Turning the Tide

move up or die tryin'

I heard everyone in US just borrows money?

Nice post

i dont believe in debt unlike most americans, i dont buy anything on credit, no credit cards. a mortgage or big car loan is the only thing i'd ever finance. but I think the financially irresponsible/ignorant get screwed even more because of late fees, credit interest rates, etc.

Are they rhetorical questions?
I think you could work out - how they spend less than you.

I mean they may not even need a larger place to live..
They can of course choose not to have cable TV and might opt for the cheapest internet options...
They might only not spend as much as $1000 on their annual cellphone bill.
They might be more effective spenders on food and eat out less than you do.

if they were teachers - they prolly have government provided health insurance..

I am not from the U.S. but I would assume that their effective tax rate might be lower than what bracket they fall in when you take into account tax rebates, some family assistance packages etc.

You may be able to get cheaper health insurance. Also, you can definitely eat out less, i.e. if you did all your own cooking you could probably do it for less than 200/mo.

ive tried to weigh the cost of eating out. groceries are pretty expensive if youre not eating like ramen and rice and beans. eating out might cost $7-10 but if it saves 30+ minutes of cooking and cleaning and the groceries cost like $4, isn't it worth it? Also you're using power and water to cook and clean which cost money. Basically youre screwed as a single guy cause cooking for one sucks. I def could spend less there though, that's my one big luxury is eating out, I rarely buy clothes or any material stuff but i hate to cook and clean for one so I splurge there.

If eating out is only 500 $ per month we all should move to the US !

Maybe you just need to get better at cooking for one? The overall benefits of cooking for yourself far outweigh the costs, especially when compared to eating out.

Yea I cook on my own in my flat cause I hate having to cook at time X on day Y, but I can easily do it for less than 50NZD (38USD~) a week. There are lots of meals that are healthy and only take a couple mins to whip up as well

Many working people (FT jobs at least) prob have health insurance covered, your power/water seems really high - it's probably half of that for me in my wife in a similar living space - and your car insurance is probably 75% more. I'm guessing most people spend way less on food too. FWIW we eat really well (steak/seafood etc every week, never anything like ramen/rice/beans) for two on probably $400/month for groceries.

power/water is a bitch in florida, I guess. I know people here who pay 400 a month for power in the summer, because the AC is on all the time. My car insurance is 140-150 because I get pretty high-level protection on personal injury and injury to others. Insurance is one thing I don't like to skimp on because I know I'd be glad for getting 250k instead of 50k if I get messed up in an accident, etc. It seems like being married is good for finances, cooking for two, buying items for two prob saves a load of money. marriage = +ev :)

Until you get divorced and that becomes EV/2 :)

I use Mint to track all my finances. I will compare mine to yours and get back to you.

Something worth considering is cost of living in your area. 40k goes a long way in some places, whereas stuff like utilities are high for you.

Oh, and you know you can have leftovers right?

leftovers are gross, wtf. show me a king that eats leftovers.

I think we've found your saving leak ;)

If you think cost of living is high in Florida...try living in NY.

Trying living in Australia... surprisingly... (obv not as expensive as NY though)

lol comparing yourself to a king..........

so do you want to worry about how struggling people pay the bills or worry about what your fellow rulers of the world think?

last month i spent.

6.5K bt for rent.
maybe 4K bt on food.
bills 2K (at most)
going out and random stuff 5K.

living for about 23K bt a month. thats less the £500.

That was because i made an effort to not spend to much.

last year i spent about £25K but i basically didn't even think about money or saving money. also spent some on start up cost for businesses. when i say 'some' i mean a lot.

anyway I'm trying to be a life nit right now a save save save.

American and UK seem to be just pushing the population and squeezing them for as much as can be got. Its redic.

It's no secret that in America the middle class is and has been shrinking. Non-college grads are going to be seriously F'ed IMO by the next decade, and liberal arts grads not far behind. And while it's true you don't need a tv or cell phone or couch or fridge, those things exist because they benefit people's daily lives.

Cooking for yourself is actually not much cheaper than say, buying a $5 foot long from Subway or $5 Little Caesars pizza and splitting them over two meals.
It's way healthier to cook for yourself though.

Cable tv is a waste of money. With netflix, you don't miss any shows anyway, and you can go out to a bar for sports.

"i dont believe in debt unlike most americans, i dont buy anything on credit, no credit cards. a mortgage or big car loan is the only thing i'd ever finance. but I think the financially irresponsible/ignorant get screwed even more because of late fees, credit interest rates, etc"

You're missing out on some free life rakeback (and if you're worried about late fees just set up autopayment) and getting a mortgage/big car loan is tough without a credit history.

Good point jrw. I buy everything with a credit card. I've never looked at it that way, but it literally is free life rakeback. I also have a cc that you need to pay off every month so I have no cc debt.

7,000,000,000,000,000

lotsa interest on that bill......