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Until you get advice from someone else advising you otherwise, I would leave the cleaning charge in there because why not. You only owe the landlord cleaning for normal wear and tear. If you have pictures or any documentation about the repairs causing your apartment to get dirty you should argue that it was never your responsibility to clean in the first place. In lieu of a statement, you should try to get the head maintenance or the cleaning lady's name and replace 'claimed head of maintenance' to validate the statement. Just call up the maitenance office and say you need to put in a ticket and request the guys name.
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Jan 28, 2015 23:11
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^ OK thanks. I'll readd.quote:January 28, 2015 OK I think... final? Anyone who may have good input please still mention it, because if it goes to court I can adjust my position. Added that key phrase "duty to mitigate damages". Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 23:12
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I'm not reading all this so I'll ask a simpler question to boil all this down. I thought you said you worked out a deal with the apartment complex meaning you had talked to them about it and came to terms. Was this never true, or did you work out a deal with them and now after the fact trying to get out of it?
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Jan 28, 2015 23:25
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Veskit posted:I'm not reading all this so I'll ask a simpler question to boil all this down. I thought you said you worked out a deal with the apartment complex meaning you had talked to them about it and came to terms. Was this never true, or did you work out a deal with them and now after the fact trying to get out of it? Fair enough there's a lot to read and a lot of it doesn't matter. I never said I made a deal with them though.
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Jan 28, 2015 23:28
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Knyteguy posted:Fair enough there's a lot to read and a lot of it doesn't matter. Knyteguy posted:Lease break fees is the apartment debt. We have an installment plan with them right now to ensure that it's not too stressful on our finances while the baby is impending. Well I knew I wasn't the crazy one. Unless an installment plan <> a deal. Also I'm not trying to play I gotcha but if you actually did set up a payment plan with them then you're hosed on this issue legally. They'll sue you and win. I asked cause I didn't want to dig. Veskit fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 23:38
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I wonder if you'd spend as much time focused on your work as you do on all these random flights of fancy you seem so prone to, how much farther your career would be.
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Jan 28, 2015 23:40
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Taco Box posted:I wonder if you'd spend as much time focused on your work as you do on all these random flights of fancy you seem so prone to, how much farther your career would be. Honestly I don't think his work ethic is or has ever been in question regarding work.
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Jan 28, 2015 23:42
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Veskit posted:Honestly I don't think his work ethic is or has ever been in question regarding work. Fair enough. I keep picturing him getting really sidetracked and distracted about [thing] on what seems like a weekly basis while at work. I could be and probably am wrong. Can't imagine where he gets the time.
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Jan 28, 2015 23:54
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Veskit posted:Well I knew I wasn't the crazy one. Unless an installment plan <> a deal. No not legally. They notified us that it's a program that they offer to all tenants who have bills with them at move out. We never agreed to the charges, or anything like that. Veskit posted:Honestly I don't think his work ethic is or has ever been in question regarding work. Thanks. I do have a pretty good work ethic, and the idea if I stay around this company and it takes off, is to put me into a higher position. There's just nowhere to move right now. Sometimes it's slow and I get a little more time to browse the forums, other times I'm slammed and skip my lunches and breaks and stay late and get here early. We delivered a copy of the notice to them, and paid them $996.43. We did get a second copy of the letter signed by the office lady saying that it was received. Here's hoping! Legally they overcharged us on the fee, as they were supposed to enter by the 15th as we hadn't paid November's rent by then and that's the date of assumed abandonment by the letter of the law. As least as far as I can tell. Thanks for the help everyone. I'm really hoping we just cut that expense by $436. (I was a little high when posting earlier). I'll get back to a couple points mentioned here today in the next couple days, and more if anyone wants to post anything.
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Jan 29, 2015 00:08
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..... gently caress this thread is confusing. Why didn't you just refuse to pay until they took you to court anyway and then settle something smaller than what it is now or fight it legally and have a reasonable chance to win. The only reason I dropped it to begin with was because you said that you had worked out payments!
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Jan 29, 2015 00:19
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Veskit posted:..... Oh. Sorry I've been trying to do my best to make it less confusing and ambiguous. I think I need to use less words. But yes I shouldn't have said we "have an installment plan" with them. It was just that we were notified of such a thing. I will do my best to ensure that doesn't happen again. My bad.
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Jan 29, 2015 00:23
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What was the $996.43 towards?
