I recently asked the following questions on my Facebook wall:
1. What would it take to reinvent your life?
2. What things would you need?
3. Where would you need to be?
4. How much would it cost?
5. How long would it take?
I asked these questions because I want to know what people think about these questions, so that I can continue reflecting on these questions.
The cost (#4) is the one my brain latches onto the most. The problem of the cost is what terrifies me the most about making changes to my life. I have said this before, but seriously, since my divorce to my first wife, I have been terrified of not surviving on my own, being able to provide for myself and my cats and my wife.
What are my Bills currently? This is what it costs for me to survive each month:
Mandatory:
Rent: $800
Elect: $50 (November- June; $120 July-October....air conditioner and all)
Internet: $110 (Comcast SUCKS!)
Misc: $38 (Netflix, Hulu, ZipCar combined, Laundry)
Cats: $30
MBTA: $70
Food: $500-900 (If I budgeted better, it could be the lower number, but I don't, so I end up spending far too much on groceries and eating out each month)
(Also, see Debt)
Optional:
Weight Watchers: $65-$20 (if I could afford to go to meetings, I would. The lower price is the online tools price, but I find that the online tools alone just don't work for me).
Yoga: $115 a month for unlimited
Debt:
Taxes: I pay $280 a month on a, currently, $5000 debt from 2013 tax year. L (my wife) and I owe $3900 for this year's taxes (we both didn't have one of our jobs take out enough money).
Lawsuit: My divorce left me with a credit card (that paid to move to Asheville) that went into collection, I got sued over it, and I pay $40 a month, 23% interest, on what is still a $3000 debt
Credit Cards: I currently owe a combined total on four cards $1500
Student Loans: I pay $237 a month on a $210,000 balance
So if I budgeted well, and lived by a strict code of fiscal responsibility, I could live on $1900 with no other debts haunting me, $2200 with Yoga and Weight Watchers support, $2600 a month if you figure in the Taxes and Credit Cards (and this doesn't figure in things like new shoes, or an emergency that could come up). With some strict budgeting I think $2200 is my "live and die" number. What's in my best interest is to pay off all debts as soon as possible, run without the WW and Yoga until I do, and get my living expenses to drop to and stay around that $2200 mark. I need to take in $26,000 a year, take home (so, after taxes), not including any other things that come up, so probably $30,000 just to be safe. If I made $40,000 a year (according to the IRS tax calculator), I would take home, after taxes, about $31,000, so, for a safe life, that is my "magic number."
On average, I get paid $3750 per class that I teach (I added the total for each class I taught, at each college, and divided by four--the number of colleges I teach at), which means that if I teach 11 classes per year, on average, I would hit my "magic number."
So, for example, this semester I am teaching 2 classes at one school, 3 at another, 1 at another, and 2 online. I am projected to make $30,000 (before taxes). If I am wise with my money, get out of debt, create a savings, I should be able to get away with teaching 1 class in the Summer, 2 in the Fall, and survive well. In another way of thinking about: If I made $15,000 in the Fall, again in the Spring, I should be able to get by on $10,000 in the Summer.
There is the math, it makes sense, but why am I so BROKE right now, why is there less $50 in my bank account, why do I have so many debts? Because I went from December 15-January 30 without a paycheck, the Adjunct's Life, got into tons of debt and money problems, and am still feeling its impact, but still, I should be able to get through February-April with old debts paid off, work schedule for the Fall, and enough work for the Summer that I don't have to work so much, I can do a few things that I want to do, and begin steering my life into another direction. I think it is fear and worry that make me think opposite, and I bet that with some planning and organizing and fiscal responsibility, my wife and I together can figure out a way to survive on $41,000 take home, which is $55,000 total....we both only need to make $27,500 to survive and survive well.
Some other financial considerations:
There was once a time all I wanted to do with my life was Yoga and Nutritional Counseling, and as those dreams drifted further back, so do my own care and attention to those matters. However, it costs me:
$1400 1 year of Unlimited Membership Yoga
$768 Weight Watchers, full meetings and e-tools
If I did this correctly and with passion, and I had the time (by teaching less but using my wealth to buy my life back) I could be in shape in a year's time and qualify for:
$3000 Yoga Teacher Training (200 Hour, Power Yoga)
$2400 Certification to become a Vegan Nutritional Expert
In the future I could also get certified to higher levels of Yoga and Health Counseling, with an average yearly cost of $3000 for the following 2-3 years only.
In two years, with some responsible money managing, with a focused vision for the future, working the Secret/Conscious Creation, this life that I am so unhappy doing could be completely different. I could be teaching 2 classes a semester, teaching Yoga, offering Nutritional Counseling, and having a life where I had less stress, worries, better health, and maybe even money and time for the wife and I to have a child.
You know, it's ALL there, the roadmap to success, and all I have to do is believe in it, know it to be true, and follow it with determination and strength, not let the journey stop the destination from happening. It's really, ALL there, the way it was five years ago when I first thought there was nothing that could stop me and began to push onto a journey to become a Yogi and go to India.
It's ALL there, and I am just starting to see that now.
PS: Yearly trip to India for a month, to study Yoga, about $3500-$4000.....that is still a HUGE part of my dream lifestyle.
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