For anyone considering credit cards

[mike9302]

Once you add family and children into the mix.....your 23K is a joke. Point blank....I'm sorry to say it like that but it's true. I make a little over 40 with 3 kids and believe me that is not enough. As to where you could get away with buying yourself clothes once a year.....kids need an entire new wardrobe minimum every six months....but I have a baby so it's every 3 months. Not to mention kids get sick a lot especially school age kids....$15 bucks a pop plus $15 for medicine...let's say one gets sick every month that's $30. Running them to school plus day care and lunches....that expense for three kids is somewhere about 800 minimum. So your entire pay check. Oh and you still have to feed three mouths....

Anyway to put it in short....I think people here are doing the best they can with the cards they were given. I haven't seen really anyone come on here because they overcharged the cards....more so because they can't handle those everyday expenses or they get hit with some traumatic life event. I think I once read a statistic that the majority of bankruptcies are due to medical. Oh and by the way....you think your insurance is the greatest? Wait till some terminal illness hits you that requires thousands upon thousands of bills and see how much they actually pay of those.....I think you will be thoroughly shocked..............(and this is a person that is telling you that battled thyroid cancer followed by lymphoma and was diagnosed at 22--so don't think just because you are young that it won't happen).


ETA: By the way I'm not sure where you are getting your math from but I make 19.31 an hour and I have about 8 hours of mandatory OT each week on the checks and I only see about 1000-1100 a check after taxes and deductions......can you explain how you manage to make only 200.00 less than I do when I make over twice as much as you do? So all in all with my mandatory OT I'm sitting at 52, 214.24....double what you make is 46. I'll be happy to scan one of my checks in (of course with just the numbers and none of my personal info to show you.

Well Danielle did you think maybe I get paid every two weeks?

[anonymuse]

Well Danielle did you think maybe I get paid every two weeks?

For a debater, you are not very clear on your statements around here. Seeing as we are the ones involved with BK and are familiar with the means test and the monthly IRS figures and the schedules of monthly income and expenses we know that that is how items are discussed around here.

[tinroofrusted]

For a debater, you are not very clear on your statements around here. Seeing as we are the ones involved with BK and are familiar with the means test and the monthly IRS figures and the schedules of monthly income and expenses we know that that is how items are discussed around here.

He was obviously not on the debate team him high school.

He has no logic or sense in ANY of his ramblings.....

[SinkingFast]

He was obviously not on the debate team him high school.

He has no logic or sense in ANY of his ramblings.....

And still, SEVEN pages later, he has yet to answer THE question.

Why is he here??!!

[tinroofrusted]

And still, SEVEN pages later, he has yet to answer THE question.

Why is he here??!!

To cause trouble!

That's the only (obvious) reason I can come up with.

Just some kid, living in his parents basement, out of school for the summer, and out to cause trouble.

(Probably listening to Dave Ramsey tapes all day long, and thinking he can preach to grown ups, and get somewhere with it.)

[Danielle1981]

Tinroofrusted nice try. But yes I do make 23,000 a year but I have been at the same job for 3 years and we get all the overtime we want so I get a little more. I usually take home about 800 every two weeks. My health insurance is top notch with no deductibles as well as my dental and they cost me nothing and are fully paid for by my employer. Also I did not save up my savings in 1 year like you assusmed. But for your info I use an envelope system for my bills. And also my truck is a 4 cylinder to save on gas. But here is my budget below.


my rent for a good apartment because things here in the south obviously seems to be cheaper for cost of living compared to other places. You can actually get a good home for 100k or less. But my rent is 475 a month. But each paycheck here is what I do.

Rent 240
Power 30 because I keep my lights off during the day and the a/c is set to come on 1 hour before I get home.
Water 13.00
phone 25
insurance 35
cable 30
Since I drive a 4 cylinder vehicle I usually fill up once a week at about 35.00 so that is 70 for gas

so that means that out of my paycheck every two weeks genius about 445 come out for bills leaving me about 355.00 for food and whatever else I need. I usually eat on about 100.00 or less every two weeks because I dont eat much and I dont eat fancy meals or go out much. Hell I may eat a couple of things from the dollar menu for lunch at work or take some left overs from the night before to work. But I usually add about 200 a month to my savings which comes out to be about 2400 a year and I have the money in a high yield savings account at ING direct which is a good savings. I also do from time to time side work working on peoples cars which gives me a little extra that I usually put in savings. Yes I know renting an apartment is throwing away money but I am saving up enough to put a down payment on a home. I would like to purchase a piece of land here and pay cash for it if possible then save up for a while and have a home built on it. I hope that maybe I can get married or meet the right one within the next 5 years and we can together build a home but if I dont meet anyone it will just take me longer but I refuse to go broke with payments up to my eyeballs to get everything I would like now. I would rather live in an apartment now and just wait. Sure friends of mine have nicer vehicles and have a home but they are up to there eyeballs in debt and I wont do that. For my vehicle though my engine could blow right now and I could have a brand new one put in at the dealership and have no worries about trying to pay a debt card back for the purchase. I think I am heading in the right decision and am prepared for any emergency that comes my way. If I cant then I will find some way to deal with it. Right now I may only make 23,000 a year but that will eventually change for me and I will do better.

Did anyone crunch these numbers?

$800 per paycheck....assuming two paychecks since it's biweekly according to him....so total expenses are 816.00. Over his 800 per paycheck. So then we have to borrow $16 from the next check leaving that at 784 X 12 months equals 9408. But this budget does not account for oil changes (times two cars and keep in mind trucks are usually more expensive), heating, laundry, clothing, etc. And you mean to tell me they charge you $70 a month for insurance on two vehicles???? Hogwash. And most people keep full cover insurance on their nice new trucks. My elderly aunt with 805 credit and perfect driving record pays 50.00 per vehicle per month and that's in the middle of nowhere town with only liability. Then again your financially savy and figure if by chance I should get into an accident I need have medical payments coverage and something to cover your butt for lost wages and you'll probably need them to put another shiny new truck in the lot for you.

Oh and um......by the way.....after crunching your income into the federal tax bracket you make less than 816 every two weeks and that's before I calculate any state income tax.

[Danielle1981]

BTW----No 401K deduction calculated either!!!!!!!! Isn't that just a little foolish??? Just a tad..... Based on your income if you were to retire today they'd start you off at about 638.00 social security payment. Think you could make ends meet on that?

[SinkingFast]

I have an early 20's son. Dean's List college student. Works 32 hours/wk. So I do know the price of auto insurance for a young, unmarried man.

No accidents. No tickets. None.

Liability only on his 18 year old car runs us a bit over $350/6 months. With Good Student and Multi Car/Renter's Policy Discounts applied. That's not your basic "State Mandated" Liability only. We carry $100K/$300K coverage. Plus medicals and uninsured motorist coverage.

If son were to have the car titled in his name, basic Liability only coverage would run him in excess of $250/mo.

No way does $70/mo pay for auto insurance.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

I have an early 20's son. Dean's List college student. Works 32 hours/wk. So I do know the price of auto insurance for a young, unmarried man.

No accidents. No tickets. None.

Liability only on his 18 year old car runs us a bit over $350/6 months. With Good Student and Multi Car/Renter's Policy Discounts applied. That's not your basic "State Mandated" Liability only. We carry $100K/$300K coverage. Plus medicals and uninsured motorist coverage.

If son were to have the car titled in his name, basic Liability only coverage would run him in excess of $250/mo.

No way does $70/mo pay for auto insurance.

I paid $400 a month for insurance when I was 24 years old... With 0 points.