Money OT

Paul Shuler · Mar 1, 2011

I"m not complaining here, just wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation. I have had to put my tractor hobby on complete hold. It"s about all I can afford at this time just keeping up with the maintenance on them for now. I make a very good wage, more than I ever dreamed I would make years ago, and have been blessed is so many ways that I could never list it all here. But is seems the spare money I had 5 years ago for my tractors and such has all but dried up. My wages have not moved in about 10 years and it seems everything has shot through the roof to buy. If I was to loose my job it wouldn"t be long before the wolf was at the door. I had to stop the 401 K a while back to try and help my daughter who has made some poor choices. Please don"t take this as a complaint. I am so blessed. It just worries me that it takes every penny I make just to live right now. My wife is worried that if the tax man gives us bad news it could sink us. I have not bought anything I owe on since 2008 when I bought a truck. Had the last one 25 years. So my payments have not changed. Just living seems to be eating it all up. The Lord has always provided for me and I"m sure he always will meet my needs. Seems that play money is a thing of the past though.

Lou from Wi. · Mar 1, 2011

Paul, Thanks for the post. A lot of us knows the future your looking at. Seems Dim to say the least. Years back(hate to throw this in) we had so much difficulty that leaving this old earth seemed the only way we could have peace. NOT SO!! Like you we were blessed with DEVINE INTERVENTION and the problems we faced seemed to vanish in the night. God does answer .Keep the faith . Warmest regards LOU.

RayP(MI) · Mar 1, 2011

Lots of us are in the same boat. Expenses going up, income going down. We feel the same way. Wife lost her job a year ago. Plunged us from middle class to poverty level. Trying to live on my pension, and SS. Every expenditure gets scrutinized. Has become almost painful to spend money. Lots of things we used to ba able to do are out of the question, like a romantic dinner at the local family diner - like $20. NO MORE!
Just trying to meet the bills. An unexpected bill could almost destroy us.

jackinok · Mar 1, 2011

know what you mean,got son and his wife and kids living at house,fully supporting daughter and her two,and terminally ill wife to boot.good thing I dont owe anyone anything ,been paid off for a few years now. Worked my tail off to get there and here I am ,LOL.was planning on buying some young heifers to raise this year but thats gone by the wayside.Dont see any end in sight though so all you can do is stand and take it I guess.from the looks of it it"ll be worse before better.I dont even like to go in any store nowdays,every time I see the prices of stuff I get mad.

noncompos · Mar 1, 2011

For all those who have, and will, comment here, while it"s little consolation, you"re not alone by any means...
Have enough pension and SS, house (city lot) paid for, but had to help dau and son (both OK now, knock on wood!) got behind on taxes but are catching up, cutting out the less essential, etc., do not expect great improvement in near future, would be overjoyed if it doesn"t get worse...
Wouldn"t be surprised to get letter re" pension saying "...due to circumstances beyond our control..."...

Fawteen · Mar 1, 2011

I hear ya.

I've been out of work since last September, so income is down. Thank God my house is paid for and I have my Navy pension or we'd be out on the street by now.

Just got back from grocery shopping. There are three of us and we eat plainly but well. We try to keep a pantry stocked as a hedge against times of trouble, be they financial or otherwise. We had two carts, one full but not heaped, and one about 3/4 full. This will feed 3 people for a month. We always shop carefully and we sharpened our pencil a bit more than usual today because our cushion is getting darned thin, and it was STILL $520 to get out the door.

Gas is currently $3.45 locally, and will continue to go up, so prices of EVERYTHING will rise as well.

It isn't pretty, and it's going to get uglier. I haven't had "hobby" money in months. I'm hoping to get next year's firewood bought and delivered before gas prices affect wood prices too drastically. I'm more than a little scared about where hay prices are going to be by the time this year's crop comes in.

Mike (WA) · Mar 1, 2011

Hate to be a pessimist, but it seems like a problem without a solution. Those of us getting to retirement age are going to be lucky to keep our pensions and SS at same level as now, forget about increases. Others are right- especially if you have a really juicy pension and thought your were really set for life, likely to get a "due to circumstances beyond our control" letter.

Not enough work around to employ the young and willing, not much chance for the old and decrepit to come up with anything. There are only so many Walmart greeter jobs out there.

Whole thing is being brought to a head by the mideast turmoil and resulting gas price increases- likely to see 5 buck gas by end of the year. Diesel is $3.89 here, now.

