|
LoveMeDead posted:It is. For clinical we have to have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. The screen on an ipod is too small for me. I'm going to get an iPad mini I think. Cheaper and easier to carry around. If I had a choice, I would not be getting an iPad. Wow. That is really crappy. You should try get one refurbished or buy from a friend - it would knock a significant amount off the price.
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 20:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 09:59 |
|
|
pomme posted:Wow. That is really crappy. You should try get one refurbished or buy from a friend - it would knock a significant amount off the price. The entire health industry is going electronic so welcome to the future I guess? If the school gives it to the student it will just add to the fees anyway. Also don't but a new car. You are not in a position to dislike the car you have and get rid of it. Just drive it and enjoy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 22:09
|
|
|
I'm looking at refurbished iPads, there doesn't seem to be too much price difference with the mini's though. I'll keep looking. I have a couple weeks before I have to buy it. The husband hasn't been doing anything extra the past few weeks. He's had mandatory overtime and has been working 55-60 hours a week. Things have slowed down now, so we need to figure out a long term plan. I know that hating the car is a lovely reason to buy another one. I'm going to be driving more in about a year when I have clinicals, and having a car with better gas mileage for each of us would be good. If I could find a car that seats 7 and gets good gas mileage, I would see the Mountaineer and get that. Those cars don't seem to exist in a reasonable price range. Our daughter turns 16 next week and is already looking for jobs. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 23:10
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:I'm looking at refurbished iPads, there doesn't seem to be too much price difference with the mini's though. I'll keep looking. I have a couple weeks before I have to buy it. quote:The husband hasn't been doing anything extra the past few weeks. He's had mandatory overtime and has been working 55-60 hours a week. Things have slowed down now, so we need to figure out a long term plan.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 23:56
|
|
|
Target recently offered a promo where you could turn in any ipad that was working for like $200 store credit. So basically, any of the cheap used ones have already been vacuumed up by people for store credit.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 00:25
|
|
|
I dunno about the USA, but in Australia you could claim that iPad as a tax deduction since it's a requirement for further education to help in your career. Not a big thing, but it all helps.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 03:35
|
|
|
Rudager posted:I dunno about the USA, but in Australia you could claim that iPad as a tax deduction since it's a requirement for further education to help in your career. I'm pretty sure I can here too. I can claim my uniforms, shoes, and stethoscope for work also. I believe I can also claim travel to and from my orientation which is 4 hours away. That's not until next year's taxes though. In old lovely house news; someone bought the house at auction from the bank a couple of weeks ago. They turned on the electricity for the first time in five months and an electrical fire burned the house down. There is very little left. Fortunately, no one was in the house and no one was hurt. That's really scary.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 12:56
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:In old lovely house news; someone bought the house at auction from the bank a couple of weeks ago. They turned on the electricity for the first time in five months and an electrical fire burned the house down. There is very little left. Fortunately, no one was in the house and no one was hurt. That's really scary. Holy poo poo! It's a good thing your family got out before the unthinkable happened. I can't imagine the anxiety that would cause me, even though the fire started a while after moving away. Such a bullet dodged. I don't have advice to add, but I've been reading your thread for a while and just wanted to say I'm rooting for you guys.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 15:43
|
|
|
What's the end game going to grad school? Nurse practitioner or similar? I hope the potential bump in salary is worth the extra debt, grants and scholarships aside.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 16:40
|
|
|
I'm really glad you got out of that house before it was your own family affected by an electrical fire!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 17:02
|
|
|
dreesemonkey posted:What's the end game going to grad school? Nurse practitioner or similar? Family Nurse Practitioner. I'll get my masters about August '16 and my doctorate December '17. It should bump my salary about $15+ an hour, so I think it's worth it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 23:41
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:Family Nurse Practitioner. I'll get my masters about August '16 and my doctorate December '17. It should bump my salary about $15+ an hour, so I think it's worth it. You could run the numbers pretty easily. Just take the total cost of the degree plus lost wages for the duration of school and divide it by the new wage. That's how many months/years it'll take to break even. If anything, it's kind of alarming that you didn't do this before considering going back.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2013 23:56
|
|
|
tuyop posted:You could run the numbers pretty easily. I'm going to still be working full time while going to school. I tend to have a lot of downtime most nights, and my boss is fine with me doing schoolwork as long as I get my job done. So no lost wages.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2014 00:40
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:I'm going to still be working full time while going to school. I tend to have a lot of downtime most nights, and my boss is fine with me doing schoolwork as long as I get my job done. That just changes one variable. You should still run the numbers. But that's a pretty sweet arrangement.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2014 01:10
|
|
|
tuyop posted:That just changes one variable. You should still run the numbers. Yeah, but in the case of a NP, you're talking about a job that STARTS at like $75,000 in most places, and goes up from there - two of my cousins are NPs and they're making six-figures with benefits. It's a VERY good career choice, unless people suddenly stop getting old and sick.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2014 02:11
|
|
|
drat Bananas posted:Holy poo poo! It's a good thing your family got out before the unthinkable happened. I can't imagine the anxiety that would cause me, even though the fire started a while after moving away. Such a bullet dodged. I'm rooting for them too!
