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wintermuteCF posted:Depending on how frequently you change blades, Dollar Shave Club can also help you out on razors. I think I pay $6 every other month because I only change blades (the 4-bladed kind because I'm lazy) every other week, so 4 blades lasts 2 months. Far cheaper than buying in a drugstore, and you don't have to think about it. Rather than subscribe to their dumb "pay every month" model (which is just a trick to make you forget to cancel and keep your subscription going forever), you can just go to https://www.dorcousa.com and buy the razors in bulk. Spent $24 bucks, now have enough razors to last me 6 months.
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Dec 2, 2013 16:32
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Knyteguy posted:Definitely won't be buying tons of games. I'm actually really god damned cheap when it comes to my video games, and probably spend less than $100.00 a year before we decided to start getting serious with money. I won't buy something (generally) unless it's under $10 on Steam. And even then I'm picky. Knyteguy posted:We have enough money now to buy another game, but I'm holding out just in case we need extra gas or something. Both of these decisions actually took some willpower. These things don't add up.
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Dec 2, 2013 17:04
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Bugamol posted:These things don't add up. Well, some really great games came out on both of these last Friday. These games only come out every couple of years (more rarely at this caliber), and they have limited edition promotions for a different game I really like on both systems. It just happened to be a busy year for video games, but our average year is definitely within the range stated. Thanks for the tips on the razors and household stuff; we'll start trying to optimize our dollars spent in these categories. e: remove superfluous stuff Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Dec 2, 2013 |
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Dec 2, 2013 17:39
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 You have serious money problems! You want to save 20k and eliminate debt in the next two years. You have ZERO money saved for retirement and you have less than 1k in the bank for if you lose your job or get injured. You don't need a loving limited edition of games, especially after you just bought a loving PS4 that you admit was a bad decision. Jesus christ, play the games you have now, and if you still want a Wii U and a 3DS in a year, buy ONE of them in a year. You might not get the 80 dollar limited edition or whatever, but you'll probably get the same game for 20 bucks. Do you really need a triforce pendant or lovely artbook you'll look at twice that badly? If you drop 700-800 on those including accessories, tax, and just a few games, you're setting yourself way back. That money would more than double your emergency fund, which is perilously low. I understand videogames are fun and all that, but we're talking about you saving for a house and trying to have an emergency fund and starting to save for retirement hopefully. This is the time to stop buying so many loving games. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Dec 2, 2013 |
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Dec 2, 2013 17:59
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Knyteguy posted:All of the excess money is budgeted for our emergency fund. I chose a relatively arbitrary number of $10,000 to save to before we throw extra money into debt. 10k seems excessive, especially with that nasty car loan hanging over your head. Think of it this way - the sooner you get rid of those debts the less monthly expenses you'll have if you do lose your job. I'd shoot for a quicker goal of 2-3 months worth of expenses and then tackle that debt.
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Dec 2, 2013 18:09
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Nail Rat posted:
I know; we're not buying anything  . I was explaining how both statements I made could be congruent, which I guess doesn't really matter. Right now I'm trying to convince my wife that $100 for spending cash a month is too much. I'm trying to make saving/paying off the debt fun right now, and seeing just how low we can get while maintaining a decent quality of life thanks to some advice earlier in the thread.quote:10k seems excessive, especially with that nasty car loan hanging over your head. Think of it this way - the sooner you get rid of those debts the less monthly expenses you'll have if you do lose your job. Thanks I'll discuss this with my wife this evening. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Dec 2, 2013 |
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Dec 2, 2013 18:19
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WampaLord posted:Rather than subscribe to their dumb "pay every month" model (which is just a trick to make you forget to cancel and keep your subscription going forever), you can just go to https://www.dorcousa.com and buy the razors in bulk. Spent $24 bucks, now have enough razors to last me 6 months. 4 razors is $5.50 + shipping through Dorco 4 razors is $6.00 with shipping included through Dollar Shave Club? You can also sign up for every-other-month shipments, so 6 months of razors for me is $18 ($6 x 3). Don't be a twat.
