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Your last month, in reverse order: Sept 2: "Hey should I get a secured credit card?" *forty minutes later* "Nevermind, I totally applied for one you guys!" Aug 15: "Hey, maybe I should get a business license right away?" (also, a realquote: "Anyway a lot of you guys are right regarding my impulse purchases. It's really stupid, but all I could think about was buying poo poo on the way home tonight.") "I'm gonna spend $130 dollars on football streaming." Aug 11: "Hey should we buy a portable washing machine for $200?" Aug 4: "Hey we bought a Kindle!" (hindsight from the future: "Oh, maybe we shouldn't have bought the Kindle so early...") So, you have started to make very good progress and you should be proud of yourself and you should pat yourself on the back. If you keep that level of progress up, you'll eventually find yourself out of debt and with much healthier financial habits and a good emergency fund in case anything unexpected happens (unexpected things will always eventually happen.) But you have a pattern of wanting to spend money on things without actually thinking through the consequences and when you say "hey guys I did a thing that might let me backslide/more easily make impulse purchases and lose all the progress I've been making", of course people are going to get alarmed because this is a pattern of behavior you struggle with. In my opinion, you've been doing okay and this month was a really good month for you. You're clearly making progress unlike, say, SlowMo who is still sticking to his "maybe if I just work some more 80-hour workweeks it'll be fine" guns. But you're still following the habit of "I want a thing, so I will get the thing RIGHT NOW," and you need to get into the habit of patience and thinking about it first because as long as you follow bad patterns, you risk falling into bad habits again. I think a secured credit card can make sense, and I think the thread's suggestion of freezing it and putting it on autopay to pay your phone bill or something would be fine. But I think "hey guys we're thinking about getting a secured credit card, here's what I know, here's why I want it, is there anything else I should know about it?" and then waiting until, say, next week (because it's not urgent and then you can shop around) to actually do it would have been best. Then people will give their opinions and you'll know if there's anything it might not be useful for (such as building your short-term credit score), if there's anything you should watch out for (it promoting bad ways of handling debt), etc (if there ARE any deals going on, or any specific companies that are extra good/bad, and so on). Do you have any other impulse-type things in mind for the future? Stuff like "Oh, the X isn't working so well, we're probably going to need to replace it soon" or "I've been wanting X for a while now, I'll buy it with my blow money if I have enough left at the end of the month". I think you should just mention them in the thread when you start planning to buy it if you're serious about them (and then wait a while) since then from our perspective, it won't seem so sudden when you say "Hey I finally bought the new bike I talked about really wanting last month. I've still been thinking about it and I think it'll make me really happy" instead of "Hey guys, I just bought a new bike, I think it's really a step up from my old one". One that I think you're doing really well at talking about and thinking through is your eventual house purchase, for example. Namely, you're not saying "hey we're looking at houses and we found one we really love and absolutely need but my credit score is bad so I'm going to ask my parents to cosign it with me. Anyways, the seller had another offer already, so we made one too and we'll hear back in a week. I already sent the escrow btw, so we can't withdraw the offer." Instead, you're not doing anything dumb there and you're just working on the things you know you'll need to set up before then (such as a credit score). (Also I think the manic comments are more an influence from Tuyop's old thread because sometimes he'd have a bit of a manic episode and then get really insistent about crazy ideas like living in a tent in a Canadian winter to save on rent or "hey guys I'm gonna start growing BASIL and selling it, there's a sweet hydroponic setup I can do for a few hundred dollars, and I really want to do it" or whatever.) Colin Mockery fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Sep 3, 2014 |
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Sep 3, 2014 10:32
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Horking Delight posted:(Also I think the manic comments are more an influence from Tuyop's old thread because sometimes he'd have a bit of a manic episode and then get really insistent about crazy ideas like living in a tent in a Canadian winter to save on rent or "hey guys I'm gonna start growing BASIL and selling it, there's a sweet hydroponic setup I can do for a few hundred dollars, and I really want to do it" or whatever.) I'm not trying to say he has a mental disorder or anything like that, just that his decisions feel manic kind of like if you were really bummed out i'd say you were depressed, but not that you suffer from depression. I'm no doctor, I can't make that call. I'm trying to drive the point that this is worrying behavior with a history behind it. Knyteguy posted:I can understand you questioning my decision making process, but if that's the case why not stick to the numbers? To quote someone else earlier in the thread, the numbers don't lie. I'll happily accept criticism there. The numbers show everyone that you're irresponsible with money, and that your credit is in ruins because of poor money habits. It's hard to say that it's a good idea to then get a secured card as a learning tool to be better with money, or to show that you're responsible enough. There's not enough history. We all agree, on paper if you got a credit card and only used it for specific things then it's a reasonable thing to do. That's entirely besides the point though because you haven't demonstrated for an extended amount of time that you're responsible with money. Also stating "Just stick to the numbers" is so wrong. Personal finance isn't only numbers. A lot of it is mentality, and if you aren't mentally ready to move forward to make good financial decisions, then I don't think a credit card is a good idea. I don't think you're there yet, and I wouldn't think you were there yet until you can safely close the thread. Saying just stick to the numbers is a way to manage the symptoms of the bigger problem!
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Sep 3, 2014 18:09
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Your credit score is going to increase just by making regular payments on your car loan regardless of whether or not you have a secured credit card. While I don't think the credit card is a bad idea per-se, it goes right along with my last comment in this thread - you're looking for a quick fix to your financial problems. You're making progress, and it's good progress, but you're not one financial decision away from being good with money, it's a whole bunch of repeated good decisions. Last month's "I should start a business" is this week's "Well we want a house in five years so I'm going to get a credit card ok you guys to raise my score heres my new card what do you think?"