Try to be as self-sufficient as possible- grow a garden and can, grow a beef, cut as much firewood as you are able, etc. Us country guys will be a whole lot better off than the apartment dwellers, who have no chance at self sufficiency.

Oh, and did I mention? Stock up on ammo. . .

OldFarmTractor · Mar 1, 2011

I will be retiring in a few months. The income will be taking a drastic drop. But this will be just before the major growing season gets into full swing.

Here is how I plan on attacking the problem. The garden is going in with the help of other family members who are in a similar situation but not fortunate enough to have any land. We will be working the land and growing what we can. I envision 100 tomato plants, a couple hundred feet of sweet corn, beans, peppers, squash and more.

Years ago we did this and worked well together harvesting and preserving. We either canned or froze. Gallons of spaghetti sauce, quart upon quart of veggies.

Cooperation has been one of the foundations of our country for years. It is time to bring it back into the limelight.

Spook · Mar 1, 2011

Our financial situation is ok, only because my pension and the my wife working. I have applied for jobs, but they seem to want folks with 5 years experience, not 30. My dad told me a few years ago, our society doesn't have much use for old men. He was right.

Gun guru · Mar 1, 2011

20 years ago I moved out of my parents house. I was single making $25,000 per year.
House payment was $355/month
truck payment was $180/month
utilities
Taxes.....$100/month on the house.
gas, food, no hobbies, no goof off money.
I was 23 years old, with a girlfriend that lived
with her parents, I married her in 1995.
I made it work cause I was frugal, very frugal.
I ate Campbells soup and cereal 3 times a day,
Frozen chicken too
1 time per week we went to a nice place to eat and that was $35.
What really saved my butt was that I was put on Overtime a few months after buying my first home. I banked all that I could.
You learn to be thankful for being middle class.
Yes you can eat for $5 per day. Even in todays inflation. You dont eat well though.

LeoinMI · Mar 1, 2011

Alot of people here in Michigan are in dire straights. My wife and I get by o.k. for now and have tried to cut back when and where we can. The real issue is the value of the dollar. You can have a decent pension and a few extra bucks to get by on,..but if the almighty dollar becomes "Totally" worthless,..well let's just say ya'll better have plenty of food and ammo on hand.Hopefully the Good Lord will intervene and make all the greedy ones see the light. Sorry for the rant,..just my two cents worth. (1 1/2 cents in todays market).

kyhayman · Mar 1, 2011

I hear you!! 2010 was like that for me, up until December. Most of my income depends on the horse industry and that people have discretionary income. That pretty well dried up in 2008 and 2009. I started 2010 with 50 percent inventory from the previous year and had only had 11 billable hours of excavation and custom work. If I'd been carrying debt I couldnt have made it. I quit going out, eating out, and changed my label from Coors to Keystone. Anywhere I could cut, I cut. Finally, with the help of a near record drought I got out of the 2009 mess along about the first of the year.

GordoSD · Mar 1, 2011

Sounds like your kids did a good job of training you. But I assume the son is paying rent. utilities, part of taxes, and ins, 3/4 of food costs, and his wife is doing all the cooking and cleaning and laundry.

Herbert Johnson · Mar 1, 2011

This is the formula that you want to live by. If things are going good put the extra in the bank and don't ever get carried away if you get a little extra money don't spend it.
Buy what you need and use what you have.

Gun guru · Mar 1, 2011

I was lucky to have a very frugal Great Grandparents they taught you the value of a dollar. Do you ever see kids rolling up change?
I did when I was a kid, now we have coinstar and kids today dont care about buying anything cause mommy and daddy buy it for them.
Designer clothes? Whats that, that must mean new clothes from Tractor Supply.
I see these kids with expensive jeans...? $60 for a pair of Jeans? I can get 3 of them and a shirt from Tractor Supply for $60.
I just hope Jesus comes before the fall of the USA.

Goose · Mar 1, 2011

I'm not entirely sure about that.

I got the best job of my life when I was 64. I'm now 76 and still working full time. And as recently as last week, I got an email from another company wanting me to work for them.

Thing is, you have to look at employment as a continual learning process and keep up with what's going on and what's on the horizon. Too many guys (and gals) get a job and say, "I've got this job, this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life".

