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tuyop posted:So my sponsorship/disability terms require me to repay 50% of any income I make beyond the disability amount. I've been working for a summer camp for five weeks as a volunteer because though they pay about 500/week, I'd only be earning 250. Since I really believe in the camp's vision I thought that money could be better spent (on, say, a counselor who actually needs the money) more productively. Was this a stupid decision, BFC? Don't let your financial goals and penny-pinching make you feel bad about being a good person. BFC-wise: Can you at least get some free lunches out of the deal?
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Aug 16, 2014 04:15
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Inverse Icarus posted:Don't let your financial goals and penny-pinching make you feel bad about being a good person. Aw, thanks. Lunchchat: Friday has free pizza. Last week I ate seven slices because there are only so many vegetarians. This week I only got five, but I gave one to a cafeteria worker who always comps me muffins so it could have been six. Calorie wise that's like five days worth of lunches so. Not to mention a continuous flow of free muffins.
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Aug 16, 2014 05:28
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tuyop posted:So my sponsorship/disability terms require me to repay 50% of any income I make beyond the disability amount. I've been working for a summer camp for five weeks as a volunteer because though they pay about 500/week, I'd only be earning 250. Since I really believe in the camp's vision I thought that money could be better spent (on, say, a counselor who actually needs the money) more productively. Was this a stupid decision, BFC? The frugal way.
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Aug 16, 2014 05:30
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I have a quick question about a problem a family member of mine is facing. They have received a (USA) county tax lien notice in the mail from a collections agency shortly after beginning tax payments as arranged with the county. It's all kinds of hosed up because this person is struggling and actually working quite hard to dig themselves out of a hole and now this debt collection is greater than one months tax payment in a time when it can do the most damage. This house could be forfeited even though it is paid for (except the taxes, which again, are being paid via arrangements with local gov't). Should I look somewhere more specific for assistance? Are there any free, reputable resources? I'm really strapped for both cash and time myself so it is difficult to assist.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:15
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Kudaros posted:I have a quick question about a problem a family member of mine is facing. They have received a (USA) county tax lien notice in the mail from a collections agency shortly after beginning tax payments as arranged with the county. It's all kinds of hosed up because this person is struggling and actually working quite hard to dig themselves out of a hole and now this debt collection is greater than one months tax payment in a time when it can do the most damage. This house could be forfeited even though it is paid for (except the taxes, which again, are being paid via arrangements with local gov't). There's a thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3234974 If his/her income is low enough, go to the legal clinic at the local law school or local Legal Aid, if they exist. Either one will do, because if you go to the wrong one first they should send if to the other.
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Aug 19, 2014 20:06
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12 days from the end of the month and my eating out budget is pretty much blown. Guess I'll have to do better next month.
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Aug 19, 2014 20:46
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Happiness Commando posted:12 days from the end of the month and my eating out budget is pretty much blown. Guess I'll have to do better next month. I'm in the same boat. Dangerously low on the beer budget as well. Hello Steel Reserve!
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Aug 19, 2014 21:38
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Happiness Commando posted:12 days from the end of the month and my eating out budget is pretty much blown. Guess I'll have to do better next month. Yeah since my wife started to work and live 2.5 hours from home she gave up on coming I guess (we used to cook every night). Our $150/mo budget was really good for about 2 years. Last month we spent $500... Oh well I guess. Looks like more of the same this month and I guess the foreseeable future (2 more years).
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Aug 19, 2014 21:46
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$150/mo for two people is amazingly thrifty. Even $500/mo for two people who occasionally eat out (restaurants and booze are included in this, right?) would be a very reasonable target, in my opinion.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:58
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Meet my newest little money suck: Betty!  How much do you pet-havers budget per month for pet-related things? Since I don't work (much) during the summer, I started doing a few of the online money earning websites. It's something I can do while I chill on the couch and I've gotten enough to pay for all of the cat's toys and food, plus some things for my new place. $175 over the summer, not much, but since I had nothing better to do it was worth it.
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Aug 19, 2014 23:25
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DNK posted:$150/mo for two people is amazingly thrifty. Oh dear.... Normal budget is $400 groceries, $150 eat out, $100 alcohol. So we were at $450 groceries, $500 eat out, and $50 alcohol (rounded as I don't have the exact in front of me) last month. We are bad...
