chen35
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Post by chen35 on Jul 22, 2015 9:44:40 GMT -5
I donated plasma once. Never again. It is NOT the same as donating blood.
My brother, on the other hand, has done it twice a week all through college. For some people it's not a big deal. Doesn't hurt to try!
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Jul 22, 2015 9:58:01 GMT -5
Didn't read the thread....I am getting very lazy about it....but...
I would drop the "on-call" thing if possible and get a PT job where you can make more than $5K a year
Get a roommate.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jul 22, 2015 10:16:04 GMT -5
I've got a laundry list of brass tacks questions.
How often are you paid? You mentioned getting paid twice a month but I'm not entirely sure whether you are paid every two weeks or semi-monthly.
Does your employer match any of your 401(k) contributions? You seem to indicate in post #19 that there is no match, but I'd like to confirm this. If you do get a match, or a half-match, or a quarter-match, or even a fifth-match (like me), please mention it.
What is your tax filing status? It sounds like you are filing single but if you are filing head of household you should mention it now. I'm asking this question because if you are HOH and paying a lot of your health insurance premium through an employer, you might have an AGI low enough to be getting the retirement savings contribution credit but as a single filer you are nowhere in the ballpark.
Are you paying bank service charges? You mentioned a fairly low checking balance, so I have to ask if you are managing to avoid these common fees or if they are taking a bite out of you.
ETA: I should have called these questions "mechanical" instead of "brass tacks". I also should have mentioned that surviving the income shock that you described takes a certain level of competence. I think that you have a decent head on your shoulders and are able to move on to the task of digging out from the debt that you accumulated during that time. You are definitely not the only person who lost income during the great recession and piled on destabilizing levels of credit card debt.
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DVM gone riding
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Post by DVM gone riding on Jul 22, 2015 10:33:30 GMT -5
I forgot earlier.
Cheerleading squads are important YM will give you tough love and help with thoughts on HOW and tell you if you are crazy. But if you need some "yeah you are so awesome for paying off your debt!!!" go over to the woman in red board and sign up!! They will help you keep track and give you one of these for every freaking dollar you pay down!! and then you get this at 500 and then you get really going and you earn one of these (which i think is like 10k) But it helps!!!
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Jul 22, 2015 10:36:48 GMT -5
Just want to add this to the "Getting a Roommate" - you don't have to use Craigs List. You could do it the "old fashion" way and Network thru the people you already know.
If you are comfortable enough at work (and it's a big enough employer - especially if they have an electronic 'bulletin board' for employee use) you could get the word out that you have a room for rent. (There are often a couple of these kinds of requests - either someone looking for a room OR someone offering a room on my employer's board. Usually it's when a young single person is relocating for work and may only be for a few months)
If work is too awkward, you could let a friend or two know and they could put the word out (at their work or their circle of friends/family). You could also do the same with your family members.
You just need to get the word out and then be persistent with following up.
Remember, even if you get a newly minted college grad or other young person who's relocating to your area for a job they ALREADY have accepted and it's only for a few months (until they find an appartment) - you'll have some extra cash to throw at the debt - possibly a substantial amount (even if rent is $300 a month and you need $50 to cover the extra utilities usage).
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murphath
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Post by murphath on Jul 22, 2015 10:41:47 GMT -5
Don't know where you live, but if close to a college/university, you could rent to either: 1. a foreign born grad student (they usually aren't wild partiers) 2. a medical student (all they do is study and that's usually in the library)
My aunt/uncle did the above for years and years--never had a problem with any of their renters.
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DVM gone riding
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Post by DVM gone riding on Jul 22, 2015 10:43:06 GMT -5
I too am a single women (well engaged now) with a 3 bed house and have had lots of roommates! Helps a ton. I advertise on craigslist. Look strictly for a personality I can deal with. Never had a major issue. Everyone has always paid without even the tiniest issue but it isn't like a regular rental bec it's your house there are different laws n you can always ask them to leave. I do have a room share agreement I do not deduct expenses or count it as income because it can be easily argued with one as a sharing of expenses situation. I am careful I do NOT call them renters or boarders To be honest, I'm a little worried about having roommates but I know that it would be a good chunk of extra money coming in every month (hopefully!). I am an easy-going person most of the time and get along with most people, but I worry about personality/cleaning clashes. I'd also have to find someone that is ok with my dogs. Is your room share agreement set up similar to a lease, where they have a set amount of time (6/12 months) and all that? I get it and yeah cleaning can occasionally be an issue. I have dogs I make that very clear when advertising, it might lower my pool a little but that said I have always found someone i thought I could live with happily (but I am not crazy picky either) I worry more about them living with me. I am in a low cost area, rural and have always gotten roommates when I wanted one (the current one has been here over 2 years now but most stay about 6-8 mos) I don't do a lease in terms of time--IRS then becomes a bigger deal and it gives them more rights--I do a room rental agreement that is strictly month to month and collect a small damage/cleaning fee up front.
