I don’t want to shit too much on ** even sven’s ** newest pit thread but one doesn’t have to have to be a ‘know it all’ to see that her situation is entirely her fault. She also shouldn’t expect sympathy from anyone here when she continually ignore their very sound advice. But we already had a 7 page thread on this and if even sven didn’t ‘get it’ from that thread she won’t from this either.
There isn’t a lot of logical advice you can give to someone who says “I left my ATM card in the machine. Darn” beyond “Well, don’t do that again.”
I do wonder why she doesn’t have a credit card, though. You need one for situations like this. Many cards do not have annual fees and the terms are never bad if you avoid using them except for emergencies.
I wasn’t referring to that ** RickJay **. I was referring to her other monetary ‘problems’ she has. Check out the thread ** Sylkyn ** linked to for details.
I’m aware of that thread. It’s not part of the OP of this thread and so I’m not joining in the pileon.
sven, an adult should have a credit card. You’re all grown up now; you need a driver’s license (even if you don’t plan to drive) and at least one credit card. We’re talking about basic life skills here, not luxuries. Credit cards also make it a hell of a lot easier to do things like rent hotel rooms, cars, buy airline tix, etc.
Lots of credit cards can be had with no annual fees. They’ll have shitty interest rates, but only a fool carries a credit card balance anyway. For emergencies like this one they’re just the trick.
Catsix, my boyfriend is coming back at some point in the next month, just not for a couple weeks. But more importantly, my soul crushing cramps and eight day gusher will return with a vegence if not tamed with the magic of birth control pills. I’ve already used my allotment of free pills this year, but I still have a two or three month gap. I’ve planned for this financially and will be glad to pay it once I get my hand on some accepted monetary instruments.
Here is some information regarding 24-hour work. Apparently, it is legal…wow. I will essential be acting as a live in general manager:
Most of the motels around me are quite small (<30 rooms) and all are managed by Indian husband-and-wife teams who hire one desk clerk off season for occasional relief work- usually Sundays so they can go to church. A few desk clerks are trusted enough manage the hotel for extended periods of time while the managers are out of town. My managers have not had a vacation together in five years. I know two or three people that do this a few times a year, and I have done it for other motels.
I havn’t qualified for any of the credit cards I’ve applied to, but I have restricted my search to no-annual-fee cards with interst rates under 20%. Maybe I’m going to have to broaden my horizens. Driving has just not been a possibility for me quite yet, for a variety of reasons including some medical complications.
And Muffin. fuck you. I’m doing something renumerative with my time, it’s called working for a salary. I used to call my boyfriend “honey muffin”, but I’m gonna have to rethink that. I really don’t know what your problem is, but I hope you find better things to do with your hostility than make strange assumptions and absurd suggestions to someone who just left their goddam ATM card in the ATM and is unhappy about it. Please go away. Find some old ladies to kick or something.
You always have the option of asking for a secured credit card. Give the bank $500, and get a credit card with a $500 limit. They hold the $500 as security against you skipping out on it. As for the interest rate - look, there really isn’t much difference between 22% and 17% if you’re only going to use it for emergencies.
And boy, unless you have some AWESOME debts, I’m sure someone will give you a card. Don’t you have MBNA or someone like that down there?
It’s time to be tapping into that money in the bank then. Are there grocery stores around you that will let you write a check for more than the amount of the groceries? Many of them will do that here, if you get their shopper card which just requires you to fill out a little form.
And most of them have a grace period on new purchases, so if you pay the balance monthly, you pay no interest at all.
Because then it wouldn’t be quite so obvious to her family that she’s SUFFERING and it’s a great SACRIFICE to take any of her pittance slave-labor wages to buy presents for others when she needs to save every penny to buy the catfood and birth control pills she lives on.
I’ve seen few signs of that! And why have you used up your free birth control pill alotment? They’re not meant for people sitting on inheritances who just don’t really want to spend the money. There’s people who actually are in genuinely dire straits out there who need that service; you’re just depending on charity you don’t deserve if you’ve gotten free pills before.
I’m not crying for you at the moment.
So Even Sven is Argentina?
No, but Excalibre is. 
Prance on back to the bathhouse, you limp-wristed, show-tunes lovin’ homo! 
And your salary is not sufficient, so you had better start using the down time at work to earn a second income. That you prefer to whine, and whine, and whine about your being so terribly poor when you do not put your time to good effect in earning a second income, and that you have siginificant funds in the bank, is very telling. Rather than swear at me, you should look to yourself to improve your circumstances, and quit your whining.
