My last month’s electric bill was $17.27. This is very cheap but since electric rates vary around the country vary I’m interested in comparing cost for kWh used. I used a total of 118 kWh over 32 days for an average of 3.6 kWh/day. This is about as low as I think I can get my electricity usage but I might be able to get it slightly lower at my new apartment. How much is your bill and how much electricity do you use?
September Expenses
Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.
|
Household |
$507.31 |
|
Food |
$84.39 |
|
Transportation |
$458.89 |
|
Medical/Dental |
$190.22 |
|
Entertainment |
$73.35 |
|
Debt |
$449.70 |
|
Total |
$1763.86 |
Expenses went up higher than I wanted. I had a car repair and a traffic ticket that inflated my transportation expenses. They should be lower this month although I do have a repair to make. Medical expenses were high because I had my quarterly health insurance bill. This ought to go down this month but I hope to have a dental appointment so it may not go down much. Entertainment was higher than usual because I gambled $60. That is out of my system for now and this month’s entertainment expense should be very low because I have two free gift cards that can be used for movies. Food and household should be about the same. I probably won’t be able to pay as much towards debt this month. That is the one category of my expenses I want to be bigger.
Movin’ On Down
I’m moving into a new apartment next month. I will be moving down from a 1 bedroom to a studio. This will save me $60 a month in rent. My new monthly rent will be $375 which is pretty cheap even for here. It is almost as big as my current apartment so there will be plenty of room for me. I don’t have a lot of stuff and don’t need much space.
The location is nice too. While searching for apartments I discovered that you can often get an apartment just as cheap in a nice neighborhood as in a crappy one. My new location is very convenient being about halfway between school and work. My bank and a grocery store is right across the street so I should be able to cut down my mileage a little. Hopefully that savings won’t be negated by impulse junk food purchases at the grocery store.
When I move in I will have to get gas service again. It will be cold soon and I have to have the gas on for heat. I’ll be looking forward to it because the cold showers are starting to get a little too cold.
Depression and Money
Sorry for not posting the past few days. I’ve been experiencing a bout of depression and when in this state I don’t feel like doing anything. Not even things that I like such as blogging.
I know some people are probably thinking if I weren’t a Tight Fisted Miser and would spend some of my money I wouldn’t be depressed. It doesn’t work like that for me though. I’ve tried spending my way out of depression in the past and it didn’t help. That is how I ended up having to declare bankruptcy eleven years ago.
I’ve learned to keep my depression from causing me to waste money. Depression still hurts me financially though. It keeps from doing things to increase my income. It makes it difficult for me to keep a job and keeps me underemployed. Part of the reason I’m working the jobs I currently have is because they are so mentally and physically easy that I can deal with them even when depressed. The biggest impact depression is having on me currently is law school. It led to my poor decision to transfer schools and it led to me not putting in enough effort in school and being put on academic probation. I’m trying to work through it now but it is making it difficult for me to concentrate on the paper I have to write to be considered for re-admittance. It is better today and I hope it stays that way.
Caffeine is Killing Me
Or actually the lack of it is killing me right now. This is my third day without caffeine and I still have a headache from caffeine withdrawal. I’m also experiencing a lack of energy. I’m hoping that these symptoms will clear up by tomorrow.
I decided to quit caffeine because I got tired of my energy level soaring and crashing depending on how much caffeine I’d had. I’m also not sure what effect caffeine has on my depression but I’ve decided that without caffeine it will be easier to determine when physical symptoms are being caused by depression rather than something else.
Right now is probably not the best time to be giving up caffeine because I have an assignment due for law school tomorrow. I’m being allowed to write a paper for credit and a grade while I’m out of school for this semester. Successful completion of this paper will also be highly determinative of whether I am readmitted. Therefore it is extremely important that I get this paper done on time. The outline and thesis is due tomorrow but I’ve been procrastinating. With my caffeine withdrawal and a bout of double depression I haven’t felt like doing anything. The only reason I’ve finally gotten around to writing a blog post is to delay working on my outline. Oh well, I guess I have nothing left to do now but get to work.