So what’s left, after subtracting all of those expenses from the money you’ll be bringing home? FUN! Yes, the money that’s left is yours to do with in whatever way will make you happy. And that, my friends, includes shopping, going out… and savings and retirement contributions. Wait… say what?!?

Retirement and Fun

Fun stands for “Future Ultimate eNjoyment,” or at least it does when I bend the rules of acronyms to my will! But seriously, think about it: when you go into a movie, why do you pay before you go in? Well, mostly because you can’t get in if you don’t, but also because you’re paying for future fun. You give them money, and after a short wait, you get roughly two hours of entertainment.

So… what does that have to do with retirement savings again? Well, the wait time between now and retirement and the wait time while watching trailers at the theater might be vastly different, but the concept is the same. You hand over money in the “now” so that your future self can enjoy themselves. Sadly, I hear the excuse “I probably won’t live long enough to retire!” far too often. Yeah, and you might trip over a discarded popcorn bucket and never get into the theater to see your movie, either. But if you want to have fun when you get old, your best bet is to buy your figurative “movie tickets” now.

But I do see the other side of the argument – not everyone plans to retire and live out their elderly lives with the Bridge Club. Baker summed up the arguments against obsessing over retirement nicely in his recent post over at Viralogy, Should Retirement Really Be The “End Goal” For Gen-Y? I can certainly see the benefit of spending your money as you go, and enjoying life in the here-and-now. But the simple fact is that you don’t know what the future will bring, but you can pretty much guarantee that if you’re alive in the future, you’ll want (and need) to do things that cost money.

Don’t go crazy-overboard about retirement investing right off the bat. Yes, compound interest works better the sooner you start, and you should save something while you’re young, if you have the means to do it. A good place to start? Maxing out a Roth IRA. You can currently contribute $5,000 per year to a Roth, and it’s an extremely flexible retirement vehicle. Your contributions can be taken out tax-and-penalty-free to be used for whatever you like, at any age. So if you decide to take mini-retirements as you go, the money you contributed to your Roth is fair game. In certain circumstances (such as paying for education expenses or your first home), you can even get your earnings out without penalty, as well. And, of course, once you hit age 59.5, you can take all the money out tax-and-penalty free. Oo la la!

One more thing about retirement savings – if the job you get offers a 401(k) (or a similar retirement account) with matching contributions, make sure you contribute to that as well, even if it means you don’t have enough left over to max out your Roth IRA. Those matching contributions are free money from your employer, and you should take them!

Major Goals and Fun

I’m going to go ahead and bet that you’ve got some goals you want to accomplish between now and retirement age. You might be able to get away with saving for some of these goals within your retirement accounts, but for most things you should have a separate account. A good savings account is one of the best vehicles for saving for short-to-medium range goals, such as a shiny new car, a wedding, a down payment for a house, a boat, big vacations (or small ones!)… I could go on and on, but you’re the one who has to figure out your goals and plan for them!

Goal planning is shockingly simple – how much will the goal cost you? How many months are there between now and when you want to achieve that goal? Divide cost by number of months… and you’ve got how much you need to save each month to get to that goal. The problem is that the amount we need to save each month is often more than we expect… and more than we think we can sacrifice.

During your first year out, you may not be able to save enough to put yourself on track for each and every goal you have (including retirement) and also keep some money to just have fun with, in the here-and-now. This is exactly where the hard decision lies. This is where you have to take all of the information from the three parts of this budget exercise, and decide… can you afford to do this?

Will you be able to pay all of your bills and make progress toward your goals, while still enjoying the present?

If “yes,” congratulations! Double-check everything, but if you’re sure, then get moving! Life is waiting!

If’ “no,” it’s time to make some hard choices. It might be best for you to live at home a while, and save up some money, if your family situation allows such a thing. Or you may have to make concessions that you’re less willing to make, such as living in a cheaper city, getting roommates, or postponing a certain goal or two.

Only you know how to tweak your situation to figure out how to make the best of the coming year. But here’s something that will help: because you’ve gone through all of the income, expenses, savings, and fun money… you now have all the information you need. You can play with the numbers, run through different scenarios, and figure it all out on your own. Ooo… I just got a tingly feeling… does this all mean we’re really adults now?

