Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Personally, I hate my cell phone. I hate people calling me when I'm at the hair dresser or something or while I'm driving or picking up milk from the grocery store. It annoys me!!!
I'm siting here wondering why am I poor, and how did i make it before, Between my wife and I we Make around 85K /yr That may seem like a lot to some but we struggle and struggle, I'm just wondering is this common, We have a 4 bedroom 3 bath 2 car garage house that cost us 160k, I think thats a reasonable house for the money we make, but when u add student loans, car payment, child support and all the other misc expenses, there seem to be hardly anything left. can someone that in the same income range please tell me if you have similar issues!!!
Your not poor I live in a 3 bedroomed council house and I have a 7 year old car and am on less than 12K a year try that out.
Iwould love to have your life. sell your car move into a smaller house.
I'm siting here wondering why am I poor, and how did i make it before, Between my wife and I we Make around 85K /yr That may seem like a lot to some but we struggle and struggle, I'm just wondering is this common, We have a 4 bedroom 3 bath 2 car garage house that cost us 160k, I think thats a reasonable house for the money we make, but when u add student loans, car payment, child support and all the other misc expenses, there seem to be hardly anything left. can someone that in the same income range please tell me if you have similar issues!!!
Basically child support just reduces your income and will until its gone. As to student loans ;that also reduces your income until you can eliminate it. Basically your not poor ;you have just over leverage yourself for that income and your lifestyle.
Although the OP may or may not notice this resurrection of his old thread, I do have this comment:
You did not give us enough information about your spending habits to be able to analyze what the problem is. True, your gross earnings and the price you paid for your house are important starting points.
But what about cars? Do you need to keep up with the Joneses in that area? Are you embarrassed to drive something that costs less than a BMW or a Mercedes? If so, there is part of your problem right there.
Now what about clothes? Are designer name brands a necessity for you? If so, there is another part of your problem.
Now what about food? How often do you eat out, and at what sort of restaurants? If the bill is often greater than $15 or $20 per person, including taxes, then there is another part of your problem. Or if the bill is $15 per person and you eat out every night, that adds up too.
I have selected the three areas above for comment, but the general reasoning can be extended to other things.
All wonderful posts from people.. I would add:
Define being poor? Living pay check to pay check? or : not being able to buy the new fancy toy?
What I did in the past when i was DIRT poor... we are talking ghetto poor. I put all my finances in a spreadsheet.. 1st pay check = 1st of months bills, 2nd pay check = 2nd part of months bills... then re-arranged them to where I would have equal amount of "left over" each time so I wasnt robbing one paycheck to cover another problem. Then I figured exactly how much money I needed for gas/medicine/food/etc and then budgeted that in... and leaving anywhere from 20 =50$ per period free. (like I said - dirt poor).. I learned that for $15 i could feed myself for 1-2 weeks by actually "budgeting" my meals... I would buy 2-3 loaves of bread, PB and J, eggs and milk, butter and cheese for one round.. This gave me sandwiches for work and then French toast and grilled cheese for other times.. I kept 1 loaf out for the sandwiches and froze the others (perfect for the french toast/grilled cheese).. supplemented this with on sale only soups and meat.
It can be done.. Oh.. BTW.. i was making just over minimum wage and making it work with no govt assistance.
Nails and hair - not an option.. Hair cuts at the cheapest place i could find - manicured my own nails. (women can spend a fortune on just these two things alone)
I'll say the same thing I said in another thread, just to add some more positivity about overcoming financial odds.
Long story short, I managed to rack up over 100k in student loan debt. Yes, I was embarrassed. Yes, I was admonished for it, even by people whom I'd looked at for advice. I was scared to face it. But, as I said in the other thread, I changed my attitude. I didn't read a book, didn't need "The Secret", I just got tired of feeling the fear of facing my debts (they were in forbearance). I was tired of that literally gut wrenching feeling of the day those loans would come out of forbearance, all the interest tacked on. So, I decided to sacrifice, cut back considerably, and just work at getting them paid off. You know what, it's hard, but I didn't lose having a comfortable bed to sleep in or have food on my table, and I'm still able to save something every month. A lot of my fear was just unfounded, but I also had to be willing to let go of "entitlements". I still have a ways to go, but it's about being responsible even if its an action necessitated from irresponsibility.
