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Hi there, you may know me from my embarrassing introduction in the Newbie Person Finance thread. To summarize: I'm 24, enrolled in high school level studies at the local college, on permanent disability in British Columbia and live with my mother. In the past I've lacked the fortitude to even think about my money, spending when I had some and still spending when I didn't. I'm making this thread to act as a commitment device so I can get out of debt this quarter and start saving and spending with intention. Income: The Government of BC pays me $1,133 on the last Wednesday of every month. I also receive $109.19 quarterly on the fifth of January, April, July and October as part of the federal government's GST program. Edit: I almost forgot, I got a contract with the college to be a peer support for grade 11 math. It's not going to be consistent, but I have a contract for 25 hours over the course of the semester at $10.85. Expenses: $610 goes to my mom for rent, utilities and groceries. My only other Immediate Obligations are a $56 phone bill and a $2.50 service fee from my bank. My transportation is covered by the government, they deduct $52 per month for a bus pass. A little bit of arithmetic yields: $1,133 - $668.5 = $464.50 in discretionary spending. Liabilities: I currently have about a $900 balance on a $1000 limit with 20% APR (those of you from the megathread may remember the balance being higher, I got over $100 in charges refunded and my $100 cashback is still pending). It's a CUETS Choice Rewards MasterCard. My TransUnion score is 743. I have no financial assets. I started using YNAB last week after seeing it mentioned in passing in zaurg's thread and it seems like it might really help. I managed to spend most of January's cheque around Christmas, so I'm starting my budget next month and just tracking spending this month. Here's my YNAB spending report from 2018/01/03- this morning(2018/01/11):  As you can see, I'm currently using school supplies as a way to get some retail therapy, which needs to quit. From the megathread, my budget for February: code:My goal this year is to only spend money from a given month's cheque that month. I'm considering starting an ABA in September and it looks like I'll qualify for a free ride through a Canada Study Grant. Longer term I'd like to travel to a Magic GP in calendar 2019 and either get a laptop for school or a new gaming rig. Even longer term I want to be in a position to start and finish my undergrad with no debts. Papa Was A Video Toaster fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Jan 12, 2018 |
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Jan 12, 2018 02:32
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I went to my first Toastmasters tonight. I might have to be a recurring guest for a while before I can put dues in, but I think it will be fun and good. Does anyone have anything bad to say about Toastmasters?
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Jan 12, 2018 09:00
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I relapsed. I bought more school poo poo I didn't need on my credit card and then I was going to be late for Magic, so I payed for a cab on it too.
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Jan 13, 2018 19:50
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Remove your credit card from Amazon or Pay-Pal or whatever you're using to buy poo poo you don't need, and shred your credit card. How much cash do you have on hand today? When is your next credit card payment due? Why are you putting off starting your budget until next month? What the heck are you buying related to school supplies? I think I spent under $200 on my whole 4yr college program (over 6yrs - part time while working FT for all but a year of it). That excluded books of course, because those were expensive but I usually *almost* broke even by buying used and selling them after term.... Sometimes you can buy the previous edition, our professors would tell us if there were changes as many versions are 98% identical but the publishers need to make money so they make minor updates... Regarding your overall monthly income/expense situation, $464 a month sounds FINE for discretionary spending. I give myself a lot less than that because I want to hit my financial goals and my budgeting reflects that. Granted, I assume you have a lot more free time than I do because you're in school and don't work - I found I spent the most when I was in school and unemployed which was ironic because I have a lot more free cash flow these days, but my cash follows my budget. I think you need to consider your expenses with a little more...realism? If you've spent $36 on pot in the first 10 days of the month and you only budget $20 for February, do you think that's possible? From experience, I don't think that's realistic. I'm not saying don't smoke pot but make sure to look at your last few months of spending and make your budget reflect that.
