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Original Message
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I felt the urge, nay a necessity to post a thread regarding the types of things people, including myself, were spending money on.
These are things, that if our ancestors back in the day witnessed, would deem you stupid, inefficient and borderline insane.
1. Restaurants.
I don't know how it is in other countries, as I am living in the United States. But here, for a couple to go out and have a nice meal at a regular restaurant, easily $30.00.
If you add alcoholic beverages, easily $50.00. When my father use to take us out to eat when we were younger, I would always be a curious kid and sneak a look at the bill. It amazed me how sometimes when all four of us would go out, the bill easily hit $80.00.
Seriously? Now that I am 22, and live with my own girlfriend, that money is enough to feed us for a week. One night, or a week. YOU decide.
Don't complete negate "going out to eat", but try and support the local businesses, not the monopolies like Red Lobster or Joe's Crab Shack, the smaller businesses tend to have better service and cheaper prices, especially drinks, if you want to get out of the house.
Vegetables and a side of meat is extremely cheap and cost effective. IF you are a vegetarian, you practically can eat for free if you shop right.
Hell, a can of black eyed peas, 99 cents, slow cook them and add some spice and cilantro, oh my god it's good, filling, and has protein.
2. Alcohol and Cigarettes.
I have the most simple equation for you. It's healthier, and will save you a crap ton of money.
Limit yourself to these types of spirits to only twice a week, to be honest anything more then that is really unhealthy, and YOU know it.
If you work three days, and are off four, and YOU spend those four days just upside down wasted, you need to create yourself some hobbies, some free-minded YOU time.
Do NOT smoke when you're bored.
Do NOT smoke and drink everyday, after work. Read a book, cook a meal, make love, and go to bed.
Build a pattern, and keep it to one or two days. It's a hell of a lot more enjoyable, trust me.
3. Clothes.
I was at my college the other day, and heard some girl talking about how her jeans were "so fabulous" and costed "only" $80.00.
Are you stupid? Remember, that's one week worth of groceries. Go to google, and look up where your nearest Outlet stores are. I drove 20 miles the other day to an Outlet store and got 5 pair of wrangler jeans, brand new, same quality as in the malls, for 40 bucks.
They discount everything. Shirts included, walked out of there with about 9-10 shirts for another 50 dollars, dress shirts included.
STOP being lazy. You're money can go further, if you decide to do the research and find these types of places. It doesn't make you look poor either, you get the same damn quality, without the markup.
4. Renting, or Housing. I'm going to tell you right now, if you have good credit, in America, right now is about the best time to buy a house.
They are practically throwing low interest rates at you, the only catch, which is the catch for anything financial, you got to have at least a 730-740 credit score to make it viable.
Here is an amortization calculator: [link to www.amortization-calc.com]
This is what you need to know about houses:
30-Year Plans = Low Monthly Payments, Extremely High Interest (more money goes to the bank, less equity for you)
A $150,000 house, with a 30-year plan, and 3% interest rate will run you about $640 a month, but you will pay easily another $70,000 in interest to the bank, which does not get applied to your principal (cost of the house).
15-Year Plans = Higher Monthly Payments, Really Low Interest (more money goes towards paying off your house, less money goes to the bank).
A $150,000 house, with a 15-year plan, and a 3% interest rate will run you about $1000 a month, and you will only pay about $36,000 in interest to the bank. In my opinion, this makes much more sense.
Try and save about 15-20% for a down payment, then get your loan, it will be even CHEAPER, for both plans.
If your only option IS the 30-year plan, do it anyways if you can. You still build SOME equity, which is better then paying apartments and making NONE.
If you are scared you might fail as a first time home-buyer, know that you can rent out your house easily for higher then the mortgage payment and make money.
G'luck.
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