In reply to The_Jed :
Would your children be able to stay with Grandma or someone like that while you- Drove a truck, worked on a river boat, worked on an oil rig, worked on an offshore supply vessel? Great ways to pile up cash with no need for a car or for that matter, a house.
The_Jed said:I have a $30 flip phone that costs $30 per month. The kids' phones are $100 per month (old phones). I only use free streaming services; Tubi, Youtube, etc., no cable. I don't eat out or smoke or drink. I have a gym membership- $35/month. I don't have any credit cards. I've been living like this for a very long time and plan to continue doing so. My internet (at the moment) is $35 per month. Car insurance is just under $300 per month (will be investigating that). Utilities are usually just under $200/mo. Water is around $70/mo. The med bills have been paid down to 700-ish. The attorney is well into four digits. I bring home about $3,400 per month. I should be slowly rising up but stuff keeps breaking. Lately I've just been wondering if it's like this for everyone, is it really supposed to be this difficult?
I'm constantly shooting off apps for public sector jobs; I had an online interview a few days ago. Everything from the state, county, or city that I'm qualified for gets an app. Most fed jobs I've found require a degree. I've applied for several internal positions where I work but, I can't get an interview.
Sounds like you're doing all the right things, but perhaps it's time to do those right thing somewhere else? Where are you located at?
From my quick math, I see $1090 (including the 400 mortgage and 430 car payment mentioned up thread) - xxxx attorney fees, which is leaving less than $90 per month to feed, clothe, basics 3 people in today's food & clothing market, that's damned tough. That just doesn't seem possible to me.
3400*12 is $40,800, or ~$19.61/hr.
I haven't made $40k a year since 2005 or 6. That's damned tough. I mean, all the saving & scrimping in the world won't help in the monthly income is less than monthly expenditures, and it sounds like you've already been living in survival mode for years.
Again, I don't know where in the US you're located, so I just searched locally on Indeed.com for "Machine Maintenance" (since that sounds like what you're doing at the steel mill?). It looks like industrial maintenance techs up here in North East CT are starting at $30/hr which is $62,000/yr. Salaries listed at a quick search show upwards of $40 ($83,000).
Assuming the same math at $30/hr, now, you should have $5,200/mo. That gives you an extra $1800/mo. You put $580 into a RothIRA to max it out ($7000/yr), that'll leave you $1220 to live, have a bit of fun and agressively pay off your debts. Dump the rest into an index fund. If you start playing the Roth game now, you'll end up at 65 having invested $155,000, but having made $133,000 by the time you reach 65 (according to this calculator). Not a ton, but a good start on retirement at least!
WonkoTheSane said:The_Jed said:I have a $30 flip phone that costs $30 per month. The kids' phones are $100 per month (old phones). I only use free streaming services; Tubi, Youtube, etc., no cable. I don't eat out or smoke or drink. I have a gym membership- $35/month. I don't have any credit cards. I've been living like this for a very long time and plan to continue doing so. My internet (at the moment) is $35 per month. Car insurance is just under $300 per month (will be investigating that). Utilities are usually just under $200/mo. Water is around $70/mo. The med bills have been paid down to 700-ish. The attorney is well into four digits. I bring home about $3,400 per month. I should be slowly rising up but stuff keeps breaking. Lately I've just been wondering if it's like this for everyone, is it really supposed to be this difficult?
I'm constantly shooting off apps for public sector jobs; I had an online interview a few days ago. Everything from the state, county, or city that I'm qualified for gets an app. Most fed jobs I've found require a degree. I've applied for several internal positions where I work but, I can't get an interview.Sounds like you're doing all the right things, but perhaps it's time to do those right thing somewhere else? Where are you located at?
From my quick math, I see $1090 (including the 400 mortgage and 430 car payment mentioned up thread) - xxxx attorney fees, which is leaving less than $90 per month to feed, clothe, basics 3 people in today's food & clothing market, that's damned tough. That just doesn't seem possible to me.
3400*12 is $40,800, or ~$19.61/hr.
I haven't made $40k a year since 2005 or 6. That's damned tough. I mean, all the saving & scrimping in the world won't help in the monthly income is less than monthly expenditures, and it sounds like you've already been living in survival mode for years.
Again, I don't know where in the US you're located, so I just searched locally on Indeed.com for "Machine Maintenance" (since that sounds like what you're doing at the steel mill?). It looks like industrial maintenance techs up here in North East CT are starting at $30/hr which is $62,000/yr. Salaries listed at a quick search show upwards of $40 ($83,000).