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Aug 20, 2014 00:14
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Naw that sounds about right. Living (mostly) alone and packing my own lunches I run around $500/mo for food+booze+restaurants. 150/mo just sounded like some kind of amazing costco minimalism magic of pure chicken/rice/veggies.
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Aug 20, 2014 00:38
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spwrozek posted:Yeah since my wife started to work and live 2.5 hours from home she gave up on coming I guess Buy the poor woman a vibrator or something 
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Aug 20, 2014 00:44
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spinst posted:Meet my newest little money suck: Pets are expensive. We have a tiny 10lb dog. Including her prevention meds, annual preventative care including vaccine boosters, boarding every so often (day care when she gets groomed and when we leave town), food, and toys, we budget $100 a month. This doesn't include random illness which comes out of our emergency fund.
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Aug 20, 2014 01:02
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FrozenVent posted:Buy the poor woman a vibrator or something Cooking... Haha, oh swipe always gets me. But who knows during the week, we only tend to see each other every other weekend.
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Aug 20, 2014 01:37
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DNK posted:Naw that sounds about right. Living (mostly) alone and packing my own lunches I run around $500/mo for food+booze+restaurants. Seriously? I'm at $200 groceries (including housewares bought at the grocery store) and $75 eating out.
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Aug 20, 2014 04:39
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2lbs Deli meat, bread, yogurt, vegetable + fruit juice, milk, salty snack, and food staples (chicken+veggies+rice, spaghetti+sauce, etc) make me easily hit $50/wk. If I'm missing condiments or going anywhere out of the pale a single grocery trip can easily hit $100 without even trying. If I plan on a cooking date it can cost up to $35 for ~3 meals (plus alcohol). If I eat out at a nice restaurant (maybe once a month) it'll ring up to around $50 (with two drinks). Friday co-worker lunches (2x month) might hit $15 each (usually less). Personal alcohol purchases for a month go to around $60. If I travel on the road / not available for home cooking that's some kind of fast food (Subway Chipotle) (maybe 5x a month?) $7 each. I don't spend extravagantly, but I also don't limit myself to the bare minimum. I like food. It's my single greatest expense aside from investing.
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Aug 20, 2014 14:18
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You cans save a ton of money just by watching your food purchases in the US. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2014/CostofFoodJun2014.pdf Cost of food in the US is my thing, yo. My wife and I have done a ton of analysis on this stuff. After I started frequenting BFC, we realized our grocery budget was smaller than normal. Then we started to see what we could do if we tried. You can save a ton of money just by making a plan and cooking from scratch. Also, if you're into being green, it turns out that cooking from scratch seems to roughly halve your household garbage output. Our family of 4 fills up a curbside garbage can about every other week. Of course, we empty it more often than that because diapers. We're budgeted at $400 per month plus $5 fast food each week, 1 big meal out each month ($80ish - but we rarely use all of it), and $50 alcohol. There's 4 of us, but the kids don't usually drink. We only ever use coupons we happen to come across on things we were buying anyhow. We only ever go to the closest neighborhood grocery store, and only take 1 trip each week. But, for the sake of clarity, that number doesn't include the cost of any household goods buy, like paper towels or dog food. And the cost of living index says that our area is about 10% cheaper than the national average for groceries. Our biggest savings comes from having the average prices of our normal grocery staples, particularly meats, memorized, so we can recognize a bargain or a scam when we see one. I currently have 3 turkey breasts in my freezer because they were being sold at $1 per lb. We also don't eat much seafood, but we're pretty far from a coast. We average about $1.10 per person per meal for a 650 to 700 calorie homemade meal. We eat meat at every meal, and we eat a variety of meats. Granted, we're using cheap cuts, like whole chickens, pork shoulders, beef roast, ham, etc. Breakfast is usually eggs, sausage/bacon, toast w/ jam and butter, and milk - but on weekends we do sugary treats like cinnamon rolls or pancakes (less meat). Lunch is usually a deli meat or leftovers sandwich and a soup. Dinner is usually about 6oz of meat, a veggie, and a starch. The nutrition is sound and the food is flavorful. But if you prefer higher quality cuts, organic food, or have other special dietary needs (like you're diabetic) then you can easily afford any one of those and probably still be under the lowest cost plan on the USDA page. It's really not that difficult. The cooking and cleaning takes about 1 hour a day, most of that at dinner. And if you can split it between 2 people then you're really only talking about 30 minutes each. Most of it is just basic home economics stuff that they don't teach anymore, and most of that boils down to "consider the cost of your ingredients." We simply make everything from scratch and plan our meals in advance so we don't wonder around the store picking stuff up at random. But really, it's totally doable to eat cheap and well in the US just by knowing the cost of your ingredients.
