That's gotta hurt.
Posted on 06/01/2011 6:57:16 PM PDT by Libloather
You're pretty close to being toast. Nerves are frazzled, homes are being evacuated, jobs lost and families are torn apart.
Oh, the rookie Hussein has performed magic, all right. Kinda nuts. But it's what Barry King planned all along. This is his vision. Wealth distribution. And it's only getting started.
How do you make it? Old money, new money, food stamps, living with the folks, moving in with the neighbor? How are you doing it?
Are there any really good tips to make it through the Hussein years?
And don't give me any guff on that '$40k on the credit card' remark. I hear the commercials. You know the ones who say, "Do you owe over $100K to the IRS?" HOLY CRAP! Are you kidding?
I’m with you. I have do debt, own two good reliable newish vehicles, cover all bills and just be smart when we buy.
We still eat out when we want but mostly cook and then still make it good.
I got laid off 5 months ago and got a really nice severance and, for the first time in my life, am drawing a small unemployment check. Only because it was offered.
Fortunately we still have a really good income to easily cover expenses and still save. Plenty in the 401K’s we dumped money in when we were both really making the dough.
But I’m only 52 and have to get more income sooner or later or cut back. Thankfully, we’ve been frugal enough over the years we are good at it. Buy in bulk when there are sales and use coupons.
My main concern at this age is retirement and we all know Soc Sec and Medicare are a scam and those my age are screwed.
So I’ll volunteer, work elections, talk to my friends and neighbors, etc. Just to try and get enough voters to wake up and throw these bums out like we did in 1980. But now the stakes are truly higher in that we are at the precipice of all that talk we knew in the 1970’s about rabid entitlements.
Our time is up. It’s get back to principles and dump socialism or become Greece. Keep your powder dry, we are already having riots all over and it’s going to be a long, hot summer.
>>I got laid off 5 months ago and got a really nice severance and, for the first time in my life, am drawing a small unemployment check. Only because it was offered.<<
A small side note. Unemployment is INSURANCE. You paid into it and deserve the results of invoking the policy, head held high.
It is when the legislatures override the original contract and insist that payments continue beyond the contract term that UI is a problem.
Our home has been paid off sine befoe we married 25 years ago.It is nothing to write home about but it is ours so only pay utilites,taxes and insurance on it.We are still working and haven’t really chaged much of anytihng except we don’t buy as much stuff as we used to do and don’t buy as many extras in groceries as we used to do.Do not owe 1/5th of what you do on cc and really don’t use them much at all anymore.
Like - they no longer want the loot? Just how cool is that?
I’m a whal clipper guy ;)
Our wedding cost around $500 and that included everything from the gown to the peanuts and was nicer than any of our friends’. Quality doesn’t equal dollars.
You can’t spend money if you don’t go anywhere. You can’t charge anything if you leave your credit cards at home. I’d concentrate on getting the cards paid down asap. Get a second job and if it’s feasible take in a renter. Learn to be frugal. Know the difference between wants and needs. You do not need new clothes. You do not need a new tv. You do not need all the bells and whistles on your cell phone bill. You don’t need cable tv when you can watch almost anything on the internet. If you truly do need something, you can usually borrow it, buy it second hand or even trade for it.
As for how we make do, we don’t waste money. Mortgage paid off. Vehicles paid off. Credit cards are paid off every month unless there was something big. We don’t eat out much or go anywhere that costs money. The only movies I’ve seen in years are the Harry Potter ones and only at matinee prices and of course no trip to the snack bar. Buy off brand staples at the grocery store and stock up on sales. The garden is helping with fresh veggies. Very seldom is any food thrown out because even little bits of leftovers can be brown bagged or frozen or given to the dogs. We make do with what we have. If I want something, I take a few days or even months to decide if we have something that will substitute or if I can make the thing with items found around the house for free. As others have said, make Goodwill, garage sales, and the library your friends.
What all is included in your monthly bills? Work to cut those down. Like your mama told you when you were little, turn off the light if you’re not in the room.
Any chance you could tell the starting rate?
Good on you ! It took well with my daughter, who is impressing me greatly with her self reliance.
Junior on the other hand, is still on the steep side of the learning curve. It appears he’s bound and determined to learn things the hard way.
However, He’s trying to make a go of it in South Carolina after graduating from The Citadel (of course there’s a woman invovled).
He’s even picking blueberries to make some cash.
Kids will always surprise you.
25 years of $400 a month rent payments, if my math is correct, kinda comes to $120,000. Nothing to sneeze at.
“Paying off that much that early is always a tough call. If you had a low interest rate you may have been better of investing that money (unless it was just lying around waiting to be used).
Paying off that much can lead to a risk of being house-rich and cash poor.
But it is an individual decision. It is clear you despise debt as much as I. But I just couldn’t let my good interest rate just go away (even if I did pay off early).”
The APR I was paying at the time I “paid it off” was 6.95% And I had RE-finanaced _down_ to that rate from an original rate around 8.5% from when I bought it in 1988.