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Jan 29, 2015 00:58
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Knyteguy posted:Oh. Sorry I've been trying to do my best to make it less confusing and ambiguous. I think I need to use less words. But yes I shouldn't have said we "have an installment plan" with them. It was just that we were notified of such a thing. I will do my best to ensure that doesn't happen again. My bad. So i ask this again, why not refuse payment and force them to take you to court and or settle? Why did you drop off money if you didn't agree to anything. Why did you in fact make this payment if you're going to contest the other part of it anyway you could have easily worked it out where you would pay them their ripoff money upfront! Knyteguy's Ambiguous Financial Thread - WHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY *gasp* YYYYYYYYY
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Jan 29, 2015 01:00
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My Rhythmic Crotch posted:What was the $996.43 towards? Lease break fee, paint fee, cleaning fees. The apartment wasn't as sparkling clean as we usually leave places, so I think the assessment is fair. The carpets probably needed a shampoo (apartment carpet shows everything), and the paint fee was from a wall we painted, etc. Veskit posted:So i ask this again, why not refuse payment and force them to take you to court and or settle? Why did you drop off money if you didn't agree to anything. Why did you in fact make this payment if you're going to contest the other part of it anyway you could have easily worked it out where you would pay them their ripoff money upfront! lol. Well it says that if we didn't pay by *date* that we would be sent to collections... and with our car refinance coming up it may have actually hurt us financially more than just paying it. I'm just trying to stay focused on the car refinance, and after that I was thinking that our credit can go to poo poo again for 7 years again if necessary. It sucks because I almost asked if I should do what you're proposing, but I thought we might all get into the moral obligations of paying bills again (and I kind of agree with that here; we knew the penalties for breaking the lease). I do feel like we've taken care of some of the lumps here though. Even if this comes to a court day, we handled a huge debt yesterday with our taxes, and we owe $996 less with this debt. I'm very happy that we were able to take care of those two one after another, and we're still OK. Now I just want to be 110% sure that we don't take on one more single debt or make another terrible decision. I'm tired of seeing our money go down the drain. I still have my large financial goals, and it's time we start working towards those without these speed bumps.
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Jan 29, 2015 01:25
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Bugamol posted:Do you plan, in advance, anything in your life? OK to avoid getting a huge debate here, yes I plan some stuff. I've planned months in advance for trips, going to college and working at the same time, etc. However you are correct that I'm more reactionary, and I do think that that is one of the reasons we have trouble budgeting. Plus I tend to think that we can do better than $X in groceries, I get cocky about it, and then 2 weeks later I realize we've been eating the same thing every night and my wife is getting tired of it, and we check out AllRecipes and make some fancy stupid dinner on a whim. Or yes we nearly run out of groceries and supplement with expensive stuff. This is a behavior I would like to correct, but I'm not sure I know how. Financially I feel like no matter how hard I try to prepare, and no matter how much time I put into planning a budget and stuff, it's just not the right plan for me. I dunno, I can't put any more thought into it right this moment. Right now I'm just trying to learn to deal with my sometimes impulsive behavior. It's been insightful.
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Jan 29, 2015 01:36
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I'm busy atm so I'll post bigger later but I just want to say, in all caps, WHAT CAR REFINANCE? I didn't hear anything about you seriously refinancing your car before, what is this?
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Jan 29, 2015 02:17
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That much I followed, he's working on his credit so he can refinance his car so he can pay less interest on it. I don't understand loans and cars since I refuse to deal with that, so I leave it up to you guys.Knyteguy posted:OK to avoid getting a huge debate here, yes I plan some stuff. I've planned months in advance for trips, going to college and working at the same time, etc. However you are correct that I'm more reactionary, and I do think that that is one of the reasons we have trouble budgeting. Plus I tend to think that we can do better than $X in groceries, I get cocky about it, and then 2 weeks later I realize we've been eating the same thing every night and my wife is getting tired of it, and we check out AllRecipes and make some fancy stupid dinner on a whim. Or yes we nearly run out of groceries and supplement with expensive stuff. You still didn't negotiate anything and just dropped off the money, which then took away ALL OF YOUR LEVERAGE. You could have just gone and talked to them, offered 700 dollars to make it all go away, then negotiate it to the 900 dollars and be done with it, but now you're back to disputing that charge and going through all this again. It could have been done with.
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Jan 29, 2015 02:19
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Knyteguy posted:Lease break fee, paint fee, cleaning fees. The apartment wasn't as sparkling clean as we usually leave places, so I think the assessment is fair. The carpets probably needed a shampoo (apartment carpet shows everything), and the paint fee was from a wall we painted, etc. - you could have told the thread well in advance what date this $996 was due - itemized the $996 so we knew wtf was going on (you might have, sorry if I missed that) - the cleaning fee portion of that could have been used as a bargaining chip in this whole fiasco. I'm not saying it would have been successful but who knows now. - you could have called the corporate mothership of the apartment's and tried to settle it that way as me and Droo (or someone, I forget) advised We want to help you buddy, help us help you
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Jan 29, 2015 02:23
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I can't believe you forked over $1000 bucks to keep your credit score from tanking when you already have thousands of dollars in collections. I am leaning towards bankruptcy at this point. You could get rid of that horribly expensive car and get a reasonable cheap car to replace it with cash. You are years from being able to afford a house anyways.
