Spending Smarter

Ethics question

In my life, I've gone from dirt poor, to normal poor, to middle class, now on the cusp of upper middle class. When I was dirt poor I went to the food bank. When I was normal poor I still went to the food bank, but I also donated to them sometimes. The thing is the scale of food banks means they can get food ridiculously cheap. My local food bank boasts that they can provide a healthy meal for $0.50. They have fresh vegetables, frozen meats, lots of good stuff. My ethics question is this. If one...

We

Westie

14 minutes ago 43 Share

Pet Insurance Question

Hi! I have a question about cancelling pet insurance, while carrying and paying off a credit card debt. I am currently paying $125 CAD/month for pet insurance for 2 cats. It was the most reasonable pricing and with a company that has good coverage, but it doesn't include annual checkups, so I have to pay for those out of pocket anyway. My cats are young enough (7 and 5 years old) and healthy. I feed them half cheap wet food and half vet approved pet food (and I see a difference when I switch to...

KY

Kateryna Yuri

14 minutes ago 8 Share

Credit Card Payment question

Hi all, I'm a somewhat recently credit card debt free person and I will forever stay that way. I was in a cycle of credit card debt for years and I'll never go back! I still use credit cards within my budget for the cash rewards and I've been doing that responsibly for the past year. I pay them off and never carry a balance, but I have a question about how everyone does that. It seems like the FI community is pretty credit card friendly as long as they are being paid off, but can anyone share lo...

Ro

rockyg

14 minutes ago 27 Share

High Yield Savings account options

Hello, I have recently started my FI Journey. I am very excited and my wife is on board. That being said, she is very big on having a designated emergency fund that is rather large. The number we got to was $20,000. I understand that Roth IRA contributions could be used for this, etc etc. That is not a battle I want to get into when my wife is in for optimizing in basically all other ways. That being said, my friend reccommended Capital One as a HYSA option, specifically because it has seperate...

Fi

fishinphil57

14 minutes ago 18 Share

Spending habits are out of control

Hello friends, I recently got out of the military and while I was in service, I had a lot of disposable cash. This led to me being able to buy anything I wanted while still saving plenty of money. The savings actually happened before I ever saw the money so that I couldn't mess it up. I am now a student with a part time job making not a lot of money, but for some reason my brain hasn't put that into reality and taken it into account with my spending. I eat out instead of cooking, I order deliver...

BS

Bob Scarlett

14 minutes ago 3 Share

disability insurance

Does anyone have and/or recommend buying a disability policy? I bought term life insurance when I was 25 to cover my wife (and one day kids) in case I go early, and have considered DI on and off over the years. Curious to get thoughts For context -my wife and I are boht 30 & healthy

As

asherfeigenbaum

14 minutes ago 7 Share

401K Deferment

I am wondering if anyone is using income sources other than paycheck for daily/monthly expenses. I am considering using more of my brokerage income to fund my lifestyle just so I can get closer to maxing out 401k for tax deferment purposes. This seems like a sound plan but I'm curious if I'm missing something.

An

Anonymous

14 minutes ago 7 Share

Career Transition Funding - Grants, Scholarships or Other Options

Hi FIRE Friends :) I'm curious if anyone has found creative ways to fund career development, professional training, certifications or education without taking on additional student loans. I've spent enough money on education over the years and would really like to avoid borrowing more. I'm currently self employed so I don't have an employer who can provide support. Have any of you had success with things like grants, scholarships or other creative approaches to financial support? Thanks! Tommy

TM

Tommy Mulhern

14 minutes ago 2 Share

Need advice for saving money on groceries

Curious if anyone has any good recipes or hacks they've had for saving money on groceries? With two teenage kids (one an athlete) I'd welcome any ideas for saving money while still being able to have home cooked healthy food without our grocery bill being so high. Seems like prices at the store just keep going up and I need to find better options than just eat more beans and rice (especially since one of the kids won't touch beans).

Ti

tiffycan2

14 minutes ago 35 Share

Cellphone

Been with a major carrier ( ATT) for years and believe we are paying too much for a plan for three people. Looking for recommendations for anyone who has switched and found a carrier that would provide similar coverage/ features etc for around $100/month.

