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SiGmA_X posted:Rip! Much like leasing anything except housing (kinda sorta, depending on your financial picture and all for the housing one) its never the better option. My modem has been paying me for the last 5 months! I hope it doesn't die anytime soon, but the warranty covers it for another 10 months, and I broke even at 9mo, so if it does die, meh! Its also faster than the Comcast-supplied modems, from what I've seen... And its MINE! And cheaper! Like it's obviously cheaper to buy (X good) in bulk, but if you're broke then you can only buy X good singly and pay more than double the price per unit. It can also apply to financing with subprime loans. Bugamol posted:I don't. I track my savings goals differently, but for you it might be a good idea to just add some dummy "buffer accounts" under Checking / Savings etc that aren't real account, but allow you to accumulate dollars. I can set it up for you if you need it. As other people have mentioned, outstanding any major foresight into future expenses the majority of your spending buckets shouldn't change month to month. I personally don't "roll over" my excess as some do, but again if you think that would be helpful I can set the spreadsheet up to carry over your blow category totals month to month. I'm actually not big on rolling over my expenses either. I just like to 0 everything out and throw the remainder into the emergency fund, although I can see why that would be helpful. I think I'll create some buffer accounts; thanks.
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Aug 4, 2014 16:03
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What are your specific router needs? I might have a spare I can throw your way for a song
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Aug 4, 2014 17:55
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SpelledBackwards posted:What are your specific router needs? I might have a spare I can throw your way for a song Hm well the wireless congestion around here seems to be pretty extreme - I'm losing about 20mbps and I have line of sight to the router with a pretty good wireless card on my PC. An N300 couldn't hang, but anything above that would probably work. Depends on what the song would be too though...  Btw that reminds me: the speed loss I mentioned a week ago or so (sub 10mbps speeds) was due to a faulty ethernet cable. I thought it was a signal problem for sure. So if anyone gets choppy internet with lots of packet loss (you hit forward in a video game or something and it doesn't get the command) give that a go first. Spending report/accountability (gonna try to post these every Monday):  Decided not to try to filter the names because I always miss one and it's only first names. We went through a lot of our discretionary this weekend, but that's because we bought a Kindle ($69 base model). It's actually for the family so it came out of both our blow categories and a little entertainment too. Luckily there is still enough leftover between discretionary categories to keep us satiated the rest of the month if we're at all smart about it. Plus hey books are cheap entertainment $/hour.
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Aug 4, 2014 23:15
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Looks good so far. You're dangerously close to being over budget already on some categories, especially considering it's the 4th. Hopefully this spreadsheet will give you line of sight to those types of problems and cause you to rethink you're spending. It will also hopefully help you understand what you're really spending each month and help to set realistic obtainable goals. Or you could go to the Slow Motion route and motivate yourself through constant failure. Whatever works for you.
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Aug 4, 2014 23:19
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Bugamol posted:Looks good so far. You're dangerously close to being over budget already on some categories, especially considering it's the 4th. Hopefully this spreadsheet will give you line of sight to those types of problems and cause you to rethink you're spending. It will also hopefully help you understand what you're really spending each month and help to set realistic obtainable goals. Or you could go to the Slow Motion route and motivate yourself through constant failure. Whatever works for you. Yes thank you again for the budget and even the budget idea - it really helps me see the month and the spending differently. SloMo's method has its merit and it's a method that I've definitely used in the past (as seen through my failures in this thread) but I find it too stressful. I'd really like to just make a budget and stick with it. With that said I think how this month turns out will help cement the path I follow either way.
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Aug 4, 2014 23:48
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Also: +32 points in July 
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Aug 4, 2014 23:58
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Is the % column right in the above sheets? If so, what does it represent? Maybe I'm being dense, it's been a long day..!Knyteguy posted:Also: SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Aug 5, 2014 |
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Aug 5, 2014 01:16
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SiGmA_X posted:Is the % column right in the above sheets? If so, what does it represent? Maybe I'm being dense, it's been a long day..! credit karma is free.
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Aug 5, 2014 01:23
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You bought a kindle two days into the month, riddle me surprised... I will give you benefit of the doubt though and have faith you stay on budget, save a ton, and beat slow mo.
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Aug 5, 2014 01:32
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spwrozek posted:You bought a kindle two days into the month, riddle me surprised... Meh I'm not going to justify it. It was within the realms of our budget so it's OK as I see it. Yes we'll be working on saving a ton this month for sure. I'm pretty confident we can meet most of the numbers in our budget. I think there will be more than a couple categories with excess but we'll see.
