Money/job issue is my biggest obstacle to living the RV life

[gcal]

You missed car insurance. You also forgot any needed doctor or dental or vet visits. To reach your goals, you need to make more than you spend. You have 2 choices - increase what comes in or decrease what goes out. If you are at the minimum of what you consider an acceptable lifestyle, you are going to have to attack your problem from the other side of the equation and increase your ability to earn. That will probably involve skill training, which will no doubt involve addressing some of your mental issues. I don't see any other way, besides possibly an inheritance or winning a lottery, to get you where you want to go.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Nearly everything about the American way of life is a huge luxury, and if you can't part with even a single shred of the luxuries you've become used to, your chances for making changes are slim.  Almost everything on your list is irrationally justified unnecessary expenses and telling yourself you need those things is basically a lie.   You want those things because you've become used to having them, it's hedonic adaptation plain and simple.

One of the best posts ever.  Not just this paragraph, the whole thing.     Thank You

 

[Hippiechk]

a meat loaf pan (didn't have one yet)....and then you buy more while you're there.

Right there, you got to the heart of your issue!!!!

Your meat will cook into a lovely loaf in ANY pan - its certainly NOT conducive to downsizing to even think that a 'meatloaf pan' is in any way essential...

...and then you get some help for your impulse shopping issues because when you are.living on a budget with a high debt load you just don't.

It doesn't sound like you actually have a lack of funds issue but that you have quite a few lack of control issues.

 

[kayell]

Bonus of buying less stuff/using what you have - it's better for the earth. Every single thing you buy has costs to the environment. The larger that thing is (5th wheel) the more impact it has. I assume that given your name this is a big issue.

 

[gcal]

Nearly everything about the American way of life is a huge luxury, and if you can't part with even a single shred of the luxuries you've become used to, your chances for making changes are slim.  Almost everything on your list is irrationally justified unnecessary expenses and telling yourself you need those things is basically a lie.   You want those things because you've become used to having them, it's hedonic adaptation plain and simple.

The things you need to maintain your existence on this planet vs. what you have are worlds apart.   If I wiped your memory, filled your pantry with rice and beans, gave you a library card, and took your car and put a rusty bicycle in its place, you'd make do if I told you had to or you'll die on the streets.  You'd have money pouring out of your ears with nothing to spend it on if you weren't offered the choice.

You live in a place where you have a special metal cart that you can sit inside and "drive" to places instead of walking.  You only need to pour in a smelly liquid from old plants every once in awhile to make this cart go.  Inside this special cart there is even controls to keep the air around you comfortable, and another device that fills the air with pleasant sounds of music or words from far away.  You don't even need to take care of your own cart, you can pay for someone to fix the cart when it breaks.  Most people don't know how their own cart works!

You live in a place where you can drive, not walk, to a warehouse filled with food piled high on shelves, well-lit and climate controlled.  It's cheap and plentiful.  There is even special food that is somehow better than the other food, so it costs more!  SO MUCH FOOD.  You don't have to pick it, or kill it, or anything, it's just sitting there.  Most people don't know where the food comes from or how it got there!

You live in a place where you turn a knob and water comes pouring out of a spout.  There's even knobs that let hot water come out.  You didn't even need to build a fire.  You didn't need a bucket to catch this water as special buckets with special drains are mounted right under the spouts.  Why?  Because the spouts are right where you live, not down by a river on in the village square.  Mere feet from where you sleep there is water in spouts!!  Most people don't know how to fix their own spouts and pay someone else to do it!

You live inside a rectangular shaped box in this place that has no wind or rain blowing in.  There is a small magical device on the wall that you can use to keep the temperature of the air in your box set to where you find it comfortable.  Along with water spouts, these boxes have a special bucket where your body waste goes, a place to wash yourself under the water spouts, and a special place (inside!) where you can wash and heat up the food (from the warehouse place!)  Most people have no idea how any of the items in their box work!

You live in a place where you have a tiny device in your pocket that you can use to talk to nearly anyone, at any time, no matter where you are or how far away they are.  This device helps you feel safe even as you live in one of the safest places during the safest period in all of human history.  Most people are afraid to not have the device even though it's not even as good as a rock if you're in any real immediate danger!

