Is anyone experiencing a virus-like problem with my website?

Frugal Zeitgeist says that Google Chrome keeps flagging me as a possible virus or something like that, because of something called “frock files”. Has anyone else come across this? Or experienced problems going to my site?

This is so frustrating… I downloaded all the browsers, tested it on all of our 8 laptops and it’s fine from my point of view.

Help! (Thanks)

We’re lowering our bills… again

So far the majors bills PER PERSON are:

• Rent: $575 dropping to $350 for June* and then $384.50 for a year

*We have to move into another apartment for the interim of June
Our new apartment starting in July is also smaller (no bedroom, a bachelor), but on the highest floor of the building

Savings: $190.50/month

• Groceries: $350/month dropping to $250/month

(Conscientious effort to reduce the bill made on behalf of BF)

Savings: $100

What isn’t changing (per person):

• Utilities: $12.50/month staying the same
• Cellphone: $50.79/month (just my cellphone, BF has a landline)
• Laundry: $8/month
• Internet: $28.76

My total basic living costs starting in July = $734.55*

This is a decrease from $1025.05 that was my previous living costs. I’m saving about $290.50/month starting in July.

Not including transportation costs, gas or toiletries like soap or tissue paper, because I am not currently on contract, so I don’t need to drive anywhere.

I don’t have medical or going to the dentist on there because $20/month should be enough to cover a trip to the dentist, and health care is free/cheap here.

I also don’t have life insurance or any insurance but basic car or apartment insurance (paid in full for the year), as I don’t have any dependents and I have enough cash to pay for any expenses.

Changes to my EF

I think $1000 should do it per month for living. I currently put $24,000 into my emergency fund, and if I only spend $1000/month for living + a bit of extra, we’re talking being able to live for 2 years without working.

This is the summer of dresses!

I love dresses. I should make it a point to wear them more often, and that’s what I’m doing this summer.

That, and I don’t own a single pair of shorts and only have yoga capris for… yoga.

Money Under 30 asked this question a couple of months ago and it is NOT MEANT TO MAKE ANYONE FEEL BAD ABOUT HOW LITTLE THEY MAKE so don’t start with me in the Comments section.

It’s just an interesting exercise because if you have been working for a while you’d be surprised at how large the number is just from the sheer number of years you’ve been working.

I guess I started working around the age of 7 doing a paper route with my brother. I must have made around $300 a year until I was about 9.

Then I got my first ‘real job’ at a fast food restaurant when I turned 16 and worked there until I was 19. I worked mad over time on weekends, 3 nights a week, holidays (double time).. and earned around $12,000 a year.

I also started my own company around that time and did random website designing gigs (about 5 in total) at around $2000 each site.

Then when I turned 20 until about the age of 24, I worked at a series of jobs earning anywhere from $6.85/hour to $10/hour, full-time. For an average wage of $8.43.

*I am not including scholarships or bursaries as “income” because I had to use those towards school, and wasn’t allowed to just keep the cash free and clear.

When I graduated, I started earning $65,000 a year which I had earned for 2.5 solid years until I quit in August of 2008. I then became a freelancer and earned a gross of about $84,000 for the rest of 2008 not including December.

What does this all add up to?

A hell of a lot of money, which is surprising.

I’m really, REALLY surprised that I’ve earned over a quarter of a million by now. I never would have expected these numbers. I actually estimated it to be around $240,000 and I thought that was too high!

The money I earned before getting my ‘real job’ adds up to over $100,000!!!

And I had NOTHING save for a couple of hundred bucks to show for it when I started working at my first real job except my degree and -$60,000 in debt.

Damn. Really makes you think that you have to be more on top of where you’re frittering the money away. And ever since I started taking care of my money when I started working around the age of 24, I’ve started saving a lot more of it.

Out of that gross $250,000 that I earned in the past two years, I have saved and used $141,980.07 of that to pay down debt and build my net worth.

That’s on average, 57% of my gross income being saved and/or used towards debt, and a higher percentage of my net income (if you factor in that taxes eat some of that $250,000).

I like those numbers!!!

But can you imagine how far I would’ve come if I had done the same before I started working? This just strengthens my resolve to keep living frugally, intelligently and being careful about my purchases.

I am thankful however, that I learned my lesson early on in life before I started making a good income and I can’t wait to pass on these values to my (future) kids so that they learn from my mistakes.

(Of course, this is all gross. The real disposable amount of money ‘earned’ probably is a lot lower if you factored in taxes, living expenses and so on. You know, expenses and things that you cannot avoid paying. Like food?)