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Sep 3, 2014 19:05
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Pretty much this. The posts you've made in this thread really do make it seem like you enjoy the feeling of getting new things. Maybe we don't see the full picture behind your thought process, but from what you actually post in the thread the vibe we're getting is that you just really, really like to get new things, and even passively think about getting new things while driving home from work. You bought kindles half a week into "Spartan August" and were happy for a while, talked a lot about all the money you'd be save by using them, but a few days later started talking about maybe returning or selling them. That seems like weird behavior to me. Getting a new credit card is getting a new thing. It didn't cost you anything, and I'm totally down with you having a card and using it responsibly to repair your credit. The fact that you asked a question and couldn't wait forty minutes for someone to respond to it is a little irksome, and reminiscent of what the thread believes is a history of rushed financial decisions. I think the decision you made is fine, and I'm not in any way saying I don't believe you won't use the card responsibly. I'm just pointing out why people are weirded out by how quickly you pulled the trigger on something like this after asking the question, as if you thought it wasn't a great idea but decided to do it before anyone tried to stop you because NEW THING.
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Sep 3, 2014 19:08
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Veskit posted:I'm not trying to say he has a mental disorder or anything like that, just that his decisions feel manic kind of like if you were really bummed out i'd say you were depressed, but not that you suffer from depression. I'm no doctor, I can't make that call. I'm trying to drive the point that this is worrying behavior with a history behind it. I can tell you with 100% certainty that I don't have manic episodes according to: http://psychcentral.com/disorders/manic-episode/ Plus, I saw a psychologist for about 6 months while this thread was going on and he never mentioned anything anywhere near that. Can we drop that please? It feels like you're labeling me and I don't like that feeling. Veskit posted:The numbers show everyone that you're irresponsible with money, and that your credit is in ruins because of poor money habits. It's hard to say that it's a good idea to then get a secured card as a learning tool to be better with money, or to show that you're responsible enough. There's not enough history. We all agree, on paper if you got a credit card and only used it for specific things then it's a reasonable thing to do. That's entirely besides the point though because you haven't demonstrated for an extended amount of time that you're responsible with money. No you're right my history has shown I'm not very responsible with money. The numbers are the symptoms of the bigger problem right? That's what I mean. It should show pretty clearly if we're screwing up or not. I know a lot of it is mentality, and I've really improved on that recently (yes there's still work to do). My credit is in ruins because of a lot of poo poo that happened when I was 18-21, including nearly dieing. In fact that is exactly the point my credit went to ruin. Kind of hard to care a lot with a broken neck and 20 staples holding my scalp together. I have medical bills from my car accident still on my credit. I also have more multiple medical bills in collections one being $22,000 when my appendix went out suddenly and I didn't have insurance. That was just 3 years ago. Most of my bad consumer credit decisions were nearly a decade ago. Also I've financed quite a few things like my drum set. The problem? I always have to finance in someone else's name since my credit sucks. I usually pay off the stuff way before the loan charges interest too. Again it's a catch-22. I used to have a 720-730 credit score in my early 20s before everything went to poo poo, and I had a credit card with a $5,000 limit when I was still 18. The fact that I was unemployed from about 23-26/27 didn't help a whole lot. I was in some of the worst industries when recession hit - domestic production. I was also in the worst area of the recession in the whole country. I wasn't unemployed for lack of trying. Kind of hard to meet obligations when stuff like that happens. I used to stash away a ton of money in my sock drawer when I was like 20 years old and making $20.00/hr with no bills. Please take the time to read the previous 2 paragraphs for more of my spending history if you're just glancing through this post. There is also a correlation between credit score and income (src: http://www.creditsesame.com/about/p...-credit-sesame/):  Look I'll say it again I can see where you're coming from and I respect that. With that in mind here is what I'm thinking: I'll do what everyone is saying - throw a bill (or two, I'm thinking internet and phone) on the card, set it up for autopay, and freeze the sucker. I'll be happy to post status updates with full transparency. If we screw it up I'll chop up the card and cancel the sucker. Again my credit already sucks there's not much that a canceled card will really hurt. I still don't know if I'll even get the card approved though. We'll see. By the time it moves into a real credit card (if ever) it'll be another year from now. I'd imagine this thread won't be open next August unless we're at the very tail end of having all of our debt paid off. There won't be any responsibility beyond $300.00/mo until then. --- moana it's understandable where everyone is coming from, yes. Ancillary Character I like that idea more information above and below. Also you guys are right. If I'm going to throw an idea out there I need to let it brew for longer than 40 minutes. Horking: You're right I struggle with that behavior, but I'm also not a slave to it. I mean there's stuff I want to buy all of the time, even stuff I've wanted for nearly a decade (http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/121/1716/Motorcycle-Video-Playlist/2014-Kawasaki-KX250F-Motocross-Shootout-Video.aspx  ), but it doesn't mean I buy it. I think that's important to note as well.For example I wanted a PS4 -really- bad this past weekend because the new Destiny bundle is coming out and it's probably going to be game of the year type material. Gamestop is even running a "turn in your PS3 for $150.00 credit towards a new PS4!". However I could not find a way to make it work without blowing nearly our entire September blow budget, even after contacting some people on Craigslist for used versions, so I didn't do it. I kept thinking "every dollar helps my family right now". Football was planned and it was a compromise to getting cable. And then I compromised further for a Chromecast without anyone suggesting it, ya know? There have been arguments between everyone here on that subject so I'd like to drop it. Everything else I consider to be up for grabs though. Impulse things in mind for the future: I might try to pick up a PS4 sometime around November/December/January if there is a good deal (especially around Black Friday). However instead of that I might just get a long HDMI cable for $7.00 and play some emulator games on the couch. Would rather do the 2nd thing but I'm trying to get around the long HDMI cable through the living room without shelling out $160-$200 for wireless HDMI. If anyone has some ideas here I'd definitely appreciate it. Thank you for acknowledging that regarding the house. I've been thinking about just how much a home really is. As in we saved about $3,500.00 this past month. It would take 50 months just like that to pay for a $175,000.00 house, and that doesn't take into account amortization and just interest in general. Bugamol: Dammit I (really) woke up in a cold sweat multiple times last night thinking about $10,000.00 in credit card debt at 23% interest. 
