Do I have to? I really feel like I should let it out....

[IADad]

Xero, you know I do respect your opinions and I rreally don't have an agenda here, I just think there may be exceptions to the "stay in school" rule and this "may" be one of them. Speaking as someone who was "just taking some time off" before grad school (23 years ago.....) I do undertstan how difficult itt is for someone to go back once they've stopped, and I don't want to encourage anyone to do that unnecessarily.

To me, if cop2be is determined to stick it out, then fine, more power to her, but if she's being abused, I'd want her out of that environment, parental or not, then figure out how to get on her feet and get back to school. seems like the point is moot (or is it, che's checking fares...) she seems to have decided to stick it out....

 

[Xero]

Yeah, its really kind of sad considering this is basically a lose-lose situation.

 

[Trina]

If all goes as planned, in a year I will be making 40,000 a year.

Are you serious? I think you have a big surprise coming.

 

[Cop2be]

Are you serious? I think you have a big surprise coming.

Actually, I won't have a big suprise coming.
I have checked with my town, thats the starting salary. I know with taxes it may be less but living on my own, no kids, and a boyfriend who isn't going to mooch off me, that will be still pretty nice.
Wouldn't be less than 20,000 a month and even then id still be making over 1,500 a month, enough to live on.

 

[16th ave.]

Actually, I won't have a big suprise coming.
I have checked with my town, thats the starting salary. I know with taxes it may be less but living on my own, no kids, and a boyfriend who isn't going to mooch off me, that will be still pretty nice.
Wouldn't be less than 20,000 a month and even then id still be making over 1,500 a month, enough to live on.

Are you certain? have you taken into account everything you've got to take care of?
you've got:
utilities (water, electric, cable, gas, phone, internet, cell phone), rent, renters' insurance (if you don't want to start all over again after a disaster and if its required by your landlord), vehicle notes and insurance, grocery expenses, entertainment expenses, what-not expenses (toilet paper, feminine pads, shampoo,etc.), clothing expenses (work uniforms, shoes, decent coat for winter, etc), life insurance (you'll need it as a cop), health insurance (can't afford not to have it for your chosen profession) and general emergencies (that flat tire, possible dead battery, tune-up, oil changes, etc.), your savings for a home, your home if you are buying (which also involves inspections, property taxes, and a ton or more stuff that i don't even know for owning a home or buying one)
depending on the cost of living in the area where you will be: are you sure 1500 bucks a month is going to be enough? maybe if you have a roommate.

starting salary don't mean squat when it comes down to it. if you do a job search you'll notice that the salaries you've quoted are pretty common. sometimes those are really the top salaries the employers are willing to pay (sometimes they'll put a range of 50-55,000 or something to get more resumes sent to them for a better choice of picks). & if you don't know how to haggle you'll be lucky to be making what is roughly minimum wage. & if you're not careful you can end up making salary which means you end up making only a dollar or so an hour after putting in 80 hrs a week or more.
do the math for $15 pr. hr on salary working 7 days a week at 18 hrs a day.
not much at all and its legal. plus employers don't have to pay overtime unless you have it documented and getting overtime hours documented aint always possible when it comes to putting up with things under duress just to keep food in your stomach and a roof over your head, not to mention if there is a family to feed.

things aint always as cut and dry as they seem.....
:err::yikes::wideeyed::nah:

 

[Cop2be]

Rent here for apts gets pretty cheap. I'm talking about 800 and below for a 1 bedroom and they wrap up the utilities into the rent here, except for water which is $100 a month and cable/internet.

I have it pretty figured out and especially because I know i'll atleast make 2,000 a month.
$800 for rent w/most utilities.
$100 for water.
$200/m groceries/bathroom things
$100 cellphone ( not going to get a homephone)
$100 internet and tv( just checked)

That right there is $1300

And another $700 to work with.
$300 (car)
$100 (car insurance)

I think id be able to work it all out.