If you have a school near by that is a good place though I have found they have internal advertising that doesn't necessarily allow for outsiders to post. Hospitals often have visiting staff that need a place to stay. That staff often is there on a regular basis but not constantly and that can be great because you can get someone that is going to be at your house every other week for just 3 days but is willing to pay a low room rate so its less invasive and a win win. Rentals can be bad and everyone has a story but roommates usually are fine in terms of dealing with issues because if you are like forget this person!! You can ask them to leave at the end of the month
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Knee Deep in Water Chloe
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Post by Knee Deep in Water Chloe on Jul 22, 2015 10:56:25 GMT -5
I say this as someone who has never had a roommate situation. (Husband, yes, but I'm pretty sure that's a different type of relationship.)
If the level of cleanliness is a concern for you, what if you hired a cleaning person weekly or or bi-weekly. Say you're able to get $500/month from the roommate. If $100 per month gets you bi-weekly cleanings of floors, dusting, and bathrooms, then you're still up $400/month and you won't have to stress about whether or not the cleaning is done by either you or the roommate.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jul 22, 2015 12:20:41 GMT -5
I re-read your OP and you were quite clear about getting paid every two weeks.
This is a very good thing. Discovering an extra month of income is always good.
It also explains your description of your expenses. I added up the cash outflows (excluding the amount sent to savings) and got $3039.51 a month. This is more than two paychecks of $1479.64 a month. You've been spending your extra two paychecks a year to stay afloat without using the credit cards.
I discovered something similar when I was digging myself out of debt. When I wrote my first budget, I stopped adding lines once I ran out of income. Then when I got honest about where the money was going, the cash outflows exceeded the normal number of paychecks per month. It confused and scared the begeesus out of me until I figured it out.
Actually, I was still scared after I figured it out, but at least I wasn't violating the laws of mathematics.
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CarolinaKat
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Post by CarolinaKat on Jul 22, 2015 12:38:18 GMT -5
I re-read your OP and you were quite clear about getting paid every two weeks. This is a very good thing. Discovering an extra month of income is always good. It also explains your description of your expenses. I added up the cash outflows (excluding the amount sent to savings) and got $3039.51 a month. This is more than two paychecks of $1479.64 a month. You've been spending your extra two paychecks a year to stay afloat without using the credit cards. I discovered something similar when I was digging myself out of debt. When I wrote my first budget, I stopped adding lines once I ran out of income. Then when I got honest about where the money was going, the cash outflows exceeded the normal number of paychecks per month. It confused and scared the begeesus out of me until I figured it out. Actually, I was still scared after I figured it out, but at least I wasn't violating the laws of mathematics.
![](http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/rofl.gif)
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jul 22, 2015 19:17:09 GMT -5
^bump Okay, there are definitely more subtle ways to keep a thread from being buried but I thought that honesty was the best approach. elsee, are you okay? It's been about 24 hours since you last posted and I'm a bit worried about you. We can be a rough crowd and no matter how long you have been lurking, our responses can be hurtful no matter how carefully and thoughtfully you have composed your original post. (You did a very good job of painting your situation, including tons of highly relevant information.) I was once in a situation that bore some resemblances to your own but I didn't dare post a peep about it on YM until the worst had passed. Even then, after the worst was over, I did not like what happened when I finally posted about it. If you could give some sign of life that convinces us that you are still functional, it would probably set some minds to rest.