Assuming the same math at $30/hr, now, you should have $5,200/mo. That gives you an extra $1800/mo. You put $580 into a RothIRA to max it out ($7000/yr), that'll leave you $1220 to live, have a bit of fun and agressively pay off your debts. Dump the rest into an index fund. If you start playing the Roth game now, you'll end up at 65 having invested $155,000, but having made $133,000 by the time you reach 65 (according to this calculator). Not a ton, but a good start on retirement at least!
He said he takes home $3400/month. So I'm assuming that is after any payroll taxes/deductions, not before.
And your 2nd example, again you aren't removing any payroll taxes or anything.
In reply to The_Jed :
Im not suggesting seeking handouts but just like every stereotypical millionaire who works the system for tax breaks and shelters... Are you maxing out on all you can get?
Do you qualify for food stamps? Again, I'm not saying to take it as a hand-out but like the millionaire mindset, if you can save a dollar there then you can use the dollar somewhere else.
Free school lunch program for the kids?
Local food bank or food drives? I'm not talking soup kitchen meals but rather around here a few times a month you get your car in line and they hand out a few boxes. Often frozen meats, paper products, soaps, 10lbs of potatoes, other staples, etc. Again, if you can save a dollar there, you can possibly really save a dollar towards something else.
Sorry for the confusion, the attorney fees are what has been paid thus far, not a monthly payment. The med bills are what's left at the moment. I just got another EOB so, there's more on the way. I'll break it down better when I get back home, I'm on my break at work.
There are no grandparents aunts/uncles, etc. in their lives to the extent that the kids could stay with them, it's just us three.
z31maniac said:WonkoTheSane said:The_Jed said:I have a $30 flip phone that costs $30 per month. The kids' phones are $100 per month (old phones). I only use free streaming services; Tubi, Youtube, etc., no cable. I don't eat out or smoke or drink. I have a gym membership- $35/month. I don't have any credit cards. I've been living like this for a very long time and plan to continue doing so. My internet (at the moment) is $35 per month. Car insurance is just under $300 per month (will be investigating that). Utilities are usually just under $200/mo. Water is around $70/mo. The med bills have been paid down to 700-ish. The attorney is well into four digits. I bring home about $3,400 per month. I should be slowly rising up but stuff keeps breaking. Lately I've just been wondering if it's like this for everyone, is it really supposed to be this difficult?
I'm constantly shooting off apps for public sector jobs; I had an online interview a few days ago. Everything from the state, county, or city that I'm qualified for gets an app. Most fed jobs I've found require a degree. I've applied for several internal positions where I work but, I can't get an interview.Sounds like you're doing all the right things, but perhaps it's time to do those right thing somewhere else? Where are you located at?
From my quick math, I see $1090 (including the 400 mortgage and 430 car payment mentioned up thread) - xxxx attorney fees, which is leaving less than $90 per month to feed, clothe, basics 3 people in today's food & clothing market, that's damned tough. That just doesn't seem possible to me.
3400*12 is $40,800, or ~$19.61/hr.
I haven't made $40k a year since 2005 or 6. That's damned tough. I mean, all the saving & scrimping in the world won't help in the monthly income is less than monthly expenditures, and it sounds like you've already been living in survival mode for years.
Again, I don't know where in the US you're located, so I just searched locally on Indeed.com for "Machine Maintenance" (since that sounds like what you're doing at the steel mill?). It looks like industrial maintenance techs up here in North East CT are starting at $30/hr which is $62,000/yr. Salaries listed at a quick search show upwards of $40 ($83,000).
Assuming the same math at $30/hr, now, you should have $5,200/mo. That gives you an extra $1800/mo. You put $580 into a RothIRA to max it out ($7000/yr), that'll leave you $1220 to live, have a bit of fun and agressively pay off your debts. Dump the rest into an index fund. If you start playing the Roth game now, you'll end up at 65 having invested $155,000, but having made $133,000 by the time you reach 65 (according to this calculator). Not a ton, but a good start on retirement at least!
He said he takes home $3400/month. So I'm assuming that is after any payroll taxes/deductions, not before.
And your 2nd example, again you aren't removing any payroll taxes or anything.
Good call... Bad math on my part there!
