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I have a little used phone I got off Amazon with just about the cheapest plan available (no smart phone).
Can't tell you about the bigger question, but in regard to the phone, look into the AT&T pay as you go plan. I fill it once a year for $100, for 400 minutes and have rarely used that up. If you refill before the year is up any unused minutes get rolled over and added to the next year.
Yeah, when you're young enough to enjoy life, spend it working the night shift at a convenience store. Then when you have sciatica and arthritis and can't pass the eye test for a drivers license, live it up.
A few years of working 2 jobs won't hurt anyone. Unless, quite frankly, you're a pu$$y. A few years later and now with a girlfriend/wife, a kid, more bills and nothing to show for your "living it up", guess which route you should have taken.
I promise it costs more to feed, house and clothe a couple of kids than what we save in taxes Before we had kids, we lived in a 400 sq ft apartment, shared a single-cab stick-shift truck and spent $40/week on groceries. We both worked back then too. Now we need 1500 sq ft and a minivan and I spend $40/week just on fruit and vegetables. (next year I'm planting a straw bale garden to try to cut those costs)
I don't know anyone who had a kid just to save on their taxes. That would be like having a kid so you could get food stamps, one of those myths that republicans like to perpetuate.
i dont doubt that. the post made me feel a little better regarding any future plans to have children bc i don't feel like i could afford them on my income.
A few years of working 2 jobs won't hurt anyone. Unless, quite frankly, you're a pu$$y. A few years later and now with a girlfriend/wife, a kid, more bills and nothing to show for your "living it up", guess which route you should have taken.
also depends on the hours at your primary job along with the hours and stress level of both. some people work 60-80 hour weeks all their lives at one job. if you're only working 40 and you're 25 it wont kill you to put in another 10-20 hours a week at a second, part time and low-stress job. i did it for a while to pay down my student loans, build up savings, and buy a house. it was admittedly stressful at the time but now going forward my financial situation will be so much better. i also met quite a few good friends and my SO through the part time job and honestly kind of enjoyed it!
A few years of working 2 jobs won't hurt anyone. Unless, quite frankly, you're a pu$$y. A few years later and now with a girlfriend/wife, a kid, more bills and nothing to show for your "living it up", guess which route you should have taken.
Oh, I see. Now we are calling anyone a pu$$y if they have their own priorities about the value of time and stuff, that are different from yours.
OK, here's the deal. You go and work for a couple of years at a second job, and then take all the stuff you bought during that time and set it out in a yard sale. See how much value you got to show for the days of your life that you squandered.
Go around to a nursing home some day, and ask people there "Don't you wish you had spent more of your younger days working at a second job, so you could have more money now?" See if they have enough energy left to punch you in the nose. If they had it to do over again, "guess which route they would have taken".
I don't know where you are in your life, but I'm 75 years old. I worked as little as possible in my life, maybe only about 15 years working all year at a full time job. I don't regret one minute of the way I managed my work/leisure, there is nothing I "wish I'd had the time to do", and you have no idea what a luxury it is to live out your later years with no regrets. A luxury money can't buy.
Oh, I see. Now we are calling anyone a pu$$y if they have their own priorities about the value of time and stuff, that are different from yours.
OK, here's the deal. You go and work for a couple of years at a second job, and then take all the stuff you bought during that time and set it out in a yard sale. See how much value you got to show for the days of your life that you squandered.
Go around to a nursing home some day, and ask people there "Don't you wish you had spent more of your younger days working at a second job, so you could have more money now?" See if they have enough energy left to punch you in the nose. If they had it to do over again, "guess which route they would have taken".
there is a pretty significant stress factor involved when one is not financially comfortable. interest compounds when you have to borrow money to get by and being in situations where you can't pay for a necessary car repair and end up broken down on the side of the road or something is not fun. being on the phone with the cable or electric company for an hour to negotiate payments is not fun.
its not about the "stuff". giving up a little bit of your time for a year or two in order to decrease your overall stress level for the next 20+ years is worth it to some. and some people legitimately enjoy working!
there is a pretty significant stress factor involved when one is not financially comfortable. interest compounds when you have to borrow money to get by and being in situations where you can't pay for a necessary car repair and end up broken down on the side of the road or something is not fun. being on the phone with the cable or electric company for an hour to negotiate payments is not fun.
its not about the "stuff". giving up a little bit of your time for a year or two in order to decrease your overall stress level for the next 20+ years is worth it to some. and some people legitimately enjoy working!
Do the math. An ordinary working stiff will make $2-million in a lifetime, maybe $3-million if substantially up into the middle class. A second job, full time, at near minimum wage for two years will bring in maybe $20,000 net after taxes, commuting cost, and eating junk food because there is no time to cook. That's at most 1% of your lifetime earnings.
Your life is divided up into thirds: Work, Sleep, and Being who you are and fulfilling your own personal life. Two years ("a little bit of your time") at your second job takes up 3% of your own meaningful life, in exchange for 1% of your economic gain. Not a good deal.
Just once in your lifetime, buy a $10K used car instead if a $30K new one, and you will make back all that money that you lost by not ringing up slurpies in a convenience store every night for two years. Instead, use that time to get an AA at the local community college, or spending meaningful time with the kiddies, or remodeling your own house. Unless you're a "pu$$y" who can't take responsibility for managing your own life, without a corporate boss to structure the work you "legitimately enjoy" doing to make him fabulously wealthy..
Maybe for some... between income taxes, property taxes, sales tax, and gasoline tax we pay more in tax than we do for food. And health insurance has just doubled for us so it now easily exceeds the tax bill. For budget relief we would do well with a lot less government in our life.
Well, YOU do have a lot less "government in your life", your government is busy right now taking care of their friends in high places.
Do the math. An ordinary working stiff will make $2-million in a lifetime, maybe $3-million if substantially up into the middle class. A second job, full time, at near minimum wage for two years will bring in maybe $20,000 net after taxes, commuting cost, and eating junk food because there is no time to cook. That's at most 1% of your lifetime earnings.
Your life is divided up into thirds: Work, Sleep, and Being who you are and fulfilling your own personal life. Two years ("a little bit of your time") at your second job takes up 3% of your own meaningful life, in exchange for 1% of your economic gain. Not a good deal.
Just once in your lifetime, buy a $10K used car instead if a $30K new one, and you will make back all that money that you lost by not ringing up slurpies in a convenience store every night for two years. Instead, use that time to get an AA at the local community college, or spending meaningful time with the kiddies, or remodeling your own house. Unless you're a "pu$$y" who can't take responsibility for managing your own life, without a corporate boss to structure the work you "legitimately enjoy" doing to make him fabulously wealthy..
are you familiar with the term "straw man"? all ive argued was that working a second job can make sense in some situations for younger people to catch up a bit when they're struggling. i'm sure we can all think of situations where it doesn't make sense. way to go.
OK, here's the deal. You go and work for a couple of years at a second job, and then take all the stuff you bought during that time and set it out in a yard sale. See how much value you got to show for the days of your life that you squandered.
Who's to say someone working a 2nd job is spending it on stuff? Maybe they're taking that second income & paying off debt or investing it or saving it for a large down payment on a house, precisely because they don't want to be impoverished or working their butt off in their 60s.
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Before we had kids, we lived in a 400 sq ft apartment, shared a single-cab stick-shift truck and spent $40/week on groceries. We both worked back then too. Now we need 1500 sq ft and a minivan and I spend $40/week just on fruit and vegetables. (next year I'm planting a straw bale garden to try to cut those costs) 
