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herakles posted:I'm 32 and have basically zero assets, I've lived hand-to-mouth for pretty much my entire adult life and I'm tired of it. I'm trying to get my budget under control and exercise some fiscal discipline so I can be debt free and not penniless. You're throwing $400 combined at CC/Medical Bills/Emergency Fund. Based off my calculations, you'll have your Medical Bills paid off by June, your CCs by by next January, and then putting $400 into savings a month will give you $20,000 by Mid January 2015. If you cut your eating out to $80 and throw the extra $100 at your CCs then Savings, your CCs are gone by November, and you'll have your 20k cushion by Mid October 2014. Pillowpants fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Apr 15, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 13:03
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posted this credit card advice request in A/T got lukewarm response http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3291862
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Apr 14, 2010 17:52
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Engineer Lenk posted:Is the food budget for you alone, or are you supporting someone else as well? $350 in groceries + ~$200 for eating out seems really high to me, particularly in a place where rent is only $700/month. We spend a good bit less than that (maybe $400 combined) for two people. I live in central California with a roommate, my food and restaurant budget does include paying for my girlfriend whenever we go out to eat together and buying groceries whenever we cook together (she's broke). Groceries are expensive here, but I also eat out too much.
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Apr 14, 2010 19:05
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herakles posted:I live in central California with a roommate, my food and restaurant budget does include paying for my girlfriend whenever we go out to eat together and buying groceries whenever we cook together (she's broke). Groceries are expensive here, but I also eat out too much. Central California should net you some good seasonal produce buys at local ethnic markets or farmers' markets. If you build meals around that, you can stretch your grocery budget a lot further.
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Apr 14, 2010 19:12
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herakles posted:my food and restaurant budget does include paying for my girlfriend whenever we go out to eat together and buying groceries whenever we cook together (she's broke). Groceries are expensive here, but I also eat out too much. Why is your girlfriend broke? I think fixing that may be the best solution to saving a little more.
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Apr 14, 2010 23:08
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KarmaCandy posted:Why is your girlfriend broke? I think fixing that may be the best solution to saving a little more. Medical issue - she can't work more than part time or she'll lose her county health benefits. Not that they've done squat for her. 
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Apr 15, 2010 00:16
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Pillowpants posted:I can help you make a long term budget (different excel sheets for each month and a debt/savings tracker) if you'd like. Don't hawk your product in other subforums dude. Not cool.
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Apr 15, 2010 12:33
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Chin Strap posted:Don't hawk your product in other subforums dude. Not cool. Moana told me I could as long as I didn't just post a link and offered something useful in addition to it, but I'll remove it anyways.
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Apr 15, 2010 13:13
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moana posted:Rule of thumb is 1/3 of income should go towards housing. This will be proportionally larger if you live in a place like NYC, smaller if you live in Nebraska.
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Apr 16, 2010 03:34
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Pre-tax, but then it's more of a maximum really. Shoot for 25%-33% of your gross income. If you can find something cheaper that's reasonable, life will be financially more comfortable.
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Apr 16, 2010 03:37
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Can someone recommend a book/audiobook/podcast for me that goes over the basics of investing? I'm 24 and transitioning from a generic job into a career job and I'd like to learn about various investing options, not only for retirement, but just in general. The links in the OP appear to be for stock portfolios specifically.
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Apr 16, 2010 11:19
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Is there anything comparable to mint.com out there for free? I realize that mint is free, but my main bank hasn't worked with mint.com for about 4 months now, and I've had them open "tickets" into it, but all they say is they are working on it. The last update I got was 3 months ago.
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Apr 17, 2010 15:58
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TLG James posted:Is there anything comparable to mint.com out there for free? I realize that mint is free, but my main bank hasn't worked with mint.com for about 4 months now, and I've had them open "tickets" into it, but all they say is they are working on it. The last update I got was 3 months ago. Unfortunately, since Mint got bought by Intuit, they have gone further and further towards the crapper. Yodlee or Wesabe are both free, but not quite as nice as Mint. Wesabe has a Firefox extension that helps to automate their update process.
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Apr 17, 2010 16:41
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Not sure if this is the right thread, but does anybody have an opinion on the Amex Clear/Blue card for a first credit card?
