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I have no idea about the problem with carpenter women.
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Jul 28, 2011 22:12
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You know your car is part of the problem, but let me crystalize this for you and anyone else reading who doesnt understand this. Saltin's two rules of buying a new car 1)If you are buying a new car and have to amortize more than 4 years, you cannot afford it. This is true even if the rate is close to or equal to 0. There is a utility to cash flow that people who are smart with money understand, and this means you don't get involved in paying for a loving car across six years. It's laughable. 2)If you are buying a new car and cannot put 20% down to ensure you'll never be upside down on the loan, you cannot afford it. If you can meet those two criteria, fill your boots with whatever makes you happy. Saltin fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jul 28, 2011 |
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Jul 28, 2011 22:27
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I don’t follow your math. Not saying its wrong, I just don’t follow it. How much is your bonus exactly? How much is the shortfall between what you owe and the private party sale of the car? The car value is 18900. Looking at ads, the same car with much fewer kilometers are selling for 20k. The car loan balance is 25500 The difference is 6600 If I take that and buy a $500 beater, after registration (100), insurance (???), taxes (70) = 670 + ??? I need at least 7300. Some of this can come from things that I own, but only about 2500 worth, which means 8-10 months of saving, if I sell everything that I own, with only minimum payments on the cards in order to sell the car. If I don't sell everything I own, it's two more months of saving. I used the CNN debt calculator to work out how much faster this allows me to pay things off. The times are cumulative, so the car would be payed of 44 months from today, not 44 months after the student loan. With the payments I'm making starting in September, without selling the car, it will take (going in order of largest interest): Mastercard: 4 months Laptop: 5 months Visa: 19 months Student loan: 32 months Car: 44 months Debt free in 44 months. With a car. If I sell the car I have to wait 8 months. So I've added 8 to all these numbers, but I have an extra 425 to put on everything (Car loan + (.25*insurance)) so 1852 total: Mastercard: 10 months (2+8) laptop: 10 months (2+8) Visa: 18 months (10+8) Student loan: 26 months (18+8) Debt free in 26 months. Without a (nice) car. Does this make it worth it to sell everything I own and start saving now in order to sell the car in 8 months? Because personally, four years with a bit of quality of life sounds better than two with much less and the time to service the lovely high-interest debt is much longer if I sell everything. tuyop fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Jul 28, 2011 |
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Jul 28, 2011 22:37
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Maybe I misread an earlier post, but did you say that because you were in the military, you were entitled to a bonus. I was specifically asking about that bonus. How much will this bonus be? Do you want to get rid of this car or not? Because if you do, you will cut back where you can, pick up extra jobs here and there, sell something, not necessarily everything, get a small loan or a cash advance to tip you over the top, and you will sell it, and you will do it in less than 8 months. If you don’t want to sell it, then don’t. So do you want to sell it or not? This is a yes or no question.
