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I'd focus on the MC and laptop debt, just to free up cash flow and get a couple small debts out of the picture entirely. That said, the real problem as I (and I think most others in this thread) see it is that it seems like you're unwilling to make fundamental lifestyle changes in the long run that will allow you to not only pay off your debt, but to stay relatively debt free moving forward. You shouldn't be approaching this on a "what can I do this month," instead you should be looking at it as "What am I repeatedly doing that is costing me money unnecessarily?" Keep the car or don't, but until you make some behavioral changes, you're going to find yourself in the same (or worse) situation in a matter of months, maybe a year or two if you're lucky. Being in more short term debt than your gross income is not normal, wise, or healthy.
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Jul 29, 2011 15:34
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Leperflesh posted:It seems to me that the biggest, most important "lifestyle change" that Tuyop needs to make - and which he seems willing to make - is no more vacations until he's out of debt. Yeah, I couldn't think of a nice way to put it, but holy poo poo this. I think 14 vacations is more than I have taken cumulatively for the past 5 years combined.
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Jul 29, 2011 20:37
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tuyop posted:I bet most of you guys are organized in other areas of your life as well. While my professional stuff is kept very well filed away and stored, having three people living in this place is tight and I was wondering if I posted shots of our room or something if anyone would be familiar with any cheap storage and organization solutions... Oddly enough, even though my finances are (fairly) well organized, I am absolutely terrible at staying organized in general.
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Aug 24, 2011 04:21
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If you're not going to give up smoking, then simply add it as a new row to your budget. Figure out how much you actually smoke, how much of that you actually pay for, and simply build it in. Then, like any other entertainment expense, try to minimize how much of that budget you actually use, and roll the leftovers into debt reduction. If it leads to an overall decrease in how many cigarettes per day/week/month that you smoke, bonus. I'm not going to take a moral/health stand on smoking because I've got my own bad habits that cost me time and probably years of my life. But there's no problem adding an additional layer of granularity to your budget that will help you plan and prioritize your spending moving forward by transitioning spending from a general "entertainment" or "cash" category to "vices." Then, if you eventually quit smoking, you can eliminate that category altogether - and if you're still in debt, rather than repurposing general entertainment funds to eating out more, or going to the movies more, it can be rolled into savings/debt reduction instead.
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Aug 25, 2011 05:48
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tuyop posted:Ok, here's a little disclaimer. In the past two weeks I've worked 80 hours (and walked 62.5k with 90 pounds One thing I like is the difference between this post and your posts on the first few pages is how much more you appreciate the granularity of your spending. Instead of that hat being an "oh yeah, forgot about that" sort of thing, you recognized it immediately and you're including it in your numbers. There is always room for improvement - and I'm certainly including myself in that statement - but it sounds like overall you're doing quite a bit better now. I'd also agree with Third Murderer, saving up $2,000 for an "Oh poo poo" fund is probably a good idea. If not immediately, maybe after you get the Mastercard paid off.
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Sep 25, 2011 17:03
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) a week so my finances are super disorganized.
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tuyop posted:Yeah I like that idea. The laptop should be paid down the same month as well. You should add a separate entry for its deduction from your income, however, adding a new worksheet in your excel file for your actual savings balance would probably be easiest.
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Sep 25, 2011 21:53
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Wolfy posted:I'm sure you can ask your finance company for a little extra time if you explain the situation. The worst they could say is no but then again it depends on the company. Some of them are pretty shady and would slap you a late charge anyway. This. If you've been making your payments on time, they should be more than happy to change the due date by a few days to keep it that way - just give them a call and ask, explain there was a snafu with your pay and while it's getting sorted, it's just not getting sorted quickly enough.
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Oct 8, 2011 22:22
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tuyop, in another 2 weeks you'll be at the 3 month mark from starting this thread - it might not be a bad idea for you to write down your thoughts and how your perspective has changed since then, not to mention how you're treating your finances differently and how much debt you've been able to pay off. Obviously it won't be anything hugely substantial in the first 3 months of debt reduction, however it can be greatly beneficial just to reflect on the change in attitude. And while people are still giving you a hard time, I have to say you've made remarkable progress in such a short time.
