Just looking for some advice

[cainam_nazier]

I little advice from some who really screwed up on the first go.

1. YOu don't need all the luxeries in the first day.
2. Get only the basics first.  Food, transportation, Electricity, and water.
3. Give yourself at least 3 months before adding the perks.  Phone, cable, internet, and so on.
4.  Don' the a sucker.  As is, because your nam ewill be a primary on  an address people will be trying to sell you stuff.  Lots of stuff. Don't give in.
5. if you don't NEED it don't buy it.
6. Budget, Budget, Budget, Budget.  Can't stress that one enough.
7. Also remember to leave YOURSELF some money to play with.  Even if it is just sometimes you need to be able to go out every so often.  If you don't leave yourself say 20 bucks to do so you will go crazy.
8. Stay away from credit.  If you can't pay for it now you don't need it now.
9. Carefull who you pick for a roomie.
10. Friends often don't make good room mates.  It takes a special friendsip to survive living with a person.  Trust me.
11. Make sure your roomate has a job, and keeps it.  If they don't give them the boot. Quickly.  Don't spend months waiting for them to get a job.  If they miss rent even just 1 time with out making arrangements with you they need to go.
12.  You must be firm when dealing wih roommates.  Certain rules are unbreakable, others can be bent.  But if you have more than one roommate then you must also be fair.
13.  Go in as the primary.  That way you have total controll over the apartment/house.  It is easier that way.
14. Shop around for a place.  Yuo will be amazed at the price differences.  Make sure you see what you are getting for your money.
15. If you get a place by yourself don't get a studio.  Trust me.  Some times you just need to go into another room for your own sanity.
16. Learn to bargin shop.  Coupons and such can save you a lot of money.
17.  learn to cook.  Stay away from fast food, it's really expensive when it's you sole intake of food.


That's about all I can think of for now.  Hope that it helps.


David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com

[goku22]

Cool, thanks alot David. I'm glad that I already know some of that stuff, like the cooking part, and only getting the basic utilities at first. I definitely have alot to learn in the roommate department though. This sentence probably spells my doom, but how do you budget? Is that just when you write down how much you make per month and then subtract all of your expenses, to see whether or not you're doing ok? Thanks.  Ben

[cainam_nazier]

Budgeting.  Yes and no.

Its a little more than that.  

1.  One figure out your needs. Food, housing, bills, and so on.
2.  Figure out how much each one costs.
3.  Factor in misc expencese. Going out, habits, entertainment, amd such.
4.  Figure out how much they cost. Do all this for one month.
5.  Multiply by 12.
6.  Divide by 52
7.  Divide by 40.  Should equate to the average hourly wage you need to survive.
8.  Provided the number you may have to make some cuts to figure out a workable wage.
9.  If not cutable figure out an alternate plan.  IE roomates.
10. Then the trick after that is to monitor your spending as not to go over your budgeted amounts.

What will probably be a lengthy example.

Bob wants to move out.  This is a list of what Bob wants.  Car, 1 bedroom apartment, Likes to eat out, Smokes, Internet, Gamer, Loves movies, and music.
Really doesn't sound like a lot does it?

The Cost.                Per Month
Car(not paid for)........$300.00
 Insurance...............$90.00
 Gas.....................$40.00
 Misc Repairs(like oil)..$40.00
1 room apartment.........$525.00
Eating out. 7x a week....$196.00    $7 per meal, 4 weeks.
Food for home............$200.00
Smokes...................$109.50    1 pack a day/ bought by carton
Internet Service..........$19.95
 Phone...................$42.00
1 new game a month........$44.00
Block Buster Movies.......$52.00
Cable w/movie channels....$60.00
1 new cd per week.........$77.95

And that is the short list.

Now take all of this and add it up.

Total per month.........$1796.40
Total for year.........$21556.80
Total per week...........$414.56  Rounded up(always)
Hourly wage needed........$10.37  Rounded up
Don't forget uncle SAM....$13.48

So basically Bob would need to make $13.48 an hour to live the way he wants to.

Now some things can be cut while others may need to be added but you get the idea.  Now if Bob's car was paid for, and he only bought half of the games, and cd's and dropped the internet.  He would only have to make  $10.64 an hour. and the could be cut even more.  Drop Blockbuster and the cable.   Then he only needs $9.81.  So now he drops eating out but eats at home more so now it's  $8.71.  The concept is rather easy.  It's the practice that is difficult.

This really should be done before you try to move out.  It is best to start with the biggest list you can.  List every thing that you like to do/want to do.  Then slowly weed out things that can either wait or are actually not needed.  The big list give you an idea of what you would need to be makeing in a few years.  When I originally did this in highschool, note never actually practiced it...should have thinking back.  I would need some where in the neighborhood of $50 an hour to support the life I want to live.  I am at about $15 now.  A long ways off.  But since then I have made some ajustments and am living a happy medium.  Things could be better but I won't complain for now.  Try not tolet yourself be descuraged big large numbers, just make some cuts for now.   Maybe you can afford them later.  Or maybe you just need to save up, or not do it as frequently.

