I am going to take a chance that people might be interested and address the subject of being debt free. I am not going to name any books or the names of any individuals though.
I was not aware that there were programs and plans, seminars, etc out there on being debt free until my one son told me a few years ago. They were having the usual issues of any young couple and got involved with one program that they found to work. They are still at it --- budgeting and working at it constantly. Most people usually have a house payment but many people are able to get their cars paid for and then save up to buy their next one.
I now listen to the same fellow that my son does and have checked out his website. I have to admit that he does things that are not foreign to my hubby or me. I think that having as little debt as possible makes like so much better. It is hard in this day and age for sure. The problem is there are so many things to buy that one thinks they need.
If you are interested in this just PM me and I will send you the name and website. Having less debt and less worry really helps when bad health comes and we need to spend moneye on doctors. Irish
I totally agree with you! I think I know who you are referring to and he's wonderful. I know many people who are on his plan. We were at one time. That is how we saved up for our down payment. We got off track and are working again towards being debt free. This past few weeks I've been so stressed out about our checks bouncing. We had to pay for stuff or get it shut off. We've been waiting for a check to come that was sort of big. But it HAD to get here before the checks bounced. For 5 days I checked out balance 3 or 4 times a day. OMG! What stress. It's been awful. The check finally came today and now I can sit down tomorrow with my hubby and do a budget again. I love the envelope plan. That works amazing for us. Thanks for the great thread! You are so right. The last thing we need is stress!! And debt = stress.
Oh Jozee, So glad the check came and things will settle down for a while. Sure hope that you can get back on the budget cause it sure seems like it is good. I know my grandchildren will tell me that they can't buy something because mom says it isn't in the budget. They told me she uses the envelope system also.
We have another son and wife who are very, very good money managers and they are on another debt free system but I really don't know what the guys name is. I think it is someone they heard about at church who has a book out.
I can't believe how much some of these people pay off in such a short length of time. I know for sure that they have bigger incomes than hubby and I ever had. Anything is possible if you work at it. Right. Beans and Rice. Right!!! Irish ;D
Handling money was fine when I was single, but since getting married (long ago), the money dynamics are really complicated. We went through the VISA death spiral early on and were able to get off that. The main problem is that we're both self-employed and can't plan around a paycheck. We're both working steadily but all of our money arrives in miscellaneous checks whenever. We can just about pay the bills and support the kid in college, saving seems out of the question. When we don't have money, we don't spend. When it comes in, there are things we need and it goes. Visa balance goes up and down but gets paid off several times a year. We're pretty vulnerable to any time we don't have work or can't work. A higher income would help, but I know we could do better at managing what we have. And as I get older, I get more worried about the lack of savings thing. I just checked out Suze Orman's latest. I'd like to hear some good suggestions! (Not sure how to initiate a PM). Thanks, Irish!
We use Dave Ramjsey. He's on our radio sttion, our church has done his program with a group of people and I've read his books. Really great guy and great system.
Well I basically grew up poor compared to most. There are so many things that people think they Have to Have. Too many look at a lot of things as necessities instead of luxuries. I personally know how hard it is to want to have the "stuff" than everyone else seems to have , BUT you just have to accept that.
Before cars, people walked or took a bus. I admit that due to job circumstances a car is a necessity but really it is a luxury to have one. Cell phone, microwave, cable, WII, $40 haircuts, etc etc LOL LOL ::) We have taken so many of these luxuries for granted that in our minds they are necessities and they are not.
As to all these debt seminars, etc.-- most are out to get Your Money. Everyone is trying to get your money! Do your research before you spend any of your hard earned money on something you could have gotten from a book in the public library for free.
Dave Ramsey is the guy I listen to on the radio. He has a very good plan for getting debt free. Not only that, he had to do it twice himself as he filed bankrupsey twice before he "wised up" and got smart. He admits this weakness himself and that is how he came up with this plan. It was conceived by him and his wife and they lived it a couple of times.
It is very hard to not buy things as we think we need everything. I was brought up on little money as was my hubby. We are the older generation now but we started out debt free when we got married and had only house and occasionally cars with mortgage for many years. Finally got the house paid off some years ago.
I have always kept a steno notebook with a budget and still do. I keep track of the income or money that is available. My hubby was employed as a territory manager for a company for some years and there was a very low wage per month and the rest was income on business done. Some months were pretty slim so we learned to save our money and spend only what we needed and plan ahead for the coming months.
I have always bought groceries with keeping a "food shelf" in the basement for the tought times. The tough times do come and he was unemployed a couple of times with me working part time so the planning ahead worked. I think the best thing a person can do is live within their means and not buy the big houses and fancy cars. With all the stuff we have been through over the years one thing I have learned is that "things" do not make you happy. Also, we do not use half of what we buy.
