"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[Xist]

Video games? Me? How dare you? Oh wait.



I play World of Warcraft.

This is Xist of Sen'Jin. That is the name of his tribe. They honor him for outstanding achievement in the field of killing their enemies. Or something. I got that years ago. He is 111. The current level max is 120. I have four 120s, but I really only play one. I kept telling myself that I would not level more characters until I had upgraded heirlooms and could fly. I can now spend [lots of] gold to upgrade heirlooms so that I can level faster. They unlocked flying on June 25th, but it is a whole odyssey. Supposedly the serious players unlocked it in four or five days. Allegedly a casual player can complete it in three or four weeks.

It has been over fifteen weeks and I hope to finally have it within a couple more. I try to not do anything in-game that does not lead to flying, but I often go a few days or a week without working on it.

I have played for thirteen years, with several breaks, and I calculated some months ago that I had paid a couple of thousand for the original game, subscriptions, and expansion packs. $20 + $15 a month + $50 every two years. The latest expansion pack came out August 14th of last year and I believe that I paid for it with gold. I have usually been able to pay for my monthly subscription with gold, too.

When I figured out how much money I spent on the game I also estimated (the best that I could) how much I would have earned working minimum wage for the same amount of time, although that was irrelevant the three years that I was Active Duty.

I would have earned something like $40,000.

If you figure $3,333.33 a year and maybe an average wage of $8 hourly, that works out to 416.6 hours annually or 13.7 hours a week.

I had planned on discussing my cashflow while I ate dinner, but talking about some game took up all of the time that I allotted. I really need to finish my progress reports, but let's throw out some numbers.

I have averaged $2,187.70 a month since 06/20/2018 at my first job. I have worked my second job for two months and am authorized 20 hours a week, but there are plenty of holidays, and this week is fall break. If I worked twenty hours a week for two consecutive weeks I would take home $654.70. Just doubling that wouldn't really account for holidays. Oh well. Call it $1,309.41 a month, which would work out to $11,784.71 for nine months, while my main job would be $26,252.40 for 12 months, totaling a whopping $38,037.11 per anum.

I pay Mom $350 a month for my small bedroom. When I first moved here I paid $250 a month from my other paycheck to cover her great cooking, but I could not support that.

I eat Quaker Oats from the 42-ounce canister ($3.88 at Walmart) with milk and a tablespoon of PBfit peanut butter powder (32oz for $10 at Big Lots). Milk varies in price and Mom buys that for me, but Safeway charges $2.69 for 64oz. I get 11 servings of oatmeal, 142 servings of peanut butter powder, and 6 servings of milk per container, so if I bought my own dairy, each breakfast would cost 87¢.

Is that close enough to rice and beans?

I eat leftovers for lunch and usually make sandwiches when I am at school. Mom makes dinner five nights a week. Thursday nights I make a value-sized Voilà ($9.48) and Fridays, since Little Caesar's killed Extra Most Bestest Stuffed Crust, I heat up a Sam's Choice Stuffed Crust ($5.98). Mom always asks how much it cost and reimburses me.

I guarantee you that I spend far more than $26.14 a month on food. From time to time I order a double Whopper through the app for $3 and I enjoy a burrito from time to time. Bank of America says that I average $179 a month at restaurants, but I spent $419.24 last December alone, which skews things. I had many dates that month. The other 11 months I averaged $157.07, which includes about $40 for our pizza Friday, for which Mom reimbursed me.

She eats one slice. My brother eats one slice. I eventually eat the rest. Why is it so important for her to pay for it? She also pays me back whenever I buy food for the three of us.

Fast food expenditures in the last 30 days:
09/11 $3.24 double Whopper
09/12 $7.57 for two croissant sandwiches, two biscuit sandwiches, and two small tater tots. That was my breakfast and my lunch.
09/13 $3.24 double Whopper
09/16 $3.24 double Whopper
09/18 $27.17 I met someone for dinner at Sonic (her choice).
09/24 $7.57 for two croissant sandwiches, two biscuit sandwiches, and two small tater tots.
10/07 $7.19 burrito

That totals $59.22.

Too much!

The rest of the purchases were for myself and my brother, if not all three of us, although I did try out Burger King's new[er] breakfast sandwiches.

It says that I average $284.14 for groceries, but I do not know how much of that was for the family (or for how much I was reimbursed).

Mom has sent me $371 over the past 30 days, but that includes the chest freezer, which was a little over $200.

