Budgeting my time. Budgeting my money.

There is nothing in this world that stresses me out more than talking/thinking about money. The quickest way to send me into a spiral of anxiety and sadness is for me to start over thinking my money situation. 2014 is going to be a year that very much tests this anxiety. When I had to buy a new car, I took on some pretty serious car payments, and took on a much larger monthly car insurance bill. On the plus side, I have a have that I never worry might not start and my monthly gas bill is essentially being cut in half, but it comes with a substantial blow to my the monthly budget. I was unprepared for this, but I am doing my best to not let it really get me down. It all depends on having a plan.

For many years I was under employed, or just unemployed and in that time, I accrued some pretty bad credit. I have not been great with money in my life. It is one of the parts of my life that I have been working on for a while and I think I am starting to figure it out. Of course, having an actual salary job for the first time is certainly helpful, but it is more than that. It is about seriously tracking money and only allowing a certain amount of money for fun purposes. Martina and I have been slowly working on a budget this month, and February is going to be the first month that we put it into full effect. There is a certain amount of money allotted for eating out, for going to the movies, and for other activities, and that is it. We have a grocery budget, and that is where we have to be our most creative. During my first semester of teaching, there were definitely weeks where we just stopped cooking and started eating out too much. That has to stop. Every month, every single dollar is going to completely tracked. As we start planning for a future together, there has to be money saved, so we have to decide what is vitally important to us, and what we can live without. I expect many more matinee movies, more Redbox and Netflix nights, and most importantly much more cooking.

We have already begun to figure out the cooking. We have started planning meals by the week, and we have started prepping meals better, so on the actual night of cooking, there is not much left to do, which is nice after a long day of teaching for me, and a long day or work or school for her. The only way this works is to stick to it. If our calendar says we are cooking on Wednesday night, we have to cook on Wednesday night, or we have to decide to switch our night out to Wednesday and cook on Saturday. This has meant more trips to the grocery store, and it has meant more money on groceries than before, but because we are actually eating the food we buy, we save money in the long run. Not to mention, it is healthier.

I am finding that every part of my life that I want to improve, go together. Getting better at budgeting my money is forcing me to budget my time better. I remember to pack a lunch every day, I get up in time to grab breakfast every day. I know I need to make sure I have time at night for cooking, which is forcing me to get more organized at school so I have the time. I am planning a week ahead of time now, so I am not worrying about having time during school to make the copies I need, or to get all of my materials together. The two weeks back at school have been great in terms of my time. I am making much better use of my prep time and making better use of my TAs which has cut down the late nights on campus. It has also opened up my nights at home. If I use the time on the weekends properly, I have almost no school work to do once I get home. This has already reduced my daily stress greatly.

I am finding that when I want to improve in one aspect of my life, I start to improve every where else. I am slowly understanding how my physical and emotional health are connected to everything I do. I think by sticking to a financial budget, it will allow me to just enjoy every other aspect of my life. It is forcing me to cook more, which I find relaxing any way, and it is helping us make decisions on what we absolutely want to do, which allows me to appreciate our date nights more. It also helps that Martina and I are perfectly happy just staying at home together. It is absolutely vital when you are poor, to truly love the company of the person you are with. There is no hiding behind all of these activities.

What this all boils down to is figuring out how to spend your time. I have learned to truly cherish every single day because I am learning every single day. I am figuring out how to be better with my money, better with time, and better with my energy. I have dedicated myself to ignoring bad energy, and it has helped me have energy at night, which is good because our daily work outs are kicking my butt in the best way possible.

Last thing, if you have a budget app you swear by, let me know!