February was the first month of my three month minimum wage challenge. Though, I have been challenged to live like this until the end of this year and I am always up for a good challenge. So, on this unplanned entry, I am going to detail my struggle during the month of February. As well as, a detailed list of all the expenses, since every week all you could preview was an agglomerated total. This post will be heavier than the others... hopefully, you will bare with me.
February had special events that involved extra spending: Prime membership, a short trip, birthdays, friends outings, high electricity bill, among others.
First week:
I discovered that my first bi-weekly paycheck of every month was to be concentrated solely on paying bills: rent, school monthly payment and cellphone, totaling to $527.88; leaving me with $7.46 to survive before the next payday, without using credit cards or asking someone for some money, to pay groceries or the like, and return it on my next paycheck. Experiments like this give you a taste of the tough choices people in my situation need to make month through month. I have special circumstances, which are not really special compared to everyone else's and taking into consideration that we are all different and live distinct lives... So, lets rephrase that: My situation is that I have a daughter and I'm a single mom, which means that I have extra expenses, but only live with one salary and a child support payment, which is not really a lot; it does not cover education, food, clothing, entertainment, extracurricular activities (sports, art, hobbies) by even half. Nonetheless, this is my current situation, before and after the challenge. Even though I might seem unappreciative, I have really seen the value of the child support payment this first month. It has allowed me to put food on the table for my daughter. No food, no life.
The first week, I have to admit, I cried for a few hours when I realized I had no money to buy my daughter's snacks that week, I needed to pay Prime by the second week, as well as go on a trip, outside the country, and pretend I was doing alright. Everyone that knows about what you are putting yourself through is waiting anxiously for you to get to that breaking point where they can say:
I told you so, there was no way you could make it. So the frustration gets real. I do believe that everything happens for a reason, good and bad things, and the day when you see your bank account holding the money that will let you pay rent and school and buy food without getting into debt... that, I can tell you, is a good day. I am a crier, so it's fair to say, I cried that day, too. This time: tears of happiness while asking myself:
Oh boy, what did I get myself into?
Another thing that I learned that week was how to tell people:
No, I cannot go. People are so used to us being compliant. Even when we know shouldn't, we give in. We spoil our loved ones and those around us just by nodding our heads yes every time we are invited somewhere and we don't have the heart to say NO. One thing I had forgotten to mention in my second entry was that in my first week living as a minimum wage earner, my sister got to my house and told me to go with her to eat ice cream. I told her no. I couldn't afford to just go to eat as I pleased anymore. She understood, and went even further. She decided to take us on a treat. She did not spend a whole lot, probably around $4 but her kind act meant a lot. She knew we couldn't afford it and instead of getting mad, she decided to take us out for a change. Not everyone is willing to do that.
After my first blog entry related to my finances,not the challenge itself, I got mixed comments. There were people who were thrilled about the idea and everything it consisted. And people who were telling me:
Good luck with that. I realized, I had two goals, separate from my personal one, make those who believed in me proud and prove wrong those who didn't. Both require time and, obviously, results.
Second Week:
The second week, I came across a very important decision. I was to choose between cancelling my
Prime membership or using credit to pay it. The bill was programmed to happen on February 9th, so I knew that I did not have the cash to pay it until my next paycheck. I decided to use credit, this once, because TV-wise this is the only type of entertainment we have at home for late nights or early cartoon weekend mornings. My compromise was to pay it whole once I got paid; which I did. I am aware that some people might not have a credit card at hand that they can use on situations like this. My advice is that if we recently began with this lifestyle due to unemployment, change of jobs, first job, etc, we simply need to prioritize and if we don't have money to pay for TV, we simply watch local TV or no TV at all. If we have been living this lifestyle for a while now, my advice is that we need to save a small amount each month to be able to pay an annual fee of this magnitude without impacting our budget.
That second week, I, also, had a programmed trip that had been planned five months before. I knew it existed before accepting the challenge and knew I had to be conscious of the money spent during the trip. I was not alone, meaning that I split some of the expenses like parking, and such. Also, my partner incurred in spending that I was not supportive of, because they were more luxuries than necessities. I only paid for those things I deemed necessary, anything else was up to my trip buddy. I did get criticized because of this trip, and I think you can remember my wrath on the "Trip Ahoy" blog entry. Now that I'm recapturing what I went through, I have to say that I was relieved that some people actually evaluated what they had said, and even though they were right about some things, they owned up to what they weren't right about. That takes courage, and I'm glad to have friends like that.