We don't exchange Christmas presents with our kids or birthday presents for that matter. I make a big cake for an annual family birthday party that we have in the summer. We all have more than we need so just the kids get gifts at Christmas. My DIL has even started getting alot of gift for her kids at the garage sales and thrift shops. They buy one new gift for their kids at Christmas. She also is training her kids to go through their old toys and clothes to sort out and take to the Salvation Army store. I wish I had thought of that when I was raising my kids!!!
To all of you trying to get debt free, you will never do it until you start and you will feel so good about yourself when you get things under control. It is wonderful to control your money and not let the money/or lack of money control you. Good luck. Irish ;D
The library has awesome Dave Ramsey books. he has seminars too but I found the books were just wonderful. Also, if you have an am radio station in your city you can call and ask if they air his radio program. Many do and it's free to listen!!
Hello. Can I get an explanation of the envelope system you guys are talking about? I am having a very rough time - single mother and with a number of chronic health issues, seeing this specialist, that specialist (sometimes several times a month, $35 each visit) and the number of medications I am on, not to mention I have a dog with a very serious (and VERY expensive) health issue and I just do not have enough to get through each month. I would be very interested in what is working for everybody else, I cannot keep doing this, the added stress is not helping.
Interesting thread! I worked as a Credit Counselor back in the 70's and 80's. I was certified and worked for a non-profit credit counseling agency which was supported by the National Credit Counseling Agency. That was BEFORE there was one of the agencies on every corner such as there is now. A good number of them are frauds. A non-profit agency which is supported by the National Foundation is the way to go.
Dave Ramseyis also a very good way to go. My sister uses Dave Ramsey and they just bought their second home, this one in Florida and brand new 4 bedroom. Their home in Michigan is a lakefront and paid off. They worked hard, made good money and invested wisely. I am afraid for ppl who reach retiremnt age and have to rely on social security and make a mortgage payment, car payment and all that.
If you have your house paid for--do not take out advance loans against it. It is easy to lose your house that way. If there is no leins against the house, then no one can take it from you. Some people have bought cars, boats and fine themselves 30 years later oweing more than the house is worth. You cannot spend more than you make. Period. You cannot borrow or consolidate your way out of debt. There is a time to seek the help of a bandruptcy attorney if you are so bogged down in debt, you'll never get out. Get ready to give up the credit cards, pay cash etc because your credit will be mush. That's ok because that's what got you in trouble in the first place. Gee I miss working in this area. I loved to show people how to structure their bills and money.
Irish,
Great idea starting this thread! I know we've had financial issues come up in other posts recently. I think we all know that stress about money is hard even for those without health problems, so for us, it's not only hard to deal with but actually makes us more ill with worry.
My husband and I just became debt-free a few years ago, after many years of not spending wisely or saving anything. If we had it, we spent it. If something big came up we needed, we got a loan and then another. Not very smart!
If we had not changed before I became ill, we would have been in a very tough spot. I became ill quickly and kept declining. We wouldn't have had time to plan ahead.
I would point out that sometimes we need to look at how we view money. By that I mean for some we spend on things because we never had money to spend as a child, or we spend to take our minds off other problems, etc. Or we buy duplicates because we're not organized; we already have ____but buy another because we can't find it or didn't know we had one.
Now that I'm on disability, at least I know what kind of check I will have each month. My husband works for a company where he will be scheduled mostly a 40-hr.-week, but on occasion it's a 3-day week or even a 2-day week. That hurts the budget since we depend on his check, too. We plan ahead for those; I keep a few extra groceries and we save money back that we sometimes have to dip into. Next time he has a good week, it goes back to the fund because we know we'll need it again!
We live simply partly because we must. But I can say it's a great feeling to not be in debt to anyone and know that we're in control. ;)
While I was getting sicker the bills were mounting,, we twice went into foreclosure, I had to beg borrow and thankfully not steal to keep us in our home,,I took over the bills and now were paid up on the mortgage till Sept., all the credit cards are paid off and I live by one simple rule, the 2000 dollar rule, everything that cost a lot, will cost a lot to repair,, I keep 2000 in a special fund earmarked for just such occasions,
That being said,, being debt free should be a time for joy,, but that joy is tempered when you are to sick to enjoy your good fortune,, theres no magic formula for geting debt free,, pay down your lowest credit card bill,, get that one taken of,, and thent ackle the next,,
I never got to put any $ into retirement until I was in my late 30s. I do worry about my retirement but I can only do the best I can. My folks were disabled, getting NO help at all, and couldn't live on $700 month with $400 going to medical. So when I was old enough to have a real job, I lived with my folks and basically helped support them. When my dad became terminal in 6mos, the social worker said "Why are not they on these programs?" To which I replied "you want my list of ALL the agencies, social workers, etc etc I've seen to TRY to get them help?" I just couldn't get them any help until my dad got terminal. Then the social workers got my foks in a couple programs to help.
