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Devian666 posted:Other than the regular threads I read your one and SloMo's one. Slo Mo's thread is in the shitter. So keep remembering that we're all here because there's still some hope for you. If people didn't care about you and want badly for you to succeed, they wouldn't be getting angry. They'd just laugh at you and egg you on. SlowMo's thread is half people waiting for budget reconciliations and half people making fun of him (and wow, there is a lot to make fun of). In your thread, people are waiting for your budget too but we're also trying to find ways for you to save money and trying to drag you back on target and remind you of your goals when it looks like you're not thinking things through all the way.
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Nov 26, 2014 23:46
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Knyte, are you a month ahead on your budget, i.e. YNAB Step 4? If you're not there, please get there ASAP. We just had a lot of unexpected* expenses, but because we've been a month ahead for over a year now, they weren't a big deal. Being a month ahead has allowed us to carry a negative balance in a couple of categories that was can smooth over next month, and we don't have to worry because there's plenty of buffer in our bank accounts due to being a month ahead. It's like a built-in mini emergency fund. It's a lot easier to budget for the month, and subsequently shift categories around as needed, if all the funds are there at the beginning. * Unexpected is more like unplanned. They were somewhat known expenses, but the timing of it wasn't known, so we kept putting off budgeting for it. So, that's not so good, but at least we had the safety net.
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Nov 28, 2014 16:09
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Old Fart posted:Knyte, are you a month ahead on your budget, i.e. YNAB Step 4? If you're not there, please get there ASAP. We just had a lot of unexpected* expenses, but because we've been a month ahead for over a year now, they weren't a big deal. Being a month ahead has allowed us to carry a negative balance in a couple of categories that was can smooth over next month, and we don't have to worry because there's plenty of buffer in our bank accounts due to being a month ahead. It's like a built-in mini emergency fund. Yea we got a month ahead. Still no hard numbers there's stuff in limbo. Should have a better idea tomorrow.
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Dec 1, 2014 17:11
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One suggestion, Knyteguy: read the Cornholio thread, if you haven't already. In addition to being BFC's biggest (only?) success story, it really does give a great example of how to use this forum to keep yourself on track, month after month. In between getting yelled at for owning a Mini Cooper, Cornholio made himself post monthly updates of his total debt. They started out like this: Page 44 Cornholio posted:Welp, time for a monthly report. Last month, my debt went down by $835.69 for a total debt of $37,213.71 and near the end looked like this: Page 183 Cornholio posted:In the month of August, my debt went down $650.00 to a total debt of $4,573.33 Cornholio got criticized and yelled at for pages and pages early on, but by the end BFC was in love with him. Because he stuck to it, and showed quantitative results each and every month. How can you argue with that second graph? I'm sure there was tons of nitpicking throughout, but the tone changed once he consistently put up positive savings month after month after month. That's what you want to shoot for: a net worth report at the end of each month that is consistently headed in the right direction.
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Dec 2, 2014 01:37
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You forgot Tuyop.
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Dec 2, 2014 01:54
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There have been plenty of smaller success stories too, they're just hard to remember. I remember Pillowpants having his own BFC thread (granted, most of the problems were his gf's), and he went on to become the resident budgeting guru of SA-Mart. LoveMeDead also seems to be doing much better than she was at the start of her thread, and there was that guy in...New Zealand? I think that one turned out well.
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Dec 2, 2014 02:13
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Veskit posted:You forgot Tuyop. Tuyop had to put up with my comedy house designs for him. Including the one with the car parked in the lounge. Either net worth or total debt is a good way to plot your financial recovery. Seeing the progress helps even if you know the numbers are changing in the right direction.
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Dec 2, 2014 02:32
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Veskit posted:You forgot Tuyop. Tuyop's thread wasn't quite as great as Cornholio's (Cornholio had a fantastic thread), but it was pretty drat good. It hit a couple common pitfalls too ("but I have perfect job security" and "what if i spend money to make money"), and seeing it end so successfully was great.
