Pray

I was just reading a book that talks about the beauty of Montana. Now, I know it snows there a lot, and it can get very cold, but it made me crave a change in the way I'm living. I would love to move somewhere like Montana, where there's mountains, and wildlife, and open spaces, all at the same time.

I want to go on vacation somewhere like that, but I would need someone to go with me.

I have a billing method I use in my personal finances to keep track of how much money I'm spending on bills. Basically, I write down all my bills on a post-it, and mark off when they go on my bank statement. I put it in my daily planner in the month to month section. This allows me to figure out A) whether I can afford to save anything, and B) how much I'm spending each month on my bills.

Good trends in my spending:

• I'm able to cover my bills
• I'm investing some of my money, about 5% of what I make, and I just got enrolled in my company's retirement plan, and so I'm actually putting about 10% away for retirement, and about 2.5% in a mutual fund that is more easily accessible
• I'm giving about 5% of my money to my missionary friends in support and I'm trying to give about 5% to my church

Bad trends in my spending:

• I have very little discretionary income
• I use my credit card whenever I have unexpected expenses, like car repairs, therefore, my credit card seems to never be paid off

I just figured out that I'm making $29,640 per year, but after taxes and benefits taken out, I take home $22,080. In a community like San Diego, that's not much. The cost of living is very high here.

So I decided that I need to pray more for direction. I'm still facing some big life decisions. I love my job, but feel like I need to be earning more. At the same time, if I decided to go back to school, this would be the best place for me to stay and finish my education. I really have the desire to experience a new place, so it might be better for me to try and get a job in my field, but I waffle on this decision everyday. If I were truly content, maybe I wouldn't be so restless.

I need to pray that God would guide me in these decisions and bring me to the place where I should be...it still could be here in San Diego.

I'm thankful that I even have some of the options that I do, to experience new places, people, and ideas.