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Sep 3, 2014 19:21
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dreesemonkey posted:Your credit score is going to increase just by making regular payments on your car loan regardless of whether or not you have a secured credit card. While I don't think the credit card is a bad idea per-se, it goes right along with my last comment in this thread - you're looking for a quick fix to your financial problems. The house will be way closer than 5 years. I still intend to get that grandma money. I'm not starting a business... I have a business started. I've had my business running and making money for over 5 years. I am talking about getting a license which is not bad with money. Inverse Icarus posted:Pretty much this. We only bought 1 Kindle for $69.00. C'mon that's not breaking the bank. Plus we saved over $3,500 last month and that doesn't take into account $300 in HSA savings as well. That's over 70% of our net income with a $500 car payment. That's pretty drat awesome and I won't let that awesomeness get taken away. We also still met our goals like I said we would so what's the deal? The only reason I was thinking of taking it back was to free up money and because posters suggested it. I like new thing sure. I think most people like new things. Maybe I really like new things. But liking something and acting on that like are not the same thing. For example I really like cigarettes, but nearly 1 year later and I'm clean even if it is tempting as hell sometimes. I'm not justifying that like mind you. I'm acknowledging it, I'm accepting it, but I'm also confident I have power over it when I want to. My history shows that as well.
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Sep 3, 2014 19:35
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To be fair. You were completely 100% setup to have a good month last month. No rent payment. Already purchased food. What I like to refer to as "runner's high". Meaning you are still excited about savings. It's not necessarily something that is part of your life yet. The buzz will go away and that's when you'll get in danger of spending. Be honest with yourself and know that it's a real risk (you've done it multiple times in your past). If you can continue on the success of August you're setting yourself up to be in great shape. However you have a long way to go.
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Sep 3, 2014 19:40
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Bugamol posted:To be fair. You were completely 100% setup to have a good month last month. No rent payment. Already purchased food. What I like to refer to as "runner's high". Meaning you are still excited about savings. It's not necessarily something that is part of your life yet. The buzz will go away and that's when you'll get in danger of spending. Be honest with yourself and know that it's a real risk (you've done it multiple times in your past). Agreed. I kind of set it up like that on purpose. Really July was a great month if you take away the ~$250 in groceries and ~$1,100 in rent. We actually saved around $2,200 in July and $2,200 in August. So it's actually been 2 really good months not just one great one. I think you're right that it's not ingrained or anything yet. I'm hoping that by continuing with the posting of the spending reports and kind of talking through the subpar behavior as well as the positive behavior that we can achieve that by the time the baby is born or so. My desire to finalize this behavior into my life is strong, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions of course. By no means do I think we're there, just being called manic and poo poo kind of scares me. My mother is bipolar as poo poo and she's been having some real problems the past 10 days or so (probably more but I try to stay ignorant for my own mental well being). Edit that's my last post for the work day I really need to get some work done today.
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Sep 3, 2014 20:00
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Knyteguy posted:For example I wanted a PS4 -really- bad this past weekend because the new Destiny bundle is coming out and it's probably going to be game of the year type material. Gamestop is even running a "turn in your PS3 for $150.00 credit towards a new PS4!". However I could not find a way to make it work without blowing nearly our entire September blow budget, even after contacting some people on Craigslist for used versions, so I didn't do it. I kept thinking "every dollar helps my family right now". This is still loving weird. You just sold your PS4 two months ago. Like yeah you didn't end up getting it, but only after figuring out there was no possible way to do it within budget. Which is good, but read what you wrote not long ago: quote:We have been sacrificing our long term happiness for short term pleasures. 100%. No the restaurants didn't give us any net pleasure, because it just made us fatter. The weight set and the guns were all mistakes, and so was the PS4. And now you want to pick one up again in a couple of months because it's a good idea now? You still have a child coming.
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Sep 3, 2014 20:04
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Inept posted:This is still loving weird. You just sold your PS4 two months ago. Like yeah you didn't end up getting it, but only after figuring out there was no possible way to do it within budget. Which is good, but read what you wrote not long ago: OK last post for real since I just started lunch. I sold the PS4 2 months ago because of a $2,000.00 down payment we weren't prepared for. Although I readily and happily sold everything else, I did want to keep the drat thing. It was quickly becoming our main source of entertainment when we were being lazy at home. I know there is a baby on the way, but if it's within the budget then there's not a problem. I'm also looking for alternatives for the PS4 as mentioned. Also every day my PS3 gets louder and the thing is 7 years old (not just the console, but my console). It's going to go out any month. We use it for everything since we don't have cable, and video games as well, but $150.00 for it would be a steal as Gamestop was offering. Made it a little more tempting. The PS4 was a mistake not because of the actual purchase, it was a mistake because of the way we planned to pay for the purchase (we didn't). I mean it's in the initial post I think that we took out a payday loan to make ends meet that month. I believe any purchase can be justified with the right finances in place though. The real mistake would be an Xbox One  (just playing all love if you like xboxes)TO CLARIFY: we aren't intent on buying a PS4 Edit: I feel dumb talking about video games. Pretend I said project car. I want a project car (pipe dream). Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Sep 3, 2014 |
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Sep 3, 2014 20:20
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Knyteguy posted:We use it for everything since we don't have cable Don't you have a chromecast? What is a PS3 doing for you that the chromecast won't? This whole post screams "mental gymnastics". We have to have it! Check Something is breaking so it's just a replacement! Check It through some weird napkin math makes financial sense! Check If you could have only slipped in that it's going to save you money somehow you'd have the whole package.
