Economic Efficiency

Just got back from seeing WALL-E (you can read my review here), and I'm feeling inspired to write.

When I lived in San Diego, I was making a great living with a company car and all of my gas expenses were covered. However, when I decided to move to Atlanta, I took a pay-cut to follow my dreams with this marketing job. I've learned that money isn't everything; happiness is the most important thing in life...money still helps though.

This past week, I finally bought a new car (air conditioning is glorious)...which means I can now add car payments to my list of monthly expenses (rent, car insurance, cable bill, electric bill, student loans, gym membership, ALF fan club membership, etc.)

Well, with all of that cash flow leaving my bank account, and less coming in than usual, I have FINALLY decided to make myself economically responsible. I'm not saying that I would go out and spend all my money with no regard for a budget, but I never really paid attention to how much I spent. As long as I had enough money to pay my credit card bill in full each month (an absolute MUST), I was fine.

Today, I did something that I'm sure everybody else did immediately after graduating college and getting cut off from their parents: I made myself a spreadsheet! I calculated how much money I have coming in, divided so that it's a weekly amount. I did the same for each of my bills and guaranteed negative withdrawls. I was left with an amount that is now my "expendable income" for the week. I'm realizing if I want to play golf an extra day, or go out on a Friday, I can't spend 9 bucks a day on lunch.

Looking at my expenses this way, it's clear: if money going out is more than money coming in, I'm going to run out of money real soon. Economic stability, self-reliance, and efficiency is something that Steve 2.0 (the better me) strives for, so this type of equation will not work.

In order to increase the amount of money in the "green," I have to increase inflow (get a raise, win the lottery, or pick up another job) or decrease outflow (become a deadbeat and stop paying Nikhil for rent, become a thief, bring my lunch to work, etc).

Because I don't really spend a lot of extra money (outside of golf and food, two things I will not cut back on), I have to find a way to increase the cash flow coming into my bank account. I've played online poker for years, and I've finally come to the conclusion that it's only a temporary solution: a few hundred bucks and there, after spending 8 hours online in front of a computer, is not the optimal solution - I've decided to empty out my poker bank account, and devote my free time to developing some entrepreneurial endeavor. What that is? no clue.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and get certified as a personal trainer at the gym I where I go to lift. I figure I can eliminate my gym membership costs, make some extra money on the side, help out some people, and give me more experience when it comes to writing on my other blog, Nerd Fitness.

Mo money mo problems? I think that's only a problem if you stole it, Biggie. I'll take some more.