|
Knyteguy posted:All of this extra money we're getting this month is meeting our emergency fund and then going to debt. It hurts to get rid of possessions sometimes, but you're going to be much better off. Plus, it looks like you made lowtax another 10 bucks.
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 11:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 06:51 |
|
|
I had to look up what thousand trails was:quote:Thousand Trails (TT) is a campground membership organization that operates in a similar fashion to a resort timeshare. You pay an upfront cost and then are able to use the facilities for given amounts of time throughout the year. Goddamnit KG, how did I know you were a sucker for timeshares too?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 12:38
|
|
|
BloodBag posted:I had to look up what thousand trails was: I totally skipped over this, but you didn't budget $48 for TT. You went and added it afterwards. That's not a budget, that's a reconciliation document. This is exactly how Zaurg operated when faced with "unexpected" costs. It needs to come from somewhere else, and it's OK to have an "other" or "misc" category with a small amount of money in it for unexpected expenses. But you didn't budget for this one, and you shouldn't adjust your budgeted numbers until you make your September budget. At the very least, change the "budget" number to zero.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 14:40
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:I totally skipped over this, but you didn't budget $48 for TT. You went and added it afterwards. That's not a budget, that's a reconciliation document. This is exactly how Zaurg operated when faced with "unexpected" costs. Yeah weird, I had written about it in my last post (which is why I added it to the spreadsheet), but I must have deleted during finalizing the post on accident. Yes I thought it was due again next month not this month. $20 is coming out of the birthday money I got and $29 is coming from the remaining windfall. Hopefully that's the last month of dues. I'll update it to show $0 budgeted. I was just trying to quickly communicate where we're sitting after selling stuff. We did used to have an unexpected budget category; I'll add that again in September just to help cover stuff like this to help keep things smoother. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Aug 13, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 15:05
|
|
|
As you get better at this (and acquire more historical data) you'll find the right number. How are things going, to you? It looks to me like you're making progress, but is your relationship to money and debt changing?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 15:14
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:As you get better at this (and acquire more historical data) you'll find the right number. I think things are going pretty well, while acknowledging that there's room for improvement. I'd like to get the budget to the set it and forget it stage ASAP so I'm not spending so much time on it, so I need to improve the planning that we're doing. Like you mentioned I'm hoping having more data will help, since I don't have a lot of solid figures on the new income and life situation. I'm going to take a long hard look at August's overages (if any beyond Thousand Trails) and just aim high on categories if needed (non-discretionary categories only). I think my relationship with money and debt is in the process of changing, but I haven't reflected heavily on it yet as I'm kind of actively trying to focus on the day-to-day part of it all. There's been a lot of lifestyle change in the past 45 days. Like I mentioned a couple weeks ago I very much used to resent the budget and looked at it as "something in the way", where now it's just what we do and what we need to follow so we can get where we want to go. The desire to spend frivolously has been very low, and conversely the desire to get out of debt has been very high. We're motivated right now, and I'm using little tricks like making a budget to see what categories could look like once we're out of debt to stay motivated. I think I'll have a better answer to this in 3-6 months. Mostly I'm just really excited about getting this debt off our backs. Side note: my wife called that campground membership seller (and got ahold of them this time), and they have a quick buyer available (actively looking for our membership type). We'll get $1,500 (we might have to pay the remaining dues out of this, I'm not sure. I'll plan around them coming out even though no one mentioned this to me.) and they'll pay the $750 transfer fee (how the membership selling place gets their money I think), and there's no $250 advertisement fee like they'd normally charge. We don't have to take it, but they said it can take 6-8 months if we wait plus the additional fees. We're going to go ahead and proceed with selling, but the money won't be available until next month. I'll update as I find out more. That windfall will go towards the debt as well.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 18:19
|
|
|
Good job selling the drums and bike. For the windfalls of $2947, is that just the bike and drums, or were there other things included in that?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 19:03
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:
This is good! This is a good feeling, but the brain chemicals you get from being falling back into old habits will always be there and they're much stronger. Teaching yourself to have a rational decision process instead of a emotional one takes a lot of time. It's just winning a lot of small battles with yourself, and being consistent.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 19:07
|
|
|
My Rhythmic Crotch posted:Good job selling the drums and bike. Thanks. My wife's third monthly paycheck this month is in there as windfall as well. I'm open on where to put a third paycheck in the future. The next one should be January 2020. Mind you I'm still not 100% sure those income numbers will be perfect. Nocheez posted:This is good! This is a good feeling, but the brain chemicals you get from being falling back into old habits will always be there and they're much stronger. Teaching yourself to have a rational decision process instead of a emotional one takes a lot of time. It's just winning a lot of small battles with yourself, and being consistent. Alright, I'll keep that in mind. In a way it sounds like smoking then: you can stop but it doesn't mean those urges are ever completely gone. I'm working on the decision making - being mindful of making decisions has been the most difficult part I think. The membership has been sold for $1,500. Dues I'm still unclear on. I'll budget for having to pay them and plan around owing the remaining yearly dues and call it good (unused if any will go to the debt paydown fund). Again it will take about a month to get our money. $3,360 sold so far this month and $50 in recurring monthly payments cut. Thanks for motivating me to sell.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 20:14
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Thanks. My wife's third monthly paycheck this month is in there as windfall as well. I'm open on where to put a third paycheck in the future. The next one should be January 2020. Mind you I'm still not 100% sure those income numbers will be perfect. YNAB suggests getting a month ahead so you can start budgeting with last month's income instead. You already know for certain the total amount you took in, so your spending amounts are pretty easy to figure out.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 20:20
|
|
|
KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I will toxx that kg still owns that fuckin dirt bike on sept 1 What do we do with him, lads?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 21:27
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 21:35
|
|
|
Simpsons Reference posted:What do we do with him, lads? ill take the ban
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 21:40
|
|
|
Good on ya getting rid of stuff KG!Simpsons Reference posted:What do we do with him, lads? A toxx is only fun if there is actual risk
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2019 23:06
|
|
|
Simpsons Reference posted:What do we do with him, lads?
