Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Pay Day

For some mystical reason, I get my paycheck direct deposited a couple of days before everybody else I know. I got mine on Tuesday. I'm already down a good chunk before even starting the new month. Where does my money go? Well, I spend $295 for rent, which is all bills paid. I got REALLY lucky here in Austin. I also paid my mobile phone bill last night. That includes my phone and my wife's. OK, I splurged. I bought another year of Flickr Pro. Our intern, Alex, also bought me lunch this month, so I bought lunch for both of us yesterday. I sent my wife some money even though she gets paid Friday. I have a student loan payment to send out. Of course, there is auto insurance. I'm averaging about $20/wk of gas in the van. So I'll budget about $80 for the month.

At the rate I'm spending money, I've still got a hefty chunk left over. I can save on gas as soon as the cold weather passes. Furthermore, if I'm not driving, I can save on insurance. When I can do that, I'll be saving quite a bit.

I don't want you to think that Rep. Peña isn't paying me enough. I still have a lot of money left over. I'm not cheap either. I like buying good stuff and will pay for something I want. What I want now is to show a profit each month. Mrs. Mata and I have money left over from last month, our profit. We will make a bigger profit this month due to some strategic decisions. Once the session is over and I go home, that's an extra $295/month we get to keep. I think that if we'd started earning so much early in our lives, we'd have spent it all. We are much more conscious about where we spend our money now as a result of our early struggles. On the downside, we don't buy into status so much. Many people who look successful are struggling even though they earn twice what we do. Thank God for age and wisdom; that is what will move us ahead.

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