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Dec 2, 2013 21:19
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Or just make like Clark Howard and dry your razor after each use. Each one will last months. $100/month is not excessive for spending cash. Let your wife have something while you're indulging in next-gen video games.
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Dec 2, 2013 21:33
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wintermuteCF posted:4 razors is $5.50 + shipping through Dorco I was just presenting an alternative. For me, buying 4 packs of razors at once was easier than subscribing to their service for 4 months and then potentially forgetting to cancel my service and end up paying more than I would have liked to pay (a common trap of the subscription-based payment model, and one that companies count on you forgetting about.) No twat-ness was intended.  Knyteguy, it's less the actual spending that we care about and more the mentality behind the spending. I know you want that new game that just came out, I'm a gamer too, and I understand the impulse very well. I spent $60 on the most recent Steam sale, for example, but I came away with 7 games. Those games will give me enjoyment for months and months, and will hold me over until the new games that are currently on sale for $60 each become cheaper. That's the cool thing about games, they get WAY cheaper if you wait 6 months to a year to start playing them. There's no reason not to do this for single player games other than lack of impulse control. Using this method, you can stretch your gaming dollar to the max and your budget will thank you. Start implementing easy fixes like these and reduce the desire to get the big shiny new thing right now. The PS4 will still be around in 2014, but it will be cheaper and have more games.
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Dec 2, 2013 21:59
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Knyteguy posted:I was explaining... ...and that's the problem. You're always explaining. There's always a reason. This is why it's important to seriously look at your past habits and stop the thought processes behind them. It's not dwelling on the past, it's educating yourself for the future. I also love video games. I've been playing them since the early 1980s. That's how I know that there is always some next big "must play" game. And y'know what? It's okay to skip them from time to time. Your car maintenance isn't some "okay, got through it" one-time expense. Something like this will always come up. Maybe you'll need new clothes for something. Or there will be a surprise tax bill. Or a medical problem. Or a $100 toothbrush. That's just life. But as long as you continue to convince yourself that it's "just this month", you'll never be free. Saving for your future is top priority. Before video games. Before guitars. Before toothbrushes. Your future self is the first person you pay. Then you figure out what to do with any extra. No compromises.
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Dec 3, 2013 00:25
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Old Fart posted:It's okay to skip them from time to time. Some advice on the economics of video games. There are two types of games: 1. Games that need to be played now in order to get the full experience. These are almost entirely ONLINE multiplayer games, like an MMORPG or [insert flavor-of-the-month first-person-shooter game]. The game is dependent upon the community of players, and that community will be in full force for a limited period of time, then will move on. You have to own the game at the right time to really get the value out of it, and that usually means soon after release for full- or nearly-full cost. 2. Games that can be played at any time ('timeless') with the majority of the experience intact. These comprise virtually every single-player game, as well as anything with a local multiplayer option (like Mario Kart or Goldeneye 007). It doesn't matter when you buy this game, you'll still get the value out of it, and that means you can wait until it gets much cheaper. The more you can get games in the second category, the cheaper your overall gaming expenditures will be. And truthfully, a lot of people overlook the fact that current- and even last-generation systems still have incredible value for money. There was a recent article in The Verge (which I will attempt to find and link) that discussed this phenomenon, posing the hypothetical question of how to maximize benefit from $600 spent on gaming. It went something like this. $600 buys you: 1. An Xbox One, one new game, and maybe a second controller or a few XBLA indie games. 2. A PS4, two games, a second controller, a PS+ subscription. 3. A PS3 or Xbox 360, a second controller, a PS+ or Live subscription, at least a half dozen used or 'Greatest Hits' games. 4. A PS2, as many controllers as you could want, and a truckload of games, many of which still look and play great. This is not to say that you need to be perpetually a generation behind the times, but you could have easily waited a year on your PS4 purchase, until launch titles were selling for half their value (or less!), consoles were plentiful, and there are more games. Video games are rapidly depreciating assets. That new high-budget triple-A title that releases and sells for $60 will only be worth half that in a year, and depending on how quickly Sony releases a Greatest Hits version of it, it can tank even faster. Consider the example of Ni no Kuni: released in North America in January of this year for $60, and you can buy it today on Amazon for 1/4 of that, and if you're a PS+ subscriber, you can get a digital version for under $10. Okay, enough of a derail. Back to Knyte and his newfound fiscal responsibility. Income > Taxes > Save > Bills > Living expenses > Whatever is left over. Video games are a loooooooooong way down the list.
