Q&A Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

Reader Question: I Quit College In The Last Semester

Last Updated: December 20, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 42 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello everyone! I have a new Reader Question to share. If you would like to ask a question, please send me an email. This reader needs help so please read the below:

Hi,

I’m in debt and I was wondering if you can shed some light on my situation. I’m confused about what I should do.

I went to law school and now owe six figures. I had a mental meltdown during the last semester before graduating and had to take a break. Since then I’ve been working at at non-legal job that pays very little but on the bright side doesn’t stress me out.

I’ve made a tiny dent on my debt and at the same time have been saving up to finish the degree. But after looking at the money I’ve saved up to go back and finish a degree that I may or may not use (according to the news and statistics employment in the legal industry is at an all time low); I’m torn between using that money to attack my debt or use it to finish law school.

I’m not expecting you to make the decision for me, but any advice to guide me towards my final decision would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

What would you recommend this person do?

Let us know in the comments below. All help is appreciated! Also, please be kind. Keep in mind that this is a person who is seeking help and advice.

Image via Flickr by Raymond Bryson

EDIT: The person who sent me this question replied, but it will probably get mixed in the jumble of the comments below. I have screenshot it here:

HELP! My Significant Other Makes Me Pay For Everything

Last Updated: May 1, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 64 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello everyone! I have another Reader Question to share. I know I just did one last week, but this reader needs help now and I knew it couldn’t wait until I do another Reader Question post. I’ll let her take it away now…

Please Help Me,

My boyfriend lives with me, I pay all rent and utilities. He thinks I am crazy to want him to pay half rent & utilities.

How do I tell him couples splitting these expenses are normal?

I am tired of having a zero or negative balance in my bank accounts while he has money?! I am thinking about ending our relationship if he refuses again. We can’t buy furniture, or needed clothes, food or move forward in this relationship if he won’t help or meet me half way. He makes more than me, and there is no reason he should live with me when I can get a roommate that will pay half those expenses with me. I love him but, I can’t keep living this way.

HE said that it’s unheard of [couples splitting bills] and that I need to stop listening to my friends and family’s advice. I told him that my last boyfriend and I for 5 years split rent and utilities. I know that he told me that everything is balanced in this relationship, but I know this is not right. He has addictions that he wants to spend his money on, maybe he’s afraid he won’t be able to afford his addictions.

He and I can’t move his young son into our home at all and can’t move forward healthily if he can’t help me. I have told him that we would each have a savings account seperately building up money. Only if he helps me can we be successful together. I am older than he is and he’s learning, but his inexperience is wearing on my patience. I have a counselor lined up, and books and we can talk to rental agencies if he still doesn’t believe me.

This is my last attempt to save our relationship. He gets angry when I bring this up.

I had resigned from a great job, saved $10,000 on my own from that job and moved to another state to begin a new life with him. We have been in a relationship together for 3 years. I have discovered that he is immature. I have sold my personal belongings when he wanted money and, I have depleted all my saved money due to his influence. He says that I am all about money but I feel like a nun, I have given away all my money to him and I don’t have much in material possessions. I just was hoping he’d see reason… But, I keep waiting that he’ll understand. How can I make one last effort to talk to him, explain things in a non-threatening way?

I find it strange that he refuses to help out at all. He said that that’s not the way reality works. I am in disbelief. I have a possible job being offered soon. I have to move forward with this opportunity it will change things for the better financially. I want to progress with him.

What would you do if you were this person?

Let us know in the comments below. All help is appreciated! Also, please be kind. Keep in mind that this is a person who is seeking help.

Reader Question: I’m Getting a Divorce

Last Updated: December 20, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Over the past month or so, I have received quite a few Reader Questions. The readers below asked for my help, but they also asked if I could publish their questions on my website because they want to hear multiple opinions.

I’m not sure if either of these two readers will reply (because they want to remain anonymous), but they just might.

I know that they will read your responses though, so please try to help these awesome readers out. I have changed some of the wording in order to protect their identities and to compact their questions. I have also changed their names.

Past Reader Questions include: How to Split Bills Without Resentment and We have $200,000 in Student Loan Debt.

1. I’m drowning in debt. This reader question is from Joe:

I have a lot of debt and I don’t know what to do first. I make around $55,000 a year before taxes. Here are some of the facts:

I have $16,000 in credit card debt, and it’s climbing.
I have $14,000 in car debt, and it’s not even a new car. I made a huge mistake and the car is already having major problems.
I also have $44,000 in private student loans.
The interest on everything is high (all above 8%).

I guess I just want overall help. What should I do? I have extra time to work, but not a whole lot of time.

