Can someone give my advice on how to manage money?

[Anonymous]

I'm 24... 

I am working a crappy cleaning job that I am very unhappy with. I have no cell phone, and just feels so much like a bum. I am pretty sure the guys at my job is criticizing me in their head. I feel so left behind in life and everything has just fallen apart. I quit school at 17 due to depression and having to support myself.

Anyhow, enough of the sad story, I just need to know how the hell do I save money making $1000 a month? I only have a car note for a piece of **bleep** car that my mom financed for me, and it runs good, and has low milegae but its not worth financing. But I had to do what I had to do at the time. The car payment is $215 a month, and I pay all of the minimum payments on my credit cards which are all like $25 - $40 but I end up using them and maxing them back out. I end up broke every month, and spends the whole day driving around the town, and eating fast food... simply because I live in my car. I go to my mom's house late at night when everyone is asleep to avoid contact because they will beg for money and pretty much bring me down. I cannot find a second part time job, the job market is very low here. I have $134, and will be taking the entire thing to pay for my GED. I've been studying day in and out, hopefully I pass it. It is very important I do. 

However, I have a job offer at the end of October in NYC, the job is $36k per year (not much in NYC, but its something), I will be working and also taking a 1 year course program for a higher position within the company while training and getting paid in the mean time. I will work mostly from my laptop at home and occassionally come into the office. This is a great opportunity. It's just that I don't have a dime saved up to even rent a room or a hotel room. What am I doing wrong? What do I have to sacrifice? 

My credit card debt is $1,700 in total for 4 credit cards. They are all maxed out and is weighing my credit down, however, my payment hstory is perfect,no lates, or missed. Should I sacrifice my next pay checks and pay all of my debt off?

If I sacrificed my next 4 pay checks which will range from 8/20 - 10/20... and deduct small amount of money for cheap food and gas, and my car note payments, I can pay my debt off, and I will cut up 3 of those credit cards. Therefore, if it turns out I have to go to NYCwith just $200, my car, my laptop, I know that I have a guaranteed job, a car to sleep in, and will be DEBT FREE! I can continue to build credit, pay off the really small collections, and within 2 weeks, I will make enough to went a hotel, and eventually a hotel room! 

Does this sound like a plan? I also want to know for future reference. How do you manage money? 

[Anonymous]

@RockyJaxon1,

I applaud you for having the courage to type this up and seek advice.  Baring your story out to complete strangers must have been hard but that is the beauty of the board as you can post without anyone knowing who you are.  Welcome and you are at the right place.  People will give you some good advice in this thread.

Ok.  Move heaven and earth to get your GED.  You are on the right track and having that- GED will make your life a bit easier. I really hope you pass it.  Making a $1,000 a month isn't enough.  But you are hustling and making it work. Note that this is temporary and the harder you work, and smarter decisions you make, the easier life will look more favorably on you.

I don't know where you are but NYC is very very expensive. Instead of staying in a hotel, try and see if you can do Airbnb [https://www.airbnb.com]. It will be much cheaper and there have been instances where the host feeds the people staying thus, breakfast and other things for doing small chores.  That can come in handy and if it comes up, make sure you eat up enough to last you an entire day.  For example, if for breakfast your host offers you hush browns or a chioce of a bagel, opt for the bagel. It is heavier and more filling than hush browns. That way you don't have to spend money on food the day your host feeds you.  Since you don't make alot of money, you can survive in NYC if you are very strategic in your approach and save a bit of money.

What credit cards do you have and what are their limits? At this point, the last thing you should be worrying about is your card being maxed out.  You are not applying for anything and haven't missed a payment.  I am guessing you are worried about the interest?  How much do you pay a month?

So doing a rough math, $1,000 - $215 [car payment] = $785.  How do you spend the $785? Can you break it down if you don't mind as to what it goes towards? Also, don't cut up the cards just yet as you need it incase of an emergency based on your situation.