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Jul 28, 2011 22:51
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/\/\ It's buried in my wall-of-text OP. It's not a bonus, just an increase in pay for... being on course I guess. I get 24.71 every day I'm in the field. The course runs from mid-September to early-December. There are 32 days of field in there. I also have to pay for rations and quarters, which are around 500 a month. But I get incidentals for living on base, which are 17 a day, every day on course. Not sure if they pay at the same time as being in the field, but that's what makes up the "bonus" for the fall. If the course goes well, I'll be doing that all again in May. And yes I want to sell THE CAR. I don't want to sell everything I own. I'll make it work I guess. Eggplant Wizard posted:Think of it this way: You're a fitness guy, yeah? Imagine if someone pretty chubby, though not obese, came to you and said, "I want to lose all this weight and get some nice looking muscles." You give them lots of advice and they say, "Do I really have to go to the gym x times a week? What if I just go half that much? And I don't think I can give up my twinkies and french fries, but I'll give up eating doughnuts. Surely I deserve some kind of treat, right?" That is how you are coming off. :\ I meant to address this, it kind of showed me where you guys are coming from, and it seems like a very apt analogy. Assuming the pretty chubby guy is starting from completely sedentary and starts reading labels, cuts out donuts, but doesn't change his diet much and goes to the gym 3 times a week instead of 5, or 1 instead of 3, he will still improve. He started at 0 after all. What you guys are telling me just seems like an unfit person being given a program to immediately change their diet and begin a grueling long term program. What if all I want is to lower my cholesterol, lose the spare tire and stop feeling out of breath when I climb the stairs? You guys seem like the olympic athletes of finance, but nobody wants to be a loving olympic athlete, there's too much sacrifice for questionable gains. Will I die or fail if I just try to take a different route to financial well-being? I know I have to be aggressive, and 1391 dollars a month seems very aggressive to me! I just don't know why it's necessary to thin everything out and be bored for two years. Wait. Hey, I have a tent, there's this woods behind the old building on base where I lived, it's very private. What if I just take my tent and go live in there? I could sell literally everything I own except for a set of workout gear and my military kit. I'll keep it all under a tarp that I have while I'm not using it. I'll use the shower in the gym and get books from the library and cook my meals in the microwave. I think my expenses will be about 105 a month (groceries, soap, razors, batteries, gas for friends in case I need a ride). It'll take me a year to pay off EVERYTHING, then maybe I'll keep squatting for awhile to build that savings buffer. How does that sound to you guys? tuyop fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jul 28, 2011 |
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Jul 28, 2011 23:00
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That sounds a bit extreme. Surely you could find somebody to live with? I don't think your waitress girlfriend or whatever would be down for those conditions. Does she have family you can stay with? At the very least you need a safe place to keep your posessions secure, especially as a military man.
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Jul 28, 2011 23:27
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tuyop posted:Wait. Hey, I have a tent, there's this woods behind the old building on base where I lived, it's very private. What if I just take my tent and go live in there? I could sell literally everything I own except for a set of workout gear and my military kit. I'll keep it all under a tarp that I have while I'm not using it. I'll use the shower in the gym and get books from the library and cook my meals in the microwave. I think my expenses will be about 105 a month (groceries, soap, razors, batteries, gas for friends in case I need a ride). It'll take me a year to pay off EVERYTHING, then maybe I'll keep squatting for awhile to build that savings buffer. How does that sound to you guys? I'm with you on the car. I also agree with you on the food. Your income is decent, but your debt will crush you if you stay this course. If we carry the fitness analogy further, just like if your calories in are greater than your calories out, you will never get in shape, if your expenses exceed your income, you will never be in good shape financially. In my opinion, your biggest problem is your ability to rationalize away everything. You need to make a big change in your attitude. Start making your decisions from a balanced perspective instead of trying to figure out how you can justify the decision you've already impulsively made. A one-week moratorium on buying anything over $20 seemed to work for me.
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Jul 28, 2011 23:30
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"I want to lose the debt but don't make me cut my spending. Also, what do you think of this mini?"
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Jul 28, 2011 23:35
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swenblack posted:The hyperbole is loving annoying. Stop it. Are you saying the debt will crush me if I stay on the course I stayed on in July? Or if I manage to make the budget in August? I'll be servicing the debt 1391 dollars a month while building savings and maintaining a positive cash flow. That didn't include selling anything, just cutting expenses and using the jar system. Alright, sorry. I sound like Cornholio.
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Jul 28, 2011 23:42
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I think your plan is sound, but you need to see in a month if you've stuck with it and how well, and be ready to make tough choices if it's not working. I agree with not selling your camera (but if you do decide to sell it, let me know, because a Canon 40D is exactly what I want to buy... although I can't afford one.) And I agree with not selling your car (at least not till you're right-side up on it). People are being rough on you because probably 80% or 90% of the people who ask for BFC's advice go on to ignore it, and they think that being rough is the way to overcome that resistance. Especially since they think it worked with CornHolio. Also any sign of resistance is viewed as a challenge that must be responded to with escalating force. So you must adopt a meek attitude of acquiescence, regardless.