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2019 00:19
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2019 00:33
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Thanks. My wife's third monthly paycheck this month is in there as windfall as well. I'm open on where to put a third paycheck in the future. Knyteguy posted:The membership has been sold for $1,500.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2019 07:04
|
|
|
good job fellow kg
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2019 17:17
|
|
|
Thanks everyone for the positive feedback. I want to get a month ahead for sure, but I want to get some big chunks of debt paid off first. We'll need more savings to start to match a normal month's income to get started, so I'll reevaluate when we get the RV paid off. I don't have much else to say at this moment, so I'll post this: I've started doing some very basic financial lessons with my son to try to give him tools to avoid poor financial decisions later in life like I've made. We've kept a piggy bank for him since he was born, and my son and I emptied it out and counted it all out together. He has $55-$60 in there. I told him to take $1.50 and we'd go to the store and pick out something he wanted, to show him how money works. We browsed stuff that was within his budget, and he picked out this little toy/candy combo thing for $1.00, handed the money to the cashier and paid for it. He put the $0.50 remaining back into his piggy bank. A week or so later when we sold the dirt bike my wife showed him what $1,200 looks like, and he started crying: "I only have $5.00!! I want $834.8225 cents" or similar. So we said he can start helping out around the house beyond just cleaning his room and we'll start paying him, because work is how you make money, ignoring interest at the moment. So somewhat long story short I'm going to add a little chore bucket to the budget in September so he can have the opportunity to earn a bit. We'll save 75% of his 'income' and I'll let him spend the remaining on something he wants once or twice a month, or he can save it instead of spending it of course. I'm open to more ideas if anyone has any. I had very few financial lessons as a kid besides you have to pay back what you borrow, so I'm just kind making stuff up as I go for the most part. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Aug 15, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 19:43
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:I'm open to more ideas if anyone has any. I had very few financial lessons as a kid besides you have to pay back what you borrow, so I'm just kind making stuff up as I go for the most part. I don't have anything specific to add, but I think a big thing would be to give him some kind of tangible benefit to choosing to save his money rather than spending it. Although right now your kid's only three, right? It might be quite a while before these lessons impart any actual value, someone with more kid experience than me can chime in on whether this is actually helpful or not at this age (Genuinely interested in this, I have a kid younger than that so this is going to come up for me in a couple years as well). I guess my main concern would be whether he can actually grasp the abstract concept behind money and the math necessary for it at this age. Has he shown any interest in money or purchasing things (beyond just "me want toy!")?