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Aug 5, 2014 02:46
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Knyteguy posted:Plus hey books are cheap entertainment $/hour. They're free at the library! Infinite value! Knyteguy posted:Meh I'm not going to justify it.  Starting the race by shooting yourself in the foot. 27 days to go! Spartan August looking great so far 
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Aug 5, 2014 03:37
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Inverse Icarus posted:They're free at the library! Infinite value! Hey we did the same last month and we made our goal on everything but restaurants - and that's because we were moving and didn't have groceries which was admittedly due to my poor planning. And we way more leftover this month in discretionary. But yea you're right we'll definitely blow it because of a $69 purchase which turned a $25+tax goon recommended book I wanted into $5 and that wasn't in the library because I checked. It's a net negative $43.00 because I was getting the book with my blow money regardless. Plus the most important part: quote:It was within the realms of our budget so it's OK as I see it. C'mon this is stupid. Feel free to gloat if we go over our budgeted balance on this stuff but until then keep it to yourself. It's not helpful. We have $150.00 left in discretionary between everything and that's drat plenty.
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Aug 5, 2014 04:36
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Dude, I have a Kindle that I really shouldn't have bought, either. It's about the exact opposite of a "spartan" purchase. It's a toy that you bought because you don't know how to control your impulses. Hint: If you are spending money because of the "value" but don't need to buy it in the first place, you probably don't need it.
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Aug 5, 2014 04:41
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Knyte this is not how you start a spartan race with Slow Motion. At least when you're "Planning your budget" you should plan to like you know, buy things like this. It was a dumb impulse buy.
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Aug 5, 2014 04:46
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Veskit posted:Knyte this is not how you start a spartan race with Slow Motion. It's not even diamond-encrusted, is it?
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Aug 5, 2014 04:56
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Nocheez posted:Dude, I have a Kindle that I really shouldn't have bought, either. It's about the exact opposite of a "spartan" purchase. It's a toy that you bought because you don't know how to control your impulses. Veskit posted:Knyte this is not how you start a spartan race with Slow Motion. At least when you're "Planning your budget" you should plan to like you know, buy things like this. It was a dumb impulse buy.
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Aug 5, 2014 04:59
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Knyteguy posted:Would it have been better if I used my blow money on 20 energy drinks 1 day at a time? And for fucks sake the book I wanted and bought was a financial book even. It would have been better to wait until the end of the month, confirm you have blow money left, and then blow it. Or, you know, save the extra for your baby.
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Aug 5, 2014 05:19
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People think that spending 60 bucks (before tax and shipping, though you probably got free shipping) in four days bodes poorly for you staying within your blow budget. (I have the 170-dollar kindle and it's loving fantastic, but I read a lot and paid for it by raiding my unbudgeted change bucket.)
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Aug 5, 2014 06:01
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It's dangerous to use "I've wanted it for a long time" as justification for something. I'm guessing you used similar justification for the ps4 that you ended up having to sell at a loss. Part of learning impulse control is learning how to spot these thinking errors and how to snuff them out. Wanting something for a long time doesn't magically turn it into a need. If you end up under budget in your blow category, then that's good. But it's still money that should have been socked away for the baby or early retirement or whatever. What's the likelihood that you see the Kindle sitting on your shelf collecting dust in 6 months and decide to sell it? Also, you don't need a Kindle to read an ebook, so maybe it's not to late to send it back? I'm also curious if this book was available used somewhere for cheap, or maybe it would be after a few more months?
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Aug 5, 2014 06:20
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Knyteguy posted:C'mon this is stupid. Feel free to gloat if we go over our budgeted balance on this stuff but until then keep it to yourself. It's not helpful. We have $150.00 left in discretionary between everything and that's drat plenty. This post is super worrying because...you don't. $25 of that is for your Netflix and Hulu subscriptions. Another chunk of that ($50ish?) isn't yours to spend at all, it's your wife's. Sure, she might share it with you, but I think it sets you up for failure to count on it. So really, you've got about $75 left for the whole month. And I don't know about you, but I hate 31-day months with a passion. They feel like they're 33 or 34-day months compared to the 30-day ones, financially. Pretty much every time I have a lovely, overbudget month, it was 31 days long.