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Oct 14, 2011 07:29
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A couple questions/comments: I'm assuming the money you're putting towards debt reduction is counted as spending in your first graph? I just want to make sure I'm reading it correctly. What's great to see is that, given this is (almost) the three month mark, the last three bullet points have shown a steady decrease in both spending and balances on your various debts - good work! It's also nice seeing that you've charted out when you expect to have each balance paid off - having those goals is important. As a personal anecdote, I've been really bad about spending this year because I haven't set any financial goals. Seeing your current progress and your projected payment schedule, you've reminded me of the work I need to do between now and January to get my own finances back on track. So, thank you! Lastly, it's great that you recognize your own struggle, not just with how it's affected your lifestyle, but whether or not you'd repeat your mistake. As time goes on and as this gets paid down, I think (and hope) that you'll find that in the long run, you can sustain an enjoyable lifestyle, including impulse purchases and trips, as long as you maintain your finances responsibly. Once it's all paid off and you've built up savings, there really isn't anything to prevent you from taking a week off to go to Italy - if you can pay for it in cash, without jeopardizing your job. Recognizing that is the hard part, and you're already working on it. All in all, good job! And for the record, I do wipe my rear end.
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Oct 15, 2011 08:41
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CornHolio posted:On the plus side, did you say this gets you out of infantry? That's a plus, right? If he's out of infantry, it also presumably means it's going to screw with his income - so not necessarily. Get well soon, dude, I can't even imagine how much that must hurt.
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Nov 2, 2011 02:41
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Shipon posted:People will understand if you can't buy them a gift for Christmas. Gift-giving is not mandatory. This. If you absolutely, positively feel the need to give gifts, write some personal letters to everyone you'd normally give a gift to and express how happy you are to have them in your life. Should cost you a max of $5 in postage and supplies.
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Nov 27, 2011 09:42
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tuyop posted:I was just going to buy pads and front rotors and replace them myself using borrowed and rented tools and a friends' garage. They want 500 bucks for labor and two sets of pads and rotors. I'm pretty sure my back rotors are fine, and I brake very lightly because I always downshift so I'm not quite sold on the fact that my front rotors need replacing. Just make sure you keep the receipt for those front rotors in case they don't actually need to be replaced. And yes, as others have said, it's definitely a DIY job if you're even slightly mechanically inclined. Edit: Make sure you replace your brake fluid while you've got the car on jack stands anyway. It's relatively simple, you don't need a fancy pump or anything if you've got a friend to help purge the lines, and the fluid is cheap. Fresh fluid makes a world of difference in pedal feel. Shooting Blanks fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 7, 2012 |
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Jan 7, 2012 04:49
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tuyop posted:My office is in the same building as the maintenance bay for the infantry school, guys work on their cars there all the time. It didn't even occur to me that I could be one of those guys too! The only thing to be sure of is that if he helps you replace your brake pads, make sure he turns the wrenches in the correct direction. French bolts are threaded backwards.
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Jan 8, 2012 06:19
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To put it simply - I can say pretty confidently that almost everyone here has, at least once, suffered through a job they hated for some period of time, with the expectation that better times lay ahead. How long it takes, whether your passion wanes, or whether your time carries any bitterness with you are intensely personal experiences. I'm not going to weigh in on my own experience, for personal reasons, but I just wanted to assure you that you are in no way alone feeling this way.
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Feb 4, 2012 08:12
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Fraternite posted:So why are you putting an emergency fund into a non-liquid, high-risk product? Yeah, your emergency fund should be something you can liquidate within 24 hours - a money market account or something.
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Feb 18, 2012 10:25
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tuyop posted:Edit: Holy poo poo I should switch this over to TD Precious Metals IMMEDIATELY. Annual average return of 19.2%. You can't lose! Past performance is no indication of future growth. I have done zero research into either of those funds, but precious metals have been on a tear for a couple years now, so if TD Precious Metals is relatively new, that's not surprising growth (hell it could be severely underperforming, depending on the date of inception.
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Feb 23, 2012 08:10
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Leperflesh posted:How an investing neophyte thinks: Something to consider, tuyop, is that everyone out there has ideas about what will happen in the future when it comes to investing. I agree with Leperflesh on his ideas of investor mindset (and it is a massive oversimplification), but I personally wouldn't want to be short precious metals over a 5 year time horizon (or even a 10 year horizon) for anything - in my opinion, there's too much emotion in metals right now, they are not and have not behaved rationally for quite awhile, and there's still too much turmoil to make that bet. That's just an example, but in the long run, you are best off educating yourself on how to read financial statements and understanding what will or won't make a stock increase in value, and doing the research to pick stocks you like. Or just buy index funds. Shooting Blanks fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Feb 24, 2012 |
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Feb 24, 2012 01:31
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tuyop posted:Also my brakes only cost 200 dollars instead of 350, and oil is on sale this week so I can do my own oil change at the same time for 25 bucks instead of 45. Awesome! Now bank that extra cash immediately before you're tempted to spend it.
