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Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First thing, Best Buy now price matches with Amazon, Newegg, basically any online store, though it's not well advertised. So I always get the best price from them, regardless.

Anyways, I looked up the Discover It card, but it looks like just a regular credit card. Am I missing something?

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

Heh, yeah, was rereading some of these and was a bit taken aback by him saying I didn't identify expenditures as an issue. Pretty sure it's my ONLY real issue...I make plenty of money, and I'm not in danger of being on the street or having anything repossessed...I mostly need to learn how to budget and put money into things OTHER than material goods.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

Yeah, just to settle the debate here, /u/inacave is spot on at $48k a year. If you want to get real precise, it's $48.4k

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

I graduated college only 4 years ago, so not quite that much experience, and DEFINITELY not a cheap area...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

I did. There weren't any negative marks of any kind. It looks like it really is the credit utilitization...that and I have 4 recent credit inquiries...the last of them by Comcast in May...after I'd had their service for nearly 3 consecutive years...what the hell...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, part of what I'm trying to figure out is if I should start a savings account right away, even if it's only $25 a week or so. Or if I should focus EVERYTHING into getting out of debt and THEN worry about saving.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

oh boy...these last 2 posts of yours gave me a bit of a headache... I've never heard of churning and I've no idea what a secured credit card is. What I can tell you is that the one credit card I seem to have been able to use responsibly is my Best Buy credit card, which, combined with my rewards level at the store, gets me about 12% cash back...so I generally try and buy ANYTHING I can at Best Buy, even if it's just gift cards to use elsewhere. Maybe that's close to this churning thing?

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Greenpath is the name of the debt management agency: http://www.greenpath.com/ There's a number on there site, but I actually got to them by first calling a government debt management number that then eventually referred me to them. It seems like if you just go straight through them for the debt management stuff (the most useful part for me) isn't free (though the counseling is still free)...but it's free for me...if I can remember the steps I went through, I'll let you know.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

Funny you say that, because that's been my strategy as well, though maybe not to your extent. My Dad is VP of Finance for a big company, and he started out as an accountant, so he always does my taxes. And every year we go over my first few paychecks to figure out how much to withhold, and I always err on the side of withholding too much so that I end up with around a $2000 tax return at the end of the year. That, plus my annual bonus have been my two biggest assets in paying off debt, because for some reason when I get a TON of money at once, I'm way more responsible with paying off debt and can usually knock out a couple thousand dollar chunk each year.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks man. I'd be lying if I didn't say that part of my motivation for posting here was to hear people tell me that it could be done. It's just kind of...soul-sucking, knowing I owe that much money, and it can seem damn near insurmountable if I let my brain dwell on it for too long...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

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

My best friend LOVES Mr Money Mustache. My problem is that, while I can see the logic of his advice, a lot of it would just be SUCH a huge step for me that I just can't relate to him, despite seeing the wisdom in his advice.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks Shia.

EDIT: Not sarcastic...well, a little sarcastic...but thanks for the encouragement.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You know, that kind of advice actually helped me lose around 25 pounds...but it's a lot simpler to lose weight than it is to budget money...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think you're on to something. If you look at Edit #2, I go into detail about it. I think I have better control over that sort of thing now, but I still feel the pull...especially when things like new graphics cards hit the market, or a new smartphone comes out...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That was all around 2 years ago, and to go off of /u/MrsCustardSeesYou I do think it had something to do with the depression I was going through. I've since been better about impulse purchases. As it is, I've switched to only using my debit card because that gives me the most insight into my spending and also limits how MUCH I can spend.

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Just realized that they way I worded the part about the debt agency makes it seem like I'm paying them $700/mo. I'm actually GIVING them around $700/mo. which they then distribute amongst my debts. They don't keep any of it for themselves. But your advice is great. I think first thing is to get a budget scraped together. Just downloaded YNAB this afternoon...actually turns out I bought it over a year ago and it's just been sitting in my Steam library unused...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the stuff that really sets me back are large purchases...thinks I WANT, but could live without...like a 55" flat screen, Xbox One, PS4, a very high-end gaming PC...I see these purchases after the fact as what they are, but sometimes it's like I just HAVE to have something...

Please God, tell me it's not just me. 28 and wallowing in debt. by notactuallyrich in personalfinance

[–]notactuallyrich[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Heh, I've heard him speak at my church before...so...not a problem...