Living paycheck to paycheck is getting harder

[AGDee]

All cars are not luxuries, some are. A brand new $30,000 SUV with leather heated seats= luxury. A $9995 two year old Chevy Aveo with windows you roll down manually and no power locks= necessity. I drive the latter. When I got it, my (then 10) year old son kept ranting about the "Low tech" car... lol. He had never had to roll windows down manually before.

Ok, I've been pretty financially comfortable (while married, two incomes) and have had it get tighter and tighter every year since my divorce. Since the divorce, between insurance, taxes and interest rates, the mortgage payment has gone up $450 a month. My income? It's gone up 2-3% a year.. which doesn't add up to $450 a month. The utilities have gone up, gas for the car has gone up, the cost of my benefits has gone up. I have had to tighten the belt a little more every year. I'm taking home less money each year too, because of the higher cost of the benefits. The longer I work, the less money I make. That makes it tough to stay ahead.

I do have a retirement fund through work, and a very small pension benefit. I'm planning to start investing more next year for my retirement so I can actually retire someday. I've learned all kinds of tricks to save money .. from taking lunch to work every day, to freezing LOTS of food so that I don't throw as much away, to learning all kinds of things that can be made from ground beef/turkey. We never eat out anymore, unless it's the dollar menu at Wendy's or Taco Bell, because I feed the kids cheap then. Oh yeah, and on those days, I generally skip dinner. I shop the sales, buy the generics and buy our clothes at cheap places like the Old Navy outlet and, for my son, Walmart. I can clothe that kid for an entire season for $120 there! The 13 year old girl is more expensive. Both kids are in braces.. luxury? Depends on who you ask. Payments for those are done in January and I'm going to feel rich after two years of payments to the orthodontist. It's definitely NOT easy. Things are changing for us, through difficult circumstances, but my first priority is going to be to eliminate debt, second priority, save money. I am actually going to do what they recommend and have 6 months salary in savings. It is a big relief.

I have co-workers who make a lot more than me and who have husbands who have make twice as much as me, so they are making more than three times my salary. They complain about being broke. I sit at lunch and listen to them talk about how broke they are while they're living in huge houses with new vehicles and wear all designer clothes. Sometimes I want to go off on them. One of them even gets all ticked off when we get our annual bonus (usually around $350 after taxes) because "they give us so little, they might as well keep it". I have told her that I'll take hers if she doesn't want it! That's' a lot of money to me!!!

Reality is, we, as a society, spend what we make. I'm not going to be one of those people anymore and I'm so glad.

[Coramoor]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Reality is, we, as a society, spend what we make. I'm not going to be one of those people anymore and I'm so glad.

True that! I college, $20 and bar specials would last me all week. Now...$20 might buy a drink or two at the first stop of the night.

If it wasn't for the tax benefits...I really don't even know if I would save for retirement. I plan on working for the rest of my life. I know I would get bored as hell doing nothing. I do like the idea of mini-retirements. Working for a few months, and then taking a few months off to do my own thing.

[AGDee]

Sometimes I think my retirement will be a retirement from my career, but not from working. There are lots of littler, less stressful jobs I'd like to do someday. However, I do suggest planning for retirement anyway because your health may not allow you to keep working.

[preciousjeni]

Hello old thread. I really enjoyed reading through this one. And, Chaos, I'm with you 100%.

AGDee, in response to what you said about your coworkers, I too have coworkers that spend FAR beyond their means and they make quite a bit more than I do (my income and my husband's combined). I offer free budget and planning advice to friends and family and some of my coworkers have taken me up on the offer. When it comes to creating a useable budget, I have to know first off 1) what isn't negotiable (i.e. the needs), 2) how much are you really spending and 3) what are your goals? In most cases, the goal is to pay down debt. Great goal.

So, before I get into the work of coaching them on how to structure their spending on a weekly/biweekly/monthly basis, I tell them that more often than not, people have to sacrifice in some areas to free up enough money for others. They say, yeah, I can do that. After the hours it takes me to work out the preliminary budget (my approach has multiple phases and I follow people for as long as they need - one friend still reports to me after two years), the negotiating begins. "I can't cut here because we NEED [insert ridiculous frivolity]." Are you kidding me? Let's look up the definition of sacrifice, shall we?

Meanwhile, here I am, debating on whether or not to buy a new used car while the market is ripe for this type of purchase. To be completely honest, I can afford a new car - heck, I can afford to new cars. And, people pester me about it. "If you can afford it, why not get it?" Because you don't just purchase because you can or because something's on sale.

I have to weigh the pros and cons - cons, which are most frightening, being such things as a dramatic increase in the $50 or so I pay in insurance for TWO cars quarterly (mind you, both of our cars are 12, going on 13, years old and mine currently has 260,000 miles on it). I'm still considering it. But, you know, I'm living comfortably. I'm content with what I have because I'm not defined by it. No one and nothing can make me happy. It's an overall mentality that is, ideally, separate from my circumstances.

I think I needed to get that out. I feel relieved.

[AKA_Monet]

Well, I am of the scientific law of thermodynamics, the value of money is not created or destroyed, it just changes from one hand to another...

Now, I am one of those currently unemployed, by choice--a fundamental difference of opinion with my boss. At any rate, my husband and I saved a lot of money from oil investments... We did remove much of the money for some houses projects we wanted to do.

Anyhow, the reality is, the economy is resetting value again. It does that ever 10-15 years. The last recession we had was in 1991. I lived through that one, I can live through this one, coming... Our foodstuffs will be re-aligned, too. Bread products and dairy will increase costs immensely.

The reality is to plan how to make to 2009.

The other issue is many baby boomers are retiring and will squelch social security, period--especially medicaid. And even if they the Feds redo it or declare a state of emergency, which is highly likely, it still won't make a difference from the boomer's increased healthcare costs.

People will die.

Children who are the least able will die, too. Moreover, there aren't enough people under 55 in this country who will be able to work.

And terrorism is real... Would you like eggplants and zucchini with your taxi drivers? (Hoodland Psychiatry--I mean Homeland Security--don't burn my house)