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Jul 28, 2011 23:46
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It's more that we don't think you'll be able to stick to the diet, so to speak, if you're already rationalizing everything. If you don't like the advice here, feel free to close the thread and peace out.
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Jul 28, 2011 23:47
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tuyop posted:Are you saying the debt will crush me if I stay on the course I stayed on in July?
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Jul 28, 2011 23:57
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swenblack posted:Yes. I think you missed a couple minus signs on your July budget that will reduce your +$99 balance for the month down to -$87. Actually those positive values (for gas and misc (apt)) are for repayments from people that I either drove places or bought things for with the promise of being repaid. The misc is positive because of a 110 dollar repayment I got for a pressure washer that I bought for my mom in June, who couldn't make it to the store for some reason. The gas is positive because of ridesharing and friends' portions of gas that came to more than my gas expenses for that week. This kind of thing is part of the reason that I have cash flow problems, and it's going to stop. The savings is positive because I had to take it all out in order to break even at the beginning of the month because of the way that moving out is dealt with in the army. I got that money back on the 15th but forgot to include it in the income, I just fixed it. I actually made 3080 this month instead of 2894.  Leperflesh posted:People are being rough on you because probably 80% or 90% of the people who ask for BFC's advice go on to ignore it, and they think that being rough is the way to overcome that resistance. Especially since they think it worked with CornHolio. Oh ok!
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Jul 29, 2011 00:34
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So you can put that extra money to pay off, or at least may off more, of your laptop?
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Jul 29, 2011 01:55
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CJ brings up a good point about the computer. On that note, don't buy poo poo under $2000 (ie, things that aren't cars or houses) on credit. EVER. That "minimal debts will improve your credit" myth is bullshit and totally not worth it. Not to mention financing on appliances and computers tends to be God-awful. If someone told me they were going to charge me 22% interest on anything, I would have to inquire as to what color of crayons they were smoking. As for entertainment, you're stuck with your iPhone, aren't you? Enjoy. If by BLESSED MIRACLE you escape the contract and get a reasonable shitphone, books are a cheap and enriching source of entertainment, or so I'm told.
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Jul 29, 2011 02:35
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Berkut posted:books are a cheap and enriching source of entertainment, or so I'm told. Buy a Kindle! Amazon has a credit card that he could sign up for, I think you get 6% off...
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Jul 29, 2011 02:40
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I already read books on my iphone... Oh yeah, and I'm in the field next week. So that's an extra 123.55 next month and -160 in groceries, gas, and spending. 
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Jul 29, 2011 02:44
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You will be on course for a few months then some kind of emergency will come up because it's life, then you pay for that and you'll be deeper than where you started. Repeat until you are crushed. Your "on course " is naively optimistic and is how many many people get in trouble.
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Jul 29, 2011 09:07
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tuyop posted:What you guys are telling me just seems like an unfit person being given a program to immediately change their diet and begin a grueling long term program. What if all I want is to lower my cholesterol, lose the spare tire and stop feeling out of breath when I climb the stairs? zo posted:Your "on course " is naively optimistic and is how many many people get in trouble. Edit: Also, by your own math, selling the car would still get you out of debt a year and a half sooner. Throw your car payment into savings for 18 months and you'd have $6,750. Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 11:23
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I just remembered this. Kind of embarrassing, I use it everyday. I imagine it is a lot harder on a more stringent budget, so try this at your own discretion. I get paid somewhere between 1400 and 1500 a check, but I always round down to 1400 when budgeting. Whenever I have a bill, say 112.20, I round up to 120. Rounding up on debits and down on credits. The idea is to trick yourself into thinking you have less money to screw around with and that your debts are more serious than they really are. Then come next check when I check my balance, I find tens or hundreds of dollars I didn't know I had that can be socked into a loan principle. Wells Fargo has a Way2Save savings account that works on a similar principle: transferring one dollar from your checkings to savings any time you use your debit card, forcing you to reconsider each transaction. Not to mention building a small lump of money you are never 100% aware of. https://www.wellsfargo.com/savings_cds/way2save?StateCodeSelector=AE As I said before, these options, I imagine, would be difficult if your payments are down to the wire, but once you've paid of some principle and have a bit of breathing room to play around with, might want to give it a try. It can cause happy accidents when you really need them.
