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Pre-December update. I just made an extra $100 selling an old Brooks Brothers suit that didn’t fit me. I’ve made most of a meal plan for a week which will include actually cooking three times and being able to bring leftovers for lunch all week. Money is really tight this paycheck due to having to replace my car battery, pay loans, rent, and my credit card all at the same time. I’m going to have to be very good with not spending money on restaurants and delivery for the next two weeks if I don’t want to dip into savings. I’ve made my plan for Christmas presents. I made Egg Nog a couple years ago that was a hit. I’m going to give out pints of that, it will probably total $45-50 with enough to bring to Christmas parties. Aside from that I’m going to get my brother a cheap pair of headphones and a clip-on mic. Then I’ll try to find a super cheap pair of warm slippers off of Sierra Trading Post for my wife. Hopefully that will end up being under $100, as well as being my contribution to Christmas parties for both sides of my family. I have sent an email to someone renting out a duplex closer to work. It would be $60 more per month, but it would be 9 miles from work rather than 60. Two bedroom, one floor, cheaper than anything else we found meeting our requirements. I know I’m probably going to have to defend the requirements, so they are pets allowed, one floor (old dog), somewhere to let the dog out without accompanying her (old dog bladder), and not a basement (depression). They said it might take a couple days to get back to us because they have gotten a lot of interest since putting the ad up yesterday. I really hope that works out. It would mean 1 tank of gas to get to work per 4 weeks rather than 6 and 2/3. And 360 miles per month rather than 600 per week. If it comes down to it we have enough money to sign the lease and pay the deposit right now. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Nov 24, 2017 |
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Nov 24, 2017 19:27
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It would be along a highway, so while I like the idea of biking it might not be the best option. I think there might be a bus stop nearby, though. And one of my job’s benefits is a free unlimited RTD (Denver metro public transportation) pass. If I could deal with the schedules that could save me spending anything on gas, and I could gently caress around on my phone rather than driving.
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Nov 24, 2017 19:54
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The place was a dump. One "Bedroom" was an 8x10 room that was the first room you came to entering the house. One wall was entirely windows, and most of one side was open to the kitchen with no door. It was a sunroom with a closet, basically. The other bedroom was so narrow that it wouldn't have been able to handle both a bed and dressers. And the bathroom door had a little hook and ring latch rather than a doorknob. They were apparently converted from dormitories built at a country school in the '70s. We could have gotten the real bedroom that they were planning on converting into its own studio, but it would have meant the whole place would cost $1850 a month rather than $1160. Well, we aren't really in a huge hurry to move at least. We wouldn't move until February, January at absolute earliest. I'll already hit my 210k maintenance on my car before then either way.
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Nov 25, 2017 06:14
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I’ll be going to an open house tomorrow (probably) for a duplex and a scheduled showing Friday for a small house. The house is doable, but more than I would ideally want to pay. It is even closer than the dump I saw last weekend, though. That would be roughly $1360 after utilities (less in the summer when we wouldn’t be using the heat). The duplex would be $1175-1195 after all utilities in a cheaper (but still safe) neighborhood. The problem is that they want first and last (965*2 = 1930), a $1115 deposit, a $90 application fee for two people, and $400 for a pet fee for our two pets. So $3535. Possibly $3685 depending on when they want the first utility payment. That’s due at move-in, and doesn’t include the cost of carpet cleaning, lease breaking, or hiring my little brother and his friends to help move. I don’t see any way of doing that unless I can spread that out or borrow money, and I don’t want any more debt. I guess this is an example of how it can be more expensive to be poor / have low savings than to be rich / have more savings. I’m still checking Craigslist multiple times per day and keeping an eye on my Zillow and Trulia alerts. There was another yesterday, but it had already been rented when I called. There’s a decent chance that house will be too small anyway.
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Nov 29, 2017 21:13
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The duplex is willing to split up the last month’s rent portion of move-in over 3 or 4 months, which brings it down to a much more manageable amount. The rent will be kind of high the first few months, but not any higher than the average place we were looking at, and that’s only temporary. This place is cheaper and bigger than almost anything we’ve seen, and they just got done doing interior renovations. I need to put together a list of things to check on, because it seems too good to be true. I guess it pays to ask if they’ll work with you, although I made sure to tell them how much money I made when I asked.
