Author Topic: $62k in 3 months  (Read 7402 times)

Ddub925

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$62k in 3 months
« on: March 24, 2015, 12:21:36 PM »
So heres the deal:

Ive been slowly adopting a more mustachian lifestyle. My wife is pregnant with twins which will bring our family headcount to 6, and I freaking the F out. We had a goal to be debt free (currently have @52k in debt) by the time we have a 3rd kid, and god laughed at our plans. With our current income ($9850 net) we have been paying debt down by about $3k per month, but at that rate we would be $37k short. But that will assume full income from my wife which most certainly will be reduced when she goes out on leave. Additionally, I want a minivan to transport us when we all have to travel together, so Im thinking I need $10k for that (but might be able to sell my current car for $10k for an even swap). But the bottom line is I want to take a less Jacob ond more Ramit approach and try to produce $62k by 9/1 (Due Date). good news is I can earn commissions (Im in sales at @ 2500 per client) Im guessing I can get 4 new clients in that time ($10k) and need to find $50 more. I can build basic wordpress sites, do basic construction, my only limitation is time. Anyone else want to try to make extra money to completely abolish debt? I need to get back to selling, but Im happy to outline my rediculous spending to let you all punch me in the face.   

cashstasherat23

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2015, 12:36:01 PM »
...you want to make an extra $60K in three months? Shoot, if I knew how to do that, I'd be retired right now!

This oddly reminds me of the posts on another forum I am a part of, for weight loss. Halp, I have a wedding in two weeks and want (need) to lose 40 pounds! What should I eat?!

Best advice I can give you is to post your spending, which you have already acknowledged as ridiculous, so that people can help you pare it down. Will certainly be checking back on this thread to see if anyone has any suggestions for how to materialize $60K that quickly!
« Last Edit: March 25, 2015, 02:58:00 PM by cashstasherat23 »

Bob W

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2015, 12:43:40 PM »
Case study -- Your expenses surely include debt repayment right?   If not, you're spending 7K per month.   Now lets see -- 2K for all housing,  1K for cars,  1K for food etc.  and 1K misc. ?   Hell I don't know?

We really need to see the whole spending picture to face punch you properly. 

Retired To Win

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2015, 02:07:01 PM »
Any chance of capping the size of your family at 6? Or is that taboo?  Because if you basically are going to have an open-ended family head count, I don't see how you can possible make any early retirement plans.

Sorry... :(

Ddub925

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2015, 11:32:38 PM »
Ok it should have read 62k in 5 months! And we will throw in an extra $70 for my copay to get the viscectomy!

62k in 5 months is easily doable, but not from scratch. Mmm probably makes more than that from this blog, Pat flynn makes that in a month!

I need to get in the weeds on Mint, but here is a quick snapshot of where i think my moneys going:

$2200 rent
$3000 debt
$1600 food
$1100 daycare
Rest on utilities, insurance, shopping, kids, misc

lifejoy

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2015, 06:52:19 AM »
Your shopping and food expenses look to be pretty intensely high. It would be a good idea to try and cut expenses as much as possible, because as you said, your wife's income will be decreasing...

Ddub925

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2015, 09:45:27 AM »
I agree Lifejoy. I will be posting a case study in the next couple days that will review my spending habits in much more detail. Excited and scared at the same time!

cashstasherat23

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2015, 03:08:49 PM »
Ok it should have read 62k in 5 months! And we will throw in an extra $70 for my copay to get the viscectomy!

62k in 5 months is easily doable, but not from scratch. Mmm probably makes more than that from this blog, Pat flynn makes that in a month!

I need to get in the weeds on Mint, but here is a quick snapshot of where i think my moneys going:

$2200 rent
$3000 debt
$1600 food
$1100 daycare
Rest on utilities, insurance, shopping, kids, misc

Certainly making $62K in 3 or 5 months is not impossible. In fact, based on what you said in your initial post, it seems like you are bringing in close to $10K a month, or $50K in 5 months, so you are close. However, as you also said, you can't make $60K from scratch, and it seems that you are hoping to make $62K extra in 5 months, on top of the full time job you already have. Michael Jordan makes $52K a night while he sleeps, but I can't just go out and become a professional basketball player to materialize that amount of extra income.

What I'm saying is, sure, there are ways to do what you would like to do,  but I think that more realistically for you is to try to increase your sales income as much as you possibly can, while reducing your expenses dramatically. You may not make an extra $60K and pay everything off completely in 5 months, but you will be in a better spot than you are in now! Maybe think about picking up a side hustle as well-any extra bit helps!

Retired To Win

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2015, 04:21:34 PM »

So heres the deal:

... the bottom line is I want to take a less Jacob and more Ramit approach and try to produce AN ADDITIONAL (text added) $62k by 9/1 (Due Date)...


You are going to make yourself nuts trying to bring in an extra $10K-plus per month for the next 6 months.  Notwithstanding your new baby's due date, the rational thing to do here would be to extend you goal date to generate that extra $62,000.  Why set yourself up for failure?

Sibley

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2015, 04:26:36 PM »
If you're right about food expense, that is insane. Do some budget tracking, figure out where stuff is going and post it. I'm sure plenty of people will be happy to look at it.