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Sep 3, 2014 20:33
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If you think you'll have any time to play video games or watch TV when you have a newborn, well, 
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Sep 3, 2014 20:41
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Building your credit rating is a very good idea for you at this point in your life. If I were you I'd get that card, set up one of your one of your recurring bills like electricity to auto-pay with the card, and then set the card to auto pay the balance from your checking. There is no reason you shouldn't have great credit within a few years and it will open a lot of doors for you. For reference even with my own financial turmoil my credit rating hasn't dropped below 790 in the last three years. edit - and do not use the card for anything else. You just want to check the box on your credit history that says "active revolving credit use, no late payments" each month.
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Sep 3, 2014 20:52
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I didn't realize the Kindle was only 69. That's not nearly as much as I thought; I ended up paying more than 150 for mine, I think, since I really went all out on options. But you're still following what I think is a flawed mindset, even though I agree you are making good progress. Your thinking is "I want X. Can I afford it?" The thing is, being able to afford it isn't enough of a reason to buy something. You "can" afford a lot of things. The question you also have to think about is "Is this the best use of that money, or would I get more happiness using it in a different way?" You started thinking about it, which is great and you're right to do so! Every dollar can be used to help your family instead. You have a baby on the way and that money could be more useful on diapers or daycare or baby clothes or doctor's appointments or driving the baby around to meet its grandparents, etc. Is a PS4 worth the pain of missing a car payment? (This is not about you obviously.) Of course not. Nor is it worth being unable to pay for rent or groceries. Is a PS4 worth saving 1500 this month instead of 2000? Well, that depends on how badly you need to save 2000 instead of 1500 and whether or not you'll get your money's worth out of it. Ultimately, you should try not to make decisions you'll regret down the line. You regretted buying the Kindle -- not the purchase itself, but the timing, which you should take as a learning experience: when you want something and you're sure you want it, also consider the timing of when to buy it. Don't make decisions you'll regret. Even if you only regret them partially, that means next time you're in that situation, you should still try to avoid making whatever choice you think will make your future self kick himself over.
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Sep 3, 2014 21:00
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Yeah understanding opportunity cost is huge and not something that you will do instinctively. Things cost more than the number of dollars on the price tag because you also lose out on whatever else you could have spent those dollars on that might well have been worth more to you.
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Sep 3, 2014 21:02
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Knyteguy posted:Thank you for acknowledging that regarding the house. I've been thinking about just how much a home really is. As in we saved about $3,500.00 this past month. It would take 50 months just like that to pay for a $175,000.00 house, and that doesn't take into account amortization and just interest in general. Knyteguy posted:Agreed. I kind of set it up like that on purpose. Really July was a great month if you take away the ~$250 in groceries and ~$1,100 in rent. We actually saved around $2,200 in July and $2,200 in August. So it's actually been 2 really good months not just one great one. Looks like it will take about 80 months to save up for that house, not 50. Also, that's with zero baby expenses. I'm with Veskit. Quit looking at long-term, pie-in-the-sky numbers and start worrying about September. Also, quit worrying about having a PS4. You'll soon realize how little you need a gaming system. Nocheez fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Sep 3, 2014 |
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Sep 3, 2014 21:46
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KG, do you have any hobbies or interests that are free or super cheap? Do you play any sports? So far I count: gaming computer, PS4, project car, and NFL as hobbies/interests. Those are all potentially expensive or actually expensive depending. I think with some really engaging hobbies that don't cost as much, you would be able to curb a lot of the spur-of-the-moment, gotta-have-it-now type of stuff we are seeing. Please tell us more about your interests and I know we can find something you'd be into.
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Sep 3, 2014 23:29
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Bugamol posted:Don't you have a chromecast? What is a PS3 doing for you that the chromecast won't? This whole post screams "mental gymnastics". Unfair jab. Point number one doesn't stand because I admitted I'm trying to find an alternative and I explicitly said we're not intent on buying it. Number 2 is correct. Number 3 how did I say it makes financial sense? It's a dumb purchase but I'm not perfect. Chromecast won't play vidya games. I only got the thing last night, and after testing the full screen mirroring functionality I found it has a 2+ second delay from the monitor to the tv, so pretty much it is only good for turning on a movie/sports on the computer and watching it on the tv. So my wife and I are talking (this is for her too) and we're coming up with a strategy together to take back the Chromecast and get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833996142&cm_re=wireless_hdmi_transmitter_and_receiver-_-33-996-142-_-Product I told her I want to wait at least 2 weeks though, and we can decide then. That's more than reasonable since I was going to spend $108.00 on football. Slo Mo I agree on the CC. An active revolving credit card is pretty much the last piece of the puzzle to start making our credit card up there. I'll put the thing on automated mode and forget it's there outside of the $0 owed statement verification. Horking Delight posted:I didn't realize the Kindle was only 69. That's not nearly as much as I thought; I ended up paying more than 150 for mine, I think, since I really went all out on options. Kindle: Yea I don't know if I mentioned it but we don't have a laptop or anything. It's paper books or tv if I want entertainment on the couch. Nothing wrong with paper books they're just expensive. Noted on the regretful purchases. I feel like everyone jumps my case whenever I want to buy literally anything non-essential, and it makes me not want to ask for