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Aug 5, 2014 07:59
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il serpente cosmico posted:If you end up under budget in your blow category, then that's good. But it's still money that should have been socked away for the baby or early retirement or whatever. What's the likelihood that you see the Kindle sitting on your shelf collecting dust in 6 months and decide to sell it? One can hope that in the long term he'll see the savings in blow (spending only $25 so that $50 can go into savings) will be better than spending on things he doesn't need. My understanding for blow was that, for someone just starting a budget, "blow money" keeps you from feeling like you can't spend any money/have any fun, but over time padding the emergency fund and having money in 401k/IRA will make him feel a lot better than a new toy. That said, I agree with everyone that, while the Kindle fit your budget, the timing and the impulsiveness of the buy is worrying. You have spent roughly 45% of your restaurant/entertainment/combined blow in 3 days, or 9.6% of all the days of August. If you had simply waited until the 29th to see if you had the room in your blow to spend it, that would have been the more responsible thing to do. I fear you are going to feel constrained for most of the month because things will come up that you want to do, leaving you to either have to go without or say "gently caress it" and blow your budget. And if I have to listen to SloMo of all people gloat that he beat you... Also, don't kid yourself that the Kindle is the gift that keeps on taking. il serpente cosmico is right - you will do one of two things: 1. put it on the shelf where it will gather dust, or 2. buy more books. Sure, it can be good value (depending on how fast you read), but it's still cash out. And you have one Kindle - will your wife want one eventually? After my wife bought me one for Christmas she wanted one within a few months. In the last 6 months I went through my bank statements and we spent $263.50 on books (a total of 21 books, only one book over $20, average cost $12.55). It adds up. What financial book did you buy?
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Aug 5, 2014 14:13
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Aagar posted:What financial book did you buy? Hopefully this one, although it was supposed to be free.
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Aug 5, 2014 14:33
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He might pirate the books that dirty thief.
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Aug 5, 2014 14:58
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Well it's already done, so as long as you're aware of what that means for the rest of the month, I think it can be alright. That said, books are expensive/cost money even if they are cheaper on the kindle. Now that you have one though, definitely check to see if your library participates in Kindle digital lending. A bunch of libraries do now and you can borrow and read books FREE with your library card and your kindle. It's all done digitally from home so no pants or physical libraries necessary. Don't make owning a kindle an excuse to do poo poo like "Oh well these five books that I wasn't that interested in are half price ($5 each!) today so I will spend $25 and pick them up." 'cause then all the bashing will be justified. Come on Knyteguy, don't lose to SlowMo.
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Aug 5, 2014 15:29
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Aagar posted:What financial book did you buy? imabanana posted:Check out "The Millionaire Fastlane" on Amazon. If you can, ignore the ridiculous title and goofy cover. Just marketing. There's also a message board that you can Google. Like I said, I think it might be something to which you'd be receptive. Got that one. Goon recommended in this very thread.
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Aug 5, 2014 15:51
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I think that book has some really good lessons for everyone trying to make a future as a young person with a family. quote:Why jobs, 401(k)s, mutual funds, and 40-years of mindless frugality will never make you rich young.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:00
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Hawkgirl posted:This post is super worrying because...you don't. $25 of that is for your Netflix and Hulu subscriptions. Another chunk of that ($50ish?) isn't yours to spend at all, it's your wife's. Sure, she might share it with you, but I think it sets you up for failure to count on it. So really, you've got about $75 left for the whole month. And I don't know about you, but I hate 31-day months with a passion. They feel like they're 33 or 34-day months compared to the 30-day ones, financially. Pretty much every time I have a lovely, overbudget month, it was 31 days long. Well yea I know it isn't mine to spend - I hope she doesn't share it with me and uses it on herself. She wants to get some makeup and cheap jewelry or something. I don't think anyone needs to worry we won't be going over budget or something. This was what I wanted to spend my money on this month. Next month it will be football. ExtrudeAlongCurve posted:Well it's already done, so as long as you're aware of what that means for the rest of the month, I think it can be alright. I do know what it means for the rest of the month. We're totally fine kicking back and watching movies on the weekends most of the time. Here is our entertainment spending in July for reference (31 day mo):  After the austere month we went and bought something. I planned on buying that book this month with my blow money as I said. Again we have more money this month than last month leftover so we'll be fine. Jeffrey posted:He might pirate the books that dirty thief. We're prime members so free books. Everyone saying what's gonna happen - it'll end up on a shelf or whatever. We had a nook and we used it until it broke. After the initial purchase we spent very little on books but used things like our local library ebook lending and stuff.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:04
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Pretty much ask the books you want to read are not free on prime though. The library is the only way to go.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:14
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il serpente cosmico posted:Also, you don't need a Kindle to read an ebook, so maybe it's not to late to send it back? I'm also curious if this book was available used somewhere for cheap, or maybe it would be after a few more months? I checked all of the bookstores around here and no luck. More expensive than Amazon/BN by a fair bit and I couldn't find a used copy. What other ways are there to read ebooks? Our dog ate our tablet about 3 months back, and I can't really handle sitting on a computer after work for too long. No laptop... spwrozek posted:Pretty much ask the books you want to read are not free on prime though. Seems like there's a few good ones (but of course we're read all of those on the front page pretty much). We'll definitely use the library if we're out of books though.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:49
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Droo posted:I think that book has some really good lessons for everyone trying to make a future as a young person with a family. That book sounds like Rich Dad Poor Dad. What's the difference?