I am used to not having the luxuries that people have now-a-days that they refer to as necessities. I think the only things I have Ever owned that were not second hand were: glasses, underwear, shoes and the refridgerator (because the old one went out on me two days before Thanksgiving one year.)
BTW: It is not a good way to go but many 401k(s) have a hardship clause so you can take money out. I work with pensions, 401k(s), etc. BUT don't want until the last minute as everything takes time to process and the $ to get to you. You wold be suprised the number of people taking hardship $ out now and also the number of ones who forget to even SIGN the forms!
I can thank my parents for raising me be be fiscally responsible. "Thanks Mom and Dad!" ;)
I made a modest income, and threw every stray penny on the mortgage to pay it off. And I did without but I did it willingly because for me, financial freedom was the ultimate stress reducer.
I read "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton, and it forever changed the way I look at money. He was ahead of his time (the book was published in 1989), and I see he is releasing a sequel in the fall of 2011. I would highly recommend it. It reads like a novel...and it's about a wealthy barber! ;D
Sounds like a great book, Carebear; I'll definately check it out!
So good that your parents taught you to be fiscally responsible. My parents were very responsible and smart about what they had, but never taught any of us children. Difficult for me to understand, but they were from the older generation where they didn't discuss money, even with us! I had to learn the hard way on my own, but it can be done. ;)
Autoimmunity- the envelope system is fantastic. you asked for an explanation.
When you make your budget you put money in separate envelopes for separate items in your budget.
For instance...If you have $100 per week budgeted for groceries you'd put a hundred dollars in an envelope. You put it in there in small bills like 5's or 10's. That way if you need a gallon of milk you take out just the $5 (and leave the rest at home) go to the store and buy just the milk. It keeps you from spending more than you meant to.
If you have $50 budgeted for "eating meals out", you'd put that money in an envelope too and use it the same way. The point is if you have a budget every dollar should be accounted for. When it's gone it's gone.
When we were using the envelope system 2 years ago we saved up enough for a down payment on our home in 6 months. It's so simple. I don't know why we ever stopped doing it. We are going back on it now.
Lucy, I am really impressed girl---I didn't know that is what you did. I would love to be able to work with people who are having problems financially. I don't know any fancy stuff--just the old common sense stuff.
Dave Ramsey it quite the guy. He can be really funny and has lots of good suggestions. The one thing he tells people to do is to work on paying off the biggest credit card debt first. I thought that sounded backwards. He explained that it is hard, but once you get that big sucker paid off it is so much easier to chip away at the smaller credit card debt.
We have had credit cards for years mainly because we were forced to as hubby traveled and had to use credit cards for meals and motel. He was reimbursed by his company for those. However, if you don't have a credit card it is really hard to get a credit rating. We seldom use the cards and really get sick of all the companies calling to bug us about our credit card debt and taking out cards with their company. Thanks but no thanks.
This is the advice I gave our youngest son when he got his first card at the age of about 16. He came and asked me for any advice I had on how to use the card. I told him "Put the card in your top dresser drawer and don't use it except for emergencies or Christman and never charge more than 100$. Then pay the 100$ back before you charge anything else.
He has turned into a very good money manager and I think he knows where every penney goes. The thing that I found the most helpful when I was young and starting out was to know how much was coming in after taxes. I always write that amount at the top of the page in my notebook. I don't do any fancy bookwork I just list across the top line 4 items. My grocery store name, the pharmacy name, Aldies and Walmart. Every time I write a check or spend money at that place I write it down. I also have an amount that I have calculated for groceries per month and for Walmart. Pharmacy can be hard to figure and Aldies is included in the grocery bill and I don't get there much.
The next thing I do is list the expenses on the left side of the page (vertically) and what is paid each month as gas, phone, etc. When this is paid I cross it out. You get the idea. I have a miscellaneous column and a medical column plus a line for credit card which isn't used every month. At the bottom of the page I list the bills that relate to the big items like health insurance, house insurance, car insurance,etc.
I also figure how much I have and estimate how much is available or left after paying the bills. Sometimes there has to be a little shifting around on the use of the money. Some people like to have a more specific miscellaneous section so they can list gas, eating out, etc.
