New to ERE and Financial Literacy, any help welcome!

[loutfard]

This is getting closer to workable. Remarks:

- $200 (CAD!) is a very low food budget, and probably too low given your specific health requirements. My wife or I would fit within that budget, but barely. That is with the added efficiencies of averaging over two people, living to a large extent on food waste from a local school, eating vegetarian and vegan only, and after a lot of practice.

- Your rent and utilities. What if your roommate leaves/gets ill/refuses to pay/...? No money from them means you're under water. The current calculation reflects your roommate paying $127.5 rent, $25 of the internet and none of the other $150 in utilities. Is that accurate? I've bumped the expenses forecast by a $152.5 to compensate.

- Are you absolutely, positively certain of the tax rebates and returns? Even if $12k in tax debt? Government cannot decide to substract one from another for example, or claw back any part of your other income sources?

- You count on a government stipend (or loan?) to carry you through the four months of tuition. You will need other sources of money to live off during the two month break. What if for whatever reason you can't generate income during part of that two month break? Health, not immediately having a job lined up, redundancy, employer not paying in time, ...? Or what if you just need an actual rest for some of that two month break? You'd be safer off spreading your stipend over the six months of tuition and break combined, combining with a bit of job income.

[jacob]

@jacob I am not feeding my cats chicken and rice as their diet. That's the budget friendly food I find when I look up DIY cat food. It's not balanced and can lead to health concerns. As for internet and phone, $26 is the budget plan for where I live. I can go with something cheaper like fongo, but then I'm paying out the nose for all the data I would use calling. For internet, I am on the lowest cost plan that I can find. Next lowest plans are running $80.

@Crusader see @jacob.

I suggest spending more time/reconsidering before rejecting these suggestions outright. Suggestions are coming from people who've been there and done that. Maybe now is not the time, okay, but definitely retain the option in the back of your mind for future wins. The point we're trying to make is that solutions do exist and that they are ready for whenever you are.

I took me just about five minutes to find a couple different phone plans in CA for under $10/month. The main barrier is in realizing that these things actually exist even if it sounds ridiculous in a world of $50-100/month plans as advertised on TV. They may take some effort to find though.

Same with the pet food deal. Vet-approved solutions for DIY pet food also exist. After all how did pets eat before canned or dry pet food from supermarkets were a thing? Pets are mammals just like humans. Understanding how nutrition works makes it possible to cook from staples and pay less compared to buying preprocessed cans and boxes of calories. Humans usually feed their pets their equivalent of cheerios and spaghettios similar to how they feed themselves buying colorful products in cans and bags from the supermarket out of habit and convenience. However, there are better options ...

[loutfard]

Have you looked into alternative home internet providers outside of the oligopoly? Teksavvy or - if available in your area- Oxio for example? That should be a lot cheaper and at least as good quality if acquaintances in .ca are to believed.

First random link: https://www.whistleout.ca/Internet/Sear ... therine+QC . 40 Mbit/s down, unlimited, $29.95.

P.S. Completely silly side note. I used a Sainte Cathérine address because I love the McGarrigle sisters' song.

[mythicalman30]

@loutfard we each pay 275 in rent. 200 for food factors in the dried beans, pulses and flours on hand and that I will be getting at the end of January (50kg worth!), and my skills cooking pretty much anything we need. So for groceries I have access to large farm produce boxes for $20/per. My roommate also contributes to groceries so for two people the total is closer to 400. We are supposed to split internet. My portion is 25. And with utilities my portion is 150. This is cheaper in warmer months because we’re not running the furnace. She would not refuse to pay, unlike my sister who also lives here. If she loses her job or gets ill there is a government program she would qualify for to get income while she looks for work. I plan on taking courses in the summer semester (which is another 4 months) if I can’t find a summer job so I can declare my faculty in September. I have been looking for a job but anything requiring my skill set is either too physical or requires full time hours during the week, which I cannot do at this point in time due to medical appointments. Right now we pay $50 for internet at an off brand provider and it is the cheapest possible for me to get but I may be able to get as low as 42 if my roommate signs on with the company I used to use (I still have their equipment and can’t sign back up until I send it back).

@jacob wading through the myriad of healthy raw food options for cats is very labour intensive and everything I have read is telling me they need livers, hearts, kidneys, dark meat, bonemeal, and eggs. It’s a lot of work to put together and there’s a high risk for a sick cat if not done right. Can you link me to these ‘easy’ diy cat food recipes? As for those phone plans, they are not what I need. I am on the minimum amount of phone plan that I need right now. I get 6 gb of data and unlimited calling and text. I use at least 100 minutes a day.

