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You've read all the articles about how to pinch pennies and how to make your money work for you and how you, too, can save a million dollars in 20 years just like this couple did (picture deleted because I burned it in a hex ceremony)!
So here you are. You've just paid the rent or the mortgage, the utilities, the car insurance, bought some gas (not enough to get you to work for the whole month) and some food (not enough to see you through the month), and you have $4 left in cash. And you need clothes, a haircut, shoes for the kids, etc, etc.
So come on now - let's get some suggestions on how to grow that money! Let's hear it for saving $2 a year and how much that will get you in 50 years! Do you turn off the heat at night even in winter to save on utility bills? Do you farm out your kids? Do you wear shoes with holes in them because the soles are still good? Do you wear pants until there's holes in the rear or shirts until they're deemed indecent by definition of city law? Did you go poo free because you can't afford shampoo?
Did you sign a DNR order with your spouse so he/she can't take extraordinary measures to save your life (like calling for an ambulance or taking you to the hospital)? Is one meal a day the norm for you? Do you consider popcorn and water to be a nutritious meal? Do you turn underwear inside out and reuse it (do NOT tell us about the dental floss in any way, shape, or form)? If you find a dollar, do you turn it in to the police because you're afraid someone has lost a valuable asset?
If you do any of the above (and more), you're qualified to tell us how to make our money work when we don't have any. GO FOR IT!
There is only so much you can do by economizing. If you have cut everything to the bone and are still coming up short, you don't really have a spending problem (unless your fixed expenses like mortgage, car payments, etc. were too big for your income when they were incurred). You have an income problem. The only way you can solve a problem of insufficient income is by increasing your income.
No amount of advice or instruction or frugality is going to overcome a deficient income. You're going to have to do something yourself to fix that. Change jobs for a higher salary. Improve your skills to qualify for a raise or a higher-paying job with your current employer. Get some training in a different, higher-paying field. Move to an area with higher salaries or more opportunities. Something. What you do depends on what the underlying problem is. We don't know you, so we can't offer a diagnosis.
You will need to identify the roadblock that is preventing you from increasing your income, and you will have to take action to remove the roadblock. Financial advice columnists and random internet people cannot do any of that for you.
There is only so much you can do by economizing. If you have cut everything to the bone and are still coming up short, you don't really have a spending problem (unless your fixed expenses like mortgage, car payments, etc. were too big for your income when they were incurred). You have an income problem. The only way you can solve a problem of insufficient income is by increasing your income.
No amount of advice or instruction or frugality is going to overcome a deficient income. You're going to have to do something yourself to fix that. Change jobs for a higher salary. Improve your skills to qualify for a raise or a higher-paying job with your current employer. Get some training in a different, higher-paying field. Move to an area with higher salaries or more opportunities. Something. What you do depends on what the underlying problem is. We don't know you, so we can't offer a diagnosis.
You will need to identify the roadblock that is preventing you from increasing your income, and you will have to take action to remove the roadblock. Financial advice columnists and random internet people cannot do any of that for you.
Agree!
For us, the way to make more money was to move. We took a job in a less desirable location to get our foot in the door and get experience for something better. The pay raise wasn't immediate, but once you get over that 3-5 year experience hump, you move up a bit faster and are better able to negotiate salary.
You've read all the articles about how to pinch pennies and how to make your money work for you and how you, too, can save a million dollars in 20 years just like this couple did (picture deleted because I burned it in a hex ceremony)!
So here you are. You've just paid the rent or the mortgage, the utilities, the car insurance, bought some gas (not enough to get you to work for the whole month) and some food (not enough to see you through the month), and you have $4 left in cash. And you need clothes, a haircut, shoes for the kids, etc, etc.
So come on now - let's get some suggestions on how to grow that money! Let's hear it for saving $2 a year and how much that will get you in 50 years! Do you turn off the heat at night even in winter to save on utility bills? Do you farm out your kids? Do you wear shoes with holes in them because the soles are still good? Do you wear pants until there's holes in the rear or shirts until they're deemed indecent by definition of city law? Did you go poo free because you can't afford shampoo?
Did you sign a DNR order with your spouse so he/she can't take extraordinary measures to save your life (like calling for an ambulance or taking you to the hospital)? Is one meal a day the norm for you? Do you consider popcorn and water to be a nutritious meal? Do you turn underwear inside out and reuse it (do NOT tell us about the dental floss in any way, shape, or form)? If you find a dollar, do you turn it in to the police because you're afraid someone has lost a valuable asset?
If you do any of the above (and more), you're qualified to tell us how to make our money work when we don't have any. GO FOR IT!
I appreciate your sense of humor. Did the last article about the couple who managed to save a ton and retire set you off?
I don't have a money problem but I still consider getting a per diem job.
.........you, too, can save a million dollars in 20 years just like this couple did (picture deleted because I burned it in a hex ceremony)........
You are poor becasue all of the ill will and envy that you are sending forth is returning to you tenfold and your hexes are rebounding upon you.
A couple that saves a million dollars in 20 years has done you no harm, nor have they withheld any money from your pocket. Envy has eaten away your own logic center which would tell you how to improve your own life if you put that effort in that direction instead of being eaten up with jealousy of anyone that does better than you do.