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Jan 29, 2015 02:29
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Quite a leap there nocheez haha
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Jan 29, 2015 02:34
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Well... that sucks. I thought I did pretty well here, but I understand what you guys are saying. I obviously need to communicate information better. Nocheez I'm open to bankruptcy, but it's been advised against in the past. If we could just start with a clean slate that would be amazing. I think I've had enough painful financial lessons to last a life time - I would never let us get in a debt situation like we're currently in again.
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Jan 29, 2015 02:46
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We have avoided bankruptcy talk mostly because we did not know your full financial picture and about all outstanding debts. I would wait to see how much your kid costs you before considering it, but if you have any sort of complications it might be the right decision. I wish you well and hope you can make headway regardless. A functional budget that you can stick with will be great either way.
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Jan 29, 2015 02:56
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Knyteguy posted:I think I've had enough painful financial lessons to last a life time - I would never let us get in a debt situation like we're currently in again. Yes, you would. You still haven't shown that you learned anything from your previous painful financial lessons, and hence have not changed your approach or habits.
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Jan 29, 2015 03:04
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Hey KG, now you can come visit SF for free! http://hackersurfing.com/
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Jan 29, 2015 03:08
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Quantum Finger posted:Yes, you would. You still haven't shown that you learned anything from your previous painful financial lessons, and hence have not changed your approach or habits. I agree. I don't doubt that you regret your choices and are starting to fully comprehend how they have screwed up your life Knyteguy, but you haven't really had a chance to put that to practice. Without practice you're that much more likely to fall into old habits when stress hits. I think it's worth considering bankruptcy, but not until at least 6 months after the birth of the baby. There's been several things lately that people have said "don't do it until the baby is at least 6 months old." I think you would do well to put ALL major life decisions (like bankruptcy, vacations, or whatever else that may come up) at least 6 months after the baby comes. Keep your head clear and your attention on that little ball of life.
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Jan 29, 2015 03:45
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I must say that I never thought good finances would require so much introspection. I always kind of figured that if we had this grand goal in mind, that everything else would just kind of fall into place. But it's not that easy. Every time I feel like I have it in my grasp, it seems to get a little further away. My wife and I sat down and talked this evening, and we are going to start making some small changes to reach this point of status quo. Last night we divvyed up chores and what day we need to do them. The penalty for missing a day is $5 in discretionary. We also are going to start limiting electronics and tv time to between 5pm and 8pm with a couple caveats. Finally we are going to start an after work ritual of having a cup of tea (decaf) after work to candlelight. The point of all of this is going to be stress reduction. I've said it a couple times, but it's supposed to be a large part in helping to reduce impulsive behavior. I applied a little bit of bfc advice this evening. We were about to head into town to go to target and get a less bright light bulb for some relaxing lighting, but instead, just before we left, I asked if there was a way to achieve the same thing without spending money. So we put together our candles... And no money was spent. It's like some of you have said - I need to like focus on the here and now. I think a large part of me likes to focus on the future, and a little in the past, but rarely in the present. I think this mind set makes it so my actions, spending included, have less consequences. It's been future me who will have to pick up the pieces. It's the case with the lease break, the car, all of it. Well future me is here and it's not much fun trying to clean up this mess. So to summarize, I'm going to try to focus more on the here and now, to relax, and to think about solving problems in ways that do not involve spending money. A lot of you have been saying this, but I keep thinking well shoot it was just this once, or that won't happen again... You guys know. I don't know why this particular thing happening with the apartment is what triggered this realization, but it has at least given me a moment a clarity that I hope I can continue to see. I'm trying to think about the kind of life I want to offer my son, and it certainly isn't becoming frantic over material wants, and prioritizing them over anything else including financial security and I certainly don't want him to prioritize mindless consumption over the things that really bring happiness. I believe that some pointless stuff is fine, but I'm starting to realize that it needs to be purchased responsibly with discretion. I'm also genuinely irritated looking at our living room this evening. There is so much stuff, but so little substance. I probably won't feel like this for long, but I almost wish we could throw it all away. Again I think there's a place for it, but it hasn't made me any happier really. That lies elsewhere. I wish I'd waited on all of this stuff until we were in a better position to own it and enjoy it. Cicero: That's amazing! Oh and yes definitely regarding the 6 months. I'll make it a focus to keep things stable for that time, and I'll count on you guys to put me in check if I start to stray. If you guys don't mind. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Jan 29, 2015 |
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Jan 29, 2015 05:05
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Knyteguy posted:Last night we divvyed up chores and what day we need to do them. The penalty for missing a day is $5 in discretionary. I hope the split on this was you 99% and her 1% because I cannot imagine in what universe doing this with an eight-months-pregnant wife ends well.