Fuck it, it’s hopeless. An income of $600 a month and $15K in debt to the government with no meaningful assets like a car or computer and yet I’m apparently rolling in the dough and ought to be living like a queen. Folks, nobody will give me credit card because you need to have SOME KIND OF INCOME for that. They give me birth control because I HAVE NO INCOME. I didn’t choose this. I fill out the admittance form at Planned Parenthood and they just handed me a bag of pills.
The money I have does not generate enough in interest to add to my lifestyle, and every dollar of it I spend is a dollar I will not get back until I make more income- which I hope happens but I can’t count on it at this point. And besides I OWE 3/4th of it! What I have left over from what I owe is about enough to buy and pay expenses on a beater car. Spread over 12 months the leftover brings my income up to the princely sum of a thousand bucks. Still enough to qualify for free birth control. I think I will keep my day job.
No wonder America is leading the world in consumer debt- people don’t see that you need a continuing and renewing source of income in order to be able to live like you do. People don’t see that you can’t treat money you owe in the same way you can treat normal savings. People apparently see no value in trying to live within their means and get on actual solid financial footing that you can count on a year from now before they start considering themselves in decent money shape and start spending it up. If I’m in such great shape, I guess I should be giving you all advice. And here it is: DON’T LIVE ABOVE YOUR INCOME.
When I was 16, one of my friends was involved in a bad accident. He got a settlment of thirty thousand dollars- more than most family’s income at that time and place. I thought “Wow, this kid is going to get a chance to go to college!”. Of course, he didn’t. He spent it on a flashy new car. I was determined to never do something like.
I’m not the worst off girl in the world, but I do need to get in a situation where I am making more income and that is exactly what I am doing. I’ve learned the hard way not to complain or seek sympathy for my situation. I’m looking forward to some good stuff lately (my bosses might have found me a job in my field!) but I havn’t shared it because I know that nobody will understand or approve of much that I do regarding money. I’m not asking anyone to cry for me. I’ve learned now not to bring up subjects even tangentally related to money- like “The security photo on my ATM card turned out crappy” or “I hate Jesus checks”. So please let me go through a thread or two sometimes without someone squacking “Sven can’t have an opionion on nuclear proliferation- she has 20K in the bank!!!”.
You know, a lot of you are being dicks. Although even sven has started several whiny threads in the past, complaining about her helplessness at the hands of mean, unpredictable Life, this thread doesn’t read like one of those to me. All the OP really said was “shit, I lost my card – that really fucks up my plans. How stupid of me.” That reads to me like she’s at least trying to change how she comes across, which I think deserves some credit.
To have a bunch of posters swoop in here like vengeful harpies and rag on her for what she said in past threads is shitty. It’s none of your fucking business why she doesn’t get money from her boyfriend, or take a bus to see her family, or spend her $20,000 on Christmas presents. She may still be coming across as a little clueless, but it’s a lot better than coming across as a judgemental asshole.
:smack:
Damn it, even sven. It’d be easier to defend you if you’d stop posting.
You’re right it is hopeless. You aren’t 15k in debt you are 5k in the black but for some reason this doesn’t sink in. You can easily change your situation. Take the 5k move somewhere that isn’t the most expensive place in the USA. I could go on but you don’t care for some reason you insist on staying in your current situation. More power to you but you won’t get any sympathy here.
O.K., on the count of three, everybody stop squacking.
I thought you couldn’t BUY pills because you had no cash on you because the machine ate your card? Now you say that they just give them to you? So what’s the big problem? I’m confused.
It does suck to lose your card. There are many things you can do to remedy this for the future. You might look into some of the many suggestions offered here. Also, every bank in the country would be pleased to give you a credit card when you advise them you have assets of $20,000 in CDs in the bank. The bank where you have the CDs, in particular, would be thrilled to give you a card. If nothing else, you can get a secured card with the CDs as collateral. No bank will turn you down for it. You ought to look into that. It would be good for emergencies like this.
You know what? I make $600 a month. $607 and change to be exact. I work about 14 hours a week, teaching preschool. That doesn’t include prep time at home, where I cut triangles and circles.
How on Earth do you make $600 a month, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week? You need to find a better job, and I’m saying that with the best of intentions.
Squack…2,3