I’m Doing It! Buying a Small House or Van

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Little House
Little House

It has been my dream to buy a small house or a van to live in for quite some time. I’ve never done it though because the circumstances weren’t quite right. Well, sometimes the circumstances were right but I came up with some other excuse because I was afraid to actually take this step.

I’ve decided it is time to actually do this. I’m interested in the house in the picture. It is currently for sale for $15,000 but is already under contract. If the buyers back out I plan to buy it if it doesn’t have any major problems. The house is rather small at 504 sq. ft. and has 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom. That will be big enough for me.

If I can’t buy this house or find a similar deal than I’m going to go ahead and buy a van to live in. This would be a lot cheaper upfront although probably more expensive in the long run. The real estate agent is going to let me know in a couple of weeks if the house becomes available again. In the meantime I’m perusing the real estate listings and vans for sale to find another deal. My goal is to have a house or a van purchased by the end of next month.

Frugality and Weight Loss

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scaled perspective
photo credit: billaday

Many bloggers like to compare personal finance and weight loss. It is an easy analogy to make. Both usually involve setting a goal and working toward it. There are fairly simple rules you have to follow to be successful (spend less than you earn, eat fewer calories than you burn) but yet success can be difficult. Following a strict budget is similar to following a strict diet. Both require a measure of self-discipline. It seems that if you are successful at one you should be successful at the other. This isn’t always the case. I have my personal finances under control but am still struggling to lose weight.

I’m not sure why this is. It might be because it is easy for me to not spend money as I don’t have a strong desire to spend money on most things. I do have a strong desire to eat junk food though. This is hard for me to overcome but I think I might be making some progress. I haven’t eaten fast food or bought any junk food so far this month other than my free Mcdonalds. Of course, it is only the eighth day of the month so this isn’t much of an accomplishment but it is better than usual and I feel that I will be able to forego eating junk food this month. What is working now is just thinking of the negative consequences of eating the junk food. This still seems like deprivation though. I want to get in the mindset where eating healthy is its own reward and something I look forward to. I don’t really get excited about eating healthy foods. If you have any ideas on how to change this mindset I would like to hear them.

May Expenses – $1092.06

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for May.

Household

$400

Entertainment

$396.13

Transportation

 $155.47

Food

$44.73

Medical/Dental

$61.66

Phone

$34.07

Debt

 $1

Total

$1093.06

These expenses were higher than I would prefer.  The transportation expense was up because I bought all the gas and got an oil change for my GF’s car since I’ve been using it daily to get to the medical study.  My entertainment expense was high because I bought my plane ticket for my hike and spent $80 gambling.  Even without that it would have been too high.  Both these categories should go down this month.  Food should go down a little also because it represents what I spend on lunches out and snacks  which are things I need to cut down on.  The debt category will go up.  Last month I somehow didn’t have a payment due.  I would have sent in a payment anyway if I had realized that.

My goal of having my yearly expenses under $10,000 is looking unlikely.  Once I start hiking my expenses will go down but I don’t think that will be enough.  I might be making a big purchase soon which will completely blow my expenses out of the water but will result in much lower expenses in the future.

May Income – $2141.47

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Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Online Income

$155.81

Interest/Bonuses

$72.63

Survey/Cash Back

 $54.76

Stock Dividends

$7.96

Ebay

$25.31

Medical Study

$1600

Graduation Gifts

$225

Total

$2141.47

I had a nice increase in income for May. That was mainly due to the medical study although I got a nice amount of cash as graduation gifts as well. People that know me know I prefer the gift of cash. My online income was down but that isn’t as bad as it looks. The big decrease is because I spent $164 on the Thesis theme which I expect to ultimately pay me back.

May Investment Income- $76.53

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My May investment income increased to $76.53 from $63.83 the month before. My investment income has been rapidly increasing the last few months due to the rising stock market. My Roth IRA had been slow in recovering but last month it finally started making decent progress toward recouping its earlier losses. It still has a ways to go to break even though. My personal portfolio has done much better and is showing a nice profit. This is mostly due to one stock going from $9.15 to $22. I wish I would have put more money in it now but I’m not complaining. I also added about $1600 to my stock portfolio this month. I will be putting most of the money I receive from the medical study in my stock portfolio. My investment income has almost tripled since I started tracking it last year. If I could maintain this rate of increase being able to retire early would be no worry at all.

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.