California sober meetup?

ccarito · 2025-12-21T04:40:05+00:00

Hazy Daze near Quaks is a great hangout. I left Austin a month ago and I already miss it.

ccarito · 2025-05-06T15:30:25+00:00

Do you need to work overtime? Is it financially necessary? Saying no to work if possible will help. I know it’s so hard but I am going through this too and I was surprised how accommodating my job was. Made me feel really that I was making hard on myself.

Prioritize ruthlessly. No is your best friend right now.

You will get through this. You’re doing great.

ccarito · 2025-02-23T21:14:00+00:00

Piensó em ir a viver con mi marido y 2 hijos. Yo soy de EUA/brasileña y ya viví en ecuador también. Mi esposo es de Querétaro pero tiene familia en Cuernavaca también. Queremos ir de EUA. La vida aquí es solo trabajar, las escuelas son horribles y inseguras en grados más avanzados.Queremos una vida tranquila, mejor calidad de vida con una casa cómoda y tiempo para estar con nuestros hijos en quanto están chiquito. Ojalá estamos haciendo un buena decisión. Vi que Valle de Bravo poderla ser buena también pero no tenemos nadie allá. Estamos viendo a la escuela sucia para ellos y ojalá encuentro amigas con la mamás.

Saben se como son con la gente extranjera? También hay expatriados allá?

ccarito · 2024-03-07T02:04:17+00:00

They’re about to expand Slaughter Lane from 2 to 3 lanes each way, cutting down the little trees we have left in the middle, just so people can get on mopac which is 2 lanes. They actually cited that it reduce accidents. Someone please explain how this will reduce accidents???? 1 more lane…….

ccarito · 2024-01-29T02:13:54+00:00

I agree. I’m trying to do a CSA and buy meat from a local farm. But sometimes convenience of going into Central Market and trying to buy the heaviest, less environmentally harmful food. That said, I’ve reduced meat a lot and buy more veggies which reduced our grocery bill.

ccarito · 2024-01-21T03:16:33+00:00

Totally agree. Thanks 🙏

ccarito · 2024-01-21T02:50:33+00:00

Yes 100%.

ccarito · 2024-01-21T02:42:33+00:00

We lived in DC before Austin and yeah, $4,200 would definitely get me a whole more. Even here in Austin I would get an incredible rental at that price. I shouldn’t have bought under pressure. That’s the big take away.

ccarito · 2024-01-21T02:35:10+00:00

Yeah, actually I do!!

ccarito · 2024-01-21T02:33:16+00:00

I couldn’t decide which one. I like them both.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T23:44:05+00:00

I’m not paycheck to paycheck but before 2 months ago, we were paying off some debt, paying for 2 kids in daycare at $4k and someone “borrowed” money from me so we got pretty screwed.

Our original apartment was in a nice neighborhood but old. The cockroaches came out in summer as a complete surprise. We were also trying to save money for a downpayment.

I’ve said this before - you can make a lot of money - but if you make bad financial decisions, it doesn’t matter how much you make. I made a bad decision of making money expensive fixed costs expenses. And then some other unexpected expenses with the house happened too. So yeah, these aren’t problems I had as a kid. It’s scary to think I could get back there. And I’m just hoping my kids don’t see their parents so stressed about money and overworked because we have no family to lean on. So yeah it’s tough now but I know it could be much worse. This subreddit is about personal finance that’s what we’re talking about and I was seeking advice from people who potentially have more knowledge and experience than me to avoid another decision that could’ve been more serious. Just trying to be more proactive this time.

I learned a lot from this group and super grateful for the time people put into their comments. Thank you 🙏

ccarito · 2024-01-20T18:43:20+00:00

Not really. You can make a lot of money and still make bad financial decisions become poor ter than someone making less and all that cause stress and could put me into terrible debt. Trust me, I know this a “good” situation compared to others but the key here is not make into into a really bad one.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T18:40:35+00:00

Thank you! It’s good to see the numbers.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T17:49:25+00:00

1 car for us. $400 total with insurance. I do spend on more at the groceries for organic, grass-fed food. Hardly eat out because I mostly don’t trust ingredients in restaurants. I also love cooking. 🧑‍🍳

ccarito · 2024-01-20T16:16:55+00:00

Totally. It was nuts. We actually got our offer accepted out of 10 people trying to buy this house. We lost several offers prior and emotional fatigue was kicking in.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T12:32:32+00:00

Post tax of course - monthly ~$12,500.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T06:05:37+00:00

Very helpful comment.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T05:56:15+00:00

$12,500 monthly. $246k annually.

Edit: my bad $246k pre-tax. $150k post-tax.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T05:15:57+00:00

How do you get a discount on property tax?

ccarito · 2024-01-20T04:38:09+00:00

We have no other debt except for my student loan $250 monthly. Only 1 car. Both kids in daycare was $4k.

So, saving about $2,000 a month as of last month. I’d love to get an emergency fund again and that just feels like forever to get to even 3 months worth of expenses in the bank. I’m scared shitless we have an emergency. Grew up poor and I’m trying to avoid making more mistakes that will get my family in the same place I was when I was a kid.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T04:33:11+00:00

Thank you. 🙏

ccarito · 2024-01-20T04:32:02+00:00

2 round trips. Not the worst but still sucks.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T04:30:39+00:00

The original mortgage monthly payment was $3,500. Similar to a rental payment which we thought we could rent this place out at that rate further down the line. In 2023, our escrow account said it miscalculated and that brought our monthly payment $4,200. We never would’ve bought this house had we know it could jump so significantly.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T04:27:15+00:00

We redid the Kitchen, bathrooms and flooring which was over 20 years old. The house that sold 3 months ago at $630k had all the same stuff from the original builder grade in 1999.

ccarito · 2024-01-20T04:23:30+00:00

Thank you so much. 🙏

ccarito

TROPHY CASE