My brother asks to go to the store most days. On Tuesday and Friday he usually just wants the local paper, which is about $1. However, he may indicate that he needs body wash, shaving cream, or over-the-counter medicine.

Mom usually says that he is right.

I regularly take him to the dollar store and he will purchase something from their limited selection of toys. His Social Security covers all of his expenses, so Mom isn't paying for all of this stuff.

If you take the 11-month average, I spend $157.07 on fast food, $284.14 on groceries, and it says that I average $364 on "All Shopping and Entertainment." The only entertainment in there is World of Warcraft. The rest is Dollar General, Family Dollar, Big Lots, Dollar Tree, and Amazon.

My Amazon purchases for the last 30 days were:
A charging cable ($8.49)
A white noise machine ($19.99)--they put in a vent connecting my speech corner with the classroom of the teacher that shushed me when workers put in a door and yelled at my kids when the dispatcher and lunch ladies made noise. I hoped that it would cut down on noise going back and forth.
I was mistaken.
A bluetooth keyboard ($19.99)--so I could use my phone more effectively at work. I do not have dependable computer access, so I use my phone.
A shredder ($32.45)--works great!
Heli-Coils and extra inserts for my Civic ($32.70)
A distributor for my Accord ($160.27)

That was $273.89 in 30 days, but before that I went twenty-four days without using Amazon.

This is taking way too long. I will just list BofAs categories and averages.
Home and Utilities $189 average (Harbor Freight, Lowe's, and $38 for my brother)
Transportation $171 (gas and parts)
Personal and Family Care $10 (a dating site)
Health $116 (taking my brother to CVS)
Insurance $123 ($90 for auto and $22 for life)
Travel $19 (often U-Haul)
Cash, Checks, and Miscellaneous $424.33 ($49 for my storage locker, $74 for Mom's stuff, which she reimburses, my professional license, and rent)
Giving $0!
Business Expenses $0 (not true!)
Education: My minimum balance was $89.50, but I paid more than that whenever possible. It didn't get down to $4,600 on its own!
Finance: $172 credit cards and taxes (I paid $995 for last year on top of what the district deducted)
Uncategorized: $69.50 for my cell phone. I usually do not watch videos on my phone. I do not know what else would use up much data, although I have not been able to connect to the home wifi recently.

Yeah, I used 1.12 gigabytes in the last 30 days. I am on my sister's account, which is supposed to save me money, but when she said that we needed to get unlimited data, I did not see the point in arguing. With my military discount it cost an extra $10 per line, but since her bored kids were using all of the data and not me, it was unfair of her to raise the price.

You argue with her!

This town is not big enough for two cell phone carriers. Verizon's cheapest plan is $55 a month before taxes and fees, although it comes with two gigabytes, which should be plenty. Arizona has 19.21% in taxes on cell phones

Supposedly I could go solo for $65.57 monthly.

[Shaneajanderson]

Cut down on your restaurant expenses, that's the easiest one. If you don't use a lot of data, look into straight talk through Walmart. They have three plans last I checked, you get 5 GB for $35/month, 15 for $45, or unlimited for $55. From what you said you could get by with the $35 plan, and it runs on Verizon towers.

The rest of you expenses don't look too bad. Until a year ago I was supporting a family of five (then six) on less income than you make, and not much more now.

[Shaneajanderson]

Another thought: shop around for your car insurance, and pay it six months at a time. I pay a little over $600/ year for a 94 f150, 96 Camry, and 07 odyssey for just liability, and I don't think full coverage would be worthwhile on your Honda's.

[Xist]

I only had collision aside from renting the car. Comprehensive would cost another $67.82 for my Accord. Oh well. I will ask how much it would cost semiannually compared to semimonthly. I easily found the option on their website, but it did not show any prices.

Tom's Guide rated Straight Talk the lowest in its comparison: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-ph...w-3066-10.html

The Verizon plan that works out to $65.57 a month is actually a $35 plan, but they charge $20 for having a smart phone. I looked up taxes and fees and people were just citing a couple of dollars a month, but that was many years ago. I am sure that it would be 19.21% on $35, so it would total $41.72. My concern has always been that cell phone companies prioritize their customers over people using their network and coverage isn't great out here, so I am more likely to have difficulty if my twenty-year-old car breaks down between clients.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by Xist

I only had collision aside from renting the car. Comprehensive would cost another $67.82 for my Accord. Oh well. I will ask how much it would cost semiannually compared to semimonthly. I easily found the option on their website, but it did not show any prices.

