Do you know who Karyn Bosnak is? She’s the woman who began the SaveKaryn.com website a few years ago when she got laid off from her high-paying job and realized she was in some rather crushing credit card debt, which she’d gotten in feeding “her affection for buying designer-label products.”
Thankfully, my current level of debt isn’t for anything quite so frivilous. Rather, it has more to do with:
1. Reduced working hours (still 45+ hours a week) between September and May, resulting from full-time focus as a college student.
2. School related out-of-pocket expenses: books, permits, January minimester tuition.
3. A depleted savings account ($1000 in September, $33 and change today), used primarily to fund assorted car related issues (which eventually spread to my Goodyear card).
4. Occasionally making up for income shortages by using credit cards to fund groceries and utilities. On a couple of occasions, I found myself using my credit cards to “float” my rent in order to afford to pay for my health insurance and January minimester tuition.
I’m not entirely comfortable asking for money. Which is to say, this is, I think, the hardest post I’ve ever written (it’s the residual Catholic in me). The fact of the matter is, if Karyn Bosnak can be successful raising funds off the internet to pay for her lavious life-style, I hope I can be partially as successful raising funds from the blogosphere to help recover from some of the financial strain I placed myself under from a truly worthwhile cause this last year: finishing up college.
“So, Snay, just how much debt do you have from the last nine months?”
I’ve got about $4,000 in credit card debt that I trace back to the last nine months. The biggest chunk of that was my January rent, which I “floated” onto credit cards so that I could afford to pay for Shakespeare.
“So, Snay, why didn’t you take your reduced income into account when heading into a year of school?”
I thought I had. There were four main problems:
FIRST: The problem with the pizza-delivery industry is that while you can look to past trends to predict future earnings, freak events — like the unsually warm fall and winter (’til the middle of January, anyway) — impact sales negatively. Low sales, low earnings.
SECOND: Over-staffing. In the fall, Greg hired literally just about everyone who applied for a job as a driver. Our staff went from five drivers to ten, which meant more drivers per shift, which means less deliveries per shift. While I began cutting my hours at the Franchise to work more at the Indy, a similar over-scheduling environment existed there.
THIRD: A rather inflexible school schedule made it difficult to pick up additional hours. I mean, if I get out of class Tuesday night at 9:15 — having started at 9:30am — and both the Franchise and Indy close at 10pm, when exactly am I supposed to fit in a shift that day? FOURTH: I had expected not to be taking a class over January minimester. However, because of a very bad grade in a required course in the fall semester (my own fault, of course), and the uncertainty of being able to register for a course to fulfill the requirement in the spring, I decided to enroll in a minimester course: Shakespeare. The awkward scheduling of the course meant I was only able to work until three in the afternoon those three days a week (Monday through Wednesday). Plus, once Superbowl is over with (and Superbowl blew this year, by the way), business takes a precipitous nose dive and doesn’t recover until high school gets out.
The end result of all of this was that while I’d budgeted myself $500 a week over the year — rent, utilities, bills, food, etc. — I found myself rarely earning that weekly projection.
“So, Snay, if I do donate … how are you going to use my money?”
1. First, any money that is donated will first go to paying off my credit card debt.
2. After the credit card debt is paid, I will begin rebuilding my savings account.
“Um, Snay, don’t you think it’s a little presumptuous to ask for money?”
Not really.
“So, Snay, if I do donate … what are you going to do for me?”
I’m going to “love you long-long time” (a phrase, by the way, which is an example of a “pidgin” language). Sweaty drunk Snay hug? And when I’m a famous writer, your name will go in the forward to my New York Times bestselling novel.
If you do choose to donate (and, of course, I hope you do), there are two options. The first, and easiest, is to click below and go to Amazon.com’s Honor System PayPage. A second alternative is to go to PayPal.com and send a donation to the e-mail address on the right (malnurturedsnay AT gmail DOT com).
If you don’t feel comfortable donating directly, please consider clicking on the Amazon.com link on my sidebar the next time you wish to place an order through that most venerable website? As an Amazon associate, any order you place orginating from that link will generate a small referral fee to me. In the last six months, I’ve made a grand total of not-quite $2.00 from Amazon referrals and, as they say, every little bit helps (C’mon, Googleads!)
Thank you so much for considering my request. And now I’m off to work for the next twelve hours.