Related posts:

1. Moving: Making the Decision, Part 2
2. Moving: Making the Decision
3. No, I Don’t Think You Should Open a Roth IRA

Many lenders today depend on credit scores for so many big loans, such as a mortgage,car or student loan. Your credit score helps determine if you can get a loan and how much interest you’ll end up paying. 

If you’re wondering what makes up your credit score, this post is foing to review the five factors that you have to manage. While we don’t know the exact method of how Fair Issac calculates your score, we do know what they consider. 

If you’re willing to work on these points, you can build your score up. 

Five Factors That Decide Your Credit Score

As you can see on the pie chart, some factors are more important than others. If you can’t do all of them, try to start of with the first two points, and build from there. 

• Payment history – 35%
• Amounts owed – 30%
• Length of credit history – 15%
• New credit – 10%
• Types of credit used – 10%

Source: MyFico

35% – Paying your bills on time: If you’re late with your payments, not only can you get a late fee charged to you, but after 30 days, it ges reported to the credit bureaus. 

How to fix it: Make sure you get current on all your bills and start paying them on time. Make sure you don’t have any accounts in collections. As you pay on time month after month, year after you, your FICO will go up.

30% – Debt you owe and the amount of available credit: It’s not just how much debt you’re carrying, it’s how much of your available debt you’re taking advantage of. Another reason why it may not be a good idea to cancel unused credit cards.

How to fix it: If you don’t want to take a big hit on your credit score, don’t cancel too many credit cards at the same time, as it can have an adverse effect. You can also pay down your credit card debt and improve the debt/available credit ratio.

Don’t open an account JUST to increase your credit limit. Instead focus on paying down the debt. 

15% – Your credit history length: This is basically keeping track of how long you’ve had your accounts. 

How to fix it: This is easy to do, but it takes time. You just have to keep being responsible

10% – New credit applications: This considers how many accounts have been opened up recently.

How to fix it: Another simple one to improve, just don’t open too many accounts at once. Also remember that some banks pull your credit report so keep that in mind. 

10% -Different Types of Credit: Having a mix of installment loans like a mortgage

How to fix it: This shouldn’t be a huge problem, so be aware of the accounts you have. DO NOT get a car loan so you can have an installement. Getting into debt to build a record is not a smart move. 

If you’re looking for more information on specifi credit report situation, JD and Jim had a wonderful interview with Liz Pulliam Weston on how credit score works and how to improve them.

It took awhile to get this Financial Guru Review done, as I wasn’t too familiar with Ben Stein’s thoughts on personal finance. It was a lot of fun to read some of his columns and interviews.

Ben Stein on Getting Out of Debt and Credit Cards

Mr. Stein does use credit cards out of convenience and pays off the balance each month. Here’s a transcript from Frontline’s special on credit cards:

NARRATOR: Stein says he charges thousands of dollars a month in business expenses on his credit cards.

BEN STEIN: I use all their good services, and they don’t make any money from me. I mean, none to speak of.

NARRATOR: The credit card companies do make a percentage on each transaction, but Stein is not their ideal customer because, like 55 million Americans, he pays his bills off every month and doesn’t pay any interest.

BEN STEIN: The credit card companies hate people like me, who pay off our bills every month. And I know that because I ran into a fellow I went to high school with on the street, and he told me he worked for a credit card company. And I told him about how much I use credit cards and how I pay them off every month, and he said, “Oh, we hate you. We hate you guys. We call you deadbeats.”

Ben Stein and Building Wealth

In an interview with Nickel, Ben Stein commented he saves around 20% of his income for retirement. He also talks about how having specific financial goals can help you avoid ‘indulgences’.

I agree that sometimes you have to make big sacrifices to reap the benefits later. We tend to justify our luxuries. While it’s a common phrase, spending less than you earn is the foundation of fixing your finances. Either cut your expenses or find a way to earn more money. 

Ben Stein on Paying Off Mortgage or Investing

A question some people have is whether to pay off their mortgage faster or invest that money. 

While making no hard and fast rules, Ben Stein offered the following advice:

 Generally speaking, if you have a very low mortgage rate, it is better to invest the money than to pay off your mortgage. It’s an interesting fact – the rate of return on your mortgage is the interest you’re paying on it.

If you have a 6 percent mortgage and you’re paying it off, you’re earning 6 percent. If you can earn more than 6 percent in the stock market, you should probably put it in the stock market.

But, on the other hand, pay it off in an expeditious way. It’s good to have it paid off, or at least mostly paid off, by retirement time.