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Jul 29, 2011 12:38
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Berkut posted:
I actually really like this idea. I bank with Wells Fargo and I might have to consider doing this.
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Jul 29, 2011 12:44
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Yeah, TD has the same option with the whole add a dollar to your purchase and save it thing. I was on that for awhile. My savings account went up to like 13 dollars in two months, then I got off of it because I'd rather control my own savings. They're also of limited use when you use cash to pay for everything. Alright, so guys. Is the only way to develop some sort of minimal security to sell everything I own and start saving to sell the car? I don't get it. I'm going to have a fairly large (for me) balance in my chequing and savings accounts by the end of August. I'm not exposed to very much risk. If any of these things happen I can cut spending on my debt and rebuild the balance: If the car gets broken into I'll have the balance to pay for the glass damage. If the car gets stolen, good. Insurance will pay off and I'll have less debt and buy a lovely beater. Flat tire? I have road hazard on my tires. If the apartment gets broken into? I have a computer and (sometimes) a camera in here. Neither of which would be replaced. For this reason I have no renter's insurance. All of the big-ticket gear like packs and stuff that I need are military anyway, if they break, they replace them for free. The worse that could happen is I lose some fancy piece of kit like night vision goggles and they garnish my pay. I don't lose poo poo though. Medical bills are 100% taken care of. I have full dental, vision, physio, massage, drug plan, everything that you can possibly think of. I might buy some new contacts in a couple of months. That's $180 dollars. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. My girlfriend is just that, a girlfriend with her own groceries and finances, until February when we're common-law and she's in the military and has the same medical care as me. My contract with the military is on until 2023. They literally can't fire me until then unless I murder someone or something. My job is very secure. Selling the car would get me out of my car payment and student loan more than a year faster. I still don't understand why being debt free on 4.5% and 1.9% loans is some kind of nirvana. All the high-interest stuff will be paid off in the same amount of time or faster without selling the car. Using this knowledge, is my budget still hopefully optimistic? I'm not some entry-level peon with a wife and kids at a large corporation who could be laid off any day. I hate how every post turns into this huge wall of text in this thread, so I'm sorry but I talked to a friend last night who is a bank teller and is not in any debt at all. Here's how our conversation went:  Me: I need to sell my car. Her: Why? Well because the goons say that it's ruining me. I'm upside down on the loan 7500 dollars. Well, what the gently caress? Where are you going to get 7500 dollars in order to sell it? I would have to sell my camera, computer, TV, et cetera for like 3 grand and then make minimum payments for 8-10 months to build the balance, then sell the car and pay back the loan. THAT IS THE WORST IDEA EVER. So they want you to drop to the minimums on all of your debt for almost a year, in order to pay off your lowest interest, highest-balance loan? Also, you still need a car, which could cost you thousands in repairs if you get a lovely one. This one is under warranty. But the goons said... And the math... Maybe the goons aren't right about this. Your car is:1. In its worst period of depreciation in its lifespan, the first two years after it was bought. Which means you will lose the most amount of money possible if you sell it soon. 2. That 7500 dollars would be way better going on your 29, 21, and 15 percent debt. 3. Getting rid of your car does not put you in a better position relative to your debt, or your assets. You'll end up with an unreliable POS, 25000 less than you had before in assets, savings, or less debt, plus the cost of any repairs that need to happen. Instead, just put that money on your credit and savings so that you have a buffer and can pay off your horrible high interest poo poo faster. Oh.Is this advice sound? Why not? Edit: Also, Pay day! Savings go up 125, balance goes up to 980 to pay for things next month. I have adjusted the August budget to reflect this.
