Andy Hough

My Plans for 2010 – So Far

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My plans for this year are not too definite yet. For now I am working full-time at my non-profit job. This job is one I can tolerate but it doesn’t pay much. It does at least count towards my ten years of public service that would allow my student loans to be forgiven.

I’m not looking for a more permanent job right now because I plan to hike the Appalachian Trail this year. Hiking the trail is something I feel like I need to do or it is just going to be bugging me that I haven’t done it. This year it will finally get done one way or another.

I’m not sure when I will leave for my hike since my apartment lease isn’t over until the end of May. I might leave before then and just pay rent on my vacant apartment. After my lease is over I am going to put all my stuff in storage and go without an apartment for the rest of the year. That should save me some money.

These plans will be updated and more detail provided as they get put into action. If you have any feedback on my plans I would like to hear it.

Applying for a 2010 Census Job

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There has been a lot of talk in the media about the Census hiring hundreds of thousands of people. I decided to apply for a Census job and am sharing my application experience in this post.

Applying for the Census is pretty easy. All you need to do is call 1-866-861-2010 and they will put you through to your local office. Alternatively, you can contact your local census office by locating it on the local census office map page. I called my local office and was scheduled to take the census test just a couple days later. In my area they have multiple tests per week in different areas of the city so it is easy to schedule a test.

After arriving for the test you have to first fill out some paperwork. There are just a couple pages of paperwork and it is very simple but they go through it in excruciatingly slow detail. Even then some people had a hard time keeping up. The test itself is 30 minutes long and very easy. If you have basic reading and math skills and can locate places on a map you should have no problem. Somehow I managed to miss two questions but apparently that is good enough. About half of the people I was testing with were planning on taking the test again, presumably due to a poor result. There appears to be a lot of competition for Census jobs but a lot of the competition appears pretty weak.

If you are wondering how much a Census job pays that varies by region. In Kansas City the jobs pay $15.50 per hour but in other areas of Missouri the pay is as little as $10.50 per hour. You will also receive mileage reimbursement for the use of your car.

This probably varies by region but I was told they would begin calling people for employment in March. They also expected that the jobs would not last more than two months. A Census job could be a nice bit of extra money but for those in search of steady income it probably wouldn’t be much help.

2009 Income – $15277.99

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After adding up all my sources of income in 2009 I came up with a total income of $15,277.99 for the year. This might not seem like much but I’m happy with it. Especially considering I was in school for the first few months of the year and never had a full-time job during the year. My only employment income was from working part-time during the month of December.

My expenses for 2009 were only $12,090.99* giving me a surplus of $3187 for the year. I felt like I was mostly living off my savings in 2009. It was a nice surprise to see I actually made more than I spent. Since I didn’t include the purchase price of my car or the cost of buying My Retirement Blog in my expenses I actually had a small deficit for the year but I’m ok with that.

My income goal for 2010 was originally going to be to make more than in 2009. I plan to spend several months doing a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail which will make achieving that goal difficult. Therefore, I am setting a backup goal of making more than I spend in 2010.

I hope this blog shows that you can live pretty well on a small income. I managed to travel to 6 foreign countries, spend a week hiking on the AT, went to the movies about 50 times, and did lots more last year. Being frugal and living on a relatively small income doesn’t mean you have to stay home and watch TV all the time.

*I found it a strange coincidence that both my total income and total expenses ended in 99 cents.

December Expenses – $938.65

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

Household

$398.22

Entertainment

$72.61

Transportation

 $91.21

Food

$90.98

Health

$61.66

Phone

$34.63

Debt

 $189.34

Total

$938.65

December wasn’t a bad month but there is room for improvement. The debt category is too high but it will be going down because I have refinanced it to 0% for 12 months and I will pay the remainder of it off at the end of the 12 months. That will help reduce my monthly expenses. My entertainment expense might go down a little this month.  At some point this year I will be traveling though and that will more than make up for any decrease in my entertainment budget. There isn’t much else to be cut down at this point.

December Investment Income – $90.93

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My December investment income rose to $90.93 from $89.13 the month before.  This was all the result of gains in my investment portfolio as I did not invest any additional money in December.  There will probably not be any additional investments made for the next few months, other than reinvested dividends, as I am trying to rebuild my cash after a couple of large purchases at the end of 2009.

Disclaimer: This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement savings, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income. My goal is to get this amount to $1000 a month. If I have $1000 in monthly passive investment income I will be able to retire early.