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Nov 30, 2017 04:14
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I don’t see anything specifically about it in the Colorado Revised Statutes, but googling around it seems like an uncommon but not nonexistent practice. I’ve seen it at other places in the past. Now I’m just trying to find out if this is a neighborhood where I’m going to get stabbed every time I step outside. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Nov 30, 2017 |
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Nov 30, 2017 19:36
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Open house report: Is there such a thing as Myspace angles for rental ads? Because that's the best thing I can use to describe this place. Except instead of trying to make someone look half their size, they tried to make someplace look twice its size. This place was closer to 500 square feet than 1,000. The "living room" was an entryway 12x12 at best, the bathroom was the kind where there's about a 2x2 space surrounded by sink, toilet, shower (where you would bang your elbows constantly), and door. The "bedroom" contained the back door, and the only way you would fit a queen sized mattress in there is on its side. There were three groups of people in there with the rental agent standing outside. All of us were laughing at how terrible it was. I think the 1,000 feet thing was for both units of the duplex together. As a bonus, across the street there was a trailer park that looked like everyone there was probably involved in either the producer or consumer side of the meth trade. I knew I wasn't going to rent it before I even went in, I was just curious what it looked like inside, and in a way it didn't disappoint. I wouldn't even be annoyed if it didn't make me drive through Denver rush hour traffic getting back from viewing the place. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Dec 1, 2017 |
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Dec 1, 2017 03:35
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Took screenshots of the accounts as of today and the budgets for November. Went downhill since my last post, which frustrates me. Just lack of discipline. I need to put together a thorough postmortem still. I also need to get the numbers from my wife on how much her vitamins and hair care stuff costs so I can finalize the budget. Probably not going to find a new place this month. I've been on a PIP, and while last I heard I was doing well enough and I thought I had continued to perform well, I checked in with my boss. He said he wants to talk more thoroughly in person on Monday (he was in Canada this week), but he said I'm still on the bubble. I hadn't done anything to make him want to fire me, but nothing to make him really want to keep me either. He said I had been inconsistent. So I'm not spending any large amounts of money this month. Besides, at this point I don't think there's enough time for a 30 day notice to our landlord anyway. The PIP ends at the end of the year one way or the other. Hopefully it works out and I continue to get my great benefits and this pay next year. I'm kind of concerned about the prospect of having to go back to doing desktop support since I haven't actually gotten experience in SQL like I was supposed to yet. The strange thing is that at our team meeting last Thursday he said that end of year bonuses had been decided and that everyone who qualified for one (not the contractor) had gotten a pretty good one. He had said at the PIP meeting that depending on my performance for the next few months I could still get a bonus. So Monday I'm going to find out how me being on the bubble matches up with him saying that everyone got a good bonus. I've never known him to be anything less than completely honest, so if he was lying about the bonuses that will actually severely impact my trust in him and probably mean I'll be looking for an exit even if I'm welcome to stay. He said on my first day that he expects full honesty from his employees. If someone lies to him once, all trust is gone. I really like him, but that goes both ways. Life never gets boring.
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Dec 2, 2017 09:22
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Oh, the PIP has been in place since September. It’s just that I had only been receiving good feedback aside from being late too much (which I resolved shortly after, got switched to a medication that doesn’t make me super tired in the morning). I had been getting good feedback both from my manager and director, but I haven’t had a meeting with my manager for a few weeks because of scheduling. I had been completely disorganized and overwhelmed and it resulted in a big thing I was doing going absolutely to poo poo back in September. He’s had me organize more and has been going over how I schedule everything in my week to help keep me on track. He and the PM have also helped me become assertive enough to say when a deadline is unrealistic rather than going along with it because it’s somebody high ranking saying they want it then. To be clear, the tardiness was mentioned as a problem that was holding me back while still being overall okay. Not something that was going to ruin me, but obviously I still wanted to address it. I don’t feel completely screwed, I just thought I was doing better than I guess I am. I’m going to start applying around just in case. I really hope it’s not because last month it turned out the way I was specifically told to do three things by someone no longer here was completely wrong. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Dec 4, 2017 |
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Dec 4, 2017 02:31
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Ah, poo poo. Stuff happened yesterday and I didn’t get the post or budget done. Guess I need to do at least some of that at lunch so I don’t get banned.
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Dec 4, 2017 15:17
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I wrote down the budget with notes at work. I’ll try emailing it to myself and pasting it on my phone, but if preview looks hosed up I guess I’ll have to do it at home. It’s not looking great, but there are a few places we are hoping (medical) / trying (food / pet food / discretionary) to reduce costs.