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Jul 29, 2011 13:30
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You posted a thread asking for help on how to reduce your debt as quickly as possible. No one here is making you listen to everyone. Keeping your car is simply not the most efficient use of your money at this point. If you want to keep it and pay that extra 1.9% interest - go right ahead, it's your life and your budget. In the end, it may be worth it to you to have that car versus being optimal about your budget at this point. Keep the car if you want it, just keep in mind that it will cost you more.
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Jul 29, 2011 15:12
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I'd focus on the MC and laptop debt, just to free up cash flow and get a couple small debts out of the picture entirely. That said, the real problem as I (and I think most others in this thread) see it is that it seems like you're unwilling to make fundamental lifestyle changes in the long run that will allow you to not only pay off your debt, but to stay relatively debt free moving forward. You shouldn't be approaching this on a "what can I do this month," instead you should be looking at it as "What am I repeatedly doing that is costing me money unnecessarily?" Keep the car or don't, but until you make some behavioral changes, you're going to find yourself in the same (or worse) situation in a matter of months, maybe a year or two if you're lucky. Being in more short term debt than your gross income is not normal, wise, or healthy.
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Jul 29, 2011 15:34
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puyot posted:That's the thing, none of these people are broke. They don't think I'm broke. They have 5-30k in debt, make 25-75k a year, they make their payments and pay down stuff slowly. They are broke. They may not think they are but that doesn't mean that they are not and in fact, they're worse than broke - they are in the negative. Unless they have a large amount of debt and an even larger amount in their savings account and are just bad with money and enjoy paying more for things than they have to, they are broke. And isn't it a little scary to think that you estimate your friends as having $5 - 30k worth of debt and you are about $56,000 in debt. Even by your own estimations of friends living normally, you have almost double the amount of debt that you think your more spend happy friends have. Those people who can just make the minimum payments will essentially never catch up. In the US, the credit card companies are now required to show you how long you would have to pay if you only paid the minimum on your credit card because it's really scary what a slave to your minimum payments you become. People who are just paying the minimums on their debt will be paying for esentially ever, even over very small balances. To give your own example, if you paid the minimum on your 30% card, it would take you 380 months to be rid of your debt and you would pay $9,728.34 in interest on a $2300 balance. Really think about that. You would have paid off one card in 31 years, without buying anything else on the card during that time. Was whatever you spent $2300 worth the $12,000 you spent on it? This is why debt grows rather than shrinks unless you make a conscious decision to get out of debt - there's no way you're not going to want to buy other things over the course of those 31 years that will add to your debt. The car is not so bad, but again, it will take you 74 months to pay off if you never made more than the minimum payments and you'll have paid an extra $1600 on your car. Since it's your dream car, you may still be excited about the car six years from now - most people aren't. Whether it's because other people are now getting newer and nicer cars and they want to keep pace, whether its because they have a new dream car or think they deserve better, whether the car is "falling apart" and needs expensive repairs or whether there are real situational changes - they now need two cars and with it comes another car payment, they have a kid and their dream car is impractical, etc. Things change, as you've seen with the laptop - you still have another year and a half worth of payments to make on your computer and you already want a new one. I dont think you need to sell all your belongings and live like a monk. I wouldn't advise you to sell the car and I would advise you to evaluate your camera equipment, not just get rid of it all - do you use all your cameras equally or is there one you could rely on and get rid of the others? But things that you don't use that are just things taking up space - that stuff you should get rid of and those should serve as reminders of things you spent a lot of money on that you didn't even really need or use. If you can reign in your spending and work on paying off your debts at a rate you are comfortable with without having to give up much then that's what you should do, but you have to realize that you've accumulated over $50,000 in debt and you're only 23. If you keep living the way you are currently living, you are only going to get into more trouble, not less. Something hasn't been working so SOMETHING has to change, and $50,000 is a lot of money so small little cuts here and there are not going to make a big dent - we're just throwing out suggestions. I would think that you should have seen how unfair life and how emergencies crop up just by looking at your parents. They're not deadbeats - they're people living life and lovely things happen in life. It should scare you how quickly they went through all of their savings and how much debt they have now. I don't know what the support network is like for older people in Canada but in America, seeing your parents out of money in their 40's and 50's would be a big scary warning sign that you will likely be supporting your parents once they can no longer work for the rest of their lives.
