. I decided to again revise my estimate of monthly expenses, monthly income and the shortfall I need to make up each month.
My unemployment benefits have changed recently, to the tune of about $19 less a week. And several of my monthly expenses have risen. I also know I left out a few things from my earlier estimate and want to make it as accurate as possible so I know what I'm dealing with.
There's very little wiggle room.
I decided to rank and separate my expenses by "tiers." My revised monthly bare bones expenses are $2,309.
My Tier 1 expenses...my top 3 expenses... account for nearly 80% of my bare minimum monthly expenses. They include:
1. Mortgage and property taxes: $1152
2. COBRA health insurance: $469
3. Food: $225
That's pretty amazing that I can shave all my other expenses to make up for just 20% of total monthly expenses.
Tier 2 expenses are what I consider mid-range expenses and are largely utility bills and other costs I can't eliminate entirely, but can control through careful usage. The values here are based on actual averages from last year. For bills that occur only once or twice a year, I calculated the monthly cost. They include:
4. Electric:$66
5. Heating oil: $65
6. Sewer (usage and loan): $50
7. Homeowners insurance (already increased deducitble to $5k): $56
8. Phone and Internet: $47
9. Gas for car (based on ONE monthly fill-up): $45
10. Car insurance: $35
My remaining essential expenses are much lower, though together, they do add up. They include:
11. 2 dental cleanings: $25
(Am considering giving up my favorite dentist becus at $152 a cleaning, he's not at all cheap.)
12. Water: $15
13. Haircuts (1 a month): $15
(I think I can skip an occasional month, but certainly need a haircut prior to any job interview becus it really looks bad when it gets too long)
14. Borough taxes: $14
15. Car tax: $7
16. Dump sticker: $7
17. Neurologist co-pay: $4
(I have to see this doc 1x a year absent any problems, just to renew my meds. I don't know why my insurance didn't make me pay the full amount of his fee since I haven't paid my deductible.)
18. Car maintenance: $2.50
(This only allows for 1 oil change. Not driving the car much.)
19. Cable TV: 0
(Cancelled this entirely last month.)
20. Wellness-type healthcare: 0
New healthcare changes mean I can get the following paid for 100%, without even a co-pay: mammogram, routine gyno, colonscopy, annual physical, flu shot...thank you Obama)
Total monthly essential expenses: $2309
Monthly net unemployment: $1954
Monthly shortfall: $355
Income
Goal: $150 a month from online surveys
I know if I really stay on top of it I can earn about $105 from Toluna and Pinecone; I just signed up for Global Test Market and plan to increase monthly survey income by $40.
That leaves $205 a month that I must make up through my freelance income, which can be very erratic and unpredictable, along with focus groups, academic studies, product testing or whatever I can find.
So, what haven't I included in the budget above?
1. Any healthcare beyond the free stuff listed above, like eyeglasses or coverage for the Lyme I recently treated.
2. Any additional car repairs
3. Home maintenance
4. Annual chimney or furnace cleanings (I had both done last year, so I hope and plan to skip it this winter.)
5. Mortgage prepayments
6. Retirement savings
7. Dining out
8. Entertainment
9. Netflix
10. Bird seed
11. Clothing
I do have plans to have lunch with a new friend next week, so already I am blowing my budget. That money will have to come from somewhere else.
See what I mean? Not much room for error.
I have a bit more gold/a diamond I can sell next week. There's the $200 I'm looking forward to from the Chase Freedom card reward. (Once I have that in hand, I'll cancel the card and open a Chase Sapphire card for $500 in retail gift cards at Wal-Mart.) I have about $270 now due me from freelance writing with another $333 worth of work to start in September. When I finish the nutrition study by year-end, that will be another $250 and I'll get a check in the mail for $40 this week from the product study I recently did. New freelance work is impossible to predict, that's why I really could use even a very p/t job for regular income. whatever tax refund I receive next spring, I will divide between my emergency fund and a mortgage prepayment.
I am reduced to thinking in very, very small terms.
Still with me?
Let's imagine a worst-case scenario. My unemployment benefits would run out in January 2012. It may go longer, but I can't get a straight answer from the Dept of Labor. Part of it depends on whether what the state considers "high" unemployment continues or not. Basically, if a lot of other CT residents share my misery, it works out better for me.
So then, again assuming worst case scenario, I run out unemployment and still don't have a job. I could live on my taxable, non-retirement savings (about $95K) for about 3.5 years.
By that time, I'd be around 56 years old, still far too young to think about collecting Social Security. However, I could tap into retirement funds with no penalty. Something I would NEVER do.
But also by that time, I should have my mortgage paid off!!!! That would greatly and significantly lower my monthly expenses. Just imagine the possibilities. Sigh.
Very little wiggle room in my revised budget
August 27th, 2011 at 05:52 pm
August 27th, 2011 at 10:33 pm 1314480812
Jerry
August 27th, 2011 at 10:38 pm 1314481096
August 27th, 2011 at 11:59 pm 1314485962
August 28th, 2011 at 12:02 am 1314486155
August 28th, 2011 at 12:18 am 1314487089
It appears that if i took all $28K to pay off the mortgage from Int'l Equity, I'd lose about $5400. If I cashed out the entire balance of the Equity Index 500 fund, I'd only have a loss of $98, but the $16K in that fund would only cover a little more than half my mortgage balance.
I suppose I could get the balance from Int'l Equity and maybe cut my total losses to about $2300 total. Not sure it's worth it, considering that getting rid of the mortgage will lower my monthly expenses by I think about $700; the rest is taxes.
August 28th, 2011 at 03:15 am 1314497714
August 28th, 2011 at 07:16 am 1314512167
August 30th, 2011 at 11:06 pm 1314741982
I know its not your first choice, but it is so great that you have savings to carry you through.
I really, really hope that the perfect job drops right into your lap soon.