How Much Do I Really Need?

In between dropping off applications and feeling worthless, I play around with numbers. I take what I owe and move it around, or take my monthly minimum payments and play with them, or play around with different levels of income, and what they'd allow me.

Lately, I've been working on "escape" numbers. How much do I *really* need to get out of here and take off on the life I want with little to no financial carnage left behind? How much do I need if I don't care about financial carnage?

Going with the bare minimum, of course, you need food, water, and shelter. In some countries this can be had for as little as $300 a month. I probably don't want to live like that, and it isn't my travel dream, but that's a minimum. Getting to a country like that requires both a passport and (usually) a plane ticket. In order to make that money the whole time, I'd need a computer, or access to one- about $400 up front. And, of course, if I don't get forbearance approved on my student loans, they would eventually freeze my accounts and just pull the cash from the bank, so I couldn't live on $300 a month for very long.

So then we try with little or no carnage, since a financial bloodbath is obviously not going to work for long.

Still need at least $300 to eat, sleep, and drink. Also need a passport, tickets to that cheap place, and a computer- let's say $1500 minimum to get there. Then I'd need another 1175 a month to cover minimum payments and what not.

Of course, ideally I'd have paid off at least one or two people I owe before I leave- one debt is under a thousand, one is just over 2k, and one is right around $3500. Knocking the first two out would lower my monthly minimums by $125. If I could get rid of that third one too I'm down to $1000 needed each month for paying back what I've borrowed.

So let's say I need between $1500 and $1800 a month for an OK kinda life, one with little to no financial carnage. The higher number allows me to actually live my wild dreams, a little bit.

Working my butt off, I could be at the point where I could take off on the carnage-fest within two months. I'm pretty sure no one in my family would ever talk to me again,though. That'd be bad, I (usually) like my family.

So my real goal, the one currently so far out I can barely see it and have no idea how to put it together, is to be ready to do the low carnage escape by the time my lease on this rat hole is up. I have until the end of January. The one coming up in about 8 months.

That's a lot of work to do. I want $2000 in savings, that's about $250 a month I need to set aside. I need a cheapy netbook so I can work where ever I end up, that's $50 a month. I need $300 a month after my expenses just to start this evil plan in motion. Right now I don't even have my expenses covered. I've no idea how the fork I'm going to do this, except it starts with me getting a job.

So that's what I'll do- get a job, then renew my passport, then get another job, then build other income- I have two or three website ideas to work on. I don't know that they'll ever earn anything, but eventually I should do alright. If I'm short when it gets close, I can always pick up jobs on elance, or sell body parts. I don't *really* need two kidneys....