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Dec 2, 2014 03:35
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Giraffe posted:One suggestion, Knyteguy: read the Cornholio thread, if you haven't already. In addition to being BFC's biggest (only?) success story, it really does give a great example of how to use this forum to keep yourself on track, month after month. In between getting yelled at for owning a Mini Cooper, Cornholio made himself post monthly updates of his total debt. They started out like this: If your curious, the big dip was when he finally sold the blasted Mini - I think that may have been the turning point for his recovery. Also note the time line - four years, give or take, chipping off a bit of the mountain every month. As onthers have stated - we all want to see you succeed. If we seem to get mad a lot, its because we have either lived through the kind of pitfall you are headed for, or have read enough stories on here to know how the pitfall will end. As for the ragging on you for poo poo, it is to remind you to stay humble and think on the worse end of things rather than playing everything off as "it'll be fine guys" in the sort of manic optimism you possess in the face of all fact. Anyway, I still hold out hope, and I'm still rooting for you. I think a graph somilar to Cornholio's (thanks Giraffe for digging that up) would be of great help in keeping yourself accountable for getting out of your debt, and give the thread a handy barometer by which to measure how much poo poo to give you (just kidding... sort of).
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Dec 2, 2014 03:57
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Ok I am willing to get a graph together for sure. I keep meaning to finish Cornholio's thread it's just gigantic. I'll try to read a little at a time. I've said this before, but I think paying off debt will be a great way to get my financial mind in a good place permanently. Psychologically I think that's because for me it has a measurable end, while saving is pretty much a constant thing until retirement. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm tired of giving the banks my hard earned money. If only I could go back about 3 years I would have 0 debt. Car was paid off, etc.
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Dec 2, 2014 06:33
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Knyteguy posted:I've said this before, but I think paying off debt will be a great way to get my financial mind in a good place permanently. Psychologically I think that's because for me it has a measurable end, while saving is pretty much a constant thing until retirement. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm tired of giving the banks my hard earned money. If only I could go back about 3 years I would have 0 debt. Car was paid off, etc. I wish I could wind back the clock at least 10-12 years and had done more investing. I'd be a lot better off and I'd have a massive net worth. Can't really turn back the clock on those past mistakes though. Although heading in the right direction from now on will make a big difference for the rest of your life.
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Dec 2, 2014 23:44
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Devian666 posted:I wish I could wind back the clock at least 10-12 years and had done more investing. I'd be a lot better off and I'd have a massive net worth. Can't really turn back the clock on those past mistakes though. Although heading in the right direction from now on will make a big difference for the rest of your life. Knyteguy (my husband) just asked me to post this: To Devian: Sounds good. No point dwelling on the past I suppose  .Also this: Quick career question: Would it be worthwhile for my wife to pick up a legal transcription certificate at our local community college after the baby is born? I'm sure she could do online classes for it. We're really trying to figure out something she could do that's non-retail too if anyone has any ideas. I'd really prefer if she doesn't have to work holidays and weekends after our son is born, or at least not for long after our son is born. What about a paralegal? State employee? Post office? DMV?
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Dec 3, 2014 04:14
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Teach her to code? Even if she only got a mediocre programming job, it would pay a lot better with better hours than retail.
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Dec 3, 2014 05:10
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Office admin/administrative assistant? Starts around 30k probably, and would have normal work hours and benefits, and possible advancement potential.
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Dec 3, 2014 06:59
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If you're out in Reno why not become a dealer? I used to work in casinos before going to college dealers have it loving easy.
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Dec 3, 2014 07:23
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Veskit posted:If you're out in Reno why not become a dealer? I used to work in casinos before going to college dealers have it loving easy. She has to deal with bringing home 3rd hand smoke + wrecking her own lungs. Also I can't see them being awesomely friendly about allowing her pumping time.
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Dec 3, 2014 07:37
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Cicero posted:Teach her to code? Even if she only got a mediocre programming job, it would pay a lot better with better hours than retail.
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Dec 3, 2014 09:28
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Old Fart posted:As someone soon to be in a similar situation, how would a middle aged dude with zero industry contacts and no training break into this, while being able to work from home? Is it even possible to compete with college grads? Get a portfolio together and get set up on Odesk? It might take a while, but would probably be quicker than going back to school.
