Dollars and Cents - My Bills

This is a comment from a reader on my post Dollar and Cents - I'm Broke:

What you should be listing is all of your bills. From cable to hair, then decide what you really can do WITHOUT. Why try to do a million writings with barely anytime for yourself when you can just cut your bills in half?

Here's the thing, the $1750 is bare bones. Here are my bills:

Rent - $655
Utilities - $150
Food - $150
Mom - $200
Credit Card - $20
Cell Phone - $65
Entertainment - $50
Total - $1385

Notice I don't have "hair" or "transportation" on the bills list. The reason I don't is because all of that is supposed to come out of the $50 listed for entertainment. I don't drive so gas is not an issue for me. My haircuts cost $15 and I stretch them to 2.5 - 3 weeks so I can save some money. And mind you $150 for food includes toiletries as well.

Also I have taxes I have to pay quarterly because I'm a freelancer. When I add in taxes the total I need to make it each month rises to $1750. My current gig pays $10 - $15 an article. I was working on a bid for the company I work for which would have payed really well but they ended up not getting the contract.

So there you have it. My financial life in a nutshell. Now if anyone sees anyway I can cut out the fat feel free to comment.

Dollars and Cents - I'm Broke

So I decided to get real about my financial situation which, as of this writing, is quite dire.

The Good News: I do have a job
The Better News: I have a couple of job interviews
The Bad News: I'm still going to have to borrow money from my momma to make June rent.

Momma JJ proceeded to give me hell about the whole thing (not like she hasn't borrowed money from me on any number of occassions) and finally agreed to the loan. Nothing like a mother to make you feel worse about a situation than you already do.

So here is the good the bad and the outright ooo-gly about my current financial situation.

June - $316
You read that right. As it stands my entire take for the month of June stands at $316 dollars. And that may have to be downgraded by $10 if I overestimated how much I made on one of my writing gigs.

July - $838 and counting
Right now my take home for July is standing at $838. That's better than June but definitely not a livable wage.

Minimum needed to cover all bills - $1750 (including taxes)

Goal - $3500 before taxes

Current Job - $1800 - $2250 (before taxes)
If I write 30 articles/week I will make between $1800 - $2250 a month before taxes. This alone will allow me to make the bare minimum I need to cover my monthly expenses. And mine you that $1750 for expenses is pretty bare bones.

Deficit between what I can make each month and goal - $1250 - $1700

Ways to make up the difference
- Apply for more writing jobs
- Market my writing website and get more freelance gigs
- Outside employment
- Advertising revenue from blogs/websites
- Blogging donations

The (Daily) Plan
- Gym (can't work when I feel fat)
- Apply for jobs
- Blog (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays)
- Write 5 Articles
- Marketing (websites, blogs, social networks, etc.)
- Take Sundays off

So there you have it. My finances in a nutshell. I have a plan. I'm going to see it through. It will work.