfilms of vital records from the town in Italy my great-grandfather came from. Luckily for me, it seems to have been the kind of small town where everyone knew each other, everyone was related, and everyone's family had been there for many generations. I was surprised to find that the records are quite good (going back to ~1810); so far I have the names of all 8 great-grandparents of my great-grandfather (aka my 4x-great-grandparents).

I haven't been cooking for the past few months, and I've started to miss my own food. Luckily, my sister hasn't been spending much time at the house lately, so I'm starting to feel more comfortable bringing ingredients home. I've started eating avocados in the morning again, and towards the end of February I started making smoothies for breakfast again. Hopefully I'll be able to start cooking rice and beans again soon, but due to scheduling constraints it may be a few more weeks.

[Forskaren]

I noticed that food and housing seem to be your biggest expenses.

Have you considered relocating to some other place? No big house to take care of, close to work, time to cook and a good place to find free hobbies?