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Jul 29, 2011 16:14
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tuyop posted:Actually those positive values (for gas and misc (apt)) are for repayments from people that I either drove places or bought things for with the promise of being repaid. Just so I understand are these your friends who are not broke? tuyop posted:I hate how every post turns into this huge wall of text in this thread, so I'm sorry but I talked to a friend last night who is a bank teller and is not in any debt at all. Here's how our conversation went: Did you show her this thread? This is how I would respond. You have dug yourself in so deep and have so few assets to show for it that frankly you have no good options. You always have choices. Right now you lack good choices. You have to make the less bad choice. However the worst choice of all is for a broke guy to have 90+ percent of his assets in what is still a rapidly depreciating item, especially when it represents the largest chunk of debt and the largest payment. Interest rate magic isn’t going to help you. The reason you don’t have money isn’t because Dell charges you 29%. Its because you fly down to Mexico at the drop of a hat every time you have any room on a credit card and this car which has given you so many payments you hardly have anything left over. I don’t think you should sell anything. Well, maybe the TV, but when you say computer, are we talking about the 4 year old laptop? I was kind of poking around your posting history last night; you are a really good photographer. I would hate to see you sell your camera. You know what is pissing people off right now? Whenever there is a tough choice, you are armed with 27 excuses as to why the cure is 10 times worse than the disease. People roll their eyes when you start talking about moving into a tent and eating ramen for 8 months, or whatever the latest thing is. I’m guessing you don’t need 8 months to plan a vacation. I still don’t know why you can’t at least try to get a loan for some of the difference, maybe they will give it to you if your dad cosigns. Is there a reason why you can’t make some money on the side with your photography skills? You have an eye for it, it is a passion of yours. Do people in New Brunswick get married, and if so, do they ever hire photographers?
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Jul 29, 2011 16:40
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Her advice really isn't bad - as everyone else already pointed out, it's a matter of priorities. However, your car is a sticking point because it's such an insane expense for your income. 12% of your paycheck goes towards the car payment. Your car payment is more than than your rent. Including insurance and gas, a quarter of what you earn is spent on that car. Not only is it an enormous money sink, but it has negative value. You will be underwater on your car loan for another 18 months (if it didn't depreciate more, which it will). You need to at least acknowledge how much of a tradeoff that is. So far, you haven't been able to identify a single expense you're willing to cut. At least sell the TV and put it towards the MasterCard. Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 17:15
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Cuddlebottom posted:However, your car is a sticking point because it's such an insane expense for your income. 12% of your paycheck goes towards the car payment. Your car payment is more than than your rent. Including insurance and gas, a quarter of what you earn is spent on that car. Not only is it an enormous money sink, but it has negative value. Tuyop you literally made the classic new to the military car purchase trap. Please never offer your financial 'wisdom' to your junior enlisted.
