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ZentraediElite
Oct 22, 2002

If you really need a membership somewhere, do you live near a YMCA? They're generally a lot cheaper and offer the same equipment.

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Nocheez
Sep 5, 2000

Can you spare a little cheddar?
Nap Ghost
Running is free, and there are a lot of bodyweight exercises out there.

Look up Brain over Brawn. It's a goon-made book that is free on the internet, and can explain how to get your health in order very easily.

antiga
Jan 16, 2013

Brain over Brawn isn't a bad start but I would not recommend it as a final resource. It is not one hundred percent accurate but it's good enough for most people to make big improvements.

On target comment, you should do bodyweight work or p90x or something until your financial situation improves and then look at weights on CL. My power cage/bench/weights setup cost me less than 500 and I'm very happy with it. Dick's sporting goods has a great $400 cage but you cannot afford that right now!

in_cahoots
Sep 12, 2011

Knyteguy posted:

Thanks again for the input everyone. I think we'll be getting rid of satellite radio.

I'm posting on my tablet right now so I don't want to see who said it, but whoever said we're going at this easy is incorrect. We know it will be hard, but we also have just about anything we could want right now. We traded in our unused Xbox 360 for $137 in Best Buy credit, so if one of us wants a new game or whatever we're set there.

Quick question: what's a reasonable amount for a gym membership? We went to a place today that wanted a 2 year contract at 34$ a month and 83$ up front. It was 437$ contract free for both of us. That seems stupidly high. I am thinking of saving for a small home gym. A good bench set with 300 lbs of Olympic weights is 600$. Anyone in an office job that sits literally all day can probably relate how much it sucks sometimes exercise wise. I'm not talking about literally this instant, but this could be a good project to start saving for, after we get enough of a buffer to take care of insurance 6 months at a time. So basically does anyone have input on a home gym for membership? If membership what's a good amount to pay?

Is your wife going to use the weights too, or will she want her own equipment?

Schiavona
Oct 8, 2008

You really need to take your grocery receipts for a month and take a good look at them, because $400+ a month for two people is absurd unless you're eating filet mignon topped with foie gras and fig jam for every meal or you live in the rear end end of Alaska.

Knyteguy posted:

I'm bitter about the car; I really wish my boss hadn't pushed me into it so quickly. I have yet to visit a clients one time yet, and I could have taken a taxi if I had needed to.

Can you work remotely?

Schiavona fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Nov 26, 2013

No Wave
Sep 18, 2005

HA! HA! NICE! WHAT A TOOL!

Schiavona posted:

You really need to take your grocery receipts for a month and take a good look at them, because $400+ a month for two people is absurd unless you're eating filet mignon topped with foie gras and fig jam for every meal or you live in the rear end end of Alaska.
I don't think $6.66 per person per day is "absurd". They could probably get it down to $300 without too many sacrifices, though.

Blorange
Jan 31, 2007

A wizard did it

I'd say focus on the bigger things right now. Paying a little extra for nicer groceries is definitely worth it if it substitutes eating out. Cutting down that portion of your budget will suck way more and have less of an impact than reducing impulsive purchases.

Bhaal
Jul 13, 2001
I ain't going down alone
Dr. Infant, MD

Old Fart posted:


It's really hard to understand what it's like to live on last month's paycheck until you do it. I only started this past year. Everything is different now. I used to overdraft all the time, and worry about how I was going to pay rent if I didn't get a check deposited. But right now I'm waiting on a $500 medical reimbursement, and I don't even care. In fact, poo poo, that reminds me, I should mail it off. But it's not urgent because I live on last month's paychecks, and I have plenty of buffers. I live on budget, not on bank balance.
This is a deceptively big factor IMHO. It removes a lot of stress from your daily life, a lot of random bits of info you have to keep in your head ("$710 paycheck coming in friday, $485 left in the account, $250 bill will go through thursday, what am I doing for lunches this week?") and emotions from many financial decisions. This all adds up to go a long way to help you see your budget clearly rather than only just experience it as it happens, and can have its own little snowball effect if you've been stuck living hand to mouth for years. Anyone in that spot will be fighting the negative psychological effects brought on by that living situation, money is just a completely different entity in your brain when you are constantly up against the wall of not having any. Getting yourself to the spot where you are sitting on a cushion of cash (not available credit card limits) and work on your income vs. expenses in an objective, abstract way is possibly the largest shift in perspective you can ever have in regards to money. You don't have to know your bank balance when at the grocery store, you don't have to monitor your funds constantly to make sure you don't get overdrafts this month, and you can basically forget about how many days until your next paycheck comes in, much less matching them up against when various bills will come due or when the car needs gas and so on. Once you get there it will be eye-opening how much that poo poo ends up occupying your time, mental bandwidth, stress capacity and so on. I would say the cost of this is having to reign in spending habits and letting go of relative luxuries like HBO or whatever. But really the way to look at it is turn things around and realize that those things right now are costing you budget stress, the occasional overdraft, more time carrying bad debt, and so on and that's really the way to view things. Once you're ahead, you'll find most of what you gave up really isn't missed, and once you have a clear hold on your budget and start working down your debt in a structured way, you'll find it's much easier to take the few things that really stung to give up and roll them back in to your budget so that you can have them without all the baggage they were costing you once before.

