It’s funny to be writing about moving—which, yes, absolutely destroyed my posting schedule for more than a month—soooooo long after the fact. I can’t blame my lack of posting on moving anymore. And honestly, thank goodness, since it was a long, painful process I’m extremely happy to be (mostly) done with. (There’s still some boxes of my junk I need to go through, but they are safely stashed away in a closet so that I can ignore them until the weather gets shitty enough and I’m so desperate to avoid freezing my ass off outside that going through them starts to seem like a good alternative.)
I can, however, blame a lot of my bad bloggerness on being sick for a week and a half with an awful cold, and, most recently, getting an IUD early last week (have I yelled about birth control enough? I will continue yelling about birth control. Especially because the hell I’ve gone through to get/heal from this IUD is yet another form of the pink tax, just one I’m paying in pain rather than money. Although I’ve needed to buy another bottle of painkillers since last week. And the stress baking and chocolate-consumption also costs money). Turns out that kind of pain makes concentrating on anything pretty impossible, even if you’re “only” laying on the couch clutching your heating pad for dear life and in theory have plenty of time for writing.
Which was more painful, moving or getting an IUD? I honestly don’t know 🙃🙃
So, before we get to the point where I no longer remember what happened in a given month, I present to you August’s spending report.
Skipping out on responsibility
The best thing to do the second weekend after you move is to abandon the stacks of boxes everywhere and skip town for an extended weekend, right?
Right, actually.
Our move was cheap—we didn’t hire movers, my partner’s dad came down with an SUV to move our furniture in (and take some of my partner’s furniture that was staying in the family but not staying with us), and my partner and I did the rest of the stuff on our own. But it was a super extended process, especially since we were combining two apartments into one (thank goodness the next move will be way easier!). Moving it ourselves meant taking a carload at a time, and it actually mostly meant packing up two large plastic bins, taking them to our new place, emptying them, and taking the bins back for another load. Packing incrementally like this was way less stressful, which honestly I needed since I had a number of breakdowns about the amount of shit I own that also had five years in a bigger apartment than the one I’m living in now to slowly accumulate (see above section about how I’m still avoiding dealing with it). But it meant it was an extremely slow process, especially as we were doing a lot of this in the evening after work.
We’d planned back in the spring to both take a Friday off of work and drive to Roanoke, VA, for a weekend of hiking/camping/hanging out. We’d camp the first night and then stay in town the second night so that we could spend more time downtown (closer to breweries!).
This plan happened long before we knew we’d be moving the weekend before.
We both already had the day off of work and sincerely thought about staying home that day to make a lot of progress unpacking. We already had the Airbnb for the second night but hadn’t made any plans for the first night that we’d been planning to camp for. But we decided since it had been a long, frustrating week (it’s fun when you move in with your partner and spend the first few weeks together being constantly stressed and grumpy about moving instead of enjoying the time spent with each other!) that we should stick to the plan and go on the trip.
The view from Sharp Top MountainFor our sanity, we decided to pay for a second night of an Airbnb because camping was not happening. For one, all of our camping gear was buried. It’s also a lot harder logistically to plan for food and pack for camping than it is to stay in an Airbnb and go to a restaurant for dinner.
We had an awesome time hiking and relaxing, and honestly the trip was exactly the thing we needed. Moving took weeks and having that break helped the process be more bearable.
Making money on moving
So I sold my bed in August, since obviously we were keeping my partner’s queen bed instead of my double (beds are hard to sell. I sold it just before I had to leave my old place, and I was starting to sweat there, wondering if I was going to be able to sell it at all or if I’d have to put it on the curb. It was a good bed! I’m glad a college student bought it!). I also sold my desk chair, a nightstand, and a suitcase.
Remember that couch I bought in July because it was a pull-out sleeper couch now that a) we’re down to one bedroom and b) I got rid of my futon, which had previously been my guest sleeping accommodations?
Well for about three weeks we had two couches sitting in the living room. I’d posted my old couch for $50 and in the meantime we were using it to store the stacks of all the pictures that came off my walls that we hadn’t hung up yet. I had a bit of interest in the couch, including the guy who’d just moved who bought my desk chair off of me, asked if I was selling anything else (yes, my super comfy old couch!), and who came back a second time to measure the couch, but it wasn’t going anywhere quickly. In the meantime, we spent a weekend morning hanging up most of my pictures in a gallery wall that I designed and am inordinately proud of.