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Jan 29, 2015 05:38
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  I know I kept going back and forth on groceries. But that's what it's set to. It's the amount that we need to stay on budget here after some careful thought and deliberation between my wife and I. Miscellaneous is a little high for February. I needed to renew my driver's license this month. Luckily that won't happen again for another 8 years. I also lowered discretionary since we added a few more categories. I've mentioned it a few times so I'm not going to bring it up again. We want to roll with this in February. We feel it's a good budget. I estimated what I think is low for her income for the coming months. I tried to account for the expected increase in insurance as well, but we'll see how close I come. Excess income not budgeted for will go into the emergency fund.
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Jan 29, 2015 06:30
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Did you ever ask your grandma if you could float her payments for sometime while like you know, she becomes a great grandma?
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Jan 29, 2015 06:54
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Knyteguy posted:We want to roll with this in February. Please aim to sick to a budget for longer than one month. Are you comfortable doing this through March?
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Jan 29, 2015 08:15
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Budget looks pretty reasonable and your idea of thinking day-to-day about how to not spend money is a good one. Don't get stuck thinking that because there's money in the budget that you have to spend it. Remind yourself that it'll be there tomorrow. A great place to do this is your discretionary and restaurants budget. My wife and I spent $55 in restaurants in the month of January, and that's because we blew it out one night and went to our favorite place with friends. Take some of your idle time (or time spend posting on SA) and make one-dish meals that you can freeze. Do it in batches. They're cheaper, more convenient, and generally more healthy than anything you'd pick up or eat out. It all adds up to a much lower level of stress. Try it.
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Jan 29, 2015 14:21
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If she breastfeeds she's going to likely be starving and want food all the time. After the first couple weeks after birth, I was so much hungrier those first 4-5 months nursing then I ever was while pregnant. Makes sense though because the baby you are feeding on the outside is continually getting bigger and more demanding then while he was inside. Just wanted to throw that out there so you can be prepared in case you need to adjust the grocery budget. Most nursing moms I've talked to have said the same-- like hobbits as far as number of meals and amount eaten in those meals.
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Jan 29, 2015 14:36
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Veskit posted:Did you ever ask your grandma if you could float her payments for sometime while like you know, she becomes a great grandma? Erm I don't think she could afford it right now. She's fixed income and if anything I'd like to give her more money than we owe her, as some of the other people in the family take advantage of her financially. Maybe my student loans would be worth deferring as mentioned before? Truthfully before exploring the options too much, I'd kind of like to see how much this baby actually costs. I'm really hoping that we overestimated. Inverse Icarus posted:Please aim to sick to a budget for longer than one month. Mostly. Our income and baby expenses will be variable over the next couple months, but the bulk of it should remain the same. This is because my wife is going to have I think 1 week of unpaid leave (work is covering 5 weeks including her week of vacation, she's taking 6 weeks), and then we have to factor in paying my sister. I don't know how these costs will actually play out, so I tried to go high. Trust me I'm just as tired of making these budgets as I'm sure everyone is at looking at them. With the new baby costs and income estimated as they currently are, we'll be looking at roughly 20% savings February, 13% savings for March and April, and 21% beyond that. That's lower than my goal, but at least we know it's achievable at the moment. Easychair Bootson posted:Budget looks pretty reasonable and your idea of thinking day-to-day about how to not spend money is a good one. Don't get stuck thinking that because there's money in the budget that you have to spend it. Remind yourself that it'll be there tomorrow. A great place to do this is your discretionary and restaurants budget. My wife and I spent $55 in restaurants in the month of January, and that's because we blew it out one night and went to our favorite place with friends. Take some of your idle time (or time spend posting on SA) and make one-dish meals that you can freeze. Do it in batches. They're cheaper, more convenient, and generally more healthy than anything you'd pick up or eat out. It all adds up to a much lower level of stress. Try it. $55 on restaurants would be great. If we could get to that point I'd be a happy guy. I definitely use the budget to justify my spending. I've noticed this while losing weight too. We're going to draw up some meal plans after my wife gets off work tonight and throw some stuff together. We'd like to throw some salads in there, too as we've been enjoying those lately. Does anyone have tips on how to make salads an easy part of meals? I know there are the bags with dressing and stuff, but those are a little expensive. sheri posted:If she breastfeeds she's going to likely be starving and want food all the time. Haha alright you're giving me some teasing ammunition here too. The plan is to breastfeed if possible, so I'll put together some high calorie meals. She loves oatmeal; I'll try that oatmeal recipe someone posted earlier, and I'll just try to have lots of high calorie filling meals around. I'll go over GWS again and see what we can pull together. I'm thinking the baby will help reboot our spending a little bit. I understand there won't be much time for much for the first couple weeks except family time and I guess trying to nap? That sounds great. I wish my paternity leave were longer. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Jan 29, 2015 |