There is NO comparison to being mortgage-burdened vis-a-vis being mortgage-free. Free wins every time in my book.
Two things I have done greatly increased my personal savings rate:
1. Paid off the mortgage, and...
2. Got out of the 401k at work.
I’ve become convinced that the entire concept of the 401k savings plan was one of the greatest scams ever foisted upon wage-earners. Ours began in 1994 and I pulled out at the end of 2009 (note: where I work there was no “employer contribution” — it was 100% “employee contribution”). Over a 15-year period I contributed $88,147 in wages. When I pulled out, I had $100,756. That’s $16,212 earned over 15 years — virtually nothing. I could have done WAY better by simply paying the taxes “up front” and investing the $$$ in CD’s. Just my experience, YMMV. I should have bought gold coins instead! :)
By the way, when I hired out on my job in 1979, I had a 13-year-old Volkswagen bus and about $40 in life savings. 32 years later, I think I’ve done ok. And when I retire later this year, it will be on the same train as the first one I ran when I was promoted 30 years ago!
“A buck or less a book, and you can take a break from even the worst austerity program.”
I find “geocaching” one of the cheapest pursuits with great benefits (exercise, area history, something to be done with friends/family or alone); I get out with the kids, and show them things you could pass within 100 feet of every day of your life without ever knowing it was there.
We take no vacations and go camping instead. Use coupons like crazy and match with stores sales to maximize savings. I’m Doing Swagbucks now to help with Christmas or other things that I can buy with the amazon gift cards I trade my swagbucks for.
Installed wood stove ( saved way over 1000 bucks this winter on the propane bill ) and get free wood from the local farmers with fallen trees.
2 of our Vehicles are paid off and on one there is a super ridiculous small loan.
Shopped for better insurance on property and vehicles.
Get movies and books from the library instead of cable or going to movies.
Have DIAL UP < GAG > instead of more expensive high speed.
Rarely eat out.
Pay extra extra on existing cards.
Cut wayyyyyyyy down on Christmas and birthdays.
Eat a lot of meat that we’ve harvested.
Will plant a garden this year and I hope that I can start canning some of it.
Clean out house and closets and sell stuff on craigslist that is not useful or needed ( and occasionally on FeePay too ).
Re-use the water bottles from the 24 packs of water bought from the store. Just refill them once or twice with our tap water.
Go to garage sales and flea markets and salvation army on half off days and to the goodwill as well ~
Save the pop and beer cans to take to recycler once or twice a year or as often as needed.
Paid off the tractor quickly once Ovomit got in.
Use garlic & brewers yeast tabs for flea/tick med instead of buying that expensive stuff from the vet. OMG the amount of $ I’ve saved and besides, it’s a natural instead of a poisonous chemical I’m putting on my dogs.
Have my vet mix up heart worm med ( ivomectin solution ) instead of the heart guard pills. Have saved a gob there too~
Drink store brand pop instead of name brand. Saves gobs there too.
I’ve been told that I’m so tight ( as in tight WAD ) that I squeek when I go down the grocery isles LOLOL.
Cut off some options on my land line.
I think that’s close to it.....
hope some of this helps someone.
That is my problem. I am coming into some money. I was going to use all of it to eliminate all my credit cards but am going to reserve 10k for guns, ammo, seeds, MREs, and misc supplies.
BTW, made Italian beef sandwiches tonight.
Awesome!
families are going have to stick together....friends and neighbors too....it would be nice if we got back to churches having strong fellowship...
That's gotta hurt.
>>As for how we make do, we don’t waste money. Mortgage paid off. Vehicles paid off. Credit cards are paid off every month unless there was something big.<<
The rest of your thoughts are good also. But remember, if you do have a steady stream and good cushion, it is perfectly OK to enjoy yourself.
Travel packages are amazingly cheap these days — you can get a great week away in some pretty exotic places for 2 for less than a grand.
As with all things, it is a balance. But don’t wear a hair suit if you don’t have to.
But the cushion comes first (as does paying cash/paying cards down to zero every month).
Everybody hits patches where credit can help; my wife would miss months of work whenever we had a child, and switched from full-time to part-time after the first arrived. When she’d stop working for three months at a clip, we’d use cards; when she went back, we’d pay them down.
Without credit cards this country would have faced a revolution twenty years ago; they allowed us to lose our standard of living gradually enough so that by the time it was noticed we were pre-occupied simply with buying food. For all those years those that couldn’t afford to keep up whatever standard they set simply borrowed to pretend they could. This is also why even now there is pressure on lenders to lend to un-creditworthy people; the ripple effect of people maturing and living within their means has shuttered a lot of restaurants, car dealerships, etc. - anyplace we used to spend “discretionary dollars” (remember that phrase, from the before-time?).
The 401k was devised by Ted Kennedy as a “supplement” to traditional pension plans.
You had better believe it’s a scam.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.