Getting there. Slow and steady.

Down to $84 thousand...

I try to lessen the impact of sending away so much money each month by being hyper-involved with my finances to the point where I check and recheck them at least twice each day. In fact, I budget out my expenses – including these bimonthly student loan payments – at least three months in advance (yes, my expenses are currently budgeted through the end of August 2010). I take a conservative stance on my budgeting because I know that unexpected expenses will likely pop up from time to time and I have to be able to handle them. I have my finances all organized in a multi-sheet Excel Workbook that I designed which tracks money in and money out all the way down to the penny.

It’s pretty cool, actually.

Another way that I try to lessen the blow of sending away this money is by trying to find ways to either generate more income or reduce expenses. Pretty basic stuff, right? Over the last few years, the three biggest monthly expenses that I’ve had are these student loan payments, monthly rent payments, and charitable donations. I’ve given you a bunch of updates on the student loan payments and I have to pay my rent every month (more on how housing affects the ability to repay student loans in my next student loan update), but I thought I’d spend a paragraph or two talking about how my student loan repayment schedule impacts my charitable donations.

Since I started this repayment plan, I’ve knocked back my charitable donations considerably. In fact, I selected four charitable organizations that I am going to focus on sending my donations to each year: my Church – St. Jerome’s Church in West Long Branch, the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, Monmouth University’s Athletics Department (specifically, the basketball team), and the Monmouth County SPCA. I have different reasons for choosing each of these organizations. I donate to my Church because I believe in tithing to the extent that you can (I can’t really donate as much as I’d like because of my student loan debt). I donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation because I believe in its mission and, as a board member, I am obligated to donate a certain amount every year. I donate to Monmouth University’s Athletics Department because I am impressed that the school managed to get that Multipurpose Activity Center built and I enjoy going to the home basketball games. And finally, I donate to the Monmouth County SPCA because that’s where I adopted one of my family’s pugs – Odie.

The difference between my donations on the repayment plan versus before I went on the repayment plan is that I used to send money to these (and other) charitable organizations whenever I had an extra $50 or $100 in my monthly budget. For this year, I’ve laid out certain dollar amount goals that I’d like to reach in terms of donating to each of these organizations. I’m going to knock them down one at a time (I’ve already made my budgeted donation for this year to one of these groups).

It’s all about budgeting and, in my case, it’s all about creating an extreme budget and sticking to it.

In May 2006, I graduated from Rutgers University with a Masters Degree and $120,720 in student loan debt. I currently owe $84 thousand, which breaks down to $29 thousand owed to the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority and $55 thousand owed to the United States Department of Education. Follow my student loan repayment story on JerseySmarts.com.

But what’s most surprising about New Jersey is how in such a blue, labor-dominated state, Democrats and union members seem to be cracking under the pressure of the state’s tax burden, revealing a kind of split-personality disorder.

The syndrome surfaced last summer during Mr. Christie’s campaign, when he vowed to bring New Jersey’s property taxes, the nation’s highest, under control. As a candidate he saved his sternest threats for the teachers’ and state workers’ unions, whose healthy pay and benefits packages, he argued, were slowly strangling the schools and running the state’s finances into the ground. Union members, state workers and teachers, it turned out, weren’t offended by his rhetoric. In fact, public opinion surveys showed they ate it up.

The New York Times leans left on most, if not all, issues. This is why you see the writer suggesting that it is surprising how the people in New Jersey are mostly for Christie’s cuts. However, the truth is that even the hardest leftist person in this state can understand how our current tax and overspend system is not sustainable. When you have a tax and overspend system, there are two basic ways to fix it: spend less or tax more. Governor Christie, to his great credit, has opted for the traditionally unpopular fix by spending less money.

