tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39700006344622453522024-03-13T05:30:56.719-07:00Out Smart Debt20 something | In debt | Trying to get out of it.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-12494213849654548452011-02-28T00:00:00.000-08:002011-02-28T00:00:15.007-08:00Where did all my money go? Oh food I loathe you.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11126622@N05/5478529707/" title="untitled2 by kryptic_dj, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5179/5478529707_7230ce2569.jpg" width="255" height="148" alt="untitled2" /></a><br />
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That image just told you how much I spent in the past two months on food alone. $851 on food. It sucks working in a grocery store and getting a discount. I look in my cabinets at home and they are pretty stocked but I just don't make any food. I spend 13 hours a day doing work related things (bus, walking, 9 hours of work, etc.) and I come home and I'm just exhasted and I end up falling asleep on my couch and then wake up two hours later and then hop into bed and go to sleep until I have to get up for work the next day.<br />
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I have to be strategic about what I make to eat, especially when I take it to work because I have a 2 hour ride to work and I can't have anything spoil. I've found a lot of different things that wouldn't spoil. Rice, canned goods, and the like most likely wouldn't spoil by the time I get to work, but I am just lazy. It needs to stop because it is quite literally eating away at my budget and my money.<br />
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Since I am in such a rot when it comes to food I am going cut my food budget by $50 so I can get back on track. I am 2 months behind on my budget for food, so I am cutting my budget to $150 a month to get back on track. It'll take me 9 months to get back on where I am supposed to be. In March I am going to try to eat my way through my cabinets. I look at them and they are pretty stacked. I think that I could go into April without spending any money on food and, still not completely eat my way through all the food in my cabinets. Cross your fingers boys and girls.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-51087626325121216672011-02-26T06:29:00.000-08:002011-02-26T06:29:36.199-08:00Moment of Zen: NYC apartments are built the right way.I still can't believe the price for an apartment in New York City. A friend of mine I'm visiting is paying $1,200 a month of a studio apartment. It's a little bit bigger than my living room back in Philly. It's about 400 sq. feet, and it used to be the landlord's living room. So she is paying $1,200 a month for a living room. As I sit here and look around the room I realize that, this is all you need. Minimalism at it's finest.<br />
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It doesn't have a kitchen, but she has a table with an electric stove top burner, a mini fridge, a shelf to store food, and a mircowave. No more washing 4 or 5 pots because there is only one burner, so you really can't cook a full on buffet. Just cut up a bunch of stuff and throw it all into one pan and you got yourself a meal. As an avid cook I would LOVE to have a huge kitchen with all the assorted gadgets, and pots and pans but, really, this is all you need. A burner, a pot, and a place to store food. Everything else about it is just amazingly minimal too.<br />
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With this studio she can wake up and already be in her "office" on her computer. It's all here, everything you could actually need in an apartment. A bed, a table, closet, dresser and all the kitchen stuff I already mentioned. Everything is placed in the right way where the place doesn't look too cramped but every necessity is here. <br />
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If she didn't have a short term lease on the place I'd help her make this place seem even bigger. The ceiling are quite high so you could even make the room a double decker (think bunk beds but other things at the bottom like a table with a computer) and basically do everything in half the space it is in now. It would be an amazing project, and a lot of people in NYC should be doing it. And that ladies and gentlemen is my moment of zen I've found in the chaos of New York City.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-21336372376654218342010-11-17T14:47:00.000-08:002010-11-17T14:47:52.384-08:00Maybe it's time to minimizeAfter working at a movie store of 2 years I somehow seemed to amassed very close to 400 movies. That is a lot of movies. I never seemed to care until I wasn't at that job anymore and realized that I really didn't need all of these movies. Up until recently I've been in love with my movie collection. Now I'm just annoyed by them. I have a rack that holds about 180 movies then plus two HUGE piles of movies that seriously never get watched. They're taking up much needed room from my apartment that can be used for something else. The goal now? To have just that rack of movies and nothing else. It's condescending 101, and it's hard. I want to have the movies that I love to death still in my collection and the rest that I just kind of bought because I thought the movie was ok and it was cheap. I've spent a lot of money on these movies (probably close to $2,000 if not more), and I know once I trade them in I won't get anywhere close to that but I am ok with that now. I just want the space. Why all of sudden the big change? Well one of my roommates has Netflix, so whenever I want to watch a movie I turn on the Xbox and there is a couple hundred movies at my fingertips and that is all I really need. I am keeping just the movies that I absoultey love and that is it. I haven't bought a movie in 6 months and I don't plan on buying another one for a very long time. It saves me a lot of money. So much so is that movies were the #1 thing I bought last year minus rent and food. That is crazy to think now but then it didn't matter that I was dropping money like a sailor curses. I've finally got my ish together and my budget is working rather well where this month ONE paycheck paid ALL of my expenses for the month. I have 2 more checks coming in this month which is crazy to think that I have 2 whole paychecks to myself if I wanted but I'm hopefully killing two of my loans by the end of the year so everything extra is going straight to them. It feels good man, real good.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-76435916597699176772010-11-03T22:42:00.000-07:002010-11-03T22:42:52.186-07:00Are you waiting too long to buy a house?I had a radical thought the other day. Are people waiting too long to buy a house with increasing housing prices and (theoretical) lower income? I say theoretical because I'm talking about inflation. Lets take my old house for instance. <br />