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Dec 4, 2017 20:29
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Why wait to post the budget? Budget in this post, November postmortem tonight or tomorrow. For the postmortem is there any reason to blank out the name of my credit union? It doesn't show account numbers (even last 4), just the name of the credit union. I don't see how that would be sensitive information, but I could be wrong. This income is net, after health / vision / dental insurance is taken out. We're on the PPO, which is maybe $30/mo more expensive, but with our expenses we can't afford to wait for the deductible to be met. Income every 4 weeks: $3900 Rent: $1020 Auto Insurance: $80 Internet: $78 (they jacked it up twice in the past 6 months, thinking about cancelling and possibly switching to my wife for a new promo rate) Mobile Phones: $65 (2 lines through MetroPCS, we own our phones in full. Company gives me $74 stipend for using my phone for work) Student Loans: $149 (graduated payments, want to start hitting those harder once CC debt is paid off) Credit Card: $140 (this is the first priority once we move and get 1 month's cash expenses in an E-fund) Loan for Hospital Bill: $45 (this is a real loan with interest, I couldn't afford the payment plan they offered and the bill came too late for an indigent claim) Netflix: $11 Subtotal: $1588 Groceries: $300 (Gluten free poo poo is expensive. We'd like to get a used kitchen-aid so my wife can start making her own bread if we can find cheap bulk rice flour, but that's not going to happen soon. Also trying to find some good cheap rice dishes) Pet food / medicine: $100 (cat needs some joint thing, dog needs more expensive than average food because cheap stuff leaves her vitamin deficient) Subtotal: $400 Dr: $475 (we're hoping to find some medications that would bring this down by reducing or eliminating her need to see an expensive out of network doctor) Prescriptions: $310 (some stuff isn't covered by insurance, we're already using the mail order for a discount) Subtotal: $885 E-Cigs: $75 (this is an estimate, we haven't tracked it yet. Hopefully a bit lower, but she vapes a lot) Home Supplies: $30 (also an estimate) Gasoline: $300 (This is part of why moving closer and paying more rent would actually be GWM) Mechanic / car parts: $50 Personal Care: $65 (haircut every two months, her hair products, makeup) Subtotal: $515 Discretionary spending: $300 (I know this seems like a lot, but early last year we were going out several mornings a week for breakfast, getting OrderUp almost every night, and the only thing that changed later in the year was we didn't have time to get breakfast. Trying to stick to $200 hasn't been working, I want to try to try to manage this for the next few months and then pull back to $200) Total: $3688 Left Over: $212 + wife's income + whatever we can sell Next year (if I'm still at my current job), I'll be getting an extra $90 or so per paycheck since my pre-tax insurance costs are going up a tiny bit but I'll be putting $125 less pre-tax per paycheck into my FSA. The goals currently are to find cheaper but still gluten free meals, see if our dog is okay long term with some cheaper food from the same brand, and stick with our discretionary budget well enough to dial it back again in a few months. Like I said before, next month, February, and March are the biggest months of next year. Having a fully funded FSA will let us put at least 5-600 more a month into savings until it runs out. Hopefully more, we’ll see. If I stick with going by month rather than two or 4 weeks, there will be an additional almost $2,000 in March with the third paycheck for the month. We’ve started putting money into savings immediately when the paycheck comes in rather than seeing how much is left after we spend most (read: all) if it. We’re probably going over on prescriptions this month, it’s time to order a bunch of three month supplies of stuff. Long term that’s good (three months for the price of two), short term it means going over budget. Prescriptions is a monthly average. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Dec 5, 2017 |
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Dec 4, 2017 20:39
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No postmortem tonight. I spent all night either eating or making egg nog. Tomorrow is the 5th, which means I need to post the screenshots and summary tomorrow, Wednesday, or Thursday. Or else I eat a ban. The sooner the better in case more poo poo comes up. I've been posting the nog all over the place, so I'm going to post it here too. 15% ABV, surprisingly smooth already. Heavy cream, half and half, whole milk, egg yolks, bourbon, brandy, rum, and rye. Plus a ton of sugar. It doesn't have all of that alcohol in it, I just put the extra brandy, rum, and bourbon in mason jars so I had the empty bottles to store it for Christmas parties.