Snay, much as I luvya, you’ll gain much more character by eating ramen noodles and cancelling cable. Trust me, I speak from experience.
Comment by S* — June 4, 2007 @ 10:47 am
If I donate, Hubby will be angry as we are trying to dig our own way out of a financial hole. Let me know how this works out though… It may be the easiest way I ever heard of to monitize a blog.
Comment by Marilyn — June 4, 2007 @ 11:11 am
So, Snay, why didn’t you get an internship while still in college, so you would have a line on a job already? So, Snay, why didn’t you start looking for a job BEFORE graduation? So, Snay, what makes you more worthy than any other pizza-delivering college graduate? So, Snay, why didn’t you find part-time work in your chosen career field rather than delivering pizzas?
Comment by Emptyman — June 4, 2007 @ 11:25 am
Snay – I feel your pain. If I had even one extra dollar I’d give it to you. As it is, I’m selling my laptop on ebay as we speak and hoping I get this freakin’ job on Wednesday.
Good luck, though.
Comment by Molly — June 4, 2007 @ 11:25 am
I wish I had this as an option when I graduated. I was in a similar predicament, mostly from taking a couple of trips for fun.
The good news? You can get it dealt with as soon as you get some sort of a decent paying job. It seems daunting now… but in retrospect…dealing with mortgage, multiple car payments, etc.? 4k ain’t so bad.
Comment by Slave to the Dogs — June 4, 2007 @ 11:25 am
Welcome to the real world, bub. I’m 9 years out of college and still hurting from it. And I paid for my school.
Comment by american geisha — June 4, 2007 @ 11:45 am
Whatever your predicament is, your actions have put you there. You can place blame or rationalize, but the truth is that you made the bed in which you lie and no one should be suggested to feel that they should play a role in unfucking the fuck-ups you’ve made in life.
So good luck with your beg-a-thon. I hope the surrender of your character is worth it.
Comment by SC — June 4, 2007 @ 11:50 am
[...] 4 Jun 2007 Fuckity Fuckity Fuck. Posted by Molly under Goddamnit Earlier last month I switched to digital phone through myISP from Vonage. My ISP assured me that they would take care of cancelling my Vonage account (this sounded fishy at the time but when I asked her to repeat herself she said they were required to let the other service provider know they were taking over service even though I chose not to port my old phone number). Here we are, the day before my Vonage payment is typically processed and I sign in to check (yes, this is all my fault for not checking like 3 weeks ago) and my account is still “Active” which means I’m going to get billed tomorrow for something that is SO not in the budget it’s not even funny. Since you cannot cancel your Vonage service online (that’s shady , that is) I opted to call them directly. 54 minutes on hold, 28 to speak to a service representative who told me she needed to transfer me to “Account Management” to terminate my service, the remaining time wondering if she’d actually transferred me or if I had been disconnected. I finally got pissed and hung up. I still have one of those old pre-paid mastercards from my work that has like $1.65 on it so I decided to switch my billing info so that they won’t be able to authorize my payment (I can be shady, too) but now I can’t even sign in to my account because they’re doing a “system upgrade” for “my benefit”. In about 13.2 seconds, when I still can’t get in to my account, my blood pressure is going to upgrade from functional to embolism. I’m under so much financial stress right now I’ll probably be dead of a heart attack shortly, anyway. This is probably as good a time as any to tell you that I’ve listed my beloved laptop on ebay and as soon as it sells (oh how I truly need that to happen) I’ll be exiting the blogger scene indefinitely. Unless someone wants to hand me a check for $1000. ‘Cuz I’m all about the free money. [...]
Pingback by Fuckity Fuckity Fuck. « Somewhat Malcontent — June 4, 2007 @ 11:50 am
Sorry to hear your troubles Snay, but Evil Spock also has an empire to manage.
Comment by evil spock — June 4, 2007 @ 11:50 am
Well, if you just get some surgery and make yourself look like THIS, I will let you move in the guest room.
Otherwise, here is my advice that you will not take:
1) Read Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover.”
2) Go through your monthly fixed costs guerilla-style, and slice everything you do not ABSOLUTELY need. Take a hard look at everything you stroke a check for: cable, cell phone, Internet, EVERYTHING.
If you can shut it off without freezing or starving, shut it off.
