What would your future-you have to say to you?
The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.
What would your future-you have to say to you?
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Holiday weeks are supposed to be short, aren’t they?
I’m 11 days into my 30 Day “Compact”. So far, it has gone well. Unfortunately, there have been a couple of books launched that I’d love to own, and a friend keeps showing me new gadgets that I’d love to get. Not shopping at all is harder than it sounds.
Brian Wood, without a doubt, understood the responsibility he took on as a father. The story makes me get all misty.
On Wise Bread, they asked if you are saving too much. Don’t save as an excuse to stop living your life.
Free Money Finance will help you save money on travel.
Parent Hacks has a great use for a Google Voice number. I have a spare, so I think I’ll start using it.
I’m a big fan of selling on Craigslist. I’ve never sold a car there, so this was informative.
5 Reasons to Quit Saving and Start Living was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.
Bonding Relationships was in the Carnival of Wealth.
Hippy Month was the Editor’s Pick in the Festival of Frugality!
If I missed a carnival, please let me know. Thanks to those who have included me!
ta·boo
-adjective
1. proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable: taboo words.
There is a societal prohibition against talking about money, especially actual money. Talking about a deal, or the hypothetical bundle you lost on the Super Bowl is ok, but discussing how much money you make, or how much you have saved for retirement is almost as bad as talking about sex. In many social circles, it’s far worse.
Money is one of the primary causes of divorce, second only to infidelity. It can cause myriad problems, including anxiety, depression, paranoia, impotence, impulse spending, gambling, social isolation, suicide, and murder. Yet even therapists hesitate to discuss finance with their patients.
Occasionally to the chagrin of my family and friends, I’ve almost completely destroyed that taboo in myself. After spending a year and a half writing about everything I do financially, I’ve found myself with very little hesitation to talk about my finances in real life. I don’t mind discussing my credit card debt, my projections on paying off my mortgage, or almost anything else, with the exception of my salary. I’ve never seen anything good come from coworkers comparing paystubs. Somebody always gets hurt feelings.
Aside from that one exception, I think it’s healthy to talk about money. How many kids launch into adulthood financially clueless because their parents wouldn’t talk about money? How many marriages could be saved if couples would talk about their financial problems before they became financial disasters?
How can you go about breaking down the mental barrier to talking about money? Starting a personal finance blog and writing three to four times per week for a couple of years isn’t a practical solution for everyone.
Start small.
Mention the fact that you have a credit card balance(assuming you do) when you are talking to a friend. Suggest a coworker appeal his property taxes, or offer a couple of tips to help your cousin negotiate her rent.
Most importantly, start having these conversations with your spouse/significant other/life partner. If you can plan to spend the rest of your life with someone, you can certainly plan to discuss one of the most important topics in your life with her. If you can’t, are you really a good fit?
Try it. Break down that taboo. Your life will be better for it.
Are you afraid to talk about money?
I didn’t grow up with money. I never lacked for anything important, like food, clothes, shelter, affection, but we weren’t exactly rolling in cash.
When I was 6, I got a paper route so I could buy my own toys.
When I was 13, I started doing odd jobs on nearby farms.
When I was 15, I worked construction with my Dad in the summer. When school started in the fall, I gave up a study hall and my lunch period to work in the lunch room, serving food and washing dishes, for $4.25 per hour.
Within two weeks of getting my driver’s license at 16, I got a job working evenings and weekends washing dishes. I’d call it a part-time job, but it wasn’t, most weeks. A couple of months of busting my butt got me promoted to cook, which was more fun and had better pay. $6.25 and hour was a decent amount for a teenager in 1994.
Three days after graduating high school, I moved out.
At 18, I was living on my own, working two jobs. During the day, I stacked pallets. I stood at the end of a conveyor belt, picked up the 50 pound bags as they came my way, took 3 steps and set them back down. 1500 times a day. In the evenings, I was a cook at a different restaurant 5 miles away. My car was broken, so I had to bike to both jobs. In the winter. In Minnesota. That winter, my parents passed up a new washing machine to buy me a beater car so I didn’t have to freeze. It lasted until spring, but I’m still grateful for that car. That’s the only time I’ve taken money from my parents as an adult.
At 20, I was working 12 hour graveyard shifts in a machine shop when Brat #1 came along. I’d work from 5PM to 5AM, come home and take the baby so my wife could get 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. That kid drank 8-10 ounces of milk or formula every hour, so without that, the idea of uninterrupted sleep was a cruel joke. We qualified for WIC, a “feed your family” welfare program. I was broke and scared of formula prices, so we signed up. My son puked up the one brand of formula we were allowed, and it hurt my pride, so we cancelled without ever using the benefits.
After 6 months of missing so much of my family’s life, I quit that job and moved into a call center, taking a $4/hour pay cut, before overtime. Fortunately, busting my butt every day allowed me to stomp all over my goals and get some decent bonus pay.
Working a daytime schedule also allowed me to go to school part-time. Here’s the scene: At 21, I had a baby, a full-time job, and I was going to school. I took student loans to make that happen. I was also doing side jobs fixing computers. Traveling IT for people who have no idea how to work a mouse. During this time, we started accumulating debt, based entirely on our own choices.
Within a few months of graduating, the years of busting my butt in the call center paid off and I got promoted to be the administrator for the phone system and collection system, which gave me valuable experience.
Until I got laid off.
Again, busting my butt saved it. My boss volunteered to “forget” about the vacation time I had used that year so it would get cashed out on my last day. I could cover expenses for a while.
Job hunting became a full-time job and it paid off. I landed my current job right as my funds ran out.
I work, on average, 50 hours per week. When it’s needed, I’ve cleared 100 hour work weeks. I have a side business as a firearms instructor. I have a side business doing web consulting for businesses. I blog here.
I do whatever it takes to support my family. I am that support.
I have never had an unemployment check, and I’ve never used government charity.
I have busted my butt to be where I am today, and continue to bust my butt to make it better.
Some day, I’ll be out of debt, and that will also be due to hard work, not charity.
I love my family.
I pay my taxes.
I give to charity.
It’ s been 8 months since I’ve done a net worth update. That’s not 8 months since I’ve shared, it’s been 8 months since I’ve bothered to check for myself. Let’s see how I’ve done.
This is where I was sitting in January:
Overall: $240,137
Overall: $239,317 (-820)
My big hits were obviously my house–whose value is subject to bureaucratic whimsy–and my rapidly depreciating cars. $4000 to a vision therapist didn’t help, either.
My debt goal is to have that credit card paid off by next August. $21k in a year on top of my mortgage isn’t crazy, is it? Since 4/15/2009, I’ve paid down $37,947.06. That is not the total of payments made, but the difference in total balances over that last 28 months. That means I’m reducing my total debt by an average of $1355 every month.
My savings goal is to boost that by at least $2500 over the next few months.
My immediate goal is to get an IRA rolling. I’m kicking myself right now for ignoring it for as long as I have.
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This week has been terribly busy. I can’t tell you how happy I am for a 3 day weekend. Right now, the 2 week queue of posts I had before I went on vacation is gone. Have a good weekend!
200 year-old, chilled beer found. That’s a party.
Follow your dreams and eff the haters. There’s a life lesson there.
Affiliate marketing basics by Chris Brogan. There’s definitely more than one way to skin the “make money online“(affiliate link) cat.
One of the first things we’re going to save for after we get out of debt is Lasik. Is it worth it?
Crystal included me in the Carnival of Personal Finance with Bonding Relationships.
8 painless ways to save money was included in the Yakezie Carnival.
Work at Home Scams was included in the Festival of Frugality.
If I missed a carnival, please let me know. Thanks to those who have included me!