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Dec 5, 2017 05:23
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After a year of this thread being open, there's finally a monthly update. Be gentle, it's my first time  November 2017 Accounts as of Dec 1st:  Budgets at end of November:   Big things: Yes, we spent way way too much on eating out. It wasn't great through most of the month and then went downhill fast in the last week and a half or so. The saddest thing is that this is actually less than most months. In the past when I've gotten up the courage to check it's been like $600. That's where the most money is hemorrhaging from. Groceries, it's hard to tell how much of that was on actual groceries and how much was on prescriptions/gas/pet food/toilet paper/dish detergent/etc. I've been better about that so far this month. Other notes: Mobile phone and student loan didn't get taken out until the beginning of this month, so they will probably show up twice for December. Just a matter of hanging in pending a while, I think. Personal care is pretty high too, and didn't have a budget that month. A lot of my wife's makeup got stolen last month and so she replaced the basics. One problem we've had is that we stick a certain amount into an account designated for fun purchases every paycheck. That would be fine except we overspend like crazy and still put that same amount in the next paycheck. I feel like one of the keys to stop living paycheck to paycheck is going to be living off of budgets rather than accounts, this attempt at pseudo-envelopes just isn't working right. There's some transactions I just don't recognize and my wife can't remember. We don't think they're fraud, but sometimes it's things like "What did you make a withdrawal from the bank for two weeks ago?" "I don't remember." Keeping up with this daily or every few days should keep this problem to a minimum in the future. Questions: The "Credit Card" part doesn't seem to work right, since it nets to zero. I want to denote that there's a credit card payment being made even though it doesn't change my net worth. Is there a good way to do that in Mint?
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Dec 6, 2017 06:26
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Is no responses a bad thing or good thing? I found out why I’m still on the bubble on Monday. Too much break time leading to too low productivity. I misunderstood something my manager said a few weeks ago and thought we had a paid lunch. So we cleared that up, and hopefully things will be smoother now. Thankfully he realized I was just confused and not trying to take the company for a ride. Today he said I’m “inside the bubble” which I guess is the good side to be on. In my defense WRT the lunch thing, this company is a weird mixture of US and UK culture, so I thought it was related to that. I also see people gone for an hour+ and gone at or before five all the time. Maybe they come in much earlier, maybe their managers just don’t care as much. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Dec 8, 2017 |
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Dec 8, 2017 01:17
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Quick update: Hit $1420 in savings this week, doing well on groceries although it's only 1 week in so far. Trying to figure out something else easy to make that will last most of a week. I'm going to make a beef and cabbage stir-fry with rice (in a pasta pot, no wok), but that will probably only last a day to day and a half. Having something in the fridge that can be microwaved in 3 minutes makes for a lot less temptation to go to OrderUp. I'd like to find somewhere that has bulk rice flour / pasta if I can. Having cheap gluten free stuff available would save a lot of money. My mother in law is fine with us keeping the KitchenAid for a while, so that opens up a lot of options. Today we opened up a reverse-tier savings account that we're planning on keeping $2,000 in, at least until I've paid off my CC and then we might increase the cash E-fund. There's not much in it yet, but we're going to be getting some money later this month and we're planning on sticking it in there. It's 3.25% APY, 3.2% compounded quarterly. The bottom tier maxes out at $2,000 so it makes sense to not put any more in there. I've looked around a bit and I'm not seeing anything else liquid with anywhere near that return. Our current plan is to move mid-January if possible. By that point we should have enough saved up without the E-fund. If not, February. Then all savings (and a bonus that will be $1,000 at minimum post-tax) goes into the CC until that's paid off. That will give us an extra $95 per month. We'll see what's next after that. By that point I think we should be good to split savings between debt reduction and buying new stuff like computer upgrades for my wife so Photoshop is more stable and responsive (plus so her computer isn't just a gigantic POS in general) and maybe saving up for a (cheap) car that's not 19 years old. Definitely CC first, though. That thing is something I've been struggling with since the beginning of 2014, so it will be good to see that balance gone. And it should raise both of our credit scores quite a bit, which means if we do decide to get a loan for a car, which I would rather not, the rates would be far better. I've been keeping track of Mint for roughly a month now, which is longer than ever before. Maybe my post reads as being overly optimistic / counting my chickens before they hatch, but this is the most my wife and I have ever worked together on our finances. I feel like we actually have a chance now. Does anyone have recommendations for cheap and easy recipes that can be made in a large volume? I like using the crock-pot, but that's not a necessity. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Dec 10, 2017 |
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Dec 10, 2017 00:42
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I love budget bytes. That’s where I got the cabbage and beef stir fry. There’s also a nice simple soy ginger green beans and salmon for nice dinners in where you’re willing to spend a bit more. For a while I was in an all chicken all the time mindset, but then I realized that it’s okay to mix it up a bit as long as we’re bringing down our terrible eating out costs. Especially with our Costco membership, it brings down the cost of pork and beef quite a bit when I’m using a lot at once anyway. The nice thing is the Kroger near me always has boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs for $2/lb. Costco’s bone in thighs and drumsticks are cheaper, but I am terrible at and hate deboning chicken so the convenience is worth an extra $1/lb. also because my freezer is tiny. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Dec 10, 2017 |
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Dec 10, 2017 17:15
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Sorry, wasn't trying to seem needy. I just kind of expected a bunch of people to jump on me telling me how lovely I was doing. I guess I've been reading the Zuarg thread too much. The thing is that the credit card payment budget is always showing as 0 since I guess it shows as a negative expense / income / whatever on the card so it balances out the expense from my bank account. Maybe if I assigned the transaction on the credit card that nets the whole thing to zero to another category it would show right? I'm just not sure if there's a normal way to fix it or if I should just jury rig something.
