My first apt alone

[Elesirdur]

Of course interest rates mean pretty much nothing if you're paying the full balance each month.

Very true, but if you do decide to use a CC only for emergency purchases then having that lower rate will help.

I suppose I am encouraging the judicious and responsible use of credit cards because it is one of those "adult" things to do in our western economic society. Sure, you can live your life with cash only, but you will miss out on a lot of business and financial opportunities along the way - opportunities that can only be acted upon because the entire business world runs on the concept of managing and financing debt.

[wintersquall]

Not all parents are created equal. I'd go insane if I lived close to my mother.

I have a unique living situation... I share an old Victorian-style house in the Uptown area of Minneapolis with the owner of the house (in his 40's). It sounds strange initially, but he is never there (2-3 days a month on average) as he owns houses in other parts of the world and travels frequently because he retired early. He just wants a roommate to make sure nothing happens to the house (i.e. pipe explodes, gas leak, etc.) because it's old. So I basically get this big house to myself with a deck, garage, and porch for $525 / month.

damn... how'd i miss THAT on craigslist... my new apt is 625 in uptown, decent one bedroom although rather small and most people say i got a great deal >.< you lucky #$%& XD


OP, the whole thing is conservation of resources.

be EXTREMELY conservative the first two months, and see how you're doing. fuck, eat ramen/bologna and never leave the house if you have to. the point is to see where you're at, and you can loosen the beltstraps from there.

if you're honestly doing most of the things listed in this thread and still not making it, your income is simply too low to be living alone there. based on your numbers, once you get acclimated you should be able to live there fairly well and have a little fun doing it as well. just be careful NOT to fuck it up right in the beginning, best advice i can give you.

[Cheerios]

Oatmeal is your friend!

[Elesirdur]

Oatmeal is your friend!

Get scotch (also known as "steel cut" or "pinhead" oats, same thing) oats instead of rolled or instant oats. Scotch oats actually have some decent nutritional value, lots of soluble fibre, and are really damn tasty since they get creamy, but still have a bit of crunch to them from the germ. If you've got a slow cooker you can make them before you go to bed and they'll be ready for you in the morning.

Stove-top recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

Overnight oatmeal: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

Both courtesy of Good Eats, which is basically where I learnt to cook. Part Julia Child, part Bill Nye the Science Guy, Alton Brown is awesome. There are torrents out there of Good Eats episodes, and the early seasons cover some really basic stuff that everyone should know but a lot of people don't.

[Parshias]

Get scotch (also known as "steel cut" or "pinhead" oats, same thing) oats instead of rolled or instant oats. Scotch oats actually have some decent nutritional value, lots of soluble fibre, and are really damn tasty since they get creamy, but still have a bit of crunch to them from the germ. If you've got a slow cooker you can make them before you go to bed and they'll be ready for you in the morning.

Stove-top recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

Overnight oatmeal: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

Both courtesy of Good Eats, which is basically where I learnt to cook. Part Julia Child, part Bill Nye the Science Guy, Alton Brown is awesome. There are torrents out there of Good Eats episodes, and the early seasons cover some really basic stuff that everyone should know but a lot of people don't.

Alton Brown is God. He knows so much about foods its actually somewhat scary.

[Elesirdur]

Well, his research team at least, heh. To think the guy used to direct commercials before getting fed up, went to train as a chef, and decided to pitch his own cooking show.

[Woozie]

Oatmeal is your friend!

Fact.

Oatmeal is cheap, and despite having a huge appetite, a bowl or two of oatmeal keeps me full for like 6 hours. Not to mention I don't get enough fiber in my diet and oatmeal is a good source of it.

[evilpaul]

There comes a time in every young man's life where he needs to leave the nest and spread his wings. I have reached this particular time in my life and well, I have a few questions to those of you who have already done the same. With all of the livign expenses on my shoulders, I was wondering if people had some money saving tips to cut down the cost of living as much as possible so that I dont remain dirt poor.
I'm moving into a 1 bedroom apt with no roommate or girlfriend to help so it's all on me. I've gotten a few tips from people at work saying things like turn down my water heater from 140 to 130 and that will help quite a bit, dont leave the air on when i'm not there, and to start a ramen noodle diet. Just curious if anyone else had any tips for someone fresh out on thier own.

Three things I would suggest would be if you haven't moved in yet or signed a lease (hopefully nobody else suggested them yet):
1) Try to get a place where the bed room doesn't have an East facing window as anything short of plywood never seems to keep the sun out when you're trying to sleep a little late. I'd go for one on the North or West personally. (If you're in the southern hemisphere, change South to North.)

