In this thread we bitch about being broke

[madmax]

Originally posted by Dionysus
Bah

I need a J-O-B!

The reason why I'm not working is because this is the last summer I have off before I graduate and go out into the real world. I'm really enjoying doing nothing, but that comes at a price. It sucks not being able to go on road trips and eat at nicer restaurants like I used to. I guess it is time to get off my lazy ass...

1. Register as a Republican.
2. Get off your lazy ass and get a job.
3. Stop "investing" in lottery tickets and put your money in the bank.
4. Take care of your kids.

[AlethiaSi]

Originally posted by madmax
1. Register as a Republican.
2. Get off your lazy ass and get a job.
3. Stop "investing" in lottery tickets and put your money in the bank.
4. Take care of your kids.

what do the other things besides #2 have to do with what she's talking about? suddenly registering republican will make people rich? thats news to me

hmm....

[Dionysus]

Originally posted by AlethiaSi
what do the other things besides #2 have to do with what she's talking about? suddenly registering republican will make people rich? thats news to me

hmm....

About the kids part....I guess he saw my article, "Virgin lady gives birth to 7 children" on newsoftheweird.com.

[winneythepooh7]

So going along with this rant what do other GC'ers do to "TRY" to save moola?

When I HAD a job, I would put half of my check in my savings and half in my checking to pay for car insurance and my cell phone. FYI, I didn't have utilities and rent, etc. to pay for so I could logically split my check in half.

My other suggestion that might be, when you pay for your utilities, rent/mortgage, food, insurance, and gas:

1. The rest of the money you have left over put half of the leftover $$$ in savings and the rest in checking.
2. Along with #1, the money relatives give you for gifts, put it in savings. DON'T spend it, especially, if you're fairly young and haven't really set up anything permanent. I consider myself fairly young (I'm 23).
3. Have goals for your money. Make saving kind of a game. Start setting goals for how much money you want saved by a certain date and make it happen. Once you reach a saving goal, set another date to have a certain amount saved.

Right now, my goal is to save enough money so that when I get out of all my schooling, I have enough $$ money in my accounts to have a down payment on a condo and still at least $5,000 leftover. I realize I probably need to save $15,000 to $20,000 all together.

If someone is in finance, maybe someone can post how much down payments usually are for someone buying a condo in their late 20s (that's when I'd be buying one) in Greenville, SC. My credit is decent. I always pay my credit card statement and cell phone in full and on time (usually way early), my credit states I bought a new car in full for a little over $15,000 (the check was written on my dad's account though), and my car insurance installments are always paid on time. That may not be a WHOLE lot of credit lines but for what I do have it's good. At least I think so.

[AGDee]

I'm not in finance but I've bought a couple of houses in my day and here is my recommendation:

Put down at LEAST 10% and preferably 20%. If you put down 20% you will get the best mortgage rates and avoid paying PMI (mortgage insurance that gets you NOTHING, except you toss that money out the window every month). So, figure out how much condos are in your area and go from there.

As for being broke. Summer day care for the kids= $500 a month, Broken A/C and furnace= $400, brakes and tires for the car= $250 (at least)... Oh yeah, and new school clothes for the kids will be a few hundred too. Tack on a $1900 a month mortgage, food, gas, utilities, etc... you can have a great job with good benefits and STILL be broke! Trust me!

Dee

[cash78mere]

i have a good job but i'm trying to save a lot of money to eventually put a down payment on house. so essentially i'm broke because i try not to spend money. and where i live, the average price of a crappy house is $500,000 and a nice one is at least $700,000 so i have a lot to save!

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by kappaloo
let's just say


my bank balance - my credit card debt < 0

I knew it was going to be like that for awhile after my trip, but it sucks.

Me too. I'm working TWO jobby jobs but summer school tuition has taken up all my money and most of my credit card room and I'm only paying for one class, my parents are paying for the other 80% of my tuition. Poor mom and dad.

[damasa]

Originally posted by AGDee


Put down at LEAST 10% and preferably 20%. If you put down 20% you will get the best mortgage rates and avoid paying PMI (mortgage insurance that gets you NOTHING, except you toss that money out the window every month). So, figure out how much condos are in your area and go from there.