Now I am not going to make any character assumptions with this but I feel it is important.  People develope habits, smoking, drugs, alcohol, you name it.  I am not saying that you do this, but if you do you need to add those thing to the budget.  Many people who develope habits and then go broke do so simply because they did not budget for thier addiction.  This was something my teacher in highschool stressed a bunch.  I now see why after having friends of mine go through some tough times because of things like that.



"No matter how much ou plan the future still arives in the blink of an eye."




David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com

[goku22]

David

WOW! I figured that since I have time before I move out, I'd be able to get some advice. But I never expected so MUCH right away. Thankyou SOOOOO much! I'm going to write all of that down. It sounds very easy to live decently without having to make alot of money. But, as you said, it's hard in practice. I was wondering, how did you arrive at the amount you added to the 10.37 hourly wage to get to the uncle sam-augmented one of 13.48? I haven't been in a math class for quite a few years so my brain isn't tuned enough to figure it out. I hope I'm not asking too many questions, but I figure I should milk you for as much as you're willing to give  Thanks again.  Ben Carver

[cainam_nazier]

It's +30%
or $10.37
x   1.30
----------
  $13.48

Of course pending your situation and deductions and blah blah blah (Insert Tax Code Mumbojumbo)  It could be more or less.  But the average is 30%.  General rule of thumb, the first 3 to 4 months you work out of the year is for the Gov.

Yeah it's not too bad once you get used to it.  Now that I have paid off the car and motorcycle I can pretty much live as I please.  Even though I am no where near the $50 an hour I would LIKE to have.  Boy would I really like to make that kind of money.


"Advice is free! After all your the one who PAYS for the mistakes."
Remember that when listening to anyones advice.

David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com

[goku22]

Yeah, I got 30% when I tried to figure it out, but I wanted to be sure. That sucks that they take so much, though I do get most of it back, at least for now. 50 bucks an hour would be so sweet, I'd go on vacations all the time. It's funny, my sister is making $26.50, which is lower than what she was making a little while ago, and she's still poor. Though I guess that's attributed more to her propensity to bad luck than to anything else (she just got robbed at gunpoint 2 days ago and was forced to empty her bank account through the mac machine, and last year she got mono so she couldn't work for 4 months, etc...). I did end up writing down all of what you gave me. My mom looked at it, and she was like "That's pretty good advice." I just figure that I'm going to compile as much info from as many sources as possible so that I can then end up doing everything wrong and learning from the mistakes I meant to prevent. I don't mean to do that, but it's more than likely the way things will happen.  Ben

[cainam_nazier]

"I just figure that I'm going to compile as much info from as many sources as possible so that I can then end up doing everything wrong and learning from the mistakes I meant to prevent. I don't mean to do that, but it's more than likely the way things will happen. Ben"

And that statement there sums up the great binding force of the univers that is life.  Also know as Murphy's Law.





"What would be the fun if you could do every thing right the first time."


David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com

[WalkerInTheWoods]

An important rule to remember, NEVER move in with a girl/boyfriend unless you have known them for a few years (then only if you have really thought about it). It maybe tempting, especially when you first move out on your own, to do but not good if things go bad.

A credit card could be a good thing, but if you have a way to get some extra money (mom and dad, etc.)  in case of an emergency I would advise against it. A couple hundred dollars can be hard to come up with if something should happen, so a credit card is nice to have then. One that has no fees if you do not use it. But if you should get one lock it away, never carry it on you as it will tempt you. You would be surprised at how easy it is to get in over your head with one.

Most of the time the generic brand is just as good as the name brand product. Generic can also be a lot cheaper sometimes saving you a couple of dollars. Of coarse this is not always the case but just keep your eyes open and try what is cheap. If it works for you then it can save a lot of money over time.

[goku22]

Hey everyone, here's the deal. I'm leaving for about 5 months time pretty soon for some summer work. My mom said that after that I need to either move out or pay rent (I'd rather starve on the street than do that, the paying rent to my parents part). I totally understand, I'm 20 years old, it's past time for it. I'm going to try to find 2 or 3 seasonal jobs so that I can jump from one to the other, without much time in between. It would be nice because they provide room and board, so I can save up my money (which I want to do for massage therapy school). But if it came down to it, and I needed to just get a regular job for awhile, I was wondering what advice any of you have for that situation. Like, how to find a roommate (I don't really socialize that much in Prescott, so I couldn't just ask a friend, I'm thinking that going to the registration office at a local college would be a good idea), what kind of bills to expect, and just general tips. You know, stuff that you wish you had known back then. It's weird, just a year or 2 ago, the meer thought of moving out and being on my own scared the crap out of me, now it feels like a welcome challenge that's been waiting to happen. I'm not totally clueless, I lived away from home during my one year at college, and I payed the little bills there (food, utilities) without asking for money. But that was easy because I only needed a part-time job to handle it all, since I didn't have tuition and rent to worry about. Also, more than likely, I'd move away from Prescott, so the advice you give (hopefully, fingers crossed) should be pertinent to someone starting at a brand new location. Thanks alot.  Ben