[mythicalman30]

Ok, I just signed up with fongo. One year of unlimited texting to non-fongo numbers is 17.99. I will try it.

[loutfard]

we each pay 275 in rent.

Ah! Past typos or thinkos solved then. This does make having and keeping a paying roommate absolutely essential. You won't be able to just absorb an extra $450/month in rent and utilities.

We are supposed to split internet. My portion is 25. And with utilities my portion is 150. This is cheaper in warmer months because we’re not running the furnace. She would not refuse to pay, unlike my sister who also lives here.

Does your sister contribute equitably in other than financial ways? Any good reason for not replacing her with someone who shares the financial burden?

I plan on taking courses in the summer semester (which is another 4 months) if I can’t find a summer job so I can declare my faculty in September.

Is this a stipend or a long term/advantageous electricity supply?

I have been looking for a job but anything requiring my skill set is either too physical or requires full time hours during the week, which I cannot do at this point in time due to medical appointments.

The situation as you describe it right now makes me wonder about the physical feasibility of you working as a teacher. You know your own body best of course. Do keep in mind your resolution to lose weight as your highest priority.

Right now we pay $50 for internet at an off brand provider and it is the cheapest possible for me to get but I may be able to get as low as 42

That sounds like progress.

[mythicalman30]

My sister pays rent and has our other roommate, who handles the hydro and water, take her share off of them. She does not contribute in other ways and living with her is difficult. She is currently looking at other living arrangements but she pays rent all more than I do with less income so she is stuck.

Is this a stipend or a long term/advantageous electricity supply?

What do you mean by this?

As for your comments about my ability to teach, I have done it previously and am currently doing it with either equal or more disability.

[loutfard]

My sister pays rent and has our other roommate, who handles the hydro and water, take her share off of them. She does not contribute in other ways and living with her is difficult. She is currently looking at other living arrangements but she pays rent all more than I do with less income so she is stuck.

This didn't clarify how rent and utility payments are split I'm afraid. Maybe a clear view on this is none of our business, or maybe it might help understand the situation.

Is this a stipend or a long term/advantageous electricity supply?

Sorry, slip of the keyboard. What conditions come with this study grant from the government?
- Is it unconditionally yours to keep?
- Do you need to repay it eventually? Under what conditions?
- Partly or in full?
- If with interest, what rate?
- Do the conditions change depending on you graduating or not?
- Do the conditions change depending on what you graduate in?
- ...

Whatever the case, using a study grant as an emergency backstop scenario to keep you afloat during summer sounds like a smart fallback scenario. Just trying to signal it might come with a serious cost. So if you can anticipate or prevent that...

As for your comments about my ability to teach, I have done it previously and am currently doing it with either equal or more disability.

Sorry if that came across harsh in any way. I was just worried about your prospects thinking of how a close relative had to give up teaching full-time due to how physically demanding it can be.

[Crusader]

$26 is the budget plan for where I live. I can go with something cheaper like fongo, but then I'm paying out the nose for all the data I would use calling

Fongo works with any Internet connection, including WiFi.

[mythicalman30]

Ok, going to try and make sense of the muck….

@loutfard we pay 330 for water every three months and 220 for hydro every month we run the furnace, otherwise hydro is closer to 87. So right no because we are running the furnace utility costs are 430. I guesstimated the 150/month payment and it is pretty close. I send money to S every month for these expenses, and S takes my sister’s share off of the rent payment she sends my sister. We are currently behind by one month on hydro. When my sister is talking to me again (I pissed her off pretty badly during an argument, to the point where I was so worked up I ordered her to find another place to live) I am going to ask her to put the hydro and water in S’s name. If we were to do this we could get on an equal payment plan with hydro and stabilize our monthly payment. We would pay a little bit more in the summer months but less in the winter.

So with the student aid, 4411 is a loan which I will have to pay back starting 6 months after I graduate, or six months after my last day of classes if I take a year or more off to work. There is no interest on this loan. 5661 are grants and bursaries i won’t have to pay back unless I don’t finish the semester I am enrolled in.

And thanks for clarifying about your concerns about me teaching! I am also planning on taking classes in family health/humanities and volunteering in social service type roles at school so if by the end of my degree I decide I can’t teach or just want to teach music privately I can work in social services doing largely desk work.

@crusader I have downloaded fongo and am willing to give it a try. Just have to purchase the text add-on which is still reasonable. Will I get messages and voicemails if someone calls me while I am not in range of wifi?

