:minimalist

Saturday, September 02, 2006

 

In light of (the volume of) my recent credit card activity, I decided to do a little budgeting based on the average Cornell mechanical engineer's starting salary, which I took to be $55,000.

After taxes (~15%)... after tithe (10%)... after housing (~$1000/month, including utilities and stuff, assuming I'm not living in Manhattan or San Francisco)... after food (~$300/month)... after gas (~$120/month)... after car insurance (~$80/month?)... if I give myself $20/week of miscellaneous spending money, I can put a little over $22,000 into savings per year. Am I missing something, or are my cost estimates off on something? (This is before I have to pay for school tuition for my kids, etc.) Ideally I would like to save half ($27,500) of what I earn... there must be some way to make that feasible.

Suddenly I feel old. :(

Anyway, the point is, around $20 or less per week on anything that isn't food or rent is the goal. It can be done!

Over the summer I was probably paying around $120/week on gas... but I don't plan to live an hour's commute from where I work after graduating... stupid.

how do you explain?

bananna 6:42 AM  |