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Jan 29, 2015 17:45
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I need to sit down and work on a meal plan again, I was good about it last spring... This doesn't mean we eat out much (we definitely don't, couple meals out a month when with friends or family, and maybe one date night a month), but it means more boring foods because my gf has been vegan for 7mo now. On the upside that means I eat a lot more vegetables. Salad: kale, tomato, avocado (half or whole depending on salad size, if half leave the pit in the half you don't use and cover w plastic wrap and store for 1-2 days), green onion, other stuff if you wish. Massage a light amount of dressing into torn kale (makes the kale taste better and is softer) and toss the other stuff into the bowl. Done. Use 'light' dressing and don't use much, that poo poo is generally bad for you. And delicious!
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Jan 29, 2015 21:14
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Knyteguy posted:
Its been said many times before, get thee to goons with spoons. Don't buy those bags of mixed lettuce, they're expensive and usually half rotten anyway. Buy a whole head, (or several different varieties if yout want a mix) it will be cheaper and last longer. Making your own dressing is a thousand times cheaper too. Just mix 1 part acid (vinegar, citrus juice ect) to three parts oil with a pinch of salt, pepper, and a dab o mustard. Tastes way better than the typical American sugar sludge. You can even make a big batch and keep it in the fridge, just give it a shake before using. (If you are doing this, don't use garlic, it will go rancid very quickly.)
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Jan 29, 2015 21:43
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Alright I didn't think those salad kits were too great. I definitely like the idea of making our own dressing that would be sweet. I always get distracted in GWS there's a lot of cool stuff in there, and I always end up with no recipes. I'll try to read the actual recipes thread before we shop. Sig: avocado on salad I'll have to try that. Thanks for the tips. We'll likely be shopping this evening. Quick update: I explained to that Rocket Lawyer service the extra rent situation, and he says we have a legal standing to take it to court. He also said that if we gave written notice to the apartments, and have proof of it, then we should win it. The lawyer who answered the question is only a county away from me, and I just checked out his website and he's been a JD since 1982, served on the state bar counsel, and is a former Supreme Court Settlement Judge. I'm pretty impressed with the service, and it gives me confidence in the answer. So I know I didn't do the ideal thing here, but you guys just genuinely saved me $440. I would have paid that bill in full without question if you guys didn't bring it up. Thanks. Oh and I cancelled the free trial for the lawyer service as well.
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Jan 30, 2015 02:47
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Make sure you take a couple days to stay in bed and read all day or binge watch a TV show or do an absurd amount of nothing/whatevet your favorite time waster is with your days. I wish I would have done a few more days like that while pregnant because I just don't have that luxury now.
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Jan 30, 2015 02:57
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Knyteguy posted:Alright I didn't think those salad kits were too great. I definitely like the idea of making our own dressing that would be sweet. I always get distracted in GWS there's a lot of cool stuff in there, and I always end up with no recipes. I'll try to read the actual recipes thread before we shop. Knyteguy posted:Quick update: I explained to that Rocket Lawyer service the extra rent situation, and he says we have a legal standing to take it to court. He also said that if we gave written notice to the apartments, and have proof of it, then we should win it.
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Jan 30, 2015 04:09
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Here Knyteguy. I always beat you up, but I had a pretty horrible month myself. I took my parents out to dinner a few times because they had a hard month and worked a few 60+ hour weeks which caused me to eat out for both lunches and dinners. This gives you an opportunity to make fun of me!
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Jan 30, 2015 17:15
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Bugamol posted:Here Knyteguy. I always beat you up, but I had a pretty horrible month myself. I took my parents out to dinner a few times because they had a hard month and worked a few 60+ hour weeks which caused me to eat out for both lunches and dinners. BUGAMOL, you rear end in a top hat! I'm DONE with this thread! Do you see this chart!? Look at this progress!  
Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Jan 30, 2015 |
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Jan 30, 2015 17:32
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