Calling for Help! Editting Matt's Policy

dirtydirtynorth wrote:oh something else to save money, instead of going to Timmy's, buy a coffee machine. You can get one for under $20 at Canadian Tire. In the long run it'll save you money

And in terms on another punishment, tape the next game Gerber plays, and as a punishment, you'll have to watch it over and over again. That'll teach you.

Last year one of my punishments was we had America's Next Top Model on TiVo (from the girls who had lived in the house the term previous), and I had to watch the entire season. In reverse order. That was hell.

And I have a coffee machine. I can't imagine living without it :D

504Heater wrote:I'll gladly beat the Dung out of you. So many people in their 20s (mid to late for sure) go bankrupt because of this kind of thing.

You want punishment? Wait until you simply can't pay Visa bills - or bills period. It'll come, don't even bother arguing about that.

The first time you can't make ends meet and you need to go see mommy and daddy to borrow money is the punishment for being dumb. Stop going out to bars and pubs, stop going to movies (rent if you need).

Begin the month with a budget, go from there.

I used to frequent Sens games, buy 100s of CDs, then DVDs, then I'd buy some bootlegs, then I'd buy a nice chair to watch them in, etc. etc. etc. You can run out pretty quick...

My suggestion - cut the excess out before you run into a wall.

And I thought *I* was a cranky old guy

In Matt's defense, Heater, he *is* plannign a budget. Now, his budget includes items like $300 for bars, and stocking up on ridiculous amounts of liquor, but it is a budget none-the-less.

wprager wrote:
And I thought *I* was a cranky old guy

In Matt's defense, Heater, he *is* plannign a budget. Now, his budget includes items like $300 for bars, and stocking up on ridiculous amounts of liquor, but it is a budget none-the-less.

:D

504Heater wrote:I'll gladly beat the Dung out of you. So many people in their 20s (mid to late for sure) go bankrupt because of this kind of thing.

You want punishment? Wait until you simply can't pay Visa bills - or bills period. It'll come, don't even bother arguing about that.

The first time you can't make ends meet and you need to go see mommy and daddy to borrow money is the punishment for being dumb. Stop going out to bars and pubs, stop going to movies (rent if you need).

Begin the month with a budget, go from there.

I used to frequent Sens games, buy 100s of CDs, then DVDs, then I'd buy some bootlegs, then I'd buy a nice chair to watch them in, etc. etc. etc. You can run out pretty quick...

My suggestion - cut the excess out before you run into a wall.

Hmm, well at my income and credit limit I'd have to go out A LOT to hit a wall (although I understand where you're coming from). I've managed my debt well enough up until this point that if I'd have had my first year paid for, I'd have been debt free by third year. As of now, it's down to a fraction of my limit.

Let's not go reading too much into this Partying Probation Policy (it's more for a little fun and spending consciousness than anything else). It's easy to say "I won't go out on weeknights", but it's going to happen once in a while. I'd love to cut down on going out on weeknights, as with 8:30 morning classes, it does compromise.

My grades slid two terms ago and a big part of it was going out 5-6 nights a week (strange how that happens). I made a similar plan before last term to try and rebound. I didn't follow it to the letter at all but I brought my average back into the 80's regardless.

The plan is supposed to be fun first, even though the underlying goals are serious.

Another thing that was different in my day and age, we had not co-op terms. One summer I worked as a lifeguard and got $700 for the summer (half of which went on the afore-mentioned colour TV). A co-op in an engineering or computer science field can earn that much in a week. After taxes.

So it takes longer to finish your degree, but you have more money as you go along, you get experience and learn what you like doing (or, even more important, what you *hate* doing). I suppose a little partying is in order, since you're spending 5 years instead of the 3 I did.

But 5-6 times a week is a little much. I think we can all agree on that.

More like double that in a week

Also, you have poked the bear when you said, "stocking up on ridiculous amounts of liquor".

To preface this, let me add that I'm 6' 2" and my weight plays jump rope around the 200 lb mark. I'm not a small guy by any means, so keep that in mind when I discuss my "dosage" below.

For a four month period of time, that's 120 days, I've got 160 ounces of liquor. If I drink 10 ounces per week (this should account for going out 1-2 times per week including pre-drink (and a modest one at that)), that leaves 40 ounches for the term. I like a drink (a single drink!) at the end of a long day upon occasion, and the 40 remaining ounces should compensate for this.

As for Senators games, if they play on average twice per week, at one beer per period (unless Gerber is in, make that three per period), my 48 beers will last me 16 hockey games, or 8 weeks. Barely half the term if I drink during Sens games alone. As I'll probably only be able to catch half the games anyways (on average), this seemed to me a fair quantity.

Never think an engineer would produce arbitrary quantitative terms when it comes to rationing his ethanol!!!

wprager wrote:

504Heater wrote:I'll gladly beat the Dung out of you. So many people in their 20s (mid to late for sure) go bankrupt because of this kind of thing.

You want punishment? Wait until you simply can't pay Visa bills - or bills period. It'll come, don't even bother arguing about that.

The first time you can't make ends meet and you need to go see mommy and daddy to borrow money is the punishment for being dumb. Stop going out to bars and pubs, stop going to movies (rent if you need).

Begin the month with a budget, go from there.

I used to frequent Sens games, buy 100s of CDs, then DVDs, then I'd buy some bootlegs, then I'd buy a nice chair to watch them in, etc. etc. etc. You can run out pretty quick...

My suggestion - cut the excess out before you run into a wall.

And I thought *I* was a cranky old guy

In Matt's defense, Heater, he *is* plannign a budget. Now, his budget includes items like $300 for bars, and stocking up on ridiculous amounts of liquor, but it is a budget none-the-less.

I think the scariest thing to note here is that there's no way to know how much I (and my compadres) have spent in the past. I'm budgetting quite a bit here with this plan. I'd typically split a 26'er for pre-drink with one other friend before going out on a weekend, and spend upwards of $40 at a bar. If we do this even just twice a week, my costs would be on average (and I'm rounding down), $1600 minimum by my quick math.

Cutting that down to a third (<$500 by my plan on paper) will be quite the accomplishment. I might have to add status updates to what my roommate and I have officially titled Matt's Partying Propation Policy to the daily Mashup (which I hope to continue while back at school, but can't make promises).