No, but like I don’t think y’all understand how proud I am of this. I don’t really have an eye for designing gallery walls since spatial awareness/straight lines aren’t my things! Also goodbye, burnt orange IKEA couch!Moving the pictures over to the new couch for that process meant my old couch was clear for the first time in a few weeks. So we sat on it. And good lord, that couch is comfy. Comfier, in fact, than the IKEA couch I’d bought (which, granted, wasn’t in the most fantastic condition. It’s possible things like the back of the couch not being high enough for us/the cushions repeatedly slipping down were the fault of that specific couch, not all of those couches. But it was super hard to ignore the fact that the back of my old couch is much higher/more comfortable for tall people and the back cushions stay in place!).
After a few days I hadn’t heard back from the guy about when he was going to be able to rent/find a truck in order to come pick up the couch. And I knew from watching them on Craigslist in order to find one to buy that IKEA sleeper sofas tend to sell quickly. And having two couches indefinitely wasn’t at all an option.
So I turned around and listed that bad boy for $50 more than I’d paid, and ended up selling it for $25 more than I paid for it. And that, folks, is how I flipped a couch/how I got paid $25 to keep my old, very comfy couch. We just had to deal with two couches for the better part of a month. Don’t ask my partner how he felt about that ?
Saving money by moving
Y’all. All I have to say is peep that rent number down below. My partner and I aren’t splitting rent evenly, which is fair given the considerable difference between our incomes.
Sure, cooking for two is (probably. It’s October and it hasn’t quite settled out yet. Plus this time of year is prime baking season, which makes groceries more expensive) inflating my grocery bill. And I got a bikeshare membership that I felt zero compunction to have at my old place.
That barely moves the needle on increased spending. And LOOK AT THAT NEW RENT AMOUNT.
The numbers
| Rent | $700.00 | THIS NUMBER IS GREAT, LOOK AT THAT $350 REDUCTION OVER WHAT I’VE PAID THE LAST FIVE YEARS!!!!! |
| Internet and utilities | $53.10 | Includes my half ($15) of the new water fee we have to pay (boo), electric, and internet. No more gas fee—yes, I’m still sad about losing a gas stove and having to switch to an electric cooktop ? |
| Groceries | $184.76 | Restocking a kitchen is never cheap |
| Gas | $0.00 | |
| Barre membership | $104.94 | |
| Moving | $206.31 | The cost of rugs, shelves, cart, a shoe rack, air filters, a whiteboard for the fridge, and a mid-weight blanket for the bed for the summer |
| Transportation | $118.51 | The cost of a single, $2 bikeshare ride as a test, an $85 annual membership, and a helmet |
| Restaurants/bars | $117.91 | A high month, but not that high, especially considering some of this was post-move meals out |
| Vacation | -$6.69 | No, the weekend in Roanoke wasn’t free, but I paid for our Airbnbs earlier and my partner paid me back for his half of the trip in August |
| Misc household goods | $27.46 | |
| Personal care | $10.00 | Accidentally popped out the captive bead on my cartilage ring and needed to run by the tattoo shop to get it put back on |
| Charitable giving | $125.00 | |
| Misc dues/subscriptions | $39.10 | The usual Patreon etc, as well as $2 for a one week Amazon Prime subscription. I forgot what I used that for, but it was probably moving-related |
| Medical | $21.88 | Usually I don’t pay anything for my health insurance, but this was a holdover from something that I should’ve gotten reimbursed earlier. Oh well! |
| Other shopping | -$37.65 | I returned some things to REI that I’d bought back in May/June |
| Blog | $481.61 | CampFI ticket for next year, as well as a PayPal for the FinCon Airbnb |
| Total spending: | $2146.24 | |
| Paychecks and other income | $2312.42 | Looooove me some extra paycheck month action! |
| Retirement contributions | $2191.20 | |
| Side hustle income | $453.85 | Second job (minus one Lyft ride over there for a weeknight training session) and petsitting for Owning the Stars |
| Moving | $420.00 | Getting my Craigslist hustle on |
| Cash back | $115.16 | My Ebates/Rakuten quarterly check was GREAT, thanks to a purchase I made for work that I got reimbursed but got $30 in cash back for! |
| Total income: | $5492.63 | |
| Total: | $3346.39 | |
| Savings rate: | 61% |
What did I tell you? August was a way better month than July!
Wohoo 61%! That’s awesome despite all those additional moving expenses! Roanoke trip sounded like a blast and exactly what was needed at the time. Sometimes a break is exactly what’s needed!