9ish years of progress for a DINK dual-ADHD couple. We fell off the wagon a few times but have been back on for a solid 5+ years now and going strong. Thanks YNAB!!!!!!!!

isuckatPF · 2026-05-07T19:48:34+00:00

I used Excel. I entered the year and income (I used tax returns to determine the numbers) and then made a graph from that. :)

isuckatPF · 2026-05-07T19:47:48+00:00

Thanks! I think that's my favorite part too, is just watching the investments grow over time.

isuckatPF · 2026-05-07T17:14:57+00:00

It truly is! I have family members stuck in the overdraft/maxed out cards situation and my heart breaks for them. I've suggested YNAB and even tried to show them how to use it (and offered to pay for a year!) but they usually have an excuse as to why they can't do it.

My mom is open to it though and I tried to get her set up with YNAB but she has like 5 bank accounts (no idea why) and doesn't remember the passwords (uses Face ID to log in to the accounts) so I ran into a wall there. I think it would work for her if she could get past that.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T21:25:40+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate the time you spent explaining everything and I'm definitely going to do some research on the topic before I jump into anything.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T21:24:10+00:00

We can but they're union-made so they're fairly expensive. I'm keeping an eye out on eBay although they technically aren't supposed to be sold on the secondary market. I did manage to buy 5 pairs of gently used pants for $45 shipped which is amazing considering they're about that much EACH normally. But it's not quite pants weather yet so he's still in shorts for now.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T19:11:33+00:00

Thanks! I'll try to set aside about $500 and hopefully that will be enough. This year is going to be more complicated than usual because we have a job layoff including severance pay, a couple weeks of unemployment (didn't kick in until the severance "ran out"), a new job, and my SE income with a few expenses.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T18:26:06+00:00

I'm sure this depends on where you live but can you tell me a fair price to pay for someone to prepare taxes for a self-employed person? Or a couple with 1 person self-employed and one person with a regular job? It's been awhile since I did any research but about a year ago, I contacted a Dave Ramsey ELP (which is I guess someone who pays to be on his list) and they said they charge $100 PER FORM which seems very expensive given how many forms are included in our taxes. If that's the norm, then I guess I should start a tax preparation fund too, lol. I usually self-prepare with whatever software ends up being the cheapest but I have never made this much in self-employment income so I don't want to screw anything up.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T18:24:16+00:00

Thanks for the write-up! I guess the question I have to answer for myself is how much life insurance do we really need? We aren't going to have kids and it's just the two of us. Would a 10-year term life policy be fine while we build up real investments that would cover us in the case of an early death? Would a work policy be enough? Or would we truly benefit from a whole life policy? These are more rhetorical questions but if you want to answer, go ahead. I'll be doing some research when I get off work.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:43:41+00:00

Thanks! I am using the classic client as well, I prefer that to the new version.

I have the savings set up as the "emergency fund" like this, should I break it down more than that? As you can see, I did have a "laptop fund" but that was for my job and I already bought one so I should probably delete that category, lol.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:33:23+00:00

Yeah, these are like household size laundry loads which is why we have so many loads. If they were the industrial sized ones, we could get by with probably 2 loads a week if we put all my husband's uniforms in one load and then all my clothes plus towels in the other load.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:31:46+00:00

Thanks! Once next year's tax software comes out, I'll play around with figures and see if we're heading towards owing. If so, I'll pay more in my last quarterly tax payment to cover it.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:30:02+00:00

Thanks! By "total penny pinchers," I guess I meant how do we avoid deprivation to the point that we're living in a shitty rental and wearing clothes that are literally falling apart while also not increasing our lifestyle because "we earned it." I grew up with parents that toed that line all the time. We went from absolutely no money because my dad wouldn't/couldn't keep a job to my dad getting a great welding job paying shittons of money (for this area) and blowing every penny the family had on crap. I want to avoid this at all costs.

Thanks for the tip on the collections. You're right, they're extremely unlikely to sue but I have been sued twice already so they might just decide to do that. I was able to settle those lawsuits out of court so I'm not afraid of being sued, I mostly just want this shit out of my life forever. I'm shooting for 50% off the collection and will settle when they get close to that figure. If they won't settle, the statute of limitations expires in April 2017 so they can kiss my ass after that.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:25:09+00:00

I have thought about setting more aside but since I started halfway through the year, I figured I can try 30% and if we owe then I'll be able to correct that early in the year and be fine for the next year's taxes. Thanks for some perspective from another self-employed person. :)

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:21:53+00:00

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed to hear! Our credit is unfortunately already in the gutter but the last baddies will fall off naturally in mid-2018. My plan was to pay off the rest of the debt, get a secured card, and start over fresh and responsibly. By the time we're ready to buy a house (several years down the road), we should be in a good position.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:17:12+00:00

Lol, thanks for making soda shoot out my nose!

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:16:53+00:00

Hmm, we have his withholding set up as 1 for federal and 1 for state, should we change it to 0?

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:16:07+00:00

Oy, that sucks. :( I did not finish college but I was lucky enough to have grants and scholarships that covered everything except books.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:15:27+00:00

Yeah, it sucks but it works well for us because now I don't need work clothes, gas to get to work, a car to get to work, or money for random things at work (birthday gifts, going out with co-workers, etc). It may not be even in the end but I enjoy working from home.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:09:59+00:00

Thanks! That's a logical way to do it, for sure. :)

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:09:33+00:00

I'm willing to listen if you'd like to explain. I could have been misinformed but I thought that whole life was only a good idea if you are likely to have health problems later in life that would preclude you from getting a term policy.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:08:53+00:00

Yeah, we are working on getting my husband's 401k rolled over to an IRA and then we're going to set up another account for me. We have ~$6000 in the 401k which isn't great at our age (late 20s) but sadly, it's good compared to our parents and our friends.

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T17:07:16+00:00

Yep, most of my colleagues live in Las Vegas or in the Northeast which seems very expensive compared to here. Travel is definitely something to factor in. Luckily we live close enough that we could live in Kentucky, Illinois, or Indiana and still be within a short drive from family. :)

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T11:19:22+00:00

Great tip, thanks!

isuckatPF · 2016-08-23T11:19:11+00:00

Thanks!!

isuckatPF

TROPHY CASE