[Photo: blogs.propertyfinder.com]This past week has been a swirl of list-making, planning, scheming and dealing with all sorts of practical minutiae that come with my new status as a “soon-to-be unemployed attorney.” With every errand done and call made, a whole new life is taking shape, one that I have been seeking, in one way or another, all of my adult life.
One of the first things I did this week is come up with a draft budget that I am hoping to put in place once the Plan is finalized. For the Excel nuts out there, you can view it here.
KEEP THIS IN MIND
As you review this budget keep this in mind: apart from generally trying to not buy big-ticket items, I have little to no sense of how to truly economize. I feel a little like Bush senior when he didn’t know the price of milk in the 1992 election. The fact is that when you work the hours I do you hardly have the time to really notice the price of things you buy. Your instinct is to go into a store and get what you need as quickly as possible, put it on a credit card, and not worry about it. Ahh, the insanity of yuppiedom...
[Photo: men.style.com]
The truth is that I have been living in la la land for years and only now am I getting a taste of real life. I’m going to need some time to adjust and figure out how to get my bearings. So, please be kind. It’s not easy being a recovering yuppie:
[Cue the basement of the local community center]
Jack: “Hi. I’m Jack. I’m a Yuppie.”
Group: “HELLO JACK!”
THE BUDGET
As for the budget itself, here are some observations:
*Two areas that I think I can work on right off the bat are Personal Spending and Groceries. The former, I am certain I can get down to the $300 and even the $200 range. I definitely hit a couple of bars every week with some of my buddies, but that’s not all that expensive. The amount of the latter is just a placeholder. I just don’t have any idea what I will need to spend until I start to take stock of what I buy every month.
*Miscellaneous is a catch-all category. I’ll probably expand this as I work on this budget going forward.
NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS
I am SO excited about some of things that I have planned for the next couple of weeks. One thing in particular makes me smile whenever I think about it. Stay tuned.
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