2. I’m getting a divorce. This reader question is from Katie:

I have a 401K, a small business, and rental properties that my ex-husband and I split. We both put the same amount of work into everything, and we are splitting everything right down the middle.

We have decided to cash everything in and sell it all, so that we can each just get cash and go in our separate ways.

Besides those three things (401K, a small business, and rental properties), I have nothing else saved except for a small emergency fund. I have no debt except for the mortgage on each property, and I will be making money from the sale of each property.

I’m not sure what my very first step should be. Should I invest it all? Look for an advisor to help me out?

So what would you do if you were either of these people?

Let us know in the comments below. You can help them both or just one. All help is appreciated! Also, please be kind. Keep in mind that this is a person who is seeking help.

Would You Move To A Completely New Place?

Last Updated: May 1, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 78 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Last year here on Making Sense of Cents, I talked a lot about us buying a new home. However, I’m sure you’ve noticed that we have not bought a new home yet. Some of you have even emailed me asking if something went wrong.

So, what gives? Why haven’t we bought a house yet even though the plan was for us to buy one in 2013?

Well, the thing is, we don’t know what we want to do. Do we want to stay here in St. Louis? Do we want to move to Memphis where W’s parents just moved? Do we find an entirely new place that has awesome weather and is beautiful? [Read more…]

Do You Like Your Job?

Last Updated: February 6, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 62 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hey everyone! It has been around one month since my last Question and Answer and I now have a whole new batch of questions to ask all of you.

I really like Question and Answer type posts where I can just talk and talk and talk, and then learn more about all of you as well.

Comment with your answers below! And if you would like me to answer a question of your own, you can always ask in the comments as well.

Do you like your job? If not, why are you still there?

I LOVE my job and I love what I do. In case any of you are new here (I’ve had a few emails in the past week asking about what I do) just a little summary of what I do: I have a business where I do a lot of online freelancing – you can read more about all of it here.

I blog, staff write, manage websites, manage social media, and more.

Is your Christmas tree still up?

The other day I was on Facebook and noticed that not just one but TWO people still had their trees up. What the heck? Mine was put away one or two days after New Year’s Day.

Also, do you still have lights on your house? If you do, WHY? I know it’s freezing outside but I feel like this cold weather is never going to end if your holiday lights never come off your house 🙂

Do you eat before you work out or after?

I eat before I work out. I don’t know how some of you work out right when you wake up without eating. I have tried it and I usually have to stop working out because I get so light-headed from not eating!

I usually eat and then wait around 30 minutes to work out.

Do you have any pets? How much do you spend on them?

I have two pets. We got our first dog around seven years ago when we first moved out. Her name is Sailor and she is a Boxer/Pitt Bull/Brittany mix who is a little over seven years old.

Our other dog is Mr. French (a runt French Bulldog) and we got him right when we moved into our house when we bought it in October of 2009. He is around 5 years old.

They are my fir-kids and I take way too many pictures of them.

I’m not exactly sure how much we spend on them each month. Food is probably around $50 a month. Treats and toys are probably $10 a month.

Do any of you send your dog to doggy day care? One of my friends brings her dog there a few times a week at $24 each day.

How much do you spend on food each month?

Right now, we are spending around $400 a month on food (this does not include entertainment – such as going out for drinks), which is a huge change from how much we used to spend. We used to eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Just the thought of that makes me sick because we were so unhealthy and wasted so much money. Now, I prefer to eat at home because it tastes so much better.

Are you going to FinCon?

I am! I went to New Orleans last Summer (the picture above is of a Hand Grenade that I bought while I was there). You can read my recap on New Orleans if you haven’t been there before.

I found an interesting post about FinCon yesterday that I think you should read – Should Debt Bloggers Go To FinCon? What do you think?

Do you have a side income?

I don’t anymore. I used to have a ton of extra income, but now it’s all a part of my wonderful business that I operate full-time. I would like to start some offline side income jobs, but I’m not sure since I don’t have a ton of free time for that right now.

Your turn!

How About Another Question and Answer?

Last Updated: January 2, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 45 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Family Christmas 2013

Hey everyone! I hope all of you are having a great week. If you haven’t read it yet, please read my post that was published on Monday – Do You Make Excuses For Why You’re Not Following Your Dream?

I really like Question and Answer type posts lately where I can just talk and talk and talk.

It’s also nice because hopefully readers can learn more about me and I can also learn more about all of you as well.

The other day I asked everyone on Twitter to send me any question that they want, and I said I would answer them.

Comment with your answers below! And if you would like me to answer a question of your own, you can always ask in the comments as well.

What is your best time management tip?

This is something that I am asked all the time. Recently I created a post on having a successful work-life balance.