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Apr 18, 2010 11:07
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Kai was taken posted:Not sure if this is the right thread, but does anybody have an opinion on the Amex Clear/Blue card for a first credit card? I have an Amex blue, I have no complaints so far (I've had it just over a year). I always figured amex wasn't a company someone without a decent credit score could get though.
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Apr 18, 2010 15:04
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I have a "potentially negative item" on my Experian annual credit report. It says it was updated and verified in 2008. There's no balance or anything, and my credit score is fine. Should I do anything about this?
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Apr 19, 2010 23:15
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I'm planning on taking out a car loan next year, so I decided to see where my credit was. I was irresponsible with my credit when I was younger and canceled all my cards. The bad stuff is all gone from my credit report now and my score is decent, but I don't have much in the way of credit history. I have one card from 8 years ago on my report(it's closed now) and my student loans, I still have a balance of 13k/16k on them. I wanted to start building a positive history again, so last month I applied for a card that was probably a little too prestigious for me and my application was not approved. Last week I stupidly applied for a different card from the same bank and that was rejected because I had too many applications with them. So my questions are: 1) How much have I hurt myself with these two hard inquiries and no new card? 2) Does anyone have a recommendation for a card for someone in my situation? I don't care about points, features, anything other than building some history without costing my in the way of annual fees. 3) Should I wait for a little while before applying for something else?
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Apr 20, 2010 00:08
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Sorry if this has been answered before. I'm getting ready to fill out a credit check for an apartment and I don't want them to try to pull poo poo and make me pay extra deposit. I recently paid off my credit card which had a balance of about $1200 on it, problem is I only had a $1500 limit and that is my only credit card, so it was screwing my credit score. How long does it take to report to my credit scores that I no longer have a balance on my credit card? Is it within a few days or an end of the month thing?
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Apr 23, 2010 04:19
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katkillad2 posted:Sorry if this has been answered before. It can sometimes be lagged by a month or so, and it's based on your statement balance.
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Apr 23, 2010 04:37
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I'm trying to estimate some costs related to living in SF (downtown) for budgeting purchases. I'll have a roommate, so a lot of these will be split, I just want to get the raw costs. Water and head - $100 (anyone know if this is accurate? This is based on some stuff online but I have no clue) TV/Internet - $125 (there are intro plans so it'll be less initially but I'm budgeting based on eventual costs, not some hook rate) Netflix - $20 Cell phone - $120 (<== this is for a blackberry from verizon with unlimited talk, text, and data. This is basically a necessity for work, and while I THINK they'll subsidize this I don't know yet, so am being conservative. Anyone know which provider of 3G smart phones is the best/cheapest in SF? Looking at AT&T it costs about the same) I'd love to get a sense of food and fun, but that's hard to pin down. I'm just making a ridiculous overbudget just to make sure I can support that, even though if I spent that much on food and fun I will probably shoot myself (especially given I will have provided dinners on weekdays). I imagine that letting myself go out to chinatown 3 times a week 10*3*4=120, then maybe your occassional nicer places 30*4=120, and then like 5 a business day for lunch/breakfast 22*5=110, around $350 for food (and the obvious overbudgeting accounts for groceries and whatnot, although I doubt I'll be able to cook a ton). I think I could do better than that in practice but it depends on what is nearby and whatnot. Not drinking soda or anything during the day seems to help keep costs low, as I'm fine just grabbing a cheap sandwich for lunch. Then there are student loans, paying those downs, etc. I won't have a car. Maybe I'll get a gym membership. Any big obvious costs I'm forgetting? A big variable is healthcare... need to talk to my benefits department. We got a document detailing options, but don't have access to the site that details costs. For people who work for big companies with good benefits, but that give you a choice (HSA accounts, high deductible, low deductible), do you usually have to pay something monthly for healthcare? How much? Either way being a pretty healthy 20 something, I feel like at the moment, whatever the cheapest option will be the one I go with. Probably some sort of high deductible thing. I have no medications (I take loratadine for allergies, that's it), and rarely get sick. As far as the move, budgeting 400 for a futon (tell me I can get a decent futon and slap it on the ground for this...), 700 for a sofa+coffee table (looking at Ikea website), and a security deposit of first month, last month, and 1/2 rent just to be conservative. Besides that, budgeting for work clothes, whatever they want out of pocket to buy the telephone (probably around $100 with a 2 year contract, I'll budget $200), plane tickets, etc. Thankfully I don't have to pay movers or anything, I'm just going to plant myself there. Any insight, costs, etc would be nice. I assume this doesn't warrant its own thread but if you guys think so, give me a heads up and I'll make one.