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Dec 10, 2017 22:24
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Thanks. That makes sense. We’re over $1600 in savings now due to a reimbursement check from our vision insurance and my wife just raking it in. Her earnings have been skyrocketing over the past couple of months. Probably because she’s been working almost full time so her quality has been rapidly increasing. Even post-tax, she’s made more than she made at her last job, and that was no withholdings because we weren’t married yet and she was making like $4,300 per year. At the beginning of October we were around $200 in savings, so that’s $1,400 in less than two and a half months. At this point, I would say 2:1 odds of us hitting 2k by end of year. Then I plan on sticking $500 from my first January paycheck into savings, which should get us where we need to move during January. Then in February we’ll get my bonus (company performance is half of it, so even if I get nothing for personal, that’s $965 post-tax and $700 or so in withholdings). I thought our internet was out over the weekend, but it turned out to be router problems. Somehow moving the router into the other room fixed it thankfully. I also was offered a promotion for the same speed plus streaming movies for $45, $32 less per month. I need to check for gotchas like the price going up if we move, but that would be a nice (if small) savings. To be fair to my November spending, $214 doesn’t show because it was pending until the beginning of December. We’re still in the black, though, and that’s a refreshing feeling. E: they didn’t have/wouldn’t offer the $45 package, but they did offer 200mbps for $50 for 12 months no contract, same price after I move. So that’s $27.50 saved per month at least. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Dec 12, 2017 |
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Dec 12, 2017 18:05
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I like that idea, but this month we just want to pump everything into moving. Maybe if next month is a good one too, we might do that. Maybe save it up for a big fancy Valentines Day dinner in February. I made the suggestion to her, she’s thinking about it. I’m hoping she’ll get a big burst of business after Christmas. Her clientele is mostly young enough to still be getting money for Christmas, so even before she started doing this full time her busiest time was immediately after Christmas.
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Dec 13, 2017 17:13
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My wife made a great cabbage and beef soup last night with a tomato base. Neither of us felt like making the stir fry. It might seem odd, but it's got a flavor profile kind of similar to borscht but tomato instead of beet. We're putting it in rotation now. Tomorrow we're (she's) doing slow cooker pot roast and I'll make mashed potatoes. I'll try to make enough potatoes that I can bring some to work for lunch too. The recipe is pretty huge so it lasts most of, if not a whole, week. Next I'm thinking of getting some stew meat and making a traditional beef, potato, carrot, and maybe celery stew. Stew meat comes from Costco in like 5 pound packages, so we would have enough for that and then another batch of the cabbage and beef soup. Ideally I'd like to get 4-5 easy recipes we can make that will last at least a couple days so we don't get bored. I've got something odd going on with Mint. I've got a category that says I've spent $70, but when I look to see what the expenses were it says it can't find anything. I also just went through all of the transactions listed so far in December and can't find anything. Has anyone seen that yet?   We're doing pretty well on groceries so far, just over half the budget halfway through the month, and that's after buying the giant pot roast. We're already almost at budget for slush thanks to my not keeping up on categorizing transactions and thinking we had spent less than we had.  Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. We'll just have to be better in the last half of the month. I feel like I have to have missed a gas transaction somewhere, I'm lower than I should be at this point in the month.
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Dec 14, 2017 04:25
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Yep, looks like that must be it. Thanks.
