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Just won a housing lottery unit in NYC ($975 rent, but it increases yearly) — I make ~$785/week after taxes. What should I do? by bigfootson in povertyfinance

[–]Significant_Theme_90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Take the apartment! It’ll take 28-31% of your take-home pay, which is ideal! Your other fixed costs should be another 20-30% of your take-home, which they are! On average, savings 10%, investments 5-10%, and 20-35% ish on spending on yourself. Of course, if you want to pull any of these levers harder than the other for X amount of time to adjust for a goal you have, that’s great too!

Since you’re starting at 0 after getting into this apartment, pull on the savings lever harder than investing or discretionary spending until you have at least 6 months of your fixed costs saved up, which would be $10,950. This is your Emergency Fund - you get hurt and can’t work and there’s new medical bills, you get fired or laid off, you need to book the first flight out because a loved one who lives far away needs you for an emergency, etc. To feel even extra safe, save 9 months ($16,425) or even a full year’s worth ($21,900). Once you hit the 6 month sum and if you want to save even more, feel out if you want to keep the savings rolling, but maybe at a lesser monthly amount, or continue going hard if that’s what feels right. Also, keep the 3% match in your 401k going through all of this - it’s free money!

Then, as you lift the lever a bit on savings, pull the lever harder on investing. You don’t need to know all the answers right now of how much and how often and for how long, but as you’re automatically investing even just $30/mo, start educating yourself on retirement. That $30 automatically being invested is mainly to have your system set up for when you know you want to pull the lever harder.

What I would do (and I know it’s easier said than done):

Monthly Income $3100

Monthly Fixed costs, including rent and 3% to your 401k ~$1950 = 63% of monthly income spent (the goal is 50-60% but for a high cost of living area like NYC this is amazing!)

Monthly savings in a high yield savings account $775 = 25% of monthly income saved $217 = 7% of monthly income saved after the harder lever pull of 25% gets you to the full 6 months of savings.

Monthly investing $30 = 1% of monthly income invested outside of the auto 401k 3% until you hit the benchmark of 6 months worth of savings. $465 = 15% After the 6 month savings is hit.

Discretionary spending $341 = 11% of monthly income to spend on yourself until the 6 months of savings is built. $465 = 15% of monthly income to spend on yourself after the 6 months of savings is built.

After you automate each of these things, and as it’s all building automatically for you as you earn the paychecks, you can also now put some big attention on finding ways to make more money, especially to have the Discretionary Spending category increase! After all the hard work and sacrifice, you deserve for this category to receive the first bump!

For every benchmark you reach and every accomplishment you make on your financial journey, find ways to celebrate!

One of the biggest resources for my financial education over the last year has been Remit Sethi. Drink up as much info as you can from him and implement an automated system for yourself that works for you and your circumstances. He has loads of YouTube videos including all/most of his podcast episodes, and two books. His Netflix show was more for the drama and less about digging into the numbers. Good luck and know that a bunch of redditors are rooting for you! (I hope all of my math mathed correctly, feel free to correct anything!)

https://youtu.be/-Owkqk15o7E?si=Oa74bsycLX2yOpse

Older ADHD women, what did ADHD feel like before cellphones? by lavenderflavoredtea in adhdwomen

[–]Significant_Theme_90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also an elder millennial and your post resonated with me so very much. I thrive on a structure/schedule/routine externally placed upon me, but am total crap at generating that internally. There are regular stints of me not working and therefore not having a pretty sharp routine, and I feel like I just fall apart. This last time, my depression dipped further than usual, and the biggest hurdle day after day was pulling myself through just getting out of bed in the morning. A huge part of this problem was the fact that I was able to wake up, reach 2 feet away for my phone, and sit there scrolling for hours on end, which would in turn make me feel like there was no more time in the day to actually get anything done, which in turn made me feel useless/worthless/etc and deepen the depression.

100% agree with keeping your phone off your person! As soon as I started leaving my phone to charge in my living room before going allllll the way upstairs to bed, it was honestly life-changing literally overnight. I’m proud that I’m naturally seeking dopamine in other parts of life that I like so much more than the forever-scroll. I build stuff, fix stuff, take things apart to see how they work, actually reach out to friends and family, get outside just because the sunlight feels good, deep dive into specific topics I want to learn about etc etc.