[loutfard]

@loutfard we pay 330 for water every three months and 220 for hydro every month we run the furnace, otherwise hydro is closer to 87. So right no because we are running the furnace utility costs are 430. I guesstimated the 150/month payment and it is pretty close. I send money to S every month for these expenses, and S takes my sister’s share off of the rent payment she sends my sister.

You may want to get the question marks clear, if only for yourself:

Utilities:
- Contracts are in your sister's name. She's responsible for paying to the utilities.
- water: $110/m
- average electricity: ~$190?/m ((~$220 * 9.3? months + $87 * 2.7? months)/12months)
- average monthly: ~$300/m (no other utility charges than water and electricity)
- average monthly/person: $100/m
- You pay $150/m for utilities.
- S pays $?/m for utilities.
- Your sister pays $? for utilities.

Rent:
- Contracts are in your sister's name. She's responsible for paying the landlord.
- Total rent is $?/m.
- Your share of the rent is $250/m.
- Your sister's share of the rent is $?/m.
- S's share of the rent is $?/m.

So with the student aid, 4411 is a loan which I will have to pay back starting 6 months after I graduate, or six months after my last day of classes if I take a year or more off to work. There is no interest on this loan. 5661 are grants and bursaries i won’t have to pay back unless I don’t finish the semester I am enrolled in.

If you have very good reasons to assume this will bring you substantially higher earnings potential, this sounds like a good deal...

[Crusader]

@crusader I have downloaded fongo and am willing to give it a try. Just have to purchase the text add-on which is still reasonable. Will I get messages and voicemails if someone calls me while I am not in range of wifi?

I don't pay anything for Fongo. As I said before, this is my setup:

Speakout - pay as you go ($1.25/month) for emergencies and receiving SMS messages for OTP etc.
Fongo - free, for calling other people and/or receiving calls (not text messages)... think of it as a landline
For phone data - prepaid eSIM (I got 35GB for a year... can't remember what I paid for it and another eSIM with data with no expiry date)

[mythicalman30]

@loutfard, ok, let's get some of these numbers straight:

We run the furnace from mid-October to mid-April, roughly seven months out of the year.

We are still figuring out utilities, hence why we are a month behind. Basically, when we get the bills we divide them up. We currently owe about $200 on water and $150 on hydro.

Rent is $824, and we have determined that S and I each pay $275 and my sister pays $274.

@Crusader I have several friends who I text with on a daily/weekly basis, so the Fongo text option would be best for me. So if I were to switch to fongo, this is what it would look like:

Fongo: 1.50/month if I purchase a year of texting at a time
Speakout: 1.25/month for OTP and emergency calling
Esim: 6.47/month 129.40 upfront cost for 30gb with two years validity

[ertyu]

30 gb is a ridiculously small amount of data; due to reasons i only have internet through my phone and i easily go through 20-25g a month without streaming of any sort and with only the occasional youtube video through invidious. I guess it depends on how much time you spend out of the house and whether you'd want to use that data on the go. If you have internet at home you're already paying for you could pre-download things, i guess

[mythicalman30]

@ertyu I just checked my usage for this month, and it looks like I am on track to use 3 GB, which means that the plan will be used up in ten months. Given that bit of data, I guess the potential savings are so negligible that I am best sticking with my $26/m plan.

[mythicalman30]

I am in my second week at university, and I am having serious doubts about this entire endeavour.

I joined an Intro to Buddhism class on Wednesday last week, got hit with the bug of all bugs, and now am behind on the coursework, not only for that class but for my mythology course, and my trombone course. I'm considering dropping out and applying in earnest for MOA jobs. I feel stupid. I mean, I'm a world-class MOA. I graduated with honours from my course, getting a 3.78 GPA. I got 95% on my practicum evaluation even though I missed a whole bunch of days. I could apply in earnest now and probably have a job within a month. One ad came across my inbox today that had been forwarded to the school - I could probably apply to that one and be hired in the next couple of weeks! I could make more in the long run if I kept on with school - but if the goal is to take music, doesn't it make more sense to apply when I have proficiency on my instrument and go right into the music program rather than take a whole bunch of courses that won't apply to my degree as anything more than electives?

[ertyu]

Don't quit but do apply. Let serendipity sort it out.

[mythicalman30]

@ertyu thanks. I am still quite muddle-headed from the cold that I have and not really seeing things in the big picture. I did apply, and I am going to sit down tomorrow morning and attempt to hammer out three of the eight chapters I have to read by Friday.

[mythicalman30]

Ok, I have a job interview tomorrow! 35 hours a week in a clinic near where I live.

I also redid my schedule for school. Going to have two online classes plus my Monday night brass band.

[ertyu]

fingers crossed!