2) Parking is an overlooked but extremely important issue. Do you have a place you can park your car during the day and overnight legally? (Or future hypothetical car) This is very important both because shuffling your car around several times a day to avoid 3hr parking tickets or having to move it to different streets overnight depending on the day of the week for street cleaning is a pain in the ass. Parking tickets are a hidden expense in towns where the parking laws are ridiculous and they are enforced with nazi-like zeal. Having lived in one I know.

3) Make sure you have a doorbell or street accessible door so that people can let you know when they are there. You probably have a cell phone (you can possibly go landline-less to save some $$$), everyone you know probably has a cellphone, but you'll still run into people who don't or who won't call you when they get there (UPS/Fedex/whoever else).

[Siniroth]

Don't tempt yourself with overspending by saying to yourself "oh, I can just cut back on this", or "I'll just make up for it next paycheque", it'll screw you over, I've run into the problem before and I haven't had an apartment I'm paying for yet, in sept I will ($475/mo room in a house, full services, common areas furnished (very well), and professional common area cleaning twice a month <3), but I'm still worried I'll be tempted to just spend spare money and not have enough later

[SephYuyX]

Im just now looking in to getting a CC for myself, same situation as Elphaba, no school ever teaches why you should, and parents just taught me how to be responsible instead. Im 24, and have worked since I was 13, ive paid off 6 years of college (and counting) over 3 schools, with two going on 3 degrees, all out of pocket, and still have around 30k in savings. I still live with my parents, so that helps out a lot though ;o 2 more years all be all done with school and actually have to find a house D;

Best way to raise credit is how others have suggested, only use it if you know you can pay off the balance in full every month.

[Quicklet]

Im just now looking in to getting a CC for myself, same situation as Elphaba, no school ever teaches why you should, and parents just taught me how to be responsible instead. Im 24, and have worked since I was 13, ive paid off 6 years of college (and counting) over 3 schools, with two going on 3 degrees, all out of pocket, and still have around 30k in savings. I still live with my parents, so that helps out a lot though ;o 2 more years all be all done with school and actually have to find a house D;

Best way to raise credit is how others have suggested, only use it if you know you can pay off the balance in full every month.

Yeah, keep in mind that your oldest credit account needs to have been open for something like 5 years with no type of late payments before you're considered to be "well established," so if you can keep yourself disciplined about credit it'll open up a lot of financial options and benefits for you in the future not to mention it can save you tens of thousands of dollars if you want to buy a house at some point.

[Taera]

Oatmeal is your friend!

Fuck oatmeal. Shit's nasty.

[Elesirdur]

Fuck oatmeal. Shit's nasty.

Like tofu, greens, spinach, and eggplant they're all foods that the average person can't cook properly and end up tasting like shit.

Rolled and instant oats are basically like eating sawdust; there's really nothing there. Scotch/steel-cut oats (which I mentioned earlier) have a great nutty taste to them and it comes out all creamy and delicious - kind of like breakfast risotto, but not to be confused with grits, which is breakfast polenta lol

[Taera]

Tell me where to get them and if they will cost me my poor right arm and i'll give them a shot. Oatmeal is still gross but if it can be made to taste good, last a while, be filling, and cheap, i'm open to suggestion.

[Lordwafik]

Oatmeal is yum when covered in Honey. Are american bees still going missing? I bet that's sky rocketing the price.

[Nirokun!]

i've become a fan of oatmeal as of this year, the shit is an amazing food. i kind of just eat it despite the taste (im not a breakfast person) but it basically explodes in your stomach, filling you up after you've already left the door. i sit for hours not thinking about food, having had only about a cup of (cooked) oatmeal and a mug of tea in the morning. low-cal and full of fiber, its amazing~

[Sqwunk]

i've become a fan of oatmeal as of this year, the shit is an amazing food. i kind of just eat it despite the taste (im not a breakfast person) but it basically explodes in your stomach, filling you up after you've already left the door. i sit for hours not thinking about food, having had only about a cup of (cooked) oatmeal and a mug of tea in the morning. low-cal and full of fiber, its amazing~

It's the same way with rice.

Eat like a cup of rice, then drink something like water. If you weren't full before, you will be after.

[Lordwafik]

^ all that talk reminds me of when I used to own baby chickens, my neighbours kept warning me to never feed it too much grain, otherwise when it drinks water it'd kill itself due to the belly exploding internally.

Naturally, I fed the chicken some chicken instead

[Woozie]

Naturally, I fed the chicken some chicken instead

You're going to catch mad chicken disease.

[Azalee]

We gave our chickens chicken as well. Haha. They were polish though, and what we gave them was like Foster Farms or some shit. =P

Oatmeal is delicious. At work I eat Maple/Brown Sugar instant oats... I also like my oatmeal really sticky, while our service manager likes hers almost soup-like. You have to find out how it works for you, and what flavors you do and do not enjoy.