The 2014 Budget Crisis

My holiday conversation topics were investment-related. How to. How much. Where. Boyfriend and I left Boston, Massachusetts with a starting point, in addition to a plethora of reading material. While Boyfriend is devouring Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Michael LeBoeuf... I'm still working up the courage.

I thought a childhood of hoarding money would get me through life. I thought I knew "enough" about saving and budgeting. I thought depositing a large chunk of money into my 401K each paycheck was an accomplishment.

For the past four years, my yearly savings have gone to weddings of childhood, high school, and college friends. This year--without a single wedding on the agenda--I'm planning to save like a grown up.

In order to do so, I sat down and made a real budget. A do-not-spend-more-than-$XXX.XX-on-groceries budget. My budget painted a gloom picture. It will be tough to save even five grand on my meager income. Since that is essentially the cost to lease my car each year, this amount will not go far. This [budget] exercise demonstrated the speed at which my spending habits add up. Not only the save-for-a-big-purchase-and-buy ones but the monthly ones too. The rent. The eating out. The electric payments. The haircuts.
 
From this I have deduced, I am a lifetime behind on education in regards to finances. There should be lessons on budgeting and investing and retirement and saving and topics of those sorts beginning in kindergarten. Because here's the thing: I'm a very frugal person. Or I thought I was until I met Boyfriend. Once he got past buying lunch each day, he became The Cheapest Man Alive. Turns out making purchases on clearance, couponing, eating leftovers, reusing baggies, picking up change on the street, and checking books out at the local library won't make me rich secure a modest future.

Here's the other thing: I have nice taste. I enjoy pedicures. I love J. Crew (on sale). I want all the fanciest kitchen appliances, namely a Vitamix. And with Christmas just behind us, I purchased a Garmin Forerunner 410. Gulp.

(I'm already obsessed with it... though it has yet to arrive.)

So I made my budget. And I made my goal, or dream--to own a home, soon.

But you know what? My credit history is nonexistent despite owning a credit card for eight years and paying it in full every month. And turns out all those bills my roommates had in their names could have been building my credit history. Hindsight.

What else have I learned?

1. Houses are expensive. 
2. They require down payments. 
3. And mortgages. 
4. And getting approved.
5. They also require a place to (permanently) settle.

I must stop writing. I am just so overwhelmed. The end.

Life is tough. Adult life is tougher.