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 22:24:03 GMT -5
I'm usually on threads like this like a hungry carp. I'm slow to the party this time because I thought the poster was planning her own burial. That would be a very YM thing to do. The good news is that you've done quite a bit of the hard thinking on your own. Acknowledging that you're in a bad position is hard. You've done that. Compiling a list of debts and the necessary payments and interest rates is painful. You've done that. Coming up with a complete list of cash outflows takes time. You've got a rough draft going. Realizing that you are not in a position to squirrel away money in savings and retirement accounts because paying off debt is a much higher priority and return is often devastating but you seem to have figured that out on your own. You obviously learned a lot while lurking and are in a much better head place than the average person who is up to their armpits in debt. What you seem to need now is a structure for making debt payoff exciting and some encouragement during the first couple of months when paying attention to your neglected financials sometimes feels like a series of facepalms. Welcome back. LOL yeah, I realized after I posted this thread that the subject was not so good. I would change it to "Buried in Debt - Need Budget Help" if I could.
Thanks for the welcome!
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 22:25:38 GMT -5
I donated plasma once. Never again. It is NOT the same as donating blood. My brother, on the other hand, has done it twice a week all through college. For some people it's not a big deal. Doesn't hurt to try! I can try it out to see how well I do. I have never had any problems donating blood, although the needle is uncomfortable. So I'm a little worried about the larger needle they use for plasma, plus sitting around for a much longer time.
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 22:32:08 GMT -5
Just want to add this to the "Getting a Roommate" - you don't have to use Craigs List. You could do it the "old fashion" way and Network thru the people you already know.
If you are comfortable enough at work (and it's a big enough employer - especially if they have an electronic 'bulletin board' for employee use) you could get the word out that you have a room for rent. (There are often a couple of these kinds of requests - either someone looking for a room OR someone offering a room on my employer's board. Usually it's when a young single person is relocating for work and may only be for a few months)
If work is too awkward, you could let a friend or two know and they could put the word out (at their work or their circle of friends/family). You could also do the same with your family members.
You just need to get the word out and then be persistent with following up.
Remember, even if you get a newly minted college grad or other young person who's relocating to your area for a job they ALREADY have accepted and it's only for a few months (until they find an appartment) - you'll have some extra cash to throw at the debt - possibly a substantial amount (even if rent is $300 a month and you need $50 to cover the extra utilities usage). Thanks for the tips. I don't think I'd go the route of a coworker/roommate as I work for a small company (less than 100 people).
I am kind of between a University and a community college, but not super close to either (10-15 minutes away from each). I also live in a neighborhood with many immigrants and refugees so maybe that is something to consider too, although most already have other family members to live with. Another option I've thought about is renting a room to a pilot as I'm also only about 15 minutes from our airport.
To be honest, I thought about getting roommates way back when I first bought my house, but the people that I talked to back then scared me out of the idea. I talked to one pilot who turned out to be a perv (he started calling me a lot and saying sexual things; luckily I'd never met him in person or gave him my address!), a woman came and walked through the place but didn't seem like a good fit, and another girl had way too many demands and wasn't a good fit either. Maybe I'm too picky.
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 22:34:03 GMT -5
To be honest, I'm a little worried about having roommates but I know that it would be a good chunk of extra money coming in every month (hopefully!). I am an easy-going person most of the time and get along with most people, but I worry about personality/cleaning clashes. I'd also have to find someone that is ok with my dogs. Is your room share agreement set up similar to a lease, where they have a set amount of time (6/12 months) and all that? I get it and yeah cleaning can occasionally be an issue. I have dogs I make that very clear when advertising, it might lower my pool a little but that said I have always found someone i thought I could live with happily (but I am not crazy picky either) I worry more about them living with me. I am in a low cost area, rural and have always gotten roommates when I wanted one (the current one has been here over 2 years now but most stay about 6-8 mos) I don't do a lease in terms of time--IRS then becomes a bigger deal and it gives them more rights--I do a room rental agreement that is strictly month to month and collect a small damage/cleaning fee up front.
If you have a school near by that is a good place though I have found they have internal advertising that doesn't necessarily allow for outsiders to post. Hospitals often have visiting staff that need a place to stay. That staff often is there on a regular basis but not constantly and that can be great because you can get someone that is going to be at your house every other week for just 3 days but is willing to pay a low room rate so its less invasive and a win win. Rentals can be bad and everyone has a story but roommates usually are fine in terms of dealing with issues because if you are like forget this person!! You can ask them to leave at the end of the month
Thanks for the ideas and tips on the room rental agreement! I am leaning toward NOT getting a roommate but I'm still tossing the idea around in my head.