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Dec 3, 2014 14:07
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Does your wife have any experience or skills or training beyond retail? If not, then try Manpower. The pay isn't awesome (usually just slightly above minimum wage to get started), but if she can type, use MS Office products, and look and sound professional, she'll get sent on administrative-type assignments. It's a good way to build a resume and network, and some positions are temp-to-hire.
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Dec 3, 2014 14:49
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SiGmA_X posted:Office admin/administrative assistant? Starts around 30k probably, and would have normal work hours and benefits, and possible advancement potential.
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Dec 3, 2014 15:55
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Old Fart posted:As someone soon to be in a similar situation, how would a middle aged dude with zero industry contacts and no training break into this, while being able to work from home? Is it even possible to compete with college grads? I had some more stuff typed up here, but the short answer is while it might be hard to compete with college grads in terms of credentials, you could be attractive to the right company by being cheaper. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 16:00
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Old Fart posted:As someone soon to be in a similar situation, how would a middle aged dude with zero industry contacts and no training break into this, while being able to work from home? Is it even possible to compete with college grads?
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Dec 3, 2014 17:08
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Sorry for derail. Hopefully this is helpful for KnyteWife. What's a good online resource for learning? What languages need to be known?
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Dec 3, 2014 18:31
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Thanks for the input everyone. My wife is actually leaning towards coding, which surprises me a bit. Manpower could be a good segue in the meantime though... I think as long as she's pulling in even some kind of income right now we'll be fine. I'm sure this will help her see some possibilities.Old Fart posted:What's a good online resource for learning? What languages need to be known? The consensus seems to be (and I agree with this) is that the language you first learn is really unimportant. Once you pick one up, you can pick up most of the others within a few weeks, at least enough to start working with it. Much of the learning is just wrapping your heard around concepts and methodologies, and then learning patterns which generally translate well across languages. The rest is pretty much just syntax and tools/libraries to make your life easier. I like C# a lot just because Visual Studio makes things much easier to actually get going, and it has a diverse amount of uses (web, desktop, enterprise, mobile). Java is similar but I don't like the IDE options quite as much as Visual Studio. Ruby, and Python are great starting languages (but don't get me wrong they're not less powerful/malleable than anything else out there) and they both have a place in modern development companies. Rails could be a bit of a fad, and I think job growth is in a bit of a decline, but developers are still in demand, and generally make great money. pre:Free Python resource: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ Free Ruby resource: https://www.codeschool.com/paths/ruby (top left course, top right course) Free Ruby on Rails resource: https://www.railstutorial.org/book Free C# resource: http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/c-fundamentals-for-absolute-beginners Cicero has a great thread in the Cavern of Cobol forum for newbie programmers. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't. There's some really helpful people in there. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 20:13
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Knyteguy posted:As far as college credentials... well I don't have my degree and it has hindered me a bit because companies like diplomas, but I don't make really any less than my peers with similar experience either. Are you sure? Do you talk about salary among your peers? I know computer science is definitely one of those "pave your way to success" type fields, but I think not having any sort of degree can/will hurt you in the long run. It's like MBA, CPA, CMA, or any other "letters after your name". Then again I'm in accounting and not computer science so it may not translate at all. Also did you get around to doing a october/november ytd reconciliation yet?
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Dec 3, 2014 20:17
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Bugamol posted:Are you sure? Do you talk about salary among your peers? I know computer science is definitely one of those "pave your way to success" type fields, but I think not having any sort of degree can/will hurt you in the long run. It's like MBA, CPA, CMA, or any other "letters after your name". Then again I'm in accounting and not computer science so it may not translate at all. Come on KG, it's +3, where is the recon?! All transactions from last period should be final by now. (I love quicken and excel, between quicken and my macros, my recons are automated, and budget is super easy too...)