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Jan 13, 2018 23:55
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My credit card is due on the 15th every month and I already made a (tiny) payment on it. Working balance is back to about $900. My phone is due on the 26th and I get paid on the 24th this month. Right now I have $5.55 in chequing, $1.50 in savings and $3 in cash. I put off my budget because I started the year with no money and forgot I was getting GST. I realized I had my GST while I was shopping for a day planner, so I got a really nice one ($60) instead of stopping to think about what I wanted to spend it on. OTOH it was the only one in the store that had the features I wanted (letter size, zipper enclosed). Besides that I bought a mess of erasable pens, a lock, some exercise books and binder organization stuff. When I relapsed I bought a multipen+pencil for when I shouldn't use erasable pen and a reusable notebook from Amazon. When I write it down, realizing that I spend over 40% of my money on poo poo I do not need makes me feel like a candles tweet. I think I'm like most people in that I spend very emotionally and socially. I've found it hard to beg off going out with people since I haven't had many social outlets besides Magic which also costs money. Hopefully I make school friends who will be broke like me. My weed situation isn't directly comparable to the past since both the demand and supply side have shifted. I can get hash for free from my mom for the next little while and I'm not at home as much to smoke. That $36 was a one time experiment with edibles, I know now that they're too weak for me. Ideally I roll February's $20 into March and then I can get some concentrate for my vape.
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Jan 14, 2018 07:43
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I split most transactions and record the items in Quicken so I can see what dumb poo poo I bought later on. You may consider doing the same, especially if your reaction is "drat that's a lot of candles". I'd say shred or literally freeze your credit card after you get your monthly deposit this month. And definitely remove it from Amazon.
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Jan 15, 2018 00:13
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I leave myself memos of what I bought (e.g. 2 slices pizza, 500 ml soda: $10), but you're saying I should record that as 2 slices: $7, 500 ml soda: $2, tip: $1? I guess that makes sense.
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Jan 15, 2018 03:16
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My mom decided that she wanted to pay for some school supplies so that $70 late night Amazon shopping trip is paid for.
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Jan 15, 2018 06:10
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TVsVeryOwn posted:I leave myself memos of what I bought (e.g. 2 slices pizza, 500 ml soda: $10), but you're saying I should record that as 2 slices: $7, 500 ml soda: $2, tip: $1? I guess that makes sense.
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Jan 16, 2018 02:38
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TVsVeryOwn posted:When I write it down, realizing that I spend over 40% of my money on poo poo I do not need makes me feel like a candles tweet. I think I'm like most people in that I spend very emotionally and socially. I've found it hard to beg off going out with people since I haven't had many social outlets besides Magic which also costs money. Hopefully I make school friends who will be broke like me. You can also suggest/arrange cheaper outings with whatever circle of friends/acquaintances you have now. Depending on where you live, there might be free stuff worth checking out. If not, you should still be able to find stuff to do that's more in your price range. TVsVeryOwn posted:My mom decided that she wanted to pay for some school supplies so that $70 late night Amazon shopping trip is paid for. Delete your payment info from Amazon. Hell, even delete your address from Amazon. Cut up your credit card, or at least freeze it in a block of ice so you have to wait a while before using it. Try a website blocker to prevent you from going there(or at least add more hassle to getting there). Make it as difficult as possible to impulse spend. Your eventual goal is to develop the self-control to be able to sit on a purchase for a day or five so you can consider if you really need it(and you'd be surprised how often stuff falls off your radar completely once you sit on it a dew days), but this should minimize the damage in the meantime.
