Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am a graduated Engineer as of May of 2006 and am now stumbling my way through the "real world". I have recently become somewhat obsessed with budgeting, investing, saving, etc. This probably happened when I bought a brand new shiny car with $500 down and a 15% interest loan!?!?! Ahhh, if I could only go back to those college days when paying my credit card bill on time didn't seem like such a big deal and smack some sense into "college" me.

I could have been SO much farther ahead than I am now if I had become interested in finances just a couple years earlier. My parents had put away money for college when I was a wee little baby. Although it wasn't enough to cover my entire college career, I was a very studious high school student, and received over 25K in scholarships. I was extremely lucky. The deal between my parents and myself was that they would cover what my scholarships didn't...through four years of college. And if it took me longer than that, I was on my own.

To interject, if I knew then what I know now, I would have spent those years putting part of what I made at my numerous jobs into a savings account so that I wouldn't have to loan any money during my SUPER senior year of college. I know that I couldn't predict that it would take me 5 years, but that little savings account would come in handy after graduation if I managed to graduate in four years (It takes the average Engineer 4.5 years to graduate these days). It would have been a win-win situation.

But, alas, that is not what "college" me chose to do. I paid little attention to my cash situation throughout college. If I had money, I spent it. Only when my money was running seriously low did I watch what I spent. I don't want to give the impression that I was TOTALLY out of control. I didn't charge up a storm on my credit card, my roommates and myself always found the cheapest college house we could find. I just went out a lot, and went shopping a fair amount, and things added up.

When my fifth year arrived, I took out a loan. For some reason I was almost excited to take out a loan. I felt independent. What amount did "college" me decide to loan, you ask? "College" me wanted to loan $30,000 dollars!?!? Luckily, my University would only approve $16,000. By the time I graduated, that $16,000 dollars was history.

I had a job secured by the time I graduated, in my college town, and three months left on the lease of my last college house (tear). The house was a crap-hole. The rent for the cramped 3 bedroom house that was eighty thousand years old was $990 dollars ($330 for each of us). And considering the prices to rent on campus, the location and the fact that there was one parking spot included... this was a steal. But it was summer, and my bedroom was 95 degrees, and all my fan did was blow 95 degree air at me. My judgement was clouded by the word SALARY and the fact that I would be making more than I ever had in my entire life. EVER. "College" me decided I should rent a nicer apartment. Not only that, but "college" me decided I should not wait until my lease ended, because SALARY meant I could afford two rents for a couple months. So, in June I moved off campus into a decent, 2 bedroom apartment all by myself. 769 dollars a month, and two months free if I signed a 13 month lease. Woo Hoo! PLUS $100 from Rent.com. Bonus. That made my average rent $643 a month. Honestly though, after living in cramped, eighty thousand year old houses with mice and sky high utility bills and wood floors painted brown (seriously) and sharing bathrooms and having roommates eat your food and having no room for your stuff.... and the list goes on...... having my VERY OWN, newly remodeled two bedroom apartment with a garbage disposal, dishwasher AND washer and dryer in the unit was like heaven on a stick!!

So far, "college" me has done some things that have led me to the financial situation I'm in now.

- I didn't save any money during school
- I didn't take advantage of the fact that I had four years of college paid for
- I took out a HUGE loan compared to what I needed
- I was so excited after graduation that I didn't wait for my lease to run out
- I rented a place that was more expensive than I should have.
- I didn't think of the fact that the "deals" that lowered my average rent were only there for the first year.

But then "college" me made one more stupid move before "college" me was forced to turn into "welcome to the real world, now get a hold of your finances" me.

In December after working for 7 months or so, my car was nearing death, and I decided I wanted to buy a new car. I did my research, and ended up buying a 2007 Honda Civic. It is so cute and I love it to death. Its my two door, atomic blue baby. I bought the car the week after Christmas, when all the car companies are trying to beat each others numbers for the year, and are therefore more willing to negotiate. I went with my mother, who is so in control of her finances, that she has never had to finance a car. But this also meant she had no idea how to help me with the financing part of the car buying experience. Ah, anyways, lets just say that I ended up with a 19,000 dollar loan, over 6 years, at 15% interest. To save you the math, if I stick to the payment schedule, I'll be paying $30,000 for that car. (Feeling nauseous). I'm sure that I will post more about my car buying experience later.

So, here I am. 23 years old. $19,000 car loan. $16,000 student loan. FINALLY smartening up financially. Once I do get interested in a subject, I can't get enough information about it. I have really enjoyed reading the personal finance blogs that I have found on the Internet. They are very inspiring and full of information and opinions. I have decided that I want to try to save/earn $2,000 in one year. Whether that money goes towards a down payment on a condo (more on that later) or goes towards my debt, I haven't decided. But writing this blog is a way to hold myself accountable for my financial decisions this year (and beyond). I hope that maybe as I track my progress, someone else in a similar situation is inspired by my story.

Nice to meet you.