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Dec 3, 2013 03:12
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Hope I'm not continuing to veer too far off into Games territory here, but you can also look at the games you want (and other forms of entertainment too) quantitatively by realistically estimating how many hours of entertainment they'll provide and then calculating your cost per hour. If you drop $60 on a brand-new single player adventure that you get through in eight hours and it has no replay value, that's equivalent to seeing four or five movies in the theater at $7.50 per hour. You're not in a position to go see five movies on a whim, so you shouldn't be buying brand new games like that either. Right now roguelike-ish games are popular with indie developers. In addition to being cheaper titles with low hardware demands to begin with, they're also extremely replayable on account of featuring newly randomly-generated levels every time you play. I dropped four bucks on The Binding of Isaac on a Steam sale last year and I've logged about a hundred hours on it since without quite 100%=ing the game yet and it still hasn't gotten old. At $0.04 per hour of entertainment, that's been four bucks very well spent.
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Dec 3, 2013 08:37
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Also: free-to-play games. There are some pretty good ones out there. Pretty much anything popular is going to be at least decent: League of Legends, Dota2, Hearthstone, World of Tanks, Planetside 2, Path of Exile, Team Fortress 2, Mechwarrior Online, etc.
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Dec 3, 2013 09:14
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This thread is great. "Rocksmith? Uhh that's hardly even a game!"  seriously some impressiveness mental gymnastics in these posts.
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Dec 3, 2013 11:38
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How do people who are not students have time to play games from like 4 different systems? I hope you're getting enough sleep, being tired all the time makes everything harder.
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Dec 3, 2013 14:41
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Zo posted:This thread is great. "Rocksmith? Uhh that's hardly even a game!" This is pretty much what I'm trying to get across. A continuation of justification for spending. Maybe we are looking at such a small sample size of Knyteguy's life and these really are one offs. However the attitude that he's come into this thread with "At least i'm not Zaurg" and "Well I'm not as bad a Slow Motion" leads me to believe he will continue to develop "reasons" to buy things. "Oh we've saved a bunch of money and haven't really been spending... We deserve a $3,000 vacation! Don't worry it's a one time thing!" "There was these new must have video games coming out that I just had to buy. Don't worry it's a one time thing!" "My wife got into a fender bender and it cost $1,000 deductible to fix the car. Don't worry it's a one time thing!" "I got sick and missed a week of work which cost $800 in wages. Don't worry it's a one time thing!" EDIT: Out of curiosity what games did you get with your PS4? Hopefully not something that was available on PS3 or Xbox 360.
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Dec 3, 2013 16:59
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But he's saving $4 a month on razors, shouldn't he reward himself?
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Dec 3, 2013 18:15
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Some of you guys are being a little ridiculous. "You actually saved quite a bit of money this week!? Well... why did you buy that video game console 2 weeks before you started this thread huh!? And how dare you think about buying something and telling us about it!" Like what the hell? How about you give me poo poo if I actually gently caress up going forward? Because since I started this thread that hasn't happened. Someone said that you all aren't dwelling on the past, but some you are right now. Edit: and more aptly, some of you are dwelling on some hosed up future. I haven't shown any of the behavior that says I "reward" myself or my wife if we have money. That's just stupid. My problem has been carelessness in the past. Edit2: To the poster that asked: I named this thread "at least I'm not Zaurg" so people would know exactly what the topic of the thread was, and a little about my spending habits. The original was "help us save for a house". I don't want to be anything like him. Finally: my wife and I get paid on Friday and Saturday, respectively. I'm excited to see what we'll be able to put towards our emergency fund. It probably won't be a whole lot as it's the rent paycheck cycle, but definitely something. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 18:21
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Knyteguy posted:Some of you guys are being a little ridiculous. "You actually saved quite a bit of money this week!? Well... why did you buy that video game console 2 weeks before you started this thread huh!? And how dare you think about buying something and telling us about it!"