Bugamol
Aug 2, 2006

Knyteguy posted:

A good bench set with 300 lbs of Olympic weights is 600$.
I'm not talking about literally this instant, but this could be a good project to start saving for, after we get enough of a buffer to take care of insurance 6 months at a time.

Just because you "budget for it" doesn't mean you should be spending the money. I think this is the same problem you're facing with the PS4 and Rocksmith.

"Oh we budgeted for this so it's okay to spend the money"

It's not okay when you're living paycheck to paycheck, taking out payday loans, and trying to save for a house. This is the same problem that Slow Motion had. You're justifying your spending any way you can.

"Oh well gym membership is $X amount of dollars! We can "save" money by just spending $Y amount of dollars now! Plus it will teach us to "save"!"

You are finding a "reason" to buy whatever it is you want to buy, and then filling in the blanks to get there. It's like trading in your Xbox for a gift card so you can "buy more games". At this point you should be selling it and putting the money in savings.

You're literally afraid of losing your job, living paycheck to paycheck, and STILL justifying spending money because you think you "need" it. Stop self justifying spending large amounts of money every month.

Knyteguy
Jul 6, 2005

YES to love
NO to shirts


Toilet Rascal

HooKars posted:

Is this your example of the hard sacrifices your making?

With Christmas coming up and the fact you mentioned having nieces/nephews - could you use the Best Buy credit so that Christmas doesn't cost you guys anything?

Maybe. They're all pretty much toddlers though. I don't know if there's much there for them.

Workout stuff:
Maybe I'll make another one of these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyTy5q_XZjE

Thanks for the good ideas for exercising without spending too much cash.

Bhaal that's really cool; I like the idea of stress free finances. I don't know how long it will take to get a sufficient buffer, but after this month I guess we'll have a better idea.

KS we did go through the YNAB training a couple times. I didn't know what the heck was going on before that with YNAB, so it was a necessity.

I'm feeling really good about this. We overspent on groceries a bit, but we also underspent on our pet supplies (1 mo), so we've got an even better grocery cushion while maintaining the same amount of emergency savings. I think that our budget is sufficient enough now to start rolling anything else over estimated into savings if it comes. We'll see of course, but I'm optimistic about it. Regarding the house and the $1,300 extra: I think the numbers are close how we are now. It's all about the emergency savings right now though for us.

Edit:

Bugamol posted:

You're literally afraid of losing your job, living paycheck to paycheck, and STILL justifying spending money because you think you "need" it. Stop self justifying spending large amounts of money every month.

Alright point taken thanks.

Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Nov 26, 2013

Nail Rat
Dec 29, 2000

You maniacs! You blew it up! God damn you! God damn you all to hell!!

Schiavona posted:

You really need to take your grocery receipts for a month and take a good look at them, because $400+ a month for two people is absurd unless you're eating filet mignon topped with foie gras and fig jam for every meal or you live in the rear end end of Alaska.

This is ridiculously hyperbolic. Two filet mignon per day(one per person) will cost probably at least $300 for a month. That's without lunch or breakfast taken into account, or any sides.

There's a large middle ground between fine dining and ramen noodles.

$400 per month for two people is not lavish at all and completely realistic so much as going out is highly limited.

Very rough but whatever:

Milk - $4
Eggs - $3
Fresh vegetables - $8
Fresh fruit - $8
Cereal - $4
Bread - $4
Lunchmeat - $5
Cheese - $5
A couple of cheap steaks or a package of chicken breasts - $4
Ground turkey - $4
Coffee/tea/what have you - $5
Box of pasta - $4
A few cans of beans/soup/whatever - $5

~$60-$70 there and looks pretty reasonable to me for a weekly grocery budget. Yes $100 a week is a little bit higher but it's not filet mignon with foie gras. If you think they can eat like that on $400 let me know where you live. I'm moving there.

Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Nov 26, 2013

No Wave
Sep 18, 2005

HA! HA! NICE! WHAT A TOOL!

Knyteguy posted:

endless post
You do a lot of talking, which isn't by definition bad but it's a huge sign that you're going to rationalize stuff. Being in shape a few years back doesn't make you not overweight now, nor does it justify spending a lot of money on gym stuff.

You're about five steps ahead of where your mind should be - on getting your lifestyle, spending, and mindset under control right now. You still think that buying a $300 guitar for somebody just getting into it and who may not even stick with it (not a judgement on your wife, this is just how things are) was a good idea when there are guitars on Craigslist. You're also still buying brand new video games and brand new video game systems when there's an ocean of cheap-rear end used games out there which are just as fun.

Here's the fun part about BFC: numbers don't lie. And they're the reality of your finances - the words don't matter. There's a part of your brain that you're going to have to deprive and re-train (the spendy part), and the more you let yourself rationalize the more you'll give it a chance at survival.

Also - being under-budget in one area doesn't justify being over-budget in another. Behaving this way will almost guarantee that you'll be consistently over-budget, because you're neutralizing the effect of positive randomness and only exposing yourself to negative randomness.


Of course, the most important thing to remember is that you're acting in your own self-interest! Be greedy, save money!

HooKars
Feb 22, 2006
Comeon!

Knyteguy posted:

Maybe. They're all pretty much toddlers though. I don't know if there's much there for them.

Best Buy definitely has a selection of music, movies and tv programs that would be fine for toddlers. They also have things from leapfrog and discovery kids.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013

Bhaal posted:

Getting yourself to the spot where you are sitting on a cushion of cash (not available credit card limits) and work on your income vs. expenses in an objective, abstract way is possibly the largest shift in perspective you can ever have in regards to money. You don't have to know your bank balance when at the grocery store, you don't have to monitor your funds constantly to make sure you don't get overdrafts this month, and you can basically forget about how many days until your next paycheck comes in, much less matching them up against when various bills will come due or when the car needs gas and so on. Once you get there it will be eye-opening how much that poo poo ends up occupying your time, mental bandwidth, stress capacity and so on.

Absolutely. Heck, there have been times both my wife and I forgot that we got paid. "Hey, didn't a check deposit the other day?" "Oh, yeah! I wonder how much it is this week?" (We're both shift workers, so they vary.)

A year ago when we starred with YNAB, we had $10k in debt. Today we have $16k in the bank. It's a HUGE difference, Knyteguy. And we definitely understand the spending. We both like stuff, and we both want "just this thing, special occasion this month." It's been hard fighting that instinct. And it sucks feeling guilty spending money. But the results have been worth it, and our perspectives and priorities have slowly, painfully begun to shift.

I have an idea that might help you take those first steps. When you want to buy something you don't need (and be careful with justifying wants into needs), take the money you were going to spend on it and budget it into that category for the month. But don't buy it yet. Just let the money sit there, earmarked for the thing. Then once you're through the month, consider if you still want that thing. And if you've wanted the thing for three months but just got the money this month, that doesn't count as waiting. Spend a month with the money but not spending it.

This can have three effects: 1) If an emergency pops up, you have some extra cash to cover it; 2) You have a built-in buffer against overdrafts or forgotten bills; 3) You may decide that you enjoy seeing the "net worth" graph in YNAB go up more than you'd enjoy whatever luxury you put off getting.

Things that can be treated like this: PS4, guitar, gym membership, home gym, new clothes, sonic screwdriver, extra hard drive, new phone...

Old Fart fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Nov 26, 2013

Knyteguy
Jul 6, 2005

YES to love
NO to shirts


Toilet Rascal

No Wave posted:

You do a lot of talking, which isn't by definition bad but it's a huge sign that you're going to rationalize stuff. Being in shape a few years back doesn't make you not overweight now, nor does it justify spending a lot of money on gym stuff.

You're about five steps ahead of where your mind should be - on getting your lifestyle, spending, and mindset under control right now. You still think that buying a $300 guitar for somebody just getting into it and who may not even stick with it (not a judgement on your wife, this is just how things are) was a good idea when there are guitars on Craigslist. You're also still buying brand new video games and brand new video game systems when there's an ocean of cheap-rear end used games out there which are just as fun.

Here's the fun part about BFC: numbers don't lie. And they're the reality of your finances - the words don't matter. There's a part of your brain that you're going to have to deprive and re-train (the spendy part), and the more you let yourself rationalize the more you'll give it a chance at survival.

