Introduction post

[jamethiel]

Are you sure that you will never, EVER be able to save anything? Do your debts inspire you to hyperventilate and you don't know where to begin?

That's what this community is for.

We aim to provide a non-judgmental and nurturing environment so that you can face your financial demons and start getting your shit together. None of us are financial professionals. We're ordinary folk from all walks of life with a range of incomes and circumstances. We're here to provide advice and handy hints. So, WELCOME. This is the first ever post. Post in the comments! Introduce yourself, tell us your best and worst financial habits, what kind of post you'd like to see in this community. Say hi to others!

As a note: I can't crosspost to the LJ community of the same name automatically, but I'll do it manually. All posts will be mirrored both here and there from now on.

Comments

[jamethiel]

Okay, I'll start off. Hi! I'm jame. I'm your friendly neighbourhood moderator.

I come from a relatively privileged background, buy my parents thought that talking about money was gauche. So I never learned to budget. I was fairly directionless in life and managed to get myself in a lot of credit card debt.

Then I found a job I love and started taking control of my life. In 4 months, I've gone from having $3500 of credit card debt to having less than $2000. I'm actually on track to get free of debt in 8 months time.

In addition to that, I've developed some goals. They're big and it's scary, but I'm looking at saving to get the deposit for a house and also building an emegency fund.

Hi!

[zeenell]

Hi all! I'm nell.

I'm pretty on track with where I need to be or so I assume.

I finally finished paying off the money that was owed to the first college I went to - meal plan, pretty much (my dad said he would pay for it in the divorce decree. I had the fun of getting collection notices. I paid it all off - about 50 dollars a week, to the tune of 3200).

I have a student loan that's still subsidized, so I've been paying down the principle while the governments been paying the interest.

I get paid every week, and split all my bills in quarters (cell phone, credit card, student loan, and 2 others), and have everything debited out of my account on payday. Otherwise, I'll spend the money on whatever, because it's just sitting there.

(Yes, part of the quarters on things includes my two savings accounts. I also have a 401k that's taken out pre-taxes).

I know you are supposed to keep money until the bill is due, to collect interest, but I just can't do that.

I have credit card debt, but now that I don't have to pay money to the collection agency, I put 25 extra to the credit card and 25 to the saving accounts.

Uhm. What else - I have two savings accounts. One is where the money for my (eventual) apartment is making baby money - there's a few year savings bonds also attached to it, and the other is for whatever shiny technological thing I want (new computer, lalalala)

[red_trillium]

I've been in debt for decades. I have credit cards and use them. I used to live off them but since I get paid more now than when I was in college it's not as bad. I still put too much on them though. I've got a student loan and we have 2 hire purchases we are paying on & 4 cards between 2 of us (3 credit, one store credit).

I have long term goals. Sometimes though when I'm down it seems like I won't ever be able to save and then blow my budget and go a bit crazy. Which takes me back to square one. I want to get better though. One of my long-term goals is a medical one. I don't foresee every really being able to save enough for that plus the down for a house. Both are equally important to me and both are pretty major expenses.

I do the bills for my wife and I, try to do the budget and try to save. I give us each a little spending money and lunch money and I think this has in general helped mostly. My biggest stumbling block is that sometimes I don't do the books when I should and then have to take money out of our small savings to cover what we did spend. I want to get better at it this year.

I've also made myself an "I'd Like" post so I can try to better plan what I spend instead of going crazy and getting stuff. I've got a bad memory and sometimes will buy stuff because I've been wanting it for a long time and keep forgetting what it was, so when I do remember I try to get it all. And I figure that might help me stay focused and plan better, I can save my fortnightly spending allowance for the "big-ticket" items.

[cleverthylacine]

This is a great community. I'm considering joining. However, have you considered setting a minimum security on the whole comm? I know I can set security on any posts I make, but here's the thing. I have internet trolls, and other people have real-world stalkers. I don't know that people with security problems are going to want to discuss their financial issues, past or present, in other people's unlocked posts, even if it would be a helpful example of how someone could manage to do X. (Not that I can say much that is helpful at this point.)