Live Frugally or Die Broke

Two Paydays in One

This evening is one in which I have been waiting patiently for and have dreamed about for several weeks. Tomorrow morning I will awake to find two paychecks deposited into my checking account, instead of just the meager lone payroll deposit I’ve grown accustomed to. My first U.S. Census check will be arriving and my paycheck from my primary job will also be shuffling in overnight.

To make things even better, both jobs left me off the schedule for tomorrow. This will be my very first day off of work in almost a month. I am so happy I could scream. I haven’t been able to sleep in for as long as I can remember. I am excited to actually hit the snooze button, on my alarm clock, tomorrow. I urge you all to try to work two jobs at some point in your life. Attempt to rough it out for a week. You don’t truly know what financial freedom is, until you’ve had to struggle 75 hours a week in enslavement.

A Brave New America

I have a new respect for those who work hard at multiple jobs. I used to day dream in my college courses of what working a white collar job behind some desk somewhere would be like. Instead I have been rudely awoken to a reality in which I may never achieve that. I am on my own now. There is no magic bailout coming for me or other hard working individuals like myself. My parents aren’t going to magically whisk in any sort of handout, like others I know. I would like to think America would never have to see such times like this. It’s simply not the way it used to be. With the jobs drying up, many of us college graduates are finding we have to work two jobs at a minimum, just to make ends meet.

Unforeseen Circumstances

I’ve discussed the new house my friend and I were able to rent at a steep discount. What I didn’t mention in my last article was the situation we got ourselves into before that. We both found another apartment earlier last week which was in danger of being rented out to another party. We had no idea another deal would come around later so we hastily agreed to rent our initial find. We frantically wrote out an initial deposit of $700 to secure this housing. We initially put down a payment of $200 and then later another $500. Unfortunately the landlord we were in talks with cashed both checks before we discovered a better deal. My friend was the one who took the financial hit, because he wrote the checks and is soon coming back around on me for the loss. He would like to split the loss at an even 50/50. I find it hard to believe this landlord finds it necessary to punish our change in plans by charging us $350 a piece. It is unclear whether or not we will get any of this money back. However we did sign a lease two days prior to backing out.

And Even More Problems

The reduction in rent and low cost of utilities, in our new rental, make up for this rental transgression. For the meantime it will be a small bump in my road to becoming debt free. With the paychecks I receive tonight I will hopefully put most of them towards my student loans and fixing up this lease/rental situation. Furthermore my car has decided to give me additional problems. My poor clunker is in poor condition right now and in danger of dying. The brake system is shot and my calipers have largely failed. I am unable to make repairs with how badly damaged my calipers and brake lines are. In the meantime I have to do everything in my power just to keep the car running. I just need to squeeze one more year out of this thing. I refuse to buy a new car until the old one can literally no longer function.

Before Signing A Lease



I’ve rented a lot of apartments over the years. I’ve had a multitude of various landlords. Some could be negotiated with and others made me want to leave their residence immediately. When renting an apartment, you have to be very careful for the dirt bag landlords. When reading your lease, you want to look very carefully at cleaning fees. If you see something like, “$200 will be charged for carpet cleaning, no exceptions,” you need to reach across the table, shake the landlord’s hand and leave post haste. Hidden fees and sneaky clauses usually mean your landlord is probably some sort of jerk. On the other hand, if you have a landlord who is willing to work with you, both parties often benefit.

Two Types Of Landlords

I once had a landlord who required all tenants to do cleaning chores every week. We were supposed to delegate yard work between our fellow tenants and the landlord would check up on our progress on the weekends. I remember having to shovel, chop weeds, and rake leaves. This guy was a nightmare. If the property wasn’t looking great, we were fined. At the end of the year, he required us to have our rooms professionally cleaned. The only problem was the cleaning crew we were required to utilize was in fact his brother’s company. So in the end we were grossly overcharged and were told there was nothing we could do, it was his house and his rules. I actually went out of my way, to warn eager tenants not to utilize this landlord for anything ever.

Landlords I have had excellent relationships with were the exact opposite from the last example. Most landlords are willing to negotiate obstacles in a lease with you. Discounts can be given for being a clean tenant, fixing your own problems, and maintaining the property. As long as you keep receipts and document problems via video, you can work with the landlord. For example, if I found another tenant to replace myself, I could receive a large discount on my last month of rent. This is the landlord being smart and having tenants do the work for them.

Most landlords realize that word of mouth is the best advertising they can have. No amount of newspaper ads, signs, or flyers are going to save you, if you are going to nickel and dime your tenants. I often tell the story of the rotten landlord I mentioned earlier. This guy was really going out of his way to irritate his tenants. The tenants in my building silently agreed that the guy probably “got off” on controlling his tenants the way he did.

What Goes Around Comes Around

This guy felt power and control was the best way of running his business. He stole $200 of my $500 security deposit. He was probably reluctant to take the rest because I would have flat out sued. I had everything on video. Another group of his tenants were not so lucky. They had sustained damage to a wall and he took the entirety of all four of their security deposits totaling $2000. I found it especially hilarious that the particular landlord had no address, other than a P.O. box at the post office. He was obviously worried about his safety and rightfully so. Those tenants that had the $2000 taken from them retaliated by visiting all of his rental properties and vandalizing the signs. Instead of reading “Dirt Cheap Reality”, they crossed out the Cheap and replaced it with Bag. Eventually his prospective tenants got the message that “Dirt Bag Reality” probably wasn’t going to be a good choice for renting an apartment.