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Dec 14, 2017 14:49
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Well, gently caress. Slid out and hit a curb this morning. I need a new wheel, probably a new tie rod, but everything else seems intact. I’ll get some quotes today, and if they’re more than I want I’ll see if my friend will accept my quote for labor of $50, a bottle of whiskey, and a 6 pack of IPAs to share. E: in good news my manager told me that unless I make a massive gently caress-up by the end of the year I’m here next year. He’s also got me starting work on a new project, which backs that up. There’s also the fact that I’ve never known him to lie and is vocal about how much he hates lying. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Dec 14, 2017 |
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Dec 14, 2017 17:53
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Bad news: car is probably totaled. Waiting to hear back and probably appeal the settlement offer since Subarus are really expensive in CO. Might be getting a cheap Prius or something, probably do some test driving tomorrow.
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Dec 16, 2017 00:13
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Holy loving poo poo. My father in law heard that my car was totaled and he decided to give us $3,000 to help out. I’m lost for words. I’m inclined to still take out a loan (~5.5%) and put that $3,000 towards the credit card, does that seem like a bad idea? Or maybe that would be lovely of me. My father in law is kind of weird. Sometimes he’s extremely grumpy, but when he’s proud of us or we’re doing well as far as keeping our lives on track but have an emergency he just throws money at us. We had to borrow money for rent one time when I was laid off without warning and when we went to pay him back he refused the money. He’s retiring next year, though, so I never want to have to count on him. It’s not fair to expect support from a 66 year old retired man as a 26 year old yuppie. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Dec 18, 2017 |
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Dec 18, 2017 21:13
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I just found out that sometime in the first four paychecks of 2018 I will be getting a bonus of ~$3800, so $2300 post tax if I’m doing the math right. That also means that between that and the car incentive I’ll have about $3500 withheld for taxes before anything even gets taken out of my paychecks. As soon as the IRS calculator gets updated for the new tax code next year I’ll see how I can take advantage of that and adjust my allowances to minimize my refund. Now I just have to find out how much my car settlement is (and how high my insurance is going  )
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Dec 21, 2017 19:26
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I haven’t abandoned the thread, I’ll write up a post about last month. It wasn’t good. I also need to update my budget due to my paycheck changing pretty significantly this year. I’ll have to wait until this weekend for that, though. That way I find out exactly how much each paycheck will be. E: still not good, but not as bad as I thought. I thought we had lost $1,000 from savings, but forgot it had actually been transferred to another savings account. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Jan 3, 2018 |
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Jan 3, 2018 18:29
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Just got a settlement offer on my 19 year old, 207500 mile Subaru. After deductible, $3498. If I bought it back, towed it home, and parted it out, $3035 before anything I would get for parting it out. Trying to decide, asked for advice in the Subaru thread on what’s even worth anything on a car that old. I’m guessing probably body panels. E: actually, after looking at other part-outs, probably not worth it. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Jan 4, 2018 |
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Jan 4, 2018 18:55
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Yeah, definitely. I was thinking body panels would be worth more than they are. Please don’t lynch me, thread, but I’m going to try to fix it myself. I’ve done a decent amount of work on the car before, I just had to stop when it became my only way to get to work. I’m going to take a look to make sure the impact didn’t break open the slow leaking water pump, but if that’s good I should be able to get it up and running again for a tiny fraction of the cost the shop quoted. While I’m under there I should be able to replace the oil pan too, which means I can start doing my own oil changes again. I need to find a different shop. When I was last under the car I saw the way that they had fixed an exhaust rattle. Three screws shoved in the gap between the two pieces to stop it moving around. Not screwed through, just shimming it. E: before you asked, I priced out the parts. Assuming I don’t get any junkyard parts and everything on that side is broken, it’s under $500 for everything including the tools I don’t have (like a jack and jack stands). In all likelihood, some parts are still fine, and Harbor Freight cut $30 or so off the tools I need. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 5, 2018 |
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Jan 5, 2018 17:19
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I can post them today, I guess. I want to take a final look at it before I decide. It popped a curb sliding on black ice. Control arm bent, sway bar end link snapped, tie rod possibly bent, but it didn’t look like it. Possibly CV axle bent, but again, didn’t look like it. Need to check the strut. Wheel needs to be replaced, but I got a full set of 4 for $100 years ago, much different than the shop’s quote of $400. Tire surprisingly didn’t seem bubbled, although I might have missed it on the inside. I didn’t hear a wheel bearing noise, but I could have missed it. I was probably going 10-15mph, I had just pulled into my parking lot’s driveway and was slowing down. The shop said all of that stuff I was skeptical of was broken, but they also quoted fixing a bunch of crap that clearly wasn’t from the same incident. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were inflating it a bit. Not sure why they would do that if it was going to be a total, though. Maybe they get paid for the estimate and inspection? E: Imgur refuses to copy the link to the album on my phone. I’ll post when I get home. Too late to talk me out of buying it back, already told State Farm I was doing it. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Jan 5, 2018 |
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Jan 5, 2018 21:21
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Yes. State Farm won’t insure it, but that’s because they have a policy of only insuring salvage titles that don’t belong to cars that they issued the total loss for in the first place. I can get it insured just fine elsewhere.