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Apr 23, 2010 20:29
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3rd World Dictator posted:Any big obvious costs I'm forgetting? Rent?
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Apr 23, 2010 21:48
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KarmaCandy posted:Rent? I'm pretty sure I mentioned it? I guess I didn't mention a DOLLAR amount, but yeah, I mean there's rent and I'm budgeting 2.5x out of pocket in the first month for security deposit. I just didn't want to get into too many specifics because I dunno, I'd rather not get too deep into how much I make or whatever.
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Apr 23, 2010 21:53
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3rd World Dictator posted:I'm pretty sure I mentioned it? I guess I didn't mention a DOLLAR amount, but yeah, I mean there's rent and I'm budgeting 2.5x out of pocket in the first month for security deposit. I just didn't want to get into too many specifics because I dunno, I'd rather not get too deep into how much I make or whatever. Nobody cares how much you make. This is a finance forum - half of a budget is expenses but income is usually a pretty important figure to know too. Anyway, your biggest cost will be rent so be sure you have a truly accurate idea on how much it costs to live in downtown San Francisco and in whatever specific area you have in mind (since you have no car, be sure you probably want to be pretty picky about neighborhoods with good bus routes and grocery store access). I'd buy a bike too. Do you already have the roommate situation figured out? Are you going to move in with someone who's already living in an apartment or get your own apartment and then find a roommate? If you're going to move in to your own place then get a roommate, be sure you have a few month's rent saved up so you're not forced to take just anybody. Your dining out estimates look very low unless you're bringing lunch from home. I would estimate lunch at $7 - $10, for example. Do you drink? Do you like to do anything else aside from eating that could cost money? Do you like long hilly walks or is there a chance you're going to take a lot of cabs late night? I'm guessing you'll sleep on the futon but other things you may want - a TV, things like dishes and silverware, pots, pans, shower curtain, lamps, trash cans... it's good to have a large miscellaneous budget when you first move in.
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Apr 23, 2010 22:22
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Yeah, you're right. I'll throw out my more detailed plans for some sanity checking. I do have a roommate lined up (friend from college moving to the area about the same time I am, conveniently enough). We've been looking around and expect to pay ~2600 to live in Russian or Nob Hill (we've seen some seemingly good looking places as low as 2400, but will be moving in in August so we have to wait until then). I will have a bike (love biking, although those hills.......), but basically will be within a walk of work which is the most important for me. Being near-ish to Chinatown is a plus, and I'm sure there are busses nearby, but really my prime priority is being within that walk. I am planning on getting 2 nice knives, a nice sauce pan, a cast iron skillet, and maybe something else, should be around $200. He'll get dishes. If we need to cook more that'll be more down the line. I cover the furniture, he'll cover the TV. Edit: overly detailed thought process coming below. If I'm ridiculously overthinking it or something let me know. Would love to hear from people in SF how much they spend on food and fun. Everything else seems pretty easy to pin down. Hmm, the cost of eating and dining out I would like to get a better pin on. Cabs are a definite possiblity, I should probably include that. For fun, I really do like to just hang out with friends, go to bars, go to eat, enjoy nature, walk around...thankfully, I much prefer a cheap, delicious meal to fine dining (but am not averse to going a nicer place). I think the odds of actually going to a bar where I'd drop 50 bucks on a tab more than twice a week are really, really incredibly low (my job is going to be pretty hours intensive), but if I do go out and drop that much a cab is likely, at least on the way back. I would only really count on realistically doing that a couple times a month though. I do like long hilly walks though (unironically), I just don't want to get stabbed on the way back from a club. As far as my lunch estimate, hrm, yeah you're probably right. To be really conservative, let's say $10 for lunch. For breakfast, I usually eat cereal or yogurt, so I'll say about $15 a week for breakfast. Dinner will be provided for. 15*4+10*22=280. Dinner provided for on weeknights. That leaves weekends, so I'd realistically eat out, let's say lunch/dinner on sat and sunday just to be safe (if I have a really long lovely week and actually have a free weekend I doubt I will cook). Let's say $60 a weekend ($10 lunches $20 dinners), and we'll ignore that I'm a fiend for leftovers and don't eat THAT much. 60*4=240. 