3) Sell everything that ain’t nailed down on craigslist.org. Don’t sell to out-of-town scammers.
4) Get a second job delivering pizzas, waiting tables, or something with tips and bust ass for about 6 months and the 4G’s will be paid off.
***
This is obviously a temporary, balls to the wall-solution, and I am not delusional enough to think you will really do it.
Parenthetically, 4G’s is not enough to declare bankruptcy over. I say this because, if you declare B/R, for the rest of your life when someone says, “Have you ever declared bankruptcy?” if you say no, you are committing a 10 Commandment violation.
(And if a bank asks, you are committing bank fraud in the strictest legal sense.)
Comment by Zen Wizard — June 4, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
I can’t believe people give her money! That makes me sick and feel very ill. How many children are homeless and hungry, and we give some bitch money to buy a Prada stuff! Fuck that…I will tip you very well if you deliver to my house, but no hand outs here!
Comment by Jenny — June 4, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
Geez, me thinks from these comments, you’re not going to be very successful with the begging! You’d probably have more luck, wrapping yourself up in some cardboard with a coffee cup by the side of the street mate!
Comment by Vi — June 4, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
Dude. C’mon now. Paid blogging. It’s fun. And it’ll earn you more money than you’ll ever get from begging.
Trust me on this. The amount of money I’ve made is INSANE.
Email me if you’re interested and I can give you the inside scoop on things.
Comment by Lisa — June 4, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Apparently the Amazon.com’s Honor System PayPage only accepts money and not sperm.
Comment by JACC — June 4, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
Sad to say it man, but we all have debts and obligations.
For example, I’m low on funds this month, so I’m not spending any extra money on ANYTHING until July or possibly August. It sucks, but it has to be done.
I agree with Zen Wizard. Reign in spending and income will increase. It’s as simple as that.
Comment by anonymouscoworker — June 4, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
I wish you lots of luck and I admire you taking the bulls by the horns, but quite selfishly, I am saving to retire early because I’m tired of working for someone else.
Comment by Nessa — June 4, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
should I expect well meaning people with matching vests and clipboards to approach me in the street and ask me for just a moment of my time… “Thought about making a difference? Contributing and being a partner to our work? Ever heard of Snay?…”
:) good luck. You’ll sort it out.
Comment by justine — June 4, 2007 @ 5:20 pm
I’ll try to remember to buy shit through your Amazon link. While there seems to be a bit of a game of Iron Lung going on here ($4000? That’s my ELECTRIC BILL!), I do know how you feel. It sucks to have to eat crappy food and have no fun for months because you’ve overextended, esp. when there’s all these assholes around that have obviously never been that close to the edge, and from what I’ve seen, you don’t really deserve to get mocked for living a lavish lifestyle; finishing your degree while working more than 40 hours a week is not exactly filling your closet with Prada bags. You didn’t move to a more expensive place, you haven’t bought a new car, etc. You’re not exactly living the Paris Hilton lifestyle.
That said, kill cable for the cheapest Netflix, don’t buy any books or movies until at least $2K is paid off, eat cheap shit at home instead of going out, get rid of your landline if you haven’t already (although that makes it hard to get internet access, and you need that for job searching), etc. The important thing is to cut everything you can out of your budget without making yourself miserable.
And I’ll buy you a beer the next time I see you.
Comment by jwer — June 4, 2007 @ 6:56 pm
Snay – I’d like to donate, but I’m working on my own debt reduction currently. Nice idea, though!
Comment by losrulz — June 4, 2007 @ 7:23 pm
Your parents bailed you out of a similar predicament a year or so ago, and you still owe them. Despite the very real issues that bring you here once again, the simple fact is that continue to live beyond your means.
I agree with Zen Wizard, ACW and JWER. Kill off anything that doesn’t contribute to getting a job. That means cable, phone, Netflix, Leggos, magazine / online subscriptions …anything. Cable / Netflix alone is $40 a month or more towards debt. No books unless you borrow them from a library. Same for movies.
COOK. Make soup – lots of it. Grill hamburgers / hotdogs. Buy vegetables, and stop eating out – period. Even fast food is more expensive than shopping and cooking for yourself.
We’ve ALL been there. I’d much rather supplement your situation by taking you to the movies and buying you a beer, than giving you a handout.
