Money Management Review

This past week, I closed on my condo, but I won’t begin making payments until September, which gives me some time to rebuild my savings. The difficult part is preparing for the uncertainty that comes with ownership, such as an emergency repair, a special assessment, or another expense I didn’t anticipate. My first urge is to furnish the condo because I still have money saved and received some money back after covering my closing costs.

I received the keys yesterday, and it still hasn’t fully dawned on me that I finally own something. Preparing for this new life has been challenging because you don’t know what could happen, and you are used to spending the way you always have. Truthfully, no financial support has been offered if an emergency occurs, so there is essentially no one for me to depend on except myself. That makes building an emergency fund more important than furnishing everything immediately.

This past week, I also spent more than usual on eating out. It may have been a final burst of spending because I know that during the coming year I probably won’t be eating out as often. That will ultimately be a good change because it will help me save more money and adjust to the responsibilities of owning my home.