If I could be any animal I would be a house fly. Okay, not really, I’d probably be a fire-breathing squirrel, but house fly would be second on my list. Yeah I know flies are pretty gross looking and only have an average life span of about a month, but they do have one thing going for them: persistency. Sure they are rather annoying, but ya can’t really say they lack commitment or dedication.

I was at the beach this weekend, trying to get my tan on, but a handful of flies were doing everything they could to prevent me from reaching ultimate relaxation. They’d buzz around me and land on my legs and stomach. I would try and swat at them, but they are just too darn quick and seemed to narrowly escape my hand each time. I think the flies got some sick pleasure out of taunting me, as they continued “touch and go” landings on my body. As annoyed as I was, I had to acknowledge the fact that these flies were persistent.  Even when facing certain death as I swatted at them, they never gave up on their mission: Annoy the crap out of me.

This may be a stretch, but hear me out… Our financial attitude should mimic that of a fly. When declaring war on debt, like so many have, we have to keep consistent and remain committed to our battle. Paying down my student loan was not exactly my idea of a good time, but being aggressive and throwing all my extra money at it allowed me to pay down four years worth of loans in just two years.

I had a written goal to pay off my loan. A fly has a goal of bugging (pun intended) the crap out of me while I chill out on the beach. Sure our goals are different, but the only way to achieve them is remaining persistent. Just as I tried to stop the fly from reaching its goal (by murdering it), it’s important you’re aware that your lenders are going to try to prevent you from becoming debt free. They’ll add late fees, increase your interest rates, and change the terms of your contract. But we can not… I repeat, CAN NOT, let our creditors “swat” us to death. We will fight, persevere, and ultimately end up victorious. Let this be a lesson to you all, although flies may be gross, they can teach us a thing or two about managing our money.

Favorite Nail from yesterday. Reason why you don’t invite girls to basketball games

*originally posted 09/10*

Got an email yesterday from a PDITF reader (let’s call them Reader X) looking for ways to rid themselves of the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. The email was much longer than the excerpt below, but I think you’ll get the gist…

First of all, let me say that I adore you and your approach to life. I read your blog with a sense of wistful jealousy and optimism that I too, some day, could have 76k in savings. That number is outrageous to me.

Whenever I read your blog, and other financial blogs, I understand they cater to people who are more… oh I don’t know… established with their jobs. People who could put $500 in savings a month with lifestyle tweaks and frugal changes. The point is, for my age, my salary is commensurate with experience. Meaning, I do not make enough money to have an “aggressive” savings plan like you and others. In fact, I am lucky if I have any money left over to save after my basic living expenses.

Do you have advice for your upstarts like me who are living on the exact amount of money they need to survive? Honestly, I feel terrible about myself because I am just treading water financially. I worry that something catastrophic will happen and my little $800 savings account wont suffice.

Before I get on with helpful advice, I have to rant for just a second and say I take issue with this line in Reader X’s email:

“Whenever I read your blog, and other financial blogs, I understand they cater to people who are more… oh I don’t know… established with their jobs.” 

If my blog is catered towards people who are “more established with their jobs” then I have failed miserably. I’m 26 years old. I am by no means established, and I really have no street cred to preach financial wisdom to those that are. I would hope by naming my blog Punch Debt In The Face I am sending the clear message that this IS NOT a place for the “good ol boys”, but regular, everyday folks, who want nothing more than to see a stupid stick figure drawing, and maybe hear a little bit about what I have to say on the topic of personal finance. Moral of the story: I am the 99%

I really like Reader X’s perspective on his/her situation. Particularly this line “my salary is commensurate with experience”. There is no entitlement in that statement. Reader X also shared in the email they are living frugally, so typical advice like “find cheaper rent, or cut out your cable bill” doesn’t really apply.

So how does one increase savings, if they don’t have the ability to increase their income at work and they can not really decrease their already low expenses? You don’t. BOOM! How’s that for blunt personal finance?

