Hello all. I come with a question, which may be one I can answer myself after I write it, because I feel like writing it out here will help me process it. Nonetheless, I look to all of you for some guidance.
I work 40 hrs a week at roughly $30 an hour. My twice-monthlg paycheck is, at minimum, about 1800$. I own a rental property which grosses about 1900$ a month. I receive $200 from my girlfriend since she's on my insurance and phone. My monthly income is $5700 unless my math is way off.
I have student loans, insurance, credit cards, utility bills, phone bills. Normal stuff, everyone has. And the mortgage. If I add my bills up, I come to about 4000$ per month.
That doesn't take into account gas for my vehicle, which varies but I would estimate about $100 monthly. I smoke about a pack a day, which is about $300 a month. Yuck. I know. So maybe $4400 a month.
It leaves me with about 1300 a month left to spend.
I find myself scraping by, sometimes, lately more often than not, resorting to using my credit card to cover my ass. I used to spend a lot gambling; I rarely gamble any more knowing the consequences of doing so, and I am able to hold back when I get the urge. Aside from gambling, I'd say my other vice is eating out at nice restaurants and going on expensive weekend getaways.
My question is, how do I get back on my feet, and maintain stability? I'm tired of trying to do this and get nowhere. I want to be able to have fun and save money, but I'm just not able to. Do I need to stop having fun and just save money? How do I change my lifestyle so drastically and even more so, how do I change my girlfriend and my lifestyle? We're used to it and I know it's one of the things that makes us happy.
But I want to be able to save money. Have a backup plan when everything fails. Because it seems like that part of life is inevitable.
So Reddit, what are your thoughts? Any good advice for a guy? Thank you for reading! And in advance, for your replies.
TL;DR: make enough money, can't budget for shit, fix me, please. Thank you
Submitted August 20, 2018 at 01:54AM by rooterock https://ift.tt/2Bs1XBr
