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How much for delta gold on here?
Additional Posts in FIRE Financial Independence Retire Early
Real Estate Rookie podcast thirsty for subs
Decided to payoff my mortgage.
Mentor
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We’re in month 11. That means your average monthly statement has been around $6,800. Did you suddenly realize it was that high?
I get the $10k move being a one time expense. So call it $65k in other expenses, or ~$6k per month. What are the top 3 categories of spending? Food? Entertainment? Amazon? Other random things?
We had 3.5 weeks to book for her wedding, only sharing that because obviously in a normal situation you would have been correct. Shotgun wedding, I guess 😂
But yes, I agree. We will be doing a deep dive.
Subject Expert
Once you identify what categories are your problems, you'll start trying to cut spending.
Remember a few things:
If you could find therapy that is covered by insurance, or just cheaper, that would be huge.
In addition to just doing without something, one way to save money is to just find the cheaper version of whatever you were doing. Cheaper flights and Airbnb/Motel6 instead of good flights and Hyatt. For me, used books instead of new.
When you do cut things, try to cut, not all categories uniformly, or the biggest categories, but the ones that add the least value to your life per dollar. Take time to reflect on which they are. It might surprise you. It also might not be a category that is on credit cards. It might be too much house, or car payments.
And remember that often the pain of cutting spending on something changes with context and you can shift the context with other decisions. When I am trying to cut restaurant spending I make sure to have prepared foods in the freezer, because one reason I order delivery or pop out to the ramen house is out of laziness, and frozen prepared foods scratch the same itch at lower price. Think about ways to make it easier to avoid spending you want to cut.
Subject Expert
Sounds like a lot of work.
It is also pretty easy to make about 3.8% of spending back in benefits with just one card for everything and no churning.
Export your credit card expenses and sort into categories to see where it’s going. Then figure out where you need to cut back on
What’re you spending it on? That’s the first step to help
reduce the spend
I want to encourage you to go through your transactions and figure out where your money is going. It's hard to control spending you don't understand.
Create broad categories. Categorize each charge on your credit cards even if you have to create subcategories: restaurant under entertainment; movies under entertainment; etc.
Where's it going?
Mentor
Therapy why isn’t that covered by insurance?
Like others said, you need to know where the rest is going. $5k/month is a lot, though not outrageous.
There must be one or two areas you can cut.
That may be car payments, eating out?
Community Builder
This - people don’t realize how easy it is to cut back on 1-1.5k
Those are rookie numbers
Community Builder
Hey vp - would you be willing to connect over dm?
Ha I spent $234k so far this year with the CC. Create a budget and stick to it. Don’t use CC if you cannot pay it at month end
Wow. I’m happy for you that you have the means. That sounds weird but I’m just happy for you.
Anything eating out should stop (if anything). Average cost of food at a restaurant is 30% of the bill (give or take based on level of dining) then 20% tip, and restaurant food costs 4X buying in at a grocery store. In a high COL area these numbers could be light.
Unpopular opinion. That’s not too bad. I know, this a fire group. But if that’s the CC for the family, it’s not that bad (assuming you put everything else on it). Question is, do you have other cc spend?!!
I don't have a credit card, never had one, much easier that way
Subject Expert
Yeah, if you are paying the whole balance off every month, credit cards are good, all else equal. You get points, you build credit, you don't pay interest.
OP's issue is the spending level.
IDK, sounds like you need to find a path to higher income or get off the retire early idea. Working at a meaningful well paying job is in all probability going to be better than retiring early for most people anyway.
Why are you using CC
Subject Expert
If you pay the entire balance every month you get points and build credit without paying any interest. It's a pretty sweet deal if you can really stick to paying the entire balance every month.
Those are rookie numbers in this racket
The salaries are rookie numbers too, so context is key here 😂
Go Seek a financial counselor. but if your heart ain't in it don't go. you got some financial issues beyond your bank account.
Why do you choose to live somewhere where you can't afford to buy a home?
We go where people in my religion are. There are other options with people in my religion that are more affordable, but there are specific reasons we had to choose here for now. I am looking to go to a cheaper place next year because I do not align with this lifestyle and want more savings and a home and to be somewhere where my money goes further.
Stop eating at restaurants. Buy nice organic ingredients and cook at home with simple recipes. Not only will you lose weight you’ll cut that CC bill in half or better.
Subject Expert
They can save even more by buying regular groceries instead of organic. :)