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 19:58
|
|
|
Just having experience with money, and having to earn it as a child taught me a lot. My parents were really good with their money, but they had to be in order to raise 6 children on a meager budget. They instilled lots of little lessons, repeatedly, and over a very long time: - Pay yourself first (put money in savings) - Use debt sparingly, and only at good interest rates - Live within your means - Don't buy poo poo you can't afford - Cost is only part of the price of something (maintenance, fees, consumables, etc.) edit: Of course the lessons are going to have to be age-appropriate. I got an allowance of $5/week for doing chores every day after school. They were things I could handle at about 6 or 7, running a vacuum, tidying up, cleaning a bathroom, etc. Then my buddy's dad who owned a bar hired us for the princely sum of $10/each to clean the bar he owned. I'm sure that was the best money he ever spent, getting a couple of 10-year olds to do the dirty work at a dive bar. That was money I blew at the arcade the very same day more than once. Nocheez fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Aug 15, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 19:58
|
|
|
Trader Stav has a short thread on raising gwm kids
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 20:10
|
|
|
gmc9987 posted:I don't have anything specific to add, but I think a big thing would be to give him some kind of tangible benefit to choosing to save his money rather than spending it. He's 4 and a half now. He's shown a little interest in money yeah, so that's why I kind of want to start to impart useful stuff to him as soon as possible. But definitely, he might not be ready yet either - I'm not sure. One point I've been trying to drive home is why we say no to buying things sometimes (it's unhealthy, or unnecessary, etc). I'll think of a way to incentivize saving his discretionary. Maybe I'll kick in a an extra dollar or two as 'interest' if he saves it at least 31 days or something. nashona posted:Trader Stav has a short thread on raising gwm kids Looks like a good resource, thanks. Nocheez posted:Just having experience with money, and having to earn it as a child taught me a lot. My parents were really good with their money, but they had to be in order to raise 6 children on a meager budget. They instilled lots of little lessons, repeatedly, and over a very long time: Thanks for sharing, I'll keep these lessons in mind. I definitely expect him to spend money non-ideally sometimes, I think that's just part of growing up. I've started September's budget draft. I'm going to wait until the 31st to post/finalize it though, since I want to see how the remainder of the month goes with our current categories.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 21:19
|
|
|
If you remember from your last thread, my son is only a week apart in age from yours. One thing that's really conceptualizing saving for him right now is that we looked through the Lego catalog with him and he picked out something he really wanted. Now he's earning/saving for it. We have a good behavior chart that is where he earns money.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 21:34
|
|
|
ExtrudeAlongCurve posted:If you remember from your last thread, my son is only a week apart in age from yours. I do remember - I knew they were close but I didn't realize they were that close! I wanted to ask how things were going! I really like this idea. I'll keep my eyes open for something he says he wants and proceed from there. I like it because he'll have time to "evaluate" (as much as a 4 year old can) how much he wants something when he finishes saving up for it, too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 21:47
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:
It’s a noble idea, but I think you are over engineering it. The concept of interest may not be worth the effort while he is so young. Try the chore chart for a while first before getting to complicated.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2019 00:43
|
|
|
I learned about money from my mom, who was a notorious penny pincher. We got a $5/month "allowance" and guilt tripped over every last little thing. I would not recommend that method, lol.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2019 01:17
|
|
|
The problem with tying money to chores is when they have enough money they stop doing chores. Here the kiddo has regular chores he does just because chores are things you do as part of living in a household. You live here, you help make the messes, therefore you help clean up. He does get a small weekly allowance too that is not tied to chores. He divides it into save spend and share and he gets to deal with what it means if he spends it all and can't get cool toy X that costs more than what he has. Better to make the mistakes and learn from them now at six then having to learn all this at say 20 on a much more expensive scale. Edit: here's an article that sums up my method/thoughts pretty well! https://slate.com/business/2015/02/kids-allowances-youre-doing-it-completely-wrong.html sheri fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Aug 16, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2019 03:22
|
|
|
sheri posted:The problem with tying money to chores is when they have enough money they stop doing chores. Yeah, I didn’t mention this since I know nothing of kids, but research shows that there’s two bad the about this: 1) it moves chores from a “social norm” to a “business norm” and 2) it takes away joy for the they might like and replaces it by doing this for the money. Basically, people will gladly help you move for free or if you provide pizza/beer with the understanding you do the same for them when they need it. If you slip them a 50 they will get offended. Hiring professional movers is more than 50, so why would you underpay them? Even though the 50 is arguable more useful and unless you have alcoholic friends, more expensive than pizza and beer. They no longer judge helping as a favor but as a business transaction. Trials also show that in children, awarding things they enjoy (making drawings), takes away the joy. They no longer draw because they like it but because they are paid. They start enjoying drawing less and will stop doing it if no longer paid. Much of this is not based on children, so I don’t know if it applies to them, but if it does, linking money to chores/good behavior, may teach them a lesson about money at the cost of making them into calculating assholes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2019 04:54
|
|
|
nashona posted:Trader Stav has a short thread on raising gwm kids It really didn’t take, but you got to love any thing that was spawned from the Zaurg threads.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2019 10:46
|
|
|