You've read all the articles about how to pinch pennies and how to make your money work for you and how you, too, can save a million dollars in 20 years just like this couple did (picture deleted because I burned it in a hex ceremony)!
So here you are. You've just paid the rent or the mortgage, the utilities, the car insurance, bought some gas (not enough to get you to work for the whole month) and some food (not enough to see you through the month), and you have $4 left in cash. And you need clothes, a haircut, shoes for the kids, etc, etc.
So come on now - let's get some suggestions on how to grow that money! Let's hear it for saving $2 a year and how much that will get you in 50 years! Do you turn off the heat at night even in winter to save on utility bills? Do you farm out your kids? Do you wear shoes with holes in them because the soles are still good? Do you wear pants until there's holes in the rear or shirts until they're deemed indecent by definition of city law? Did you go poo free because you can't afford shampoo?
Did you sign a DNR order with your spouse so he/she can't take extraordinary measures to save your life (like calling for an ambulance or taking you to the hospital)? Is one meal a day the norm for you? Do you consider popcorn and water to be a nutritious meal? Do you turn underwear inside out and reuse it (do NOT tell us about the dental floss in any way, shape, or form)? If you find a dollar, do you turn it in to the police because you're afraid someone has lost a valuable asset?
If you do any of the above (and more), you're qualified to tell us how to make our money work when we don't have any. GO FOR IT!
You have a lot of what might seem to be rhetorical questions there. Many of them are not.
You've just paid the rent or the mortgage, the utilities, the car insurance, bought some gas (not enough to get you to work for the whole month) and some food (not enough to see you through the month), and you have $4 left in cash. And you need clothes, a haircut, shoes for the kids, etc, etc.
First - I decided long ago that my having kids was a bad idea. I fully understand the biological imperative that many people cannot resist, but for various considered reasons that are irrelevant to the discussion I refused that route, and have not regretted that decision.
"Need" clothes? Or WANT clothes? I've worn the free t-shirts that blood drives hand out. I've worn jeans with holes in them LONG before they were fashionable. I have socks in my sock drawer that are probably older than 90% of the people reading this.
Haircut? I haven't paid for a haircut in over twenty years. I cut my own.
Do you turn off the heat at night even in winter to save on utility bills?
Well I certainly don't keep the heat on in summer. Yes, the heat gets turned down to the maximum safe level to prevent freezing, except in the bedroom, which is kept almost that cold.
Do you farm out your kids?
No kids. I do rent a neighbor kid for some chores from time to time. I would probably do better hiring temp workers from an agency.
Do you wear shoes with holes in them because the soles are still good?
Of course. Unless I am out in public, the squirrels and groundhogs pay no notice.
Do you wear pants until there's holes in the rear or shirts until they're deemed indecent by definition of city law?
If you are wearing out the seat of your pants before the knees, you might have other problems...
I don't live in the city, and this is the Bible belt and I've never run across mention of such laws. You must live in an interesting place.
Did you go poo free because you can't afford shampoo?
Sweetie, I do poo free, but it is because I use a bidet instead of toilet paper. I think I bought a few rolls in February. Shampoo is a buck a bottle, and a bottle can last months.
Did you sign a DNR order with your spouse so he/she can't take extraordinary measures to save your life (like calling for an ambulance or taking you to the hospital)?
I had a DNR order with my wife. Once you get over 60, the percentage of success on CPR is abysmally low, and almost everyone simply lives in pain and with tubes for a couple of weeks before the interrupted process finishes the job. Paying cash for my medical care made me very aware of excess in the medical profession, especially concerning tests.
Is one meal a day the norm for you?
One main meal, yes. As you get older, your metabolism changes. I eat 1/3 to 1/2 of what I did in my thirties.
Do you consider popcorn and water to be a nutritious meal?
I worked in movie theatres. Popcorn and coke were about all I had available at times. It got me through.
Do you turn underwear inside out and reuse it (do NOT tell us about the dental floss in any way, shape, or form)?
That kinda defeats the purpose of underwear, doesn't it? Stenciling rabbit tracks onto clothes makes little sense.
If you find a dollar, do you turn it in to the police because you're afraid someone has lost a valuable asset?
I have found significant amounts of money before when cleaning movie theatres, along with small amounts and articles of clothing. All of it was held for at least a month for the rightful owners. Fifty cents might be a valuable asset to a four year old girl.
In answering your "rhetorical" questions, it has become very apparent to me that there is a huge gap in the way we think about objects and money. Your way might be a way that works well in a city where the social values are based upon appearances. As a woman, you have to deal with different standards than men. I can empathize with your problems, even though they are very foreign to me. I suspect you might have more of a problem empathizing with me. All I will say is that it appears to me that you have voluntarily tied yourself into a system that is a brutal taskmaster.
I am now comfortably retired and one way to save tons of money is to stop going to the mall to buy clothes, shoes, and household items.....I have great treasures in my house all bought from my local Goodwill, Salvation Army & yard sales. Think OUTSIDE the box and don't do what everyone else does.
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