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Jan 6, 2018 16:49
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No, I actually didn’t. Hopefully that doesn’t end up biting me in the rear end. Good news: I’m off my performance improvement program, and I still have my job.
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Jan 9, 2018 15:00
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n8r posted:Did you search for comparable cars for sale? $3500 sounds pretty good for a car of that age and mileage. I’d take the check and buy a Toyota Corolla or something similar. Parting out will be a massive pain in the rear end. I can only imagine how flakey the people wanting to buy Subaru parts off Craigslist would be. I already bought a Camry Hybrid. My work paid me $3,000 for buying it, so the $6500 car is now $3500. I could pay the rest off, but since it’s at 5.64% I would rather keep the cash liquid for now and prioritize paying off my credit card. Speaking of paying off the credit card: the payment came in (EFT) today, and my wife threw a fit when I said I wanted to pay most of it to the credit card. We’ve still got $6700 in savings even after that. She said that we could build a good life around our debt (whatever that means) but that I want to waste a bunch of money on debt. “Waste money on debt” was the exact term she used. I can’t just call her financially stupid to her face, and I know I’m bad with money, but at least I know what I should do. She thinks paying debt is a waste of money. I’m trying to convince her to let us ask her(financially successful) dad for advice. I’ll make sure to mention the debt is at 20%. When I was talking to her about buying a car, I mentioned how much the car payment would be, and later referred to a loan. She was upset by the idea of having both a car payment and a loan. E: I guess she just has more attachment to number landmarks than achievement landmarks. She doesn’t want to do anything until we hit $10,000 in savings. Since we’re only a few hundred dollars off, I think I can make that work for now. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jan 10, 2018 |
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Jan 9, 2018 21:20
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Not sure what you mean by “replace this car.” I have another already. The body shop screwed up the inspection form so it didn’t actually get submitted, I ended up buying a new car before that. My hope is to get this car back for the ~$475, get the tools and parts for at most $500 (assuming I didn’t miss a bubble on the tire), and get the car back on the road for about $1,000 plus the cost of inspection, titling, and registration. No, I can’t buy any Subaru in running condition for that much. That way I get experience and confidence fixing cars, have a third car so my wife isn’t stuck at home whenever a car is in the shop, and more importantly have a third car so I have time to do my own repairs like I used to, saving a significant chunk of money. Like the repairs at 240k that I said would be the death knell for the car earlier in this thread. If I have the time and knowledge, I can do the timing belt and water pump for the cost of parts off of RockAuto rather than $1,500 at the mechanic. gently caress ever touching the high voltage battery on the hybrid, though. Hopefully the vast majority of the $3,000 after buying as salvage and towing can go towards my credit card. Also, I know it’s irrational and irrational is BWM, but I have a really strong emotional attachment to this car. This is the first car I ever owned. I’ve had it for 8 years. I learned to drive stick on it, I put 87000 miles on it. I know exactly how it handles, I can drive it with confidence in the worst conditions. The only reason I wrecked it was that the roads were already dry but there was still ice in the shade of one of the other buildings. When I’m driving it, it feels like an extension of me. It would mean a lot to me to be able to bring it back to life.