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Jan 18, 2018 18:57
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You're right, I can't trust myself. I impulse bought a coffee on Tuesday. My Magic store doesn't want money so they don't offer food and beverage service, so I'm safe there. Right now my biggest problem is I can't stop thinking about what I could spend money on if I wasn't on this drat budget. I really want a chore coat so I can stop wearing ill-fitting button downs just because they have a chest pocket for my pens. So I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday trying to pick out the perfect one for when I do have the money. I put on my calendar to revisit it in two weeks and hopefully I can take it off my mind until then. I still won't be able to buy it then, but I can look forward to doing more research. I will do the things you say. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.    Edit: Going to a student union pub trivia tonight. Card is in the freezer. The prize is bar credit, so I'm not drinking anything unless we win. Even then, not a super huge alcohol fan. I much prefer the dope. Papa Was A Video Toaster fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Jan 19, 2018 |
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Jan 19, 2018 03:14
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Pro-tip: if you're freezing your credit card in a pasta sauce jar, don't fill it all the way. It exploded a little and now there's bits of glass frozen to the inside of the freezer. My phone crapped out yesterday. I tried my best to get them to give me a new phone without raising my bill, but I'm on a super old loyalty plan. New plan has Canada-wide long distance, but only 500 MB data from a gig. One time charge for new phone: $112 New monthly bill (after taxes): $72.80 Edit: Total cost: $419.20 = $112 + $307.20 over 24 months February Budget Revised posted:Income: $1,133 Edited: Added the tax on the phone and calculated a rough total cost. This assumes no overages, which should be feasible. I only ever get close to my cap if I'm downloading or streaming audio, which I can just as easily not do. Papa Was A Video Toaster fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Jan 21, 2018 |
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Jan 20, 2018 20:24
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TVsVeryOwn posted:Pro-tip: if you're freezing your credit card in a pasta sauce jar, don't fill it all the way. I definitely would have just bought an unlocked 1 or 2 year old model phone and plugged your SIM card into it, that would have cost you less per month and probably less upfront. Especially one with a removable battery that you could replace. And as of last December all phones have to be unlocked when sold, and you have 15 days to return a device as long as you use less than half of your usage limits. Square Peg fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jan 21, 2018 |
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Jan 21, 2018 00:58
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TVsVeryOwn posted:Right now my biggest problem is I can't stop thinking about what I could spend money on if I wasn't on this drat budget. I really want a chore coat so I can stop wearing ill-fitting button downs just because they have a chest pocket for my pens. So I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday trying to pick out the perfect one for when I do have the money. I put on my calendar to revisit it in two weeks and hopefully I can take it off my mind until then. I still won't be able to buy it then, but I can look forward to doing more research. Identifying the commonalities of your cravings can help you figure out ways to avoid falling into them. If you don't overeat, why? What's different about that versus buying things? Are there strategies you use to avoid smoking too much that you can use to avoid buying too much? A lot of this is mental work, and if you can analyze your mental patterns, you can improve on them. Also don't freeze glass containers.
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Jan 21, 2018 01:40
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So wait, how long is the increased monthly phone charge for? Because paying $112 + an extra $16/month doesn't sound like a great idea for someone on such a tight income. Going with buying a used phone off Craigslist or swappa and getting a cheaper phone plan if anything sounds feasible/better? Although I'm not very familiar with Canadian carriers, do they have MVNOs like Cricket/Boost/etc in the states?
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Jan 21, 2018 11:10
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Small town means there's not a consistent secondary market for Android phones. I might be able to find an iPhone if I wanted an iPhone, people try to get rid of those all the time. The MVNO's don't operate much outside the major cities. There's Koodo, but they're just a flanker brand of Telus, who are awful. The only time I've considered switching from Bell was to improve my negotiating position. I could have taken a free phone from my provider, but my bill still would have had to go up. I also didn't want to take a big downgrade because I hate admitting I'm poor. The phone that poo poo the bed was a Nexus 6 and I'm replacing it with a Pixel XL. Thank you for making me more closely evaluate this decision, even if it is ex post facto. I found a competitive offer from another provider. Rogers is offering the same phone with no money down and a $60 ($67.20) a month bill. I will talk to Bell about returning the phone and cancelling my contract and hopefully that will scare them into giving me something even better.
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Jan 21, 2018 12:48
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Bell is going to laugh at you because you're going to discover you're locked into your contract for probably 2 years. (But hopefully maybe just 1 year?)