520. Jesus. This is showing me that I really need to take efforts to eat cheaper. I can afford 520 a month in food if I have to but it seems ridiculously high, but I guess that a solid conservative estimate should be. I mean, in college I ate out for every meal that I didn't cook (let's say 2 meals a day, and I cooked dinners on weekends), and I probably spent $10 a day on food on an expensive month. But I ate at foodcarts constantly that were pretty economical, so I don't know. Is food really that expensive in SF? I mean I like this calculation as a truly conservative guess, but I feel that some easy to cut costs would be lunch, really. My true ideal would be to eat and dinner leftovers for lunch, but that might be "frowned upon" by the office, so I don't want to count on it. Would love a sanity check here. Food is one of the areas I've always been pretty horrible at predicting because I like to eat out (kill me), but am good at eating out on the cheap (at least I was in Philly, but we had a lot of excellent $5 meal options). I suppose an important difference is that I like to eat with people and am not gonna want to tell people "no I don't want to grab Pho because I want to be cheap," and in college my friends didn't have income, so seeing an increase in food isn't unreasonable. I am assuming that one can get chinese takeout or pizza or the like for less than $10 in SF. Is this a safe assumption? To estimate fun, I'm really going to assume that I go out once a week, balls out, take a cab back. I have NO idea what this would cost though, any thoughts? If I'm drinking out, usually 4-5 drinks is good for me if I wanna get drunk but not too drunk. I feel like $80 a week is a solid estimator. The odds of me drinking more than once a week are really low... it might be worth factoring in grabbing a quick beer after work though. Let's say that happens twice a week, but I only drink 1 beer on such an outing... $20 a week in miscellaneous booze, and on the non clubbing weekend night going to a bar with my roomie, which would be say...$40 to enjoy a snack and some beers? 80*4+40*4+20*4=320+160+80=560. With the much higher food and fun expenses I still am within my income, but yeah. I don't want to spend that much on food or fun, but it's worth sort of budgeting what seems natural to me. I think food is probably harder for me to cut down on, whereas not going clubbing as much or something is pretty easy. I'm not a big clubber, I'm just expecting friends and coworkers to want to go. I feel this is an incredibly conservative estimate. I am expecting to work on a good week 70 hours, on a bad week 100+ hours. Have no sense of how the distribution of those occasions is going to be, though. What's the best way to budget food and stuff like this? Overbudget, and then adjust accordingly when I actually start living there for a while? Or actually try and get a more realistic picture? I feel overbudgeting is great until you overbudget so much that it looks like you can't afford to live. Right now I'm within my income just barely, and I'd like to be able to save (it looks like my company will match up to 3k in yearly contributions which I'll definitely take advantage of, any excess will go towards killing my student loans and building an emergency fund). Thanks for the help, Karma. I appreciate it. I know that was a lot of text but this is the part of my budget I've always suffered at. The rest is mainly asking around and being slightly conservative. With food I feel people always want to be like "man I will just eat yogurt and ramen 8 times a day I will save SO MUCH" and end up destroying their budgets. 3rd World Dictator fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Apr 23, 2010 |
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Apr 23, 2010 22:48
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3rd World Dictator posted:Thanks for the help, Karma. I appreciate it. I know that was a lot of text but this is the part of my budget I've always suffered at. The rest is mainly asking around and being slightly conservative. With food I feel people always want to be like "man I will just eat yogurt and ramen 8 times a day I will save SO MUCH" and end up destroying their budgets. China Town should be pretty cheap ($5 - $6 for an entree). If you're worried about food, try googling a few places. Here's one resource that has cheaper foods on there: http://www.allmenus.com/ca/san-francisco/ I'm mostly basing my lunch estimate on "convenience" lunches - those sandwich places are always pretty expensive and a sandwich will cost $7 - $8. If you go ethnic, it will be cheaper. When I was an attorney in NYC at a big law firm, people brought in lunch all the time and they're pretty judgmental people. If there's a fridge, I wouldn't worry about bringing stuff in. Pro Tip: We worked long hours and totally kept things like boxes of cereal hidden in our drawers. Also, if where you work has a lot of meetings, find where the leftover meeting food goes. A lot of places will leave out the leftovers for everyone to grab. I don't know what you mean by "nice restaurant" but personally, to me, $20 in San Francisco isn't going to get you dinner in a nice restaurant. Entrees at "nice" restaurants are usually $20 - $30 alone + tip. However, the economy sucks right now so if you make an effort there are plenty of restaurant deals out there if you look for them - think like 3 course meals at nice restaurants for like $30. One of the biggest thing I underestimated when I moved to NYC was cost of alcohol in the city. San Fran is a little cheaper but the average Bud Light in NYC was $5. Again, make an effort to find cheap bars and you can reduce this. Head out for the night and go into whatever bar you see and you'll probably end up paying for it. Avoid things like bottle service and pre-game a lot. My other advice due to my own bad experience is figure out how easy/hard it is to get out of your rental contract (two months rent to get out is standard). Being trapped in a high priced apartment in a high priced city after a layoff is pretty much the worst thing in the world. Sounds like you'll have plenty of disposable income, and you're prepared. Save money for San Fran winery trips.
