To put things into perspective in case I forgot why I sacrifice. Courtesy of unbury.me.

So about $3,790 in interest savings and over 4 1/2 years difference. I think it’s totally worth it.

Sallie Mae Month 19 Update

No I didn’t forget about this. Student loan is down to $35,925.89 as of 11/9. This month has been a challenge as my credit card balance was $1k at one point, it’s $407 now, will be around $900 after the bill from the plumber hits. I have enough to pay the balance after my next paycheck (less than a week from now), but may not be able to do the ~$547 payment I do in the middle of the month and still have extra cash leftover. I could pay half of it now and the rest later. I hate getting behind on my plan though.

Anniversary date is coming up soon too. I want to do something special that won’t break the bank….

This marks my 100th post to this blog. I didn’t think I had it in me really to stay committed to writing a blog about getting out of debt and sticking to it. Giving myself an obligatory pat on the back. Now get back to work and keep making smarter decisions…

Ball still rolling… Big step for me to be under $37k

This past month has been particularly challenging. The trip to NY was kind of the icing on the cake, but at least I got to see a beautiful wedding along with my friends and family. Some recent expenses have

136.06 – Avis Car Rental
37.01 – Citgo Gas
6.79 – Breakfast on vac
50.00 – Lunch on vac
313.48 – Car Rotors
100 – Plumbing (bf paid 150 of this)
1000 – Sallie Mae
102 – AT&T Wireless
156 – Verizon

Total = 1901.34. These aren’t even all of my expenses. I would be totally screwed without my $1k emergency fund. Doing my best to build it up again. Think I need to cut back on some things…

My bf had a death in the family, which may mean he’ll be flying out to Florida soon, then flying to New York for work then a christening. Been super busy with work / life, but plan to post more. 🙂

Making progress still on getting this loan under control. I have a larger payment coming out later in the month of ~$600. I’d love to get under 37k for the month of August. My reserves are lower than I had hoped with last month’s bike purchase, and some other recent purchases.

I got two flat tires on my mountain bike, rewrapped the handle bars on the road bike, bought some additional accessories, a backup hard drive and some other items totaling around $200.

Were they worth it? Yes. Did I overpay? Don’t think so. Did I need everything at this particular moment in time? Probably not.

So about the above picture. Yesterday, my rear derailleur snapped in half. Not the day I rode 20miles in a day, but the day after I was only a mile away from home and doing like 2mph. It was more an inconvenience than anything, my partner drove my car over so I could get the bike loaded up on the bike rack and didn’t have to suffer longer than necessary in the 100° temperatures that embody summer living in Texas.

Joe Mhalic, one of my inspirations for writing this blog wrote some articles about budgeting recently, using a fictional character Max. I am beginning to realize that just I take home an extra $1100/mo doesn’t mean it’s not advantageous to have a plan with where my dollars are going in advance. I’ve been eating out a lot more which is eating into a substantial part of the difference.

I normally don’t do steakhouses because they’re expensive and I’m not a big steak person. However a few weeks ago we went to one for someone’s going away celebration and between the appetizers, drinks and my main entree I shelled out $120. Then my partner and I went to a birthday party. I didn’t pay the bill (he paid half), but it was at a high end restaurant. For the four of us food and wine totaled around $455. The words too rich for my blood come to mind.

I’ll be in NY (primarily for a wedding) over the next two weeks, look forward to meeting up with old friends and family. This will be right before my next paycheck, so unless I want to use credit I’ll have to be really particular about not spending too much.

My next post will be about budgeting and a plan that works for me. I know I’ve done a lot of bouncing back and forth about different plans. I’m learning from past failures though. Even when I’m bad, I’m not that bad, which is more than I can say for many people. 🙂

I didn’t 100% need a new bike. The $185 road bike I bought from Amazon in April was fine overall. In need of some adjustments, but perfectly ridable and allowing me to get some much needed exercise in. However the more I rode it, the more I felt it was lacking. Felt every little bump in the road, teetering on the edge of a puncture or bent rim. In 4 months ownership, never a case of being stranded or having something go wrong on a ride.

I’m not normally this gentle on a bike and wanted something in all frankness I could rough up a little bit and not bat an eye. So I started looking at Mountain Bikes. First on Craigslist. Messaged a few sellers but none of them even so much as responded to my email. Then there’s the concept of caveat emptor. Last thing I want is to spend $200 on a bike and need to spend $100 to fix it or later discover irreversible damage.

Next I checked out some of the bigger name bike shops. REI was one in particular. I liked what they offered, but the prices were way too high for my liking and they’re had a rash of bad publicity lately. So I decide to look at some smaller bike shops in the immediate area. They’ve all shut down. I expand my radius and see a few that met my criteria but none were open on a Sunday. Typically no Sunday and no late hours go hand in hand. That’s gonna be a problem.

