Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Live Uncomfortably

Regardless of what I end up doing in a year, I need to start saving more money. Normally when I make my personal budget, I add up all the monthly expenses and then figure out how much I can allocate to entertainment, savings and debt repayment. This time, the first line items were for savings and debt repayments. That needs to be the priority, so I made sure my planning reflected it. The number one task is to save $1,000 a month. That's more than I have ever saved before. The numbers add up as long as I make the necessary sacrifices.

Step two was setting up an automatic transfer from my checking account to savings every week for $230.

It is definitely a bit scary and nerve-wracking to know that that much money is going to be leaving my account EVERY week, but it's a good thing. It forces success rather than just hope that my resolve stays strong enough every month to make the manual transfer.

Living uncomfortably can be a good thing.

4 comments:

Salman Oskooi said...

Way to be responsible. Though I do hope you put aside a couple hundred next month for a trip to reunite with the crew... You'd at least be knocking out goal #93.

Anonymous said...

Admirable. Sounds like you need to ramp up your home brewing efforts and learn how to play some board games for entertainment purposes. On Saturday nights in the summer, there are free movies in random parks around the city too. Good luck!

Derek said...

Hey found your blog because this post title is the name of my blog.

From the little bit I've read it seems like you like to drink. I've found cutting alcohol completely saves me a shit ton of money and it's (cough) possible to have fun without it.

It's not the easiest thing to do in the world, it's completely uncomfortable, but it could help.

Good luck man,
Derek

Martin said...

Derek - thanks for writing. I've been following your blog and enjoy it.

I definitely need to be more careful with what I write if drinking seemed to be such a prominent part of my life. The savings plan is going well so far, and without having to sacrifice the special occasions where I will tip back a few with friends. Thank you for the suggestion, however.

Best,
Martin