Whatever you do – DO NOT – cut your health insurance.
Comment by Broadsheet — June 4, 2007 @ 8:30 pm
I’d love to help, but since I just took a home equity loan to consolidate my credit cards, I’m going to have to make charity start at home. Good luck with it, though.
Comment by yellojkt — June 4, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
I promise to donate the same amount to savesnay.com as you did to the “replace crapass camera fund”. Giving and receiving is a way of life.
Comment by Cham — June 4, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
I agree with Broadsheet. Jeff, you’re constantly blogging about the latest movie you’ve rented from Netflix or all the shows you watch on way-too-expensive Cable television. If you’re having trouble paying your rent, then cut out those extraneous expenses. Regardless how you rationalize it, the History Channel and the Sci-Fi Channel are not essential for daily life.
I was able to land my professional job even before I got my college degree because I worked damn hard at it and sent out hundreds of resumes and applications. But you’ve always been content to deliver pizzas, a job which requires you to work obscene hours simply to make ends meet. Even while we were close years ago, you never seemed to exhibit any desire to aspire to anything which would bring a fatter paycheck and less expensive health insurance.
You have difficulty with credit cards. The first step is in admitting it. The next is in canceling most or even all of your cards. There are multitudes of credit counseling agencies out there which offer free classes on budgeting and financing, and will work with you and your creditors to reduce interest rates and work out repayment plans you can live with.
If you spent half as much time working on budgeting as you do rationalizing why people should throw money at you, you’d be a lot better off.
Comment by Rachel — June 4, 2007 @ 9:44 pm
This is “real world” gold, my friend. Some of my greatest motivators are the memories of being check to check and worrying about what bill was going to fuck me next.
However, by my count, you’re not that close to disaster. Make the minimum CC payments, stop the cash hemorhaging, and bust your ass to get a real job. When I graduated 5 years ago, I was $37,000 in the hole. Now, it’s less than $10k at 2.5% APR. It will get better.
Comment by tfg — June 4, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
And no, I can’t contribute to SaveSnay.com. On the other hand, ShaveSnay.com is a charity that I think I could get behind.
Comment by tfg — June 4, 2007 @ 9:58 pm
I would….gladly! But I’ll be out of work in less than 2 weeks, such is the life of a Substitute teacher who is waiting for real work. Great; school starts in the fall =\
Good luck. Might have to start this myself
Comment by b — June 4, 2007 @ 10:58 pm
S* – Yay, Ramen.
Marilyn – Not at well.
Emptyman –
a. I was either working, sleeping, or in class. Are there even paid internships?
b. I wanted to wait until I could concentrate on a job search.
c. I don’t know.
d. I guess I was too busy trying to pass my classes and paying my bills.
Molly – Thanks anyway!
Slave-to-the-Dogs – Something to look forward to!
Geisha – I’ve actually been in the real world for quite some time now, thanks for not noticing.
SC – Hypocritical motherfucker.
Evil Spock – I don’t want an empire, but I’ll take a tiny corner of your vault?
Zen – I already have a first AND second job delivering pizzas!
Jenny – She gets $20k, I get zip! I don’t have a closet full of Prada! I understand where you’re coming from.
Vi – Well, it was worth a shot.
Lisa – Thanks, but no.
JACC – Blast!
ACW – Hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Nessa – I hear you.
Justine – I don’t think I could afford to hire them!
JWER – Thank you for understanding.
Los – I shoulda just robbed a bank! :)
Broadsheet – I would never cut my health insurance.
yellowjkt – Thanks anyway.
Cham – Yeah, I was too broke. Sorry.
Rachel – “never seemed to” doesn’t mean “didn’t.”
tfg – Too bad “real world gold” isn’t accepted at the bank. ShaveSnay? Shave my head? $4k in my PayPal, and I’ll be smooth as a baby’s butt … even my eyebrows.
B – Robbing banks looking more and more attractive, eh?
Comment by MalSnay — June 4, 2007 @ 11:30 pm
If you email me your actual mailing address, I’ll contribute all the change I have in my purse right now.
Comment by Juju — June 4, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
Ohn Snay, you know my financial situation (doesn’t everyone?). However, you have given me an excellent idea: savesometimessaintlynick-dot-com.