You live in a place where instead of traveling to see the village elder, you can connect a magic box to a signal that no one can see, and from there you can hear stories from all over the WORLD on demand.  You can even send your own stories using this signal.  Talk to people using the signal.  Some people like this signal SO MUCH they pay for more than one magic box to get the signal even though they can only really use one at a time.  Most people... yeah most people have no fricking CLUE how this signal works.  

Above all, people (real people, really!) have convinced themselves they need this magical stuff.  Not only do they need it, but they need the best of it, the special food, the best signal devices (or two), the nice big carts that use a lot more of the smelly plant liquid.  Sometimes they need to make the rectangle box and the carts both hotter or colder by doing nothing more than pressing a button.  Even with the special metal carts that can carry many things (even buckets!) , they need the water spouts to be in the rectangle boxes.  If you gave them a yak or a goat they would probably be sad.  You see, they almost all have these wonderful pastures around their rectangle boxes, but instead of feeding animals, they chop the pastures very short with special machines that run on that smelly old plant juice.  Yeah, most of 'em can't fix their own pasture chopper or even tell you why they are really chopping their pasture.  They are a very weird and very fragile people.

You know, you are right about the difference between needs and wants. But most of us don't work to get more than we need because some faceless "they" tell us to do it. We do it because we really want those things. They really make life better. In all those third world places, where people who actually do live with only their needs  (barely) met, they will risk their lives and work night and day to give themselves and their families the opportunity to get some of those "wants" we take for granted. The trick is to know when enough is enough, not for anyone else, but for YOU.

Did DH really need a  $5000 dental implant to replace that lost tooth? No! Did he want the ease in chewing and the improved appearance and lifestyle he gets from it? Yes! Did I really need those kerotosis growths removed from my face and neck? No! Is my happiness improved by having it done? Yes! 

We could have lived and raised our family in a cheap apartment or a mobile home park in a bad neighborhood and would have survived just fine. But we wanted a nice home in a safe neighborhood with good schools. We could travel, now, quite adequately in a van with no internet and no tv.  But we want our nice motorhome and those comforts. We could keep our small manual transmission toad. But we want a bigger car (mini van or small truck and cap?) with an automatic transmission and more storage capacity, and will be looking for one ovr the winter.

In all these things, we made choices about what we really wanted and made realistic decisions about what we really had to do to get it. That is and was our business. Whatever anyone else chooses is their business. But, you don't just get one side of the choice equation. If you want "ABC," the world is going to require that you do "XYZ" to get it. If you don't want to do "XYZ," then you had better start rethinking the other side of the equation, too.

 

[kayell]

Another thing to consider: the research shows that it is experiences not things that leads to happiness. There is typically a short burst of satisfaction after a purchase (I'm assuming very short for a meat loaf pan) but experiences last forever. If you stop buying things, you'll get to the experiences sooner.

It's one of my major reasons for heading towards van dwelling - I want to see new places, savor new experiences, new people. Most of that can be done free or cheap. No reason to go to Disney World for experiences when there is an entire country full of beauty, waterfalls, beaches, museums, free concerts.... What is it you really want? What are you willing to do to get it?

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/buy-experiences/381132/

An earlier post of my has disappeared probably because it was considered too abrasive. The fact is though that if you don't get it together, you'll lose out on a lot that life has to give. Sometimes tough love is the only answer. I hope you do pull yourself out of your current state, but I suspect the chances are slim.

As I said earlier - Prove me wrong.

 

[gcal]

Another thing to consider: the research shows that it is experiences not things that leads to happiness. There is typically a short burst of satisfaction after a purchase (I'm assuming very short for a meat loaf pan) but experiences last forever. If you stop buying things, you'll get to the experiences sooner.

It's one of my major reasons for heading towards van dwelling - I want to see new places, savor new experiences, new people. Most of that can be done free or cheap. No reason to go to Disney World for experiences when there is an entire country full of beauty, waterfalls, beaches, museums, free concerts.... What is it you really want? What are you willing to do to get it?

