What do you do with all the "extra" money?

[debtmonster]

So you're better off cashing the money real quick and then tell them about it afterwards so that they can't garnish anything before you cash out. Let them try to get it from you instead of you trying to get it back from them. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

[ease]

The living on "cash only" lifestyle, well..has truly changed my life and view of money completely. In my adult life I have never known the true value of a dollar until I filed BK, and the I don't look at anything the same way regarding purchases, value, costs, etc. First I have learned what true needs are in life that actually make me happy, and discovered that I don't need much! Affluenza = Cured!

This has been my experience too. I have found the cash lifestyle to be very freeing. We will likely never go back to credit cards. We now budget everything. We have a small cushion for play money. For instance our car battery just died last week. OOps. Wasn't in the budget. We had $30 set aside to go out for a meal that night. Bought the battery instead and made pizza at home.
Also, DH, having grown up in NYC, rarely turns a wrench. No CC to pay a mechanic to do this simple repair. No extra cash.
DH did his first ever car repair and loved it.
This. Feels. Great.

[debtmonster]

This has been my experience too. I have found the cash lifestyle to be very freeing. We will likely never go back to credit cards. We now budget everything. We have a small cushion for play money. For instance our car battery just died last week. OOps. Wasn't in the budget. We had $30 set aside to go out for a meal that night. Bought the battery instead and made pizza at home.
Also, DH, having grown up in NYC, rarely turns a wrench. No CC to pay a mechanic to do this simple repair. No extra cash.
DH did his first ever car repair and loved it.
This. Feels. Great.

Yes, that pretty much describes it for me as well. It feels so weird after going bankruptcy. It's like waking up and getting out of "The Matrix".

What was the car repair that was done? I always do my own repairs and have been doing so for years since I can never afford anything.

Years back when I was making $68,000/yr., I went to a place to have the oil changed in my rear axle. The Amoco shop told me $80 dollars. I said, "What?!?! For 10 minutes of work? Are you insane? That's like charging $320/hr. based on that."

For the $80 they wanted to charge me, I went to Walmart, bought 2 jack stands and a hydraulic floor jack and changed the oil myself, outside in the 32 degree weather in Chicago in the parking lot of the apartment complex I lived at. Making $68,000/yr. I could have easily afforded the $80 dollars, but it was the principle.

I have always gotten my hands dirty since I was 16 years old. I had no money for car repairs when I was a kid so it has followed me through my entire life. I always do my own oil changes, rotate my own tires, do my own tune-ups, change the air filters, PCV valves, patch holes in the tires, etc. No matter how much money I make, I have been in the habit of doing it all myself.

[debtprison]

Save, save, save!

[debtmonster]

Save, save, save!

I do! So I can spend, spend, spend, at restaurants and put gas in my car. Think I don't?

[OhioFiler]

Yes, that pretty much describes it for me as well. It feels so weird after going bankruptcy. It's like waking up and getting out of "The Matrix".

What was the car repair that was done? I always do my own repairs and have been doing so for years since I can never afford anything.

Years back when I was making $68,000/yr., I went to a place to have the oil changed in my rear axle. The Amoco shop told me $80 dollars. I said, "What?!?! For 10 minutes of work? Are you insane? That's like charging $320/hr. based on that."

For the $80 they wanted to charge me, I went to Walmart, bought 2 jack stands and a hydraulic floor jack and changed the oil myself, outside in the 32 degree weather in Chicago in the parking lot of the apartment complex I lived at. Making $68,000/yr. I could have easily afforded the $80 dollars, but it was the principle.

I have always gotten my hands dirty since I was 16 years old. I had no money for car repairs when I was a kid so it has followed me through my entire life. I always do my own oil changes, rotate my own tires, do my own tune-ups, change the air filters, PCV valves, patch holes in the tires, etc. No matter how much money I make, I have been in the habit of doing it all myself.

In Ohio that would be $480/hour but we allow 60 minutes per hour unlike in debtmonster world!

[debtmonster]

In Ohio that would be $480/hour but we allow 60 minutes per hour unlike in debtmonster world!

If more people would b!tch about it instead of taking it in the rump, they would lower the prices. You have to toy around with supply and demand. If you want prices to come down, just get everyone to demand less. Works for me.