Comment by Sometimes Saintly Nick — June 5, 2007 @ 12:28 am
I just want to hug you.
most of the comments before mine have been so harsh. I had decided not to comment, the old if you cant say anything nice rule, but I can understand where you are coming from, AND that it must have been so hard putting this post up and then reading all those comments.
Comment by buepaintred — June 5, 2007 @ 12:47 am
Snay,
Long time reader, first time commenter. Your defensiveness of this ugly post is disturbing. SC frivolously asked for some Christmas presents but did not
try to convey any seriousness as your post is intended.
Snay… I’ll tell you what all these blog friends are thinking…a creative writing degree from Towson means nothing in the market place. You stupidly thought a piece of paper would open doors for you that were already open to you in the first place.
We all saw this train wreck coming months out.
.
Comment by matt — June 5, 2007 @ 12:57 am
JuJu – Oh, I think the shipping would kill you, though!
SSN – Give it a try!
Blue – Hardest post I’ve ever written, and I’ll totally take you up on the hug. I felt I had to give it a shot. After all, if Karyn could raise $20k to pay off her fashion accessories, I figured my cause at least slightly more, um, reasonable.
Matt – SC has no right to blast people for asking for money when he does it himself, and if that doesn’t make him a hipocritical motherfucker, I don’t know what does.
I’m sorry … what was it you saw coming months out? I don’t understand. This post isn’t about me “not having a job” and wanting people to pay my support me. I’ve got two jobs. I’m working at least one of them EVERY DAY. And frankly, a “real” job, with a tie, and an office (or cubicle), while certainly my goal, is also almost certainly going to mean a PAY CUT (in other words, if I get hired tomorrow for a corporate job, my income’ll go down).
Comment by MalSnay — June 5, 2007 @ 1:09 am
[...] In comments, Matt described yesterday’s post as a “trainwreck”, and maybe he’s right. [...]
Pingback by MalnurturedSnay.net » “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.” — June 5, 2007 @ 1:20 am
I’ll use your amozon link in future but it isn’t going to make you rich anytime soon. someday you will look back on this and laugh but when you do I hope it isn’t to castigate some other poor kid in the same situation.
have you looked into consolidating your debt into a single loan? It is very common in europe, in fact some banks give students interest free loans in return for signing customer loyalty clauses.
Don’t let the hardasses get you down, americans are renowned for their lack of charity.
Comment by cathy — June 5, 2007 @ 1:44 am
Snay, omg I can’t believe you did this. We ALL saw this coming. Heres what you should do. Cut off your testicles and sell them on ebay, that’s how I reduced my debt 10 years ago LOL OMFG!
And don’t eat out, eat your cats.
Seriously mean peoples, this guy gave you blogging nirvana, and in response to partaking in this FREE commodity for 3 years, when he asks for a lil money help… I mean, if you don’t want to give thats cool, but seriously.. harsh shit.
EGBT 4 l1f3!
Comment by tron — June 5, 2007 @ 2:03 am
If you can’t see the difference between what I was doing and what you tried to do you’re an even bigger dipshit than I thought. And I guess I’d rather be a hypocritical motherfucker than a plain stupid one.
Comment by SC — June 5, 2007 @ 5:54 am
[...] What, if anything, is the difference between this shameless loser’s plea for monetary assistance and my very own Greedy Pig Holiday Wishlist? [...]
Pingback by What’s The Diff at Standing Cheese — June 5, 2007 @ 9:13 am
I’ll second/third/whatever the suggestions of cutting your money outflow per month. I was able to almost entirely eliminate the costs of my book habit (and it’s a bad one, just ask Jenn) by signing up at PaperBackSwap and BookMooch (and if you sign up there, my username on both sites is rayners for referral purposes).
I also recommend starting to read some of the really good personal finance blogs out there. My personal favorite is Get Rich Slowly. They’ll have more great tips for cutting costs, reducing debt, and increasing income than you will get here (no offense intended folks).
Comment by David Raynes — June 5, 2007 @ 10:00 am
Yikes! You really got hit with the ugly comment stick, didn’t ya? Hope it all works out for you. Can’t contribute myself but wish you all the best. Oh, and the paid for blogging thing? “Dooce” seems to be making a living at it!
Comment by sue — June 5, 2007 @ 10:26 am
Well, considering the fact I just made more than HALF your credit card debt in the last two months, it’s your loss. I’m about to pay off two more credit cards with what I’ve earned.
