Author Topic: On reddit  (Read 11082 times)

DutchGirl

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On reddit
« on: July 17, 2014, 02:06:10 PM »
The topic was "how to trick yourself into saving". The advice was pretty basic / for beginners: put any $1 bill aside that you find in your wallet at night, round expenses up to the nearest dollar, etc.

Someone commented that this was "only possible if you have money". I doubted the fact that they "did not have money", as everybody "has money" except five-year-olds who don't get an allowance from their parents. The answer:

Quote
You can have no money because your bills to maintain your job exceed what you make at your job and you have been looking for a better or non-part-time job, but nothing seems to be working out no matter that you've sent out 15 applications every week for the past three months, and when you do get an interview, there is always some strange catch. Like they didn't advertise the pay rate and wont pay you more than $11/hr, which would leave you in the same position as your part-time job where you make more per hour, but with the added detriment of driving farther with higher gas costs and losing the medical insurance you don't have to pay because your mother is nice and still allows you to be on her plan for free.

There is a finite amount that you can "cut back" when you aren't spending anything recreationally and your bills still outweigh your current income, no matter how much you have tried to change the status of your current income.

There is no public transportation system where I live. Which means I either have to change to a closer job so that I can walk to work in 95 degree+ and thunderstorm weather, or get a car.

So I got a car. And insurance. There goes $500/mo right now because the other drivers in my area are shit, causing my rates to be higher.

I am living in my (lucky and very nice) friends' house for about half the cost of rent anywhere else. But there is a lower limit to the expenses I incur from using water and electricity, and eating groceries. Which we also share, so it is included in my rent. So it's still $300/mo.

Student loans are also a thing. And I AM A LUCKY ONE who only took a very small number of loans (and really, only because the state changed the terms of one of the scholarships I had after a year of going to college.) so there goes $70 each month.

I have a non-smart phone. On my mom's plan. She just wants me to reimburse her my phone's cost to her bill. $17/mo. You really can't find a cheaper alternative.

I am already up to $887.

Add gas, I go up to $1087.

Congratulations that you have been able to find a stable, secure, well-paying job.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to. My degree is in zoology. Zoo jobs require volunteered time as unpaid internships to get experience. Labs haven't wanted my application. I tried being a teacher - I had a very good lead as a long term sub, but the administration decided they would rather be pedantic assholes. I tried being an assistant manager of a market research place. Too bad the corporate office decided to be huge dicks and call and literally scream at us over the phone, and bounce our paychecks. I have only been able to get a part time job tutoring, which only allows me to match my expenses provided there is nothing extra. (Like a trip to the hospital at 4AM to get stitches because I tripped and fell through a glass coffee table a month ago.)

TL;DR - there are many legitimate reasons why a person would have "no money" that don't involve them being childish. I do not appreciate your rhetoric, or blindness to others' situations.

Yeah... The only reason that this person has "no money" is because all the world is out to get her... It has nothing to do with the fact that she decided that spending $700 on transport per month to get her to her parttime job would be an excellent idea. Oh PS, in an earlier comment she mentioned that she fell over the glass coffee table after backing away from a spider. Yeah, that is some bad luck, I must admit.

ketchup

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2014, 02:17:18 PM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

odput

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2014, 02:20:42 PM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

DAMNIT you beat me to it!

Psychstache

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2014, 02:21:06 PM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

Oh you poor confused mustachian. You forget that back in the 'real world' all cars are required to come with a car payment.

Numbers Man

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2014, 02:22:00 PM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

It's a car payment plus insurance.

odput

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2014, 02:23:10 PM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

It's a car payment plus insurance.

That's why its funny...neglecting the car payment was intentional

Kaspian

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2014, 02:25:32 PM »
Quote
Which means I either have to change to a closer job so that I can walk to work in 95 degree+ and thunderstorm weather, or get a car.... There goes $500/mo right now because the other drivers in my area are shit, causing my rates to be higher.

So she intentionally chose to get a car and live in a shitty driving area?  As someone who lives close to work and walks every day be it a heat wave, thunderstorm, or -30C weather, I'd almost somehow resent from the quote that I've made an inferior choice.  However, taking a look at how abject miserable this person is with her decisions in life, I'm glad I'm a happy man who walks to work in blizzards and not someone who spends $500/month on their car plus $200 in gas and gets stressed over the shitty drivers.  How much you wanna bet she's one of the shitty drivers?  The rant just screams road rage.   

rocksinmyhead

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2014, 02:28:52 PM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

I'm guessing there is a car payment rolled in there.... which is a total facepunch.

