How many of you have lived in the middle of nowhere?

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by Xist

People used to insist that I needed to start saving.
...
It is going to be tight until that first paycheck.

This is why most "get out of debt" plans have building a ~$1000 emergency fund as one of the first steps. Paying extra on loans is great for the long term, but if something comes up before they're paid off, it doesn't really help you. It's kind of a penny-smart, dollar-foolish sort of thing. Giving yourself that buffer to not have to use credit cards or payday loans (or starve) if an unexpected expense comes up can save you a lot more than what you saved on interest by putting everything you had into the loan.

Depending on who you talk to, paying down credit cards can be seen as the equivalent of building an emergency fund in your savings or checking account. Putting extra money into paying a credit card down saves you interest and builds a buffer you can borrow against if needed, unlike most other loans. Of course, an emergency fund is preferred, because then you don't need to go back into debt, and some people need to completely cut off adding to their debt to keep from returning to their old spending habits. I personally have a credit card mainly for the cash back rewards, but I also consider it to be an emergency fund in addition to what I have saved up in my savings account (I pay it off monthly, so I've never paid interest).

I recommend taking financial advice from several authors and combining it into something that works for you. Dave Ramsey is a good place for beginners to start, especially for getting out of debt, because he has a step by step plan that's pretty easy to follow (I think some of his later steps are out of order or unnecessary). The budget program YNAB has good tips that can be used with their software or other budgeting strategies (I use YNAB4/YNAB Classic instead of the newer subscription version). Mr. Money Mustache can be a little hardcore for some, but he has plenty of good advice that is helpful even if you don't take it to the extreme like he usually does.

[Xist]

Extreme budgeting!

I do not know about the other checking accounts, but Northpointe requires fifteen debit transactions. If I am working on a project, I may do that in one day, but juggling multiple accounts kind of seems like a dangerous game, needing to remember to make sure you get your transactions with enough time to make them up.

Store employee: "Ah, Xist, end of the month is it?"
Me: [scans fifteen cans of peas in separate transactions]

I like to have money in the bank and available credit. Some emergencies require cash, others credit, and still others debit.

It is a strange world.

I estimated how much I need to pay in taxes for the past twelve months, which was where I realized how little I had earned. Now that I am filling out a forty-five-page New Hire packet I have received two e-mails about full-time jobs.

One was only a couple of days a week, but full days. In theory I could have shifted clients to Saturday and still seen everyone.

In theory, no thanks.

I have not asked which modifiers apply to my starting pay, but at a minimum I will earn 2/3s more in nine months than I did in the last twelve.

I will figure out something.

Using the same tax estimator, not taking into account the new and exciting tax brackets I will be entering for both state and federal, I could hypothetically earn $150 in interest by putting the money for taxes into that 5% checking account.

Student loans were offering me $5,000 per semester. In theory I could accrue another $30,000 and then supposedly it would be forgiven.

It is difficult to say goodbye. These are good kids from good families, and they can use good people trying to help them.

[redpoint5]

I recently started purchasing $0.50 Amazon credits using my debit card. Done 12 times to meet my requirement, I add $6 per month to my Amazon account.

[Xist]

My sister always rents Penske because U-Haul once gave away their reservation.



I drove the truck to her house and she drove it to Portland because there is not a location closer. The nearest Penske to Page is St. George, UT, which does not help me. The location in Flagstaff does not really help me, either. Strangely, it actually costs more to drive round-trip because of mileage, and it does not offer me a car trailer.

However, if I give it two ZIP codes here in-town, it will offer me a rental, including car trailer, for less than half of the quote one-way to St. George. So, I can drive the truck and trailer 273 miles up, drop off my stuff and car, drive them back down empty, leave it at the next-closest location, get a ride, and drive my Accord up.

I wonder if that will actually work.

Page school district pays new hires for four days five days before school starts and deducts it from the twenty-two regularly-scheduled paychecks.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Xist

People used to insist that I needed to start saving!

Saving and having money in a savings account aren't necessarily the same thing. Putting money in mutual funds is saving, as is contributing to a 401k/IRA. Paying off high-interest debt is also a form of saving - at least as long as it doesn't encourage you to go out and borrow more :-)

Parking more than a couple of months expenses in a savings account is usually a bad idea.

[Xist]

I was trying to figure out the most economical way to get myself, my stuff, and my cars to Page. Somehow I thought Penske required me to give information. I thought I unchecked the box each time, but I must have missed it, someone called me. I asked about not being able to rent a tow dolly for a round-trip rental. He said they do not rent tow dollies for in-town moves. I told him I was not moving in-town, I was moving five hours away, but there was not a location there, so I would bring it back, and he insisted that was an in-town move. I explained that it was across the state, but argued that it was still in-town. I told him I looked forward to renting from U-Haul and he said "No problem," but did not get off the phone.

U-Haul charges twice as much.

So, it looks like I will follow through with my original plan of renting from the nearest location and dropping off at the closest place to it. I just wonder if Penske will say "You were rude to our representative and told him to do push-ups!"

I love push-ups!

I really need to do them more often...

[freebeard]

"...now drop and give me twenty!"

Doug Neidermeyer, Animal House

[Xist]

Pity, I tried to find a clip of that and got "Clip removed at the request of the copyright holder." and a song by Twisted Sister.

I am not hearing anything about push-ups~

[freebeard]

You're being filter-bubbled!

It's buried in the middle of the confrontation on the ROTC parade field. Try the first two:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...r+animal+house

Twisted Sister had a MGTOW anthem? Who knew?

[Xist]

How is this for multiple streams of income?

I was on the phone with the awesome mom of my favorite client, telling her I could not find a school job down here, when a school job down here called. If they hired me I could stay and could keep some clients, but I would need to continue seeing about half of them to make as much as I will in Page. No problem, eight-hour work day, and two clients after school each day, with a great deal of driving. That should still leave me Saturdays to take care of other things, like getting into grad school.

Or I walk to and from the school in Page and have twice as much time to get into grad school...

Was the timing of that phone call ironic? They are not interviewing until next week, but they start in four days! They still have not found an SLP. Anyone can earn a Bachelor's in Speech (and Hearing Sciences) (and become an SLPA), but most graduates struggle to get into a Master's program. There are over 200 in the U.S., but the ones I know only accept 30 each year, but they have 300 applicants, and they only choose the best. I probably saw 100 openings for Arizona school SLPs when I looked two weeks ago.

I am not moving to Page for the money, but I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to earn it.