Good luck to you, hon.
Comment by Lisa — June 5, 2007 @ 10:27 am
Sweetie – a 4k debt at the end of college is much better than average, that’s why folks are being so harsh. By all means try amazon kickbacks and paid blogging; we all read your stuff and it’ll be there for us to see. Don’t do one of those debt considation plans- it’ll be years before you can charge anything or buy a car. Maybe put all charge bills into one card for one payment and cancel any others. Cut out all frivolous expenses as others have advised (there IS life without cable TV)and start a savings account as soon as you get a grip on your debt. Don’t worry about the English degree – many of us have them. Pay your rent, utilities, health insurance and credit card. Food, clothing and fun are optional after that. Don’t forget that “real” jobs come with health insurance, and very few entry-level jobs pay as poorly as you seem to think.
Comment by JAIN — June 5, 2007 @ 10:50 am
Okay, so you’re already doing the pizza thing.
Look around–that lamp that you never turn on, the coffee table you never use, the statue of a duck your Aunt Martha gave you–sell that shit!
Also, I obviously don’t know everything about you, but–have you gone through your checkbook and looked at ALL MONTHLY EXPENSES UNDER THE HARDEST LIGHT POSSIBLE??
For instance, are you subscribing to the F/X channel, and you never watch it?
Could you get just the basic channels on cable, like ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS? I mean, you need SOME TV, but do you really need (and do you really watch) The Christopher Lowell Show??
This is the toughest part–take a hard look at your “friends”: Do you end up picking up the tab at Applebees a lot, with your bigshot credit cards?
I’m not saying you are or you aren’t–I’m just saying if you are spending more than you are taking in, it is time for a balls-to-the-wall, guerilla style, no holds barred “money makeover.”
Sometimes this involves painful choices–like telling your brothers and sisters that you can’t pop for a plane ticket to Dog’s Dick, Alabama, for the family reunion this year, but they are more than welcome to visit you the next time they are in Metro, USA…
One last thought from someone who has been in your situation: When your asshole, broke buddies start thinking you are CRAZY, you are actually ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
For example:
“What happened to your antique sterling spoon collection?”
“I sold it on Ebay for $X and paid the utility bill…”
“Dude, you’re crazy!”
“Maybe I am, but the lights had a funny way of coming on this morning…”
Comment by Zen Wizard — June 5, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
Snay, I have a writing degree from Towson. I had a full scholarship and borrowed just a tiny amount of money to pay for my dorm room. I got a paid internship writing and editing the employee newsletter(s) at a local bank during my senior year; I parlayed that into a fulltime gig in their PR department as soon as I graduated. The connections I made in that job made it easy for me to find another, better-paying job when my bank job was eliminated in a corporate merger the next year. The student loan from Towson was paid off pretty quickly — the same year I bought my house, which was about 2 years after college. When I went to law school after that, I kept on working in PR/marketing so I had no student loans from law school, either.
All paid writing jobs. The pay sucked in the early days but I made a living by writing, and I never delivered pizzas.
Comment by Emptyman — June 5, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Sorry, Snay. When I cash in my change to Coinstar, I’m gonna have to buy groceries with it…my groceries. There is solidarity among poor writers, but no charity. (Oh, and beware “writing jobs,” if you want to write fiction. The “writing job” will pay the bills, but it will not make you want to write fiction when you get home.)
Comment by Redzilla — June 5, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
Y’know, SC, that post of yours bothers me more than I’d almost care to admit.
What most bothers me, is how you first attack me for expecting “the internet†to “give me moneyâ€, then brag about how successful you are at getting “the internet†to “give you money.â€
As anyone who bothered to read my post knows, the debts I was asking for help with were incurred while I was working full time and going to school full time. Unlike Karyn B., I wasn’t out stocking my closets with Prada shoes. I wonder, if you’d been in my shoes last year, what you would’ve done differently. Skipped class to work a third job? Skipped sleeping? Taken up armed robbery? Maybe I could’ve sold drugs, pimped whores, or sued the woman who fender-bendered me.