Also - being under-budget in one area doesn't justify being over-budget in another. Behaving this way will almost guarantee that you'll be consistently over-budget, because you're neutralizing the effect of positive randomness and only exposing yourself to negative randomness.


Of course, the most important thing to remember is that you're acting in your own self-interest! Be greedy, save money!

Alright, I went ahead and edited out the frivolous stuff of the last post; I was getting a bit chatty during my lunch break, but I don't want it diluting the point of what I was trying to say. You're right I do rationalize; I've also got a lot of willpower when I put my mind to it, so hopefully there won't be too many purchases to rationalize during this process.

We bought some whey protein powder for breakfast for the next 2 months or so which caused us to go over budget, but only by $4.00. We were going to supplement with some meat throughout the next couple weeks, but we'll try to get by and reallocate the funds into savings instead.

Old Fart that's really reassuring that you guys were able to do that, congratulations it must feel great. I'm a little familiar with that strategy, but I hadn't heard it in a very long time. I think that may help based on what I know about my behavior, so we'll do that for any large want purchases from this point forward.

No Wave
Sep 18, 2005

HA! HA! NICE! WHAT A TOOL!

Knyteguy posted:

Alright, I went ahead and edited out the frivolous stuff of the last post; I was getting a bit chatty during my lunch break, but I don't want it diluting the point of what I was trying to say. You're right I do rationalize; I've also got a lot of willpower when I put my mind to it, so hopefully there won't be too many purchases to rationalize during this process.
Feeling like you're using willpower is a sign that you're thinking about the wrong stuff.

Not to dwell on your old post too much, but you were talking about all the cool stuff that you wanted to be able to afford later (house, weights, etc). If you spend all your time thinking about your goals, you're going to feel like you're denying yourself all the time. Being goal-oriented sucks because you're pretty much never happy, you're always striving.

I guess what I mean is - take pleasure in paying down your debt. Your main mission is to find a way to line up your satisfaction and your self-interest so that willpower's got nothing to do with it. After that, it's pretty easy. There's maybe a little discomfort at the beginning, but always remind yourself that you're doing this for yourself.

If you start to believe that you'd actually be better off spending lots of money instead of saving money, come back so that we can put you back in line!

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer

Knyteguy posted:

Regarding the house and the $1,300 extra: I think the numbers are close how we are now.

Maybe. If you've really gotten the hang of it, that account balance ($485 now) will be $1700+ after the new year and $3000 by February. I have thrown down the glove!! Good luck. Post here every time you are thinking about buying something so people can yell at you until you stop.

canyoneer
Sep 13, 2005


I only have canyoneyes for you

HooKars posted:

Is this your example of the hard sacrifices your making?

With Christmas coming up and the fact you mentioned having nieces/nephews - could you use the Best Buy credit so that Christmas doesn't cost you guys anything?

Knyteguy posted:

Maybe. They're all pretty much toddlers though. I don't know if there's much there for them.

Just don't buy them anything. The kids probably won't notice or care. They won't be emotionally wounded because the Doc McStuffins toy doctor kit was bought for them by someone besides you.

If their parents notice/care, they are grown-ups and should understand the concept of "I've made poor financial decisions and really can not afford to buy presents for kids who do not belong to me"

April
Jul 3, 2006


canyoneer posted:

Just don't buy them anything. The kids probably won't notice or care. They won't be emotionally wounded because the Doc McStuffins toy doctor kit was bought for them by someone besides you.

If their parents notice/care, they are grown-ups and should understand the concept of "I've made poor financial decisions and really can not afford to buy presents for kids who do not belong to me"

For toddlers, you can get away with next to nothing. My older daughter (she is 16) is addicted to Pinterest, and she found the coolest gift ever for my younger daughter's 4th birthday. She took a bunch of balloons, put little gifts in them (a dollar, a toy ring, small candies, use your imagination), then blew them up and put them in a giant box. At the party, the little one opened the box, and we dumped it out and let all the kids pop the balloons & collect the gifts. You can't imagine how loud and hilarious and awesome the whole thing was. Even my 70 year old uncle was helping, when the littlest ones were too small to pop a balloon by sitting on it, he'd get it with his pocketknife where they couldn't see. It only cost about $20, and there were 5-6 kids who had a blast for a good 20 minutes, which is about 18 minutes longer than most kids take to open a gift and finish playing with it on Christmas morning.

Or make a giant batch of cookies to get them all sugared up.