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2014 03:21
|
|
|
cstine posted:Yeah, but in the case of a NP, you're talking about a job that STARTS at like $75,000 in most places, and goes up from there - two of my cousins are NPs and they're making six-figures with benefits. Yeah seriously, unless you're getting a degree from the University of Phoenix, I've never heard of a nursing degree being a bad decision for anyone. Law school, now...
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2014 08:07
|
|
|
swenblack posted:"I just bought this tear-down house and it burst into flames" is probably the most traditional insurance scam in the books. I wouldn't let it cause any anxiety for LoveMeDead. We think it might have been an insurance scam also. A pretty believable one though. Thanks for everyone's support. It's weird to have strangers on the internet rooting for us, but it gives me warm fuzzies. I know a few places around here that start FNPs at $35/hour with a $5 bonus on weekends. It's good money. The pay raise should pay for my student loans in a year. I'm going on to get my doctorate anyway, and can teach one day a week and add $20k to my annual salary. I think it's worth it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2014 22:09
|
|
|
Just make sure that you don't fall into the trap of spending in anticipation of your increased future income. Until you've got the job you want in a few years, that future doesn't exist. Don't borrow or otherwise arrange your finances around what you hope to be earning a couple of years from now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 08:48
|
|
|
Lolie posted:Just make sure that you don't fall into the trap of spending in anticipation of your increased future income. Until you've got the job you want in a few years, that future doesn't exist. Don't borrow or otherwise arrange your finances around what you hope to be earning a couple of years from now. Beyond student loans, I'm not going to do this. We are still planning on renting our tiny house and saving money. I have fantasy plans of buying myself a Mini Cooper to celebrate my new, high-paying job. I know it's impractical, and they are expensive cars to maintain. I know there are better cars for the value. I just love them and it's my fantasy, damnit. We do need a new mattress. We are debating on how to do this. Should we just take the money from savings to buy one? Or put it off until February and put it on the budget? The pad we bought is not doing enough and I'm waking up with sore back and hips. There are springs practically coming out the sides. It's 13 years old, so it isn't like we haven't gotten plenty of use out of it. We might downsize to a queen, but then we also need to buy new sheets. I've barely looked at them, but if we stay with the king, it will be $1100-$1500. A queen should be $700-$1000?