Cheese, you readily admit to profiting from asking “the internet†for “stuffâ€, and got a hissy fit over someone else asking “the internet†for “stuff.†And while you make a big deal over how your post was a “jokeâ€, the fact of the matter is, your post opens “Since it actually netted me something last year, and since this is the holiday season, I am once again allowing the tens and tens of people who read this blog to show their love for me by buying me crap.†That post wasn’t a joke, you knew people would buy you shit because they bought you shit the previous year.
You’re right, I do think you’re a hipocrite, I think the evidence supports that, and I think that first paragraph of your post is about you as much as it might be about me.
Comment by MalSnay — June 6, 2007 @ 2:18 am
After scanning over all of the drivel posted about, please watch more netflix, order more cable, have Chinese delivered to your door, cancel your silly health insurance, take a walk around the block everyday and quit listening to nudgeniks who don’t have a life but enjoy telling everyone else what to do.
Comment by Cham — June 6, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Short time reader, 2nd time poster.
Most people don’t know how to live within their means. They see everyone else having all these great things, but underneath, they don’t see the massive amounts of debt these people are trying to keep their selves afloat from bankruptcy to maintain this image. Money management starts NOW to get in your best habits.
Make a list of all your monthly expenses. Figure which ones are required to live, and which are optional. Start eliminating the optionals, comb through the required, minimize them as much as possible, and live on that. Using a money management program with at least 3 months of expense and income data like MS Money or Quicken will put you in a QUICK perspective visually on how much damage you are doing to your income and help you map out a budget plan and where to go next (i.e work more, ask for a raise, etc).
Its balls to the wall times like these that have the most impact for your future and can only be overcome through sheer hard work and discipline.
Comment by Rabblerouser — June 9, 2007 @ 1:08 am
Oh, I forgot…in my last year of college, I had applied to over 350 jobs (by email, by fax, by mail, by walkin). Nine had interviews, five had 2nd interviews, and only 2 made offers.
Since I had no handouts from the parents or the feds due to being white, parent’s income (need to be over 25 for it not to count against you for gov. loans), and my GPA not being high enough, I footed the entire school bill while being full time college for 4 and half years.
-2 years of part time jobs while living at home with community college
- 1 year with a full time job, Towson U. full time, and moving out to live by myself halfway through.
-1 year of unemployment living on a sparse income from the state while still living alone due to my rental contract
- a half year of another full time job….all with full time schooling.
I did graduate debt free, with a full time job, and school fully paid. This was only after lots and lots of discipline, hard work, and tight money management.
Comment by Rabblerouser — June 9, 2007 @ 1:20 am
Go to the America’s Cheapest Family ( http://www.homeeconomiser.com/ ) website… they have good ideas on how to make a financial life plan. As I don’t condemn you for asking for money, I do wish I could help… but alas, this book and website have become my bible as we’re trying to remember exactly what a savings account is. As for the job hunt… keep your confidence up, and send send send…resumes and samples of your writing to EVERYWHERE. Good luck.
Comment by cherylann — June 9, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
I’d donate, but I don’t give a rat’s ass. I think I’ll go buy something I don’t really need tonight. Or maybe donate to a worthy cause.
Comment by Brian — June 14, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
You spelled “frivilous” wrong. The correct spelling is
“frivolous”. So much for that degree from Towson!
By the way, how much does it cost to host this site, and to pay for your domain name? Does this site even break even? If it doesn’t, should someone who has $33 savings and who works as a pizza delivery driver have his own domain name and website?
Comment by Tuna Sub — June 15, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
Tuna Sub — I could use “spell checker”, but I’d rather not. I assure you, I’m much better at spelling than many of my former classmates. And, yes, at an average cost of .13 cents a day, I think I can swing it.
Brian – Maybe, instead of buying something you don’t really need tonight, you should put some money in your kid’s college trust or something. I mean, WTF do I know, right?
Comment by MalSnay — June 15, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
You have NO place to be asking for money when you can afford cable/internet/netflix. I AM contributing to your cause; I call it “taxes” and some of them go to pay for your public library. Use it.
Education is underfunded. Absolutely. And I know life is hard for you right now — trust me, I’ve done it. But stop expecting the world to just work out. If you have time and money for TV/movies, you’re already better off than many. Are you donating to them?
Comment by Kit — July 3, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
You’re a bit late to the “hate fest”, Kit.
Comment by MalSnay — July 3, 2007 @ 4:19 pm