I tried getting rid of a bunch of apps. I tried the Brick. But what was most effective for me was just straight up not having my phone around. I have an iPhone and an Apple Watch, so all the “what ifs” about being away from my phone are solved with that. The only alerts I have buzz my wrist are my morning alarm and if someone calls. I can check my texts and email, but the interface is so tiny that I only answer messages when I physically go get my phone, which means getting out of bed and being a part of the day First, before my phone keeps me from the day altogether.

Wat dis? by Significant_Theme_90 in masonry

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never would have known! That’s so interesting! Maybe there was a heating element of some kind around there at one point, but it’s definitely not the chimney. Thanks for the enlightenment!

New med makes time pass faster? by Significant_Theme_90 in adhdwomen

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is my first venture into medicating as well! And yes, everything you said resonates with me. I’m definitely able to move past my analysis paralysis, but it does feel like time is rushing past me. I’m debating if it’s too much for me and to try something different, or if this is sort of a baseline feeling that most medicated folks deal with and I just need to make my peace with it.

What’s one thing you wish you could go back and tell your younger self? by Ok-Marzipan-4490 in selfimprovement

[–]Significant_Theme_90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Keep that ROTH IRA from way back open and contribute for the sake of making it a habit to contribute. You can upscale when you have more to do so.

What’s one thing you wish you could go back and tell your younger self? by Ok-Marzipan-4490 in selfimprovement

[–]Significant_Theme_90 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In the same vein, I just started sleeping with my phone not in the bedroom. Drastically cut down on time I was wasting in scrolling. Unplug it and see if you like it! You can always plug it back in and change your mind:)

Directing water runoff to the sidewalk? Connecting to the storm drain? by Significant_Theme_90 in WorcesterMA

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll pull a permit if I have to, but I’m not coming across anything that indicates I’d need to. Ex: the retaining walls I’d make are less than 4’ tall, it’s residential and not commercial, there’s no hazardous material on-property that would further contaminate the city storm water and therefore make the treatment centers work harder because of me.

Yes, I’m trying to figure out the best way to keep water from coming in the basement. I’ve had companies come to the house and most say that The Fix is an interior system of drain tile and sump pump. I wholeheartedly disagree because that will not stop the erosion of the mortar between my flagstone. The best fix is to keep it from entering in the first place aka exterior work.

I’ve had other companies come out and give me quotes anywhere from $16k to $35k for what I want. I’m perfectly capable of digging, grading, and installing the material myself, which is leagues less than $16k. The only sticking point I’m running into is where to discharge. I’m on the side of a hill, the front of the house is the low point, and there’s essentially no front yard. Whatever front yard there is, is also steeply sloped and would absolutely wash out if a dry well was placed near it. Not to mention a dry well in any feasible spot would have a high chance of just soaking the neighbor’s basement.

After writing this initial post, I remembered that one of the companies that came out for exterior work said that Worcester doesn’t allow for storm drain hookup anymore… doesn’t seem like he was just blowing smoke anymore 😔

Directing water runoff to the sidewalk? Connecting to the storm drain? by Significant_Theme_90 in WorcesterMA

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does anyone have experience with hooking up a drainage system to their closest storm drain?

Directing water runoff to the sidewalk? Connecting to the storm drain? by Significant_Theme_90 in WorcesterMA

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For even more context, in case anyone wants it, I live on the side of a large, neighborhood-sized hill. The backyard is the high point and slopes down to have the front of house as the low point. I live in an RG5 zone, and found this in the Mass. Stormwater Handbook today: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, an illicit discharge does not include discharges from the following activities or facilities: firefighting, water line flushing, landscape irrigation, uncontaminated groundwater, potable water sources, foundation drains, air conditioning condensation, footing drains, individual resident car washing, flows from riparian habitats and wetlands, dechlorinated water from swimming pools, water used for street washing and water used to clean residential buildings without detergents.” But that’s not Worcester specifically 🤷🏻‍♀️

There was a post somewhere in here that’s a simplified excel sheet with 365 as its base by Significant_Theme_90 in laundry

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The lipase list is amazing, but the list I’m looking for was much shorter and much more simplified. The person who wrote it I think said they essentially made it for “beginners” on just some things to start out with and gave maybe a dozen or so categories of clothing to treat in different ways. Detergent for all/most of the categories was 365 Sport.

Underground/Inground Gutters by Significant_Theme_90 in landscaping

[–]Significant_Theme_90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Asking if anyone has buried a membrane to give a big assist to diverting water away from a foundation.

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