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Jul 29, 2011 17:54
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Is there a reason why you can’t make some money on the side with your photography skills? You have an eye for it, it is a passion of yours. Do people in New Brunswick get married, and if so, do they ever hire photographers? As far as I know, his CV consists of a PI thread with photographs of pigeons. Good wedding photographers generally have the option to operate with a roaming posse instead of solo shots, photo touchup and album assembly skills and tools, and most of all a history working as part of a professional crew. Otherwise, you're worse off than "some guy my friend knows" going in without any recommendation 
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Jul 29, 2011 18:09
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Chronojam posted:As far as I know, his CV consists of a PI thread with photographs of pigeons. Good wedding photographers generally have the option to operate with a roaming posse instead of solo shots, photo touchup and album assembly skills and tools, and most of all a history working as part of a professional crew. Otherwise, you're worse off than "some guy my friend knows" going in without any recommendation Perhaps he would be kind enough to cross-post examples of his work, but he posts quite a bit in the dork room. His stuff is beautiful. I was impressed. He captures the passing moments, the mood, everything is sharp, the angels are great, they are visually appealing. Credit must be given where credit is due. No, I don’t think it would be much of a stretch for him to network and get his name out there. His budget is so tight that a few extra hundred dollars would change his world. Mod edit: It will be a punishable offense if anyone finds and posts pics or posts links to pics that he has not previously shared with the SA community. Zeta Taskforce fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 18:27
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It seems to me that the biggest, most important "lifestyle change" that Tuyop needs to make - and which he seems willing to make - is no more vacations until he's out of debt. Despite the huge portion of his income the car boondoggle takes up, I just don't think there's anything he can do about that right now. If he sticks to a budget and stops going on vacations, given the upcoming promotions he's due (and if that's true that they're basically guaranteed), then he can claw himself out of debt in four years and that's not too bad. The idea about earning some more money with his camera is a good one but he should not put any of that income into his budget. Tuyop if you do manage to make some money from photography, put it straight into your debt without stopping. You must not regard that cash as "windfall profits" that you get to spend on fun stuff. Vowing right now to take no more vacations is easy. The difficult part will come when your girlfriend/wife wants to do something fun, and you want to as well, and you have room on your credit cards, and you know it'll only add another 6 months to your indebtedness, and you feel a lot of pressure to cave in and go for it. That is where you'll need to man up and tough it out, and we'll all find out if you've got the fortitude to do this or not. For now, I think you already know what to do and are doing it.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:07
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I wouldn't sell the car, nor the camera/computer. That would be dumb, especially with someone with your impulse habits. You'd have nothing to do and it would just entice you to spend more money. What you really need to do, especially since you have a pretty much 100% guaranteed income as a military employee is get your habits under control. Spend more time with your current hobbies. You don't need to get rid of everything and live a lovely life, but you do need to change how you view money. More troubling than the fact that everyone wants you to get rid of everything is the fact that you never once considered it yourself. If I was stressed out and losing sleep I would have considered all my options, even if I didn't do it... the fact that you still can't consider losing your camera isn't good for your financial wellbeing going forward.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:19
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/\/\/\ what are you talking about? I TRIED to sell the car, I even called my father and begged for a loan like a bitch. I called to see about a balance transfer credit card but got denied. My bank won't give me a line of credit. I would sell the camera and computer (which is a desktop I parted out and payed cash for last year) immediately if it meant selling the car, but it would only mean saving for a year in order to sell the car and then living like poo poo. I tried to get my apartment full of second-hand furniture in storage in order to sell it but it is impossible for at least another year. A whole lot of trying, I know, but like I said, the money simply doesn't exist, the options are not open. I can not unmake my car fuckup. Zeta Taskforce posted:Perhaps he would be kind enough to cross-post examples of his work, but he posts quite a bit in the dork room. His stuff is beautiful. I was impressed. He captures the passing moments, the mood, everything is sharp, the angels are great, they are visually appealing. Credit must be given where credit is due. No, I don’t think it would be much of a stretch for him to network and get his name out there. His budget is so tight that a few extra hundred dollars would change his world. That's actually a huge compliment for me, thank you! I don't have a computer until Monday, and haven't had Internet for awhile, but my flickr feed has stuff that I'm (a little) proud of. You can find me there by looking for DevinWR. That's another $25 a year for pro that a forgot about, oops. The dorkroom is like BFC but for photography so any praise there is hard to come by and I don't think I'm that great because of it. Weddings are out for me, Chronojam is right. I would need another flash, another lens or two, light stand, probably two more lenses, another body, blah blah blah. Not to mention the time spent editing, networking, an appropriate portfolio, et cetera. Sounds like an excuse, but I have thought of it. On my flickr you'll notice that I mostly take snapshots in nonprofitable genres. I don't have the gear or the skillset for portraits (yet). Ive noticed some opportunities around, like the nail place down the street has TERRIBLE demo shots, and that might be worth some money to shoot for them. And I'll put some stuff on etsy when I get back from the field. Why not? Don't mean to make a photography derail, I'll answer other questions later. I HAVE changed my lifestyle. It's been a work in progress to this point since May. tuyop fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 19:22
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Don't get me wrong though, you shouldn't avoid photography as a source of income. It just requires a significant investment more than you already have (tripods, lighting, editing software purchased legit) for certain things. There are websites where you can offer stock photos, maybe you'll get lucky that way, or do smaller scale things at local events or for a local paper as hokey as that sounds. Basically, don't pour too much time and money down that hole until you can afford to.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:29
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Leperflesh posted:It seems to me that the biggest, most important "lifestyle change" that Tuyop needs to make - and which he seems willing to make - is no more vacations until he's out of debt. Yeah, I couldn't think of a nice way to put it, but holy poo poo this. I think 14 vacations is more than I have taken cumulatively for the past 5 years combined.