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Dec 3, 2013 18:50
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My personal opinion is at this point you shouldn't have to "fight" with yourself to not buy two more consoles. As said in the post above, behavior doesn't change overnight. If you're still having to fight not to buy more videogames, you need to think about it harder. I know you said you're not buying them, and that's great. Just make sure it's sustainable.
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Dec 3, 2013 18:54
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Haifisch posted:I think a lot of the ragging is coming from the fact that people's habits don't change overnight, and this thread hasn't even been around for a month yet. They see your posts about previous impulse buys, so they view your "hmm, what if I saved up and bought this/oh, I want this(but I'm not buying it right now)" posts with more suspicion than they would for someone who went several months without making a $100+ impulse purchase. Give it a few months without loving up & people will harp on you less because they'll trust you when you say "I want this, but I'm not buying it right now". Alright I'll start using this mentality. It's just annoying getting ragged on for stuff that I'm not even doing or implying. However it also motivated me more not to mess so up so I'll deal with it. Nail Rat posted:My personal opinion is at this point you shouldn't have to "fight" with yourself to not buy two more consoles. As said in the post above, behavior doesn't change overnight. If you're still having to fight not to buy more videogames, you need to think about it harder. I know you said you're not buying them, and that's great. Just make sure it's sustainable. I agree. We're trying to do what No Wave said and make the whole thing enjoyable, rather than feeling like we're depriving ourselves. I know the math from what I've read of money mustache, so I know what we're actually paying when we buy things. That will help, I think. Thanks everyone for the help.
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Dec 3, 2013 19:51
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I think a lot of people would like to see a real budget still. Not some weird I have $2K extra budget to blow/save. Breakdown what you have to pay on loans vs what you have to pay extra to meet your goals. What you need to save to get that house. What your actual net monthly pay is. And really some laid out goals about how to get where you want to go. Then people will actually be able to give you real help vs what is happening now.
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Dec 3, 2013 20:56
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spwrozek posted:I think a lot of people would like to see a real budget still. Not some weird I have $2K extra budget to blow/save. Breakdown what you have to pay on loans vs what you have to pay extra to meet your goals. What you need to save to get that house. What your actual net monthly pay is. And really some laid out goals about how to get where you want to go. Then people will actually be able to give you real help vs what is happening now. Well I did post a weekly budget with real numbers here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3586966&pagenumber=2#post422356604 I'll be doing the same Thursday or Friday. Agreed on the rest I'll work on that when I get some free time. The original post is pointless for the most part so I'll just remake it.
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Dec 3, 2013 21:02
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I am genuinely curious how old you and your wife are.quote:Car Loan - 17.95% APR - $14,330 This might be unthinkable for you, but if you can sell those cars and end up with enough to pay them off and buy two beaters (or one, if you think you can manage a one-car house), you'd be digging yourself out of a lot of your debt. It also might be impossible depending on how much the cars have already depreciated, but you should at least consider it because if a 17.95% interest rate was a physical wound, it would be a deep bleeding gash in your torso.
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Dec 3, 2013 21:03
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Knyte - I still believe you're making positive mentality changes toward spending and saving. You haven't disappointed me yet, please don't do so! And Icarus is right, those cars represent the bulk of your debt, and selling them and finding something cheaper can erase a large chunk of obligation in one shot. Really look in to this.
