I didn’t win the lottery last night. Chances are, you didn’t either.
I bought a Mega Millions ticket last night for fun. My Dad and I like to buy tickets from time to time when the jackpot gets big. My favorite thing about that are the conversations we have before the drawing.
What would you do if you won $500 million?
I was talking to Chase about that. After comparing what we’d each do with our winnings, I started to think about my current financial situation.
I’m not poor. However, despite having a pretty solid paying full-time job, I struggle to make ends meet. For some reason, I kept thinking about it last night.
Like I usually do, I split up my next paycheck in my head over and over again, trying to figure out where all the pieces would go. There was the mortgage, which is about 1k, and roughly, about 1/3 of how much I make in a month.
Then, my car payment. $200. Then, electric, water, and internet, and car insurance. This number varies and depends on how much Duke Energy fucks me that month. Usually around $400 total.
We’re down to a budget around $500 a week after all of that.
That’s still a lot. But where does it all go? I buy my clothes second-hand, and rarely go out to movies. I occasionally go out to dinner, but probably not more than 3-4 times a month.
I do spend money on travel, obviously. Upcoming plane tickets, trips. Chase and I are going to New York and Savannah in May. My friend Claire and I are going to Ireland in August.
But those are one-time expenses.
I go to Whole Foods a lot. I love magazines. While I’m very indecisive and selective about purchases, I won’t hesitate to drop $30 on decorative old man salt shakers, or $20 on a new travel guide.
But does that really add up to $500 a week?
I’m going to find out. I’m tired of worrying about money. I’m pretty creative in all other areas of my life, so I’m going to try to break down the reasons behind my spending, and find a better way. There has to be a way to budget that allows me to save money without driving myself nuts.
Before Chase moves in (June), I want to have this figured out. I’m realizing that if I don’t gain some more awareness about my spending, I won’t do any better with the money I’ll save from splitting rent and bills.
I’ll be blogging about this all month (April) in what I’m calling #FrugalAF April. I’m going to try to find better ways to take care of myself financially, with as much transparency that makes sense.
If you’re not a reader, check out the podcast I recorded about this, or follow the story at #FrugalAF.
