We are paying 785$ a month for a 2/2 apt, that is maybe 700 square feet. Maybe. It should have been 850$, but he gave us a “break” It was still 85$ more than I would have liked to be spending.
Our electric thus far has been anywhere from 80$ to 110$, which includes the water heater, stove/oven, washer/dryer (we do have them in the apt, so yay there), and whatever else electric we are sucking up with all our gadgets.
No phone bill, unless you count the mobils, which we pay an exorbitant amount of money for, but I have 3 on the account, one of which is my moms, and she pays my car payment now that we’ve moved out and can’t afford it anymore, so we got the better end of that deal.
Food is about 200$ a month as long as I am not out of “staples” (pasta, flour [whole wheat and white], sugar, etc…) and that feeds four of us, for the time being. That figure does not include eating out or ordering in.
Our auto ins. just dropped from 1400$ per 6 months to slightly over 1100$
The rest is misc. stuff, debt repayment, etc.. Our total living expenses, not including eating out, misc, emergancies, etc.. comes to anywhere from 1800$ a month to 2200$ a month, depending on if car insurance is due, etc…
You all know my love works on strict commission. We are entering/have entered the phenominal season, so I must start hording money. I have set up our budget so some credit cards will be paid off, and we will cancel them, so that bill will no logner be there, and others will begin to come down. I ened to have about 8000$ put away before this coming October, which is the beginning of the shit season.
I know you all don’t give a rats ass about or expenses, and I know we are in better shape than many, worse than many as well. My inlaws live in West Virginia, and their mortgage on 80 acres plus their home is elss than my monthly car payemnt. They also make a lot less than we do, so moving to where the cost of livign is less isn’t the perfect solution. Fish wont keep his elvel of income just anywhere, and sadly, Broward is only a few back in line from places like SanFransico and Washington DC in the expensive scale. When you live around teh corner from places advertising homes from the 600K’s to the 4 millions, you know you live int he slums, even if it’s a nice area *chuckles*
We are somewhat on top of the IRS bullshit, and should be able to find a home with the assistance on the VA insured loan he qualifies for sometime in the next 2 years. Of course, 150K doens’t buy much more than the apt we ar eliving in now, except no adjacent neighbors and a small plot of land to call a yard, if even.
We had been looking to move to Orlando about 2 years back, but in his business, that would be a bad idea. I’d love to get one of those huge RV’s and travel for a year, maybe once his name is well known and we have the moeny to bck it. He can guest-spot his way around, and the boys will be old enough to enjoy it. I’d also love to follow teh convention circuit, but the days of it being 100$ for a booth for the weekend are long gone.
Maybe teh answer is for me to go back to work, but doing what? And how miserable would I be? Would it be worth it? Probably not.
I guess I have come to terms with the fact that we are not rich. Not as bad off as many, but not comfortable enough we aren’t livign paycheck to paycheck. Is anyone anymore? I am just tring to find ways to rectify that situation, and I keep hitting brick walls. I need someone to go into business with… I need that drive of someone else to play ideas off of, to plan with, etc.
