My Tiny $435 a Month Apartment

apt closet view Last Sunday I moved into this tiny apartment. The landlord stated that it that measures about 150 square feet and I think that is probably about right. It is definitely a small apartment. I’m posting a couple of pictures to show how small it is. The first picture was taken while standing in the bathroom area and viewing the kitchen/bedroom/living room area. The apartment is still a mess in these pictures. I don’t own very much stuff, but it still took quite a while to get it organized and squared away in this tiny apartment.

The apartment is a bargain at $435 a month including utilities. The only thing I will have to pay for in addition to the rent is internet.  The city I live in has a good deal, where you pay a $300 installation fee and then have free 100mb internet for life. Even if I only stay in the apartment a year that will only be $25 a month. If I stay longer the internet gets to be more and more of a bargain. The drawback to the free internet is that customer service is lacking and they don’t appear to be in any hurry to get my internet installed or even tell me when it might be installed. I haven’t been posting much the last few months, but this month I have a reasonable excuse for not posting too much.  Once the internet is installed I plan to post on a more regular basis and hopefully revive the blog a little bit.

The apartment is a great bargain. You can’t find an apartment close to that cheap in this area of Kansas City. Of course, the apartment being that cheap means there are a few drawbacks to the apartment. The size would probably be the biggest drawback for most people. I’m okay with the size. I actually like living in small spaces. The biggest drawback for me is that it is a basement apartment which leads to it smelling musty and having more insects than I like.  I’m working on both of those problems. I’ve got some air fresheners to help the place smell better. I’m cleaning which will hopefully lead to fewer bugs. I think some of the bugs are here due to the last tenant being messy. The apartment was sprayed before I moved in which I think did significantly reduce the bugs. It appears the bugs were probably much worse before I moved in. If insects continue to be a problem after I have the apartment cleaned and squared away I’ll have it sprayed again. Although I’m complaining about the insects they aren’t that bad. It isn’t like the apartment is infested with cockroaches. There are just a few random, little insects coming into the apartment each day.

bathroom view

Another drawback is that the apartment doesn’t have a real kitchen. It just has a sink, cabinets, and a refrigerator. I’ve bought a hot plate and toaster oven and I think that will make it enough of a kitchen for me. It doesn’t have a lot of cabinet, but it is plenty for the few dishes I have.

The second picture shows the bathroom area. It has a vanity in the middle, a shower stall on the right, and there is a little toilet cubby on the left side out of view. The toilet cubby does not have a door which could be awkward if I ever had anyone over to the apartment. It did have a curtain rod across the entryway which I hung a shower curtain on so if anyone does come over and need to use the toilet they can have some privacy.

Although this apartment is a bargain it will end up costing me about the same as I was paying my GF for expenses while living in her house. Before anyone asks I will go ahead and say that my GF and I are still together.  Moving out has strained the relationship a bit. It might not have been the smartest move on my part. Time will tell. That is about all I have to say for now. If you have any questions about the apartment ask me in the comments.

July Income – $3056.95

Here is a breakdown of my income for July.

Interest $2.90
Amazon FBA $393.24
Cash Back $23.81
Online $77.50
Account Bonus $20
Job $2539.5
Total $3056.95

 

July’s income was pretty good which was expected due to receiving two paychecks after returning to my full-time job.  I made about $500 from my non-job sources of income. That isn’t too shabby.

If I am ever going to manage to pay off my student loan though, I need to be making about as much money from my alternative sources of income as I make from my job. If I have the energy and the motivation I will put more work into making that happen this month.

August 2017 Net Worth Update

penniesIn order to keep track of my financial progress or lack of progress I have decided to calculate my net worth a few times a year.

My net worth as of 08/2/2017 is as follows.

 

Assets
Cash – $2435
IRA – $26,603
Roth IRA – $1660
Solo 401k – $2115
Car/Stuff – $3400

Liabilities
Student Loan – $114,608
Credit Card – $0

Net Worth = $- 78,395

My net worth improved about $1600  last month.   This was mainly due to receiving two paychecks from my full-time job. My student loan balance increased slightly despite making a $450 payment during the month. Unfortunately, my loan accrues more than $500 interest every month so a $450 payment isn’t enough to keep the balance from increasing.  On the plus side I went ahead and paid off my 0% balance transfer credit card. It would have been a wiser financial move to wait until just before the 0% rate ends in January to pay off the credit card. I didn’t like having another debt so I went ahead and paid it off.  The student loan is once again my only liability. It is a pretty big liability so I don’t really need any others.

I’ve been using Personal Capital (affiliate link) to help track my net worth. It keeps track of all of my financial accounts and my student loan making it pretty easy to calculate my net worth each month. It is free to sign up. If you would like to sign up I’d appreciate you using my link. All blog income, including affiliate income, goes to paying down my student loan.

Personal Capital

July Expenses -$877.78

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for July.

Household $451.29
Entertainment $13.23
Transportation $203.51
Food $111.84
Travel $12.04
Phone $24.97
Health $60.90
Total $877.78

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July was another great month for expenses. They were once again well under my $1000 target. My expenses were higher than in June, but they were still pretty darn low.  I’ve been lucky with not big, unexpected expenses popping up the last couple of months.

I did have one car repair that cost me about $150. That was my only unusual expense for the month.  I tried to do the car repair myself, but wasn’t able to finish the job. I think I still saved a little money by buying the part and installing it before taking the car in to have the repair finished.

I’ve decided to list my student loan expense separately since it will throw off my monthly numbers. In July I paid $450 towards my student loan.

This month my transportation expense should go down since I hopefully won’t have another car repair. I’m guessing my food and entertainment expense will go up a little. I might have an increased medical expense due to having a doctor’s appointment. That will depend on how much I have to pay out of pocket. I think I should have a good chance of keeping my expenses under $1000 once again.

How was your month?

July 2017 Net Worth Update

penniesIn order to keep track of my financial progress or lack of progress I have decided to calculate my net worth a few times a year.

My net worth as of 07/1/2017 is as follows.

Assets
Cash – $7676
IRA – $26,364
Roth IRA – $1623
Solo 401k – $1097
Car/Stuff – $3500

Liabilities
Student Loan – $114,398
Credit Card – $6935

Net Worth = $-81,073 

My net worth declined a little over $1100  last month. A decrease was expected since I had very little income while on sabbatical from my full-time job.  All of my investment accounts declined slightly as well.  My student loan balance increased slightly despite making a $500 payment during the month. Unfortunately, my loan accrues more than $500 interest every month so a $500 payment isn’t enough to keep the balance from increasing. On the positive side, I did decrease my credit card balance by over $800. The credit card has a 0% interest rate so it would make more sense to delay paying down the credit card and use that money to pay my student loan instead. However, the 0% interest rate will end next year and I want to make sure I have the credit card paid off before that happens. Since I’m now back at work and will have two full paychecks this month I will be able to get my net worth going back in the right direction.

I’ve been using Personal Capital (affiliate link) to help track my net worth. It keeps track of all of my financial accounts and my student loan making it pretty easy to calculate my net worth each month. It is free to sign up. If you would like to sign up I’d appreciate you using my link. All blog income, including affiliate income, goes to paying down my student loan.

Personal Capital