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 22:46:59 GMT -5
^bump Okay, there are definitely more subtle ways to keep a thread from being buried but I thought that honesty was the best approach. elsee, are you okay? It's been about 24 hours since you last posted and I'm a bit worried about you. We can be a rough crowd and no matter how long you have been lurking, our responses can be hurtful no matter how carefully and thoughtfully you have composed your original post. (You did a very good job of painting your situation, including tons of highly relevant information.) I was once in a situation that bore some resemblances to your own but I didn't dare post a peep about it on YM until the worst had passed. Even then, after the worst was over, I did not like what happened when I finally posted about it. If you could give some sign of life that convinces us that you are still functional, it would probably set some minds to rest. Sorry, I'm not offended or upset. Just been very busy at work today and had lots of stuff going on afterward.
My house is starting to age and need more things fixed (it's 9 years old), and I had to meet a few people to get repair bids. Ugh, more money I really don't have. The front yard has settled significantly enough that my driveway and sidewalk have dropped 2-3" and my concrete front porch is also dropping which is very bad as it is connected to other parts of the house that it could potentially bring down with it (the porch isn't even touching the dirt anymore - there's a few inches between the bottom of the concrete pad and the dirt - and it's starting to fall forward, pulling away from the house and could be affecting the portion of roof above that is attached by a large pillar). So this is something I need to get fixed fairly soon and it will be around $400 (got three bids and that was the middle bid).
I also seem to be having some A/C issues that I noticed this morning, but I think it is resolved temporarily. The line outside was completely frosted/iced over and it just kept running and running. Since it wasn't supposed to get TOO hot today, I turned it off before I headed in to work and when I came home and turned it back on, it seems ok. I need to change the filter and I know it's a little low in coolant (I found out when I had it serviced a couple years ago when the capacitor went out, but decided to wait on adding coolant at that time).
As I said before, my HOA is pretty much worthless as it does not cover any exterior items unlike most townhouse HOAs. Otherwise, I think they'd be fixing my porch problems. BUT, I knew this going in and just didn't think about what would happen long term as the neighborhood ages.
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 22:57:54 GMT -5
OP.....your house is nearly 4x your income, which makes your housing expenses more almost 40% of what you bring home. At this point, your home is a liability to you and it's not going to take much for you to wind up even more in debt if something fails. It really might make more sense to get rid of your house. While it may be something to look into, having just been through selling a house to downsize I'm finding FAR more "frictional" costs than expected. While selling and renting may cut monthly expenses, here's what the OP should try and quantify that will get skimmed off the top if she sells: 1. Realtor fees. 2. Any costs to fix/improve the place to make it more attractive to sell. I regret about half of what DH and I spent- it came straight out of our pockets and probably didn't help. Focus on the cheap and superficial. 3. Realtor fees and moving costs. 4. The inevitable expenses of fixing up a new place the way you want it. Even if you rent that can include furniture, curtains, etc. OP, I agree with you that moving in with the BF is a last resort. Better to come in in a position of strength rather than because you need to save money. I managed a mortgage that was 40% of my take-home pay (with property tax and insurance). I didn't have any other debt but I did have a 12-year old son and no child support. It turned out to be a very goo dinvestment when I sold the house 7 years later. These are very good points and something I'm thinking about as I'm leaning toward selling next spring maybe.
1. My dad is a realtor so may be able to help me out with a deal on his part of the commission fees. 2. I definitely have a handful of important things that need to be fixed before I can sell. I mentioned in another post that my front porch/sidewalk/driveway need to be repaired, plus I have to fix or replace my back deck (more settling problems, plus weathering), repair some water damage in one of the guest rooms (I had ice dams on my roof for two winters, which the roof has since been repaired but the corner of the room inside has not), and probably replace the carpet. 3. Moving costs would be an issue but I might be able to convince friends/family to help a bit. 4. Yes, if I were to move to another place, I may need to get some different furniture but would probably be ok. I guess it depends on what the other place would need (kind of like when I first bought this place, I didn't take into account needing to buy blinds for all 11 windows).
Moving in with the boyfriend is tempting for many reasons, but he knows that I won't consider it unless we are actively planning on getting married. This has been discussed and is likely in our future, but I still want to be in a better place financially before that happens.
