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Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



So, I’m 31, an Iraq vet, and just got my college degree. I’ve been doing the student poverty life since 2007 or so, and have no idea how to do anything that isn’t academia or the military.

Goals of this thread:

Finding a job. The VA is paying me another ~6 weeks, and then I am most likely on my own. I’ve been looking for ~6 weeks, but haven’t gotten past the phone interview stage. I am outside Dallas.

Making a functional budget. I have long-term debts and I am doing enough to make rent, but I have no savings / plans for the future.
In an magic future world I'd want grad school / kids / savings / retirement.

quote:

Income:
My disability: 1337
Roommates disability: 733
Girlfriend's work: Unpredictable contractor jobs
VA pay: Unsure, 800-1400 for the next 1-2 months

Expenses:
-762 rent
-152 car insurance
-75 energy
-155 three phones
-70 internet
-38 rent insurance
-30 netflix hulu viki etc
-200 (roughly) gf's job expenses.

Whatever's left: emergencies / gas / groceries / fast food / steam games.

Debts:
Student loans from 2005 / credit cards from 2007 / gf's medical debt from 2015. 30k maybe?

Assets:
lovely ex roommates owe us about 8k total. Its a work in progress.
One car.

We're good at poverty, but if I can get a new job I need to learn not-poverty habits. We can glide on 0 dollars for two weeks, but we also spend to 0 pretty quickly. Feast/famine.

Lifestyle changes I don’t like cooking stove top, and tend towards fast food / cereal / baked goods. Getting help on once-a-month slow cooking is ideal.

Where do I go from here?

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cat_herder
Mar 17, 2010

BE GAY
DO CRIME


http://www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/slow-cooker/ I can recommend p much all of Budget Bytes, we use a ton of her stovetop recipes. She breaks down cost per ingredient too, which is kind of nice. Try to buy things like pork roasts when they go on sale. They do great in the slow cooker.

Get a decent set of sealable glass (preferable but expensive) or plastic containers. Don't reheat acidic stuff like tomato sauce in plastic though or it'll pit and stain. But doing a few batches of stuff in the slow-cooker and storing them in the freezer can help cut down on fast food and is p nice when there's nothing in the house but cereal.

If your gf was out of work at the time of the medical bills, or hell even now, you can call the creditors and say "look, we are super poor and can't pay these, do you have charity or indigent plans?". A lot of places will write off your medical bills if you're completely unable to pay them. It's worth a try, anyway.

Credit cards can also sometimes be negotiated down. YMMV though.

I'm in more or less a similar sitch as you know, but those are the best ideas I have.

Mid-Priced Carp
Aug 10, 2008
$155 seems high for phones. Are you on a plan with Verizon/ATT/Sprint? If so, you could look into switching to one of the cheaper/prepaid plans (straight talk, etc). Be careful if breaking your contract will result in fees, though. If you need to buy a slow cooker, check for them at goodwill/salvation army/thrift stores. Lots of times, you can find brand new ones in the box that work fine for much cheaper than elsewhere. What is your degree in? What job skills do you have? Even if it isn't your field, if you have some basic IT skills, you might try applying with geek squad or other computer janitor places. Also check out the Legitimate Online Moneymaking thread here in BFC, which might give you some ideas of things you can do until you can get a job in your field. Erotic romance writing, I've heard, can be particularly lucrative. Also stop buying steam games, either play what you have or get free ones/demos.

ETA: Have you been applying for things on USAJobs? As a disabled vet, you'll get additional preference points that can help jump-start you into a career. Also, check to see if there are Military/Veteran-only job fairs in your area. Being able to present yourself to hiring managers helps a lot in getting past the phone-screen stage. Also, does your former college have a career services department? If so, connect with them and see if they have resources that can help you. Most schools provide career services to graduates for a year or so after they graduate.

Mid-Priced Carp fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Sep 19, 2016

Devian666
Aug 20, 2008

Take some advice Chris.

Fun Shoe
A list of the debts, interest rates and the monthly payments you are making needs to be provided. Your incomplete budget doesn't seem to have any debt payments. A budget is about real cash flow.

Veskit
Mar 2, 2005

I love capitalism!! DM me for the best investing advice!
What was the degree?

Saxon
Jan 21, 2006
NEEDS MORE CRIT
Just curious, why are you including "Roommates disability" in income. What sort of contractor expenses does your girlfriend have? How did a circumstance arise where a roommate was able to borrow $8k? (with respect to this, I would just write this off -- it'll probably be more of a headache to recover than it's worth. Speaking from personal experience here.)

As previous posters have stated, it would be helpful to know what your degree is in. Additionally, it would also be helpful to have a better idea of what your work/school timeline looks like (you say you've been doing the student poverty life since 2007, however, you have student loan debt linked back to 2005.) Did you go to school, enlist, and then return to finish your degree post-military?

Moneyball
Jul 11, 2005

It's a problem you think we need to explain ourselves.

Veskit posted:

What was the degree?

This would be helpful to know.

Loel posted:


In an magic future world I'd want grad school


Please don't. Unless you have a specific goal in mind.

What do you want to do for work? A college degree and veteran status makes you a shoo-in (shoe-in?) for law enforcement. Though disability might be a problem there. Maybe some sort of less physically demanding position?

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BexGu
Jan 9, 2004

This fucking day....
1. Tell us your degree

2. Get your rear end on usajobs.gov and start looking for federal jobs. By being a disabled veteran you already have a leg up on any one else applying for a similar position.

https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/veterans/

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