I just wanted to chime in here for a second. Although this is very very good advice it is also a dream for many people. It is very hard to come up with 10%-20% down on a house. Of course if a person/couple saves for a few years this is a possibility but working with loans for as long as I have I've noticed a trend in which people are buying houses at younger ages.

Not to mention, there are other ways to secure certain equities in the house without actually scrapping up the usual 10% down. There are many options available to first time home buyers. You have certain government grants, FHA Gold, use of certain 401K plans, stocks, bonds and others that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Put it this way, even w/o your 10-20%, if you can buy, do it. Having some money go away to MI each month is a much smaller loss than losing all of your rent money to your landlord's equity. Don't pay the mortgage loan on a property you don't even own!

ETA
You (general you) should try to put a small portion of your paycheck into savings each week. You gotta remember to pay yourself before you pay others! You worked for your money, Cingular, landlord, etc, didn't. Try to stash a little here and there. It helps if you have a bank with some time of savings plan that penalizes you each time you make an unschedule withdraw from the account. Such as a savings account where you can only withdraw twice a year from and anytime after that you are charged a set fee. Or make it an account that requires two or more signatures for a withdrawal. Make the other signature a person(you trust such as mom or dad but someone you don't see all that often.

[CASIGKAP]

I'm overdrawn by a little over $200 dollars in the bank b/c while I was on vacation in Hawaii, there was a mix-up with my tuition payment for school so when I returned, I had a mountain of bounced checks and I was overdrawn. Those were my checks for rent assessment, car insurance, cell phone bill, Target card, and cable/internet. My cable is now disconnected but my internet is up and running and I have a lot of late charges pending. Plus, the bank charges $22 for every overdraft charge so now my savings is overdrawn by $1.27. Unbelievable.

I've managed to correct the error with my tuition payment so I'm getting my money refunded but it will take 7-10 business days. Then I have to show the bank the mistake my school made so they can cancel all those overdraft charges. Finally, I'll try to work it out with all the companies I bounced checks to but I'll probably still have to pay the late fees.

I went to Hawaii to have fun but you know everything comes at a price. FYI: I did not have to pay for anything in Hawaii. My boyfriend paid. I just bought souvenirs for my family & my budget was $200. This really did come to bite me back though.

[MooseGirl]

I just love how the university administration has decided that Grad students should not work more than 10 hr/wk...

ok, so 10h/wk= $85 (cheap on-campus job)
rent=$380/mo

then add on phone and cable (i wouldn't have it but for my roommate) plus food...oh and don't forget the $300/mo credit card payments.....

I'll, let you do the calculation.

Fortunately, I've been approved for more student loans next semester (which i didn't get this semester). Loans suck, but at least they momentarily take the money stress away.

Savings? ha! right now, my only saving tool are my scissors - I chopped up my credit cards so I couldn't use them!

[dzsaigirl]

I do not get paid at my job until Sept. 5th 'cause I teach. Yeah...and I just bought 4 tops and 3 pairs of dress pants this weekend...and last weekend I bought some tops and a skirt plus some pants and some jeans that were purely for casual wear...not possible to wear at work. Plus, I am not done shopping for clothes and I have yet to buy any shoes. The major plus: I don't have to pay rent, so that's a ton of freed up caiche.

And in other bad financial news: There is a brand new DSW minutes away from my house that opens soon. That is sure to cost me some money!

[sageofages]

hmmm.....Grown up expenses..

In the month of may the unanticipated expenses included...

believed to be previously paid-but discovered UNpaid property taxes, decided on in the last minute wedding (as cheaply as possible), MAJOR car repairs...


Planned for expenses graduation party, paying for family vacation to DC...

Total $9000+ in a single month

right now if it cost to use the toilet, I would have to throw up.

[Rudey]

Some of you have awful money management skills me thinks. I read this thread and it was funny to see what people consider necessary to function.

-Rudey

I just quit my second job last night. You'll see me posting on this thread next week.