(This post is mostly me whining. Feel free to ignore it.)
I’m so frigging tired of time and time again finally getting to a point where I feel like my finances are coming together and getting under control, only to have some catastrophe send everything spiralling downhill again. I end up in this same frustrating cycle over and over and over again, and it’s getting really old.
A few months ago, things were looking up. I had a good job, doing work I enjoyed, getting more experience under my belt, and getting a halfway decent paycheck (just a touch above $12/hr). I wasn’t out of debt — far from it — but I at least felt like I had a handle on things, and could foresee being able to pay everything off eventually.
Then I goofed up, and everything fell apart again. Suddenly unemployed, I had a month without any income, and if it hadn’t been for the kindness of friends and many strangers, I wouldn’t have been able to make rent that month. Even with rent being covered, all the other little day-to-day expenses (food, laundry, transportation, etc.) still ate away and what little savings I had, until things were looking pretty dire.
Thankfully that only went on for a month, but it dug a pretty decent hole, and now I’m facing troubles getting out of it. While I’m employed again, I’m earning about $2/hr less than I was before, and I now have more expenses (as my current employer doesn’t supply me with a bus pass as my last one did), plus I’m having to adjust from a weekly pay period to a bi-weekly pay period, which makes a huge difference in being able to plan and budget bills.
With the way pay periods since I’ve started have worked out, I had to float my rent check for December. The property management company apparently took their own sweet time putting the check through, which normally would be a good thing under the circumstances, but it ended up hitting my account at the same time some other bills did — sometime within the last two weeks.
I just deposited a $700 paycheck, and got my balance back as $175, indicating that I was around $500 overdrawn until my check went in — and another $650 in rent is due in about a week, with my next paycheck not appearing for another two weeks. ARGH!
Gah. It’s just frustrating. I’ll make it through, though it’ll probably be with a few bounced check fees here and there, and hopefully should at least be caught up to paycheck-to-paycheck living (rather than last-paycheck-to-last-paycheck living) within the next couple of months. I just hate being in the situation I’m in now.
Anyway. Just had to bitch and moan for a few minutes. Sorry ’bout that.
Nothing to see here…move along…
What to say? what to say?….
I’m sorry and I understand all to well. But….
The reality is if you see this happening over and over again and again. I’m forced to point out to you that the cycle is of your own making. We (humans) often set ourself up for failure.
I know you don’t think you are. We never do.
But if you keep doing something over and over and it keeps ending up bad, at some point in time you have to ask you self why are you doing something you have good reason to believe won’t work.
Its called money management. And its time for you to learn it.
Please Michael, I’m not picking on you. I’m being honest.
Ask yourself.
How much money have you spent on DVD,s in the last 7 years?
How much money have you spent on un-needed computer equipment?
How many $4 cups of coffee?
5$ drinks at the club?
Accept that you do not understand money management.
Talk to someone that does.
(Not me! I’m worse than you, but I know why, You it seems, do not yet know why.)
Learn from that person.
Take another part time job, save money. Don’t buy toys.
Put yourself on a budget.
If it helps at all, I’m older than you and I’m learning! You can too.
Think of it this way. You have a 20 year head start on me.
I wish you all best.
Oh, believe me, I’m quite aware that my money management skills are almost nonexistent. I’m working on it, and believe it or not, it’s far better than it used to be, but it’s definitely an ongoing process getting it all straightened out.
A lot of my unnecessary spending has dropped severely in the past few years, especially since I moved down to Seattle. I’m not buying nearly as many movies or music as I used to (or would like to); coffee isn’t an option (love the smell, generally don’t like the taste, and I can’t handle the caffeine rush anymore); I generally have one, sometimes two drinks when I go clubbing; I drool over more computer stuff than I buy (the G5 was the planned result of many months of saving); I’m buying food that can be prepared at home rather than eating out constantly; and so on.
Really, looking at it in the grand scheme, I’m not doing that badly. I’ve got a job, an apartment, and my various toys, and I haven’t ever gotten into such a bad spot that I haven’t been able to pull myself back up and out of it. Things are tight right now, but they’ll improve over time.
Money management issues aside, though, my current situation is mostly just a side effect of the causes noted above — the loss of one job, and its replacement with a new job that pays less and has a less frequent pay period — and those, unfortunately, I didn’t have much say in. I just hit an “AAAARRRGGGHHH” point, and had to rant, rave, and whine for a few minutes. Happens to the best of us, right?
I was referring more to the fact that we (I’m included in this) are unwilling or unable to carry a balance in the bank. If we get an unexpected $100 check from somewhere the first thought that pops in our brains is, Wow this is cool, now I can go get a (fill in the blank) rather than just putting it in the bank.