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/buy-experiences/381132/

An earlier post of my has disappeared probably because it was considered too abrasive. The fact is though that if you don't get it together, you'll lose out on a lot that life has to give. Sometimes tough love is the only answer. I hope you do pull yourself out of your current state, but I suspect the chances are slim.

As I said earlier - Prove me wrong.

Tough love is not popular here, where the motto seems to be "I'm OK, you're OK, even when I can see plainly that you are shooting yourself in the foot and destroying your own ability to get what you want."

 

[Txjaybird]

Hello,   I would like to tell you my experience in needing more $$$$$ than what my full time job at the time offered.   I found P.T. work to add to income, two times I was working 3 jobs, not EZ however it was what I NEEDED TO DO to reach my Goal financially.  

 MY schedule looked like this::   Dairy Queen asst mngr.    M, T. W, Thu.  5pm to 10:30pm.....Fri off,  Sunday  8am to 10:30pm.... TENNECO TRUCK STOP  2 nights a week go right from closing DQ and cashier until 6am.   Best Western   asst. housekeeper   2 or 3 days a week...8am to 1pm on the days that I hadn't  worked 2 JOBS the night before.    This was in the mid 1980s 

During my "Divorce From Hell" in 1978 & 1979  I worked  M thru F 7am to 4pm ON the build line for SHASTA Travel Trailers.  Wed. 6pm to closing I bartended at a dude ranch on the only night it was open to the public...I got to HEAR  Tom T Hall, Brenda Lee, Boxcar Willies and other entertainers of that era...I didn't get but a few looks because I was too busy on my second job of the day.... In my "spare"  time I also worked for a research co. doing phone surveys from my home and also door to door product placements and traffic patterns in retail stores so business's could know what product areas their customers were drawn to while in the stores.

I am not WONDER WOMAN   I simply knew what I needed to do to get the funds neccessary to keep out of debt and replace vehicles or repair them when needed...and pay the lawyer of course.  There are many jobs that can be done with a somewhat flexible time to work,  week end evenings childcare in your home or theirs,  house cleaning for others, cooking meals for ill or elderly, siiting with adults who may need p.t. help running errands and I'm sure many more that I can't think of.

On two occasions I've relocated to a new state or area right when they became # 1 on USA highest unemployment list.  In SD I went to work BEFORE I had finished unloading my car!  In AL within 4 days I had a pt waitress job,   within 3 days I was a full time cook.  I worked there 2 yrs and attended business school part of that time.  I did this with an 8th grade education driving  cars that usually needed to "be jacked up and another run under them" they were so old and derelict.

In both SD and AL I also purchased either a house or a mobile home on my income without credit cards or bank financing for either purchase.  I was a self supporting single parent and I did what needed to be done.

In life we sometimes have to give up our wants to get what we need.  It's always a matter of personal choice from the time we roll out of bed.  You seem to know what you want.  You asked for help with ideas in the best way to accomplish your goals.  Other than winning the lottery I can't think of anything else other than what has already been offered to you.  Only you can decide what to do to reach your goals.

Jewellann

 

[kayell]

Tough love is not popular here, where the motto seems to be "I'm OK, you're OK, even when I can see plainly that you are shooting yourself in the foot and destroying your own ability to get what you want."

Thanks, message received and understood. I'm butting out of this thread. People need to find their own bottom. Maybe everything in this thread will sink in later - a year, 2, 10, maybe never. Up to her.

 

[AltTransBikes]

'Tough love'? Really, in an online forum? I thought that was something best reserved for intimates familial or otherwise, off-spring, siblings, etc. not for scolding strangers on the internet.

 

[AngryVanMan]

I'm all about the "you do you" approach and finding what makes you happy. I've never personally set a goal and then had the outcome I wanted just fall in my lap, I had to work or struggle in some way to reach that goal - if not, I wouldn't have needed to set the goal in the first place!

