Compound interest is not only the domain of pay-day lenders, but credit cards, banks, and just about every other form of lender.
Let's do a quick, simple, example
I lend you $100 at 5% interest per month.
At the end of the first month you now owe me $105, and you pay me $5, so we are back to $100; end of the next month you owe me $105, and pay me $5, so now owe me $100 - at that rate of repayment and interest you are never going to pay me off. That's compound interest at work, interest is charged on what you owe at the agreed interval, not on the initial amount you borrowed. In the worst case one can end up owing more money than initially borrowed, and then it very rapidly gets out of hand.

Take a careful look at a credit card statement - you will see a whole bunch of figures, there will be the initial balance, the amount spent on goods and services, the amount repaid, and the amount of interest charged on the balance. There may well be a few other figures, such as insurance, standing charges (and god forbid, late payment charges). But the interest is charged on the total outstanding balance on a defined date and at a defined rate - even if no money is spent during the month interest will arrive :-(

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Rob I'm not worried, I make as big a payment as I can when I'm paying down a card.

Paypal Credit has windows of time when no interest is charged and I have to make payments on this account, it's not optional so I take advantage of it.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Compound interest is an expense to be avoided.

Pay Day lenders charge at least 10 times more, so I'm not worried.

Yes and first degree murder is worse than manslaughter but neither are good.

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I think I'll clear some things up since Chris S does not speak for myself.

Sure I can find an 850w Enermax psu or two, a semi-modular Revolution 87+ for about $107.08 from the UK or either a totally Modular 850w Platimax DF for about $274.00(ebay) or a Tytanmax @ 800w @ $292(Amazon), I won't use a Revolution 87+ psu below 1050w as the cables are not compatible, maybe later I'll get a Platimax, Platimax DF, or a Tytanmax in an 850w psu, but right now I just won't have enough to get 16GB of ram(My PC needs an upgrade, I frequently use almost all 16GB of ram(2x8GB) that I have now, 12.7GB in use as I write this), a 2nd and final HAF XB EVO case and 3 psus, about $368 which won't go too far, the $368 includes the $343 heap "credit" since I live in a mobile home park(outside of a mobile home park I'd get a credit on an SCE bill instead), $3.31 "ebay bucks" and some money from My bank account, so the 1350 and one or two 1500's will have to do, the 1st 1500w Enermax psu(115-240v) was paid for with Paypal Credit, the 2nd 1500w(about $65) and 1350w(hard to say as there is a Best Offer I plan to use so this could be $52 to $55 with $9.00 shipping), the haf xb evo case fits My shelving and is either $114.73 or $167.73 depending on availability, the ram is 1866MHz Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB 10-11-10-30 to match what I have now and is $83.69 unless some other buyer snaps the ram up first.

Last month I used 336KWh and the cost was $40.06 which includes CARE Rate discounts(30%) and Medical Baseline(20%). I received confirmation of a heap credit that will be delivered to My mail box in the USPS mail, yes they said "credit" and they even said "checked" instead of "check", go figure. So if it's a little inefficient, I can stand that, at least My electric bill is not plain schedule D of about $140 from November 2018 @ 435KWh, the billing here sucks, one company would not accept both CARE Rate(30%) and Medical Baseline(20%) discounts at the same time, even in writing and they told the manager not to allow it(there have been more billing companies in here since 2004 than there are fingers on My right or left hands), this is what I was told by the recent manager a tenant, SCE which supplies the park with power said I could get both at the same time and so now I do, I so want to get out of this park since I'd rather get rid of the middle men(park and private billing companies) and go back to dealing with SCE directly which I can't do in here and if the park ever closed where would I be able to take My place? Outside of private land in this area, nowhere as it's 32yrs old and 14 feet wide according to Fleetwood which is the minimum width for this area, in other areas the minimum width is 20 feet and the age can't be more than 10yrs old.

I was also told space rent for new mobile home owners in here is going to be $390 a month(Barstow charges $320 at the very least, but My place can't go there), mine is $265 a month and won't be raised, so far.

Date  KWh      $
09/17 760.00 $ 50.53
10/17 559.00 $ 61.32
11/17 374.00 $ 40.98
12/17 408.00 $ 44.72
01/18 458.00 $ 52.44
02/18 450.00 $ 53.16
03/18 349.00 $ 41.23
04/18 386.00 $ 45.59
05/18 501.00 $ 59.19
06/18 600.00 $ 71.02
07/18 809.00 $ 95.86
08/18 851.00 $122.88

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Ouch - I've just looked at your electricity costs in terms of cost per kw. Back in September 2017 it was 6.6c/kw, compared with 14.4 in July 2018 - that's a painful increase :-( And at the same time your consumption has jumped from about 50kw/month to well over 100kw/month That sort of thing just can't be planned and will hurt your budget planning.
(Over the same time mine has gone up from ~11p/kw to 13p/kw, which is pretty much in line with the percentage increase in wholesale electricity prices.)