My Thoughts On Ben Stein

I wasn’t as familiar with his books as I was with the other financial gurus, so I had to dig a round a bit. If you’d like to learn more, here a link to his NY Times columns.

I agree with how he uses credit cards without going into debt. I found some bloggers have wrote some good posts about him. 

•  Ben Stein Is The Best Yahoo! Finance Columnist 
• Ben Stein: Invest or Pay Off Mortgage? 
• An Interview with Ben Stein Part 1
• An Interview with Ben Stein, Part 2

What are Your Thoughts?

With everything, find out if this advice is useful for you. No one is going to care about your finances like you do. Following the guidelines of a financial guru doesn’t get you off the hook for personal responsibility.

Do you listen to financial gurus’ money advice? If so, which one? Is there a financial guru you’d like me to review?

When I first moved out on my own, I figured that managing my finances would be pretty simple. After all, I didn’t have too many bills and my income seemed to cover everything — on paper. Though I didn’t give my parents the pleasure of telling them they were right until almost a decade later, they were right… It is tough to stay on budget with the income of an entry-level professional without getting into a financial mess with credit cards and loans and late fees.

We go from having an open budget with no expenses to having rent, utilities, car payments, and other expenses that come with normal daily living. Then, there are extremely high college and university expenses that just keep rising.

We inevitably make mistakes. In fact, the U.S. PIRG states that 25% of students had paid a late fee, 15% had paid fees for going over their limit, and 6% had their credit cards cancelled. These statistics aren’t shocking considering our age, but we have to learn something from our mistakes and actually fix them. If you’ve made a mistake, I have five strategies for cleaning up bad credit history that will make sure you aren’t punished for these innocent errors for seven years or more.

Strategy #1: Proactive Repair

It’s impossible not to notice your debt load mounting up. Therefore, as soon as you notice things get out of control, and you know you’re going to have issues, contact your financial institutions and see what they can do to help. Many of them will work with you to delay payments, lower interest rates, or wave fees to help you fix the issue.

They may also agree to remove the negative mark on your credit when you follow through on arrangements to pay the amount still owed. This is even more of a possibility now that financial institutions are in trouble and are seeing a high number of borrowers default. Finally, make a smart financial plan that allows you to save as much money as possible.

Strategy #2: Use Federal Law To Your Advantage

According to federal law, you can fight any marks on your credit that cannot be verified, are false or inaccurate, or out of date. Therefore, so long as you monitor your credit report and credit scores right from the start, you’ll be able to fight troubling entries immediately before they become a serious issue. If you have difficulty getting this straightened out, seek out legal financial aid.

Strategy #3: Battling Negative Credit Entries Involves Moving Past Them

In many instances, you can’t eliminate a bad spot on your credit. But, what you can do is build your credit and prove that you’ve learned your lesson, fixed previous problems, and are willing and able to take responsibility. To do this, get a small loan or credit card (which may require a deposit) and use it wisely.

With a credit card, for example, use it for your groceries or utilities and pay it off in full every month. This allows you to build credit easily without spending additional money. Having a major credit card in good standing also says a lot about your financial responsibility.

Strategy #4: Use Free Resources To Help You

Services such as the National Foundation for Credit Counseling are non-profit organizations that provide free credit counseling services to anyone who needs it. If you are having trouble working with a creditor on a false claim, or just need additional information to help you make the right choice, these nationwide organizations will put you in touch with someone who can provide you with the information you need.

Strategy #5: Use Good Credit To Your Advantage

If you have credit with companies who aren’t on your credit report such as department store cards or others, ask them to make a positive report for you. This helps to offset any negative marks that you can’t remove because it helps build your reliability and trustworthiness. Keep in mind, however, that these companies are not required to do so and will not make a false statement. The important thing is to ask and see. After all, the worst thing they can say is ‘no.’

In the end, the most important thing to remember when it comes to your credit is that it takes years to build it, and one mistake to ruin it. Educate yourself and don’t be afraid to seek help if you need it; you’ll benefit from your diligence for the rest of your life.

Related posts:

1. College Money Tip #4: Check Your Credit Report
2. Building Credit the Stable Way
3. Reader Question: Better Credit Today?

We just got a notice from our leasing office that the renewal for our lease is coming up in September. They want us to let them know by the end of this month if we’re renewing for another year, staying on a month to month basis, or if we are planning on moving.