Lastly, answer how you spend the $785 and we can go from there and see if your plan is a good plan.  A budgeting tool you should consider is YNAB.  It is free for the first 30 days and then $45 for the entire year.

[Anonymous]

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I applaud you for having the courage to type this up and seek advice.  Baring your story out to complete strangers must have been hard but that is the beauty of the board as you can post without anyone knowing who you are.  Welcome and you are at the right place.  People will give you some good advice in this thread.

Ok.  Move heaven and earth to get your GED.  You are on the right track and having that- GED will make your life a bit easier. I really hope you pass it.  Making a $1,000 a month isn't enough.  But you are hustling and making it work. Note that this is temporary and the harder you work, and smarter decisions you make, the easier life will look more favorably on you.

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+1

[Anonymous]

Raising your income is certainly a must.  Where do you live now?  I'm not sure about your area, but EVERYWHERE near me is hiring which is about an hour and a half north of NYC.  Literally if you drive down the main drag in the town I'm in there's Now Hiring signs everywhere... restaurants, pet stores, Staples, basically any time of job you could imagine.  I run a restaurant and have hired 10 people in the last month and will hire another 10-15 this month. 

Your expenses aren't bad; $1700 in CC debt is a drop in the bucket compared to many and your car payment is reasonable.  You obviously don't have a favorable living situation currently, but if it's something your comfortable with it certainly keeps your expense line down.  Raising your income is definitely #1 priority right now.  You're going to have to work out that new job on paper though.  I think you said $36k a year so that's $3k a month, or 3X your current income.  That sounds great, but you need to make sure that any expenses by moving aren't going to eat up the difference.  If so, you really aren't gaining any traction.  Your head is in the right place though, and that's more than half the battle IMO.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm 24... 

I am working a crappy cleaning job that I am very unhappy with.

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Well step one Rocky is fixing your attitude because that is free. I dont feel the least bit sorry for you my man, and you shouldnt feel sorry for yourself either. There are kids in Syria growing up in a six sided civil war with no running water, no electricity, and no stable food supplies; when they hear gunfire and bombs going off they dont even know which acronym is shooting and who that acronym is even shooting at. You think you have it bad? Then you dont know what bad is. You need to be thankful for what you do have, including your job, being happy is a decision that you make in your head. You can look at it being "the janitor" or "the CEO of Maintenance and Sanitation" your choice my man.

Step two, get your GED immediately because it will make step 3 a lot easier.

Step three is get more jobs. I know your options might be limited right now because almost no one hires without HS/GED even most cleaning jobs, but do whatever you need to do. If undocumented illegal immigrants that dont even speak English can find work then you can too..... "job market is very low" is a cop out. Amazon has a thing called Mechanical Turk which you can sign up for and fill out surveys and do menial research tasks for pocket change, you can probably make about $2-3/hr if you put in the time and effort until you can find another minimum wage job. Driving around and eating fast food is nonsense, if you have any extra time on your hands then you dont have enough jobs. Right now you should be working, sleeping, and that is it. Janitorial, fast food, landscaping, detassling corn, picking fruit, mowing lawns, washing cars, shoveling snow. Again do what you need to do, but you need to be working yourself to the bone. If you have time to sit there and be depressed then you have too much time on your hands.

Get those 3 things together first. Your debt is meaningless, being "debt free" means nothing and will do nothing to improve your particular situation. If you have a job offer lined up in NYC for October then every single penny you have should be saved up as cash to help you transition to a stable life once you get to NYC so you can actually keep your job. If you are homeless you can buy a gym membership so that you will have a place to exercise, shower, and shave for ~$40/mo you can either sleep in your car in the gym parking lot or you can park your car in a safe location, store your valuables in the trunk, and go sleep on public transportation (buses, trains). Apply for Federal food assistance once you are on your own and stop buying fast food.

You are 24 Rocky, its time to step up and stop making excuses. Mommy aint here to save you any more. Get to work.