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Aug 20, 2014 15:37
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We make almost everything from scratch and spend about $300-400/month on groceries, plus anywhere from $150-$250 on restaurants (including alcohol). Frankly, I don't have time or energy to make english muffins or fresh bread every week so that does increase the price. Also, good restaurants around here (not including hole in the walls) are a minimum of $100 for 2 people, if you tip 20%. We do like to eat out when we're both really exhausted from work, so we definitely do it more often than we should (dinner twice a month, plus 4-5 times for lunch). I think it's really just about your personal priorities. We also spend $130 a month on a housekeeper to come twice so we can spend some of our non-working time actually not doing chores. Rurutia fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 15:55
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A lot of food talk comes down to personal preference. I love watching shows like extreme couponing where people brag about being able to bring grocery bills from $500 all the way down to $5 (or more in some cases). However then they start talking about how much time they spend couponing and you can quickly realize at the very best they're breaking even with a minimum wage job. 60+ hours a week finding, clipping, compiling coupons 5-7+ hours at the store, and spending money on storage. Plus you have a poo poo load of products you're just never going to use. I also remember previously in this thread (or maybe it was somewhere else) where someone was talking down on people about how much money they spent on lunch only to find out the guy got free lunch through his work everyday. My wife and I spend about $600 a month on food/household for everything. That includes eating out + occasionally going out for drinks with coworkers / friends (very easy to have a $100 bill for just one outting). We're probably a little on the high side, but I can't stand the BFC approved diet of rice, beans, and whole chickens.
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Aug 20, 2014 16:04
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Bugamol posted:A lot of food talk comes down to personal preference. I love watching shows like extreme couponing where people brag about being able to bring grocery bills from $500 all the way down to $5 (or more in some cases). However then they start talking about how much time they spend couponing and you can quickly realize at the very best they're breaking even with a minimum wage job. 60+ hours a week finding, clipping, compiling coupons 5-7+ hours at the store, and spending money on storage. Plus you have a poo poo load of products you're just never going to use. I totally get the couponing thing. We specifically made sure to avoid that and reduce ourselves to 1 store and only coupons we happened to get from that store. Our extra overhead for planning is about an hour. Sometimes I'm curious how much we could save if we just started comparing prices between 2 different grocery stores and picking which one we went to based on the circular. People do that right? Else why print the circular at all. While we're on the subject, does anybody know a good book on cost vs time effectiveness of from-scratch foods? I read the book Make the Bread, Buy the Butter but found it's treatment of cost to be lacking. It seemed to focus primarily on food flavor and various quality/safety boogiemen. The author only seemed to mention cost when it was in her favor or otherwise specifically relevant. And even then, she typically only compared cost to a name brand or restaurant equivalent. It was more of a book about the "homesteading" movement than about home economics. I mean, I'm with Rurutia on some of that stuff. English muffins, bagels, doughnuts, and probably tortillas are not time-effective for the cost savings. I had to learn that from trial and error. I was hoping to find a list of other foods people found were better just to buy pre-made. Also, the slow cooker and the bread machine are huge time savers. Totally worth the combined $50 we paid for them.
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Aug 20, 2014 16:32
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Like 3 minutes down the road we have an actual cheap farmers market. The wife and I decided to go vegetarian because why the hell not and our grocery a month ended up dropping tons. One night we made a giant pot of roasted veggies and it made 6 servings for like, $3.50. And this had like, 7 different veggies in it including Asparagus and bell pepper.
