Author Topic: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes  (Read 4983 times)

remizidae

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Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« on: May 26, 2020, 09:10:24 AM »
This unfortunate woman went from making six figures to no income (except government benefits). Oh, and she has $110,000 of debt. Will she succeed in cutting down expenses? Sort of.

Why market timing is a fool's game:

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Not only did I lose all my income but I also lost over half the money I received in my divorce settlement, which was a 401(k) worth about $26,000. The Monday after I closed my business, I liquidated that portfolio because I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my money in the market. That was the same day that the Dow dropped 3,000 points — so what started out as $26,000 wound up being only about $10,000 in the end.

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During normal times, my personal expenses would be about $5,000 a month, minimum, including rent and transportation...But now I’ve cut down my total expenses to about $2,200 or $2,300 a month.

If you're thinking, well, NYC is HCOL, this is AFTER her landlord cut her rent by 50% and allowed her to use her security deposit to pay it.

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I love clothes, and it wouldn’t be abnormal for me to spend $1,000 or more a month on shopping...Since the shutdown began, it’s been hard not to shop, but I’ve only bought one pair of stretchy pants and something from ThredUp — $280. I also used to spend at least $500 a month on takeout, and now I’m spending $250 or $300 a month on grocery boxes.

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When this all started, I signed up for the app BetterHelp. It was $350 or $400 per month, but then I submitted a form saying that I had no income, and they reduced my fee to about $125.

I think a lot of people out there are overspending on therapy. We think of it as "medical," as a necessity, and it may be for some, but...for the average anxious person? I guess I would ask this woman if she's really sure the therapy is helping, and if she's already tried all the cheaper/free interventions, like exercise, good sleep hygiene, meditation, or even talking to friends—proven to work about as well as therapy for many conditions.

https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/ive-lost-all-my-income.html


ketchup

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2020, 10:11:21 AM »
I think I've spent less than $280 total on clothes in at least the last three years.

RFAAOATB

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2020, 11:53:35 AM »
Her poor landlord. I'm sure it sucks for most people, but when the virus protections end her eviction is going to taste so sweet. I've got to watch some Holton Wise videos to cheer me up.

Tenants From Hell #8; Cadillac Escalade driving tenant from hell is EVICTED LIVE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWJe-Db64I

Top 10 Red Flags landlords need to look for when screening tenants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9RfGc8sZec

Savage Tenants | Natural Turnover vs Eviction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvp3Dz5qjc

remizidae

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2020, 12:41:47 PM »
Her poor landlord. I'm sure it sucks for most people, but when the virus protections end her eviction is going to taste so sweet.

Why would she be evicted? If the landlord agreed to reduce her rent, I don't see how he could evict her for paying reduced rent.

Fomerly known as something

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2020, 05:24:53 PM »

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When this all started, I signed up for the app BetterHelp. It was $350 or $400 per month, but then I submitted a form saying that I had no income, and they reduced my fee to about $125.

I think a lot of people out there are overspending on therapy. We think of it as "medical," as a necessity, and it may be for some, but...for the average anxious person? I guess I would ask this woman if she's really sure the therapy is helping, and if she's already tried all the cheaper/free interventions, like exercise, good sleep hygiene, meditation, or even talking to friends—proven to work about as well as therapy for many conditions.

https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/ive-lost-all-my-income.html
[/quote]

So have you ever been to therapy?  As someone who has been, I call your did you try to do it yourself first judgement BS. 

MilesTeg

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2020, 05:33:45 PM »
Her poor landlord. I'm sure it sucks for most people, but when the virus protections end her eviction is going to taste so sweet. I've got to watch some Holton Wise videos to cheer me up.

Tenants From Hell #8; Cadillac Escalade driving tenant from hell is EVICTED LIVE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWJe-Db64I

Top 10 Red Flags landlords need to look for when screening tenants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9RfGc8sZec

Savage Tenants | Natural Turnover vs Eviction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvp3Dz5qjc

Top 10 Reg Flags of someone who you should never rent from:

#1: An asshole that creates a video while driving.

solon

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2020, 05:45:40 PM »
Her poor landlord. I'm sure it sucks for most people, but when the virus protections end her eviction is going to taste so sweet. I've got to watch some Holton Wise videos to cheer me up.

Tenants From Hell #8; Cadillac Escalade driving tenant from hell is EVICTED LIVE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWJe-Db64I

Top 10 Red Flags landlords need to look for when screening tenants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9RfGc8sZec

Savage Tenants | Natural Turnover vs Eviction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvp3Dz5qjc

Top 10 Reg Flags of someone who you should never rent from:

#1: An asshole that creates a video while driving.

Those videos actually were awesome. The guy is an asshole, but that's exactly who I would want managing my rentals!

MilesTeg

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2020, 06:17:04 PM »
Her poor landlord. I'm sure it sucks for most people, but when the virus protections end her eviction is going to taste so sweet. I've got to watch some Holton Wise videos to cheer me up.

Tenants From Hell #8; Cadillac Escalade driving tenant from hell is EVICTED LIVE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWJe-Db64I

Top 10 Red Flags landlords need to look for when screening tenants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9RfGc8sZec

Savage Tenants | Natural Turnover vs Eviction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvp3Dz5qjc

Top 10 Reg Flags of someone who you should never rent from:

#1: An asshole that creates a video while driving.

Those videos actually were awesome. The guy is an asshole, but that's exactly who I would want managing my rentals!