The point is, you don't have to NOT get gifts, if you're willing to get creative.

devmd01
Mar 7, 2006

Elektronik
Supersonik
Knyteguy, you use "we" a lot, but how much of this is a true team effort? Are both you and your wife fully onboard with "kill debt, set up a comfortable, sustainable budget that allows some flexibility to make that house down payment happen?" Holding each other accountable (in a smart way) for those stupid, bleeding purchases that didn't really need to happen is key, as is doing a budget review and adjustment every month together.

How involved are each of you in the financial matters of your family? When you both have responsibility and visibility into all areas of your finances, that accountability can then turn into encouragement as you make progress on your debt. Use your strengths and differences and apply them to your finances.

For example, I pay all the bills because i'm more of a spender mentality, and she does the checkbook balancing / end of month savings allocation of excess money that wasn't already allocated for a savings goal because she's more of a saver mentality. We are equally responsible for entering in purchases/bills to the checkbook, and making sure that it matches with the budget on a realtime basis. At this point we don't do an every month dollar by dollar review, but we do discuss short term savings goals or planned larger purchases / car maintenance / etc on a frequent basis, so she can keep them in mind for the next budget cycle.

Knyteguy
Jul 6, 2005

YES to love
NO to shirts


Toilet Rascal

slap me silly posted:

Maybe. If you've really gotten the hang of it, that account balance ($485 now) will be $1700+ after the new year and $3000 by February. I have thrown down the glove!! Good luck. Post here every time you are thinking about buying something so people can yell at you until you stop.

Well I might use my budgeted spending cash to hit up Gamestop on Black Friday. They have a "must have" subscription service card for $30.00 (regularly $50 for a year). This will be the only Black Friday shopping we do. Since it's normally about $4 a month for the service and constantly gives away free games I think it's worth it.

Some quick updates:
Satellite radio gave us 2 months free for trying to quit, so our next bill is February 5th, and they also offered my wife half off forever after that. That's down to $8.00 a month after fees. Is that cool or would it be wise to still get rid of it?

devmd01 we're in this 100% together. My wife is unarguably better with finances than I am, because she simply has so few wants. I've been tempted to just give her complete control of the spending decisions, but I think I need to work through my spending habits instead of just taking the easy way out. I'll talk to her about specific roles anyway though.

I mentioned to her that kind of thought process stuff that No Wave was talking about; how to not think about this as buckling down or whatever, and just enjoy the process of getting out of debt. No Wave you also hit a note with that goal oriented stuff with regards to me. I've never thought about things like that.

Thanks all for the ideas on the gifts. We agreed to do something like homemade ornaments for the adults, and under $10 toys for the kids as well. We're going to be baking cookies with my grandma for gifts too. We're on track to spend less than $100 on Christmas now. The budget in my head before was $1,000. We might still use that Best Buy card too, or we might sell it. I got an estimate for $123.00 from a gift card buying site (value $137).

E: grammar

Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Nov 27, 2013

wintermuteCF
Dec 9, 2006

LIEK HAI2U!

Knyteguy posted:

Well I might use my budgeted spending cash to hit up Gamestop on Black Friday. They have a "must have" subscription service card for $30.00 (regularly $50 for a year). This will be the only Black Friday shopping we do. Since it's normally about $4 a month for the service and constantly gives away free games I think it's worth it.
If you budgeted for it beforehand and it's coming out of your discretionary spending, and you don't go over-budget anywhere as a result, then go for it. Otherwise, get your priorities checked.

quote:

Some quick updates:
Satellite radio gave us 2 months free for trying to quit, so our next bill is February 5th, and they also offered my wife half off forever after that. That's down to $8.00 a month after fees. Is that cool or would it be wise to still get rid of it?
Depends. Is your wife willing to pay for it out of her discretionary spending budget? If not, cancel it.

quote:

I've been tempted to just give her complete control of the spending decisions, but I think I need to work through my spending habits instead of just taking the easy way out. I'll talk to her about specific roles anyway though.
Do things together. Don't ever expect your partner to take care of everything for you. Be an active participant in reclaiming your own financial future.

quote:

Thanks all for the ideas on the gifts. We agreed to do something like homemade ornaments for the adults, and under $10 toys for the kids as well. We're going to be baking cookies with my grandma for gifts too. We're on track to spend less than $100 on Christmas now. The budget in my head before was $1,000. We might still use that Best Buy card too, or we might sell it. I got an estimate for $123.00 from a gift card buying site (value $137).
Good progress here. Give the adult/couples a plate of homemade baked goods and maybe something like an ornament or other Christmasy knickknack. Kids should get some sweets and a budget-conscious toy. If any of the adults in your life give you a weird look, remember 1) who the gently caress are they to question your gift?, and 2) gently caress them, you're on a budget. "It's the thought that counts" is true here more than ever.