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Dec 3, 2014 20:25
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I basically agree with Knyteguy on languages. It's not super-important to choose the 'right one' to start with, but if you want something that feels very beginner-friendly, Ruby or Python; if you want something that feels 'safer' career-wise, Java or C#.Bugamol posted:Are you sure? Do you talk about salary among your peers? I know computer science is definitely one of those "pave your way to success" type fields, but I think not having any sort of degree can/will hurt you in the long run. It's like MBA, CPA, CMA, or any other "letters after your name". Then again I'm in accounting and not computer science so it may not translate at all. Cicero fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 20:58
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That's excellent info, thanks, K.
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Dec 3, 2014 21:48
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If people are interested in doing courses there are a lot of free courses at http://edx.org/ and similar sites. They include programming courses and so on. Worth taking a look there as well if people like the interactive classroom format to learning.
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Dec 3, 2014 22:46
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For the record, there's also a big difference between getting a job as a software developer at a company, and teaching yourself to write simple phone/web apps. You don't have to be the best developer in the world to write the phone app or web frontend to some sort of web-based database, and you can do it with no formal training, education, or certification. The App Store doesn't check for a diploma.
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Dec 4, 2014 00:42
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KnyteWife I'd at least look into state and local government civil service jobs as well. Pay should be reasonable and time off and benefits should be pretty decent. I'm a database developer working for local government and I get almost 6 weeks of vacation a year. Since it's a technical job, pay is fairly meh compared to private sector DB guys, but it's good for the area and the job is very stable and overall really laid back. Worth a look at anyway.
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Dec 5, 2014 14:58
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^ Thanks again guys. OK screw it my numbers for November are meaningless due to the amount of poor tracking on my part, so I just reconciled everything. I tried fixing it all and it's just too much since I tracked so poorly before, during, and immediately after the move. Instead here are the net results:   With of course a couple pay days and expenses coming this month. We should be higher come the end of month. But uh yea moving sucks hope we don't have to do that again any time soon. Basically I don't know how much we went over budget in November. October was a great month however and we ended up pretty much exactly on budget. Went over by about $60 total over two categories (grocery and pets, but we prepaid all of December's pet food), but ended up with that much excess in the rest. Here's how my credit score has changed:  Budget for December is going very well.
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Dec 5, 2014 18:04
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Knyteguy posted:OK screw it my numbers for November are meaningless due to the amount of poor tracking on my part, so I just reconciled everything. I tried fixing it all and it's just too much since I tracked so poorly before, during, and immediately after the move. I don't have a baby, but I believe having a baby is going to cause more chaos in your life than moving. Hopefully this move was a good reflection on the fact that you need solid reconciliation/tracking skills on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis because trying to jump in after the fact and figure everything out is a nightmare. Did you spend more than you earned in November? Did you put any money on your credit card that you are going to have to pay off? (Is that the prosper account for ~$40) I still think your habits show that you're just going to explode/annihilate any semblance of budgeting once you have a baby, but maybe I'm wrong.
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Dec 5, 2014 19:42
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Sometimes I don't update YNAB for weeks. Just sit down with YNAB and your online transaction report and type that poo poo in. There, now you know how it worked with your budget.
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Dec 5, 2014 20:05
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Knyteguy posted:Basically I don't know how much we went over budget in November. Old Fart posted:Sometimes I don't update YNAB for weeks. Just sit down with YNAB and your online transaction report and type that poo poo in. There, now you know how it worked with your budget. I know you've got a lot going on and I know how money leaks when you've got to get something as complex as a move done RIGHT NOW, but this is really silly. All the data is there for you, you're just admitting it's too much work to actually figure it out. That sort of attitude won't really help anything, and if you get in the habit of writing off months entirely when something comes up, you won't get very far. Stuff always comes up. Find some time this weekend and track everything.
