Finances

[ravencallscrows]

Damnit, I'm sick of continually living from payday to payday, and never having any money . If it's not one thing it's another. It's not as if we're wasting an inordinate amount of funds on trivial stuff- it's a rare thing when we treat ourselves even as little as going to a movie. People our age and younger are thinking about buying homes, and have things like car payments. We're nowhere able being able to do either, and don't have anything to show for it, either. If we'd just been irresponsible fiscally, I could understand it- like the people we know who spend $2000 on winter holidays (we spent less than 10% of that!) in spite of being two months in arrears on their rent and having a car with no brakes- *and* they're talking about buying a house (fat chance, that).
I don't expect regular windfalls, but just once, it'd be nice to get the odd break in our favour. As it is, it's almost like trying to climb out of a well- if we ever managed to break even, things would take care of themselves. I'm sick of treading water.

Comments

[gwynn-aaron.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, Vanya. It seems like nearly everyone Lauren and I know is buying or has bought a home, especially those who can't afford it. Griffin and his wife bought a fairly nice home and then he quit to work on his leather-craft. Scott and Jenn bought a home with him being deeply in debt and her having a teacher's salary. It's not even like Lauren and I want to buy a house here in Ohio, but even if we did I don't know if we could. I guess we won't really know for sure until after we've moved out west and decide that it is time to do so. Hopefully once we have joined you out there we'll be able to find better paying jobs than we have here.

I think by the time that comes I better have added some skills. Flash, PHP and MySQL are all on that list. Can you think of anything else I should learn? What is the job market like in Seattle right now? Do local analysts think that the market will pick up in the metro area in the next year or so? How much has Boeing's departure hurt things?

[wingedelf.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly, right now, the unemployment rate in metro-Seattle is running around 5.5%, which is higher than it has been in quite some time. Part of that is Boeing, with the general downturn in the economy coupled with the reduction in people flying- many of their orders have been postponed or cancelled.
It's hard to predict what will happen short- or long-term, just because things are so odd in the tech industry- there's still somewhat of a glut of people who were at some point or another in wage-slavery to a failed dot com (most of whom had loads of stock options, most of which are as valuable as used toilet paper now), so it's not really a hiring market; but on the flip side, I know of a few solid jobs which haven't been snapped right up, including some I'd be interested in m'self.
If I were in your position, I'd check out the newsgroups- seattle.jobs.offerred primarily- and take a look at what things are on the market. There are lots of headhunters who post to that ng, so there are usually some pretty solid jobs therein. I'm thinking that with your skills you're going to find a niche fairly easily- in fact, I may just have to introduce you to a few people I know who have a year-old company which is doing internet services targeted specifically at children- they're the former owners and some of the folks I worked with at Cavedog (and it's parent company, Humongous Entertainment).
I'm just frustrated that every time it seems we're just about to turn the corner financially something rudely disavows us of that idea, and it's usually something stupid and mechanical- more specifically automotive- which is proving to be the greatest detriment to living so damn far from work- it's just not feasible to bus or whatnot, so there's no choice but to fix the damn things when something goes wrong. So much for trying to be financially responsible!
And then there's the guy I ride-share with presently. He and his wife are expecting their first child in June, and they're just stupid kids- they're the ones who blew two grand on winter holidays despite being two months behind in their rent and having a car which you hope never needs to stop abruptly. He's babbling about them buying a house shortly after his current contract ends and he goes back to MS, which pisses me off. I just want to slap him silly about twice a week and make him see the reality- their cash flow is a pendulum with two extremes, and in the year+ we've been driving together, it's been in the red quite a bit more than it has been in the black. Go figure! *grumblegrumbledamnitgrumble*

[gwynn-aaron.livejournal.com]

I'll check out the newsgroup, thank you. Now I just have to find something to use to do so.

Concerning the issue of your car, is it an old car? What kind is it? Did you buy it new or used? When I first got my job with SSI I was considering buying just any used car I could get my hands on, but then I realized that I didn't know how long I'd have this car for and I didn't know what kind of use I would put it through. For these reasons and a few others I decided to stretch my finances to the breaking point in order to buy a new car. The payments are rough, but having a vehicle in good condition which is also still under warrantee has been more than worth it. If there is any way that you can possibly get yourself a new car then you should. Something small, reliable, and fuel efficient would be perfect, I suspect. Lauren has had very good results from the Saturn she got used from her Dad, and she's put a hell of a lot of miles on it.

As for the guy you know who has so much trouble being financially responsible, that sounds a lot like the Scott that Jeff and I know.

[aylara.livejournal.com]

Sexy pic, Gwynn. ;)

About this issue...I don't know your financial situation, but I have to agree with Gwynn...having an old car just isn't worth it. We had TWO very elderly automobiles in a row, and we were paying quite a bit to keep them going. In fact over six months we spent nearly $1000--close to our current car payment of $220 a month, when you think about it, and we put no money down--just traded in our current vehicle.

Jeffrey and I are actually taking our first real vacation since our honeymoon in a month or so. My mom is an expert budget person and showed us how to find our two "extra" paychecks each year. If you get paid every two weeks, you get the two extra checks, since there's 52 weeks in a year and you get paid 26 times. Since most bills are figured on a monthly basis, there are two times each year where you get three checks in a month. We can tell when this is because we always pay our rent on alternating checks, and there were two entire checks between rent payments in January.

So anyway, I don't know if this helps or makes you feel worse. If it makes you feel better, we're WAY in credit card debt from a rough spot we had a year or so back, but we are paying them off and we decided to take a vacation in order to not be totally miserable for years and years. We're sure we won't get another chance for a few years. Now we're saving for a house, too, but we know we only have to save about 3% for closing costs, because first time home buyers are usually not required to put down any down payment at all. So this year or next, we're hoping to get a house. We have a $700 rent payment, so a house payment can't be much worse for a semi-decent place to live.