input, because there needs to be some give, especially if it is within the constrains of the budgets I have been posting at the beginning of the month. Like the gaming computer: my plan was to put away like $30.00/mo towards the thing until it was completely saved for and I caught a bunch of flack for that. I understand our situation but spending even $150.00 a month on dumb thing X when we make $5k (3% of our net income) isn't really that bad, as long as spending on stupid crap is around that level I don't see why it's such an issue. Same with the PS4. I also try to take into account happiness that X thing will buy me, but for now saving isn't making me happy it's making me wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this stuff. Like the credit card thing really hosed up my motivation for right now because of how much everyone got on my rear end after we've been doing so well. I'm not doing this for everyone's approval but I feel like I killed a loving puppy or something for hitting apply on a $300.00 secured credit card to try to better our financial situation. Anyway if we're saving at or above the 40% goal I set for myself then I don't see the problem personally. I mean I'd like to note that we already are on track to save $1,400 this month no matter what since I set my wife's HSA contribution to the highest they would allow. Jeffrey noted on the opportunity cost. I don't think I've been doing this long enough to realize that opportunity cost. Nocheez posted:Looks like it will take about 80 months to save up for that house, not 50. Also, that's with zero baby expenses. Right that's what I'm saying. Houses are loving expensive. I'm not planning on saving that much or anything, it was just a realization of just how expensive they really are. My goal is $1,500 by the end of September. Please please please let's not go into the pie in the sky stuff again. I'm not doing that right now. At all. Like I've said before I have a couple goals but I'm not even thinking about long term numbers at all. The goals aren't even remotely the focus at all though, just this month is. I haven't suddenly regressed a gently caress ton in the past 7 days or something. Still the same guy right here who just had a good month, and will continue to do so in September. My Rhythmic Crotch posted:KG, do you have any hobbies or interests that are free or super cheap? Do you play any sports? Ok I'm definitely open to cool ideas. Sorry in advance if everything sounds like a personal ad. I used to be heavy into boxing and MMA - so much so that I traveled across the world to train with the best, and even had my first match. I also used to be extremely into fitness at that time. I was pretty ripped actually and could nearly sprint 3-5 miles without even thinking about it. The whole reason I quit the boxing/mma though was money. It's like $150/mo for a boxing/mma gym around here now that I am no longer a student. Plus the gym I trained out when out of business. My wife and I started training for 5K marathons (and we could even walk a 10K) back when the thread was in hiatus. Problem is when we moved to this new apartment last month we lost pretty much all good walking trails. It's all heavily urban. I hit up the apartment gym a few times so I'll probably get back into that soon. It's a lot harder to go being out of shape though. We tried hiking as well but we found that to be expensive too. Plus the summer heat just kind of put a damper on that - record breaking temps this year. Beyond that I got a little bit into embedded programming with a Beaglebone black and that was hugely fun. I think you're familiar with that IIRC from Cavern of Cobol. My goal for Halloween is to create Daft Punk helmets for my wife and I using some fancy flashing LEDs (probably Arduino though). The pregnancy might ruin that costume idea a bit though. I also like trying out business ideas, and making websites. Neither of those are free but they're cheap. I was a lot more into this when I wasn't sitting at a computer for a living though. Hard to continue working at the same thing right after getting off work. I really like fast cars and working on cars. Car audio is fun too. Drinking. I've been taking it easy on that for the past few months especially when out at a bar or something because it burns through fun money quickly. Movies, games, playing the drums. If I had a private sound proof place to play my drums I would probably never have an impulsive thought again. It's like my drug, but apartment living isn't conducive to that at all. I'm pretty much stuck until we can buy a house. Finally https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hf8BJVwdnY Edit: and someone mentioned football paper stat tracking or something. I thought that sounded like fun but I don't have access to a printer. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 00:59
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Knyteguy posted:My goal is $1,500 by the end of September. Please please please let's not go into the pie in the sky stuff again. I'm not doing that right now. At all. Like I've said before I have a couple goals but I'm not even thinking about long term numbers at all. The goals aren't even remotely the focus at all though, just this month is. I haven't suddenly regressed a gently caress ton in the past 7 days or something. Still the same guy right here who just had a good month, and will continue to do so in September. Things brought up that are being planned for/thought about while not being in the budget for September: A house A credit card A motorcycle with link http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/121/1716/Motorcycle-Video-Playlist/2014-Kawasaki-KX250F-Motocross-Shootout-Video.aspx A Playstation 4 with the new Destiny Bundle A wireless HDMI set (I mean,  )Knyte what the gently caress are you talking about? You go on about things all the time that aren't in your budget, like at all! If you were serious about making a purchase like that then you'd put money into the priority accounts like groceries, bills, your loving baby that's coming up, and then some in the restaurant to keep you sane, then you would leave the loving discretionary spending the gently caress alone for a month. BUt you can't do that. You're way too busy scrambling into looking into buying or at least thinking about buying all these different things in less than A THIRTY HOUR TIMEFRAME. In thirty hours you brought up all these different things you want to buy that aren't in the budget. So no, you don't get a pass to say lets not talk about the things I'm doing because it makes me uncomfortable. We gave you poo poo for blowing the blow account early because you made an on the spur large purchase instead of thinking it through, and now you're talking about all the things you want to buy, and even brought up black loving friday. Stop, talking, and or considering things outside of September. Stop!
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Sep 4, 2014 01:13
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Paper books are free at the library.
