I love saying "otakus" instead of "otaku" because I know it's grammatically incorrect (like saying ninjas instead of ninja).
Boy oh boy, at this moment in time I am in financial trouble. Because I want to be a role model, I will get myself out of it and hopefully you can learn from my experiences and either never get into my situation to begin with or get yourself out if you're in one too.
Here's what I'm doing:
1. I partially got into this mess because I became reliant on credit cards. I have since decided that I am never going to use them ever again. After I pay off my CC debt I will pay for things cash only, or at worse, via debit card.
CC companies, especially American Express, are the worst kind of evil. I strongly recommend making it a priority to pay any outstanding CC debt and then to stop using them altogether.
2. I'm writing down *every single penny* I spend every single day. By doing this, I've become much better at spending less money day to day.
3. I'm going to be moving to a much cheaper apartment and perhaps rooming with someone. This will cut my rent almost in half. This is a major adjustment but it must be done and pronto.
4. I'm doing pretty much every freelance/extra job I can find. I'm even doing a freelance web design project, something I rely on people much better than me (like Mike) to handle.
5. eBay - the stuff lying around isn't worth as much as the debt on my credit card. For every $1 I get on ebay for something, if I pay it off on my CC, it turns into $1.16
6. Eating lean - fruits like bananas and apples are cheap and filling. So is pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. This, combined with writing down all my expenses, has brought my food expense down to $12.19 / day on average. It sounds like a lot but in NYC and considering all the times I have to eat out for business stuff, this is a huge improvement.
7. Full time job - I have redoubled my efforts to find a full time job. It's going to be insanely hard to find and will be an adjustment but it must be done.
8. Debt snowball - This is something I read online that I like a lot. You list your debts in order of smallest to largest. You make the minimum payment on everything but focus on paying off the smallest. This gives you psychological wins to keep going.
9. Crossing fingers - My iPhone game will be coming out soon. Our goal is to sell 14,000 copies. If we hit this goal I can pay all my high interest debts off immediately. If it sells less than 3,500 copies, then I'm going to go deeper into debt.
Please use the comments to share your own financial situation/tips/etc.
It'll take some time but one day I'll be able to post a victory message that I hope will be inspiring. I am deep in it.