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 22, 2015 23:04:45 GMT -5
I've got a laundry list of brass tacks questions. How often are you paid? You mentioned getting paid twice a month but I'm not entirely sure whether you are paid every two weeks or semi-monthly. Does your employer match any of your 401(k) contributions? You seem to indicate in post #19 that there is no match, but I'd like to confirm this. If you do get a match, or a half-match, or a quarter-match, or even a fifth-match (like me), please mention it. What is your tax filing status? It sounds like you are filing single but if you are filing head of household you should mention it now. I'm asking this question because if you are HOH and paying a lot of your health insurance premium through an employer, you might have an AGI low enough to be getting the retirement savings contribution credit but as a single filer you are nowhere in the ballpark. Are you paying bank service charges? You mentioned a fairly low checking balance, so I have to ask if you are managing to avoid these common fees or if they are taking a bite out of you. ETA: I should have called these questions "mechanical" instead of "brass tacks". I also should have mentioned that surviving the income shock that you described takes a certain level of competence. I think that you have a decent head on your shoulders and are able to move on to the task of digging out from the debt that you accumulated during that time. You are definitely not the only person who lost income during the great recession and piled on destabilizing levels of credit card debt. I am paid every two weeks, so I get two "extra" paychecks a year, which, as you noted below, I end up using to keep me afloat.
No, my employer does not match any of my 401(k) contributions. This may change, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
My tax filing status is single.
Yes, my bank started charging a monthly service fee for my checking account if it falls below $300. The fee is $7. My savings is kept at a separate credit union that I have to actually physically go to if I want to withdraw money. I made it this difficult on purpose so that I would have to think twice before withdrawing anything. The credit union is only about 5 minutes away, but it's still a pain to hop in the car and drive over there.
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Knee Deep in Water Chloe
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Post by Knee Deep in Water Chloe on Jul 22, 2015 23:39:20 GMT -5
I'm usually on threads like this like a hungry carp. I'm slow to the party this time because I thought the poster was planning her own burial. That would be a very YM thing to do. The good news is that you've done quite a bit of the hard thinking on your own. Acknowledging that you're in a bad position is hard. You've done that. Compiling a list of debts and the necessary payments and interest rates is painful. You've done that. Coming up with a complete list of cash outflows takes time. You've got a rough draft going. Realizing that you are not in a position to squirrel away money in savings and retirement accounts because paying off debt is a much higher priority and return is often devastating but you seem to have figured that out on your own. You obviously learned a lot while lurking and are in a much better head place than the average person who is up to their armpits in debt. What you seem to need now is a structure for making debt payoff exciting and some encouragement during the first couple of months when paying attention to your neglected financials sometimes feels like a series of facepalms. Welcome back. LOL yeah, I realized after I posted this thread that the subject was not so good. I would change it to "Buried in Debt - Need Budget Help" if I could.
Thanks for the welcome!
If you really do want to change the thread title, just go to your original post, click edit, and in the title bar edit away!
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elsee
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Post by elsee on Jul 23, 2015 0:33:14 GMT -5
LOL yeah, I realized after I posted this thread that the subject was not so good. I would change it to "Buried in Debt - Need Budget Help" if I could.
Thanks for the welcome!
If you really do want to change the thread title, just go to your original post, click edit, and in the title bar edit away!Thanks, I'll go do that now! ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/smiley.png)
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jul 23, 2015 7:26:39 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that you are still functional.
I'm really liking the idea of selling the house but don't want to go into too much detail regarding why. Even after selling the house and eliminating half of your credit card debt, you'd still be in for a long, hard slog.
There's so much about your financial situation that I want you to figure out for yourself. If you figure things out on your own, you can put them in the "victory" column and pat yourself on the back for saving your own skin. If we point them out, the "defeat" column starts filling up. A person can only take so much of that before the logic circuits start shutting down.
It might be better if you take the lead and we take the role of congratulating you for having the courage and the smarts to tackle this.
ETA: Your decision to put 6% into a 401(k) and increase your automated savings was an enormous gift to yourself. If you don't already see that, I hope that you eventually come to see it that way. Those moves probably led you to see what you are discovering now.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jul 23, 2015 7:26:49 GMT -5
Have you thought about babysitting? DD and her college friends made $10 an hour cash and they were in high demand because they drove as well as not being young. There's a website you can put yourself on as well as word of mouth. She did both. Also pet sitting is huge and not terribly time consuming. That's VERY lucrative. Now that we lost our pet sitter to marriage I realize how lucky we were.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jul 23, 2015 7:51:15 GMT -5
FWIW, avoiding the bank service charges has an amazing return, higher than paying off any of the cards. It takes discipline and persistence but it's a great rate of return.