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Sep 4, 2014 01:49
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Veskit posted:Things brought up that are being planned for/thought about while not being in the budget for September: OK here is what really bothers me then. How do I say OK I'll save my discretionary money this month so I can get X next month, if I'm not supposed to think about next month in the very least? It's a conundrum. If I'm only to think about what I will be using my discretionary for in September, then how can something I want to get NOT be an impulse purchase? I just don't get it. There's no way I could have planned successfully for football if I stayed this strict about not planning in the future, and it would be an impulse purchase this month. Someone please answer this question for me, as I have no idea how to buy something I want no matter what it is, or how well thought out it is, or how far in advance it is, or how important it is to me. The HDMI thing is what I'm thinking of using to watch my football first and foremost. Everything else is secondary and tertiary benefits. It's $20.00 over the initial budget. If it was $100.00 over the initial budget I wouldn't do it, but it's relatively small change. 0.004% of net income actually. It's for this month. I tried the Chromecast but my wife doesn't like it because she can't play wii games with Dolphin with it because of the video lag. It also sucks because I hit a button on the controller or try to pause the video, and sometimes it doesn't take effect for over 2 seconds later. That's kind of a lovely way of doing things. So there help me come up with a strategy to every now and then buy the poo poo I want and I'll shut up about it. There's some stuff I'll pass by everyone like the washing machine because that was supposed to help us save money. And actually I'm really happy I did because you guys helped me come up with a better plan that saved us money - a drying rack. We haven't paid for the dryer since the day I brought the washing machine up. moana: I can't ever find books I want to read at the library, despite my numerous attempts to do so. Yes I can order them at the library (so I've heard) but if we're talking $5.00 to own the thing and not have to drive for 30 minutes each way to get there then we're talking maybe literally pennies saved. Plus it's time wasted I could be doing other stuff. Edit: also regarding the baby: dude we're saving a ton of money towards that with medical bill money, and also just the general emergency fund. Also an update on daycare: my sister is in a lovely position. We might rent a house with her, hopefully with an inlaw quarters, and if we help her out with a little bit of her half of rent then she'll watch the baby for free she said. Problem is she's having a baby herself but gently caress it free daycare. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 02:44
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My opinion, everybody in here is overanalyzing everything and the main thing is to keep an eye on the bottom line - budget targets - and let people's comments remind you to slow down when you start to get over-enthusiastic about using your money. Just-next-month like people have been saying is a good timeframe to focus on.
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Sep 4, 2014 02:48
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Hey come on, I asked him explicitly about other things he'd thought about purchasing but ultimately was choosing not to, so he's not exactly talking about it to convince himself it's a good idea or anything. He's been thinking about it either way, it's better he have feedback than not. Posting in the thread doesn't change that he wanted a PS4, it just confirms not buying it was the right decision. I think the beginning of the month is too early to have detailed plans about how you're going to go spending your future money, because in my experience, the more detailed the plan is, the more likely an impulse purchase is. Possibly think about it more as if it accrues each week? Maybe this week you'll use some blow money to buy a book from a used bookstore, and save the rest from the week towards getting a fancier whatever. My spending money is largely measured weekly and not monthly. I don't care what you spend your blow money on as long as you come in within budget (which you didn't last month, because you didn't account for unexpected expenses) and I don't think you should worry about it too much either as long as it's within budget and you feel confident you won't regret it later. EDIT: Also yeah, within budget is the key part. Colin Mockery fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 03:13
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Knyteguy posted:The HDMI thing is what I'm thinking of using to watch my football first and foremost. Everything else is secondary and tertiary benefits. It's $20.00 over the initial budget. If it was $100.00 over the initial budget I wouldn't do it, but it's relatively small change. 0.004% of net income actually. It's for this month. Can you seriously not stop your brain from just wanting more more more shiny toys more more more distractions more everything that costs money. It just baffles me. There are a million free hobbies, a thousand more that will actually MAKE you money, a hundred new skills that you can learn for free online that will help you when you have a kid. Do you volunteer anywhere? Any MMA/boxing places that need volunteers to train kids or help out?
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Sep 4, 2014 03:41
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Your next hobby should be fixing your credit. Get a copy of your credit report (you can get it for free.) Go to CreditBoards.com and read until your eyes bleed. Anything more than 7 years old shouldn't be on your report. Medical bills have to come off of your credit report when they are paid - it's a HIPAA violation if they don't. But you have to write letters, mail them certified (because all debt collectors, hospitals, etc. will claim they didn't receive any correspondence if you don't mail certified.) You need to write all the credit bureaus and dispute everything on your report - lots of it will come off when you do that. All of this is explained thoroughly at CreditBoards, I'm doing a quick glossing over, but you will have to do the legwork. You can probably raise your score 100 points without spending any money on anything other than postage. No guarantees, but it would be a nice project for you to take on right now, and you'll have a better sense of where you stand in a lot of ways after doing the above. Also, for the benefit of anyone reading, it would have been a good idea to have done the above before applying for any credit.
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Sep 4, 2014 03:57
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moana posted:THAT IS NOT HOW A BUDGET WORKS FFS Talk is cheap but our actions have been solid since we started up again for the most part. Conspicuous consumption is pretty loving ingrained in society, and when I see my peers with all these toys it can be difficult not to want them too, for sure. I find it just as frustrating that you can't see my point of view. No I don't volunteer anywhere, and I don't know about the MMA/boxing places. I don't think I'm qualified to teach fighting at this point though it's been too long. I used to help teach the kid's class when I was into it though. If you have some ideas for free hobbies, especially that could make money, then I'm definitely open to ideas or even resources. Sometimes I find it difficult to be creative. slap me silly posted:My opinion, everybody in here is overanalyzing everything and the main thing is to keep an eye on the bottom line - budget targets - and let people's comments remind you to slow down when you start to get over-enthusiastic about using your money. Just-next-month like people have been saying is a good timeframe to focus on. Thanks. I like both the week-to-week savings idea and the "this month, next month" idea. edit2 removed useless detracting banter Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 04:17
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imabanana posted:Your next hobby should be fixing your credit. No medical bills have been paid off. It's good to know they'll fall off though. I definitely keep an eye on my credit report, there's just not much there. Number one thing Credit Karma gives me an "F" on is credit age. My Transunion report (what CK uses I believe) doesn't have that much derogatory history on it:  All but the top are medical. I'll look into the rest of the stuff next month when I'm feeling more motivated. The other reports don't show much more IIRC except for a couple paid off collections. May try to get them to delete that though. Edit: holy poo poo there's some last reported on these that over a year ago. Maybe they will dispute I'll have to try. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 04:23
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I say get the PS4 with the Destiny bundle. The thread will go nuts and I will enjoy reading it. You really have to stop thinking about buying stuff though. Eventually you will snap and buy stuff. Change your mindset to enjoying your life for what you have and not that next thing you get making it great.