Good luck Knyteguy!

slap me silly
Nov 1, 2009
Grimey Drawer

Knyteguy posted:

Well I might use my budgeted spending cash to hit up Gamestop on Black Friday. They have a "must have" subscription service card for $30.00 (regularly $50 for a year). This will be the only Black Friday shopping we do. Since it's normally about $4 a month for the service and constantly gives away free games I think it's worth it.

I don't know how this works but $30-50/yr for free games sounds like a great way to get a lot of fun for cheap, to me. If the free ones are good. I agree it should come out of the Blow category for the month. Of course, their business model is to get you in with the cheap price and then make it really easy to buy a kickass new $30 game every month or two. It is a highly effective method which could multiply your cost by 10 easily - gotta gird your loins against that.

Good job bringing the mental Christmas budget from $1000 to $100. That is the difference between "completely stupid" and "completely reasonable". Stick to it.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
Having your own personal blow category is really great. There's no guilt for spending, and you're not accountable to anybody. For us, we each get $200/mo, which is sorta high, but we make decent money and have no debt and are currently stashing 30% of income to long-term savings and emergency funds.

But stuff that goes in there are Amazon and iTunes purchases, video games, gifts for each other, trips to Starbucks, coins in the soda machines, grabbing a burger on the run, seeing a movie, stuff for hobbies, etc. Any larger purchases like bikes or computer upgrades or furniture are discussed and planned, and then usually put off for a while in the interest of growing savings a bit more.

A note on getting ahead a month. If you're like we were, we paid rent at the very end of the month, trying to scrape together enough to cover it. But it was really due on the first. So the month you get ahead, you get a "free" month of rent. Maybe that will help.

HooKars
Feb 22, 2006
Comeon!

Knyteguy posted:

Thanks all for the ideas on the gifts. We agreed to do something like homemade ornaments for the adults, and under $10 toys for the kids as well. We're going to be baking cookies with my grandma for gifts too. We're on track to spend less than $100 on Christmas now. The budget in my head before was $1,000. We might still use that Best Buy card too, or we might sell it. I got an estimate for $123.00 from a gift card buying site (value $137).

How in God's name were you planning on spending $1,000 on Christmas? It's you and your spouse ALREADY bought a $400 playstation for the two of you as your main Christmas gift and you're apparently not even counting that in the budget? Aside from that, you have 6 kids to buy presents for and maybe a couple of adults who can't expect pricey gifts because who still gets really expensive gifts for their brothers/sisters/parents at that age? Christmas is about the kids at some point, and kids who are not your own don't need ~$150 spent on them.

Looking at my own Christmas, I have my mom, dad, stepmom, two stepsisters, two nephews and my brother/sister in law -- even at $50 per person (I wouldn't spend that much on my nephew who's a baby), that's still only $450. Then I have two underprivileged kids I adopted -- another $100. And a suggested bill for tipping my apartment doormen for $175 (which I don't plan to give in full). STILL not $1000. Even if I gave in full, I'd still be at $725. I know significant others can get pricey gifts but you were planning on spending $1000 NOT COUNTING the Playstation? That is insane and a serious indication that you guys have problems with spending.

Edit::

Also did you really BUDGET $1,000 for Christmas. Or was that just what you were going to spend?

HooKars fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Nov 28, 2013

wintermuteCF
Dec 9, 2006

LIEK HAI2U!

HooKars posted:

How in God's name were you planning on spending $1,000 on Christmas? It's you and your spouse ALREADY bought a $400 playstation for the two of you as your main Christmas gift and you're apparently not even counting that in the budget? Aside from that, you have 6 kids to buy presents for and maybe a couple of adults who can't expect pricey gifts because who still gets really expensive gifts for their brothers/sisters/parents at that age? Christmas is about the kids at some point, and kids who are not your own don't need ~$150 spent on them.

Looking at my own Christmas, I have my mom, dad, stepmom, two stepsisters, two nephews and my brother/sister in law -- even at $50 per person (I wouldn't spend that much on my nephew who's a baby), that's still only $450. Then I have two underprivileged kids I adopted -- another $100. And a suggested bill for tipping my apartment doormen for $175 (which I don't plan to give in full). STILL not $1000. Even if I gave in full, I'd still be at $725. I know significant others can get pricey gifts but you were planning on spending $1000 NOT COUNTING the Playstation? That is insane and a serious indication that you guys have problems with spending.

Edit::

Also did you really BUDGET $1,000 for Christmas. Or was that just what you were going to spend?