My post up there was inspired by two things - a book I'm reading by the comic writer Randall Munroe (xkcd.com) called Thing Explainer, where he uses simple language to explain some very complex topics, and the Mr. Money Mustache approach to finance. I find both of them refreshing, matter of fact, and above all useful to push myself past my own bias - but they're NOT for everyone! I have trouble seeing past my own wants and "must haves" all the time, and I struggle to keep lifestyle inflation in check like anyone else who doesn't want to just barely live within their means.

I really do wish GaiaGoddess the very best, and if we can't help her reach her goals with our words, I'm sure she'll find her own way through. People end up working hard to go after what they really want, an impressive quality of human nature!

 

[jester]

The lifestyle your looking for is more expensive than what you are likely to be able to afford. Unfortunately there isn't a magic way to reconcile the differences but if you work on both your budget and your expectations you may find a compromise that will work for you

The numbers don't add up. Based on your lowest paycheck you should be getting a minimum of 1344 a month (320*4.2). Also, your budget contains the recurring costs but you don't mention anything about the occasional meals out or other things you may do on your day off. Most people tend to disregard the small items but they add up. The only way to really get a clear budget is to track your expenses for several months. Keep track of every penny. As you are doing this keep putting every spare penny towards paying off the debt.

Make sure your credit card has some sort of reward like cash back. Charge everything to the cc (after the current debt is gone) and pay it off every month. It can help you keep track of expenses as well.

Keeping a storage unit will totally break any budget. Work on digitizing photos and other paper things. Try to get your possessions down to just a few boxes that you might be able to keep at your mom's or in a friend's basement. If you have heirloom furniture give it back to your mom.

You mention that you sleep the entirety of the time you aren't working. Even assuming this is only on the 10 hour days that's still 12 hours of sleeping. Even the most strenuous job shouldn't require that much sleep. Reevaluate this and try to get chores done after work so you aren't bogged down on your day off. Use the time to digitize your stuff and try to find a few more things you can sell.

Since you are into crafting have you thought about opening an Etsy store? I'm pretty sure the cost is minimal until you sell something. ebay and Amazon also have private stores that you can investigate. Other online work includes textbroker if you can write articles or leapforce and lionbridge if you can commit to at least 10 hours a week.

 

[jester]

My apologies...I posted it in a private message, not in the actual forum, I thought it was in here...so i'll repost it here:

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]My income is about $1200 a month, occasionally more but it's always at least $1200. My bills are;[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Lot rent- $285[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Electric- on average about $80[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Water/Sewer/Garbage- on average about $40[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Internet- $60[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Cellphone- it varies depending on how much data I use but it's always under $100[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Gas- on average about $120[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Food/necessities- on average around $500[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Credit card minimum payment- $20 [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Property taxes- $48/year, probably not enough to make a difference but I had to include it[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Car maintenance- routine stuff is about $50 a few times a year, maybe comes out to $13 a month but not counting repairs which have been almost $4000 this last year

[/font]

The next step is to reduce expenses.  Making small cuts can have a big impact especially when paying down debt.  Turn extra lights off, turn the heat down and AC up.  Use windows and curtains to level the temps and dress warmer when it's chilly.

Use less water, see if you can switch to a smaller garbage can or less frequent pickups.

Try to find online work so you can deduct part of your internet as a business expense.

Coverage is location dependent.  Revisit your plan and see if switching to a no-contract plan through Cricket or Virgin mobile or other non-big-name service providers will still work for you.  I think all of them use the Sprint network so look at Sprint coverage in your area.

Practice gas-saving driving, combine trips, don't travel with an overloaded vehicle.  

Your food budget is crazy but I'm thinking it's a guess.  Keep track for a few months and see if you can make changes.  Rice and beans are healthy and also very cheap.  So are cabbage, fruits in season and sometimes frozen veggies.  Use beans to stretch meals so you use less meat and eat vegetarian a couple times a week or a meal a day.

 

[jimindenver]

You can get a Verizon unlimited 3G phone and hotspot for $15 a month, hotspot alone for $5 a month. Not as fast but usable.

You can get a Ringplus phone with up to 3000 minutes, 3000 text and 3000 Mb's for nothing a month but it is on Sprint.