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emma1420
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Post by emma1420 on Jul 23, 2015 9:01:41 GMT -5
^bump Okay, there are definitely more subtle ways to keep a thread from being buried but I thought that honesty was the best approach. elsee, are you okay? It's been about 24 hours since you last posted and I'm a bit worried about you. We can be a rough crowd and no matter how long you have been lurking, our responses can be hurtful no matter how carefully and thoughtfully you have composed your original post. (You did a very good job of painting your situation, including tons of highly relevant information.) I was once in a situation that bore some resemblances to your own but I didn't dare post a peep about it on YM until the worst had passed. Even then, after the worst was over, I did not like what happened when I finally posted about it. If you could give some sign of life that convinces us that you are still functional, it would probably set some minds to rest. Sorry, I'm not offended or upset. Just been very busy at work today and had lots of stuff going on afterward.
My house is starting to age and need more things fixed (it's 9 years old), and I had to meet a few people to get repair bids. Ugh, more money I really don't have. The front yard has settled significantly enough that my driveway and sidewalk have dropped 2-3" and my concrete front porch is also dropping which is very bad as it is connected to other parts of the house that it could potentially bring down with it (the porch isn't even touching the dirt anymore - there's a few inches between the bottom of the concrete pad and the dirt - and it's starting to fall forward, pulling away from the house and could be affecting the portion of roof above that is attached by a large pillar). So this is something I need to get fixed fairly soon and it will be around $400 (got three bids and that was the middle bid).
I also seem to be having some A/C issues that I noticed this morning, but I think it is resolved temporarily. The line outside was completely frosted/iced over and it just kept running and running. Since it wasn't supposed to get TOO hot today, I turned it off before I headed in to work and when I came home and turned it back on, it seems ok. I need to change the filter and I know it's a little low in coolant (I found out when I had it serviced a couple years ago when the capacitor went out, but decided to wait on adding coolant at that time).
As I said before, my HOA is pretty much worthless as it does not cover any exterior items unlike most townhouse HOAs. Otherwise, I think they'd be fixing my porch problems. BUT, I knew this going in and just didn't think about what would happen long term as the neighborhood ages.
I would encourage you to put off any home repairs, unless it is clear that by not spending the money now it will cost you a significant amount later on. Unless you can save and pay for those repairs in cash. I'm not a fan of adding to credit card for things that can be delayed or deferred. It sucks living with some things that need to be fixed (I had a garage door that didn't work for almost 4 years, so I get it), but it sucks more to pay 20% interest on something that doesn't necessarily need to be done immediately. In terms of bank fee's, I know that my bank waives the monthly service charge for my account if I have at least 6 direct deposits and/or direct debits per month. If you are paying a service charge now, it might be worthwhile to talk to the bank and see if they can transfer your checking account to some other account that wouldn't have any sort of service fee. My bank didn't advertise that they waive the monthly service charge, but when I asked they were happy to change my account type.
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CarolinaKat
Junior Associate
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Posts: 6,364
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Post by CarolinaKat on Jul 23, 2015 9:02:01 GMT -5
FWIW, avoiding the bank service charges has an amazing return, higher than paying off any of the cards. It takes discipline and persistence but it's a great rate of return. Once I got DH away from the bank he was using, he suddenly had ~300 extra dollars a month since he wasn't paying bank fees.
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justme
Senior Associate
Joined: Feb 10, 2012 13:12:47 GMT -5
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Post by justme on Jul 23, 2015 10:09:50 GMT -5
Um, find a new bank. Pretty much any bank gives free checking with direct deposit, which I would think a company of 100 would do. Change it do you don't have to worry about going low in your account.
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Plain Old Petunia
Senior Member
bloom where you are planted
Joined: Dec 21, 2010 2:09:44 GMT -5
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on Jul 23, 2015 10:45:20 GMT -5
I am wondering about your long-term plans with your boyfriend. Are you thinking the two of you might want to live in your house together someday? Is that part of why you want to hold onto it?
Just trying to get a feel for why you want to keep the house. I do think it is a lot of house for your income.
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haapai
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Character
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Post by haapai on Jul 23, 2015 20:10:56 GMT -5
Hmmm...I may have jumped the gun a bit on selling the house.
