My spiritual savings journal

[Jai]

I'm starting a journal on staying grateful, being spiritual with work, and saving money.

I want to track how much I save and my attitude toward money. I want to stay positive, live in gratitude and faith, and not have fear over finances and the future. The truth is that fear over the future and money can really disconnect me from spirit and from God.

Probably not going to update this that often since I get paid monthly haha. But I'm sure I'll have some other things I want to keep track of.

My money situation is okay but not great. Way better than 2 years ago. 2 years ago I was pretty broke. Then I got a job as a mechanic on ships and saved every cent. I only made $14 an hour but I saved $34,000 in under a year. I did this by working a TON of overtime, and not spending money on anything. I lived on ships a lot of the time, ate on ships, and became really frugal to get some savings and security. 

But the job was difficult on my body and I always felt injured. I decided to leave because I thought: "I can always go get more money, I only get one body" It was tough leaving because I actually really liked that job, the coworkers, the travel all over the world, the pay, the satisfaction with fixing things and working with tools. A lot to like, but I left. I took some time off and traveled the US a little and went to Thailand for a couple months. Took almost a year off in total. I fell into some fear and self pity over work and the future, but I got a job now and things feel good. I like working, it makes me be economical with my time, it gives me something to aim for. The truth is that nobody is going to build the future I want except for me. So I got to work for it.

Good news is I got an entry level tech job as a database admin at a university. It's interesting. I'm learning a lot, I'm excited about the job. And there is a lot of potential in tech.

This year I'll make about what I saved last year. But I'm not worrying about the money. If I worry about how much less I make then I get disconnected from God. I lose gratitude and appreciation, and I start to enjoy life less. Instead, I'm focusing on how sweet my life really is, how I have moderate financial security, I'm not in debt, I'm a minimalist and frugal, but I still have nice hobbies. So I can journal about that.

Without thinking too much about it, and maybe i'll revise, but I want to save $12,000 this year in addition to my retirement contributions. So a grand a month. At my highest savings point i was saving like $4,000 a month as a mechanic. But I know if I trust God, work hard, stay grateful, and have a good relationship with money now, there will be opportunity in the future to earn more. Just gotta trust God and practice service at work.

June 30

Balance before pay: $3,054.11

Net Pay: $2,227.73

Balance after pay: $5,281.84

Retirement contributions not part of net pay: $219.90

So for July to hit my goal I got to live off of $1,227.73. I think I can do this. My rent is $525, and I'm pretty minimalist. I do gotta pay for a couple things. Set up a dr.'s appointment, I'm going camping this weekend and gotta drive a long way and buy a couple lunches. So this may not be the most typical month. But I'm gonna aim for this goal. I've also been donating to a couple spiritual organizations so I want to keep that going.

My overall situation now is: checking $5,281, and a little over $20,000 in savings. Will probably move some of this to an index fund especially since I'm working again.

 

[Jai]

Here's my numbers for July:

Balance before pay $4,206.69

Previous balance $3,054.11

Saved in July: 1,152.58 (of net pay of 2,227.73) = 51.7% of income saved

plus with retirement contribution (219.90) = 1,372.48 saved  1,372.48/2,447.63 = 56.1% saved including retirement contribution

Spent in July: 1,075.15

Health insurance and taxes: $552.37

Balance after pay $6,434.42

 

Going forward:

I pretty much know where I stand now. I saved a decent amount of my pay this past month. I didn't really even try that hard. I'm kinda a minimalist by nature. I still have like $120 on a credit card from a camping trip I took. That's gonna be paid in August so I'll have to lower spending in other areas so I can save the same amount as last month. From here on out this is probably about as good as i can get. I get paid the same amount every month and the rest of my expenses are kind of set. here's a budget i put together quick

Estimated budget:

Rent 525

Gas & Electric 40

Gas 80

Haircut 20

Food 250

Donation 20

Other 65

Total 1000

Spiritual connection

The only real issue is maintaining a spiritual connection and not getting caught up in that I don't earn a lot. Someday I want to make more but I'm starting a new career. I get down sometimes when I compare to other people. Or I get regretful when I think that I made more money last year. Regardless I'm working hard, being frugal, and still living an awesome and blessed life.

Time for some gratitude for all the good things as I try to live spiritually and build my finances.

[Jai]

Balance before: 5,044.73

Previous Balance: 4,206.69

Saved in August: 838.04 + 200 (that i took out to just hide for emergency but won't spend) = 1,038.04

Plus retirement contributions 219.90

Total savings 1,257.94 of 2,215.73 = 56.8%

Balance after: 7,259.76

Notes:

Good month, but i have to keep a spiritual focus on having enough and on gratitude. It's easy to fall in the mentality that I'm not making fast enough progress. I fall into comparing how I'm doing with how much I saved before. Before I was saving way more at another job. So I fall into focusing on the past instead of how I'm doing right now.

I really have to live in gratitude. Trust God, see all the gifts in my life.