Spring semester is almost finished. I have one test to take on Friday, and then I will be done! If I do well on the test, then I should have 3 A's. Then I can breathe easy (at least academically) until my summer class starts on June 6.
Financially ... my gut is twisting. This month -- May -- it looks like I won't even make $400.
TG, the academic dean at the school where I'm tutoring the high-school boy at talked to me today. She did say that she might have some (one at least) person for me to work with this summer. She also asked me if I'd be willing to work with SH again next year ... at a reduced rate and reduced time. But that she thought she could find others to make up for the reduced amount/time.
Next year SH will be taking pre-calculus. I'm not even sure what pre-calculus is. (yes, I know it's math - I've taken Algebra 2 and Statistics ... not pre-cal). The government and lit classes I feel comfortable helping him with ... the pre-cal ... not so much.
I'm really not sure what to do. I was hoping to find something part time where I could be more sure of how much I'd make each month. But there doesn't seem to be much of anything near enough that'd be worth the gas.
I was looking forward to my break between classes so I could go catch some movies at the dollar theater, but all the movies there are ones I don't want to see. The movies I'd like to see are at the full-cost theaters (or will be soon) Iron Man 2, Sex and the City 2, Shrek ... For now I'm going with the free movies from the library. This weekend I watched Miss Petigrew Lives for a Day (great movie!) and Revolutionary Road (Ugh!!! Don't recommend unless you want to be very, very, very depressed). I have Cold Mountain, Slumdog Millionaire and Dan in Real Life still to watch.
I'm going to try to do some cooking and putting together a lot of freezer meals over the next couple of weeks. So hopefully I can reduce my grocery bills for the next few months. There really isn't much I can cut.
My monthly bills look like this:
$200 - rent
$79 -- storage unit rent
$80 -- phone (paid for by my dad right now)
$90 -- gas (auto)
$90 -- groceries
$25 -- prescription
$35 -- savings towards 6 month car insurance
Total -- $599
Then of course, 10% of whatever comes in goes to tax savings, and another 10% goes to the giving category. Then you know, the incidentals like oil changes, hair cuts (still need one badly), etc.
I'm going to have to use some of my tuition savings for living expenses. Which means I'll have to borrow money for Spring 2011 tuition -- unless I get some killer scholarships.
---
My stepdad has paid for tickets for my mom and I to go see the play version of Little House for Mother's Day. I had planned on doing it for her, but realized that it would be totally financially irresponsible -- even though the two tickets ended up being a bit less than $50. I'm going to cover parking, which will probably be $10.
My teeth are still bothering me. My mom and stepdad have said they'll cover the cost of getting my teeth checked out, and if something needs done, they'll help me out.
This is a lesson in humility for me. Learning to humbly accept other peoples generosity. Someday hopefully I'll be in the position to do the same for others again.
Thankfully my car seems to continue to hang on. I read a good article off of Yahoo today:
http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1428/How-To-Tell-When-It-s-Time-for-a-New-Car
Well, that's about it for now.
Almost Finished with Spring semester, etc.
May 3rd, 2010 at 05:57 pm
May 3rd, 2010 at 06:57 pm 1272913072
That article is great! The only time I have faced a repair that was un-worthwhile (knock on wood) was when I blew the engine on my 20-year-old vehicle. Anyway - that was a no brainer - it was time for a newer vehicle. I could have bought a reliable car for less than the cost of a new engine.
I have always found repairs to be worthwhile and never saw where the value of the vehicle had anything to do with it. (e.g. driving a vehicle worth $500 - most any repair costs as much as the car.). I am sure we have had a fair amount of luck (no *problem* vehicles), but it seems to me that most of the time people would be ahead financially if they just kept their cars longer and repaired them. It's a long standing tradition in my family - no one's ever gone broke over car maintenance. (Maybe because no one has car payments, either).
May 3rd, 2010 at 08:21 pm 1272918081
Yes, I thought the article was pretty good too. Now I have it saved for posterity -- so the next time I have some ills with my car I can talk myself out of taking my relatives up on their offer of a new car. Knock on wood*** my car is going to last me another two years -- time to finish my degree and time to rebuild savings!
May 3rd, 2010 at 11:45 pm 1272930343
May 4th, 2010 at 01:32 am 1272936749
May 4th, 2010 at 01:43 am 1272937413
Thanks whitestripe. Yes, I do remember your post, and you're right - not being in pain (or stress) definitely helps the picture to clear.
Homebody,
I think I have too much in savings to qualify for anything (at least at the moment --- by December I'll have little left) I think they also take into account your retirement assets. To qualify for aid, at least from when I've looked at it in the past, you have to have less than $2k in savings/checking/assets, and a car worth less than $2k.