May's I can't afford it award winner

It's time to announce the winner of the I can't afford it award. I'll make this quick because I'm rather tired.

The runner up is the person's who are  leasing the  2015 Chevrolet suburban.

 I didn't find a whole lot more info than what was in the add. "Job situation changed " does say alot to. It basically says yeah I screwed up. Rather than thinking into the future they lived for today and are FORCED to sell. If they were living within what they can afford they wouldn't be forced to sell anything.

The winner of the CPA May's "I Can't Afford It Award is.
The Pontiac.

why? This problem could of been corrected months ago but no instead of trying to correct their financial problems they flew to California to go to Legoland flew to Cancun to an all inclusive resort and bought a diamond ring for mothers day all in 3 months but can't afford a car payment??

Tomorrow is June. More to come.

3rd and final contestant of the "I can't afford it award"

I guess my notes do not have auto save like I thought they did. On my old phone I had the hardest time saving anything. I
I would just type and entire pages would just disappear. I did have a great contestant for the "I can't afford it award" but unfortunately I must of forgot to save it. So it may not make it this month.

Several things led me to my downfall to into the pit of debt and misery. Some weren't my fault like basic trials we all go through such as cars breaking down  loss of income or medical bills. Some were my fault partially. My car purchase. And then there are those purchases that I chose not thinking ahead. Trips to sea world and Disneyland were partially to fully funded by empty credit cards that we said we would pay off. Eventually paying off became increasingly difficult because other trials took over and created more financial hardships but again I know that because I did not prepare myself financial because I chose to cave to pressure and buy a car because I put vacations on credit cards other trials did happen income did reduce and finally destroyed my credit. My debt is not that much but because my fica score is low it is changing the path we could be on. I think it's a blessing and a curse but I want to get my experience out to warn others the danger signs of a personal financial colapse.

Again searching as I usually do for subjects for various warnings or subjects to learn from I came across another contestant of the I can't afford it award.

So here's the car

And Here's the add

AGAIN. it was poor planning that came to this point but OH it gets better. Again you may ask why I care and again I say because these dumb financial mistakes these entitlement financial purchases  that were put on credit cards. (What I mean is making decisions to go on trips because they deserve it rather than they could afford it) clouded their judgements. Spill over to rely on financial help including government and church help that we all pay into. Some of us have waited years for our dream vacations or purchases while these entitled young married person waits not saves not and thinks not.
So what's the scoup? Well here we are almost 5 months after the last assumed date she was employed (last year) and in the last 3 months this couple A. flew to California to go to Legoland (how much did this cost? Credit cards?)B. Went to Cancun ( again realy?? Credit cards? 2000+ dollars) then for mothers day the wife gets a real diamond ring and other gifts.(and they can't paytheir car payment why?) The diamond ring tells me that when they got married they didn't have alot of money which also means,they probably don't have parental financial support that is also supported by the fact they live in a small apartment. They also have a four month old. Where the heck are their medical bills? So to recap they can afford medical bills they can afford a trip to Cancun a round trip flight to California and tickets to Legoland and to top it off an expensive diamond ring but can't afford a car payment? Are they at risk of financial support? dipping into the bishop's storehouse fund? Help with rent?  (and I'm still wondering if they even had to pay for any of the medical bills)
So here is you 3rd contestant of the "I Can't Afford It Award"

2nd contestant for May's "I can't afford it" award

There are those who have a free life. Someone came before them worked hard became wealthy had children and grandchildren and because some were born into there family they were awarded endless opportunities including the ability to pick and chose when or if they are going to work. "Born with silver spoon" or "funemployed" are two terms I have heard to describe these people. Then there are those who have some type of financial assistance. Likely their parents became successful helped them through college paid for their wedding helped them move or even in some cases bought them a car or even a house giving them such an advantage over their neighbors and friends. This(sometimes unknowingly)  can be a dangerous situation . The nest egg could dwindle faster than they anticipated  The benificeraries of all of this help could develop self entitlement and not good work ethics  that  plus the family growing, more siblings in laws and grandkids could unexpectedly cause the well to run dry. Although I cannot pinpoint an exact situation to this story probability tells me that it could and does happen.

Welcome my next contestant of the CPA's  "I can't afford it award" I told you in a earlier post I have at least found 10 cars for sell by owner that are 2015's. Some of these sellers have barely put a few thousand miles on them then realized they couldn't afford it. Whether it was due to "loss of income" or my favorite "job situation changed" which in this case makes you scratch your head. Why would they purchase a 50k vehicle when your are at a risk of losing income. What's more confusing is that they leased it. A big waste of money especially since they need to sell or are they being forced to sell.

