There's No Place Like Home

This looks like it'll be a really great operation to follow. Best of luck pwning that mortgage It's something very few people will ever be able to do by the sounds of the general populations spending habits/income etc.

I have a detailed monthly budget to help me stay on track. This is a culmination of a year's worth of expenses broken down into a monthly average. Many expenses like insurance, gifts, and car maintenance don't hit every month, but I still have a snapshot of what I would need to put aside on a monthly basis to have a balanced budget by year's end. According to this, I should easily be able to put aside my original monthly goal of $1,200 and still have an extra $600 or so to stash with it. Hopefully I'll be able to do that more times than not or at least see how closely the theory matches actual results. But, unexpected money expenses seem to come up all the time, from the "leaky faucet" to a "fraggle-stick car", so my $400 monthly "blow" hedge may be sufficient some months and not others.

At the end of the fiscal 1st quarter, I have successfully saved up $3,600 or $1,200 per month as planned plus about $175 of interest that money has been earning. It's not much, but it counts and since I only plan to keep the money tucked away for less than two years, I can't afford to put it anywhere else to invest like mutual funds as it would be too risky. I LOVE mutual funds, but don't think you should not invest money there unless you can leave it alone for at least 5 years.

I've been keeping an eye on my poker hourly rate because it is a key component to earning extra income. It can be a little tricky to figure based on bonuses. But, at the tables, my hourly has been jumping between $20 and $30 per hour. It's currently sitting @ $25 an hour. That part is easy since Hold'Em Manager automatically keeps track of it. I am aiming and hoping to hit Double Nova for the year. If successful, that would net me $13,399.70 - $1,000 Stellar + $4,400 milestones + $7,999.70 FPP$. This year, I have been averaging 18 hours of poker play per week. So, my expected hourly rate on bonus money would be $14.32 per hour or $13,399.70/(18 hours * 52 weeks in a year). Adding those two numbers together puts my earn @ $40.32 per hour. Now, that ONLY includes time @ the tables, not study time or any lost money due to traning sites, books, etc. I figure all the enjoyment poker brings me MORE THAN pays for all of that

For comparison, I decided to see how much my day job hourly wage was ONLY when I was working. I took my GROSS salary and divided it by all actual WORKING days, which is 365 days LESS all weekends, holidays, and vacation days. From that, I figured it was $40.41 per hour compared to $39.32 per hour poker wage. Day job still wins overall by a wide margin because the money is consistent with no variance or UIGEA or stigma and it comes with a 401k, health benefits, and more. Not to mention I think the poker fun factor would go way down once it became a job. HOWEVER, it is definitely reassuring and encouraging that the two are so comparable plus the year is not over and I hope to continue to get better, improve, refine, and move up both in stakes and hourly rate.

Moving into the second quarter of the year, I'm just going to focus on saving a minimum of $3,600 or $1,200 in each of the next three months plus any extra credit I can muster. Hopefully I can avoid any major unplanned expenses and not go crazy during my trips to St. Louis and Vegas in April and June respectively. Unfortunately, I didn't really save much extra in the first quarter due to all of the big hit items I mentioned earlier. I think the second and third quarter are my best opportunities to stash extra money away because 4th quarter has some big hits like Christmas and car and house insurance due.