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Aug 5, 2014 16:58
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So I just want to take a second to brag: due to my pragmatic estimations of my new net paycheck (since we switched to waifu's insurance), our net income this month just went up about $140.00 above what is reflected on the budget.  I expect my wife's paychecks to be similarly low estimates but we'll see. We're gonna kill it on savings rate as a percent of net income this month.
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Aug 5, 2014 23:01
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Can I ask what you use Hulu for when you have netflix? I've canceled my hulu plus free trial twice in the last 2-3 years after like four days because of constant buffering/loading issues, irritating ads and lack of shows I wanted to watch. You could cancel it and have $8 more to buy ebooks or whatever
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Aug 6, 2014 02:31
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Can I ask what you use Hulu for when you have netflix? I've canceled my hulu plus free trial twice in the last 2-3 years after like four days because of constant buffering/loading issues, irritating ads and lack of shows I wanted to watch. You could cancel it and have $8 more to buy ebooks or whatever There's a certain TV show on Hulu we're watching that isn't on Netflix unfortunately. I'm not a huge fan either - the ads drive me crazy.
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Aug 6, 2014 03:42
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Knyteguy posted:I checked all of the bookstores around here and no luck. More expensive than Amazon/BN by a fair bit and I couldn't find a used copy. Adobe Digital Editions. It's free, but it's not on many mobile devices. It can be fixed up on the Kindle, but can't read Kindle books because of the DRM. There are plenty of free books available for checkout via Open Library (search inside has been busted forever, though) and most public libraries have a free ebook checkout with a library card.
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Aug 6, 2014 05:33
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Calibre can convert between almost every e-book format imaginable, and can strip DRM on lots of them too.
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Aug 6, 2014 06:41
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Thanks for the eBook libraries/tools. OpenLibrary looks great and apparently my state participates in a lending program through them. I'll check them out closer when I get home tonight. Does anyone have a good resource on how to write a concise business plan? I reopened my product business since it only requires money being held for a week or two in limbo by Paypal to make profit, and our savings can cover again from this month forward (it's like $100.00-$300 at a time). I want to have a concrete plan for it moving forward. That Millionaire Fastlane book is great. I'm not going to do anything beyond reopen this product selling business until I finish reading it, because it literally doesn't cost anything unless I sell anything, but the author is very motivating, and I'm hungry to read more.
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Aug 6, 2014 18:18
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http://leanstack.com/
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Aug 6, 2014 19:17
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Holy crap thank you. 1 page that's amazing. I always get burnt out doing those 30 page business plans. Like if I'm applying for a business loan or looking for angel investor capital or something then sure, but it's just too much for the small stuff I do - at least at the moment.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:23
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I'm not sure which state you live in, but it's worthwhile to check big city libraries for what their membership requirements are. For instance, the City of Berkeley library (which is INCREDIBLE, rivals UCB library in everything but academic journal access, I swear) only requires you to be a resident of the state. They offer tons of services and have a great ebook lending library with more licenses than my local library. E: thanks Moana, that's a great link. Bookmarking it for when I get to that stage of my personal business.
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Aug 6, 2014 23:22
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Here's the book to go along with it if you want more detail, I was able to get it from my local library: http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works-ebook/dp/B006UKFFE0/
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Aug 6, 2014 23:42
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