Friday evening

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
Friday evening
21
Fri, 08-21-2009 - 7:15pm

Right now, I

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Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-21-2009 - 7:22pm

Sorry to hear it's all getting you down LB. Your car sounds like a selfish, dollar-sucking beast, for sure.

You're in my thoughts.

All my best,
Danni
cl-phocid, Debt Support Group



All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-17-2009
Fri, 08-21-2009 - 10:41pm

I know how you feel. I just got paid and it's almost all gone. I'm still behind on some of the bills. I've got to do payment arrangements. My car tire feels like a balloon about to explode, so have to replace that. There goes $50.00. I always think things could worse, there's people out there worse off than me.


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
Sat, 08-22-2009 - 9:17am

Dear StrongMom,


THANK YOU!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
Sat, 08-22-2009 - 9:25am

Dear Danni,


I guess this is what I get for calling her "Frankenstein" the other day...she's made up of so many new parts to keep her going!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
Sat, 08-22-2009 - 9:48am

((((((Littles))))))


I know what you mean.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Sun, 08-23-2009 - 3:29pm

Stacy and LB -
The thing people are forgetting here is that you have a car, you have an iPod, you have a cell phone and a guitar. Some people don't.

I am talking to a woman who wants to be a stay at home mom like her mom was back in the 1970s and I asked: did your mom have her own car, answer NO, did your mom have a microwave, NO, her mom didn't have a dryer unil the mid 1970s. No of course her mom didn't have a cell phone, or some other items we take for granted today.

Is the issue more about expectations than reality?

DH and I make well over $150k a year, yet we eat out about once a month, cars are older and all but one is paid for ($6000 due, but 50% was put down on purchase with 0% interest loan.) DH changes his own brakes and does his own oil changes. We don't buy clothes much at all, I have had one pedicure in the last two years, the dogs don't go to the vet but every other year and they are muts, we don't go out to the movies, we cook breakfast lunch (I get up at 6AM to pack) and dinner at home and have not bought a coffee out unless on a business trip and we have 4 people in a 1,600 square foot home on a dirt road, with well water and septic. DH cuts off breakers to all unnecessary items when we leave the home, the heat is dialed down at night and during the day, we built our own deck and buy rice and potatoes by 25-50# bags along with growing a garden for extras.

The point is not how we live, but that we got real a couple years ago and will not borrow against the future any more. If we can't afford it, it is not bought. We both put cash in our wallets for emergencies, and have an emergency fund in the safe now, and in the bank - but we had to build it the hard way. I worked 3 13-hour days this week, left home at 7 AM and got home after 9 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I work through my lunches. I will do the same again this week, and work at least two nights a week through November at my second job.

We realize what we have in this country is a great privilege and we are responsible for our own well being.

I think you can get on track if you get real with your own reality, not the societal perception of reality.

-Marie




iVillage Member
Registered: 04-12-2007
Sun, 08-23-2009 - 5:26pm

"the dogs don't go to the vet but every other year"


The benefits of an annual checkup aside, doesn't your state require rabies shots every year?


Robyn


iVillage Member
Registered: 08-04-2008
Mon, 08-24-2009 - 9:58am

We live in a rural area, a township, so I don't know about any rules here regarding shots.




iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
Mon, 08-24-2009 - 4:23pm

I think you can get on track if you get real with your own reality, not the societal perception of reality.


I personally

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-01-2008
Mon, 08-24-2009 - 6:25pm

Why is it that people who make "well over $150K a year" feel like they can chastise those of us who don't make anywhere near that much? Nobody knows what we all face everyday in trying to make our paychecks stretch to cover our bills.

I cut my 401K/retirement savings down to 1% of my paycheck just to stay current on the Parent Plus loans I took out to help my daughter with her college tuition. I have 9+ years until they are paid off, and my daughter has 10 years of student loans she is paying off. Thank goodness her degree was in nursing and she got a good job right after graduation and just passed the state boards for her RN.

Hugs,
Mary Jo









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