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 22:53
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:Mini Cooper This is a pretty well-known joke in BFC. As for a mattress, our queen was $500 after a little shopping around and negotiating and it's loving glorious, by far the best mattress I've ever owned. We bought it in Barrie, ON but I can't imagine how Gucci a $1000 mattress would be.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 23:00
|
|
|
Phone posting so I have to be brief, but you really have to change your mindset from one where you are excited about future ways to spend money to one where you are excited about ways to save money. A cool new car sounds great beforehand but after a month it will just be the thing you get in to drive, same as the old one. Not buying something expensive and saving money to retire is much closer to buying real happiness. You can probably find mattresses cheaper than that but its been awhile since I've shopped for one.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 23:08
|
|
|
Jeffrey posted:Phone posting so I have to be brief, but you really have to change your mindset from one where you are excited about future ways to spend money to one where you are excited about ways to save money. A cool new car sounds great beforehand but after a month it will just be the thing you get in to drive, same as the old one. Not buying something expensive and saving money to retire is much closer to buying real happiness. The Mini is something I've wanted since before they were available in the US. I'm allowing myself that fantasy, even though I realistically know that I will never get one. My daughter and I occasionally also go fantasy shopping online. I don't see myself ever buying an $800 pair of boots, but I can look at them. Like I said about the mattress, I haven't really shopped around. I just looked at a couple sites to get a vague idea of how much we would have to spend. We need to go to a store and bounce around on some to figure out what sort of mattress we want.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 23:27
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:I have fantasy plans of buying myself a Mini Cooper to celebrate my new, high-paying job. I know it's impractical, and they are expensive cars to maintain. I know there are better cars for the value. I just love them and it's my fantasy, damnit.  cstine posted:Yeah, but in the case of a NP, you're talking about a job that STARTS at like $75,000 in most places, and goes up from there - two of my cousins are NPs and they're making six-figures with benefits.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 23:30
|
|
|
kissekatt posted:Yesssssssssssss. Very healthy. A NP is not a nurse, really - they've got the ability to see patients on their own, prescribe most drugs (no controlled drugs, I believe), and make referrals without having to defer to a MD. If you go to see a 'doctor' about a minor thing, at this point you're about as likely to see a NP as a normal MD in a lot of places, especially within 'approved' visits from your insurance. Edit: If you do get a mini, you have to get it in the only acceptable color: British racing green. cstine fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Jan 4, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 23:57
|
|
|
cstine posted:Very healthy. A NP is not a nurse, really - they've got the ability to see patients on their own, prescribe most drugs (no controlled drugs, I believe), and make referrals without having to defer to a MD. When we take our son to his pediatrician's office we only ever see a NP unless he's proper sick. We're actually lucky enough to have a personal relationship with our NP, I can't count the number of times we've popped over there to have his ears/throat checked or gotten prescriptions called in for us. We're very lucky in that regard.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 02:36
|
|
|
cstine posted:Very healthy. A NP is not a nurse, really - they've got the ability to see patients on their own, prescribe most drugs (no controlled drugs, I believe), and make referrals without having to defer to a MD. NPs in Tennessee at least can prescribe controlled substances with an additional license. Not sure if there is an exam, or just a fee. There are a lot of jobs around here. Two of the doctors at the hospital have already asked me when I will graduate because they are looking for additional FNPs for their practice.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 06:42
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:Beyond student loans, I'm not going to do this. We are still planning on renting our tiny house and saving money. First you need an Ipad and now you need a new mattress? Also, you don't need new sheets if you go from a king to a queen. It'll fit well enough. Do you have a picture of the mattress? You can't keep making excuses about why you need new things.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 11:25
|
|
|
You can buy a memory foam king sized mattress for 600 bucks or so off of Amazon.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 12:25
|
|
|
BlueChocolate posted:First you need an Ipad and now you need a new mattress? Also, you don't need new sheets if you go from a king to a queen. It'll fit well enough. I do need the iPad for school. We have really needed a mattress for awhile, but have tried to put it off. I.hurt when I get out of bed. We bought the memory foam topper last year right before I started this thread, but it has compressed I places and won't go back. I I'm sure some of my rationale is because we have money in savings right now. I just wanted to start looking. I can take pictures later if you all really want.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 13:26
|
|
|