Tom's Guide rated Straight Talk the lowest in its comparison: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-ph...w-3066-10.html

The Verizon plan that works out to $65.57 a month is actually a $35 plan, but they charge $20 for having a smart phone. I looked up taxes and fees and people were just citing a couple of dollars a month, but that was many years ago. I am sure that it would be 19.21% on $35, so it would total $41.72. My concern has always been that cell phone companies prioritize their customers over people using their network and coverage isn't great out here, so I am more likely to have difficulty if my twenty-year-old car breaks down between clients.

I'm not sure what metrics they used to rated straight talk lowest, however where I live if you aren't in a city, you can count on having no reception at all unless you are on verizon. I actually got better service with straight talk than I ever did with verizon. Now I'm on Cricket which runs on AT&T towers. I have a little worse reception than I did with straight talk, but for a family plan it costs about half as much, so it's worth it for me.

[Xist]

I had Cricket in 2002. I called it "Unlimited dropped calls."

I do not miss that.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by Xist

I had Cricket in 2002. I called it "Unlimited dropped calls."

I do not miss that.

Well it has been 17 years since then. I can't speak to their service in 2002, but as of right now I would say it's at least 98% as good as verizon or straight talk coverage, at least in my area.

[redpoint5]

Feeling secure costs money, or you could just accept less security and save money. Things like paying for a "premium" cell carrier, or life insurance (should be called death insurance). You're young enough that you should be paying that $22/mo for you to live.

Auto insurance is something that should be shopped for periodically since companies have rate creep (what they call customer loyalty "discounts"). By shop, I mean spend 30 minutes to get a rate quote from 3 different companies online. Go with legal minimum liability coverage and pay the 6th months primum rather than their financing scheme (monthly).

MVNOs are the way to go for cell phone service. Sure, your data might not be prioritized as high as someone else's, but voice always has priority, and texts will go through since they consume essentially no data. Paying more for cell service just to have higher priority is silly unless you're POTUS or or something. At least take an old phone and try a month on an MVNO to see how well it performs while retaining your current plan. Month to month pricing makes it low commitment.

EDIT:

Found this list of Verizon MVNOs:


CREDO Mobile
GreatCall
Net10
Pix Wireless
Page Plus
Red Pocket
Straight Talk
Total
TracFone
Twigby
US Mobile

Looking at coverage maps, Verizon really owns it in Show Low. That said, Google Fi utilizes both Sprint and T-mobile networks. Would the combination of both approach the coverage of Verizon? Google Fi is $20/mo unlimited talk/text, and $1 per 100MB of data.

$40k is a good annual income, especially if rent is ~$350. That's what I was making when I had $400 all-inclusive rent, and that income allowed me to save enough to purchase a house with 20% down, pay for a wedding in cash, pay off the wife's CC and student loans in cash, pay for her $10k quarterly tuition in cash, and put a downpayment on another house.

Paying cheap rent allowed me to save for a home purchase, and renting out rooms allowed me to own the house for almost free (and now it turns a modest profit).

I ate out for every workday lunch, but limited myself to $2-$3. That was about $40/mo.

[Xist]

As far as I know, we do not have any Sprint or T-Mobile towers. I tried to find maps, but I found a site of people complaining they could not use anyone but Verizon up here. That is partially how we got the Rodeo–Chediski Fire. A lady was trespassing, got lost, used up her battery trying to call 911, started a signal fire, and a news helicopter rescued her, but fanned the flames out of control. Twelve years later she was fined $1,650 and a judge ruled that she owed the local tribe $57,000,000.

Eighteen months ago USAA charged me $47 twice a month. Now they charge me $45 bimonthly.

Is that acceptable rate creep?

[redpoint5]

USAA is the most ethical credit union I've done business with, so it wouldn't surprise me if their definition of "valuing your loyalty" is actually beneficial to you. That said, I don't know if anything else changed such as changes in your policy, changes in the way actuaries calculate risk, citations dropping off your record, your age pushing you into a lower risk group, etc.

The reason I mention insurance is that I pay something like ~$800/yr to insure 2 cars and a truck. $90/mo at your age is steep unless there are other factors such as insurance claims or citations that haven't dropped off yet. $22/mo for life seems like a lot for someone of your youth (and I assume health). You're not going to die, so it's just free money for the insurance company.

It's difficult to assign blame when fires go out of control. They are a natural occurrence in nature and typically happen frequently enough to make them relatively tame. Now that we disallow fires to burn, we've increased the severity when they do. AGW zealots would say global warming is to blame, and therefore Big Oil is 2000% responsible, plus offer the CEOs scalps to the tribe.