Our Three Options For Our Lease

I’m pretty sure we will not be renewing our lease for another year, but never say never. Our rent would stay at its current price. To break the lease, we’d have to pay two months worth of rent.

I’m not crazy about that because if we do find something we want to move into, we’ll have a low emergency fund after making the down payment. Paying two months rent would deplete it further. 

If we decide to do month to month, it’ll be $150/month more for rent. We would still have to give 60 day notice. 

If we could find a place and move into it before the end of September, that would be ideal. If we could find something suitable and within our budget, and close by August, that would allow us to move more leisurely than our last move from Virginia. 

Where We Are With Home Buying Process

We ran the numbers to see if we could afford buying a home. Our goal is to keep our housing costs (mortgage, taxes, and insurance) no higher than 25% of our monthly income. 

We went through the pre-approval process, giving them our financial information,and have gotten an amount from the mortgage broker. We have decide we are going to look for a townhouse or small house lower than the amount we’re approved for to keep our housing cost goals. 

We drove around Friday night to some potential neighborhoods to get a feel for how busy it was. We’re whittling the list down to about 5 places, all townhouses and making appointments this week. I’ll update later on what happens.

What We’ll Do

We’ll give our answer right before the due date, so we have time to see how our situation turns out.

As a beauty klutz who rarely wears make-up, I was intrigued when a copy of Allure’s Confessions of a Beauty Editor landed on my desk a few months ago as a gift. Flipping open the glossy cover of this beauty tip monolith for beginners revealed a mini crash course on trimming your own bangs. (I must confess, I haven’t purchased hair scissors so the poor coils of my hair are forced to tolerate regular home shears.)

… preparing to butcher my hair ^

Linda Wells offers this simple advice on trimming your own bangs (p. 124):

Start by resisting the urge to wet hair – it’s actually easier to see what you’re doing when it’s dry – and by using real haircutting scissors (they don’t have to be pricey, just specifically designed for hair). Then divide bangs into three sections, grab the first one, pull it straight up in the air, and twist it like a unicorn’s horn. Snip into the ends with the point of the scissors cutting diagonally a little at a time so each strand is a slightly different length. Drop the section to see where it falls, then twist and cut some more if necessary. Pull up the next section, matching it to the length of the cut portion. And voilà – you just bought yourself a few more weeks.

Miss Wells’ useful technique has saved me frequent trips to the salon so I’m passing her information along to other humble broke ass beauties. And in the event of a ghastly failure, buttering up the receptionist and begging to be squeezed into the next available time slot should remedy your tousled tresses.

=^..^=

I’ve heard from so many people growing up that having a warehouse club automatically meant you save money. My mom has been a Sam’s Club membership for years and she’s saved money, especially when we were growing up in a family of four.

We currently have a Costco membership. We planned ahead before we paid for the membership, but I thought it would be useful to see if we really did save money with the membership. 

How is our Costco membership doing? Find out!

Membership Costs

As you’re well aware, there are are fees to become a Costco member. They offer different memberships, each with their own fees and benefits.

• Gold Star Member ship ($50/year): This membership allows you to purchase products for personal use at any Costco in the world. You also get an additional card for one member in your household included.
• Business Membership ($50/year): In addition to the Gold Star membership benefits, you also purchase business products for use or resale and you can get to add 6 additional cardholders.
• Executive Gold Star Membership ($100/year): Executive Members enjoy an annual 2% Reward on most Costco purchases, as well as additional values on member services, such as lower prices on check printing, payroll services and identity protection; an account bonus for money market and online investing accounts; free roadside assistance for vehicles covered through the auto insurance program; and extra travel benefits.

We decided to get the Executive Membership for our family. I’ll review the discounts and savings we have. I’ll also keep a running total of the memembership’s value after each section where I have some numbers.

Costco Savings: -$100

Car Insurance Savings

We found a great discount with our Costco membership on our car insurance. Our previous policy with Progressive was $118/month. I shopped around for car insurance rates, trying to see if we could get something better.

Amerprise through Costco offered auto insurance coverage for $58/month. That saves us $60/month for an annual savings of $720. 

I’ve also used their roadside assistance and didn’t have to pay anything.

Costco Savings: $620

Gasoline Discounts

I have noticed that Costco’s gasoline has been 12-15 cents cheaper a gallon then other gas stations around my area, which is a bit more expensive then the city average. If I lived in a different part of town, the savings would drop to around 5-7 cents a gallon.