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Dec 3, 2013 21:17
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Inverse Icarus posted:I am genuinely curious how old you and your wife are. I'm 27, my wife is 25. I'll add that to the OP when I rewrite it. We were a one car household for about 3 years but my boss insisted I have a vehicle in case I need to go to a client's office (which has not happened yet in 7 months, at least with me alone). We just talked to our credit union about refinancing our truck that's through them (10.95%) so we should find out about that... today probably. We need to keep the truck; I'm looking at it out my window and there's a foot of snow on it. They're necessary here in Reno. My snow-renowned Subaru Impreza WRX would often overheat due to no clearance from the snow. The car we're up in the air about. We're negative on the loan, but it's really killing us interest wise as you so aptly put it. I intend on calling the lender and seeing if they will do anything for us, and we'll be talking to some more banks/credit unions after we find out about the truck. Also regarding getting a beater car it's not unthinkable; I have no emotional attachment or sunk cost fallacy or any of that crap towards it. I earnestly wished we had gone with an early 2000s Civic or Corolla or something. We were looking heavily at early model used Priii (what's the plural or Prius)? Should've done that (see I'm reflecting). Earlier in the thread someone mentioned trading it in on a lesser car. The holidays and errands have been taking up a lot of our time so we haven't looked into this much yet. It's my lunch now, so graphs of everything incoming. Edit: wintermuteCF posted:Knyte - I still believe you're making positive mentality changes toward spending and saving. You haven't disappointed me yet, please don't do so! Thanks for the support. You've been extremely helpful. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 21:22
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OP updated. I removed a lot of the frivolous stuff I think, and it's organized better. Here's some graphs from YNAB. I don't use my PC much at home so this will have to do for awhile (Tuyop got me beat sorry guys!) Most of the data below is before we decided to do more than just track our expenses. Spending by category:  Debt  Balance on non-auto loans: Personal: $300 Payday: $0 Everyday expenses  Rainy day funds (emergency fund is under our savings not here)  Assets vs Expenses  We had to take our savings down from $546 to $514. I missed a subscription (MyFico) that I've already cancelled (stuff we missed), and we bought the supplies for our holiday spending for everyone in the family minus the kids since we were in that area of town. This leaves us with $80.93/$100 left in our Christmas fund. We'll be spending less than that ($10 budgeted per kid, 5 kids we're buying for). I'll do this maybe twice a month right now and then follow Tuyop's lead and do it once a month or so when we get in a good groove. Edit: If you noticed the business expenses, the business broke even this month. It's never a loss and usually makes us a little bit of money. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 21:56
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Don't get too worked up, SlowMo riled everyone up in BFC and then took his ball and went home so there is no one left to gang up on. Everyone with a thread in this subforum gets a bunch of verbal abuse at one time or another, just hold on because you'll probably be getting it for a while as you're the only one with an active thread and questionable spending decisions. I'm not going to tell you to return the PS4. I just want you to think about your purchases you've already made and use that information to drive your future purchases. I can't tell you how many times I've bought "new fun stuff" and at one time or another regretted it. Rocksmith/bass guitar would have been a prime example of something I would have wasted money on and then regretted it a month later. I have, in fact, bought a guitar and accessories before and ended up selling it at a big loss. You just need to slowly change your thinking to "what are the chances I'm going to get $X amount of use out of this?"
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Dec 3, 2013 21:59
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Minor point: you're understating your assets because you don't have your car values included. Possibly just me being pedantic.
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Dec 3, 2013 22:10
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dreesemonkey posted:Don't get too worked up, SlowMo riled everyone up in BFC and then took his ball and went home so there is no one left to gang up on. Everyone with a thread in this subforum gets a bunch of verbal abuse at one time or another, just hold on because you'll probably be getting it for a while as you're the only one with an active thread and questionable spending decisions. Yea I was kind of disappointed that happened with Slow Motion. He got really upset about that vest thing apparently. I guess I didn't realize that it was a bad idea to get the bass and rocksmith for my wife. From my own experience as a drummer, I picked up a 'cheap' drum set for $750, and regretted almost instantly that I didn't get something that sounds nicer. I upgraded to a nice maple drum set that is often used and hopefully lasts my whole life. In retrospect, we definitely should have started off with something used and maybe off brand. We even have a $99 guitar place that we should have looked at first. We decided that we won't buy her an amp or an effects pedal or anything like that for awhile, and if/when we do it will come out of her spending cash. Hopefully she sticks with playing it. wintermuteCF posted:Minor point: you're understating your assets because you don't have your car values included. Possibly just me being pedantic. I've been debating adding this... I kind of like seeing our "total all accounts" being worth -$30,000 on YNAB because it motivates both of us, and lets us know that even though we have $2,000 in the bank or whatever, we're still broke. Seeing that in the black will be awesome either way though .
