The 'No Job Budget'

Well I don't think I need to state the obvious. A 'No Job Budget' has to be very minimal. I am a single person and my son is grown and lives outside the home. I also do not have any revolving debt, auto loans, judgements, or other debts due. I am debt free and that alone is a great goal. I recommend it highly!

Ok, I live in a half a duplex that is owned by a family member. I pay about 100 dollars less than market value, so not really any tricks here, just a little discount. It is small, but very liveable in a decent part of a major KS city. I have a room mate that shares all expenses half.

I have a cell phone and cable TV with internet access. These are my ONLY luxuries, and by that I mean I could actually live without them.

And living expenses, utilities, food, insurance, gasoline etc.

I wish I could insert a nice table/graph here, but I'm not quite that skilled yet so bear with the listing in paragraph form.

My Rent is 275.00 per month.
My Utilities average about 125.00 per month. (cable,electric,gas,trash)
My Cell Phone is 70.00 per month.
My Auto Insurance is 35.00 per month.
Add in groceries and maybe 1 tank of gasoline a month and you have my expenses.

Now, I don't go a lot of places.. being semi-retired, at least for me, does not mean living large, going out partying, or any such "budget hole". And this is fine with me, remember this is what I do and you need to do what makes you happy or it won't work for you.

As for income I will save that for another post. To complete this post I will say that I am a skilled construction laborer. When I sub-contract I charge 20-25 dollars per hour. I also bid work from craigslist and referrals and I bid between 25-40 dollars per hour.

I think if you do the math you can see that working less than 1 week a month will cover my bills and allow 3 weeks to pursue other interests as I please.

Of course there are ups and downs. I sometimes work for months straight, and then don't work for months at a time. I still call this 'semi-retired' as I have a very high level of choice in my life, a lot of control... if you believe there is such a thing. (talk about a whole other subject for a blog.... or at least a post)

Well, there are my numbers. What do you think?


So that's it.