 

[16th ave.]

what about $$$ for emergencies?
what ya gonna do when your car has broke down and ya gotta get it fixed? say the radiator springs a leak or its blown a gasket? that stuff aint cheap at all unless you have a buddy that will fix it for virtually nothing, even then the buddy is bound to make you atleast pay for parts.
or there's a major, major family emergency? something that means you gotta take time off and miss work and so on.... w/most jobs you don't get vacation time 'til atleast 90 days after hire date which means you don't get paid time off. paid time off can disappear in the blink of an eye.
entertainment?
it's almost 20 bucks to see a movie for just one person (including eats and drink at theater) more if you're paying for a friend's ticket, not to mention maybe renting a movie at home or just getting out of the house going clubbing or something. what ya gonna do? sit home and stare at the tv? it'll get old pretty quickly. and friends aint always gonna want to pay for your share of things. stir crazy aint the word for it when that's all you get to do for entertainment.
200 bucks a month on groceries wont quite cover it unless you plan on living on beans, taters, and sandwhich meat or something just as cheap for every meal you eat, plus snacks, and clipping coupons,& making sure you catch all the sales. lets not to forget work clothes, not all places pay for the uniforms if they're needed and any tools you need. dh has been at some injection molding co's where he had to spend roughly 500 bucks on the bare minimum of tools he had to have for work 'cause the co's did not supply tools.
300 bucks is not quite enough for a car when you consider gas and its price. it'll be more than that and then some depending on the economy and how much you have to travel for work even if you put that in your yearly taxes.
not to mention, what ya gonna do when you get to the store only to find that prices have changed over night on things that you have to have.
if you smoke that can be roughly 50 bucks or more a week eeven with the cheapest cigs on the market. we spend alomost $5000 bucks a year between dh and me. we're trying to quit.

not to mention, savings in general...everybody needs and most don't have any kind of savings for any number of things (not just emergencies) that can and do come up.
ya gotta remember all the little things that don't seem big now but can and more often than not do turn into major issues, especially with the economy in the shape it is......

ya gotta be prepared. 1500 bucks a month wont quite cover it all even when living on the bare minimum.

its good to see that you are checking things out.

 

[Rosa]

16th avenue, she said she has a spare $700, of which she is only spending $400 a month on a car

 

[Cop2be]

I don't smoke, don't think I ever will.
I'll be setting aside a small amount of money each month for emergencies of any kind.

Entertainment is iffy..I don't go out much, rarely.
As for movies..I can just rent those on demand for cheaper than the store. I plan on having comcast internet and tv...we have it now..so I know exactly what I will be getting and its enough.

Plus riding with cops and going and paying for stuff...they get discounts on a lot.
Oh and verizon, who I am with now, gives discounts to town employees, cops here are town employees, I'll get a lot off my cell phone bill a month.

As for the car..thats how much my friends car payment is a month..so I was doing car payment. Plus if I am working a 10 hour shift 4 days a week and only driving to and from work those days and very little on my days off, then gas isn't something I am going to worry too much about.

As for the groceries..my mom has me doing that for her and I learned you can get a lot from walmart for $50.
Considering I don't eat much anyways and after last night's work out at the PD...I don't need to snack..EVER.

Bottled water
gatorade
fruit
TONS of pasta roni (in the box)
ramen
occasoinally getting chicken or turkey ( not a huge fan of most meats)
veggies



And I do plan on having someone living with me...I have that planned out too..well, hopefully he will be able to..yes..I said he.

 

[Xero]

16th ave, there's no need to be so negative. Everybody struggles in the beginning, and we all know that. There's no need to continually contradict her when she's already written out a budget. Sometimes the budget doesn't cut everything, and sometimes even I still have to ask my mom for help. Its part of life. She knows that.

1500-2000 a month is more than enough to live on if you play your cards carefully. We don't make THAT much more than that a month and we have a BABY too and we do just fine most of the time. Its all about spending your money wisely. That's what she needs to be told, not that she's going to fail and she'll "never have enough" for everything she needs. That is very discouraging.