Spending less money means cutting the amount of programs that can be funded and it was high time that someone came along to New Jersey to cut back the unnecessary, duplicitous programs that this state offers. The New York Times article cited above says that the public ate up Governor Christie’s message on the campaign trail. You’re damn right we ate it up! Finally, we had a guy talking sense instead of spewing the typical “vote for me” crap that previous politicians put out there. Plus, Christie had the good fortune to run against a man who will go down in history as one of the worst Governors in New Jersey history. More from the New York Times:

No polls have been taken since Mr. Christie’s budget speech, but it held few real surprises. “Voters felt Christie was being honest about what the situation was, and what he needed to do to move forward, and then he did exactly what he said he was going to do,” Mr. Murray said. “It’s a sad statement, but that’s almost unheard of.”

This is the part of the outrage that makes me laugh the hardest. People are actually outraged that Governor Christie instituted the hard spending cuts that he said he would during the campaign. For those of you who don’t have the luck of living in the Garden State, we don’t expect our politicians to tell the truth…ever. Governor Christie, on the other hand, is actually doing what he said he would do and it’s great!

These spending cuts are what New Jersey needs. There’s no question about it.

However, I’m sick and tired of hearing the ignorant bullshit flowing out of people regarding the end result of these spending cuts. The biggest load of crap comes out of the legions of young professionals who will likely be let go because of these cuts. These morons spout on and on about how Governor Christie is costing them their jobs. Bullshit. First of all, anyone who spews this crap clearly doesn’t know how the government works and I strongly question whether or not they should be employed by a school district in the first place. Governor Christie is not costing you your job since he does not control local property taxes. Period. End of story. Done. No questions asked.

Second, I’m sick of hearing these young “professionals” (and I use the term “professionals” lightly since if you read some of their online posts, they are anything but professional) bitch and moan about how education cuts lead to more students in each classroom and a lower quality of education. Folks, if you want to define what it means to be “brainwashed,” then try to follow this ridiculous train of logic. If you ever hear anyone saying this particular line of crap, then you automatically know that you’re hearing someone who either can’t think independently (and thus shouldn’t be a teacher) or you’re talking to someone who can’t make logical, financial connections (and thus shouldn’t be a teacher) or in some cases, you might be talking to someone who is a coward. I’ll explain.

The true cause of these young professionals losing their jobs is the excess and waste embedded in the current education system in New Jersey. There are administrators making six figures who are secretaries to assistants to secretaries to assistants, etc. There are administrators who are the second, third, or fourth assistant superintendent in some of these districts (completely unnecessary). There are administrators who don’t do shit, but collect a salary that should be going to a young teacher who actually wants to be around students. Any of these soon-to-be laid off teachers and young professionals that spew the bullshit false choices listed above, but do not scour the set up of their local school districts (and I mean look at each line in the budget as well as using Data Universe to find the salaries of the district administrators) is a coward. Just like the whole world knew that New Jersey spent too much money and this day was coming, the whole world knows that the excessive waste that goes on in New Jersey’s local governments and local school districts is unsustainable.

If you’re a young education professional who has either already been laid off or will be laid off, then I want to hear about your research into the local district and what you’ve uncovered in terms of waste. What percentage of a raise did your fellow teachers get in the last year (hint – anything other than 1% – 2% is excessive in this economy)? What about the administrators and their percentage raise? Where did that money come from when the economy grew at 0% last year (hint – the answer is increased local property taxes)? What about your administrators? Does your district have excess administrators that are taking up dollars from the budget that would have better been spent paying you and your teaching colleagues?

And here’s the key question – what did you do about what you found out?! The most that Governor Christie can do is advocate on your behalf and he’s doing that (I heard him say it with my own two ears at last week’s New Jersey Charter Schools Association conference). But what have YOU done to fight for what’s right? If your answer is, “Well, I complained that Governor Christie is costing me my job because he is costing me my job,” then you just don’t get it.

Further, if you work for a school district, then you have a government job. What did you expect to happen in a state where government spending has been out of control for over a decade?! And this wasn’t a big secret – everyone knew that government spending was out of control and that a day of reckoning was coming sooner rather than later. In fact, Governor Christie ran on a platform where he essentially said that he was going to bring this day of reckoning to New Jersey! Are some of these people who have now turned on Governor Christie so stupid that they didn’t think that he was actually going to do what he said he was going to do?!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hate that some of my friends will be losing their jobs. I would never begrudge anyone a job or the ability to make a living – never. However, Governor Christie is doing exactly what he said he would do, which is exactly what New Jersey needs right now!

