It’s Per$onal is an anonymous blog series designed to shed light on the intricate details of the personal finances and lifestyles of women.
Name:
Katie
How old are you?
30
Where do you live? City and State (or Country if outside the U.S.)
Reno, NV
What is your highest level of education?
Bachelor’s
Are you single or married?
Married
If you are married, do you and your spouse have joint or separate finances?
Joint
Do you have any children or dependents? If yes, please explain.
No
What is your total monthly rent / mortgage for your household?
1680
Has Covid-19 impacted you financially in any way?
Honestly? It made things better. Both my husband and I maintained our salaries throughout while spending way less money on gas, eating out and entertainment. Like, sure, I miss going to the movies but I don’t miss spending $40 every time we went.
What is your current occupation? If not currently employed, please say “Not Employed”
Library Assistant
What is your yearly salary (or approximate yearly compensation) for your current occupation?
40k
If you are currently employed, do you like your job? Why or why not?
I like the work I do. I work for a university and I genuinely love helping students. However I am classified staff which means I technically work for the state. It also means my wages are set in stone and there’s never any overtime. Also the legislature and governor get to decide if I get COLA and have turned off merit increases before. We are currently looking down the barrel of furloughs in January as well. So I love my work, but I’m frustrated with my position classification. There’s no room for growth in this job at all.
Do you have a second job or side hustle? If Yes, please explain.
Currently no. I did until about a year ago. I worked 5-15 hours a week for a local television station. I worked there in college and returned as a very part time/on-call basis in 2017.
If you have a second job or side hustle, about how much money do you make monthly from your second job / side hustle?
When I had one my goal was to get enough hours for $400, cover my car payment and insurance.
Do you budget on a consistent basis? If so, please explain how you currently budget:
Yes. My husband and I have 4 joint accounts (2 checking, 2 savings) and one individual account each. Both of us contribute a fixed amount to our personal account ($100/payday), a fixed amount proportionally based on income to the “bill pay” account and the remainder goes into the joint checking. All recurring payments come out of the “bill pay” checking.
This includes utilities, minimum payments on debt and things like hulu, apple music etc. Things will remain the same every month.
We use a paper planner to list all of these out and come up how much of each of our paychecks need to go into that account. We have automated everything we can on that account. I believe the only thing that comes from that account that is not automated at this point is the rent. I Venmo the landlords and you can’t automate venmo (or I would!).
Anything leftover in this account at the end of the month goes into the attached savings account (required by our credit union) as our sinking fund.
All debt payments above the minimum and all of our spending money comes from the joint checking account. We write out what our estimated expenses are, what we want to contribute to debt and that’s really what we budget every month.
We also contribute to our savings through this account. The savings account attached to the joint checking account is our main savings. We operate a little differently than most on when we budget.
We both get paid on specific dates, NOT every two weeks. I get paid on the 10th and 25th, he gets paid on the 15th and last day of the month. As a result our budget calculations run from the 10th of one month to the 9th of the next.
Are you debt-free?
No
If you are debt free, how much debt have you paid off and how long did it take you to pay it all off?
N/A
Do you have any student loan debt currently?
Yes
If yes, about how much student loan debt do you have?
mine is around 35k, honestly unsure of my husbands but close to 60k i believe
What is your monthly student loan payment amount?
185
Do you have any credit card debt?
Yes
If Yes, about how much credit card debt do you have currently?
9000
Do you have any other kinds of debt? If Yes, please explain:
Some medical debt that is collections
Do you know what your credit score is?
Yes
If Yes, what is your credit score?
625
Are you currently saving for retirement?
Yes
If yes, about how much do you have saved for retirement?
no idea, I’m required to contribute 15% of my paycheck to the state employees retirement fund. I am vested in it now though.
What does an ideal retirement look like for you?
retire from the state system with full benefits at age 55 (which I could do as long as I have no employment interruptions from the state system), hopefully have a paid off house and work part time as crossing guard.
What’s your biggest purchase of 2020 so far?
Does paying off our $1800 tax bill count? Physical purchase, the $700 portable A/C unit we bought in may. Our house has no central A/C
Biggest purchase of your life?
My current car! I bought it from a friend in 2018 for a purchase price of $6k and she very graciously allowed me to make payments directly to her on it for 2 years.
What do you spend money on that brings you joy?
Food. In the before times, I loved eating out.
What are your short term money goals, if any? ( < 1 year)
All of our short term goals are purchases that will hurt but are doable. They are also mostly upgrades to our life. A sound bar, a mini fridge, a vacuum sealer, a label maker. And buying my husband a new pc next summer.
What are your long term money goals, if any? ( > 1 year)
What is your #1 financial concern right now?
Credit Card debt. It’s mostly my husbands and we are working to pay it off.
What financial victory/success are you most proud of?
In 2012, I borrowed $3k directly from my university. In 2015 it went into default and a hold was placed on my university account. I started making payments on it in 2017 when it was over $1k behind.
In Jan 2020, we finally got it current and in Sep 2020, we paid it the f*** off. Because it was so behind for so long, every time I wanted to take a class, I had to ask the loan department to remove my hold temporarily and let me register.
Having that hold removed permanently was the best feeling in the world.
Anything we didn’t ask about you that you want to include?
I briefly mentioned it in explaining our budget but a philosophy that my husband and I believe in is that each person contributes proportionally to their income. So I put 2/3 of what he does into our bill pay account because I make 2/3 of what he does.
When he was unemployed, I paid all the bills. We are working towards a budget that allows us to live solely on his income so I can quit for a year to finish my master’s.
A friend of mine splits the house payments and bills with her boyfriend (not married but own a house together) equally even though he makes twice what she does and I don’t understand that.
To me when partners budget, you both contribute what you can, and that may not be equal.
Also to clarify, my student loan payment is $185, but it is currently suspended due to the COVID relief bill. My husband’s student loans are also suspended but are about $425/month.