Anyway, Cop2be, $800 a month for a one bedroom!!! That is EXPENSIVE!! Not cheap lol. A one bedroom around here with utilities included goes for between $300 and $650 (for the expensive, large ones) a month!!! I don't know if its just where you live compared to where I live, but holy moly lol. Make sure you shop around in the paper before taking that $800 one.

 

[Skyburning]

I won't get into my finances but if you budget careful and don't spend frivolously you can do okay on $1500 a month. But I agree with Xero $800 is overpriced for a one bedroom even if all utilities are paid. I don't know what state you are in though..whats min. wage there?

 

[TabascoNatalie]

i'm starting to feel sorry for the mother in this story. sounds like a very unhappy lady

 

[Cop2be]

I feel bad for my mom too.
But she does it to herself.

She is such a negative person. She has no activities or hobbies that she likes to do. She plays a computer game...thats about it. She is so unhappy with the world. Constanly bickering about the worlds problems and society.

I just got back from wal mart...besides the traffic it was sooo nice and sunny out..it was pretty peaceful...even inside walmart was..finding my things was easy...except for the shoes but thats what happens when your a woman and are buying mens shoes (explorers thing) but just sitting on the floor, chillin, finding the right size, which I was able to *claps*.
Had my mom gone along she would have complained about traffic, called other drivers names, she would have bitched all through out walmart about how many people were there.


If she would just breath once in awhile and not have some many hangs up with society and not be so uptight she would actually do just fine in life.


idk what min wage is here but police have salary not hourly so I don't think that matters

 

[Cop2be]

$625 to $790 for this one place.
So a bunch are like $600 to $800.


And GUESS WHAT?!?

I am getting the rest of my explorers stuff today!!!
Oh and I found out...they made me a NAME TAG. OMGZZZ

Yeah so Im like super psyched and really hyper...

 

[Xero]

That's so awesome!! Sounds really exciting. I'm happy for you. You'll be pretty busy with this program anyway, and you'll have less time to have to worry about your mom's problems with you and the rest of the world. Its sad for anyone to be so negative, it can really drag your life down.

Still expensive for the apartment though. Where do you live? Is that normal? Check craigslist.

 

[Skyburning]

idk what min wage is here but police have salary not hourly so I don't think that matters

I wasn't asking for what you'd get paid I was asking to see the relationship between minimum wage and rent for a one bedroom apartment to see if that place is overpriced or not.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

I wasn't asking for what you'd get paid I was asking to see the relationship between minimum wage and rent for a one bedroom apartment to see if that place is overpriced or not.

maybe it's possible not to rent the apartment, but a room in a shared house?

and for mom... if she plays computer games (that's amazing), try to buy her a cool game as a gift.

 

[Cop2be]

All this stress is affecting me in my sleep as well :/
For some reason the other night I went to bed at 1am and didn't wake up till like 11pm, a whole 22 hours.
Not only that but at one point idk if I was dreaming or not...which is why this is soo weird but I like couldn't wake up. I could tell I was trying. Kept trying to open my eyes but barely could, couldn't move and tried to talk but couldn't...idk if I was awake or not...it seemed like I was.


meh

 

[Xero]

I have dreams like that!! WOAH. Those are always the freakiest... scarier than the scariest dream. That's weird, I didn't know anyone else had dreams (or whatever they are) like that. Interesting to hear it described like that. Not like I ask everyone I see or anything. I don't know.

Anyway, I could sleep 22 hours too if I had nothing better to do. I've done it before. Don't let yourself sleep that long, its not healthy. It sounds crazy, but you WILL feel more energized, and more refreshed if you put yourself on a SCHEDULE for sleeping. Get up at this time, go to bed this time, EVERY day. And no more than ten hours in one night. Its just not good for your body to sleep that much, and believe it or not, if you sleep too much, you can actually make yourself more tired. I've done it. I really am telling you these things out of experience.

 

[Cop2be]

I read online and heard from one person it was sleep paralysis.
Your body produces something that makes you keep still at night and sometimes your mind wake up before your body does.

Two causes are anxiety(and attacks) and messing up your body's natural circadian rhythm. Both of which have been happening to me.