In today's fluid job market, it doesn't work that way.

redtom · Mar 1, 2011

I could be writing your post, myself. I paid off my house 3 yrs ago and thought I'd be swimming in money. Wrong! I don't know where it goes but it does. whether people realize it or not, they are paying more for everything! Gas, food, lodging, taxes. Now that my kids are teens, groceries doubled, gas doubled. You and I are getting screwed! Why? because we work! I got to help buy everyone a car, helped them with their mortgage, and now I get to help them with their health insurance. just because I work! I drive cr@p, haven't been to a Red Power roundup in years, keep trying to find pieces of my "collection" that I can sell and have no extra cash for rstoration. Don't have a boat, quad, cycle, snowmobile. I too went through a five year pay freeze which technically is a wage decrease. Sometimes I wonder if the unemployed are better off. I work with a guy who's $30,000 in debt with credit cards. He's got a new truck, quad, goes fishing at least twice a month. At least he's having fun. Me? I'm having "frugal"! But, I still see my share of rich people. Their having the best time of their lives buying.

rrlund · Mar 1, 2011

There's truth in the old adage,the more you make,the more you spend.

Gun guru · Mar 1, 2011

I have a cousin that live in the Vegas area. She is married to a dork that has a new F-250 truck, a set of Quads, and has declared bankruptcy twice!.....I dont get it.
I thought you could only declare bankruptcy one time. They are broke but they have a new truck and toys. I dont get it. Must be that external_link money. Where did I go wrong?

Gun guru · Mar 1, 2011

What do you do for a job? If you dont mind me asking.

36 Coupe · Mar 2, 2011

Problem with the garden is it will get smaller as you get older.

36 Coupe · Mar 2, 2011

Same thing happened here in the last 10 years.RE tax has doubled.I used to buy our fuel oil out of my SS check.My wife is still working so she took over the oil cost.I cant stay here on my SS.We use 700 gallons of oil plus wood.1000 gallons per household is the average use here.The last 10 years has been hard.My mail order book business dried up.In 1997 I was selling 1000 bucks a month worth of books.Ad costs went nuts, postage went up.Post offices started returning book lists that didnt have the new addresses on them.I sent a list to a regular customer,it came back.A search found the fellows phone numbercalled him.He said he lived in a town of 500 people, lived a quarter mile from the post office and people in the office knew him.I mailed the list to his new address and he sent me an order for 160 bucks worth of books.I basically lost all contact with good customers.One magazine I advertized in went from 75 cents a word to 3.50 a word for a classified ad.I had to give up as the profit margin dropped to near zero.Farm insurance has gone fom 500 bucks a year to 900 in 10 years.Watch grocery prices.Saw a can of Bushes Grilling beans.Bought some at 1.49 a can .Next month 1.69, then 1.79,the last time I looked 1.99.One big grocery chain bought a small store.First thing they did was raise the price of a half gallon of milk 19 cents.We are in a depression right now.

jackinok · Mar 2, 2011

daughter in law does the cooking, housework, and takes care of mama.they also pay half of groceries,their bills of course,and the cable bill ( which of course no one can live without these days)LOL.Not complaining,glad I can help them,but it sure cuts down on any play money.

El Toro · Mar 2, 2011

I became frugal years ago. When I had a new house we paid the bills and lived on what was left. We never ate out except on special occasions like Easter. I didn't buy any new cars for 42 years from 1959 til 2001. We paid the house off in 10 years. I always bought low milage used cars. What hurt us the most are the real estate taxes. They built a new high school that's like a castle with escalators and with AC. There wasn't anything wrong with the old school which was all brick. They just bull dozed it down. They know you won't let the taxes go unpaid. We had a man in a town nearby that his house was being sold for the taxes so he burnt the house and then took his own life.
Hal

El Toro · Mar 2, 2011

I forgot to tell you we put our daughter through college and bought her a good reliable car when she was in grad school. Hal

Geo-TH,In · Mar 2, 2011

Paul,
1975 was the last year I made a car payment. 1998 was the last time I made a house payment. I've never had credit card debt. I paid cash for my 2 children's college education and Retired 7 years ago. I paid cash for a new car in 2005. Paid cash for a new truck in 2007. Paid cash for a pole barn 2 years ago and cash for a 26x26 room addition last year. I also pay cash for my tractor and tool habit. I've too have been blessed.

My advice is don't pay a bank or credit card interest; pay cash, you'll never be under water and life will be good to you.
George

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