Holy responses batman. I'll try and catch up.
Desertbreh wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:39 pm
Ideas:
1. First step is get rid of CC debt and tell yourself you're never fucking going back. Not ever.
2. Use American Express (The charge card kind, not the credit card kind). It demands payment in full at the end of every month. You won't pull trigger on those sweet ramz bro if you know you really can't pay for them.
3. Go the other way and build a 3K account for fun shit, to pay with said American Express. You will be more stingy when you're using your money, not OPM (even though that's a myth because the CC companies are taking you for MAFIA interest rates, that is really your money.)
4. You're single.
All it takes is a little time and you'll be able to be totally on track
5. Instead of buying shit, just figure out how long it will take to swing the -3K to +3K on such and such a budget, then do it. Don't go out to restaurants and bars, etc., until mission accomplished. Then set another goal.
1. Agreed. It'll be paid for next paycheck unless something comes up. At most, two paychecks.
2. This is sort of why I am looking at prepaid cards, but I'll check this out also.
3. Exactly what I want to get to. Good call.
4. Eh. I am finding that the dating life isn't that much cheaper. Trading one set of expenses for another. There's steady lady, and we like to go out. OTOH, we've started doing meal prep Sundays so we have lunch to take to work and dinner for at least 2-3 nights a week from the get go.
5. I am not a patient person. NOW DAMMIT. Your point is well taken though, it's a habit to work on.
[user not found] wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:55 pm
Cut restaurants and bars out, stop buying shit on Amazon. Simple.
I understand what you are getting at, but it is not that simple. I have been through this cycle a number of times and I talk myself into things because some of the habits I have are good, but I won't see the fruits of that labor for years. So I'm like, yeah, fuck it, have some fun now. If it were that simple, would I have asked for advice? Nope.
dubshow wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:59 pm
step 1. Make more money.
step 2. save 20%
step 3. yolo.
I am not sure that you're being serious with this reply. My last job taught me that more money does not equal more happiness. So #1, nah, and plus, I do fine, I save for when I'm old, I just have bad YOLO habits now that I want to work on.
dubshow wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:10 pm
"pay yourself" is a common pro tip you here. Write yourself a check for $200 every pay period. Shove that in some other account. Find an interest bearing checking at some credit union. The common ones here are 3-4% up to $10k. So thats a real easy $25+/mo you get back. Everyone recommends moving the money away to another account. That would cost me too much, so I just set threshold targets.
You are right about the pay yourself part. I have always interpreted this as longer term, and never set aside money for shorter term things. That should change.
Melon wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:12 pm
I check my accounts daily, keeps me in check.
Yeah... this is an obsessive behavior that is not constructive for me though. I changed it over today to have text alerts sent to me so that I stop thinking about it so much during the day.
dubshow wrote: ↑Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:21 pm
just got my first "real" credit card. $15k in 30 seconds. That was scary.
The amount of money creditors will give people is INSANE. I remember when the loan officer for my first house approved me for 5x my annual income. I laughed at him and said no. Same with CCs. Ugh. I'm no joke a little embarrassed about the amount of available credit I have across my 3 cards. Eh, 4 if you count West Elm, but I should close that now that the bachelor pad furniture is paid off.
To add some backstory I think part of the problem is such a headstrong mentality about planning for the far future. For example, I will max 401k, IRA, and HSA contributions this year and have 2 months of expenses in Betterment right now. Updated direct deposit to divert some funds for an Euro trip next summer, which is not something familiar to me (saving instead of paying off). I have tried to get in with financial planners/advisors before, but actually got turned down as a client. One place told me because I withdrew from 401k 3 years prior to pay off debts I was too risky. Yeah, it was not a great decision, but it's done, and I learned some shit. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
Part of me wants to give myself a break because I had a lot of Q4 expenses: two rents, moving, furnishing a new place where I went the "treat yoself route" but nah, shit needs to shape up now that it is back to a manageable level.
TL;DR - good shit here. Step 1: pay shit off. Step 2: find a balance between saving for retirement, saving for short term shit like vacays, and spending money on fun things now. Big part of that is realizing hey, don't have to do all the fun expensive things now.
and it balloons. My habits suck; no car payments and no mortgage make it almost too easy to spend.
about this annual fee, but you spend that much in interest charges the first time you don't pay your balance off, yes?
I know what it takes to get there and can really easily keep track of both short and long term spending. If you need reminders, then throw all of your accounts into something like Personal Capital and check it every single day. That's what the wife is doing now... not helpful for single people, but having another person see ALL of your spending is helpful IMO. She is now asking me about every little purchase and that's great. "What's this $12 Amazon thing?" Uhh, sway bar bushings. "Why do you need them?" Uhh, because? 
or :CRANG: 
on something. You can also get a money market account which only allows up to 6 outgoing transfers a month, and has a higher rate of return. That would limit the