Alabama thread!

so how did you determine "X amount"?

 

haha yes I do, I actually learned it in high school, alongside the Pythagorean theorem and all that other super useful, can't survive without tidbits of information.

 

No apps here, just a joint account. Every payday, 50% of our paycheck (not counting bonuses or overtime) is automatically transferred to join account. That's used for mortgage, house bills, date nights, groceries, joint vacations, etc.

Everything else comes out of our personal accounts- my car insurance (ours aren't combined), eating out not with the other, weekend outings alone, toys and truck parts, etc.

 

that's sort of how I mentally do things now. I allow myself my "required" monthly payments for everything to be roughly 50% of my monthly income. The rest I put in savings, spend on fun, or whatever else there may be.

 

It’s an ongoing evaluation but I basically took what I made from my last job and figured that’s a good baseline. I save everything that I make that’s more than my previous salary. Makes it like I never got a raise. I also save in to my 401k as well as a Roth IRA.

 

I forgot you are an engineer, let me explain.
When you see only the side of a rectangle shape object and only the front of another rectangle shaped object in the same picture they are most likely 90 degrees to each other. Being we didn't use a snatch block he most likely pulled me sideways.

 

How do you pull that off for me and my daughter that I have every other week we spend that much easily. I've tried coupon clipping and suck royally at actually using them and doing it.

 

lol but that's not at all how you're sitting!

we can see the side of your front bumper in front of your grill, but we can see 0 of the rear of your samurai. we do see a straight on view of Brian's truck.

here's a drawing to explain for you. now tell me, are you getting pulled more backwards or sideways?

 

My wife and youngest son eat like mice. Me, oldest son and daughter have a pretty normal diet. We don't buy sodas or candy or none of that bullshit. It's fresh fruit, veggies and I cook just about every single night. I also grow crops and do a little canning. I hunt deer during the fall and if I kill 6-7 deer in a season, that gives us ground meat for a year. Deep sea fishing, the same way. Charter a boat, catch hundreds of pounds of fish and it feeds us for up to a year.

 

well said, again I wasn't saying Dave Ramsey's stuff was "crud" just that I didn't want books/videos/seminars and stuff to purchase. I'm sure he knows his stuff, but like you...I'm not going to get rid of credit cards and free money just because they can be the downfall of some folks.

 

So I was correct, yall are both right! You said straight back, wrong. Jeff said sideways, wrong. 45 degree pull, correct! lol

 

With credit cards, you are always owing somebody something. If I can't buy something outright, I just don't buy it. Unless it's an emergency of course, which is what the credit card is for. I hate owing anything to anyone. Everyone will be different in how they budget and their discipline to budget. That free money back shit sounds good, but doesn't take into account the interest charges over time.

 

I said backwards. I drew the green lines to show you, look how much closer the winch line is to the backwards green line. it's about 45 degrees off Brians truck, but it's almost a 180 degree pull off the back of Jeff's samurai

 

Dave Ramsey's "crud" is what I followed to get out of debt. I also pay attention to a lot of different investing guys on where to go from here. Plus look to my parents and my grandparents on how they handled money. It's helped a lot in saving and being set. Now only buying stuff with cash is probably the hardest part because you can't just go out and spend 4g for stuff but it's nice saying and knowing that I don't have a credit card bill hanging over my head.

 

that's not necessarily true that I will always owe somebody something.

say I have 500$ cash, and I also have a $500 credit card that gives me 5% back.

I want something that costs 100$ (that's w/ tax).

Buy it with cash, I'm out $100. Buy it with the credit card, I'm out $95. I had the money for it, but got some back for using the card. Payed it off with that cash, and don't owe anybody anything. Done.

 

Jeannie and I are going to start a Roth IRA soon. Between that, both of our vested 401k accounts and the dime of every dollar that she and I have saved, will help out when we get older and want to buy our 40 acres of land out in the boonies!

 

Yeah I fish quite often not as much as I use to, same with hunting. Selling my home and moving into this apartment has huge limitations on putting meat away. Both me and my daughter eat above avg diets. For example just this morning we went through 8 eggs 1/2 pack of bacon, and one bowl of cereal. We are both far from being fat or unhealthy. I do the same with meals as well fresh fruits and veggies and cook or prepare meals ahead for later.

 

yeah when I said "crud" everyone took it the wrong way...guess I should've said "stuff"...

I'm looking at this EveryDollar thing Tyler pointed out and it looks pretty good to help see the numbers.

 

Look where I am at, I had no problem backing up so why would I need to be pulled backwards. He pulled me sideways because when I tried to go backward I hit the rock BEHIND me.
I really hope you have vision care and you may want to see someone about memory lose too, you took the picture.

 

I see your point. I don't use credit cards enough to amount to my 5% being worth anything at the end of the year. Plus, it would only benefit you if you put that 5% back when you get it, but a lot of folks blow it on a vacation, Christmas, remodeling, etc.

And even then, you still have the remainder of that debt on your credit card, which means you owe something to somebody! lol