Since I live relatively near Costco, getting my gasoline there is a c0nvient way to save money. I fill up about every 10-14 days, and my husband fills up just as frequently. We have about 12 gallons for our cars’ gas tanks. 

To keep it simple, I’ll calculate we fill up every two weeks and we get to Costco about 75% of the time for a total of 39 fill-ups between the two of us each year. I’ll say we save 13 cents a gallon. The annual savings comes out to $60.84.

Costco Savings: $680.84

Big Purchases and Warranty Savings

My husband purchased a 40″ LCD HDTV from Costco. It was $499 and with shipping, the total was $560. Best Buy has the model listed for $579.99, with a delivery cost of $70, for a total of $649.99.

It has a 2 year warranty with Costco. Best Buy has a 4 year warranty available for $100. To keep it fair, I’m using the deliver price to calculate savings of $89.99 . 

Costco Savings: $770.83

Food and Bulk Item Savings

You may be surprised, but we haven’t saved a huge amount as we have in the other categories. We’re a family of two, so some bulk items aren’t good buys for us based on the amount we eat and our limited freezer space. 

We have saved money on paper goods like toilet paper and paper towels. We plan most of our purchases, so we don’t inadvertently spend too much. 

Run The Numbers Yourself

Even though the Costco membership has saved us almost $800 in a year, you have to figure out for yourself and your family if warehouse membership will pay off. 

Your Take

If you’re a warehouse club member (Costco, Sam’s, BJ’s, or something else), what do you get and why? Has the membership paid off?

Photo Credit: greenwenvy08

Change: -$80 or -0.21 %

Down, but not too terribly much. It’s to be expected, since I’m still (yes, still) looking for a job and living off of freelance income from “side hustles” such as this blog, and knitting. Despite the small downturn (look how tiny it looks on the graph!), here are the upsides:

Savings: Untouched! I still have not broken into my Getting Established fund or my emergency fund for anything! In fact, my savings has grown; I met all of my current savings targets for the month. Next month will be a different story – I hope to still meet my savings targets, but since I’m getting close to “The Big Move,” I anticipate at least a few withdrawals from my Getting Established fund… since that’s what it’s there for!

Student Loans: Down! The balance is only down by $10, but that’s much more encouraging than last month, when it grew by $53. Even slow progress is progress! But I think this might be false progress, and the account just hasn’t updated the interest on my loan properly. I’ll take the small wins for now, anyway!

Related posts:

1. Net Worth Update: May 2009
2. Net Worth Update: June 2008
3. Net Worth Update: April 2009

I’ve just finished a late shift at work and am now happily playing couch potato/ dipping the final hunk of chicken from my Lean Cuisine into the last traces of saucy juice/sipping a decaf with my late night spread. Click on the Weather Channel and thunderstorms are in the forecast every day this week. Bugger. As long as pup stays clear of the blueberry brambles, I’ll be happy. It’ll give me an excuse at least to keep the little butterball inside while I’m at work.

Click on CNN to Sanjay Gupta chattering over some pharmaceutical controversy. Click on CNBC. Home prices are down 18% in the past year. Oil prices jumped today on dollar weakness. General Motors is seeking approval to sell itself and ten others are being charged in Madoff probe. Yuck.

Click, click.

I stare in displeasure before muting the tv and consider sneaking out for a midnight stroll. A quick peek reveals more ominous clouds approaching, so another flip through the channels it is. NYC Prep. Aha. What better way to veg out than a candid hour full of underage little vacuous twits? Just kidding. I’m crabby today but actually kind of like PC.

Not much else going on so I shall continue watching and snarking.

=^..^=

Housing

After taxes, it’s the most important thing you’ll have to pay for. Run the numbers for living at home, but remember to compare the numbers for living at home to jobs that you’re likely to get from home. You may be able to get a job in your field in the city your parents live in… or you may not. Keep that in mind. Also, talk to your parents when trying to figure out this number. They, like many parents who’ve had children who return to the nest, may want to charge you rent to live at home!

My parents are fairly lenient about this, charging me only utilities right now. But I know from an older sibling who stayed in the nest a little too long that, eventually, my mom will charge rent!

For rent prices in other cities, a good place to research is Craigslist. You can quickly see pictures of the places, read long descriptions, and it costs nothing to search. And best of all, the site is uncluttered and much easier to use than most apartment search sites.