EDIT: whoops I guess I ignored the whole "there have been new comments on this post" warning
« Last Edit: July 17, 2014, 03:43:57 PM by rocksinmyhead »

dcheesi

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2014, 03:22:58 PM »
Quote
Which means I either have to change to a closer job so that I can walk to work in 95 degree+ and thunderstorm weather, or get a car.... There goes $500/mo right now because the other drivers in my area are shit, causing my rates to be higher.

So she intentionally chose to get a car and live in a shitty driving area?  As someone who lives close to work and walks every day be it a heat wave, thunderstorm, or -30C weather, I'd almost somehow resent from the quote that I've made an inferior choice.  However, taking a look at how abject miserable this person is with her decisions in life, I'm glad I'm a happy man who walks to work in blizzards and not someone who spends $500/month on their car plus $200 in gas and gets stressed over the shitty drivers.  How much you wanna bet she's one of the shitty drivers?  The rant just screams road rage.
One thing I do have sympathy for is very poor people in rural areas; if you have no savings and no job already lined up, it's a daunting prospect to move from your home town where you have friends & family (the primary safety net for the very poor) to a more walkable city/town where you know no one.

MgoSam

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2014, 03:32:50 PM »
The thing that gets me is her zoology degree. It's not her, but rather just how many people have degrees in something that won't lead to a decent paying job. I was in a similar boat and am fortunate that I found a job that has opened up a career path an d wasn't obtained through my college degree, not all are this fortunate.

gimp

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2014, 08:25:26 PM »
Narcissist. I guarantee it, and I haven't even read any of her other posts.

Everything is about her, except for guilt. No guilt, no self-blame. There would be shame, except in writing this, she gets a support group - boom, shame gone.

Stay far away, folks. Not just because of the money.

ketchup

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2014, 07:43:42 AM »
Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

Oh you poor confused mustachian. You forget that back in the 'real world' all cars are required to come with a car payment.
Dear God, there are people that have that kind of car payment for a part-time job at which they earn <$1k/month!?  That's car payment + insurance on my SIL's fancy 2013 car, and while it still doesn't 100% make sense for her, it makes a hell of a lot more sense than it does here!

rocksinmyhead

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2014, 07:55:21 AM »
LOL. someone replied to her with the rational and legitimate comment, "Hopefully you have also noticed that you have made some non-optimal decisions so far, and you have decided to do better from now on?" and got downvoted to -11. misery loves company. OF COURSE nothing is her fault... nothing! how dare you even suggest such a thing!

Who the hell pays $500/month for car insurance?

Oh you poor confused mustachian. You forget that back in the 'real world' all cars are required to come with a car payment.
Dear God, there are people that have that kind of car payment for a part-time job at which they earn <$1k/month!?  That's car payment + insurance on my SIL's fancy 2013 car, and while it still doesn't 100% make sense for her, it makes a hell of a lot more sense than it does here!

holy shitballs I know. my payment + insurance is $307. (I know, super lame that I even have a payment, but it's 0% on a Nissan Versa if that helps at all?) and I'm pretty sure I'm getting ripped off on insurance, I need to call and fix that.

KittyFooFoo

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2014, 10:18:26 AM »
I paid about $450/mo in insurance for one car back in the (pre-Mustachian) day.  It was a perfect storm of bad decisions:

I had just gotten my driver's license at a late age, 24.  I bought a nearly new 2010 Dodge Avenger (this was in 2010).  And we lived in a shitty, high-breakin block in Baltimore. 

oh yeah, and I financed the car for like $15k plus random warantees. (0 down, $311/mo payment, 6 year term)

oh yeah, and my salary at the time was $34k.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcGQpjCztgA

gimp

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2014, 12:31:02 PM »
LOL. someone replied to her with the rational and legitimate comment, "Hopefully you have also noticed that you have made some non-optimal decisions so far, and you have decided to do better from now on?" and got downvoted to -11. misery loves company. OF COURSE nothing is her fault... nothing! how dare you even suggest such a thing!

I've got gobs of karma. I'll gladly sacrifice 20 points of it to yell at this woman. And I have. We'll see how it goes.

Rezdent

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #15 on: July 18, 2014, 05:19:54 PM »
LOL. someone replied to her with the rational and legitimate comment, "Hopefully you have also noticed that you have made some non-optimal decisions so far, and you have decided to do better from now on?" and got downvoted to -11. misery loves company. OF COURSE nothing is her fault... nothing! how dare you even suggest such a thing!

I've got gobs of karma. I'll gladly sacrifice 20 points of it to yell at this woman. And I have. We'll see how it goes.
+1
Although IMO you've likely accumulated more good Karma for calling out the bull on that.  Hopefully it will help others who stumble over.