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Jan 11, 2018 01:51
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n8r posted:You will be in a better place financially if you took all that time you’d waste getting a second job delivering pizza. You’ll be in a better place personally if you take all that time and spend it doing something you enjoy. Find me a job that lets me work on my own schedule (that's not basically depreciating my car for money). And this is something that I would enjoy, and find actual achievement in unlike the video games I play all the time. Although getting a gym membership and getting back in shape would probably be better for me personally, I suppose. My mind's made up on this. I know I won't be able to convince you that it's a good idea, but I'm going to do it anyway. What's a BFC thread without at least one goon in a wheel well moment? This is especially dumb, but I’m hoping to get some quality time with a friend I don’t see enough of anymore. We used to work on our cars and computers and play video games all the time as teenagers. We could work on the car and drink some beer and bullshit afterwards. We haven’t had time with just the two of us and not our wives in like 6 years. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jan 11, 2018 |
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Jan 11, 2018 15:18
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Yes, actually. I mentioned the possibility of rebuilding it myself and he volunteered to help. He works on his own cars and motorcycles all the time. I would be doing this either way. It’s fun, it helps me learn skills I’ve wanted to develop for a long time, and it’s therapeutic (aside from the beat up knuckles). Still haven’t posted the pictures I took, still haven’t posted my new budget for the new year. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jan 17, 2018 |
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Jan 17, 2018 03:28
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Oh my loving god the employment verification system we use requires the requester to pay money to verify employment. I really wish it wasn’t a poor decision to scream at a VP. Nobody is going to pay that when they could just rent out to one of the other half dozen people interested in this market.
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Jan 18, 2018 22:36
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Someone in the Zuarg thread said that he’s at the part of the thread where his manic period is over and he disappears. I’ve kind of disappeared, but I want to check in. My life is going to poo poo, struggling not to just give up completely on finances and spend my way to less sadness (money can’t buy happiness) like I tend to when super depressed. Currently sitting around $9,000 in savings, bonus of around $2,500 after tax coming in either tomorrow or on the 16th. When that happens we’ve agreed I’ll put a ton of money from savings into the credit card. Not all of it, but $3-4,000. I know we need to discuss a specific number but I just don’t want to deal with the conflict right now. Her attitude is that I have the rest of my life to pay off my debts (she actually said this pretty much verbatim) and so I should just feel good about having so much in savings. I’m still feeling really insecure financially, which seems justified given how much of the money in savings was a windfall of sorts. P.S.: I might start a project thread for fixing my car in AI if it seems like it will take more than a couple days. If I do, please keep the ragging on me for it being a bad financial idea in this thread. I want to keep the possible project thread dedicated to actually fixing the car. Thanks. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Jan 31, 2018 |
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Jan 31, 2018 17:57
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Droo posted:She wants to just spend all the money on clothes and purses or something, instead of paying off credit card debt? What does she say when you point out that you are wasting $200 per month or whatever on pointless interest? No, she just wants to sit on a bunch of savings in the bank. I’ve told her that we’re paying a ton of money in interest every month, but it hasn’t swayed her. She’s one of those people who thinks debt is just a fact of life, which is funny since she personally had none until we got the car. Before anyone asks about therapy WRT the life falling apart thing: I’m trying to find a new one, but it’s really hard to find a therapist that specializes in autistic patients who works with adults. It’s like the world thinks you just suddenly stop being autistic when you turn 18. That really sucks since I didn’t even get diagnosed until 25. There’s a center I’m going to call that I really hope can provide some recommendations. I also am trying really hard to find someplace closer to work we can move. I feel like spending 2.5 hours commuting 5 days a week is really decreasing my quality of life. It’s a lot less time I can spend with my wife, and it’s time I can’t spend exercising. Also people on I-25 are maniacs and that drive is pretty stressful, so getting close enough to use the smaller highway would be nice. We’ve got a family reunion this summer we’re saving money and PTO for. Even if we don’t save up enough ahead of time, we’ll dig into pre-existing savings to go. My grandmother is 88, she can’t really travel across the country anymore, so this might be the last time I see her. 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jan 31, 2018 |
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Jan 31, 2018 18:59
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I think I might have thought of a way that I can explain how paying off the credit card is a good thing. It’s not losing money, it’s investing it. It’s a liquid investment that can be cashed out at any time (even though it should be the last thing aside from a retirement account you cash out), and it has one of the best rates of return you can get. In a year it would have a 100% return on investment, we would have made as much money off of the investment as we put in. There’s no investment on earth that guarantees that aside from employer matching on an 401(k). Does that seem like it would make sense to a financially illiterate person? E: gently caress, I guess maybe I’m BWMath. It wouldn’t be 100%. It would be 32%. But if I put that money into my 401(k) it would be roughly an 80% ROI at least (not going to type the math out on my phone unless someone asks). 22 Eargesplitten fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Feb 2, 2018 |
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Feb 2, 2018 19:43
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