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The facts:<br />
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Purchased for - $80,000 (in 1998)<br />
Sold for - $170,000 (in 2010)<br />
Increase In Value - 212.5%<br />
Increase In Value(Yearly) - 17.7%<br />
Increase In Value(Monthly) - 1.475%<br />
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So say you have the 10% ($8,000) for the down payment and you decided you want to save up some more. Say $200 a month every month. But the house increases in value 1.475% every month so you're theoretically losing 1.475% a month while saving more up. So that $200 the first month becomes $199.05 the second month and $198.10 the third and so on. So you saved up $2400 by the end of the year but actually you saved $2000. You just lost 2 months worth of work because you waited. Now inflation comes into play. Say you want to save up for 2 years. That is $4000($4800 actual) but now with inflation of your income is anywhere from 3-5% less then it was last year. so say your boss was nice and gave you a 1% (my one job called this the "I can't live anymore raise") increase in your pay for the next year but inflation is 3%. Meaning you lost 2% of your $2000 which is $1960. So now you think you saved up $4800 but in reality you only saved up $3960. A whole $860 lost because you waited! That could of bought you a nice couch and coffee table in your new home, but no you waited.<br />
I'm not saying saving more up is a bad thing. Just be aware about all of this when you're working your ass off attempting to buy a house. Now I leave you with some home buying tips I like.<br />
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<ul><li>Have anywhere from 10%-20% of the total value of the house as a down payment.</li>
<li>Wait for higher interests rates. I'd rather pay $140,000 for a house with 16.6% interest then $180,000 for a house with 8.2% interest so I could refinance and still have a lower price AND interest rate.</li>
<li>Don't buy too much house. If you are single, don't buy a 4 bedroom house. Seriously, how many offices do you need?</li>
<li>Stay where you live for at least 5 years. Because by then your house probably will have appreciated enough where you would make a profit from selling it as apposed to taking a hit. </li>
</ul>kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-79963062745802078182010-10-31T10:25:00.000-07:002010-10-31T10:25:44.357-07:00Why are you declaring bankruptcy? Seriously?A couple months ago I had the opportunity to go with someone to a bankruptcy hearing. They asked me to go for some moral support since it really isn't the greatest thing in the world to basically have your life stamped as a complete mess and you need the government to bail you out. They let everyone sit in on some of the cases just to see how the process works. I was interested in how the process went, so I sat down and just listened to the stories. Some were just mind boggling dumb. <br />
4 out of the 15 that I heard I wanted to stand up and say, "Don't let them declare bankruptcy. They are just lazy!" When I heard that money was the number 1 reason marriages fail I didn't believe it, but if these hearing were any indication, it seems like it's the only reason. I heard six different cases were the loss of money turned into a loss of marriage. <br />
One guy in particular was $20,000 in debt from a failed business. He lived with his parents, and was currently unemployed. $20,000!? In the economy that we're in he could probably ask to differ on his loans, get a job then pay off his debt before 7 years. The fact is he just didn't want to do. Declaring bankruptcy is serious business. You pretty much get flagged from everything except those payday loans and 99.25% APR credit cards. It would be a climb but it's possible to pay it off before the 7 years are up and you wouldn't have bankruptcy looming over your head. If this guy has $20,000 in debt and say he pays $10,000 in interest over 7 years that would equate to $360 a month he would have to pay to be out of debt in 7 years. That could be done even with the messily income that I earn. The fact that he didn't want to sit down and figure it out and just took the bankruptcy as the easy way out infuriates me.<br />
I wish that bankruptcy wasn't so cut and dry and that people that just want an easy way out shouldn't be able to do so. If you amassed a huge debt and there is no way that you could pay it off then I can see bankruptcy is the way to go. But some people just need to sit down and figure it out before they do something that is as self destructive as bankruptcy.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-24142776211176584572010-10-27T08:32:00.000-07:002010-10-27T08:32:11.070-07:00Love DropJ. Money over at <a href="http://budgetsaresexy.com">Budgets Are Sexy</a> started a company that gives back to people in need. With donations they help people with medical bills, student loans, and the like help pay them off. It only costs $1 a month at the minimum to help send money to those in need. $1 a month isn't anything but it could help change a life to someone in need. The first real love drop starts on January 1st. So if you can spare $1 a month (it gets billed yearly so $12 gets charged at once) I say check it out and help some people. As the slogan for Love Drop, "Spend a dollar, change a life". Here is the link to <a href="http://lovedrop.us">Love Drop</a> if you're interested in checking it out. I am still getting my finances together and I'll probably be joining at the beginning of the new year. Hope to see some people joining!kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-21767242116491507832010-10-26T21:04:00.000-07:002010-10-26T21:04:13.210-07:00Updating PostsSorry for no updates on Friday and Monday. Working 12 hour shifts killed my time to write. Will be writing a new post for Wednesday I swear.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-89434297730265619042010-10-20T02:00:00.000-07:002010-10-20T02:00:07.882-07:00Cleaned Your Room and Save Money<img src = "http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4270270214_6149f07b4e.jpg"><br />