Calm down. Knyte and his wife have already realized the folly of spending this much, and are not going to. No need to yell at him further.

Switchback
Jul 23, 2001

Knyteguy posted:

Then we bought an electric tooth brush which is awesome and will probably save us money in the long run

Haha what? Floss is like a dollar, and might actually save you money by preventing future dental problems.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

So you have returned the PS4 at this point right?

Switchback
Jul 23, 2001

I hope OP comes back cause I really want to know how this toothbrush is gonna save him money :ohdear:

Wolfy
Jul 13, 2009

spwrozek posted:

So you have returned the PS4 at this point right?
Honestly, if he actually curtails his entertainment spending to compensate blowing $400 on a PS4 I don't even think it has to be returned. It's probably not in returnable condition right now. If he can resist buying new games every paycheck, it can be a good thing that will occupy his free time without being a recurring expense.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

That is a fair point but $400 bucks is almost 1% of that $50K he needs in the next 2 years. Plus he said he traded in an xbox 360 as well. So he had a system already with probably plenty of games to replay.

Knyteguy
Jul 6, 2005

YES to love
NO to shirts


Toilet Rascal

spwrozek posted:

So you have returned the PS4 at this point right?

No, for the reason below (it will allow me to put less in entertainment budget later on).

Switchback posted:

I hope OP comes back cause I really want to know how this toothbrush is gonna save him money :ohdear:

It'll lead to better teeth hygiene. My mother has been in the dental industry for many years and highly recommends them, as does our hygienist. The quadrant timer is awesome and my mouth definitely feels healthier. My wife got a good comment from the hygienist about it too.

Could it have waited, and is it somewhat of a luxury? Sure. Why dwell on our past behavior if we're working on the future though?

Wolfy posted:

Honestly, if he actually curtails his entertainment spending to compensate blowing $400 on a PS4 I don't even think it has to be returned. It's probably not in returnable condition right now. If he can resist buying new games every paycheck, it can be a good thing that will occupy his free time without being a recurring expense.

Definitely won't be buying tons of games. I'm actually really god damned cheap when it comes to my video games, and probably spend less than $100.00 a year before we decided to start getting serious with money. I won't buy something (generally) unless it's under $10 on Steam. And even then I'm picky.

quote:

That is a fair point but $400 bucks is almost 1% of that $50K he needs in the next 2 years. Plus he said he traded in an xbox 360 as well. So he had a system already with probably plenty of games to replay.

We only had like 4 games for the 360 (I was more of a PS3 guy); we got the Xbox 360 on sale during Black Friday a couple years ago and I think we ended up buying two games, and getting gifted one. We sold one of the 360s we bought for around $50 profit, so we spent like $200 on everything (and got $137 back).

The PS3 is starting to show some age. I think I bought it Christmas 2007. We plan on playing these games for awhile. We haven't bought a game for this (not counting Rocksmith which is hardly a game) for at least 2.5 years, and that was a used greatest hits.

Good note: Due to lots of overbudgeting from myself, we were able to save $550.00 this pay period. We cut down on animal supplies, my wife's work shoes (she got some really nice Columbia shoes for $30 from Ross), fuel, and the car repairs were way less than expected. My math in the first budget I posted here was actually wrong too, so all-in-all we ended up saving about $250.00 more than we originally expected to be able to.

The company my work is doing a big project for (Fortune 500) has also commissioned a graphic designer to recreate our website. This is beneficial for both the Fortune 500, and for us, because it means they have a stake in this as well. My boss just forecasted our necessary goals for the next 6 months so I'd guess we're doing OK. If something happens 6 months from now we'll be in a stronger spot than we are now (we'll have some emergency funds).

Inept
Jul 8, 2003

Knyteguy posted:

The PS3 is starting to show some age. I think I bought it Christmas 2007. We plan on playing these games for awhile. We haven't bought a game for this (not counting Rocksmith which is hardly a game) for at least 2.5 years, and that was a used greatest hits.

What does this even mean? It has dust on it? Financials aside, there are a ton of great games available for the PS3, and the PS4 has nothing right now. I'd much rather have a dozen PS3 games than a PS4 and whatever you got.

No Wave
Sep 18, 2005

HA! HA! NICE! WHAT A TOOL!

Knyteguy posted:

It'll lead to better teeth hygiene. My mother has been in the dental industry for many years and highly recommends them, as does our hygienist. The quadrant timer is awesome and my mouth definitely feels healthier. My wife got a good comment from the hygienist about it too.