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Dec 4, 2013 00:43
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Knyteguy posted:I've been debating adding this... I kind of like seeing our "total all accounts" being worth -$30,000 on YNAB because it motivates both of us, and lets us know that even though we have $2,000 in the bank or whatever, we're still broke. Seeing that in the black will be awesome either way though And I recommend getting on that train sooner rather than later. All cars (or at least, all cars that you or I would be buying) are depreciating assets, but they depreciate at different rates. A 17k car is going to lose a lot of value over the next year or two, whereas a 7k car has already had most of its depreciation and will lose less value over the same time period. On an unrelated note, gently caress Slow Motion. He makes a big deal about how he likes the baller lifestyle, but it's like he expected his posts from elsewhere on the forums to be ignored so we could all focus on his finances. He would have probably gotten sick of us calling him stupid about his finances, but people lost sight of that and started ragging on his appalling taste instead. Then he picked up his ball(er) and went home to his overpriced idiot box (apartment).
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Dec 4, 2013 01:44
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If gramma is able to give you a chunk of cash if you pay down your debt, then see if gramma is able to float you a loan to pay off the difference when you sell your car for less than you owe. She seems interested in helping you get on top, and this would go a long long way towards getting you there.
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Dec 4, 2013 02:02
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His grandma probably knows that giving money to someone who has a spectacular habit of wasting money is not "helping" them.
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Dec 4, 2013 02:14
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I mean as a loan to help him get out of debt. He's selling the car, he just needs to make up the balance since he's underwater. She has already shown interest in giving him a huge incentive. Why not make her a part of the process? It also has the benefit that if he pays her back regularly (and sooner than their agreed plan), she might be more inclined to give him the bonus even if he doesn't reach the goal, or maybe extend the deadline. Get her more involved and emotionally invested.
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Dec 4, 2013 04:39
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I think the only thing I can really add is it's a huge red flag to ever delay pay to employees. I'd keep looking for another job just in case and maybe in the search you'll find more income in the process. If there's an accountant around in there ask them what's going on as they'll almost always know.
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Dec 4, 2013 07:18
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Old Fart posted:I mean as a loan to help him get out of debt. He's selling the car, he just needs to make up the balance since he's underwater. She has already shown interest in giving him a huge incentive. Why not make her a part of the process? It also has the benefit that if he pays her back regularly (and sooner than their agreed plan), she might be more inclined to give him the bonus even if he doesn't reach the goal, or maybe extend the deadline. Get her more involved and emotionally invested.
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Dec 4, 2013 07:37
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I wouldn't call this a "spectacular habit of wasting money". Some spending problems maybe but as he's said they haven't really had income like they do now so what they're adjusting to is how to not burn through disposable income, which I think everyone more or less goes through at some point. It's not like they're making 3x their fixed expenses yet still putting the groceries on a mastercard due to wasteful spending. They're just soaking up much of their net income so they are living on very close margins for unexpected expenses (incurring more costs) and are floating the extra debt they could have knocked down for that month. On top of that they're keeping debt that they could probably reduce by giving up the asset tied to that debt. These mistakes add up to be a problem but their spending is not the overshadowing piece of it. I know I've chimed in a few times but to come back to my current thoughts on your situation: 1) Grandma set a tough goal but drat it it's a worthwhile one. This goes into the whole home-owner realm but if you're not planning on moving away and depending on where you live now is generally a pretty good time to pick up a first mortgage. If you get $20k saved and grandma kicks in another 20k you have a lot of nice possibilities. What kind of home would have a $150k price tag in your area? Because, while I'm grossly estimating with a mortgage calculator, if you had 40k to work with you could easily put around $33 down and have the rest held back for closing, moving, etc. Doing that for a mortgage on a $150k sale is great news, you'll very likely avoid any type of mortgage insurance and even adding in taxes and other escrow will put your