When you write down everything possible you will just about faint to see how much money you are really spending. It is just mind boggling. The main idea is that you pay cash except in emergencies and if you want something and don't have the money you don't buy it. Credit cards are not allowed cause they may make you happy at the moment but when the bills start coming so do the tears.
Dave Ramsey says that food and shelter and taking care of the kids should come first. He is rich now and he always drives old cars. He says that buying new cars is just a waste of money cause they depreciate so fast.
I don't know for sure about the envelopes, but I think that my DIL has an envelope for each bill that is due each month plus one for groceries. I think there can be however many envelopes you need for whatever you need. However, when the money is gone out of the envelope you have nothing left to spend. The only way you can spend more on a specific item is if you have cash left over from another envelope that can be transfered.
I think this helps a person see the money and know where it goes, etc. I wonder about the bills that need to be paid by check and know that some people on Ramseys program pay on line. Comment sure are welcome about this. Irish ;D
Interesting thread. :D
It has always been my common sense philosophy, don't spend more than you have. Duh!
In my 50 some years here on this earth, I have seen both extremes. People who have to have every last new thing that comes along and those who recycle, and reuse what they have to make it last longer.
Growing up, our family was just like any other. Dad worked long hours, Mom stayed home with the kids. It was not uncommon in the '50's - 70's for clothes to be handed down from siblings, cousins or neighbors. There were "from scratch" meals cooked at home - in fact, McDonalds wasn't EVEN around yet or alot of the fast food places or restaurants we have today!! :o Shocking as that might seem to the young folk of today. They did have places like the A & W that had "carhops" - the girls that brought your food to your car on a tray that fit on the window of your car while on skates.
A vast majority of homes had gardens. If you had an abundance of tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, etc. you would take them to your neighbors. Canning from your garden was a way of life too. These same canned goods would see you through the snowy winters.
I don't know the exact dollar amount my parents made when us four kids were growing up - but, I know it wasn't much. Yet, we had everything we "needed". My Dad still lives in the same house they bought in 1957. And . . . at almost 84 yrs. old, Dad is still working!
Back then, it wasn't uncommon to see the guys all gathered around the hood of a car or truck as they tinkered with fixing it. Everyone fixed their own stuff. Today, there are too many electronic gadgets and whatnot's, that they HAVE to be fixed at the dealership. And with that - comes a BIG bill with labor charges and parts! The equipment of earlier years were made of real material - metal, bolts, screws, etc. - not the cheap, fragile plastic of today.
Most homes didn't have whole house air conditioning. If you were lucky, you had a box fan or a little tabletop oscillating fan. Or, you sat there and fanned yourself with a folded up piece of paper. Think how much it costs to run the AC in our homes now! :o
To heat the homes, most had either a fireplace or coal for heating. How easy it is for us today to just walk over to the wall and turn the thermostat up higher to crank on the central heating in our homes. At home, Mom took a red marker and put it at 68 degrees - you were not allowed to go above that. Even today, I have this "invisible" marker at 68 degrees in my own home and I don't very often go above it.
The part about this thread that has me wondering - is with the cash part. I know people who go to the grocery store and pay cash. People who go to the gas station and pay cash. But . . . most of our utilities, etc. are paid by check. In fact, on the envelopes of these said bills, it says, "do not send cash". I would think there would have to be some way to keep a "receipt" of payment when paying cash.
I don't understand how they can do the "envelope" method for these expenses.
Each month, on my pocket calendar that I keep in my purse, I write down the "fixed" expenses - truck payment, propane, insurance, etc. As I pay these bills for the month, I put a check mark next to that item. We "plan" on these fixed expenses per month. We do have a few credit cards - but, we pay them in full each month. One card in particular that we charge almost everything to, that pays us back based on our charges. This is "free" money for us as we just use that balance to pay down our bill.
I am the bill payer and financial adviser in our family. Sad to say, my husband has no clue to our finances. I could rob that man blind and he would have no clue! ::) I am the one who sits with the calculator, pressing numbers to see if there is enough to pay the bills. Through our married life, I look back at the times we should have been socking away money instead of spending it - because we had it. We do have a little savings - but not nearly what we should have at this point in our lives. A major health issue would do us in. With my hubby having diabetes and me having Sjogren's - there's a good possibility for health problems.
To be continued in next post . . . . . .
Continuing . . . .
Within the last 12 months, I have sat down and figured out where we stand in the financial realm of things. I had left my job in Dec. 2008 and returned to being a stay-at-home-mom (my first love, yay!). My husband lost the income he was receiving from being a freelance photographer as a hobby in 2010. Double whammy - no paycheck from me, and a loss of $4,000 from his hobby. No wonder we were robbing from the savings account to pay the monthly bills. I had to return to work last year to keep us afloat.