In your case, you have to ask yourself what you're willing to sacrifice to not be poor? Get a second job? Cook at home more? Eat PB&J for lunch? At least you're identifying an issue and it seems like you're trying to take the steps to get where you need to be.
I'm siting here wondering why am I poor, and how did i make it before, Between my wife and I we Make around 85K /yr That may seem like a lot to some but we struggle and struggle, I'm just wondering is this common, We have a 4 bedroom 3 bath 2 car garage house that cost us 160k, I think thats a reasonable house for the money we make, but when u add student loans, car payment, child support and all the other misc expenses, there seem to be hardly anything left. can someone that in the same income range please tell me if you have similar issues!!!
As pointed out by another member, this is an old thread from 2007. It would be interesting to know how atlmanrighthere is doing now that it's March 2011 and life (for all of us) has changed since then.
All wonderful posts from people.. I would add:
Define being poor? Living pay check to pay check? or : not being able to buy the new fancy toy?
What I did in the past when i was DIRT poor... we are talking ghetto poor. I put all my finances in a spreadsheet.. 1st pay check = 1st of months bills, 2nd pay check = 2nd part of months bills... then re-arranged them to where I would have equal amount of "left over" each time so I wasnt robbing one paycheck to cover another problem. Then I figured exactly how much money I needed for gas/medicine/food/etc and then budgeted that in... and leaving anywhere from 20 =50$ per period free. (like I said - dirt poor).. I learned that for $15 i could feed myself for 1-2 weeks by actually "budgeting" my meals... I would buy 2-3 loaves of bread, PB and J, eggs and milk, butter and cheese for one round.. This gave me sandwiches for work and then French toast and grilled cheese for other times.. I kept 1 loaf out for the sandwiches and froze the others (perfect for the french toast/grilled cheese).. supplemented this with on sale only soups and meat.
It can be done.. Oh.. BTW.. i was making just over minimum wage and making it work with no govt assistance.
Nails and hair - not an option.. Hair cuts at the cheapest place i could find - manicured my own nails. (women can spend a fortune on just these two things alone)
Budget smarter - not harder ..
For those with low income trying to make it, this is excellent advice. Of course the long term solution is to make more money, take extra jobs ect., but itz did what was needed. Impressive thinking!
If I may add, one thing many of the well-to-do have in common is DRIVE. Look at the early lives of Oprah, Jimmy Hoffa, Al Capone, Eminem. They started out dirt poor: Hoffa's father died when Jimmy was very young, so he had to quit school and go to work to help feed the family. Al Capone supposedly had his shoe shine kit stolen from him by bullies, money and all, and he vowed to never be in that position again. Anyone who has seen the movie 8 Mile about Eminem knows he started out hardscrabble too. The same with Oprah. Obviously, they didn't all use conventional or legal methods to acquire their wealth, but they did it.
Is it easy to rise above, no. In addition to drive, one must develop a realistic plan to conquer the debt monster and self-pity that sometimes comes with it. I fear it's true that you will never get rich working for someone else. As Wayne Rogers writes, Make Your Own Rules.
Child support is your killer. I'm assuming that you're talking about court-ordered child support,for children who do not live with you. This aspect of American life is what is destroying our economy, just as surely as it has already destroyed our society itself.
The other killer is your student loans. There are so many threads about student loans and the heavy economic burden of them it makes me wonder if people really are economically better off if they have an education. People without education live within their mean, but educated people can't. Why not?
I'm going to resist the temptation to go on a rant (if you want me to, just ask), but seriously, what is to be done about all the families that are underwater, because they just can't earn enough to pay child support and student loans, without even talking about health care yet? How does our society stop digging this hole? This is not just the OPs problem, it is a national epidemic. If the OP pulls himself out of this nosedive, he can only do so at the expense of the many who can't. You can't get up the ladder without stepping on somebody else.
Last edited by jtur88; 03-14-2011 at 10:03 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is an old thread which has been resurrected.
..