Don’t be discouraged by this, Reader X. You are only 22 years old and have the rest of your life to pad that savings account. When I was 22, I was making $38,000/year, had $28,000 of student loan debt, and about $600 in my checking account. You have to persevere this “paycheck to paycheck” season as it is just that, a SEASON, a temporary stage of life. As you gain more professional experience, you will be able to market yourself better, which in turn should/could lead to promotions or a new (higher paying) job.

I didn’t go from negative $28,000 to $75k in the bank overnight. It took me YEARS to get to where I am, and it will probably take you a while to get there as well. Instead of feeling terrible for “treading financial waters”, be encouraged that you are not DROWNING like most other twenty somethings. You, my friend, are doing exactly what you need to be doing to set yourself up for success. Work hard. Keep your costs low. Save any discretionary income you can. And smile. This is an exciting, albeit scary, stage of life.

p.s. often recommended ways to increase income are 1) Start a blog (I made $13,000 from this one last year). 2) Tutor (I made $12,000 in 2009 doing this). 3) Find a second job (serving at restaurants, or delivering pizza, is flexible with most day jobs) 4) Be content. One through three all require more of your time, if you don’t want to give up free time, you have to be content with what you have. No one is just going to randomly walk up to you and pay you $2,000 a month to watch TV. Oh, you could always get married. Dual income ROCKS!!!!

I was watching House Hunters yesterday and it featured a couple that was looking to buy in the greater Seattle area. The couple had recently moved from Texas and their goals was to buy a house within 45 days of arriving. I like House Hunters, but I hated that couple.

Multiple times during the episode the couple would make a comment like “Well in Texas the layouts aren’t like this.” or “In Texas, this house would cost half the price and be twice the size.” Guess freakin’ what Todo. YOU’RE NOT IN TEXAS ANYMORE.

I get that house prices in Texas are insanely cheap compared to the West Coast. I also get that New York prices are unbelievably high compared to Seattle. People, what are the three rules of real estate? Location, location, location. Regardless of what you might want to believe, WHERE you buy a house DRASTICALLY affects the value of said house. Your house in Texas costs $200,000 because fewer people live in Houston (per square mile) than Seattle. And fewer people (per square mile) live in Seattle, than San Francisco. Increased Demand = Increased Price.

Not too long ago, I blogged about our recent experience visiting some Seattle Open Houses. The three houses we viewed we’re all price around $400,000, incredibly small (like 2bd/1bth 1,300 sqft), and built over 60 years ago. Needless to say, $400,000 in Seattle buys you a very mediocre house that will likely need some major updating.

While many left constructive criticism or helpful hints, some readers provided worthless comments like “In Arizona houses are like $240,000. If I were you, I’d be looking for something more in that price range.”, “Wow, $400,000 for that? Can’t you get something nicer?” And….

Look at what you can get in your price range in XYZ, TX (where I live).

http://www.redfin.com/somerandomhouse

I think you need to see what you can get in other locations before you decide to spend that much money there.

Would you tell someone wanting to live in New York to consider moving to South Dakota just because house prices are cheaper? Would you tell someone looking for beach front property in San Diego to cap out at $500,000? No. That would be dumb. Just like it would be dumb to suggest I move to a city (or community) where I DON’T want to live, just so my house can be nicer/cheaper.

I get it if you just can’t relate, I really do. I get that if $400,000 in Texas buys you a McMansion, you might be shocked that it buys you a shack in San Francisco. Shocked is fine, but simply saying “find something cheaper” is useless. Cheaper real estate will always exist, but we looked at houses in Seattle because we wanted to LIVE in Seattle. Funny how that works, huh?

It’s Friday mother lovers, and you better be prepared to love your mothers well this weekend since it’s all about them. Love ya mom Since you all have likely checked out mentally in anticipation of the upcoming weekend, I figured it’s a good time to engage the PDITF audience and promote some community interaction. I pose a simple question:

If you could be selfish with $5,000 what would you do? 