Could it have waited, and is it somewhat of a luxury? Sure. Why dwell on our past behavior if we're working on the future though?
I don't mean to torture you, but the main issue with the toothbrush is that you spent a hundred dollars on it when there are highly-rated electric toothbrushes on Amazon for $40.

The main reason to think about past purchases is to ask yourself what you would do differently. You're not going to stop buying things entirely, and that goal will always be a failure. The point of reconsidering past behavior is to create a model for future behavior.

SiGmA_X
May 3, 2004
SiGmA_X
You should consider posting Tuyop styled YNAB screen shots and Excel debt reduction graphs every month.

Good on you for coming in "under budget". What are you doing with the surplus?

Don't most company's forecast a bit longer than 6 months?! That's insanely short, or seems like it to me at least.

Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.
Saving 550 for one pay period is great, but if you want to wipe out your debt and save 20k in 2 years, that's a little over $2,000/month you need to save, right?

Knyteguy
Jul 6, 2005

YES to love
NO to shirts


Toilet Rascal

No Wave posted:

I don't mean to torture you, but the main issue with the toothbrush is that you spent a hundred dollars on it when there are highly-rated electric toothbrushes on Amazon for $40.

The main reason to think about past purchases is to ask yourself what you would do differently. You're not going to stop buying things entirely, and that goal will always be a failure. The point of reconsidering past behavior is to create a model for future behavior.

Ah we probably should have checked Amazon. It would have saved us some money plus tax.

Does anyone do any household good shopping on Amazon? I'll have to check how it is for razors, vitamins, supplements, and the like.

SiGmA_X posted:

You should consider posting Tuyop styled YNAB screen shots and Excel debt reduction graphs every month.

Good on you for coming in "under budget". What are you doing with the surplus?

Don't most company's forecast a bit longer than 6 months?! That's insanely short, or seems like it to me at least.

I don't know what the whole forecast is. Really I'm happier not knowing. We're starting to "prepare for the worst, and hope for the best" regarding our income and everything that relates to it. At least for now.

Alright that's something I'll try to get going tomorrow in regards to the Excel and YNAB stuff.

All of the excess money is budgeted for our emergency fund. I chose a relatively arbitrary number of $10,000 to save to before we throw extra money into debt. I know that we would be better off paying off the debt ASAP, but with my job situation a little shaky I'd rather have a little piece of mind. If worst comes to worst I think we could break even with my unemployment while I look for something else. Also our checking account makes us 2.5% APR guaranteed up to $10,000, so that helped pick that number (as well as covering 6 months or so of expenses, more if we buckled down).

Cicero posted:

Saving 550 for one pay period is great, but if you want to wipe out your debt and save 20k in 2 years, that's a little over $2,000/month you need to save, right?

Well sort of yes. The loan payments do pay off the principal. Someone else did some calculations and it would take somewhere around $1,300 extra per month to the debt and the savings (especially after the debt was going to savings). I'll double check the calculations tomorrow as well.

We also don't expect most months to have anywhere near our car maintenance this month that was just under $400. Hopefully that maintenance will forego any repairs for the next couple years if we stick with just oil changes.

Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Dec 2, 2013

No Wave
Sep 18, 2005

HA! HA! NICE! WHAT A TOOL!

Knyteguy posted:

Ah we probably should have checked Amazon. It would have saved us some money plus tax.

Does anyone do any household good shopping on Amazon? I'll have to check how it is for razors, vitamins, supplements, and the like.
It's phenomenal for household goods! Probably what I use it for the most (besides free kindle books).

I buy everything online except for groceries and furniture. It lets me research purchases, get the lowest price, and even lets me avoid some impulse purchases. Plus I don't have to spend time going to stores.

Of course, I have prime, so it's a lot more fun... may even be a worthwhile investment (especially if you get into the goon splitting of prime accounts in SA-mart if that's still going on).

dreesemonkey
May 14, 2008
Pillbug

Knyteguy posted:

Ah we probably should have checked Amazon. It would have saved us some money plus tax.

Does anyone do any household good shopping on Amazon? I'll have to check how it is for razors, vitamins, supplements, and the like


Dorcousa dot com for razors, both my wife and I use them, no complaints.

We use amazon for diapers and paper towels, all our other stuff is cheaper at sam's club we've found. Pity because you get some good discounts on subscribe and save with multiple orders shipping out.

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wintermuteCF
Dec 9, 2006

LIEK HAI2U!
Depending on how frequently you change blades, Dollar Shave Club can also help you out on razors. I think I pay $6 every other month because I only change blades (the 4-bladed kind because I'm lazy) every other week, so 4 blades lasts 2 months. Far cheaper than buying in a drugstore, and you don't have to think about it.

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