single | girl | money | life
Since joining the conversation, FIRE and I have had our differences. The struggle was real and still is, but I wanted to share that all this frugaling and budgeting has had a positive impact on more than just my savings rate. The core tenet in financial independence is The Budget. Don’t leave home without it! …
So I’ve been experimenting with lots of different spreadsheets in the last week or so. I used my June 2018 income and expenses to tryout a few more. It turns out Microsoft Excel has loads of templates to try. It’s been really neat to see it visualized in so many ways. Without further ado, here’s …
So when I was doing my June 2018 Financial Update, I was looking into different spreadsheets. Primarily I wanted a way to visualize my numbers and maybe refine the spreadsheet I’d made back in December 2017 when I first started this Journey. Below is what mine looks like. It’s functional but a bit clunky and …
Hey there! Welcome back to My Early Retirement Journey. In case you’re just joining us, here’s a little bit about me. I am a single 30-something, openly Christian, hesitantly immigrant-y, human woman. I love watching TV while eating takeout, and I want to retire early. I currently work as a consultant in a tele-health call center making …
Welcome back to My Early Retirement Journey. So the other day, I got an email from my student loan servicer. That’s better than a wedding invitation, said no one ever. What the heck is REPAYE What is it? REPAYE is one of four income-driven repayment plans offered by the federal government for federal student loans. …
One fine morning after mustering the energy to attempt another workday, I walked outside to get in my car. My car was gone. A strange calm settled over me as I searched the parking lot. My first thought was my car was towed. And lo, it was! I had been parking in this handicapped space …
My expenses don’t generally change that much. I am curious though to see what areas of improvement might be possible in My Early Retirement Journey. You’ll see from my budget, that I give myself an allowance of a little less than $500/mon. This amount has slowly been trimmed since I started My Early Retirement Journey. …
I recently posited: Is it worth it to get a larger mortgage to increase your potential resale value? As you know from my Budget Struggles, housing is my biggest expense and one I hope to cut down to fuel momentum in My Early Retirement Journey. After binge watching Buy Herself on Netflix, I thought I …
So the original objective of this blog was to help me track my journey because not too long after setting my budget, I started to lose interest in The Journey. It’s easy to be in awe by those who have achieved FIRE, but let me tell you, The Journey is not that exciting. For me …
BACKGROUND. As I mentioned in my early budgeting struggles, housing is my biggest expense and almost caused me to give up on My Early Retirement Journey altogether. Before my light bulb moment to make my budget work for me instead of the other way around, housing costs really threw a wrench in my 2018 outlook. …