I'm  taking a guess that this person is part of the second group of people (above) who have or had some type of supplimental help. Weather it was income or gifts of cars or something of value they eventually relied too heavily on their historic intuition and the "well" is starting to dry up. I do wonder if part of the problem is receiving suplimental support. It takes more than one ingredient to make a cookie.

 Think it through. I've said this many times enjoy that power of knowing you could go buy a brand new truck. Keep it. Save save save. Don't give in. There are so many out there who want that power taken away from you. You could easily go from having that power to begging for just enough power to get a ride to work.

Enjoy your weekend fellow person who accidentally stumbled upon my blog.

How to clean when you absolutely positively do NOT want to clean

I will be stuck without Internet on the road for a while. I would estimate that at least 50% of my blog post are created edited and posted on the road which has created a drag on my family's data plan. So I have turned my data off but luckily can still blog thanks to my notepad app.

I wanted to share a creative way I use to motivate myself to clean. Sure it would be easy to hire some maid to clean my house but unfortunately if I want to maintain my current course on getting out of debt and creating a better life for me and my family
I need to keep this ship on it's current direcrion. Since my wife is pregnant alot of household chores are not getting done sometimes to the point the kitchen table cannot host anyone for any meal and at times we are having to hand wash single dishes to use them and in some cases wearing dirty clothes. I know it sucks and it's hard to admit it but I know I'm not the only one in this situation. So back around 2009 I created a way to force myself to clean and it's helped me stay motivated even in the toughest situations.

First and foremost before you begin cleaning don't get riled up over the little things. Kids are kids and they will make mistakes they will smash cerial into the carpet or smear jam on the couch. IT HAPPENS! and yelling at your kids while you are cleaning is not going to help your kids learn or your own stress levels. Remain calm and remember that it's just a mess. The term "I didn't sign up for this" will not help any situation. Forgiveness and a realization that we are all humans who are continually learning will. So stay calm.

Second, don't focus on a particular room or area. Do one thing. Clean. Thats it. Don't focus on the kitchen, living room, bedrooms or laundry, just clean anything and everything. Even if you don't make the progress you wanted you still made progress.

Lastely . I will share my secret weapon on cleaning. You ready?  Count. Thats it but don't  tell yourself your going to pick up a hundred things and give yourself a break instead try this. Set up a point system to award yourself points such as picking up items are 1 point and sweeping floors or a loaded dishwasher is a bonus 20 points. Also start at one then one two then one two three and so forth until you reach your goal number. Mine is 40 and usually by the time I'm at 15 there is a huge noticeable differencd. What you are doing on a psychological  level is creating small goals and achieving them which gives you a sense of accomplishment and motivates you to keep going all because your counting. So try it next time you absolutely positively do not want to clean but know you have to.

131829

That is my entire debt within 100 dollar accuracy range.

 Progress report. I wanted to calculate my ENTIRE debt to show myself where I stand compared to my neighbors. In this debt total there are, 2 mortgages, 7 credit cards, 4 medical, 2 401 K, 1 Hud loan, and 1 car loan.
If you look at this total and said it was a mortgage it wouldn't look bad at all. Some people would be ecstatic if this was their mortgage. Unfortunately for me because this is spread to 16 different debts with varying interest and higher payments it cost me a total of 1311 dollars a month (which actually shocks me. I thought it was alot more) If I were to combine all of my debt into 1 mortgage payment I would be spending in the ball park of around 850 to 900 bucks a month which would save me interest monthly income and surprisingly insurance.
A couple of fun facts before I close. 1. The total amount changes weekly( meaning it's going down). 2. The 401 K loans are drawn out of my account weekly so even if I don't have any other payments my total debt will go down. 3. Two of the medical bills could be gone by this weekend. And Lastly. Just 4 months ago this debt was around 143000 dollars. I was able to pay off close to 11000 dollars in 4 months so yay me.

The tale of two charities.

(Disclaimer although I have a strong opinion about this particular subject I'm in no way saying do or do not donate to any particular charity. I am just stating MY opinion which was formed by MY experience which can change. Tomorrow I may not feel the same way.)
This past weekend  while I was out shopping for mothers day I was aproached by two charities. One when I checked out at Walmart for Primary Children's Hospital and one at McDonald's for McDonald's House charities. I actually donated to one but refused to donate to the other. Which one did I refuse to donate to? Primary Children's and here is why.