You want to be in business with someone who commits a crime, films it and publishes it on the public internet?

solon

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2020, 08:36:29 PM »
Her poor landlord. I'm sure it sucks for most people, but when the virus protections end her eviction is going to taste so sweet. I've got to watch some Holton Wise videos to cheer me up.

Tenants From Hell #8; Cadillac Escalade driving tenant from hell is EVICTED LIVE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWWJe-Db64I

Top 10 Red Flags landlords need to look for when screening tenants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9RfGc8sZec

Savage Tenants | Natural Turnover vs Eviction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvp3Dz5qjc

Top 10 Reg Flags of someone who you should never rent from:

#1: An asshole that creates a video while driving.

Those videos actually were awesome. The guy is an asshole, but that's exactly who I would want managing my rentals!

You want to be in business with someone who commits a crime, films it and publishes it on the public internet?

I guess I missed the part where he commits a crime.

LD_TAndK

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2020, 06:33:56 AM »
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The thing that keeps me going is my absolute rage at how poorly this whole situation has been handled. I was making six figures before all of this, and because the government failed to manage this properly, I believe it owes me what I’m losing.

It irks me how she's managed to get a $45,000 small business loan and $1,000 a week unemployment during massive economic upheaval and yet thinks the government has failed. I'm sure it's stressful and uncertain and not as much as her prior income but all things considered I'd be grateful to live in a country where the government has managed that much.

Also this:
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I’ll still buy myself a health supplement or a beauty product that I know will make me feel better

ducky19

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2020, 11:44:17 AM »

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"...my $90,000 of student debt from when I went to graduate school for acupuncture."

Seriously, words fail me.

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"...now I’ve cut down my total expenses to about $2,200 or $2,300 a month."

And yet, two months into the pandemic:

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"Altogether, I had about $40,000 total at the beginning of the pandemic. I’ve spent about $8,000 of it so far."

To me that sounds like you've cut your total expenses to about $4,000 a month. Which gets even more complicated when you consider:

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"I finally spoke to someone at the unemployment office on May 7, and I got my first payment on May 20. It’s a little under $1,000 a week, which is enough to cover my basic personal expenses."

So if she's already spent another almost $1,000, it sounds as though she managed to cut her expenses by a whopping $500 month total. I know math is HARD, but it seems to me that she's doing a little more spending than she's willing to admit to herself. Then again, $90k for a graduate degree in acupuncture explains a lot. Damn government, get off my lawn!

remizidae

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2020, 02:35:17 PM »


So have you ever been to therapy?  As someone who has been, I call your did you try to do it yourself first judgement BS.

Oh yeah. I have a lot of experience with it. I'm not saying no one should ever try therapy, but it's overused and overvalued in our culture.

TheFrenchCat

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2020, 07:05:31 PM »


So have you ever been to therapy?  As someone who has been, I call your did you try to do it yourself first judgement BS.

Oh yeah. I have a lot of experience with it. I'm not saying no one should ever try therapy, but it's overused and overvalued in our culture.

She's on Medicaid though.  Useful or not, she has access to free therapy, and most therapists I know of are doing teletherapy now.  Depending on what the service exactly is, and if the laws are different in NY than my state, it may actually be illegal for them to be charging her for therapy.  In my experience, the therapist has to be eligible to take Medicaid payment or they just can't see the client, even if they're willing to pay out of pocket.

Maenad

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2020, 11:18:35 AM »
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The thing that keeps me going is my absolute rage at how poorly this whole situation has been handled. I was making six figures before all of this, and because the government failed to manage this properly, I believe it owes me what I’m losing.

It irks me how she's managed to get a $45,000 small business loan and $1,000 a week unemployment during massive economic upheaval and yet thinks the government has failed. I'm sure it's stressful and uncertain and not as much as her prior income but all things considered I'd be grateful to live in a country where the government has managed that much.

I think the social safety net in the U.S. is a disgrace, but I also think we need to do as much as possible to take care of ourselves, starting with living frugally in order to save up an emergency fund for times like this. I understand that NYC is HCOL, but the median household income in NYC in 2019 was under $58,000, she was well above that. I hope she's able to come through this with a new-found appreciation for frugality and saving for emergencies, but given human nature, I'm not holding my breath.

remizidae

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2020, 09:51:21 AM »
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The thing that keeps me going is my absolute rage at how poorly this whole situation has been handled. I was making six figures before all of this, and because the government failed to manage this properly, I believe it owes me what I’m losing.

It irks me how she's managed to get a $45,000 small business loan and $1,000 a week unemployment during massive economic upheaval and yet thinks the government has failed. I'm sure it's stressful and uncertain and not as much as her prior income but all things considered I'd be grateful to live in a country where the government has managed that much.

I think the social safety net in the U.S. is a disgrace, but I also think we need to do as much as possible to take care of ourselves, starting with living frugally in order to save up an emergency fund for times like this. I understand that NYC is HCOL, but the median household income in NYC in 2019 was under $58,000, she was well above that. I hope she's able to come through this with a new-found appreciation for frugality and saving for emergencies, but given human nature, I'm not holding my breath.

If there's one financial lesson I could teach everyone, especially women, it would be this:

YOU are in charge of your own financial security. Yeah, you might be able to get parents or a spouse to pay your bills for a few years, and yes, there should be a welfare system if you are truly desperate—but those are stopgap solutions that you cannot count on. Neither welfare nor generous relatives will necessarily be there forever. No one cares as much about your success as you do—so take care of yourself first.

Just Joe

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Re: Lost all my income—so I only spent $280 on clothes
« Reply #15 on: June 10, 2020, 12:00:21 PM »
Seems to me that she'll need to bottom out a little harder to "see the light".