Dear Governer Christie, Thank you for being the biggest dick new jersey has ever known. Because of you, and your school “cuts” I will most likely not have a job next year. I honestly hope someone punches you in one of your chins. Good day. Oh and FUCK YOU!

For those of you who know some of the fraternity guys that I used to advise, this message is from Turkey Sub’s Facebook. And while I actually do like Turkey Sub, he has provided a great example of the complete idiocy that Christie’s decisions have brought out of some people. I will address the rest of this entry as though I was yelling at Turkey Sub.

First of all, look at how inherently stupid that comment above is (you don’t capitalize New Jersey and yet you teach children?!) – no one writing such one-sided rubbish should be teaching our school children in the first place. Second, think about how dumb you must be to not understand how school funding works. The Governor didn’t single-handedly create life-ending cuts to the education budget. In fact, in his own words he said, “We have worked to ensure that no school district in New Jersey will face a reduction in aid that is greater than 5% of their school budget.” Do you know how school funding works in this state? Did you know that local property taxes are set by people at the… LOCAL level of government?! In other words, if you think that taxes should be raised in this state to continue to pay for waste and excess, then go to your local town council and tell them to raise property taxes. But be forewarned, because people who are sick of being taxed out of this state are forcing the 2.5% cap in spending increases at the local level.

Did you get that, stupid?

The end result of the Governor’s budget is a state government structure that spends less money and thus needs to take in less money and there you have a reduction in taxes. This is what everyday people do in tough times – they tighten their belt and they stop wasting money on bullshit. They don’t go out for dinner every night, they don’t go buy clothes that they don’t need, they don’t waste their money on material items that won’t mean a damn thing in a few days or weeks. Instead, they move back in with their parents, they use an old car instead of buying a new one, they spend less money, they save more money, and they prepare for tough times ahead. Get with the fucking program you dummy.

Anyone who can’t made due in this economy by trimming 5% off of their annual revenue doesn’t know how to budget money and is likely wasting money all over the place. How many six-figure earning Vice-Principals and Assistant Superintendents does your district have, Sub? More than one? More than two? More than five? What about excessive administrative aides? Before your idiot ass wrote, “Because of you, and your school ‘cuts’ I will most likely not have a job next year,” did you consider that the reason why you most likely won’t have a job next year is because your district wastes tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on salaries for unnecessary positions? Or did your union give you some type of propaganda bullshit that suggested otherwise and you immediately believed it without doing any research so you can make an informed decision?

Look, Sub. It sucks that you’re going to lose your job. I don’t want anyone to lose their job! But where is the outrage at the years upon years of both Democratic and Republican governors and legislatures who opted for quick fixes to budget gaps instead of actually cutting spending? Don’t get mad at Christie because he made the right decision! People are getting mad because we live in a state that doesn’t expect the right decisions to be made in Trenton, and thus we expect more spending and higher taxes. This is the beginning of a change for New Jersey and it’s the type of change that every forward-thinking family and individual made two years ago when the economy started to tank.

If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at the Republican and Democratic legislators who created the disastrous, unsustainable system that we currently live in. But for God’s Sake, don’t get mad at the guy who is calling a spade a spade and saying enough is enough. And don’t get mad because the guy is doing exactly what he said he would do during the campaign!

And dude, if you want to be a teacher, be more fucking articulate in your criticisms of the government and stop being a bitch drama queen. Otherwise, you’re a bigger part of the problem than your ignorant Facebook post even shows.

Bullshit on that!

America’s health care system is overburden by people who are unhealthy because of their lifestyles. How can someone sleep at night when they openly and freely choose to tax the method by which people can free themselves from this sedentary lifestyle? Maybe getting into that car crash knocked some sense in Governor Corzine because he was all for this tax last year at this time.

Rolling back this tax is a good thing and I think New Jerseyans will be very happy to have this “healthy tax” finally taken off of the books and put to rest where it belongs.

Now let’s start working on restoring that 6% sales tax…