Murphy is a bastard. (crass consumerism 2: electric boogaloo)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

No sooner do I post this thread: So I won the game (crass consumerism)

Then life deals us a shit sammich and lays-off my wife. :smack:

So, I pull out the playbook we’ve developed over the last two life changing events (her last layoff and a short term disability stint for a nervous breakdown) and realize that we’ve lived through this before, it’s not that big a deal, and we have a TON of options.

Lemmie get ‘the question’ out of the way early:

We’ve got a number of options for long term existence, the worst of it being: We can live at a net -100 a month, take the kids out of daycare, and exist almost indefinitely on one income, assuming nothing life altering happens (at this point that’d be something medical.)

Funny thing is, it’s actually reduced the stress level in our life. We get to stay close to home and spend more time as a family doing cheap/free stuff…and you don’t have the endless rationalization of ‘do I want that blu-ray player? Can I convince myself I can’t live WITHOUT that blu-ray player?’

2

Okay. You’re surviving on the one income? That is, your necessities like rent/mortgage, transportation, food, clothing are supplied? And if necessary, you’ve cut back on extras, like cable TV and movies and eating out? And you’re not eating into your savings?

Can you make minimum payments on the debt without diminishing your savings?

Personally, I’d contract expenses, pay off the debt totally, then resume saving. Then, if you get a second income again, it’s all gravy.

Obligatiory Dave Ramsey link.

3

The net negative 100 a month (that number needs to be updated due to changes in our budget) assumes minimum payments on the credit cards. It assumes the kids have been pulled out of daycare ($1800 a year expense) and that most other expenses have been restricted where they can.

It’s curious, there’s a LOT of corners you can cut that aren’t worth cutting. You can put netflix on hiatus, which is cool, but your cellphone? You shut it off and often the hit of cancelling the service outweighs the savings (assuming you still have money in the bank) Reduce the montly allotment of channels on the Satellite? They zing you $9 a month for cancelling HDTV…net savings, $15.

I’m already maximizing the use of light rail and the wife’s not driving much anymore, so there’s little to be gained in gas.

All in all the corners you can cut (in my case) add up to, maybe, $75 a month saved…on monthly expenses of nearly $3000 ($2200 mortgage)

4

I’ve moved 5 times in the last year (4 times in the Oslo area) and since I didn’t have a job until recently, I’ve kept myself almost entirely liquid. There’s a lot of corners to cut and it really surprised me how cheaply I was able to live in what’s certainly one of the world’s most expensive cities. And still retain a comfortable living.

My opinion is to cut the debt. I have an unparalelled hate for being in debt, so maybe that’s just me. Look at it this way; suppose your job situation is going to stay like that for a while. For a long while. Your debt will not get any smaller. On the other hand, if you pay off the debt and invest or bank some of the remaining money, that will gain interest, which may help you in the long run.

And I had the same experiences, when it came to being able to confidently and comfortably lay off new purchases. New PS3 game? Bah, sold the PS3, bought a second-hand electrical guitar for an eighth of the money, amp included. So far I’ve had tons of more entertainment from it than my PS3 ever gave me. (My gamer heart bleeds for MGS4, though.)

5

I think a great big simplifying assumption there is: are you living alone without kids?

We’re starting to do the Goodwill thing (having donated to them a lot over the years), and the wife expects to go back to work, but she’s tired of the volatility of the small IT shop and wants to do something else…something else = possibility of quite a paycut.

edit: also intangibles like Healthcare, her’s was quite a bit better than mine.

6

If it wasn’t worth paying the debt down to 0 when you had more income coming in, then I’d say it isn’t now, either. Now that you have more restricted income, your savings are more important. Now, maybe you think you really should have paid it off before, or maybe the interest rate is particularly bad, and paying it off would let you have net positive cash flow, or maybe you just don’t feel comfortable having that debt with your reduced cash flow. In the end, feeling comfortable with your situation is probably worth more than the interest or liquidity on $5000 is going to amount to.

Don’t overlook the difference that $75/mo might make, either. If you really try, maybe you can cut another $30 on top. Having cash flow of +$5 is, psychologically, way better than -$5.

I think I’m confused about the TV part, but you really have to pay extra to cancel? Is it like a cell phone where (essentially) they sold you some equipment on credit and you have to see out the contract to be square? If so, go to the end of the contract and then cut it. You may be surprised by how little you miss it.

7

We were hitting the credit cards pretty hard, paying down $2000 a month in the hopes of getting it paid off by the end of the summer. We just weren’t paying it down fast enough to have it gone before unemployment hit unexpectedly.

I’m of two minds at the moment. One suggestion was to pay them off, then if you needed the money, put some back on the credit cards. The idea being: if you need the money anyway, you have the cards…if you don’t, you’re not accuring the interest.

I’m also thinking of just handling the minumums until the wife gets another job, THEN ‘dip into savings’ and pay everything off.

The point with the satellite dish was that going from a 250 channel + HD package to a minimum package would drop the price less than expected. If the baseline was $50 and the 250 channel was $80, you get zinged $9 for having an HD receiver and no HD channels. Net Difference: $21.

It didn’t seem like enough of a savings to bother.

Now, if things get REALLY tight. NO satellite TV would save $50 or $80, but I’m not that hungry yet.

I think right now it’s an excercise in restraint…Let’s just say selling a car will clear up a big chunk of things forever. (In our case, it would) But the dry period is only two or three weeks.

You sell the car, things free up…now you have no financial worries anymore…and one less car. (In this case, a paid-for one.)

Second example: I inherited a GREAT camcorder…it’s worth $900. I use ir 4 hours a year (halloween and Xmas), selling it will get us some quick cash…but there’s no way I’ll rationalize paying $900 to replace something I use four hours a year. It’s worth keeping, it’s not worth replacing.