In reply to The_Jed :
Sounds like you have been through a sucktastick bad patch but you came out the far side with your integrity, your sanity and the best part uf your family.That is a remarkable accomplishment under the current economic circumstances. It may not feel like it but you are crushing it.I can't offer much but I know you are a fighter,use that spirit to focus one on one problem at a time, kick its ass and move on to the next one. Your a good person hang in there!
1). Don't berkeleying quit.
2). comparison is the thief of joy. Stop it. It berkeleys with my mental health and it berkeleys with yours. Ain't worth your time
3) concentrate on making on thing better. Then the next thing. Then the next. Don't do everything all at once.
To answer your questions as posted in the title in reference, sounds like higher salary and no, you're doing great with what you have and even asking this is an example of outsourcing technical problem solving. You've done so well and asking for help is doing what is helpful, that's to be admired. You don't have any obvious bad habits and are already very frugal. Getting out of the exs mortgage on upcoming foreclosure would be biggest issue but sounds like legal fees fighting that haven't been helpful. Kids should qualify for assistance so sign up for everything you can. Try for any government or state job or I know delivery drivers get paid well at the top if you can work your way in. If you're kids have a local college they want to go to if you can do anything there they might get a discount also.
In reply to The_Jed :
It's not just you, I don't understand how random-ass yahoos make ordinary 1st-worlder money. The only time I made ordinary 1st-worlder money was in a 3-year period where I worked myself half to death at a hellish job. From my previous job it felt like I was working 4~10x as hard for 2x the money.
I saved up a decent bit of money from that but then lost it on starting a business that failed (if I'm lucky I might get most of that back later this year if I can sell it), crashing my Toyobaru into a concrete pillar (which I still haven't resolved, and it looks like E36 M3's gonna get real with that project soon), and just basic living expenses while not being able to find any job since I started looking for jobs at full speed after the pillar incident in May. I've applied for dozens of jobs, almost all of which I was fully qualified for, and all I've got out of it is a few rejection letters and lots of silence. These days I'm doing gig work which only slows the rate at which I lose money and is probably destroying my body...at least that's sure how it feels over the course of a day.
1: are you on www.usajobs.gov? That's the only place to go to look for government jobs. I work for the VA and we always need maintenance people.
2. You were in the military and had medical issues. Do you have a service connected disability rating? PTSD, tinnitus, sleep apnea, IBS, ED, and many many more things can be linked to a service connected disability. Go talk to the DAV and ask for help applying. I know dudes who appear perfectly fine getting 90-100%. And let me tell you, 100% is a GAME CHANGER. Your kids get free education, you get free health care, and your compensation is tax free. It's the fast forward to retirement button (I'm working on mine now).
3: You aren't responsible to pay for your kids schooling. If you can, great but it isn't your responsibility. My son is in the AirForce (super duper recommend this for young people) and my daughter goes to a free college (they exist). Help them out where you can but you have to take care of you.
4: If you're raising the kids, is the ex helping? If not, why not. That's part of the social contract.
Good luck, it's goddamned hard. My divorce punched a $500,000 hole in my lifetime earnings and took me a decade to crawl out of. I'll never be on the same financial path I was but I'll do the best I can.
It always makes me feel bad admitting that I climbed from pillars built by family that came before me. It's not to say that I didn't work for my successes, but it did afford me the ability to focus my efforts.
One thing I will say is to remember that pretty much everyone only allows the best version of their story to show. We all give the highlight reel, not the ugly parts and not the help we had along the way.
I have a family member that turned 7 figures of assets into foreclosure on two houses and a bankruptcy and isn't capable of improving their situation. You are far far far better than them at life.
I don't have any answers better than those already suggested. The only thing I can add is that the best approach I have found to job hunting is networking. I got my first career job after a 9 month period where my job was job hunting. 450+ applications with only one interview that didn't pan out (yea graduating in the great recession). The job I wound up getting was through a personal contact, not an online application, even then I got paid poorly for several years having to use that job as a stepping stone to a better one that I was able to climb over time.
I could tell my story, I had some sub-optimal situations, but nothing like you are fighting. I could give examples, but they would be trite next to what you have already been through and survived.
I'm just trying to say your treading water likely represents better swimming than my success or that of my peers.
My path was as simple as make a plan, stick to that plan unless you find one you know is better. Keep pulling to that plan. Mine didn't get derailed by life as badly as yours and I had a family safety net.
I wish I had a magic answer. You aren't failing, you are just fighting a harder fight than most and it impresses me. Don't be down on yourself.
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