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Mar 9, 2012 00:45
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On the bright side, you probably have MUCH better quality oil in your car than you'd have if you took it to a shop for their bargain oil change. Extends the life of your engine and all.
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Mar 12, 2012 10:53
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Fuschia tude posted:Incidentally, if you're not going to change it yourself for some reason, what would be the best place to get your oil changed? The dealer would overcharge, right? It really depends on where you are. Here in Houston it costs between $55 and $65 for a full synthetic change for me almost anywhere I go - dealer is about the same price as most shops for that. Call a few places and ask, they may need to know your year model to verify the quantity of oil required (most quotes only cover 5 qts of oil).
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Mar 12, 2012 18:46
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At least consider getting a mattress pad - I'm with Adar on this one, sleeping poorly can be extremely detrimental to your mental health, not to mention your physical wellbeing if it causes long term back/joint problems.
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Apr 4, 2012 04:46
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Also how do you lose 12 pounds in 15 days? Did you stop eating? This. My thought process would be "Oh poo poo I lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks, time to go to a doctor to find out what kind of cancer I have!"
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Apr 25, 2012 15:27
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tuyop posted:Do I want a job as a Roustabout, a Floorhand/floorman, a Driller, snubber, toolpusher? Should I just go to Houston and walk into an office in my dirtiest work boots and overalls and tell them that I want to be a roughneck, while enjoying some chewing tobacco and spitting on the floor? Probably Roustabout. I'm in Houston (though not O&G), and that's not how you get a job here. It's all offices here. That IS, however, how you get a job in the fields in West Texas that are booming right now. I've got friends working out there right now that say that anyone with a pulse that's willing to work will be given a shot, almost. And they much prefer to deal with people who just show up locally, since half the people who apply from elsewhere wind up being a waste of time.
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May 2, 2012 23:49
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One thing to consider is that there is a functional difference between a CV (Curriculum Vitae) and a resume. A resume should be 1-2 pages TOTAL for most people, focusing on highlights, specific achievements, and should be easily read as it is structured towards brevity. For technical people, or for people with 15-20 years+ on their resume, more than 2 pages is acceptable and even expected; for most, 2 pages should more than suffice as long as most time during your career is accounted for. A CV is supposed to be an exhaustive list of accomplishments; these are more common in academic circles, but a lot of countries other than America expect to see something closer to a CV than a resume when making initial decisions to interview. Things you would include on a CV but not necessarily on a resume might be: ALL positions ever held during a professional career, no matter if honorary or appointed, also not disregarding positions of minor or inconsequential duration. A full and complete list of published writings; a resume would include highlights, a CV should show everything you've ever written that's been published. A distinct section for volunteer/self improvement type work (think continuing education), to demonstrate ongoing personal growth and enrichment. That's not all inclusive, I just wanted to highlight a few differences.
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May 10, 2012 02:35
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OK, you learned a lesson about your diet, but it sounds like you've made some significant progress - not just in how you try to save money, but in how you approach the money you have. Having an emergency fund and a checking account buffer is huge. You WILL use this at some point - maybe 6 months, maybe a year, and don't forget that it's to be done as a last resort, but it is also there in case you need it to: Keep a roof over your head Keep yourself healthy Keep yourself able to get to work and back etc. It's even better that you're saving separately for planned expenses like winter tires, instead of just deducting them from your emergency fund when you realize you need them. Long story short: You've still got quite a ways to go, but these are some major strides you've made, if you're able to stick with it. Good on ya!
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Jun 29, 2012 07:06
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tuyop posted:Mr. Money Mustache is loving awesome and I love this blog. I'm going to read every post ever now. Thanks, guy. I'm not sure how we'd quantify your "normal" levels of spending...
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Oct 12, 2012 16:58
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FrozenVent posted:You have major back issues. I'm sure BFC won't begrudge you a decent bed. Yeah, I slept on one for about 2 years due to limited space - it was even a very nice futon, and my back still hated me for it.
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Oct 22, 2012 05:53
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cstine posted:Will you continue graphing things while you're living in your tent? Yes but they'll be done with pen and paper, photographed with his iPhone and posted via Instagram.
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Jun 7, 2013 21:39
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