I'M BROKE AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!
So, I've written this post in my head about a hundred times over the last week; I've even started to type some stuff in before just closing the window in a fit of spite. If you see this, read fast, I might just pull it down a few seconds later.
So, you might remember that I posted about my finances being bad once in a while. Well, it's that time of year again.
So, I have been getting antsy about my finances for the last little while. But as usual, I just worried and did nothing productive about it.
Then, I happened upon a little show called "Til Debt Do Us Part" on one of those women' specialty channels, procrastination-based channel-surfing. The basic premise is that a couple (it's always a couple, that's their shtick) is having money issues. Then this lady comes over, tells them they're idiots, dolts and dipwads (literally in most cases); she shows them how much money they're throwing out the window every months and scares them with how much they'll owe in 5 years if they continue this way. Once that's out of the way, she goes over how they can shape up and pay it off in a few years. To demonstrate, she takes away their debit and credit cards (creatively destroys the credit cards on the spot usually) and gets them to live on weekly/monthly cash in jars (a food jar, a transportation jar, etc.) and a notebook to keep track of where the cash goes. Then she shows back a few times in the month to see how they're doing and issue challenges; sometimes the challenges are small (gotta make a budget that balances) and sometimes they're big (gotta get a new job, gotta sell the car and get a cheaper one). Depending on how they do, they can get up to $5K. Basic reality show stuff.
So, I started watching this. (Yeah, I already broke that resolution not to watch reality TV anymore. *sigh*) Then I went on the website (I don't know if that's possible outside Canada, the networks usually have stupid rules about not showing stuff overseas) and watched all 6 seasons of it within about a week! (They're short seasons, 13 eps of 22 minute shows, so it's not that much.) At first, I did it because I figured I could pick up some tips from the mistakes the participants had made and from what the host told them about it. I wasn't as bad as they were, after all. Then as I watched, I started to get the creeping feeling that, were I in a couple (they had a gay couple on once), I could totally be on the show . *ugh*
As I watched the show, I pulled out all the bills and started to crunch the numbers. I nearly shit a brick.
(So, this post might actually make it to your screens, but I highly doubt that the next paragraph will. If you see it, I have bigger balls then I thought I did.)
So, when I posted in the past about being deep in debt, I owed somewhere around $29k to various institutions, about half of that to the demonic credit cards. Then I made a plan, shifted things around and went on my merry way. I was sure that I was paying down since the big one was going down. When I added stuff up, I came up with higher number this time. A much higher number. So, I'm now $38k in debt. What?! I make good money and I have no house, no car, just a whole bunch of books, computers and gadgets, two cats and some furniture from Ikea. How the hell did this happen!
Well, turns out that I've been spending a few hundred bucks a month over what I make by using the plastic. So, I was paying down debt at quite a rate but kept raking up new one just a little faster (exorbitant interest rates helped a lot *eye roll*). Fast forward a few years and you've just tacked on several thousands to what you owe. Pathetic.
Now, I usually consider myself a pretty smart guy, but this is just idiotic. I have no excuse. And with all this, my credit rating is still good. The credit companies love me since I always carry a damn balance and I always pay (some amount over the minimum) on time.
So, what do I do with this mess? Well, there's no choice but to clean it up.
So, I itemized all the stuff I spend money on and started cutting. And then cut some more. I'm at the point where I'm considering canceling my cable!!! (TV only, they'll pry my Internet connection from my cold dead hands.) If I actually do that, I'll be immensely amazed at myself. I'd have tons of time to work on my own projects! And I could read the way too many books I've bought without ever reading them! I could get some more work on the side to speed things up too. (But don't hold your breath; it ain't done yet.)
Now I have a monthly budget that balances and still allows me to have a moderate amount of fun and, you know, eat; and I should get this debt off my back at some point in the not too distant future. I'm also selling some gadgets I'm not using and a ton of old role playing books I don't use anymore. I'll go through my stuff and see if there's more that I could get rid of.
And yes, I'm using the show's cash jars and notebook thing. I'm hoping it actually helps. Seems to work for most people on the show. We'll see, I guess.
So, I'll try to post once in a while about my money status. If I don't, I'd really appreciate prodding from you guys. (Use a cattle prod if you must, might be the only way to make me pay attention.) If it's just me, I might just slip back into bad habits. So if I ever post about buying something, I seriously urge you to ask me where I got the money for that. I may not like it at the time, but you can point to this post and I'll say a heartfelt "THANK YOU!"
P.S. If you're wondering about the title of this article, it comes from a segment from a show ABC just put on today about regular people and their money. (It was called "Un-broke".) They had a skit with Samuel L. Jackson as a money guru telling people that he was broke and he was going to do something about it and that they should do the same, "Network" style. (I tried to find the clip online but came up empty so far.) The show on the whole was okay but super simplistic. (How complicated can you get with the Jonas brothers explaining stock indexes?). The bits with Seth Green and SLJ were good.