I ran some debt amortization sheets and things don't look too dire if you can find a way to add an additional $500 a month to the $705 a month that you are currently paying on the credit cards. It's quite a steep increase in the level of repayment, but if you manage to keep up that level of debt repayment for 27 months, you'll have the cards paid off.
I'm a bit uncomfortable running these numbers. Five hundred a month is quite a bit more than you could find by discontinuing 401(k) contributions and odd jobs. It's definitely roommate-type income it takes quite a few payments at that level to get yourself into a position where you can weather (i.e. get through without defaulting) any type of unbudgeted expense like automobile repairs or a replacement vehicle.
A more complete budget would help so much when attempting to peek into the future.
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elsee
Initiate Member
Joined: Jul 12, 2015 22:53:05 GMT -5
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Post by elsee on Jul 23, 2015 23:18:14 GMT -5
Sorry, I'm not offended or upset. Just been very busy at work today and had lots of stuff going on afterward.
My house is starting to age and need more things fixed (it's 9 years old), and I had to meet a few people to get repair bids. Ugh, more money I really don't have. The front yard has settled significantly enough that my driveway and sidewalk have dropped 2-3" and my concrete front porch is also dropping which is very bad as it is connected to other parts of the house that it could potentially bring down with it (the porch isn't even touching the dirt anymore - there's a few inches between the bottom of the concrete pad and the dirt - and it's starting to fall forward, pulling away from the house and could be affecting the portion of roof above that is attached by a large pillar). So this is something I need to get fixed fairly soon and it will be around $400 (got three bids and that was the middle bid).
I also seem to be having some A/C issues that I noticed this morning, but I think it is resolved temporarily. The line outside was completely frosted/iced over and it just kept running and running. Since it wasn't supposed to get TOO hot today, I turned it off before I headed in to work and when I came home and turned it back on, it seems ok. I need to change the filter and I know it's a little low in coolant (I found out when I had it serviced a couple years ago when the capacitor went out, but decided to wait on adding coolant at that time).
As I said before, my HOA is pretty much worthless as it does not cover any exterior items unlike most townhouse HOAs. Otherwise, I think they'd be fixing my porch problems. BUT, I knew this going in and just didn't think about what would happen long term as the neighborhood ages.
I would encourage you to put off any home repairs, unless it is clear that by not spending the money now it will cost you a significant amount later on. Unless you can save and pay for those repairs in cash. I'm not a fan of adding to credit card for things that can be delayed or deferred. It sucks living with some things that need to be fixed (I had a garage door that didn't work for almost 4 years, so I get it), but it sucks more to pay 20% interest on something that doesn't necessarily need to be done immediately. In terms of bank fee's, I know that my bank waives the monthly service charge for my account if I have at least 6 direct deposits and/or direct debits per month. If you are paying a service charge now, it might be worthwhile to talk to the bank and see if they can transfer your checking account to some other account that wouldn't have any sort of service fee. My bank didn't advertise that they waive the monthly service charge, but when I asked they were happy to change my account type. I'm kind of worried that if I don't repair my front porch that it may cause a much more expensive problem later. I can't say for certain it will, but there's a good possibility. The other repairs can wait for now. I don't plan on putting this porch repair onto a card though - I will sell some more stuff on Ebay and try to come up with the money in a month or so.
As far as my bank goes, I've had this account for over 15 years and they never charged any fees until maybe two years ago (it was always a "free" checking account), and when I was younger my daily balance was much lower than it is these days. I do get at least two direct deposits each month and I have all of my bills set up to be debited directly out of the account as well. I've thought about moving everything over to my credit union instead, but maybe I'll see if they have a different account type I can switch to.
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elsee
Initiate Member
Joined: Jul 12, 2015 22:53:05 GMT -5
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Post by elsee on Jul 23, 2015 23:23:29 GMT -5
FWIW, avoiding the bank service charges has an amazing return, higher than paying off any of the cards. It takes discipline and persistence but it's a great rate of return. Once I got DH away from the bank he was using, he suddenly had ~300 extra dollars a month since he wasn't paying bank fees. Wow, I almost wish I could "gain" an extra $300 if I switched banks! But I definitely do not get charged that many fees. It's usually just $7/mo, but sometimes I have overdrawn my account and get a $25 fee (this is pretty rare - couple times a year during bad years).
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