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Aug 20, 2014 17:28
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Tangentially related: asparagus is a grass and grows ridiculously fast + spreads like wildfire. Also, it grows in nearly every climate (although the season is different). It's hard to get it to start, but once you do it's unstoppable. One plot (2'x2') will give you more asparagus than you'll know what to do with. Which is when you take up Canning/pickling as a hobby.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:08
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It's also Goddamn delicious.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:10
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DNK posted:Tangentially related: asparagus is a grass and grows ridiculously fast + spreads like wildfire. Also, it grows in nearly every climate (although the season is different). It's hard to get it to start, but once you do it's unstoppable. This is surprising only because the way asparagus is generally priced made me think it was a precious metal or something. Thanks for the tip
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Aug 20, 2014 18:16
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Folly posted:Our family of 4 fills up a curbside garbage can about every other week. Of course, we empty it more often than that because diapers. Gotta go with cloth diapers. They're greener, cheaper, cuter, and not really that much trouble once you get a system down.   Speaking of food chat. Our family of three usually spends $180-$240 per month on food including eating out and beer. We could keep it lower, but I have no interest in a life without cheese and chocolate.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:18
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Leroy Diplowski posted:Gotta go with cloth diapers. They're greener, cheaper, cuter, and not really that much trouble once you get a system down. That's pretty insane to be honest. On average $.66 - $0.88 per meal per person $180-$240/(30 days * 3 Meals * 3 People). I find this really hard to believe without some free food coming in (either from work or somewhere else). However I don't see it as impossible. If you love generics, always cook in bulk, and shop the discounts + coupons it's probably feasible. You can't eat out very much or expensively because then the budget is impossible ($15*3*1.15) = $51.75 for one middle of the line restaurant assuming no alcohol would put you at $180-$240 - $52 = $128-188 / ((30 days * 3 Meals * 3 People)-1)269. $0.47-$.70 per meal.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:39
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I think it seems impossible. That is basically no money. If you have to make it work I can understand that but man that is intense.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:49
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I'm going to start paying attention to my budget again now that the old house is gone and we're finally settled. For about a month my wife and I were going to the grocery store near our house for convenience. It didn't take me long to realize it was significantly more expensive than Aldi and the extra couple miles and time is worth the trip.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:57
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Leroy Diplowski posted:Gotta go with cloth diapers. They're greener, cheaper, cuter, and not really that much trouble once you get a system down. We nearly did cloth diapers. But in the end, it was just something that slipped through. In the last year we've both switched jobs and moved to another city. Cloth diapers just didn't ever bubble up to the top. There always seems to be another, higher priority expense. Bugamol posted:That's pretty insane to be honest. On average $.66 - $0.88 per meal per person $180-$240/(30 days * 3 Meals * 3 People). I find this really hard to believe without some free food coming in (either from work or somewhere else). However I don't see it as impossible. If you love generics, always cook in bulk, and shop the discounts + coupons it's probably feasible. You can't eat out very much or expensively because then the budget is impossible ($15*3*1.15) = $51.75 for one middle of the line restaurant assuming no alcohol would put you at Nah, it's more plausible than that. It could be by calories. Our budget dips close to those numbers when my wife and I are both dieting - or it would if I didn't spend the money filling up my freezer with on-sale meat instead. And small kids only eat about 2/3 of what an adult does. Or if you eat vegetarian or very close to it, then you could hit that budget pretty easily. Which is another good point about saving money on food: don't over-eat.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:59
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I'm more concerned with the imperative to only live in your comfort zone (eat only food that you "can stand") as the impetus for poor financial habits.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:39
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Bugamol posted:That's pretty insane to be honest. On average $.66 - $0.88 per meal per person $180-$240/(30 days * 3 Meals * 3 People). I find this really hard to believe without some free food coming in (either from work or somewhere else). However I don't see it as impossible. If you love generics, always cook in bulk, and shop the discounts + coupons it's probably feasible. It's not all that wild. Plus our kid is 2 1/2 so he doesn't eat quite as much as an adult. (although he gets close sometimes) We basically do the following: - Buy items like meat and cheese bulk at costco. - keep a garden that gets about $40 worth of seed a year and produces about 25% of the veggies we eat. - Buy vegetables, spices, noodles, and rice at the local asian market. - Buy all dry goods and juice at big lots - Drink mostly water - Eat mostly vegetarian (I follow the "meat is a seasoning" philosophy) - Shop the Sales at Publix - very little "snack foods" - Drink Rolling Rock Bugamol posted:You can't eat out very much or expensively because then the budget is impossible ($15*3*1.15) = $51.75 for one middle of the line restaurant assuming no alcohol would put you at We haven't spent that much at a restaurant since valentine's day. I've actually been photographing and documenting our meals over the last couple of months and if I can get the time I'd love to do a blog about meals for under a dollar a plate. It's easier than people think, and you can cook some pretty drat good food.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:55