Third Week:
That was a tough one. I went out to eat too many times, more than I could afford, and my budget suffered greatly. This week I felt the pressure, the shame, the wanting to quit. It is easy for me to say quit, because I am living on minimum wage self imposed. But how can someone who lives like this everyday, think about quitting? They can't. We are so easy to judge, me included. We might think people who don't earn as much, simply just don't know how to save money. We often ask silly questions like:
How can she not come to your party? I mean, she did not have to spend that much on your gift. You are a simple person. or maybe, we ask:
Gosh, we just went out eating for your birthday. Can't she afford a $6 burger? It's not like she had to get you a gift. I laugh now, because I know that struggle. A $10 gift might not seem like a lot, but when you have barely nothing, its worth a million bucks. Now, lets not get depressed here. We make sacrifices at the beginning of our journey, but once we start to build our finances and save for special occasions instead of constantly splurging, we are in it to win it. This is what my social experiment is all about, after all.
Fourth Week:
This was a glamorous entry. It was like reading one of those books where you have the underdog and suddenly she gets to live a day as a princess and everyone gets to see her real value. I got that, just until the live like a princess part. It's funny, people like to hear how you feel when doing things you are not comfortable with. They like listening to your struggle, how much you suffered, how you pulled through, or, simply, how your boat sunk. Still, that's not the funny part. What's hilarious is how some people don't like reading the things that came easily to you.
You got five paid meals? Lucky you. Not everyone's lucky that way. Concentrate on the important stuff. How is accepting a gift wrong? How is having people around you, that care enough for you, that, even, in a make believe situation do not want to see you get hurt, wrong? I cannot understand. But statistics don't lie: of all my blog entries, this is the one with the lowest views. I believe this is what's wrong with the world, we always concentrate on the negative.
An expense, that I made during this week that made me go almost over my budget during the month of February was a timer that I bought to regulate the time my inline water heater was to be on. I had roughly mentioned this on my third week entry, but actually went through the expense that last week.
Recap:
At the end of the month, I was able to make it and save my planned amount, if and only if,we discard my February electricity bill. I did this because the expiration date of the bill is March 12th. So, it was fair for me to do so. Yet, if we take into consideration that I had a budget for that bill that specific month, it is, also, fair to say that I went over my budget and was not able to save as much as I liked to. Its up to you.
Below, a descriptive detail of all of my expenses during this month:
| Expense |
Cost |
Description |
| Internet Bill |
$37.20 |
|
| Daughter's school |
$200.00 |
|
| Cellphone Bill |
$27.88 |
|
| Water Bill |
$23.71 |
|
| Rent |
$300.00 |
|
| Gas |
$17.00 |
Week 1 |
|
$18.00 |
Week 2 |
|
$18.00 |
Week 3 |
|
$18.00 |
Week 4 |
| Food |
$30.80 |
Kmart Groceries |
|
$36.91 |
Supermarket 1 Groceries |
|
$12.00 |
Bakery |
|
$2.96 |
Supermarket 2 Groceries |
|
$22.60 |
Supermarket 2 Groceries |
|
$8.91 |
Birthday Food |
|
$8.23 |
Cousins eat out |
|
$5.56 |
Burger King |
|
$2.23 |
Subway |
| School miscellaneous |
$2.00 |
Casual days |
|
$3.00 |
Frappe at school |
| Entertainment |
$17.19 |
Food during trip |
|
$22.36 |
Parking during trip |
| Church |
$2.00 |
|
| Other |
$13.99 |
Birthday gifts |
|
$99.00 |
Prime membership |
|
$34.61 |
Timer Home Depot |
|
$11.15 |
Jeans |
| Total spent |
$995.29 |
|
| Total saved |
$108.84 |
|
Hope you didn't quit on me and were able to pull through. Our first month conquered. See you on my March posts,
Love,
Mushu <3