Ka

Kac

14 minutes ago 18 Share

ChooseFI spending averages nationwide

Hey everyone, I recall discussion regarding a project to compile a comprehensive cost-of-living database broken down by ZIP code, city, and family size to help the community evaluate geographic arbitrage, derived from the expense audit work…. Did this page or spreadsheet ever get officially released or hosted anywhere? If it exists somewhere on the site or in a shared drive, please point me down the right path. Thanks

Aa

AA40

14 minutes ago 5 Share

FIRE - doesn't it have to change based on expenses, inflation, and other factors?

If my expenses this year are X, and then double next year to be 2x, and so on in future years, and then mix in the inflation effect over 20, 30, or more years, how does the FIRE calculation take those changes into consideration?

VS

Vincent Sullivan

5 days ago 13 Share

Best cell phone plan as internet

We currently have a Verizon unlimited family plan with multiple lines split amongst family throughout the country. I'm interested in looking for a cheaper plan like Visible but the main thing that has me concerned is many family members use their cell phone as their only internet due to living in rural areas where broadband is not an option and something like Starlink is too expensive. Does anyone have first hand experience with the unlimited data plans from the second tier providers? Both for u...

Bl

bleve

5 days ago 17 Share

Where do I start my baby’s savings?!

Hey everyone! This may sound silly, but you guys get it! My 9 month old just got his first $10 from grandma & grandpa in a cute little Valentine’s Day card and it got me thinking… Where do I start a savings of some sort for the little guy? Certainly there is a better way to save his gifts than in a piggy bank! We don’t want it tied up in a 529. Other than that, what are our options? Keeping in mind we want to teach him about saving/budgeting and all that good stuff once’s he’s old enough to star...

Lm

lmann58

5 days ago 17 Share

Just a plug for utilizing standard warranties!

I know that purchasing extended warranties isn't recommended. That said, many products come with warranties, and while it can be a pain to keep track of them and even to take advantage of them I wanted to share 2 recent wins. 1. We have a pair of Nikon Monarch M5 binoculars purchased in 2023 from REI for about $250. I dropped them at some point and while they didn't immediately break, over time the eye piece stopped working. We recently submitted through the Nikon warranty portal for repair and...

Ca

CaiS6

5 days ago 2 Share

The Hidden Value Of Your Credit Card Benefits

Premium cards like the **Capital One Venture and Chase Sapphire** come with protections that can quietly save you money long after you swipe. ✅ **Price Protection** Some card benefits can reimburse you if an item you bought drops in price after purchase (up to 120 days), meaning less buyer’s remorse and more confidence hitting “buy.” Last week I bought new wicker chairs on Wayfair for $400, the next day, they were the deal of the day for $300. Thank you, price protection, and Mastercard sent me...

Jo

JoeQ17

5 days ago 9 Share

Planning App

Does anyone have an app recommendation that I can use to pull in all my accounts AND will provide me a breakdown of how much dividends per month I receive, interest/growth income. I use my CC for spending and pay it off monthly so I'd also like to be able to pull that in to see categorically what I spend in. This may be too much detailed info but I like seeing that level of granularity.

N0

n0_tori_0us

1 week ago 9 Share

Best Budgeting App?

I feel like I'm in the stone age! Ive been using spreadsheets forever and just feel a bit behind the ball. What is everyone's favorite budgeting app? And im talking budgeting specifically. Ive used Empower to track my networth my but it seems to lack true budgeting capabilities.

ZB

Zach Bremer

1 week ago 50 Share

Fetch

Have any of you had success using Fetch? I’ve always kept receipts, but just taking photos of my receipts has earned me points toward gift cards to places I already shop. It’s definitely incremental… and worth it. Also - I’m new to the FI community, but not to the idea of FI. I look forward to learning!

An

Anonymous

2 weeks ago 12 Share

Considering income limits and ROTH conversions in health insurance renewal options

Hi! I figured I'd throw this out of my head and into yours to see if any thoughts. I'm in a last minute unhinged rabbit hole and need to make a decision by tomorrow, so fully understand if no one even sees this before then, haha. NYS is eliminating Essential Plan 200-250 as of 7/1, and I have to reapply for heath insurance by tomorrow night 🫠. Im still at zero W-2 income for this year, so it's a great roth conversion year so thats where this is stemming from. I have 3 options. Option 1- reduce...

La

LaurenW

3 weeks ago 6 Share