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Sep 4, 2014 04:39
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Knyteguy posted:Calm down yea? Talk is cheap but our actions have been solid since we started up again for the most part. Conspicuous consumption is pretty loving ingrained in society, and when I see my peers with all these toys it can be difficult not to want them too, for sure. Logically I know what's up, but emotionally I'm like gently caress those guys my cave will have the shinier poo poo, or "gently caress I haven't ridden a dirt bike in 10 years I miss that a lot." For (some) women it's probably like about purses and big diamonds or something. For real though if you've never been in the same mindset you could never understand. I find it just as frustrating that you can't see my point of view.
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Sep 4, 2014 04:45
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spwrozek posted:I say get the PS4 with the Destiny bundle. The thread will go nuts and I will enjoy reading it. Haha oh man I don't want to give anyone a heart attack. Bugamol: I think the PS4 can save us money, because if I buy it now with the Destiny Bundle, I won't have to buy Destiny twice. Like I want to buy Destiny on PS3 so I can play it now but I'd have to buy it again on the PS4 making the game cost $120 instead of $60. It just makes sense. (just playing of course  )edit: and I'm just wondering, because I've made arguments just like this before, is there a certain pattern here... or something it's called I can perhaps read up on? Is this just how many people justify bad purchases? Cicero posted:Soon this won't be a problem, because you'll be obsessed with getting more sleep instead of more shinies. Bleh. This is the thing I'm looking forward to the least. My boss said that newborns are payback for every bad thing you've ever done in life. I was pretty much an rear end in a top hat teenager.  Thanks all for all of the input today. I'm sorry if I'm having a hard time getting this stuff through my head. Everyone is making good points that my head has been in the wrong place since the beginning of this month. I definitely have been focusing on what to buy rather than being content with what we have. I come from a pretty strong history of spending lots and lots of money in a showy way, to the extent that my mother blew almost $1,000,000 in 5-6 years doing exactly that. She didn't even get a paid off house from it. I know I can beat these bad habits and thought processes with everyone's support though. I refuse to make concessions on my football because I earned that, but for the rest of the month I'm going to do my best (and I think I can speak for my wife here too) to not think about buying stuff, not think too much beyond today, and most importantly remembering what is important in life is what will make me happy. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 05:24
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Knyteguy posted:If you have some ideas for free hobbies, especially that could make money, then I'm definitely open to ideas or even resources. Sometimes I find it difficult to be creative. The nice thing about volunteering, even if it's as stupid as "assisting" a kids' class, is you'll get to use the equipment for free. I dunno, it seems like anything you do can be turned into a paid thing if you get good at it.
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Sep 4, 2014 05:30
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Knyteguy posted:OK here is what really bothers me then. How do I say OK I'll save my discretionary money this month so I can get X next month, if I'm not supposed to think about next month in the very least? It's a conundrum. If I'm only to think about what I will be using my discretionary for in September, then how can something I want to get NOT be an impulse purchase? I just don't get it. There's no way I could have planned successfully for football if I stayed this strict about not planning in the future, and it would be an impulse purchase this month. Someone please answer this question for me, as I have no idea how to buy something I want no matter what it is, or how well thought out it is, or how far in advance it is, or how important it is to me. The Blow account is for impulse buying IIRC. If you want to have a big blow account, then save money into that category, then buy whatever dumb thing you want at the moment and you don't have to think about how to save up for it in the future. It's a nice catch all. Then you don't run into this issue of thinking into the future, and you can budget for the present. You're so far away, and you're off priority knyte. You made the budget, it was effectively approved, just stick to it for the month. You lose focus when you think past the month.
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Sep 4, 2014 05:31
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Not just newborns. Kids in general. Expect to be sleep interrupted for a year minimum unless you luck out with one of those good sleepers. When is your baby due? I'd suggest holding off on any new video games or other time wasters until after that and then you can evaluate how much free time you have and what you want to spend that time on.
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Sep 4, 2014 05:35
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moana posted:KDP just opened up a storybook creator, why not try to make a story for your kid? Off the top of my head, you could make a rhythm book that teaches counting with you and mommy and kiddo as the main character rock stars or something. Get as creative as you want, use clipart if you're not feeling like drawing. If you come up with any really great ideas, you can sell the books on Amazon. Find someone who you can jam with at their house so you can play drums. Cool thank you very much for the idea. My wife actually was looking into this, but I didn't think about giving it a go myself. I'll also ask around the local fighting gyms and see if they need an equipment cleaner or something. It would be really great to get back into it. I never even realized that could be an option. Veskit posted:The Blow account is for impulse buying IIRC. If you want to have a big blow account, then save money into that category, then buy whatever dumb thing you want at the moment and you don't have to think about how to save up for it in the future. It's a nice catch all. Then you don't run into this issue of thinking into the future, and you can budget for the present. You're so far away, and you're off priority knyte. You made the budget, it was effectively approved, just stick to it for the month. You lose focus when you think past the month. Edit: I just want to focus on staying within the confines of the budget, and then some of the strategical things like keeping my head in the present. It feels like I'm running in circles here trying to justify how I spend my blow money. It's seriously frustrating. The whole point of the category is to not have to do that. And thank you for pushing me a little bit Veskit (and everyone else). Yes it definitely makes me uncomfortable, but I know that it is healthy to hear it after I get to reflect on it all a little bit. I think I need to try to be less defensive and just take it all in. Like slap me silly mentioned it's good to help keep me in check on my spending, focused on what we need to focus on, and just in the right place mentally. --- I did make a few changes from the budget I posted at the beginning of the month, because I didn't realize we'd meet our August goal. I added I think $100.00 to use for the football, lowered grocery by $50 to $400, maybe lowered pets I'd have to check. Nothing crazy mostly just the football and trying to lower the margins a little bit so we can save more. sheri posted:Not just newborns. Kids in general. Expect to be sleep interrupted for a year minimum unless you luck out with one of those good sleepers. Baby due February... 23rd I think. 5 months away feels like a long time, but OK I will try to keep that in mind with the time wasters - especially the expensive time wasters. Like you and Nocheez say I probably won't have time for video games for awhile anyway once the wee one is here. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 06:20
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My kid is almost 3 and I've been playing NES games with him recently (on original hardware of course). Obviously he's terrible but he still likes playing them, especially Super Mario Bros. 1 and now Kirby's Adventure. But yeah even that will take a while before it's possible.