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Apr 24, 2010 00:01
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I'm curious where you go where it's $5/bottle of Bud Light. I was in NYC a few weeks ago and I thought the whole "drinking in NYC is expensive" was grossly exaggerated. But then again I was drunk the times I was buying beer so who knows.
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Apr 28, 2010 05:50
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Ziir posted:I'm curious where you go where it's $5/bottle of Bud Light. I was in NYC a few weeks ago and I thought the whole "drinking in NYC is expensive" was grossly exaggerated. But then again I was drunk the times I was buying beer so who knows. Actually I lied, it's not $5/Bud Light - it's $5 per Stella. The problem is there's often no Bud Light on the menu and Stella is the cheapest beer offered. If you end up in Times Square or near Grand Central, a bottle of Bud Light will probably be $5, but I've definitely had a $3 PBR "special" in Greenwich Village. There's a reason why everyone recommends Rudy's and it's because at $3 for a Budweiser, it's ridiculously cheap and they offer a good line up of cheap beer. It's ridiculously easy to drink for cheap in NYC if you do a little research and hit up all the great drink specials and dive/fratty bars that exist but if you wander around aimlessly, you're going to end up paying more. The same is probably true in San Fran.
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Apr 28, 2010 15:56
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Alright, I really, really don't want to get E/N about this, but suffice it to say I come from a somewhat prosperous background and fortunately am nowhere near swimming in debt, and probably never will be. The problem is that in my life a lot has been taken care of for me, therefore there hasn't been much pressure to learn how to do things myself, financially speaking. But I'm well into my twenties right now and fully recognize the need to do so. I tend to be disorganized and scatterbrained, and prefer to keep things simple as I can get a little overwhelmed when they're not. I tried taking an accounting class once and that didn't go so well. My slow reading speed is also a hindrance when it comes to learning new skills. How can I begin approaching the complex world of personal financial responsibility starting from scratch? I assume my first step is to start keeping a monthly record of where money comes in and goes out, right? Is this something I should just cobble together in an excel spreadsheet? Is there a (very very basic) template I can use to begin? I really feel like an imbecile with these sorts of things. Part of the impetus for coming here and asking is that I've begun selling things online, and have netted several thousand dollars over the past few months. This is something I can easily see continuing and expanding, and I know that I have to get much more organized with it. I'm honestly not sure how and at what point it officially becomes a business and how to properly run it. Elijya fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Apr 29, 2010 |
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Apr 29, 2010 10:25
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Google and Microsoft offer several basic budgeting templates that could help you if you want a simple monthly budgeting tool to help you out. You could also check out mint.com for something to keep track of your net worth and suck at categorizing transactions. There's also plenty of different software you can buy on the internet (from places like the spreadsheet store or youneedabudget.com) where you enter in your spending and it auto generates pretty graphs and tells you how much you suck (or are awesome) with money. Are you having trouble saving money or do you just spend too much? ----------------
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Apr 29, 2010 12:38
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Pillowpants posted:Are you having trouble saving money or do you just spend too much? Probably a little bit of both. When I first opened my checking and savings accounts when I was younger it was with about 7K that had been saved up for me (something to do with being a student while I was being supported by a working parent over the age of 65). At some point I remember that growing to about 12k when I was working a lot. But for the past couple of years it's never been much over 3K, although it's held pretty steady. I think when I see that it's close to or under a grand, I cut down, and when it gets over three I start to spend. I usually wind up with about 3K a month after taxes. I pay my bills when they come in, and I more or less buy what I'd like when I want, but I don't do anything to document or track any of this (other than a drawer stuffed with receipts and my check register). I don't like the idea of being in debt (other than my mortgage) so I'm sure I'll always do my best to stay in the black, but I know there have to be a lot more things I could be doing so my savings grow instead of merely holding. I've actually never even filled out a deposit slip. I just use the ATM. Elijya fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Apr 29, 2010 |
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Apr 29, 2010 13:43
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Pillowpants has an awesome budgeting thread in SA Mart, I hear it's really great if you need some sort of budget thing made up for you. In fact, I should probably add that to the OP. As for documentation, lots of people here use Mint to keep track of spending since it does stuff automatically. Set it up and see how much you spend on ridiculous poo poo you don't need to buy. And for saving, you need some concrete goals or you'll just end up buying lots of things instead of the big things you really want (a house, nice car, jetcopter, whatever). Also you probably should get started on retirement savings soon, so check out the long term investment thread.
