7:38 Mid Tuesday Morning (7 October 2008)   The Good News and The Good Friends so I don't know, I'm really excited. As excited as a person can be at 7:30 in the morning. I want to go back to sleep for the next two hours but I also know that I really need to go to work. Caleb got accepted to USU with the usual stipend plus $4000 in scholarships and the tuition waiving etc. Now all that's left is for us to argue over housing while he puts off saying "yes, absolutely" until there's no more time. It's not really arguing over housing because neither of us knows what's the right thing to do. frankly I don't think it is that big of a concern, especially since for the first 6 months at least we'll still be living with my parents (and who knows, they might not ask us to pay rent, allowing us to save even more). Caleb, on the other hand, seems to think we'll be dirt poor (well yes, we will) and starving to death (maybe not so much, in my opinion). What he doesn't seem to take into consideration is each of our sizeable savings accounts, complete lack of student loans or car loans or any loans, and absolutely no credit card debt or anything like that. We can't go out and buy houses on a whim, but I KNOW we can afford a good downpayment on a tiny one-bedroom and I'm under the impression that if we can afford to rent an apartment, we'll be able to stretch our budgets that much further and pay for a mortgage. I know it won't be easy but not only do we have savings and no debt on our side, we also have my parents who want us to succeed and will help us financially if we need it, like going 10% with us on a downpayment or something and cosigning on the mortgage for a lower interest rate. Anyhow, I've decided to start trying to save 70-80% of my income now, which isn't much because my income is tiny...but it's better than saving only 30 or 40%. In my family finance class it was suggested that we pay 10% into a savings account each time we get a paycheque, first thing. For me, 10% isn't enough because since I don't have any bills or food to pay, the only thing I buy is gas occasionally, and then i have all this disposable income and I end up buying unnecessary things. I want to have a little bit to have fun with but I don't want to spend my whole paycheque every month and get into bad habits. I pretend i'm paying bills. very cheap bills. but i get to keep the money. haha. i'm hungry. and i have to go to work/class.