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Jul 29, 2011 20:37
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Shooting Blanks posted:Yeah, I couldn't think of a nice way to put it, but holy poo poo this. I am positive that 14 vacations is more than I have taken in 14 years. I usually reserve my vacation days for when I need time off for something rather than we're going somewhere. I tend to take a 'vacation' every other year. And look where that got me!
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Jul 29, 2011 20:43
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Yeah, in 2010 I had five months paid vacation. In 09 it was something like 2. I spent nearly all of it abroad, hiking and backpacking. Fun's over I guess. I didn't even have that much debt though until this year. I worked three jobs all through university. The difference isn't income, its the drat car. \/\/\/ yeah I kept a 92 protege and two 323s running for four years until I was 21 and moved to downtown Halifax. I have most of the tools I need for routine maintenance and small repairs. However, this is all in storage and I don't think buying more tools is wise right now. Also, pricing oil shows me that I only spend like 5 bucks over cost for oil changes. Also, how does that impact warranty? And I can't sell my vacation. It can only be used for vacation. tuyop fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 21:00
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I'm not sure if our "leave" is anything like Army leave, much less Canadian, but are you given the option of 'selling' paid vacation? Like, throwing away your saved up hours for cash payout? Here, this is seen as a waste of money, but in your case it would probably be helpful since you do NOT need to go on vacation any time soon and will only be encouraged to spend while on vacation. Honestly, I'm not a fan of selling the car. Given there are plenty of good reasons to do it, but paying it off would net you with what appears to be your only potential chunk of equity. Still, priorities beckon. ._. Oh another thing, do you do your own routine car maintenance? This saves a poo poo TON if you're willing to learn the basics. A good investment would be a Hayes manual for your model. Edit: Obviously don't toss out *all* vacation, though; emergencies happen. Berkut fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 22:40
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Tuyop, post a drat reply instead of making 'down'(s) edits. I don't see how having maintenance done by an individual owner familiar with the car and obligated to take care of the POS would knock holes in a warranty. Also, an oil change takes a wrench, pan and a filter tool. Could probably get them for like 15$. Brake disc pads probably aren't that much more expensive. In fact, I just shopped around and found front brake pads for your car at autozone for 22$. These are probably OVER priced. Cost to have them replaced at a mechanic? ~$100. The front rotor? ~52$. 400 at a mechanic. Berkut fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jul 30, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 23:31
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tuyop posted:Yeah, in 2010 I had five months paid vacation. In 09 it was something like 2. I spent nearly all of it abroad, hiking and backpacking. Fun's over I guess. How much paid vacation do you have this year? That sounds like an amazing opportunity to pick up another full time job for a short amount of time and make a lot of extra money, on top of your normal pay, in order to pay off your debts faster.
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Jul 30, 2011 00:30
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