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Apr 29, 2010 17:01
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This is a situation that I think might benefit from having Quicken over just using Mint. If you can get your bank downloads from the past year, Quicken will show you where you've been spending your money without a ton of work on your part. This in turn will help you construct a workable budget going forwards.
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Apr 29, 2010 18:03
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herakles posted:Unfortunately, since Mint got bought by Intuit, they have gone further and further towards the crapper. Yodlee or Wesabe are both free, but not quite as nice as Mint. Wesabe has a Firefox extension that helps to automate their update process. What a bummer. Wesabe doesn't work with my bank either, even though it is listed. I sent off a help email a while ago with no response. I guess I could do the firefox downloader, but it seems like such a pain.
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May 2, 2010 15:33
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Since calc taught me the wonders of compounding interest, I maxed out my '09 Roth IRA (with Fidelity). If I log onto the site, it says my balance is still $5000. How often does it go up? When will it say my balance is $5000.15 or whatever, just so I can have more elaborate Scrooge McDuck bankvault-diving dreams?
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May 3, 2010 04:57
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:Since calc taught me the wonders of compounding interest, I maxed out my '09 Roth IRA (with Fidelity). If I log onto the site, it says my balance is still $5000. How often does it go up? When will it say my balance is $5000.15 or whatever, just so I can have more elaborate Scrooge McDuck bankvault-diving dreams? An IRA is a type of account. It depends completely on what you're invested in. I'm in index funds with Vanguard, so everything is translated into shares, and the day-to-day value can vary a bit.
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May 3, 2010 05:04
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Yeah, I just didn't know if Fidelity only updated official balances once a month or something, if that might be why it wasn't changing. Right now I just have it all in Fidelity Freedom 2040 (I'd like to retire in 2042 if possible). Since that's so far away, I know I should probably do something riskier, so I'm probably going to put it in one of the Asset Manager funds. Probably the 60% one, if that makes sense? In real life I'm usually pretty risk-averse (or at least I only take really smart risks), but I know that since I'm 23, I should be taking more short-term chances.
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May 3, 2010 05:58
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Anne Whateley posted:Yeah, I just didn't know if Fidelity only updated official balances once a month or something, if that might be why it wasn't changing. The 60% increases your position in bonds over the Freedom 2040 and has a higher fee, so it's less risky and costs more. If you want to go riskier, swap it out for a stock index fund after you get 10k in there to avoid low balance fees - it'll cut your expense ratios considerably. Rebalance when you hit 30 or so and have enough to create a reasonable portfolio without running afoul of the minimums. The Freedom is set up to get progressively less risky over the years. Right now, it's pretty stock-heavy. It's not a bad choice for a set-it-and-forget-it option.
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May 3, 2010 06:32
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I recently bought some books on amazon and mistakenly charged them to an old account I had in college that I don't use anymore. I have no idea why I kept it open or why the credit card was still linked in Amazon, but that's what happened. It went $50 over and now they're trying to hit me for $350 in overdraft fees. I'll be calling them and talking to them some time tomorrow or the next day, but is this acceptable at all? Can I do anything to just pay off the $50 without having to pay a $350 fine for an innocent mistake? What would happen if I just walked away from it and never spoke to them again?