What is equally fascinating is the way your energy use appears to peak in the summer, which I guess is associated with you running your air-con?

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Ouch - I've just looked at your electricity costs in terms of cost per kw. Back in September 2017 it was 6.6c/kw, compared with 14.4 in July 2018 - that's a painful increase :-( And at the same time your consumption has jumped from about 50kw/month to well over 100kw/month That sort of thing just can't be planned and will hurt your budget planning.
(Over the same time mine has gone up from ~11p/kw to 13p/kw, which is pretty much in line with the percentage increase in wholesale electricity prices.)

What is equally fascinating is the way your energy use appears to peak in the summer, which I guess is associated with you running your air-con?

Yeah summer here is and has been, brutal, the San Bernardino mountains @ Crestline I've discovered are 25F cooler in summer and usually warmer in the winter than here, My nephew figured this out first, here's the cost of Natural gas over 1 year. CCF I think means Cost per Cubic Foot. The figures are for here and not in the mountains and are from a billing statement.

Month CCF   Amount
09/17 11.22 $10.03
10/17 15.33 $13.68
11/17 16.35 $14.60
12/17 45.99 $42.99
01/18 55.19 $54.23
02/18 50.08 $48.52
03/18 42.92 $40.71
04/18 20.40 $18.47
05/18 13.26 $11.55
06/18 12.24 $10.62
07/18 11.22 $10.26
08/18 11.22 $11.19

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

CCF - Calorific Cubic Foot
Which is a way of standardising the gas used in terms of its energy content. This is needed because the energy content of gas varies depending on its exact source.
Looking at the charges it is quite noticeable how constant the price is compared to your electricity. As one would expect you use far more gas in the winter than the summer.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

CCF - Calorific Cubic Foot
Which is a way of standardising the gas used in terms of its energy content. This is needed because the energy content of gas varies depending on its exact source.
Looking at the charges it is quite noticeable how constant the price is compared to your electricity. As one would expect you use far more gas in the winter than the summer.

Thanks Rob, the billing company never defined what CCF meant.

My gas furnace is a 2.5 ton unit, comes on for 11-12 mins at night and stays off for about an hour now thanks to some work on the exterior door weatherstripping. The only parts that are 32yrs old in the gas furnace are the pilot, blower, and exterior casing now, the rest from at least 2006, HVAC installers like to push 4.0 ton these days, they're supposed to be better, this unit used to run at about $80 a month in the winter at one time, I've done little improvements over time around here like a Digital thermostat(see pic) with battery backup and mine is not wireless, later on I'll install a 2nd custom sized single hung dual pane vinyl frosted window when I'm confident that it won't hurt Me sometime in 2019, the last custom sized single hung dual pane vinyl window in 2020 or so. Then I need to remove the old swamp cooler and seal up the wall to like it was in 2006 and then replace the back exterior door since it's a hollow core fiberglass door with no insulation. Any work here would need to be done on a credit card as no one will loan in a mobile home park, this makes selling mobile homes harder too as it's Cash Only and it's the biggest piece of personal property that I own and pay taxes on every year, taxes used to be $205.30 a year, I had those cut down to $80.30 a year, zillow.com gives an approximate estimate of $82,691.00 on the worth of My mobile home, whether I could get that or not depends on a buyer and what shape the home and park are in and the latest park owner has been investing money without being prompted by government, new places have $390 space rent, existing like Mine are $265 a month, which may not last forever.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Look at the total outgoings per month for heat and power.

Sept    60.56
Oct     75.00
Nov     55.58
Dec     87.71
Jan    108.67
Feb    101.68
March   81.94
April   64.06
May     70.74
June    80.64
July   106.12
August 134.07

It peaks in Jan/Feb for heating and again in July/August for A/C. A bit difficult to make regular monthly payments of the same amount each month. I can with British gas as they take the hit of some months the budget a/c being in arrears, and some months in credit. But I expect there is a hidden cost in their tariffs to allow for that. Nevertheless I can budget with known monthly outgoings.