My top tip would probably be to rank your tasks in order of importance, and then knock them out in that order. However, if you have a task that will take a short amount of time (such as 5 minutes), then just knock it out so that you don’t have to think about it.

Being able to cross things off my to do list always feels nice.

How much will your wedding end up costing you?

We are now deep into the wedding planning process, and boy there is a lot more work than I thought that there would be. I have been buying some little things every now and then, and now I really just have all of the big things (and the most expensive parts of the wedding) to look forward to.

I believe that we have around another $10,000 to spend, and that is with around $2,000 of cushion in the budget because I am sure that I will forget something. We have already negotiated and paid for around $4,000 to $5,000 as well.

In total, our wedding will probably be right under $15,000. It’s a little more than I wanted to spend since we do have to pay for everything ourselves, but that’s not a bad amount for the amount of people that we are having.

And, yes, I do realize that this is a personal finance blog but we have budgeted and saved for our wedding!

What I want you guys to answer is: a) How much you actually spent on your wedding; and b) How much you planned/plan to spend.

What is your ideal sized home?

Our home right now is around 2,500 square feet if you include our finished basement. I would say that something around 2,000 to 2,500 square feet not including a basement would be my ideal home size for our next home when we have kids running wildly all over the place.

What’s your favorite movie?

The other day I went to the bank, and a bank teller had a little frame on her desk that stated her name and a little tidbit about herself. She said her favorite movie was The Town. If any of you have ever seen that movie then you will understand why that is just a tad funny…

Anyway, my favorite movie… I don’t even know. I like a lot of mafia, zombie, and some other weird movies. Oh yeah and I could watch any movie with Leonardo DiCaprio about 1,000,000 times and I have pretty much loved every movie that he has been in. I love a lot of the normal classics that everyone seems to like, but I also really like the movies Casino and Goodfellas.

Childhood movies that I love include ET (of course!) and Flight of the Navigator. If you know what Flight of the Navigator is then we will probably become best friends.

What is a weird dream of yours?

A definite farfetched dream of mine (Wes has the same dream), would be to sell all our stuff and buy a sailboat. I read a good amount of sailing blogs and sometimes I even stalk sailing forums like it’s my job.

I do think it sounds wonderful, but I have also read many sailing blogs where they talk about how much work it is so I do know that it’s not all just a fairytale.

Your turn!

Emergency Fund or Pay off Debt?

Last Updated: April 6, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 100 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hey everyone! Happy Friday. Today, I have another one of my “short” question posts about whether you should have an emergency fund or pay off debt, mainly because I am extremely nosey. I’m assuming all of you are nosey too.

One of the reasons why it’s taking us a little bit longer to pay off my $38,000 in student loans is because I refuse to touch our emergency fund. I am an extreme worrier and am always afraid that something may happen. We have about 5 months of expenses in our emergency fund (could last a lot longer if we cut things out of our budget), and I want to keep it that way.

Luckily, my student loans will be gone this month, so I don’t really have to worry about this question anymore, but I know that others have questioned what they should do.

Now, why don’t I want to touch our EF? Well, our EF covers many, many things. While I don’t think that a job loss would kill us, a combination of many things happening would. My job is stable, but what if all of my freelancing went down the tank, there was a job loss, something bad happened to the house AND something happened to the dogs?

Well, this is where our emergency fund comes into place. Some of you might be thinking “oh, all of that wouldn’t happen in one month.” But, what if it does? Our EF gives us peace of mind! When one thing goes wrong, it always seems like everything else that could possibly go wrong, goes wrong also.

Some recommend that while you are paying off debt, that you keep just the bare minimum, such as $1,000 in your emergency fund. Others suggest that you build up your emergency fund FIRST and then pay off your debt.

Reader Question: I Quit College In The Last Semester

What would you recommend this person do?

HELP! My Significant Other Makes Me Pay For Everything

What would you do if you were this person?

Reader Question: I’m Getting a Divorce

1. I’m drowning in debt. This reader question is from Joe:

2. I’m getting a divorce. This reader question is from Katie:

So what would you do if you were either of these people?

Would You Move To A Completely New Place?

Do You Like Your Job?

Do you like your job? If not, why are you still there?

Is your Christmas tree still up?

Do you eat before you work out or after?

Do you have any pets? How much do you spend on them?

How much do you spend on food each month?

Are you going to FinCon?

Do you have a side income?

Your turn!

How About Another Question and Answer?

What is your best time management tip?

How much will your wedding end up costing you?

What is your ideal sized home?

What’s your favorite movie?

What is a weird dream of yours?

Your turn!

Emergency Fund or Pay off Debt?

What would or do you currently do – have an emergency fund or pay off debt? How much is in your emergency fund?

What does your emergency fund cover? Where do you keep it?