we all gotta pay those things. but I dont understand how folks can be actin all suprised when these normal fixed expensed pop up, when it's shyt they KNOW they gotta pay regardless.
me for example, I take $300 out of EVERY paycheck I have and send it to my credit union. I don't even see that money. I haven't for years. I used to do it when I was paying a car note, I'd send the money, but after paying the car off a few years ago, I kept doing it, and as I made more money, I upped the amount I was sending over. that's an easy $7500 saved annually just by living my normal life. and that's not even factoring in me saving the excess money out of my paycheck after bills are paid.
the way I do it, is I send $300 to the credit union. I give myself $250 allowance to my other checking account as well that's deducted from my paycheck, out of that allowance I used to pay for groceries and fuel primarily. and whatever other small things I need to buy. then take the remainder of my check and pay all my bills. and anything left over, I save.
so worst come to worst, I'm saving $300 every two weeks, but that NEVER happens, cuz my expenses NEVER exceed my income.
thats great and all. that you save. but you do realize if you're making say $10/ hour and you have to pay rent, lets say $1000 per month. you will only have $600 left over for the entire month. 10/hr x 160 hours(4 weeks of work at 40 hours per week)= 1600 -rent(1000)= $600 right?
a plaiboi gotta eat right? Lets say you buy $300 worth of groceries( you still need to add in cleaning stuff for your house, detergent to do laundry, dishwasher liquid, stuff to scrub your shower, etc all that crap goes into that once a month pot, along with food, hair spray, hair grease, lol all of that goes in)
you have $300 left. i'm telling you right now $300 in groceries will not give you 3 meals per day. not 3 legit 1st world country meals. So i'm saying you will at minimum will have to eat out one time per day. lets say thats a $8.00 per day food charge. its approx 30 days in a month give or take 31 and less depending on the month. you just spent $240.
you have $60.00 left. you could save that.... wait... You havent paid for a cell phone bill, you havent paid for your lights, water(if its not covered in the rent), gas(if you dont have an all electric apartment/condo), you have not paid for your car(or a public transportation pass, gas), car insurance.
So even if you made an additional $300 per month. that would just be enough to cover those expenses. when that dude said "The rent is too damn high" he wasnt joking.
So you're still barely making ends meet. you dont have enough to do anything nice for yourself or even buy yourself new shoes, clothes that you may need for work.so i'll throw you an additional $100 for that and the miscl. you still dont have enough doe to ever go out to hang out. NEVER. and that will start to bother a person. now you're depressed. Now you're sitting up getting fat. now you're health is shot, now you got drugs you have to pay for, and if you're making $10/hr odds are your health insurance isnt the greatest. oh i forgot. you aint bringing home that entire $1600 from your check. the tax man is going to take his, if your employer has an insurance plan, thats more money, if you have a little 401k plan. thats more money.
and dont be making a little to nothin and you actually went to school(tech schook, university.) no matter if you graduated or not. you have loans to pay off too. there is no EXTRA money.
See some people talk about having a savings but the truth is, they are strapped too. meaning they owe more then they have. so they just choose not to pay some things and take that money and call it a savings. but in accounting terms they are in the red with a negative balance.
^^^This is most people.
now sure you can lower your standards of living some more and maybe squeeze $50.00 per month of savings. thats better then nothing. but your standards of living will be so low its not even funny.
Or you have the true money blowers. and they are not the hood folks(white or black). we're talking about the ballers that are living wayyyyy beyond their means.
My wife was at work and one of her co-workers over heard one of the directors(white woman) talking to American Express about how she had an agreement to pay down her credit card. but she went thru a loan consolidation company to do it. come to find out that consolidation company wasnt paying american express every month even though she said she was paying them monthly. so now she has to sue that company and american express said whatever deal they had is off. she needs to hurry up and pay the balance now or pay a large portion of it.
mind you. this white women was recently divorced. she has 2 grown daughters that live with her ex husband in a home in a very nice area. that the husband didnt want to sell because he thinks the value will go way up in a few years. she is talking about "i might have to File Bankruptcy". She got her own apartment when her and the husband broke up.
this chick makes over $100k a year. or white husband makes close to $100k a year. we're talking $190k minimum between the two of them. with two adult daughters that still stay with them.
WHy is this chick broke? cause her and her stupid husband wouldnt sell that house they cant afford. two. the have a bunch of cards they dont need( a navigator, etc). if you're about to file BR, you dont deserve a navi with that gas guzzling engine to boot. let alone a brand new volvo.
See this^^^ is the kind of stuff well to do white folks are doing. but they talk about broke people of color over spending what they dont have.
these people are well enough off where they could have a very nice savings and still live nicely. but that aint enough. they have to have it all.
all hood nuccas want to do is be able to breath a little bit and shine just a smidget from time to time to keep them from going crazy since we are so broke. there's a difference between those two scenarios.
Didn't you got to uf? I remember you posting your graduations pictures. Most students out here usually graduate with about 25k in loans b/c our endowment is so large.
$25, cable/internet/security $100, food $200 per month, gas ($180). Household/misc items $20
. i'm back on my shyt now, but i'm saving more than ever and i take NOTHING for granted. it's all about what you want. do you want to stunt or do you want security (for the people with actual means to save). the people that make low wages....
....gotta just make due until you can get a better gig. not really much you can do if you make under $12/hr.