SCE does something like British gas does, the level pay plan, at least for electricity as SCE does not sell gas at all, SWGas sells gas, but the sadly park does not bill like SCE.

Total is $1,026.77 / 12 = $85.56(416666666667).

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

At home I'm on a fixed two year plan - and it's a little less expensive than my last one (about £2 per month).
But at the marina I'm on "pay as you use" advance pay meter, no choice unless one doesn't use electricity or have a big solar array (I've a small array which helps a bit, this year I may double it and so further use my dependency on the expensive power from the shore....)

It should be possible for you to work out what you monthly average energy bill is, then add a bit for safety and "ring fence" that money so you never run the risk of hitting the energy wall. (works out at about $92.50 per month, so call it $95 for safety....)

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

At home I'm on a fixed two year plan - and it's a little less expensive than my last one (about £2 per month).
But at the marina I'm on "pay as you use" advance pay meter, no choice unless one doesn't use electricity or have a big solar array (I've a small array which helps a bit, this year I may double it and so further use my dependency on the expensive power from the shore....)

It should be possible for you to work out what you monthly average energy bill is, then add a bit for safety and "ring fence" that money so you never run the risk of hitting the energy wall. (works out at about $92.50 per month, so call it $95 for safety....)

In theory yes, in reality I just need the new bill, only electricity and gas usage vary, everything else is known and so far unchanging, so far.

A place in Crestline would be better billing wise in the summer and not much worse in the winter, only problem besides cost of getting there is the elevation, so far that is 4459 feet to 5259 feet, finding one that is single story, has a garage(none here where I'm at now), has dual pane vinyl windows already, and is solar capable is not impossible(70.1 in pic shown according to zillow.com), like this one at $299,700.00 and 1,794sqft and this place is at about 5,230 feet in elevation, which has a main floor bedroom and a detached garage and yeah a huge fireplace, this house has 3 bedrooms and 1.75 bathrooms. I'd need a big down payment, it looks move in ready, someone will snap it up I'd think.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I'd need a big down payment

Unbelievable. You couldn't borrow $65K to buy a plot of land, so why are you posting pictures of a $300K house in Number Crunching??

Prop1 in CA that's why, it gives out a bigger down payment and does improvements to make the house affordable. It's not that I could not, it's that I'd have to have something on it first.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Zillow.com says My place is worth an estimated $82,691.00, not bad for a $20,000.00 investment and yes I have no mortgage, I own My home 100% free and clear.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Buying raw land is different from buying a house, don't insinuate something like that as they are not the same, I take umbridge Chris S...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Nice spot, I think mine is worth £275k, but I have a mortgage for about £20k left to pay, I'm hoping for CANZUK to be implemented after BREXIT, as I want to emigrate/retire to the Gold Coast in Australia, since I have family and friends there.

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Nice spot, I think mine is worth £275k, but I have a mortgage for about £20k left to pay, I'm hoping for CANZUK to be implemented after BREXIT, as I want to emigrate/retire to the Gold Coast in Australia, since I have family and friends there.

I'd be happy to get a mortgage and a home elsewhere with a large down payment from this place for $114,900 or so, but I have about $5500 in upgrades and such to do first to get near $82,691.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

The house looks nice, but I would check what the view is from the bottom of the hill where it could be sitting in a decade or two ...

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The house looks nice, but I would check what the view is from the bottom of the hill where it could be sitting in a decade or two ...

BS, the house was built in 1956.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

The Enermax Maxrevo 1500w GOLD rated psu, this will handle 4 Zotac 1070Ti Amps in a HAF XB EVO case, yes I have found a 2nd and final case of that type.
The pic was taken while the psu was on and My psu tester was connected, both work, the tester was already assembled and snapped on and it made perfect contact.

My next psus?
Probably a pair of Seasonic 1050w Platinum psus, one definitely in White and a Gray one where I'll see if I can dicker the guy down by $25 as the 4 pci-e cables are missing, at least the Snow Silent version(White) appears to have no missing cables, even pci-e cables and a power cable can be seen.
Next month? 16GB of 1866MHz CORSAIR VENGEANCE 2x8GB DDR3 ram in Black with 10-11-10-30 timing.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Ok the Seasonic 1050w psu is here, it works

Here is with the psu off.

And I now have the 2nd and last HAF XB case in straight from Amazon(2nd bottom of pic, 1st is at top), the psu is from ebay.

Next month buy 16GB of Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz 2x8GB ram for $89.00, that's the current price and that could change.

Liheap money paid for My energy costs this week and so that freed up some money.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's