September Expenses- $756.50

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

Household

$382.98

Utilities

$89.40

Transportation

$80.70

Food

$28.69

Entertainment

$72.12

Student Loan Debt/Education

$102.61

Total

$756.50

I was quite happy with how low my expenses were last month.  I was lucky in that none of my irregular expenses were due and no unusual expenses popped up.  I won’t be able to repeat such a low amount this month because my $200 quarterly health insurance payment is due.  Most other expenses should remain roughly the same.  This is the first month I won’t be paying rent on my own apartment but rather contributing a similar amount to my GF as my contribution towards our household expenses.  This shouldn’t make much difference in my finances but we’ll see what happens.

September Income- $887.81

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Here is a breakdown of my income for September.

Online Income $657.02
Bonuses $210
Interest $11.25
Surveys/Ebay/Cashback $9.54
Total $887.81

My income was decent considering I didn’t have any job related income. I won’t likely be able to repeat the amount of online income this month though. My income was higher than my expenses for September but it still needs to be higher for me to continue not having a job.

Save Money by Living in a Small Town

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We visited my mother this weekend.  My sister, who is in the Navy and stationed in California, was also there visiting.  My sister plans to retire from the Navy in three years after twenty years of service.  When she retires she will move to the small town where my mother lives.  There are several advantages of retiring to a small town and I might do the same myself.

The biggest advantage is that real estate is cheap.  My mom bought a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath house a few years ago for only $70,000.  Houses are still cheap there and rent is very low as well.  You also save money on transportation because everything is within a ten minute drive.  If something you want to do isn’t within a ten minute drive you’ll be saving money by doing that activity less often.  Car insurance is generally cheaper than in the city too.  That is just a few of the ways you can save money by living in a small town.

The biggest drawback to living in a small town is that most local jobs don’t pay very well.  If you’re retired then that isn’t a big deal.  Another drawback is the lack of diversity and exposure to other cultures.  I plan to travel often when I retire so I’ll get my culture and diversity during my travels.

Even with the financial advantages of living in a small town I probably wouldn’t live in one if I didn’t have family there.  If I do end up retiring to a small town it will probably be more of a pit stop between hiking and travels than  a permanent residence.

My Bank Was Bought Out

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Wachovia’s banking operations were bought by Citi today.  I have an account at Wachovia.  It isn’t my primary account but I do use it on a regular basis.  Looking over the information Wachovia has provided about the sale it looks like the sale won’t affect me at all.  This is the first that the financial turmoil has directly affected one of my financial accounts but it just isn’t a big deal.  The only thing I’m somewhat concerned about is whether they will honor the Way2Save bonus.

My advice on handling the current financial turmoil.  Pay attention but don’t freak out.

The Requisite Financial Bailout Post

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There are plenty of posts about the financial bailout already but since I’m writing a personal finance blog I feel required to write about it as well, but I’ll keep it short.

I’m against the bailout but I think it is inevitable that some form of bailout will happen.  I’m not too worried about it right now.  I’ll probably be more worried about it when the bill for the bailout comes due.  Many are saying that if we don’t have a bailout it will be bad for everyone.  I don’t know if that is true or not but it seems hard to believe.

So far all the financial turmoil hasn’t affected me personally and I don’t think it will.  I can understand people being ticked off about the bailout but it doesn’t really do any good to worry that the economy is going to collapse.  My life was good at the beginning of the year and it is still good now.  Until that changes for the worse or looks like it is going to I’m not going to worry.