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Dec 5, 2014 20:19
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Inverse Icarus posted:I know you've got a lot going on and I know how money leaks when you've got to get something as complex as a move done RIGHT NOW, but this is really silly. Part of the problem was my bank did a system upgrade from the 24th to the 1st of December so reconciling expenses, on top of moving the weekend of the 15th and not getting the computer up up for quite a few days after that, and then a busy Thanksgiving and my bank only showing a few days worth of transaction... just not worth it to me to try to reconcile against nearly a month's worth of expenses. I know how much we spent (as shown in the YNAB graph less some returned fees) so I'm OK with an adjusted transaction. I feel comfortable enough knowing it went towards moving fees, paying my cousin to help move, a little bit of holiday spending, a few tools, and restaurants around the time of the move. I'm admittedly being a little lazy here but time has been at a premium lately, and I just don't feel it will give me anymore of the picture. I pretty much covered it for you guys already, I think. It was a lot of chaos yea, some unprepared (bank system upgrade not going very well), some poorly prepared. Learn from the mistakes here and move on, is the way I see it. Bugamol posted:I don't have a baby, but I believe having a baby is going to cause more chaos in your life than moving. Meh we'll be alright. I'm sure it'll be crazy in a lot of ways, but I feel like we have a fairly good plan since we're going to be making a bunch of frozen meals for the slow cooker in preparation of the baby as advised. We're also sitting pretty good as far as the things the baby will need right away, so the first couple weeks won't consist of going and buying a bunch of stuff at retail price, and we'll also have constant access to our budget. We spent slightly more than our net paychecks in November, but with a $2,200 deposit, a moving truck, paying a moving helper, and paying rent for 2 places, some yard supplies, etc I think we did pretty well. Could've been better, could've been worse. We also saved up for moving costs, so going negative was a little expected and even OK. Plus again we're selling that television and violin (I know I know I keep saying this, I'll do my best to find time this weekend) and that is supposed to help cover some moving costs. And we still saved an additional $1,000 in HSA and delivery fees which the net worth graph actually reflects as December incorrectly. Credit card: no we just use it for Netflix and it autopays itself in full every month. I don't even know where the credit card is actually. Maybe in our important documents folder. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 5, 2014 20:53
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Old Fart posted:Sometimes I don't update YNAB for weeks. Just sit down with YNAB and your online transaction report and type that poo poo in. There, now you know how it worked with your budget. KG, simply import all transactions from your bank... You can't drop some transactions. That makes your data garbage... I wish I could do this for you, it's frigging simple. I reconcile way, way bigger accounts with thousands of transactions for my day job, which probably gives me different perspective on it. Git'r'done son! Do it tonight or tomorrow. And then post screens of the budget page for period 11&12. That's a good storage spot for the CC, if that's where it is. My gf and I both keep our CU CC's in that spot, basically, and have recurring bills on them and nothing else. SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 5, 2014 21:19
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Knyteguy posted:Part of the problem was my bank did a system upgrade from the 24th to the 1st of December so reconciling expenses, on top of moving the weekend of the 15th and not getting the computer up up for quite a few days after that, and then a busy Thanksgiving and my bank only showing a few days worth of transaction... just not worth it to me to try to reconcile against nearly a month's worth of expenses. I know how much we spent (as shown in the YNAB graph less some returned fees) so I'm OK with an adjusted transaction. I feel comfortable enough knowing it went towards moving fees, paying my cousin to help move, a little bit of holiday spending, a few tools, and restaurants around the time of the move. I'm admittedly being a little lazy here but time has been at a premium lately, and I just don't feel it will give me anymore of the picture. I pretty much covered it for you guys already, I think. You're just being lazy dude. You admit it. Suck it up and reconcile November. Throw out November's transactions and export them from the banks website if need be. It really is not that hard and "time is at a premium" is a lovely excuse. Are you just going to not track expenses any time you feel there's some wishy washy excuse like "I don't feel it will give me more of the picture." Of COURSE it will give you more of the picture, since right now you have no idea how much you overspent in November. If you're lazy about it now you will find more excuses to be lazy about it in the future when you have a baby around.
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Dec 5, 2014 21:46
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By skipping November you're throwing October away. YNAB's reports become super-awesome after six or eight months, but you need to put data in there. Okay so whatever online is goofy. Go to the bank and get a printout. But I seriously can't imagine they're just making past transactions impossible to get online. There'd be riots.
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Dec 5, 2014 22:02
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It's only going to get more stressful when the baby comes. :/
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Dec 5, 2014 22:05
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