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tuyop posted:I'm more concerned with the imperative to only live in your comfort zone (eat only food that you "can stand") as the impetus for poor financial habits. I just frankly disagree with the idea that spending $300 a month per person on food is poor financial habits. We save 50 percent of our income exclusively for retirement. And it's not like the other parts of our lives suffer. We take tons of trips, we're renovating part of our house, we own a pet.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:30
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Leroy Diplowski posted:- Eat mostly vegetarian (I follow the "meat is a seasoning" philosophy) That's the key to <$1 a meal. Most days we eat about 8oz of meat for about 100g of protein per person per day at a around $1.10 to $1.20 per 650-700 calorie meal. Meat takes up roughly half of my grocery budget. Dropping it to tiny amounts could reduce my cost by 30-40% for the same calories, depending on what I tapped as my alternative calorie source. Alternatively, if I were diabetic or on a low-carb diet, then I would expect a roughly equivalent increase in costs. FYI, SNAP Challenge usually starts next month, if you want to have some kind of motivation to try cutting your food budget to support a cause. But if you follow BFC's advice, then there's a chance you'll come to the opposite conclusion from what the challenge is trying to demonstrate. (In fact it really IS easy to feed yourself well at under $1.50 per meal.)  Edit: ^^^^This isn't the "poor financial decisions" thread, it's the "don't eat out today" thread. Edit2: I think Tuyop's point is that excessive food spending is luxury. Treating a luxury like it's a standard expense is a poor financial habit, regardless of whether you can afford it. Or something like that. Folly fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 20:38
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Hey BFC, just checking in to say that I ate out today and bought a fourth vehicle, so, uh, yeah. Hi. I haven't been around much, so what have I missed lately?
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Aug 20, 2014 22:18
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SloMo and KnyteGuy are the current BFC superstars. In fact, they're having a competition this month to see who can spend the least on discretionary items. Exciting!
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Aug 20, 2014 22:22
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That one dude totally lost the game of loans.
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Aug 20, 2014 22:26
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Folly posted:Edit: ^^^^This isn't the "poor financial decisions" thread, it's the "don't eat out today" thread. Right, I'm with you on the first. (Actually, I thought this was just a chat thread) I just disagree with tuyop's point. What we consider luxury is all relative. Maybe to this thread, eating out 5 times a month, 8oz of meat per day and $15 worth of fruit per week is luxury. To some, being able to eat 1500 calories a day is luxury. To others, eating caviar every week is luxury. I firmly believe that good financial habits comes from learning how to balance the future with the present. It has nothing to do with a 3rd party's perspective on what they think is too much to spend on X item. I guess what I'm saying is, living to some absolute measure is not the only form of financial literacy. edit My fiance and I have 0 debt outside of our mortgage which is 1/2 of our net worth and we can pay off in cash at any time. We've never had debt, including always paying for our cars in cash, and our household income only recently started went north of 6 figures. We've always saved like crazy. I'm just saying, from where I'm standing, I don't see the problem with us spending upwards to $600/mo on food. We're not eating a ton of food, we just eat high quality food and we tip extremely generously because we can. Rurutia fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 22:30
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Rurutia posted:
This is a good point. We eat on the cheap, but we like the food we eat. If I really hated it and found myself happier eating more meat or whatever then I'd just spend less on other things like my cars or my house. I think the rule of thumb is: Use your resources to maximize both your present quality of life and your quality of life in the future future. There are a lot of principles and practices that make sense for almost everyone and there are some that really only make sense for a few penny pinching weirdos, but financial responsibility looks different for everyone.
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Aug 20, 2014 22:49
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I kinda look at it like this: We all have our pet luxury expenses. A luxury expense is any place where we spend money inefficiently for the sake of comfort, as such it is never truly justifiable, but more like an accepted margin of error. Sorta like alcohol is almost never good for you, but nearly all of us still drink. We will disagree as to where we which luxuries we would buy and how much we would spend on them, although there is some more agreement on the latter than the former. Good financial literacy is being able to define when an expense crosses into luxury. Good financial management is the discipline of being personally capable of cutting a luxury as needed for long term financial security. Also, ya, it's the chat thread. I was just emphasizing that controlling your food expense is the common day-to-day discipline for saving money.
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Aug 20, 2014 23:28
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