If you want to sail through the valleys of life you’ll need at minimum, three months of rent and bills in the bank. All the time. That’s your cushion.
The transmission goes out, the water heater breaks, all hell breaks loose.
That’s when you use the cushion. And as soon as the emergency is over the very first thing you do is to bring the cushion back up. Before you buy anything else.
The cushion is not for vacations, Christmas gifts, or toys of any kind.
So what are we talking about 2-3 thousand ?
If you had $2,500 in the bank just for emergencies how many of your valleys could you have sailed through without batting an eye?
Your cushion also saves your credit rating because even if you run your “available” balance right down to nothing you don’t have to worry about floating checks or late fees because the cushion (unavailable balance) covers it.
Build a cushion and park it in the bank.
You’ll sleep better, your credit rating will improve and the road will get smoother.
Just my .02
That’s good advice. My money management skills are also extraordinarily nonexistant, but once I find a job and pay off the bills I have the were do last month, then I will try to implement that cushion you speak of.
Pardon my ignorance, but what does the verb “to float a check” mean? I don’t know that one. I imagine I’ve probably done it at some point in the past, but I don’t know what it is.
“Floating a check” is writing a check on funds that haven’t yet arrived in the account the check is drawn from — for instance, writing a check before you go to the bank later that day, or writing a check presuming your salary direct deposit will arrive tomorrow.
Floating checks is generally considered beneficial to the banks, as I’m not aware of any bank larger than a credit union that doesn’t charge money for returned checks. Since floating checks depends on further events that don’t always progress as desired, be careful.
As you well know, I am not the person to ask about money management, normally. But in the last few years (with an exception after this summer), I have picked up a few hints on managing money and getting my needs taken care of. For instance. I don’t know about you, but money in the bank is pretty much money spent, going to some bill or another, or worse some toy or another. So, while I sometimes have the luxury of pay my rent and utilities ahead, a trick I have used in the past was to get a money order for rent and utilities, tack ’em to the wall and make sure there are at least 2 up there at all times. The catch with this though, is that money orders are only good for 60 – 90 days; but the advantage is, you always but always know the bill is paid without worrying about the bank covering it or paying a 25$ fee instead of 2$’s (usually less) for the money order. Another trick I’ve learned, when you have some extra money, go to those places you frequent often and get gift cards/certificates for yourself; example: Safeway has gift certificates (believe it or not), Chevron for gas (not that you have a car), Starbucks for coffee/coco/tea, Sun Coast (mostly for really really bad days), etc. Places you know you will want to spend money at some point; and then when life really stinks, it’s kind of a happy boost. Just a few ideas that get me thought life with all my toys and bills in tact.
there is nothing more comforting when you are having a financial frustration meltdown than a lecture on finances.
Wudinator, Things will get better. I only just now, well a week ago, have been unable to work for a year, slowly killing all savings and credit cards of the household just for basic day to day living. I can’t wait to make some of those paycheck dollars I hear that you can get at one of those paying jobs.
What of the possible job you emailed me about? Could use the company ya know, even though you would be about 4 hours away or so, but still, Vive la free health care.. vive la canada
I have no savvy advice or anything. Just wanted to chime in with an “I feel ya.” Fresh out of college I was making more money than anyone my age has a right to make and I pissed it all away. And then ended up unemployed for over a year. The dire straits I’m in now are very much of my own making, but it still sucks. Especially since I think I’ve finally learned enough about money management that if/when I do get back to making a decent salary I can make some real progress towards being debt-free.
Lame. I can completely relate to your frustration about getting on your feet and climbing the stairway to financial freedom, then cruelly tumbling down to rock bottom again. I’m clinging to the rail as we speak.
It’s sad and another sad thing is at how common a sentiment it is becoming these days, not only among people of our acquaintance (most to whom financial woes are just a state of being), but to among many more people than I had ever before suspected.
My sister, a person whom I’ve always held as financially savvy and conservative, is actually barely keeping her head above water. Sure, her credit is good, and that stands for a lot, but her cash flow isn’t so great.
I realized a few years back (as I’m sure you did, too), that living paycheck to paycheck (if that) is no way to live, but it’s taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to claw my way to near financial solvency. I think I have about $800 more in outstanding debt and I finally paid off my car. It took a lifestyle change for me, which meant dropping off the face of the planet and occasionally pissing off friends who insisted I could afford a night out. And you know what? I like how this has changed my life. I feel more independent/self-reliant. I hope that my good luck in that arena will continue, but we’ll see. I’m always on the lookout for the next blow to my pocketbook…