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Jan 21, 2018 16:31
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Eric the Mauve posted:Bell is going to laugh at you because you're going to discover you're locked into your contract for probably 2 years. (But hopefully maybe just 1 year?) They were very understanding.  But they made no further attempts to retain my custom, so gently caress them. All I have to do is refuse delivery and, once it's back in their possession, they'll refund me the $112 for the phone and let me cancel the contract.New phone is ordered with Rogers. I just have to make it through a week of school with no phone. It'll be easy...
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Jan 21, 2018 20:10
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Irony, an iPhone wouldn't randomly poo poo the bed like a crappy Droid does  I would look into a phone you can pick up lightly used and pay cash for. Then find the cheapest no contract prepaid carrier. I know stuff is different up there so I can't suggest what carrier to go with, but having a big phone bill is very dumb.
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Jan 21, 2018 21:19
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SiGmA_X posted:Irony, an iPhone wouldn't randomly poo poo the bed like a crappy Droid does Exactly, Apple would be proactive and slow it down so much that it couldn't possibly have any performance related issues
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Jan 21, 2018 21:23
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January Final Income v Expense Statement:  Notes: I ate a $35 over limit fee because I bought a stupid case for my stupid phone. In a more meta sense it was because a credit card transaction didn't import into YNAB, so I have turned off imports for my credit card. I already manual import my chequing. The cheque for the phone I bought and returned less my January bill ($56) is in the mail. Not sure how that grant money is going to affect my disability cheque, but I kind of already spent half of it.  I got my first tutoring client, but I'm not sure when I'll have enough hours to submit my first time sheet. I'm going to need to put some of my budget to going to coffee places to work early in the morning because I can't focus at home and the school is locked that early. I don't even really like coffee.
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Feb 2, 2018 02:41
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Droo posted:Exactly, Apple would be proactive and slow it down so much that it couldn't possibly have any performance related issues TVsVeryOwn posted:January Final Income v Expense Statement: How did you like the decision to manual import transactions? I'm sure you realize it, but this won't matter once you pay down/off your CC. I am very familiar with the lag from credit cards, but it doesn't impact me at all besides when I buy something in Feb and it is recorded in Mar so I have to adjust the date back. You should like coffee, but you can drink tea or other stuff too.
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Mar 4, 2018 20:02
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I started the month out breaking my budget to pick up some productivity apps of dubious usefulness (not still using them). I then did a worse thing and hoped this thread would go quietly into the good night. No such luck. I spent about $175 on a year of Photoshop CS. After that I felt real bad about myself and stopped tracking and made some dumb small purchases. I reconciled today.  Chequing: $231.34 Credit card: -$584.17 I just made a credit card payment of my net for February ($318.18) I have gotten basically nowhere with reducing my debt. I froze the card, but I make a lot of impulse purchases online and I can't make myself forget my card info. I might owe Bell $1000, which no one mentioned in the multiple conversations we had about cancelling the contract. I am and idiot. In good news: I got accepted to the university transfer program. Not enough of the business courses were going to transfer over to be worth my time, so I switched where I was applying. I start a condensed English 100 in May.
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Mar 5, 2018 01:19
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TVsVeryOwn posted:I started the month out breaking my budget to pick up some productivity apps of dubious usefulness (not still using them). I then did a worse thing and hoped this thread would go quietly into the good night. No such luck. back on the horse, TVVO. Any way you can refund or wring some value out of those apps? or cancel photoshop? might be worth calling adobe or something, especially because $200 is such a huge part of your budget and goals. Regardless, though, everybody slips in their budget sometimes. hang in there and make march good
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Mar 5, 2018 01:56
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TVsVeryOwn posted:I started the month out breaking my budget to pick up some productivity apps of dubious usefulness (not still using them). I then did a worse thing and hoped this thread would go quietly into the good night. No such luck. Call your bank and tell them you lost your card and need a new one. That'll make you forget the numbers right quick! Good work on the transfer program, congrats! That's great for the long term for sure. The Bell thing - You should at least somewhat fight them on it. If it was not mentioned and not in any paperwork.... They should reverse it.
