Logistics

This week I've been having a lot of fun "shopping" online for a new apartment. If you recall, our current lease ends at the end of February already- that means we've lived in AZ for 2 years! Wow! How time flies!

When we first signed our lease two years ago, housing wasn't like it is now. Now, there's rental properties on every block! Also, when we signed this lease, we did so from 2,000 miles away and we had very little time to evaluate our options. Taking into account all of this stuff, we were hoping the current landlords would come down on rent a little bit. Two years ago, $1200 for our place was fair, but now, you can get a newer/nicer/bigger space for that much! Plus, we've always paid our rent early, we have very few maintenance requests, and we take good care of the place. We're the perfect tenants!

However, they came back and said they were only willing to reduce our rent $25/month.

Umm... no thanks. Not good enough.

That's okay, I've never lived in a house or apartment for longer than 2 years! That's kind of crazy to me... if we had stayed, it would have been the longest we've ever lived in one place.

Since our current lease ends at the end of February, I'd like to sign a new lease to start on February 1st so we have the whole month to move. That means we only have 1 month to find a place! Again- how time flies!

Of course, moving requires money. It means we'll need a security deposit, application fee, pet deposit, two rents during the month of February, etc. Not to mention movers because after having movers for the last move, I realize just how much they are worth every penny!

As you may or may not know, after Baby Step 3 (our Emergency Fund) is complete (which it is), we should move onto Baby Step 4- which is putting 15% of your income into retirement.

15% of our income translates to a monthly contribution of $1,309 or $15,705 for the year.

I've had my BS4 calculations and spreadsheet done for months in anticipation of finally arriving to this step. Now that I'm here, $1,309 per month does not seem all that bad. I already figured out that we'll have $3,366 "extra" each month after our typical expenses.

My plan right now is to cash flow the moving expenses in January. If we keep our rent the same ($1200) and we have to pay that much of a deposit plus first month's rent plus application fees and whatever else, we're looking at close to $3,000. Therefore, I don't plan to contribute anything to our retirement accounts in January and will begin Baby Step 4 in February. 

The way I figure it, we can always "catch-up" by contributing more later in the year when we don't have a huge transition over our heads. As long as I contribute $15,705 in 2010, I'll consider it a success! (of course, I will adjust this throughout the year if/when our pay changes)

I also have a million "mini-savings goals" to finalize soon! You'll be seeing some information added to my blog layout somewhere so I can keep track of these goals throughout the year. Boy, I've got a lot to figure out... juggling multiple financial goals is something I'll definitely need to get accustomed to.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

(Sorry, as you can tell, this blog is a lot of me organizing my thoughts, "talking" things out, and formalizing the plan in my head by writing it down somewhere... unfortunately for you blog reader, that means you're stuck with it!)