In addition, you're spending a ton on daycare (to me at least!), and with 2 more kids that will only go up. Do the math on you and your wife's salaries - it might make sense for one of you to stay home.

Hopefully you have a lot of what you'll need for the new babies, but minimize. You already know what isn't needed.

forummm

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2015, 10:37:11 AM »
$2200 rent
$3000 debt
$1600 food
$1100 daycare
Rest on utilities, insurance, shopping, kids, misc

We spend about $250/mo on food, and we eat really well. I think this is a good area for you to target for big savings.

Ddub925

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #11 on: April 22, 2015, 11:25:33 AM »
If anyone is interested in an update...

Ive only made 1 sale that will pay me $1900 pre tax and am more unfocused rather than doubling down to make more sales.

Got hit with a 4k tax bill that I had to put on a credit card because I wasnt ready for it.

Listed my Avalon for sale @ 8500. Wife says we dont need to do this, but I know we will need a van. Have a $2000 corolla lined up if it sells, but no interest so far.

Havent produced any side hustle income.

Started meal planning for groceries, but still spent 1200 on food this month. WTF! How do you guys do it under 500???? I think I need to collect and analyze all of our receipts.

Sibley

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2015, 12:16:48 PM »
If anyone is interested in an update...

Ive only made 1 sale that will pay me $1900 pre tax and am more unfocused rather than doubling down to make more sales.

Got hit with a 4k tax bill that I had to put on a credit card because I wasnt ready for it.

Listed my Avalon for sale @ 8500. Wife says we dont need to do this, but I know we will need a van. Have a $2000 corolla lined up if it sells, but no interest so far.

Havent produced any side hustle income.

Started meal planning for groceries, but still spent 1200 on food this month. WTF! How do you guys do it under 500???? I think I need to collect and analyze all of our receipts.

Given the high level of expense there, my guess is you're eating a lot of pre-processed foods, which are more expensive. (buy prepackaged cheese sticks, compared to a brick of cheese and cut it up. big difference) Also maybe you're eating out more than you think.

Are you including non-grocery expenses? I tend to buy everything at the same store, and so the entire receipt is categorized as grocery. IE, you got some medicine, shampoo, diapers, and all your groceries, and it's all listed as grocery. Not necessarily wrong, just be aware of it.

JLee

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2015, 02:50:46 PM »
...you want to make an extra $60K in three months? Shoot, if I knew how to do that, I'd be retired right now!

This oddly reminds me of the posts on another forum I am a part of, for weight loss. Halp, I have a wedding in two weeks and want (need) to lose 40 pounds! What should I eat?!

Best advice I can give you is to post your spending, which you have already acknowledged as ridiculous, so that people can help you pare it down. Will certainly be checking back on this thread to see if anyone has any suggestions for how to materialize $60K that quickly!
No kidding - that's more than my annual salary, lol!

I agree that the best bet will be cutting spending.

CoderNate

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2015, 09:45:54 PM »
Started meal planning for groceries, but still spent 1200 on food this month. WTF! How do you guys do it under 500???? I think I need to collect and analyze all of our receipts.

My wife and I have recently cut back quite a lot from going out to eat from ~4 times per week down to 1 (or less). It's really amazing how much a difference can make. We also stopped eating so much meat and eat a lot of rice/beans/noodles/potatoes and various fruits and vegetables. We went from spending probably 200 a week down to 80-100 (with just not eating out being the bulk of the savings).

ender

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2015, 06:20:25 AM »
This is an awesome goal.

You are in sales, any chance you could do something part-time which is sales related? You could have a purely commission based income (since you don't "need" the money) and maybe make a bunch that way?

cerebus

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Re: $62k in 3 months
« Reply #16 on: April 28, 2015, 07:19:19 AM »
If you don't have an actual plan to reach that goal, the goal is totally meaningless. You're a little bit spinning when you should be approaching this whole thing rationally and systematically, and with the means and resources that you actually have insead of what you dream of having (and nobody can tell you how to earn $62k in 3 months or they'd be doing it themselves). And now you want to sell your vehicle and replace it with something for $2000 - I'm just not sure how much benefit that is unless you know what you're going to be doing. It's all very erratic.

Firstly you need to manage your budget because it's out of control, and secondly you need to find ways to increase your income - but bear in mind that the two things are actually the same - saved money = earned money.

Grocery budgeting is a remarkably easy thing to master if you just use the principle that from now on, you make your food from scratch. You can actually eat far better quality food if you cook yourself anyway, so it's an all-round win except in the area of convenience.

A single meal for our family of 5 doesn't cost us more than about $5, so you can average that out - if breakfast for the family is $2 (usually oats or some other pap), lunch is either leftovers or something small cooked like tuna pasta bake for say $3, and dinner is $5 - which can be almost anything - you're sitting around $300, then you can add say $100-200 for miscellaneous food like nuts, fruit, ice cream, whatever - we spent $9 on a Lindt chocolate special today that will last us throughout May for instance. Okay I'm giving South African prices here and not sure how it compares but I think the prices can't be THAT much higher in the US and we eat really well. I could easily cut that down if I had to but I think we've found a comfortable budget zone with food and we don't feel pinched.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2015, 07:27:12 AM by cerebus »