On AT&T you can get Freedompop GSM sims for as little as 99 cents. Each is only good for 200 minutes, 500 text and 700 Mb but spend what you do on one months bill and you will talk text and data coming out the wazoo.

 

[DannyB1954]

There is a law of the universe that says if you want what someone else has, you must do what they did. The harsh reality is most of the people had to make priorities and sacrifices to get what they got.

Another truth is that nothing changes until something changes. You will keep getting the same as you have gotten as long as you keep doing what you have been doing.

Dozens of suggestions have been made. What are you doing differently now? Talking gets nothing done. Doing is what is necessary.

Saying I don't want to, I don't want to, makes staying the same very easy. Maybe you are already in the perfect life for you.

 

[ArtW]

GG,

IF, as you have stated, you are working 60 hours a week at $12 per hour and are taking home less than $300 something is very wrong. By my math you should be grossing $840 a week so more than $540 is being taken out of your weekly pay. That is about 65%. You should have a meeting with someone in payroll. Federal should be less than 15% I would think plus SS and the rest.

As to overtime putting you in a higher tax bracket and causing you to bring home less money that is a widely held misconception. Only the amount OVER the higher bracket threshold is taxed at the higher rate, everything below that point is still taxed at the lower rate.
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/ans...ax-bracket-cause-me-have-lower-net-income.asp

Guy

I won't argue the facts of how taxes work, you've researched it better than I obviously, and I must bow to empirical evidence
I will reiterate, however, that any time I've worked over 50 hours, my net income for that pay period hes been little better than if I stopped at 50, and sometimes less than a 50 hour paycheck,so regardless of the mechanism, I've seen it happen to me

I trust a car that has had one incident of repairs over a car I don't know that is worth less than my car. To me what you're saying sounds like if you are in a serious relationship with someone and they make you mad one day, and breaking up with them for someone you don't even know, lol

I see a car that needs a $3000 repair that's not even 10 years old like a partner who suddenly develops a crack habit and drains the bank account
But then, I've never in my life paid over $3k for a car


Oh I think this is where you got mixed up...it's not in bad shape at all, it runs perfect. It ran perfect for 3 years before the repairs and it runs perfect now, and it's been a year. It's a 2008, anything worth a few grand would be a lot older than this. It blue books at $7000. My miles are at 90,000 and it's 10 years old, that is all I meant when I said it will need replacing at some point. 

OK, gotcha, now, understand this, please
That point is at no set date or mileage, it's when the cost of ownership exceeds the cost of ownership on a replacement car

My apologies...I posted it in a private message, not in the actual forum, I thought it was in here...so i'll repost it here:

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]My income is about $1200 a month, occasionally more but it's always at least $1200. My bills are;[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Lot rent- $285[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Electric- on average about $80[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Water/Sewer/Garbage- on average about $40[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Internet- $60[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Cellphone- it varies depending on how much data I use but it's always under $100[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Gas- on average about $120[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Food/necessities- on average around $500[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Credit card minimum payment- $20 [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Property taxes- $48/year, probably not enough to make a difference but I had to include it[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Car maintenance- routine stuff is about $50 a few times a year, maybe comes out to $13 a month but not counting repairs which have been almost $4000 this last year[/font]


Since others have examined this and commented already, I'll just say I also wee no big diference between earnings and outlay, you should be catching up
following some of the other's advise will help you catch up faster
I would add that since the FDA redefined the definition of 'organic' at the behest of Big Food a few years back, paying the extra might no make as much diference as you think, and not everything that's not organic is 'junk food'

By progress you mean abandoning what I want and just going with what other people tell me to do? I still can't compromise that. I am hopeful there is a way I can make this happen, it just hasn't been any of the ways I know about so far.

