u/WashMeOfMySinsOhLord

Edit: I live in a low cost of living country. My take home salary is $2060 per month. I got promoted this month. Until now it's been $1770. I haven't really been saving anything each month.

I'm 35 years old with a wife and two kids, 5 and 3. We own a house as of last year (mortgage), and a car (outright).

I grew up poor and my finances have always been a mess. My wife is fantastic with money.

These are my personal monthly expenses/share of joint expenses.

- Mortgage, Utilities: $990

- Property Tax: $35

- Car Tax: $15

- Car Registration: $10

- Groceries: $380

- Phone: $38

- Medicine: $50

- Eating Out, Snacks: $250

- Debt 1: $45 (final payment)

- Debt 2: $65 (3 payments left)

- No other debt

Until this month if there was ever anything leftover I typically spent it, but now that I've been promoted I have more leftover and don't want to waste it.

- Personal Savings: $890

- Joint Savings: $5k-$10k

- Savings For Kids: ~$18k total

Joint Savings: Per Japanese custom we got a lot of money from family when we got married, and again when we had kids, we put most of this into a savings account that my wife controls, I'm not sure exactly how much is in there.

Savings For Kids: We have set up tax free investment accounts for both kids that they'll have to withdraw when they're 18. Each account has about $8-10k currently, we hope they mature at around $30k each.

My wife works part time due to health issues, so we split rent and utilities 85/15 and groceries 50/50.

She also has at least $30k in personal investments/savings though I don't know exact numbers.

If anyone would kindly point out the big red flags here, I'm looking for an honest accounting of my personal finance situation and things that need to be improved.

Thanks!

I've been attending mass for four months, and I'm curious - outside of the sacraments - is there anything I should avoid as an inquirer?

Can I attend the feast days, Pentecost, etc?

God forgiving our trespasses is tied to repentance. If we properly repent, vow never to sin again, and detest the sin, God may forgive us our trespasses.

However, I have been told we are called to forgive others without condition. By saying the Our Father, we are apparently making a commitment to forgive those who trespass against us no matter what.

Whether or not they have repented, whether or not they have vowed to never do it again, whether or not justice has been served.

"If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses".

Are we required to forgive those who wrong us, continue to wrong us, and never make any attempt to stop wronging us, while justice has never been served, lest God not forgive us?

I've come to realize that fishing in Japan is very different to fishing in Australia. The methods I used there don't work here.

I recently moved and live very close to a big fishing lake full of bass, bluegill and crucian carp in Hyogo.

Three days in a row I went there for a few hours in the morning and tried lure fishing for bass, but got no bites. I also had some lines out with earthworms as bait, on one day I got three bluegill, the other two I got nothing.

Casting around the banks of the lake leads to lot's of bites from carp, and lots of snagged and lost hooks. But casting toward the center of the lake seems to yield nothing.

In Australia I fished for チヌ with bait, but that's never worked for me here. I recently bought some チニング gear and will give it a try at the Mukogawa river mouth this weekend.

I was wondering if any of you had any tips about fishing for chinu, bluegill and black bass in Japan? Or know of any online messageboards I can ask in Japanese.

I've always been taught to case towards the edges of the lake or river, as that's where the fish like to hide. Particularly around overhanging trees.

I've recently moved near a big fishing lake, full of black bass and bluegill. There aren't many actual places to fish from, from the banks. And the few that are there don't have great access to cast the edges.

Last time I fished there, I was targeting bluegill, and I lost five bobbers, hooks, and weights. I caught three crucian carp when I lost my last sinker and started using a swivel as the only weight. Got no bites before that.

I've also tried fishing there for bass, with a senko on a Texas rig, but caught nothing.

Is it really only worth casting to the banks and edges of the lake?

It seems in Japan most fish have two names. I'm not talking about regional differences to refer to fish here though.

In some cases, there is a Japanese name and an English loan word:

• サーモン
• 鮭

In other cases, there's a word to refer to the food and another to refer to the fish if you're catching:

• チヌ
• クロダイ

I can't think of any fish that have all three, a Japanese way of referring to the food, an English loan word, and a way of referring to the fish if you're catching it.

Are there any examples?

I've come to realize that fishing in Japan is very different to fishing in Australia.

I could always just go down to the river mouth or the breakwater with a simple dropshot rig and some shellfish as bait and catch bream (chinu), tommy ruff (herring), and whiting.

I've tried that here a half dozen times at the Mukogawa and Yodogawa river mouths, and around Nishinomiya hama, and never even gotten a nibble. There seem to be too many fishermen, and not enough fish. The fishing pressure is so high.

If I'm lucky, with Sabiki fishing, I can get some saba, but it depends on the season and quite a bit of luck. But also Sabiki fishing is not very fun.

When I fish at stocked trout places they're very easy to catch, but near impossible just in local rivers.

I recently moved and live very close to a big fishing lake full of bass, bluegill and crucian carp in Hyogo.

Three days in a row I went there for a few hours in the morning and tried lure fishing (senko on a texas rig) for bass, but got no bites. I also had some lines out with earthworms as bait, on one day I got three bluegill, the other two I got nothing.

I learned everything about fishing in Australia from my dad and his friends, but I have nobody to really learn from here. I was wondering if anyone had any advice about fishing in Japan. Particularly for bluegill, bass, and bream/chinu.

Light hearted question I've been wondering for a few days.

I typically pray at night, and I often catch myself yawning a lot during prayer, which I really don't like.

I went to weekday mass the other day, it was at 6:15 and there were only about five people attending.

The priest looked like he'd just gotten out of bed, but he didn't yawn a single time.

How do you do it?