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May 5, 2010 08:14
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So I think I'm loving up with my money. I graduated from college with a BS in medical laboratory science in August 2009 and moved back to my hometown of Austin, TX where I pretty much took the first job that was offered to me. When I moved here I had about 4,000 to tide me over until I found a job, 6 weeks later I started my job and had about 2,000 at the end of 8 weeks (paychecks are every 2 weeks). It wasn't long after that that I decided I am incredibly bored with what I do. I also don't get paid a whole lot. I make 18.50 an hour plus 1.40 an hour evening shift differential and an extra 2 bucks an hour every other weekend. I have basic health insurance, I'm pretty sure it sucks but whatever. I also have a gym membership and a 401k. Those 3 things are deducted from my paycheck. So my income is roughly $2,500 a month. I guess to be closer it'd be like 2,550 but it doesn't really matter. My budget is roughly : Rent/utilities - 400 Car insurance - 80 Car loan - 300 Student loan 1 - 234.40 Student loan 2 - 59.60 Student loan 3 - 56.00 Netflix - 15 XBL - 9 Phone - 55 Credit card - 200 Savings - 200 So every month I spend at least 1600 a month, leaving me with around 900 a month for food and gas and entertainment and whatnot. I put 100 a paycheck into a basic savings account, I'm up to 1100 now. The problem is even with this, the amount I spend on other poo poo just makes it so I don't save much other than the 200. My account has grown from the 2,000 in October to now about 20 bucks over 4,000 today. I keep overpaying my car loan or my student loan or my credit card in the hopes that this poo poo will just go away because I paid an extra hundred this one time. Obviously that will not make my 25k in student loans or 13k car loan or 2k credit card go away. But that is not where it stops. I want out of my job. I feel like being here is a punishment designed to crush any hopes and dreams I may have one day had and have presently forgotten just because this sucks so much. I don't want to touch pee and poop and blood all day for the rest of my life. So I found a masters program that will let me stay in Austin, keep my job at full time, and get into a more theoretical aspect of healthcare which doesn't involve touching people or their excretions. I'm planning to enroll for fall 2011 at the University of Texas School of Public Health for a masters in public health at the Austin regional campus. 3 classes every semester, 3 semesters a year means I should graduate in 2 years. The cost is approximately 2,000 a semester. So I'd need 6 grand a year, and I already know I'm going to start out at only 2 classes and see how it goes from there before going up to 3. So it may take an extra semester. How do I come up with this money without taking more student loans while also paying my debts down and not living in ramen? I know I should probably have a roth IRA or whatever the gently caress, but I need the money in a year, not when I'm 65. I just want to sit in a nice office and do math goddamnit. Maybe wear a nice shirt or something. You know, classy like. There was a period where I was drinking a lot. Like 300 dollars a month in bar tabs, but its sort of petered out from every night crunk 2010 to once or twice a week if even. The overspending of the last 2 months was the result of getting my new phone and then buying a 500 dollar DSLR camera. I don't normally make big electronics purchases.
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May 5, 2010 23:11
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 22:06 |
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First, immediately pay off the credit card balance. Then re-allocate the CC's $200/mo plus a big chunk of the disappearing $900 between car/student loans and a school fund. Possibly you should stop using the card - it doesn't sound like you have great control over your spending. One way to overcome that is to decide to spend say $100 per month on whatever the gently caress you feel like, withdraw it in cash at the beginning of the month, and don't buy anything once it's gone. Budget separately for groceries and gas so you don't starve. You don't need to literally eat ramen, but you do need to quit throwing money around. Also, sell your camera and any other electronic poo poo to help pay for school. You can't do a full time job, an MPH, and serious photography or TV watching all at the same time. What about the car? Depending on what it's worth, you might be able to sell it and buy a cheaper one with no loan. If you can't sell it, look at the interest rate and decide whether to pay it down faster or let it ride. Next time you buy a car, make it one you can afford. I think you can make this work if you bust your rear end. You will still be significantly in debt when you finish the degree, but the debt will slowly be getting smaller the whole time because you'll still be working.
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May 5, 2010 23:40
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