<center>Picture by <a href = "http://www.flickr.com/photos/warzauwynn/">WarzauWynn</a></center><br />
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             “What the hell did he just say? Did he really just say you'll save money from cleaning your place?”Yes, yes I did. If you have roommates like I do, there isn't a better feeling then coming home to a well kept place that seems to get destroyed again just as quickly as its been cleaned. It makes me feel so much better to see my apartment cleaned and organized then it to look like it had been inhabited by bums.<br />
             I never really got the whole concept of cleaning things and it'll make you feel better until my friend make brought it up to me. I had a really messy car, like I think about it now and I ask myself, “how did I really let it get to that point?”. My car was like a second home, full of old water bottles, clothes, you name it it was probably in there.<br />
<blockquote>“Dude, clean your car. It's a total and complete mess. At least make it look like you're trying to clean it.”<br />
“Eh, it's not that big of a deal. It's just a car.”<br />
“Just clean it once. It'll make you feel better about yourself, and if it doesn't don't clean it anymore.”</blockquote>             So I took 5 magic erasers and some soap and water to the car one nice day I was off and throughly cleaned it, inside and out. I was amazed, and so were my friends. They never thought my car could look so white and shiny. They were right, and so was my friend that told me to do it. I wanted to drive the car all around town just to show it off. And I found $15 in the process just lying in my car, like a lost soul just waiting to be found. <br />
             So then I cleaned my apartment, found another $20 just lying around. I was getting paid to clean it seemed like. And it made me feel so much better just to have everything organized and I knew where everything was. <br />
             So, just clean it once. It'll make you feel better about yourself, and if it doesn't don't clean it anymore.kryptichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14582222318961493936noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3970000634462245352.post-90094871417474321382010-10-18T08:25:00.000-07:002010-10-18T08:30:29.069-07:00Multi-Stream Income: The Tsunami To The Trickle<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">             You've probably heard someone who deals with stocks say, “You need to diversify your stocks.” Which means that you should have your stock investments in a bunch of different stocks, and different types on businesses. Because if you put your stocks all into one business and the business takes a hit, your money takes a huge hit. What most stock investors do is diversify the stock between a bunch of different business across a mydriad of different types on sectors(ie. Technology, construction, web sites). It lessens the effect on your money. If one business or sector takes a hit, your stocks won't suddenly plummet into the abyss. Just take a look at any stock portfolio and you will see that it has a ton of different types of stock, bonds, and the like in there. That is essentially what a Multi-Stream Income is. What happens if you have one income and you lose your job? You now went from having an income to having ZERO money coming in. If you have mulitiple incomes coming in and you lose one of them, it doesn't seem like such a big hit. But there is downfalls too, but we'll get to them.</div><div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">             There is always a ton of ways to make extra money. Part time jobs, online work, helping someone move,start a business. A couple years ago I did computer repair as my side job. It was pretty easy job since I am kind of tech-savvy. It netted me about $100 a month, not bad for about 8 hours of work. It wasn't much but it paid for my gas for the month so my main income didn't have the expense in it. If you have a hobby you really enjoy maybe that can become a profitable side job. My roommate's mom loves to knit so she knits quilts and sells them on Ebay. My aunt and mom runs a jewlery store at a flea market on Sundays. They don't make an a lot of money but since my aunt just retired, $100 a week in extra income for sitting around selling jewlery for a couple hours a week is nice. The thing is, all of them like what they are doing. They all enjoy doing whatever they do so they decided to make a profit from it. </div><div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">             How much profit you make is basically up to you. It never has to be a lot of money but some is always good. I have 2 jobs where most of my income comes from then I do various online work to add some income. The online jobs isn't much(probably $50 a month) but it's extra money and I don't spend too much time on it. So say I lose one of my jobs, I have something else to fall back on. My goal is to have 50% of my income from my regular day jobs and 50% from my side jobs. This way I can pay for all my bills with my side jobs and have another 50% for savings. If I lose my regular jobs I can still pay for all my bills while find a new job! I am not there yet, but hopefully one day I'll be there. There is always a downfall to all of this, T-I-M-E. </div><div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">             Time is a huge factor in all of this. How much time are you willing to put into your side jobs if you're already putting 20 or 40 hours a week into your main job? That is all up to you. Between my main jobs, side jobs, and writing this blog, I am putting a good 12 hours a day into it. It may seem like a lot but honestly it's not to me and basically all the time I am awake I'm making money one way or another. I feel productive so I don't feel the burden of long days of work.</div><div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">             It all depends on how much time and effort you're willing to put into it. Find something you love to do and make it profitable. This way the time of the jobs won't feel as cumbersome and you wont asked yourself, “Why did I take on this stupid job?”. If you have a side job tell about it in the comments!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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