Paul der Krake

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #16 on: July 18, 2014, 07:49:25 PM »
It looks like the subthread of comments was deleted.

gimp

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #17 on: July 18, 2014, 07:55:39 PM »
Looks like it's there for me. here

So far no-one's taken the bait to be butthurt about how 500/month on a car is either a very temporary situation (eg, paying off a cheap car in a few months) or retarded.

Paul der Krake

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #18 on: July 18, 2014, 08:06:12 PM »
Weird, I must have followed an outdated contextual link in my browser's history or something. Computers I tell you.

Eric

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #19 on: July 18, 2014, 09:46:50 PM »
I've got gobs of karma. I'll gladly sacrifice 20 points of it to yell at this woman. And I have. We'll see how it goes.

Can you explain what this means to a non-redditor?  I'm guessing that they keep track of up votes vs. down votes?  What happens if the down votes surprass the up?

Paul der Krake

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #20 on: July 18, 2014, 10:12:17 PM »
I've got gobs of karma. I'll gladly sacrifice 20 points of it to yell at this woman. And I have. We'll see how it goes.

Can you explain what this means to a non-redditor?  I'm guessing that they keep track of up votes vs. down votes?  What happens if the down votes surprass the up?
Reddit keeps a tally of upvotes and downvotes for each account's comments, that's usually what people refer to when they say "karma" or "comment karma". Karma points are the internet currency of choice as they can be exchanged for bitcoins, attractive mates, and cards of magic the gathering. People who repeatedly get downvoted into oblivion are the lepers of the intertubes and you should avoid making eye contact with them.

Latwell

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #21 on: July 19, 2014, 04:05:20 PM »
I've got gobs of karma. I'll gladly sacrifice 20 points of it to yell at this woman. And I have. We'll see how it goes.

Can you explain what this means to a non-redditor?  I'm guessing that they keep track of up votes vs. down votes?  What happens if the down votes surprass the up?
Reddit keeps a tally of upvotes and downvotes for each account's comments, that's usually what people refer to when they say "karma" or "comment karma". Karma points are the internet currency of choice as they can be exchanged for bitcoins, attractive mates, and cards of magic the gathering. People who repeatedly get downvoted into oblivion are the lepers of the intertubes and you should avoid making eye contact with them.

+1+1

Lmao. My SO loves reddit. Will definitely be showing him this explanation hahaha. And now I've become curious what his karma looks like on there.

kyleaaa

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #22 on: July 19, 2014, 09:59:39 PM »
The thing that gets me is her zoology degree. It's not her, but rather just how many people have degrees in something that won't lead to a decent paying job. I was in a similar boat and am fortunate that I found a job that has opened up a career path an d wasn't obtained through my college degree, not all are this fortunate.

If everybody started getting degrees that would lead to a decent paying job, those jobs would stop paying decently.

Choosing a major based on earning potential alone is foolish.

Kaspian

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #23 on: July 24, 2014, 12:35:45 PM »
If everybody started getting degrees that would lead to a decent paying job, those jobs would stop paying decently.

This is an invalid argument known as "fallacy of composition".  (e.g., "If everyone started doing what MMM does, the global economy would collapse.")  More specifically, I think it's called the "tragedy of the commons".  You've invented a scenario that will never come true therefore you can't really argue it as a valid supposition. 

I agree that not all education should not be centred around end wages.  However, if you wish to have decent wages you should probably take something that pays in the end.  If money is no object, you're retired, or well established and wish to learn something, heck yeah--take whatever subject you'd like.    I wouldn't mind taking once of the courses about the history of superheroes.  Would I expect to be able to get a job with those credentials?  Probably not.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2014, 12:40:31 PM by Kaspian »

strider3700

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #24 on: July 24, 2014, 12:58:57 PM »
depending on where you're at and and your age group  it's possible to spend $500/month on insurance for a modest car.    Ontario has brutal insurance costs for young males.   $6000/year without any previous claim penalties isn't unheard of  by any means.

gimp

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #25 on: July 24, 2014, 01:27:46 PM »
I've never heard of a 16-year-old male - the most expensive to insure - paying over 2-3k a year in any part of the US, unless they were driving a sports car or had tickets / accidents. (My friend's dad bought him a sports car; got insurance quoted at 7500; kept the car for himself and gave him his civic instead.) I am a little skeptical of the claim of 6k a year.

strider3700

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Re: On reddit
« Reply #26 on: July 24, 2014, 02:07:05 PM »
I heard it on the news not long ago. I don't live in Ontario so I can't verify.   Here's something I googled in a few seconds.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/adventure/trends/why-ontario-drivers-pay-the-highest-car-insurance-rates-in-the-country/article19522860/