I don't know if this is helpful, but if you like memory foam, have you thought about putting together your own Tempurpedic mattress? There are plenty of guides online, but if you buy a Tempurpedic mattress topper, you can use it on your existing bed and then replace the mattress when you're in a better position to. I get that people are concerned with you bringing up things you'd like to buy as soon as you have money, but I think you've done great the last few months, and I'm sure you'll continue to evaluate what you really need and do what's best.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 13:54
|
|
|
BlueChocolate posted:Also, you don't need new sheets if you go from a king to a queen. It'll fit well enough. They make little elastic straps that you can use to tighten up your sheets. I used to have a non-standard mattress that was bigger than a twin but smaller than a full, and those worked pretty well at keeping the full sized sheet on.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 16:49
|
|
|
We just got a queen mattress with a box and metal frame for $450. It is pretty nice too. You can always talk those guys down as well. Not sure if you should buy one but if you do I would budget it and save money for 2-3 months and pay cash.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 17:01
|
|
|
If you want memory foam full mattress, amazon sells queens for $300-800 shipped, kings are probably not much more. Apparently just as good as tempur-pedic...we have one but can't handle the foam, so it's on a guest bed.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 17:29
|
|
|
I got one of those ~$500 Amazon memory foam mattresses and thought it was poo poo. Woke up with more back pain every day than with the 10 year old mattress it replaced. Ditched it after two years and back to a spring mattress. YMMV. Wanted to mention that if you pay the advertised price for a mattress you're doing it wrong. Two minutes of talking got my most recent purchase down by ~35% off sticker, then I walked across the street to their competitor who knocked off another $250. I wonder how many people just walk in and pay the advertised price.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2014 05:03
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:Beyond student loans, I'm not going to do this. We are still planning on renting our tiny house and saving money. It's always a Mini Cooper here in BFC. I'm curious about why you'll need new sheets if you downsize your mattress. You can still use king size sheets on a smaller mattress, you've just got more fabric to tuck in. I kind of noticed this when you moved house. You seem to think about new things in "sets" - that if you replace one thing then everything associated with it should be replaced. In the real world, you don't have the income to replace stuff just because it would be nice. You really need to redefine your concept of "need". I think you need to be realistic about the mattress and take into account any special needs. A mattress which would be fine for two normal weight people with no back problems could be totally unsuitable for two morbidly obese people with back problems. You're better off spending a little more on something 100% suitable than buying something cheaper but unsuitable. Hip and back problems could seriously compromise your ability to work so it's worth spending money to prevent them/not aggravate them. Also, when you say you have the money in savings, do you mean that you have enough for a new mattress in addition to the money you'll be out-laying for the bankruptcy or will those two combined leave you without any emergency funds?
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2014 07:05
|
|
|
Lolie posted:It's always a Mini Cooper here in BFC. I guess we don't "need" new sheets if we get a smaller mattress. We can just tuck our king size sheets in extra well. We are both overweight, which is why I don't think the memory foam pad worked so well. Our plan right now is to go to a mattress store some time soon and check out mattresses. Just check them out to see what type of mattress we want. Then once we figure out what we want, we'll shop around to see what the best deal is. If we can get a king mattress for the same price as a queen set, we'll go with that. I think our box spring is okay. We have $3700 in savings, so we can get a mattress and pay for the bankruptcy and still leave $1000 buffer.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2014 04:03
|
|
|
When I bought a mattress I went to an independent mattress store which I didn't know was a thing until I went. They just had a few people at the desk and they wouldn't go into the showroom unless you asked them to. Total opposite of the normal stores, took as much time as I wanted, pretty good prices to boot. I know you don't live in a built up area but might be good just to do a quick search.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2014 04:10
|
|
|
LoveMeDead posted:I guess we don't "need" new sheets if we get a smaller mattress. We can just tuck our king size sheets in extra well. You should be able to talk any mattress store into near 50% discount. That's how much markup most mattresses have added to them.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2014 02:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 09:59 |
|
|
Go to Costco and buy what they have on the shelf. They carry good mattresses for 1/3 the price of other stores and, best of all, if it sucks you can return it no questions asked. Seriously. I had a 8 year old Mattress that had a 25 year guarantee that I inquired about a replacement warranty and they said, no poo poo, just bring it back and we'll give you a full refund even though it's 8 years old and I wasn't even asking for a refund. However, I brought it back and they gave us a full refund and promptly went and bought what they had in stock for $450 (Sealy Posterpedic) and it's been fantastic.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2014 02:27
|
|