Definitely keep in mind the idea of a roommate. You, like me, are probably 100% sick of living with roommates at this point, but the money that can be saved is way too big to be ignored. If you can make living with roommates work for a few more years, you will dramatically increase your chances of supporting yourself well.

How Much Should You Spend on Housing? Well, a beach house right on the water in Malibu might sound like a great idea now, but how much is too much to pay? I’m a big fan of the 27% Rule: your housing expenses (including utilities and everything) should not exceed 27% of your gross income. So if you’ve locked down a $50,000/year job, you can afford to spend up to $13,500 per year on housing, or $1125 per month.

One more thing to keep in mind: the incidental costs of renting an apartment. You’ll need to pay utilities, so factor those into your expected rent costs, even if you have to estimate. Also, renters insurance – which you might not think you need, but you probably do. A good estimate for renters insurance is about $20/month. It could be less than that if you bundle it with your car insurance (it could even be free!), but you should assume the higher number for this exercise.

Fixed Expenses

The only truly fixed expenses I have are my student loans. I could get by using payphones and the free internet in libraries, but I can never escape my monthly student loan payments. Student loans are nasty debt – they don’t go away, not even if you declare bankruptcy. So they’re the first expense on the list after housing. Joy. If you don’t know what your student loan payments will be, now is the time to look it up. Don’t know how to find your student loans? Look up what you’ve borrowed in the National Student Loan Data System.

Car insurance is another fixed expense that, although I could sell my car and get rid of it, I’m not likely to. Zack and I looked at one apartment that gave credence to the idea (the Metro station was literally across the street!) but ultimately, it was not to be. So I’m living with the idea that, for at least the next year, I’ll have my car and have to pay the insurance on it. If you’re like me, you’re still under your parents car insurance plan, and you have no idea what it would cost to get your own plan.

There are many, many sites you can use to get insurance quotes. Just beware that with some sites, giving over your phone number and email address will result in getting phone calls and emails from insurance companies that want your business. This is good if you’re looking to get the insurance real soon, but if moving out is actually a ways off, this can be a pain. Try using an email address other than your main one to cut down on unwanted emails. I haven’t received any emails or phone calls after using CarInsurance.com to get a quote, but it only allowed me to look at one quote. You can also try Esurance.

We’ll return to the topic of can insurance at a later time, as I walk through the process of getting my own and moving to another state. It could be an ordeal!

Car Fuel and Maintenance: not exactly fixed expenses, but not exactly not fixed expenses either. If you’ve got a car, chances are you’re driving it at least a little. Depending on what you know about your future situation, you may be able to accurately estimate how much fuel you’ll use. What you can’t predict will be the future price of fuel. (Come on, a year ago, you had no idea gas would be the price it is now. Same goes for next year!) Since I like to do a worst-case-scenario, I took the amount I spent when I was commuting 60 miles a day and gas was near $4/gallon, and projected that out over a year. For maintenance, I use the average spent on repairs, oil changes, etc. over the last two years.

Food is a fixed expense in that you’ve always got to eat, but it’s also pretty variable. There’s a big, big difference between eating ramen noodles and going out for steak and happy hours. The more you eat at home, the more you’ll save, if you shop well. Try to eat healthy, though, to keep health care costs down! (See below.) Estimating a food budget might be tough if you haven’t been buying your own food from a grocery store and keeping track of those numbers. I hear “$40/week per person” thrown around a lot, and that’s as good a number as any if you just want to estimate.

Health Care costs are an expense that many people forget to factor into their calculations. I found out that I’m actually covered under my dad’s health insurance until I turn 26, so I only have to worry about little things, like copays and over-the-counter medication and band-aids. If health insurance is a benefit you’ll be receiving from work, find out if part of the cost will be deducted from your paycheck, and how much. If you won’t have any health insurance through work, you absolutely need to look into getting your own. You’re not Superman, and even if you were, he totally has at least Kryptonite coverage. If you need to get your own coverage, you can use eHealthInsurance to get some quotes for that.