See what I did there? I said you had to be selfish with it. So  don’t think you’re getting off easy, taking the moral high ground, pretending you are going to donate this hypothetical $5k to charity, use it to pay off debt, contribute to retirement, or some other noble/responsible purpose.

No! Today you must be greedy. You have to use that $5,000 on something that only (or PRIMARILY) benefits you. It’s okay to be hypothetically selfish, so don’t feel bad.

If I had $5 g’s to selfishly blow, no questions asked, I would, WITHOUT A DOUBT, go buy myself a motorcycle. I sold my street bike over two years ago now (exchanged it for that tiny little diamond that sits in Girl Ninja’s ring) and would love to get another. Nothing beats the feeling of wind rushing across your face as you ride down the street.

It would be totally selfish of me to buy a motorcycle, not necessarily because of the money spent, but because Girl Ninja DOES NOT want me to have one. Although she herself admits she understands why I enjoy riding a motorcycle so much, to her it just isn’t worth the inherit risks and exponentially increased danger factor. Probably doesn’t help that my dad was in a motorcycle accident a few years back that resulted in the near amputation of his leg. Instead he got off “light” with a muscle transplant, multiple skin grafts, a permanent limp, and one gnarly looking battle wound. Yup, doesn’t look like I’ll ever get the blessing to own a motorcycle again, thanks a lot dad

So reader, I’d buy a bike with my $5,000. What would you do? And what keeps you from doing it?

So last night after youth group, Girl Ninja took a bunch of her high school girls Flocking. What’s flocking you ask? Well, let me tell you. We  take about 25 of those stupid Flamingo Yard Ornaments (the ones that old people tend to have in front of their mobile homes) and put them in an unsuspecting victim’s front yard. We leave a sign saying “You’ve been flocked by Young Life. For $25 we will remove the Flamingos from your yard or for $50 you can tell us who to flock next.”  It’s a clever and fun way to raise financial support for our kids to go to camp this summer, not to mention the victims seem to really enjoy being able to “flock” their friends.

This summer, Girl Ninja and I will be responsible for taking 25 freshmen to summer camp so they can have the best week of their lives. It’s going to be epic. Unfortunately, an epic week isn’t cheap. Many of our Young Life kids come from families that can pay the full camp fee, but some don’t. Girl Ninja and I have taken it upon ourselves to help these kids fundraise, flocking being one example.

While car washes are fun and all, let’s get real, they aren’t huge money makers. On a good day we could maybe make $500 at a car wash. Divide that up over the 15 or so kids working it, and suddenly each kid is only walking away with $33 towards their camp fee. Minimal return on investment, and a crappy hourly wage if each kid is there for about 5 hours.

That said, I am a big believer in making these kids work hard to raise money, not just going door to door asking for a handout. That’s why Girl Ninja and I have reached out to our parents and some other close friends, asking them if they would like to “Hire a few high school kids for a day.”

Girl Ninja’s parents put in an order for about four guys to come help build a fence they’ve been meaning to put in. My parents are hiring a group of boys/girls to refinish their basement (rip out the carpet and paint all of the walls). Another local community member has a slew of yard work he doesn’t want to do, and is pumped to hire six or so kids for a days work of manual labor. These type of projects pay handsomely and will go a long way in helping the kids in need to pay their way to camp.

But now I need your help (no I’m not asking you to give me money). Aside from flocking and service projects, we really are scratching our heads on ways to help these kids make more money. We will go the car wash route and selling crappy candy bars if need be, but I’d like to be much more creative and think outside the box.

Help a Ninja out! What other ways can we raise funds for these kids without just being like “Yo, can we have some money?” Have you seen any cool fundraising tactics? If you got flocked would you be pissed?

p.s. in case you are wondering, the bottom of the note indicates a flocking victim can simply give us a call and we will remove them for free if they don’t feel like participating. We typically only flock people we know or are already active in supporting Young Life. Not like we just pick random people who might shoot us in the face for stepping foot on their property. 

 p.p.s. here is a picture of me being blobbed at young life camp when I was in high school.