In 2012 my daughter got sick with RSV for the second time in her short life. We took her to Urgent care who instructed us to imediately take her to Primary Children's. She stayed there 4 days and was visited by at least 4 doctors who charged there own fees on top of Primary Children's fees to take care of her. They did nothing to help her treatment plan and still added thousands of dollars to our bill. But I'm not actually upset about that. What upsets me the most is after my insurance pays 80% and my final bill came instead of me trying to apply for financial assistance I went ahead and started to pay it and with it comes interest. Where the heck does the interest go?? Does it go into an account to help some underprivileged family who has a brand new van better house but fell on hard times??  I know I could of applied for their charity and got assistance  but felt I could afford my bills now because I have decided to pay I'm not only paying the 20 % I owe but also paying extra interest because I decided to pay my bills. They already got 80 % which would of easily more than covered everything they want more and even a little bit more, to go????where???? They don't pay state taxes so why do they need to collect interest on the last 20 percent I owe them?

Ronald McDonald house charities is one of the few as of right now that I trust. As a matter of fact I would rather donate to Ronald McDonald house than the food bank or even my church fast offerings. They do at least one main thing that I know of provide a comfortable stay near a a hospital so that a parent or family member doesn't have to be far away from the patient . It's an even playing for lower and middle class income families I see it completely different than hospital charities which you have to show them every little detail of your financial life then they will help you. I've also heard a rumor from a former collection employee who told me that most of the time if you had a Hispanic name they would just automatically send it to be paid out of the charity funds.
I always say this "If it feels right donate, if it doesn't, don't." I have donated to Primary Children's Hospital before this incident. I'm sorry but as of right now it does not feel right to donate to them.

Nomination #1 for May's "I can't afford it award.

Some of my leading arguments of this blog have changed and may continue to change. One being my objections to financing a car has been the forefront lately and will continue to do so probably until the fait of this blog is determined. To absolutely learn something it sometimes has to go through discussion and refined until an outcome is born that is not only just but pure and true. We do this in politics and in religion. Continually talking and learning the same thing over and over again until we learn new things and become experts ourselves. We become stronger individuals with our trials and become new and stronger than we were before. With that said my continuous fight for finding ways to succeed through life in a abnormal procedure avoiding paying the get rich quick schemers will continue on.

I've decided to change my "I can't afford it award up a bit. I'm going to have a few nomination per month. I'm hoping at least three. And since I am the founder of CPA (car payments anonymous) and nobody cares about this blog I will at the end of the month give you your winner.

Our first contestant is the owner of this beutiful 2011 Toyota Corolla.

I love Toyotas. Oddly I've never owned one but I know they are great cars. With care and maintenance I can almost guarantee you will get at least 350,000 miles. One thing jumped out at me imediately when I saw the price. See if you pick it up too.

So here's my first thought. How does he justify getting a price you could nearly buy a brand new vehicle with alot less miles?

You can find 10 year old cars with less miles than this. To me this is a big red flag. 

Through my research I'm already finding 2012 with less mileage selling for less than what this guy is asking. Why is he selling it? 

Wow that was too easy. At least he's honest and up front about it. I think this person shot himself in the foot when he first bought it. The car had way too many miles for the price he bought it. I'm imagining the total price was near 16000 which would put his payments around 320 a month. The high mileage could be a factor of why he won't get what he wants. Just imagine what he could of bought for that same amount. Truck, trailer, toys? It's seriously possible and I will prove it.

Don't finance a car but if you absolutely have to do not finance past 5000. There are plenty of  cars out there waiting for a couple of parts and they will last year's till you can upgrade.

So without saying anymore (trust me I have ALOT to say) I give you my first contestant I will name  "In order to keep this car I need a job?" 

What happens when you post this?

in less than a year you could be posting this!

and you thought I was kidding when I said your at a high risk of bankruptcy losing your home and relying on social programs if you finance a car you cannot afford. (a near 400 dollar payment I might add)

welcome to the real world hunny. P.S. it's people like you who have me AVOIDING 

donating to charity. Why should I when I know some of those funds are going to your less then common sense decision that you make and due to your OWN justification of what you deem as a need has helped destroy your credit and forced you to rely on someone else's hard earned money who MADE the right decisions.