TraderStav posted:It really didn’t take, but you got to love any thing that was spawned from the Zaurg threads. I’ve kept that thread bookmarked specifically so I can go back to it when gwm kids become more relevant to me. There are great idea in there, further proving anyone can take something from the good parts of zruag threads and offshoots.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2019 11:32
|
|
|
Yes, I'm a big believer in not paying children for routine housework and the like. They need to learn that doing it routinely is just a necessary and normal part of life, and not a big deal - you just do it every day and move on. You don't get paid for doing your dishes as a grown-up. Teaching children that they should be rewarded for doing staple caretaking acts for their own lives is, in my opinion, a bad idea.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2019 00:43
|
|
|
I know not everyone in BFC is the biggest fan, but MMM just posted something about how he handles finances with his kids for an additional viewpoint: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2019/07/20/estate-planning/. Definitely something I'll put a lot of thought into as he gets older. Quick updates: Bad news: - I gave back $100 for the motorcycle sale. I accidentally sold it as the incorrect year, so that was the compromise the buyer and I came up with. I kept meaning to double check on the VIN, but spaced it. I'm tired of letting mistakes like this happen. Good news: - We got paid out of the new Chase checking for $200, and we have some CC rewards I cashed out for $30. - I put an additional $1,195 towards the RV this month. New balance: $17,789, previous $19,234. $313 left over in the debt paydown category that should rollover, unless you guys think I should just pay it towards the RV now. - September is looking really good as far as an additional debt principal payment goes. The payment should be around $3,500 with the checking bonus and that campground membership sale. We're on track to be in a place to start looking to sell the RV in December or so, but I'm counting on it being March-May of 2020 before we actually find a buyer with the motivation and means. At which point it should be about paid off and anything we have leftover will go towards the truck principal.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 17:35
|
|
|
Plans for August and September: - Move the Prudential retirement over to Vanguard. My wife has to handle this since there's no account number listed online. - Sell my laptop. I'm no longer using it for work. Spectre x360 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=spectre+x360&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=3000 $300-$500 ?? - Sell our projector. Epson 8350 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xepson+8350.TRS0&_nkw=epson+8350&_sacat=0 I'd expect $300-$500. It needs a lamp: https://www.amazon.com/FI-Lamps-eps...ctronics&sr=1-8 - Sell my unopened collector's edition Bloodborne guide: https://www.amazon.com/Bloodborne-Collectors-Strategy-Guide-Future/dp/3869930691 $90-$130 Time frame: Selling: I'll get the items listed this coming Saturday morning. Retirement fund transfer: I'll ask wife to take a look at it tonight to see who she needs to talk to for this information. I'm thinking it's only Prudential but I'm not 100% sure. She may have to call her former employer, but we'll see.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 17:50
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:$313 left over in the debt paydown category that should rollover, unless you guys think I should just pay it towards the RV now. Why would you keep it around unless there's a real risk you run into liquidity issues otherwise? It's already budgeted towards debt paydown and you're not going to get better interest than paying off debt anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 18:51
|
|
|
klafbang posted:Why would you keep it around unless there's a real risk you run into liquidity issues otherwise? It's already budgeted towards debt paydown and you're not going to get better interest than paying off debt anywhere. Gotcha. I wanted to see a slightly bigger number w/ next month's big pay down payment was the only reason. $312.95 paid.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 19:08
|
|
|
Sounds like some good progress being made. Did we talk about the possibility of refinancing the RV as a possible way to get the interest rate down while you're paying it off?
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 20:36
|
|
|
My Rhythmic Crotch posted:Sounds like some good progress being made. Briefly. I'm more willing to try this avenue now, but the credit score needed for recreational loans is pretty high which is why I've been wary. My credit union rates: https://www.gncu.org/Resources/Tools/Check-Rates#rec and a loan fee of $1,190 if I'm reading this correctly: "New and Used RV loan: A loan amount of $25,000 with a loan term of 144-month at a 5.89% interest rate = 143 payments of $243.63 per month with a final payment of $243.46 includes a $50 document fee; 5.93% APR and $70.01 per $1,000 borrowed." That potential loan fee would eat away any potential interest cost cutting considering the timeline. Should I eat a hard pull with these guys? https://www.sefinancial.com/rvs-campers/refinancing/. They're seem well reviewed, noting that it's difficult to trust reviews: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/sefinancial.com
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 20:58
|
|
|
I'd probably get on Credit Karma first. It's good for a ballpark idea of where your credit is, and they list out things you can do to bump your score, and in a lot of cases they're pretty simple. Or at least in my case it was simple.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 22:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 06:51 |
|
|
My Rhythmic Crotch posted:I'd probably get on Credit Karma first. It's good for a ballpark idea of where your credit is, and they list out things you can do to bump your score, and in a lot of cases they're pretty simple. Or at least in my case it was simple. I definitely keep tabs on my credit score, especially since I was part of the Equifax leak - Credit Karma has had me low for a long time for some reason (669/669). I just spent $1 out of discretionary at Experian (already cancelled) and got all 3 Fico scores. 695 Experian, 690 Equifax, 675 Transunion. I think we feasibly have a shot at getting approved for a much better rate. Whether it's worth it or not after fees I'm not sure. IIRC 675 was what we needed to buy new at a decent rate when we bought ours (and we didn't have it). If you guys think it's worth exploring more I don't mind taking the hit on a hard pull. It should be a bit before we need credit again.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2019 22:15
|
|