Phone/Cell Phone: you’re on your own for this one. Some people only need a prepaid phone for emergencies, and some people need both a landline and an iPhone with unlimited everything. This is very much a “know thyself” category, so you’ll have to figure out how much you’re likely to spend. Just don’t forget things like “activation costs” if you’re moving off your parents’ plan, and if you’re getting a landline, you might need to factor in the cost of getting an actual phone! (I know I don’t have a landline phone sitting around anymore…)

Internet Access is like $40, unless you get something special (or the companies figure out how to do tiered pricing, in which case we’re all screwed), or it’s less if you’re splitting the cost with a roommate. It might be higher if you get cable internet and the company requires you to get a basic cable package. Ideally, this number should really be factored into “utilities” as a part of your housing costs.

Other Categories

I’ve covered all the expenses that I projected for my first year out of college, but it’s important to note that your life is totally different from mine. Some of my categories may not apply to you at all, and I’ve probably left out at least one category that’s vital for you to prepare for. This list is just meant to get you started and get you thinking about how much things will cost you every month.

Your homework: go through all of these categories and come up with your estimates. Figure out what else you need to include, and estimate that as well. Next time, we’ll start taking a look at the big picture: can you afford all of this, and will there be money left over to save for the goals in your life?

Comments or suggestions? Please leave a message in the comments! If you have a questions that you don’t want to share with everyone, you can always email me, as well.

Related posts:

1. Moving: Making the Decision
2. Moving: Making the Decision, Part 3
3. Living at Home - Does it Save Money?

There is one thing that doesn’t change after college though. In fact, no matter what stage of life you’re in, the sun seems to put everyone in a better mood.

The sunny weather finally got to me last week. I bought a grill and threw a barbecue over the weekend. The sun must have gotten to my friends too, because a bunch of them showed up. We enjoyed lots of food, music, drinks, and fun.

We were having so much fun that a couple of our neighbors came over to see what was going on. They’re both college students and just moved into one of the units in our complex. Talking to them about their summer jobs and internships made me feel like a young lad again and, of course, reminded me of what it was like when summer still meant vacation.

Because this first barbecue turned out to be such a success, a few of my friends mentioned making it a weekly event. The crazy thing is that it sounded like a good idea to me, and it still does now. I think my new goal for this summer is to throw as many barbecues as possible.

What are you doing this summer?

For the moment it’s me and the pup and one hell of a leaky roof.

Instead of keeping up on financial news, the main focus has been on enjoying the outdoors and spending time with loved ones. Lately I’ve been digging around in the dirt and establishing an even bigger garden - along with veggies, there are now blueberry and raspberry brambles alongside some grape vines and strawberry patches. And, of course, the primary goal for summer is to trim away more debt.

It feels like my finances have been bleeding unexpected expenses and unfortunately my original goal of funneling $1,000 toward my debt each month hasn’t been met. Once the summer is over, my work hours will be cut back to 19 hours per week so I’m desperately trying to pinch every penny possible for the next two months.

Right now my debt is at approximately $3,000 and I’ve decided to shell out $800 for July. Although I really wanted to slap down more, my car insurance came up for renewal in June and I opted to pay for the full six months upfront instead of doing a minimum payment. I used my Cash Back Discover Card for my insurance payment and just finished paying the bill off online. Since using a Cash Back card a couple of months ago, my reward points have accumulated to $15 so far - not too shabby!

I have to keep reminding myself to be patient and feel proud over my progress over the past year because at this point, I just can’t wait to be debt free!!

The good news? I finally made the switch from PC to Mac. I’m typing this post on my shiny, new 15-inch MacBook Pro, and it’s awesome. I’ve had it for less than a week, and I’ve already decided that I’m not going back. In addition to looking way better than any PC laptop I’ve ever used, everything I’ve tried on my Mac has just worked. My mom (the most technologically challenged person in the world) could probably even use it.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite personal finance articles from the past couple of weeks that I’ve read while trying not to cough on my new MacBook Pro.

• The Government’s Student Bailout: Federal Loan Changes at Poorer Than You
• Financial Guru Review: Suze Orman at Green Panda Treehouse
• Moving into a New House at Spilling Buckets
• Does religion make you better with money? at Living Almost Large
• How To Be A Millionaire? Start Thinking Like One! at The Digerati Life
• Avoiding Spending Is Not The Same As Saving Money at The Simple Dollar
• Common Car-Dealer Tricks at Get Rich Slowly

Also, be sure to check out some of the carnivals from the past couple of weeks. My article on the average student debt by state in the United States was featured as an Editor’s Pick in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

• Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Living Almost Large
• Festival of Frugality hosted by Stupid Cents