So, you might remember that I posted about my finances being bad once in a while. Well, it's that time of year again.
So, I have been getting antsy about my finances for the last little while. But as usual, I just worried and did nothing productive about it.
Then, I happened upon a little show called "Til Debt Do Us Part" on one of those women' specialty channels, procrastination-based channel-surfing. The basic premise is that a couple (it's always a couple, that's their shtick) is having money issues. Then this lady comes over, tells them they're idiots, dolts and dipwads (literally in most cases); she shows them how much money they're throwing out the window every months and scares them with how much they'll owe in 5 years if they continue this way. Once that's out of the way, she goes over how they can shape up and pay it off in a few years. To demonstrate, she takes away their debit and credit cards (creatively destroys the credit cards on the spot usually) and gets them to live on weekly/monthly cash in jars (a food jar, a transportation jar, etc.) and a notebook to keep track of where the cash goes. Then she shows back a few times in the month to see how they're doing and issue challenges; sometimes the challenges are small (gotta make a budget that balances) and sometimes they're big (gotta get a new job, gotta sell the car and get a cheaper one). Depending on how they do, they can get up to $5K. Basic reality show stuff.
So, I started watching this. (Yeah, I already broke that resolution not to watch reality TV anymore. *sigh*) Then I went on the website (I don't know if that's possible outside Canada, the networks usually have stupid rules about not showing stuff overseas) and watched all 6 seasons of it within about a week! (They're short seasons, 13 eps of 22 minute shows, so it's not that much.) At first, I did it because I figured I could pick up some tips from the mistakes the participants had made and from what the host told them about it. I wasn't as bad as they were, after all. Then as I watched, I started to get the creeping feeling that, were I in a couple (they had a gay couple on once), I could totally be on the show . *ugh*
As I watched the show, I pulled out all the bills and started to crunch the numbers. I nearly shit a brick.
(So, this post might actually make it to your screens, but I highly doubt that the next paragraph will. If you see it, I have bigger balls then I thought I did.)
So, when I posted in the past about being deep in debt, I owed somewhere around $29k to various institutions, about half of that to the demonic credit cards. Then I made a plan, shifted things around and went on my merry way. I was sure that I was paying down since the big one was going down. When I added stuff up, I came up with higher number this time. A much higher number. So, I'm now $38k in debt. What?! I make good money and I have no house, no car, just a whole bunch of books, computers and gadgets, two cats and some furniture from Ikea. How the hell did this happen!
Well, turns out that I've been spending a few hundred bucks a month over what I make by using the plastic. So, I was paying down debt at quite a rate but kept raking up new one just a little faster (exorbitant interest rates helped a lot *eye roll*). Fast forward a few years and you've just tacked on several thousands to what you owe. Pathetic.
Now, I usually consider myself a pretty smart guy, but this is just idiotic. I have no excuse. And with all this, my credit rating is still good. The credit companies love me since I always carry a damn balance and I always pay (some amount over the minimum) on time.
So, what do I do with this mess? Well, there's no choice but to clean it up.
So, I itemized all the stuff I spend money on and started cutting. And then cut some more. I'm at the point where I'm considering canceling my cable!!! (TV only, they'll pry my Internet connection from my cold dead hands.) If I actually do that, I'll be immensely amazed at myself. I'd have tons of time to work on my own projects! And I could read the way too many books I've bought without ever reading them! I could get some more work on the side to speed things up too. (But don't hold your breath; it ain't done yet.)
Now I have a monthly budget that balances and still allows me to have a moderate amount of fun and, you know, eat; and I should get this debt off my back at some point in the not too distant future. I'm also selling some gadgets I'm not using and a ton of old role playing books I don't use anymore. I'll go through my stuff and see if there's more that I could get rid of.
And yes, I'm using the show's cash jars and notebook thing. I'm hoping it actually helps. Seems to work for most people on the show. We'll see, I guess.
So, I'll try to post once in a while about my money status. If I don't, I'd really appreciate prodding from you guys. (Use a cattle prod if you must, might be the only way to make me pay attention.) If it's just me, I might just slip back into bad habits. So if I ever post about buying something, I seriously urge you to ask me where I got the money for that. I may not like it at the time, but you can point to this post and I'll say a heartfelt "THANK YOU!"
P.S. If you're wondering about the title of this article, it comes from a segment from a show ABC just put on today about regular people and their money. (It was called "Un-broke".) They had a skit with Samuel L. Jackson as a money guru telling people that he was broke and he was going to do something about it and that they should do the same, "Network" style. (I tried to find the clip online but came up empty so far.) The show on the whole was okay but super simplistic. (How complicated can you get with the Jonas brothers explaining stock indexes?). The bits with Seth Green and SLJ were good.