monthly costs way under what you pay for rent now. I would say around $850/mo, round up to 900 or 950 to factor in home improvements/repairs and such. Utilities might go up a bit compared to what you pay now, and there's stuff like HOA dues and so on but by and large I imagine you'd come out way ahead. And that's at $150k! For a lot of areas a good home for a mid-20s couple just starting out will come in for considerably less than that. Grandma is doing you a solid with that offer. Think through the scenario a bit, troll through zillow, play with calculators and get a rough sense of where you could end up if around this time next year you were house shopping with a $40k war chest and no debt. Think of what your monthly budget would look like after moving in. Now think a year from now and not being in that spot, still having those upside down double-digit interest car loans, a substantially vast next-gen console gaming experience in your living room, reduced student debt, $1100 for rent if they don't raise it on you and perhaps a few grand in the bank as your established month-to-month pillow. Imagine X years from now when you finally are at the spot to buy a home on your own, and what that extra $20k would mean. All I'm saying is if you miss out on grandma's offer you both had damned well better do so in a manner that you can look back on and feel comfortable about the decisions you made and effort you gave on your end of the deal. Not trying or making a half-assed attempt might not sting right away but you're young, and a botched opportunity like that will have many years yet to sting you over and over. 2) Look into trading in or refinancing one or both vehicles. This option is potentially the largest because those car loans are bleeding you badly. Talk to your boss. Well, poo poo, it sounds like your company isn't exactly in a position to recognize they should have helped chip in on making demands about your personal property. Ask your boss if he knows anyone selling a cheap but reliable car, explain why (very. politely.) and hope for the best. 3) I'm not sure how I feel about getting a loan from grandma to get out from under the car, but the cars are such a big item that it's probably worth exploring. I suppose it depends on the kind of person she is so you'd obviously know her better to judge how that'd go over with her. But I will say if you do approach her with it make sure you have a plan of how to repay her all mapped out. Be sure to include other bits in your plan like how you'd be able to budget the repayments along with how you'd budget for another car, and how it will work out by obliterating a large bad interest debt by taking on one or two smaller and lower interest debts. She knows all that but show her that you see what you're doing and she might be comfortable with it since she's already very keen on seeing you get your head on right about finances. Step two would be to execute on selling it and buying a new car asap, there are some unfortunate risks here that could bone your plans ie. not finding a buyer for a price you expected. Step three is to absolutely in no way gently caress up your repayments with her. You or your wife should be short at least one body part, external or internal, if you ever come to her with the "we can't make this next payment" story. 4) Absolutely list your car values as assets. Sometimes it certainly makes sense to view things in a pessimistic lens so that you have an idea of what worst case scenarios look like but that should be for mental exercises and not how you view your big picture situation. So maybe you're not $30k in the hole but $13k. That's great news! Put it on there so you can see what a difference those cars make by keeping them. What else do you have? If you have more stuff that has real world value, isn't going to appreciate like mad if you hold on to it, and isn't too sentimental, really consider putting it on some sort of ledger. If you have things you can sell like that, now would be the time. They're actually going to net you a whole lot more than what it sells for if it helps you make it to that window of getting an extra $20k for free. Bhaal fucked around with this message at 10:12 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2013 10:07
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I wouldn't call digging a 5 digit hole simply burning through "disposable income". That's not what disposable income means. I mean, literally, his waste of money is spectacular. It's a spectacle and a bunch of us are pretty entertained by him buying a ps4 and keeping a small army of pets while getting bled dry by a 18% 14k loan.
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Dec 4, 2013 10:19
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Knyteguy posted:
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Dec 4, 2013 14:33
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Hell, trucks present unique challenges in inclement weather. I've lived in the Great Lakes region my entire life, and when I had a pickup truck was when I was most prone to fishtailing on unpaved snow, due to the vehicle being frontheavy(because I never had a load like 99% of people with a truck, and I was too lazy to throw sandbags back there and then unload them in the spring).
Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2013 14:41
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