My rent is going up. The check I write in a couple of days will be about $35 higher than those I've been writing. Problem is, I forgot that "July's rent" means "end of June," so I hadn't really budgeted for that increase. I also hadn't budgeted for the parking ticket K and I got this morning on my parents' car ($45--thankfully, not too steep). Luckily, I can cover most of my half of the parking ticket out of the spare money in my "eating out" envelope, and I'll manage to scratch up the money for the extra rent, but it still remains to rejigger my budget so that the extra rent money is there at the end of each month.
It's less than $20 per pay period, so I think what I'll do is pull $5 each from several envelopes, so hopefully I won't notice too big of a difference. I really do find that reducing spending in a certain area, even by a little, is way harder than starting off at a low level--I just always feel myself coming up against the new limit and having to constantly remind myself of it. Hopefully, I'll get a raise in September (I'll have been here a year), and then I'll be able to use the "spend half, save half" theory of raises to bump myself back up to the spending limits I'm currently used to.
I know it's not a big deal, but it's a bummer. One gets used to certain expenses, and when they go up, it just kind of throws everything off a little.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Rent Hike
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7 comments:
I hear you on this one. It's worse when companies do it to you without warning. Our waste management company just increased the fee one bill (with an insert that explained it was because of high fuel prices). No warning! Our cable company has done the same. It's frustrating...
Do you have an emergency fund?
My rent went up 1 percent in March but the landlord hasn't changed the base rent yet and I'm still waiting for the day it happens. I'm not sure if he's going backdate one day and I'll owe another $35 in rent, not too big a deal but just not knowing is what worries me sometimes.
I hope you're doing more than "hoping" for a raise. Get a list of your accomplishments together and lobby.
I totally understand about the rent hike. However, mine doubled when my roommate moved out....you live...you learn...you move to a cheaper one bedroom apartment so you don't have to deal with flakey roommates.
It's frustrating when you try to stick to a well-planned budget and then expenses increase. I'm still grumbling about the co-pay for a prescription I need every month going up by $20 even though I know I should focus on being grateful I have insurance.
MY rent is going up by around 3 -4%, I forgot the number set by the rent guidelines board.
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