Oops! Lost $100

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I decided to play some poker Monday night and lost $100. When I went to play I rationalized that I’ve been doing well with my money and deserve to have a little fun. That is true but playing poker isn’t a good entertainment option for me. After playing for a couple of hours I was up very slightly but I didn’t leave. I have somewhat of a gambling addiction and whenever I gamble I’ll most likely stay until I’ve lost all the money I’ve brought.  This is what makes gambling a poor entertainment option for me.

Losing the $100 isn’t going to create a hardship for me but it would have been nice to have that to pay off my student loan or fund my Roth IRA quicker.  I’m going to try to make up the lost $100 over the next month.  I’m going to delay getting home internet for a month to make up some of the difference.  The rest will come from picking up extra hours at work or cutting my budget elsewhere.  This will cause me to feel some consequences from losing the money and make me less likely to repeat the mistake.

I do think I can loosen up on my spending some though.  I just need to find some other entertainment options that I enjoy and feel give me value for the money.

Almost Made 50% Goal Last Month

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I’ve set a goal this month of 50% of my income going to savings and debt repayment.  If you include my apartment deposit of $250 as savings I had 46.4% of my income go towards savings and debt repayment last month.  Without the deposit I was still at 35% which I consider to be pretty good considering I don’t make that much money.  Since I have fewer unusual expenses this month I should be able to make over my 50% goal.

September Income

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Here is a breakdown of my income for September.

Job Income

$2007.36

Online Income

$116.8

Ebay/Half/Selling Stuff

$79.06

Interest

$0.76

Total

$2203.98

My number of sources of income went down but my job income went up so my income remained roughly the same. This month will probably be about the same as well.

Saving On Minimum Wage

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Recently there have been several PF blog posts focusing on the minimum wage and the thought that most PF blogs are out of touch with the minimum wage earner.  Since I earn the minimum wage I’m going to share my thoughts on this subject.

I earn the MO minimum wage of $6.50 per hour.  I do also receive tips and supplement my income with other sources so overall I make more than the minimum wage.  However I didn’t work the first three months of the year and I usually work less than 40 hours so my annual income will be close to that of a full-time minimum wage worker.

I do believe it is possible to get ahead on minimum wage although ideally you would seek a job earning more income as soon as possible.  My current job is delivering pizza and my restaurant has never been fully staffed.  Every city I’ve lived in there was always plenty of openings at restaurants.  It might not be the greatest job but it does allow you to make a bit more than minimum wage and pays the bills until you can find something better.

To get ahead on minimum wage you definitely need to be frugal.  If you click on my expense/income tracking category you can see how I’ve been spending my money.  By watching my spending I’ve been able to pay off debt and/or increase my savings every month.

Here is what I have done since April:

  • Paid off approximately $1600 in credit card debt
  • Paid cash for over $1000 of oral surgery/dental expenses
  • Established a $1000 emergency fund
  • Opened a Roth IRA and funded it with $700
  • Paid off $575 in student loan debt
  • Bought private health insurance

I also paid a significant tuition bill and had large car repair expenses.  I may not be getting rich but I’m definitely making progress.  My current goal is to put 50% of my income towards savings or paying down debt.  If I can do this on minimum wage than so can others.

Alternative Income: Paid to Search

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I get paid for doing searches through Moola.com.  This doesn’t add up to much so don’t expect it to be a significant source of income.  I’ve made a little over $20 so far this year.  It doesn’t take much time to do the search when I’m online anyway.  The search results aren’t as good as Google but they are reasonable.  I had a membership with Slashmysearch also but I earned even less with them and they had spammy search results so I decided to use Moola only.  Moola also has several games you can play against others to try to win money.  If you would like an invitation to Moola I have three available.