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Mar 5, 2018 04:36
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Hey man, I'm proud of the progress you've made toward diminishing your CC debt, and toward getting your degree. I think SiGmA has some good insights into how to get away from reflex spending onto your credit card. Phone companies are pretty awful to deal with, and they can be punishing if you need to make a decision fast. I hope it works out. Otherwise keep posting in here to keep yourself accountable. We are rooting for you.
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Mar 8, 2018 15:29
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It’s hard to figure out the circumstance from your description, but right the phone company. Even in the hell of telecom, Canadian telecom companies are infamous for being even worse, so I wouldn’t feel that bad if they found a way to try and screw you over. Doesn’t mean you can’t fight it.
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Mar 12, 2018 13:35
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I'm off the hook for the $1000! I was really nervous about that and didn't want to do it because I thought I understood what had happened, but I was wrong. It was just that I ported my number before they got the phone back and then they didn't know where to point the credit for the returned phone to. It should be worked out by the end of the week.
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Mar 12, 2018 23:41
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nice work man
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Mar 13, 2018 00:17
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Yay that's amazing!
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Mar 13, 2018 02:38
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TVsVeryOwn posted:I'm off the hook for the $1000! I was really nervous about that and didn't want to do it because I thought I understood what had happened, but I was wrong. my man.
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Mar 13, 2018 02:56
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Congratulations! Now keep up the good work!
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Mar 13, 2018 03:59
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Hey, how are things going for you? Nice job on the progress so far. Keep at it, even when it feels dumb and exhausting. Every improvement you make and stick with is worth its weight in gold. Stuff really sucks when you got mental garbage and a small income to work with, but you are taking steps to do for yourself what you can. Keep it up.
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Mar 23, 2018 17:57
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Surprise, I continue to make poor financial decisions! Getting ahead of the bad news this time. I bought a sport coat kind of on impulse because I was feeling bad that day. Unfortunately I have to wait for the sleeves to get altered, so I get all the guilt now and the gratification later. $159.61 This alone didn't blow the biggest hole in my April budget. There's a quarterly GST payment and it's gone up to $135 (I know chickens before they're hatched, but if I can't count on the welfare state who can count on?). The real dumb poo poo would come a couple days later when I spent ~$130 ($100 USD, it hasn't posted to my CC yet, so I don't know the exact exchange rate) on loving Chaturbate tokens. There was also a dentist appointment that I forgot to budget for ($68.21) and they said I'm looking at a crown eventually. Starting to save $25 bucks a month for that now, that my mom says she'll match, on top of I guess like $12/month for my biannual cleanings. Man, this adult thing sucks.
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Mar 28, 2018 17:09
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TVsVeryOwn posted:The real dumb poo poo would come a couple days later when I spent ~$130 ($100 USD, it hasn't posted to my CC yet, so I don't know the exact exchange rate) on loving Chaturbate tokens. 
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Mar 28, 2018 17:16
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What the hell are Chaturbate tokens?
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Mar 28, 2018 17:17
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DJCobol posted:What the hell are Chaturbate tokens? Camwhores. Edit: I should have done a zaugr and bought some useless tokens, I'm sorry to disappoint.
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Mar 28, 2018 17:18
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TVsVeryOwn posted:The real dumb poo poo would come a couple days later when I spent ~$130 ($100 USD, it hasn't posted to my CC yet, so I don't know the exact exchange rate) on loving Chaturbate tokens. You just really need to wrap your head around the fact that you're spending other people's money to jerk off. You know an incredible amount of porn is free, right?
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Mar 28, 2018 17:23
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This thread is making me conservative..... poo poo.
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Mar 28, 2018 17:38
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Can you refund your Spank Bucks, or are they already spent?
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Mar 28, 2018 20:21
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