My head is in the clouds today. Not the useful-to-writing clouds of story space, unfortunately, but the completely distracting and exciting clouds of oh my God my life is actually coming together and look at me I'm on the verge of finally being a grown-up. It's always a terrific feeling when things start falling into place, but it also kills my ability to focus on anything else. But that's okay, because it's not like I get to feel this way all that frequently.
What set me loose from my moorings today was drafting up a monthly budget based on what I believe is going to be my monthly salary. I still haven't gotten an accurate depiction of what this is going to be yet, what with having yet to receive a paycheck that didn't include at least a day's unpaid leave plus adding Matt to my health benefits, but I've still got a pretty good guess as to what I'll be bringing home. And subtracting all of our monthly bills and expenses plus allowing for factors of the various and sundry kind, it looks like not only can we afford our own place just fine (once that first month's rent plus deposit is saved up... plus professional mover fees, because I'm done being the resident two-legged pack mule), but we can also afford...
[Dunh dunh DUNNNNNNH!]
...a car payment.
You guys. No, seriously, you guys! I've never owned my own car before. I realize how spoiled it's going to make me sound to tell you that my mother has always kept me in operational vehicles, but there's this whole thing about her being really bossy and insistent and a bit of a martyr about it that I don't really want to go into, plus all of my hatred of the fact that I've never had the luxury of being able to tell her no because I've never really been in the position to afford a car payment. So I've spent my entire adult life driving whatever my mom tells me I can drive, and that makes me feel... not so very adult.
And now, with Matt's truck so badly in need of repairs that we can't afford, we have him driving MY car, and by MY car what I really mean is the car that my mother loaned me two years ago after deciding to give the Jesus van I'd been driving through my college years to my aunt (my mom has a thing about giving her old cars to family instead of just trading them in... probably because in latter years she's taken to buying cars from acquaintances of friends instead of dealers; but back to the point). Meanwhile, she's letting me drive her mini-van to work, since Matt's and my work schedules are too disparate to make ride sharing feasible, and making me feel very, very guilty about it.
We need our own car, y'all.
And in the "It's clearly meant to be" department, Nephew #2 just started an exciting new career as a car salesman (a job at which I have no doubt he'll excel), and he's already offered to hook us up with a good deal. I told him at the time that it would be a while before we're in a position to take him up on the offer, but maybe it won't take us that long after all.
Of course, I still have to run all of this by Matt. But I think it won't be long until I get to buy my first car.
Occasionally, being a grown-up kinda kicks some ass.
4 comments:
Don't do it.
Live for three months in the new place before you get the new car.
That will give you time to adjust your budget for things you never realized cost money: Electricity, food, lingere, kitchenware, etc.
Don't cut your budget so tightly that you don't have room to live. Especially being a newlywed. Tight budgets = Stoopid fights
Good advice, but, I mean, it's not as though we're a couple of naive kids who are just starting out in the world and don't know that these things cost money or how to budget for them. But thank you.
No doubt. My examples were pedantic, ostensibly for comic effect. You're obviously a sharp chick.
Daddy just worrys too much.
No worries. I also figure I sometimes come across as a lot younger on this blog, what with being about ten years behind where the rest of my peers are in life. But at least I'm finally catching up.
And lingerie made me laugh.
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