Is The Ecomomy Stressing You Out?

[Deleted member 541]

It's getting to the point that I dread going to the store for food. I have had to eliminate meat & chicken from my diet due to cost. I am basically living on beans and peanut butter for protein.

Buying gas for the car is s little better since buying a new car, but still the cost is just draining my wallet.

Heard on the news yesterday that the cost of natural gas, and electric is going up 30-35% soon. Great......In winter I have my thermostat set to 55 degrees at night and while at work, and 65 when I am home. I guess I will need to set it lower, wear more long underwear, and get thicker blankets. I sit in the dark as it is, and have cut my electric bill almost in half, so I don't know how I can save on that. Candles anyone????

This is just getting so stressful. I live alone, and it's hard, but I feel so bad for families. HOW in the hell do you do it????? EVERYTHING is going up, EXCEPT our wages......

How are all of you coping with this crap??????

 

[brokenchild]

I live with my great aunt who isn't in the best health right now. She works for a steakhouse as a food prep. person. She makes less than 12K a year. I probably make about 1.5K a year, tops. I go to college and work at my college bookstore.

She's in debt, big time, again. She just doesn't make enough to pay for everything we need. I have no idea how we're going to do this.

I'm with a friend of a family right now who is like the dad I never had. He is MUCH better off than us and even he has been cutting back on things like heating this past winter. He kept the house at 55 and it still cost over a thousand dollars. He uses spaces heaters in the couple of rooms he's in and only when he's in them.

I don't know how things are going to work out, or if they will.

 

[Anonymoose]

Yes, I am stressing about my personal economy. I am living on the kindness of a wealthy friend and I don't know how much longer that will last. I graduated college two years ago and haven't found a F/T job yet. Now I'm not even getting interviews or P/T jobs anymore. I don't want to end up in a shelter but if the sh-t hits the fan, I may. Are things any better in other parts of the country?

 

[cherryblossom]

I aussume you folks are in the US. I just want to say that the same thing is going on here in the UK, with oil/fuel and food increases. Like She Cat said - everything is going up except our wages.

 

[linasmom]

Yes, I worry.

You know, all I can add to this is: I hope the citizens of the U.S. make the right decision in November this time.

 

[brokenchild]

You know, all I can add to this is: I hope the citizens of the U.S. make the right decision in November this time.

There is no right choice :(

I just hope things settle down, traders stop panicking, speculators stop speculating, congress stops printing too much money, etc.

 

[2quilt]

we are saving, not driving, finding meat in the discount bin of the grocery stores, or go to the bakery outlets, where bread is $1.79.
Beans are a good protein. get your tomatoes from a local farm, not mexico where they used raw sewage to water those bad tomatoes that made everyone so sick. when they go on sale, buy a lot of canned goods because they are still safe to eat for 2 years after the date. that date is for the best taste, but after that date, the taste may wane, but the food is still safe to eat. start a small garden.

 

[becvan]

It's also starting to hit Canada. I know I'm increasingly worrying about it. All our prices have gone through the roof and we already pay way more than our neighbors to the south. Our freaking stupid Ontario government is even introducing an new tax on greenhouse gases, so our heating bills will go up by 20%. Most of us couldn't afford it as is. Every place I have been to has tacked on a gas surcharge price, that's our food to postal services. Meanwhile all our government paid for services, like health care, mental health, welfare and disability have all taken hits on what is paid, what is covered, with outright huge deductions to welfare and disability checks. I try really hard not to think about it as it just makes me want to cry. I feel doomed.

bec

 

[Grama-Herc]

I to am freaking out over this, BUT I must confuse that I am very blessed that mom and I decided last year to movve in together. Had that not happened I would be in major trouble. I would not be able to make my bills, let alone my rent. If I was not living with mom I would have to move into "WHAT?" a box under the interstate hwy.

I really don't know what I would do. I had $2 left after paying rent, power and phone LAST YEAR! I can only guess what it would be like this year if not so blessed and lucky.

My heart goes out to those of you who are in such dire situations. While I am not in that condition now, I have been--years ago after my divorce.

Where is this mess going to lead us and when is it going to end? It frightens me A LOT!

 

[catjudo]

My husband and I are very fortunate in that we have no mortgage (his family's trust paid cash for our house with an inheritance after his grandfather passed away) or car payments. He also receives a small monthly stipend from his family's trust and I receive a small income from Social Security Disability. That being said, we still can't manage to make ends meet so I have no idea how other people are getting by.

I have to remind myself sometimes that what we pay out in medical expenses each month equals or exceeds what many people spend on their mortgage or rent. I went through a serious manic episode last year and racked up credit card debt that I just can't manage to get on top of. We were used to only purchasing what we could afford and paying off our credit card each month. At the beginning of this year our monthly stipend from his trust decreased due to the economy being down. When the economy is down the trust makes less money and can't afford to pay out as much each month. So we've had months where our income wasn't enough to cover our basic expenses and then our new-found credit card debt to manage on top of that. I feel like I'm sinking fast.

My husband has only recently started looking for a job after being out of work for almost a year because of his own mental health issues. This is not the best time to be looking for a job so that's no going so well. He does have an interview on Monday afternoon so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out.

We've been cutting back on expenses everywhere that we can including finding ways to reduce how much we spend on medical expenses. Unfortunately, just when I start to think I'm getting our budget under control something unexpected comes up...husband had to go to ER twice this month so there was an extra expense but something that couldn't be avoided. Our A/C in our home was on the fritz (I live in Florida, A/C is NOT a luxury but a necessity) so I had to shell out a couple hundred dollars to have that fixed. There's always something.

The thing that blows me away the most is that I know we are so much more fortunate than most people. I feel like such a failure because other people around me seem to be managing to get by but I can't make ends meet even with everything we have going for us. I really try not to complain because I know that we are really lucky.

Also, when I was in my mid-20's I was single and I had cut myself off from my family...I went through a short time where I didn't have anyplace to live (I either slept in my truck or crashed on a friend's couch for the night) and then had my vehicle repossessed at the same time. Putting things in perspective I'm a lot better off now than I was then. But since being with my husband I've gotten used to there always being enough money to cover our basics. Having a tough time adjusting to the way things are now but try not to complain because I know how fortunate we are and how much worse it could be.

 

[Marlene]

There are so many things in this world that, if I let them, will stress me out to the point of making myself sick. Worrying about money has been such a stress point for me in my life that I have to make myself not worry. I have even ended up in the E/R sick because of worry/stress about money.

Here's the thing...and this is JMO. There's always going to be something to worry ourselves sick about and stress ourselves out about. And 95% of these things we have no control over. It's just not worth destroying my health when it's out of my control. For probably the last ten years of my life, my motto has been if my worrying/stressing won't do anything to change it, then I'm not going to worry about it. Simplistic, maybe. But it works for me.

Lisa

 

[Deleted member 541]

I just lost 2 jobs today due to the economy so this has just put me into a world of shit as far as finances goes. I don't know what in the hell I am going to do.

Man this sucks......