No, by progress I mean finding something that will actually help you
I will add that taking a day off for whatever isn't 'unpaid overtime' the definition of overtime is over 40hrs a week that you actually worked

Nearly everything about the American way of life is a huge luxury, and if you can't part with even a single shred of the luxuries you've become used to, your chances for making changes are slim. Almost everything on your list is irrationally justified unnecessary expenses and telling yourself you need those things is basically a lie. You want those things

OMG Angry Van Man, this post, which I snipped with great dismay so as not to burn some folks' bandwidth too badly, is both hilarious and so true
massive perspective

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I won't argue the facts of how taxes work, you've researched it better than I obviously, and I must bow to empirical evidence
I will reiterate, however, that any time I've worked over 50 hours, my net income for that pay period hes been little better than if I stopped at 50, and sometimes less than a 50 hour paycheck,so regardless of the mechanism, I've seen it happen to me

When they take payroll taxes they base it on the amount you made for the week will be the amount you make every week all year.....so yes sometimes it seems like it's not worth working the extra hours but at years end come tax time, you'll get a bigger refund once it's all adjusted for your actual yearly earnings.

 

[GaiaGoddess]

Nearly everything about the American way of life is a huge luxury, and if you can't part with even a single shred of the luxuries you've become used to, your chances for making changes are slim.  Almost everything on your list is irrationally justified unnecessary expenses and telling yourself you need those things is basically a lie.   You want those things because you've become used to having them, it's hedonic adaptation plain and simple.

Well by that definition, nobody needs anything but water, very simple food items, and a cave to sleep in with a fire to keep you warm. Most people who live in RV's have some luxury, all people who have Class A's, and most other RV's are nicer than the ones I am interested in. I don't buy new clothes, jewelry, knicknacks, etc. so I think I am pretty low on the materialistic spectrum.

The things you need to maintain your existence on this planet vs. what you have are worlds apart.   If I wiped your memory, filled your pantry with rice and beans, gave you a library card, and took your car and put a rusty bicycle in its place, you'd make do if I told you had to or you'll die on the streets.  You'd have money pouring out of your ears with nothing to spend it on if you weren't offered the choice.

I don't want to live like a starving homeless person. And I am too much of a traveller to get by with a bicycle, I couldn't get to work without a car, or see my family and friends. Everyone saves money in areas where it doesn't matter to them, and everyone has things they prefer to spend money on, don't make me out to be worse than anyone else.

You live in a place where you can drive, not walk, to a warehouse filled with food piled high on shelves, well-lit and climate controlled.  It's cheap and plentiful.  There is even special food that is somehow better than the other food, so it costs more!  SO MUCH FOOD.  You don't have to pick it, or kill it, or anything, it's just sitting there.  Most people don't know where the food comes from or how it got there!

Oh yeah i agree, in my ideal world everyone would have their own food growing in their yards. I would, but I am restricted from doing that in a trailer park.

You live in a place where you have a tiny device in your pocket that you can use to talk to nearly anyone, at any time, no matter where you are or how far away they are.  This device helps you feel safe even as you live in one of the safest places during the safest period in all of human history.  Most people are afraid to not have the device even though it's not even as good as a rock if you're in any real immediate danger!

Try surviving without a cellphone when it's -30 outside and your car breaks down miles from civilization. I drove in situations like that many times. Maybe you don't worry about these things because you're a man.

 

[GaiaGoddess]

You missed car insurance. You also forgot any needed doctor or dental or vet visits. To reach your goals, you need to make more than you spend. You have 2 choices - increase what comes in or decrease what goes out. If you are at the minimum of what you consider an acceptable lifestyle, you are going to have to attack your problem from the other side of the equation and increase your ability to earn. That will probably involve skill training, which will no doubt involve addressing some of your mental issues. I don't see any other way, besides possibly an inheritance or winning a lottery, to get you where you want to go.

Oh yeah I knew I was forgetting something! My car/trailer insurance comes out to be about $84/mo. and I can't afford health insurance so i don't have that, or dental insurance either.

I am inheriting some money from my dad's death, i'm not sure how much yet. Definitely enough to pay off my credit card, not sure if it'll be enough to buy a trailer though.

I have been researching other ways to make money, I just don't know how that will work out, I've been trying that for years now.

 

[GaiaGoddess]

One of the best posts ever.  Not just this paragraph, the whole thing.     Thank You

I agreed with everything he said about humanity as a whole, yeah...but not a single person on here lives without those things, maybe some of them but definitely not all of them, including having the internet or we all wouldn't be here, lol