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Sep 4, 2014 07:08
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Knyteguy, I think people are jumping on you because the "things you want" are not budgeted/planned out of your blow money. You're planning to set aside "extra just this once" blow money on top of the $100/mo you're already giving yourself. You can have things. You save your blow money for those things. That's what blow money is for. You don't get get extra blow money just because. I've got $340 in my blow money envelope while accruing $40/month. I don't have time for extra stuff right now, so I don't spend it unless there is something I want.
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Sep 4, 2014 16:11
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The problem people have with your blow spending isn't what you buy, it's how you buy it, meaning "too fast and without following the budget". If it was in-budget, you could spend all your blow money on wonder hangers each month and as long as you stayed in budget, no one would be nearly as frustrated with you about it as they are now.
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Sep 4, 2014 17:24
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Cicero posted:My kid is almost 3 and I've been playing NES games with him recently (on original hardware of course). Obviously he's terrible but he still likes playing them, especially Super Mario Bros. 1 and now Kirby's Adventure. But yeah even that will take a while before it's possible. Awesome. I think for me it was playing TMNT NES with my dad around that age. There's a good chance your kid could remember this his whole life .dreesemonkey posted:Knyteguy, I think people are jumping on you because the "things you want" are not budgeted/planned out of your blow money. You're planning to set aside "extra just this once" blow money on top of the $100/mo you're already giving yourself. How does your blow money work though? I use it for almost everything that doesn't fit into the other categories well. Beer, a bag of chips at the corner store, an energy drink, a lemonade for my wife, etc. I even try to buy really cheap beer (steel reserve  ) but it goes quickly. Literally the only consumer good we bought last month was the $69.00 Kindle. Definitely we bought it too early, but that's not where most the money went by any means.You made a point awhile back that I'm taking this a little too quickly, posting a little too much. I agree. I want to slow it down a little bit. Horking Delight posted:The problem people have with your blow spending isn't what you buy, it's how you buy it, meaning "too fast and without following the budget". If I'm doing this then I think I may be ignorant on how to budget. I understand the spending it too fast part, but if I budget $250.00 as blow money, shouldn't I be free to spend it, or save it, on whatever? Because that's all I want the freedom to do without yea everyone jumping on my case. I'm open to criticism if we break the budget, or if we blow a ton of it all up front, but not so much if I want to save it until next month and buy something, or if I buy a dumb thing with it. I talked to my wife about the wireless HDMI thing yesterday. We're thinking of getting some little garden hooks and running the cord along the wall when we want to use it. We were kind of talking about if we would regret this purchase in the future, or not. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but I think it's a positive step that we discussed it. We find out what the baby's sex is this month! Going to know if our baby is little Isaac or little Sophia. 
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Sep 4, 2014 18:09
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Knyteguy posted:
Congratulations! fun stuff. Knyteguy posted:How does your blow money work though? I use it for almost everything that doesn't fit into the other categories well. Beer, a bag of chips at the corner store, an energy drink, a lemonade for my wife, etc. I even try to buy really cheap beer (steel reserve I wrote a big ol thing about this then deleted it because there's a simple way to explain it. A blow account should be used for purchases on the spot where a decision shouldn't really have to be made. Blow account shouldn't be used for things you are working toward until your poo poo is in order. Example 1: I want those chips. You don't have to work toward the chips so you buy them. That's BLOW. Example 2: I want to play destiny and I dont have a PS4. That's something you need to work toward, so put that as a budgeted item, and work out the details of what you're going to lose from to get to that. NOT A BLOW ITEM Example 3: I want that kindle. I saw it as something you should work toward, other people did and you didn't. In hindsight it's something you should have budgeted special for and worked toward getting a kindle. I think that's a good write up when you should and shouldn't allow your impulse buys to take over.
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Sep 4, 2014 18:30
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Knyteguy posted:How does your blow money work though? I use it for almost everything that doesn't fit into the other categories well. Beer, a bag of chips at the corner store, an energy drink, a lemonade for my wife, etc. I even try to buy really cheap beer (steel reserve At some point, I think, the word "or" is going to have to enter your vocabulary. Chips, beer, energy drinks, etc. - yes, they are blow. If that is what you want to blow $100 on, go nuts. But then you don't get the $70 Kindle. You get one or the other. The reason why people are saying "wait until the end of the month" is that you will find that all those $5 expenditures will add up to you not having enough blow left over to get what you want. So either you save a small amount of blow per month until you can afford X and still have the beer/chips/etc., or you give up the latter for the former. What people in the thread have a problem with is the appearance (from our end) that you use your budget/napkin math to show how you can afford all that you want, rather than using it as a way to curb your spending. I'll give you a conditional :golf clap: on August, but you have a few more months to show a trend that you can keep it up. Fake Edit: Or do what Veskit suggests and allot $X to a PS4 (for example), and reduce your blow ($100-$X) accordingly.
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Sep 4, 2014 18:34
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