Growing up, I feel like my parents did at least an okay job of preparing me to manage my money (though they were certainly guilty of carrying credit card debt). Really all you need to know is “Spend less than you make.” One thing that they never told me about, though, is something I’ve dubbed the $500/month rule. Maybe it only applies to the first year of employment (I’m now just over 6 months in on my first year). Maybe I’m a fluke. Whatever the case may be, I always seem to have at least $500 of “one-time-only” expenses pop up every month.

• May: pre-work, graduated, moved cross-country (I’m sure that was a few hundred at least)
• June: Apartment deposit (~$950)
• July: T.V., Bed, Couch, and Dining Room table… for which I probably paid around $500 cash and financed the rest (minus $500 my dad gave me for the TV as a graduation gift).
• August: Car insurance came due to the tune of around $500
• Sept: It turns out I forgot to send the state of Georgia a tax check back in April (right around thesis time–I thought TurboTax did all that for me), so I had to send them a check for $560 (And I’m not even gonna mention my vacation)
• Oct: My bike was around $525
• Nov: My plane ticket home for Christmas was $499 exactly

What’s the moral of the story? Plan for something to come up. Except for the bi-annual car insurance and the yearly plane ticket home (if not at Christmas, then Thanksgiving), I’m hoping these sorts of suprises will eventually drop out… though I’m not going to hold my breath. My girlfriend’s car got hit while parked on the street (no note, $1600 in damage), so she’s got a $500 deductible to look forward to.

When I first started the job, I figured I’d sink all that left over money at the end of the month into paying off my credit cards early. That end-of-the-month windfall just keeps finding a way to vanish, though. Because I originally decided not to start putting money into a retirement until I paid off my credit cards, I’m six months on the job and haven’t even started my IRA yet. Time for that to change.

After reading up on Prosper, I’m going to start pumping $100 a month into that (at least until I get burned). Once all the paperwork for my IRA goes through, I’m going to put $200 a month into that. Both will be automated. Why, you ask? My general philosophy so far is that if the money is there, I’ll spend it. If the money’s not available for me to spend, I’ll be more frugal when it comes to things like eating out, going to the movies, and going out to bars. That’s the hope, anyway. We’ll see if it pans out.