GT Timberline 2.0 Bike : 349.99
Thule Thruway Pro Rack: 79.99

Total: 429.98
Tax: 35.47
Grand Total: 465.45

So yeah almost $500 for a bike. The first day I got it I rode 10 miles on it. Weighed myself and down 4 pounds almost lighter. Granted it’s mostly water weight, but if I keep this up the fat will just melt off me. I did puncture the inner tube though to my dismay. So maybe I get to ride again tomorrow if it’s fixed. If not it’s all the gym for me.

On top of that, I booked a flight to Las Vegas for November (~$310). It wasn’t my idea but I was pretty much peer pressured into going. This will be my 4th “trip” of the year. The Pennsylvania one for an interview and NY mostly for a baby shower don’t really count in my mind. Going to NY again for a wedding September.

I was also faced with the task of making some changes to my car’s audio system. I have an iPhone 5, but originally had a 4 when my system was upgraded. The iPhone cable was able to charge the phone and locally stored music fine. Streaming is hit or miss. Most the time when I go through my Spotify playlist it comes up Error 01. Researched the error and basically I could buy some expensive Bluetooth contraption that may or not work. So instead of using the phone data connection cable (which has two adaptors and disconnects when I nudge it the slightest bit) or buying a new head unit I decided to do a head unit -> RCA -> maniplug connection. Get the cables Wednesday for $~20, hopefully it all works…

One of my dream cars for a while has been the Infinity G series. They offer great performance and a convey a sense of affordable luxury.  Then I checked Fuelly and the mpg figures were abysmal. 20.6 on the high end with mixed driving and 19.4 on the long end. I currently do a lot of stop and go with A/C on full blast averaging 23. My next car should be hovering around 40 and offer some excitement. Thinking 2016 or something on my car undergoes a major meltdown, whichever happens sooner. Also a lofty goal but I’d love to be able to buy it entirely with cash. All speculation though…

Last but not least, life isn’t about just paying off debt. It’s about experiencing the world outside and spending time with people you enjoy, whether they be friends or family. For me too much extreme makes me feel like a slave to money. I literally count every penny and have felt stuck in the house an entire weekend because I didn’t want to spend $50 to do stuff. That’s not healthy and often leads to destructive behavior in the long run.

Couple of different things going on in my life right now.

1. Becoming close to a vegetarian. A lot of things about meat disgust me and more often than not I don’t feel good about myself after eating it. From a digestive standpoint it takes a long time for my body to break it down. I also could stand to lose some weight at 220lbs. I may not be 100% compliant, but I keep reading about all the people who feel better once they’ve integrated more vegetables into their lives. Many have lost weight in the process too. I figure why not become one of them. There are of course other reasons as well. We’ll see how I feel after a couple days.

2. Looking back at some of the people I used to interact with frequently on Long Island in the gay bar scene. Good people, but professionally it does not appear they are making any types of advances. One guy a year older than me works at a local hardware store and I speculate he isn’t making very much money. A girl who is 4 years younger is a cashier at a dollar store. Then my friend with a Bachelors in Business works in a McDonalds. Is it a sign of the times with employment on Long Island? Possibly, some refer to people my age as  part of a long generation. Finished high school after the dot.com bubble burst, started college right around the time 9/11 happened. Then when we completed college, the nation was at war and millions of private sector jobs were gone. Problems compounded on LI as many companies moved to NYC or packed up and went out of state.

I don’t know for a fact what my income would be had I not met my partner or moved, but my take home pay now is 80% more than it was 2011 in New York. Neighbors across the street from my parents are looking to sell their house because they can’t afford it anymore. My aunt on LI has been looking months for a job.

3. This month has been really good for my cash-flow situation. Multiple checks coming in:

• Previous employer last two weeks of work
• Previous employer vacation money
• Previous employer bonus check in mail Saturday – I guess they were feeling generous or forgot about it.
• First week of work at new employer
• Next two weeks direct deposit.

This is the first time I’ve had a good chunk of cash sitting in my account. I plan to keep $3k in my checking at all times and have a significant portion of the rest go to Sallie Mae. This amount will vary based on other priorities at the moment. Did have one expense come up, for our AC unit to be repaired. Shelled out $240 for it, hadn’t been serviced in a year and water was leaking into the upstairs bathroom. I’ve been eating out more, but socializing more as well. It’s a tradeoff I’m trying to shift in the right direction. Threw out some food lately that hadn’t been used. About $20 worth and I know it sounds silly but I feel bad for wasting it.

Overheard on an exercise podcast that one of the best ways to boost testosterone is to get more sleep. This is an area I need to get better at. So going to bed before midnight instead of 1:30. I need to be more rested at my job, especially with so many meetings. Falling asleep is not the right answer.