It's tough when you see friends and family going on expensive vacations, when you compare yourself to the Jones' and see what they have. But . . . we are content with what we have. We have more than we "need". For that, we are grateful.
I am a recycler - love my garage sales. ;D In fact, right now, I am off to work in the garage as I am having a sale of my own this week to bring in some money for us.
Looking forward to reading more thoughts on this thread. I have an idea - which I will share later.
Bucky
When our kids were young, they wanted to have cable TV and see everything new in the theater. I saved money for months from our budget so we could get a VCR. When we got it I dropped the Cable TV. Boy did that help our budget. We received local channels over the air. We started to go to the video store to rent videos.
I added up the cost of going to a movie. It ruffly equaled the cost of purchasing one video per week. So our Movie nights were at home and we collected a supply of videos.
Our oldest daughter does not have a TV in her home. They do have 5 computers and use the DVD player to to watch a rented video on movie night. My youngest has satellite They watch recorded children's programs on the occasion that the kids have to be inside or low activity level.
Most people have high speed internet. So new options have sprung up to reduce the costs of home entertainment. Some friends have switched to net flix and free services.
Others watch YouTube for their home entertainment.
Bucky, A very well said post. You hit a lot of subjects about the past. Remember the "fans" that were made of paper that we had to fan ourselves at church or other public places? Don't know if they even make them anymore. Not the multifolded ones but the flat card board like ones.
Times have sure changed and I think things were more fun in the old days!!! Irish ;D
Bucky, you hit a nerve with the comment about your husband not knowing about your finances, I have a coworker who was nearing retirement when her husband died (of cancer, so this could have been avoided) and she found he had multiple mortgages on the house and even the car was leased. She didn't know and now doesn't know when/if she can retire. So all of us need to know the state of our finances, no matter how capable our partners are!
Good point made, hikerknees. We all need to know the state of our finances, and what to do about things if needed. I've heard of so many cases as you mentioned, and it always surprises my husband and I. Even though I pay most of the bills, he knows exactly what we have, too, and we make decisions together.
This came up with my MIL and FIL a few years ago. She took care of the finances. He was very ill with cancer, and she had a stroke. Thank goodness she could still tell us where things were and what needed done, even from the hospital, because he had no clue and was too sick to take care of it anyway. After that, they made sure that my husband and his brother had some financial info. if anything happened again.
Same with my parents; they never told us where things were until they moved to an assisted living facility. And after experiencing all this we've made sure our children know where to find our banking information, list of monthly expenses, insurance, etc. in case we are ill and unable to care for things. Actually, we need to set up a financial Power of Attorney for one of them in the case that we both are incapable of doing it.
I think this discussion has "kick-started" my thinking...a few years ago I talked about a will, a POA and a living will. Suppose I should get on the ball... ;)
Hikerknees, I couldn't agree more. Our financial situation is in good shape, but my husband and I had to sacrifice for many years (no vacations, lived on a tight budget with minimal luxuries, even was still on dial up internet service until less than a year ago) in order to finally become debt free which we accomplished last year. It is and always has been a team effort.
However, my sister who has been married for 27 years has always left the financial management of her home and basically her life up to her husband. For years I would suggest to my sister that she should learn about what was going on with her finances, but she would always resist saying that her husband was taking care of things just fine. She didn't even have a credit rating at 48 years old because she never had her own credit card or a car loan in her own name.
Well a year ago, the other shoe dropped big time. She found out by accident that her finances were in a terrible mess and that they were on the verge of bankruptcy and all of the time she thought things were going along just fine. It turns out that sometime over the last 5 years, her husband had taken out $150,000 against their house on top of their mortgage and both of the cars were financed to the max. He also had run up a line of credit to $15,000 and the credit cards were also maxed out. He never explained where all of the money went to either. She thinks he lost it in the stock market but I'm not sure I agree with that.
Also the children's college fund which she thought was supposed to be about $25,000 was in fact only $2,000 and that there were no savings in the bank. How's that for a wake-up call?
Now, she's had to go back to work despite having many health challenges and they are living on a very tight budget and had to consolidate all of the outstanding debt back onto their mortgage. Their mortgage is now hundreds of thousands of dollars over what they paid for their house when they bought it 15 years ago. They will likely never pay off their mortgage before they die now and there will be no money for college for their children.
She's learned her lesson the hard way. :(
Oh Daisy I am so sorry for your sister, and for you having to see her in such pain! The lesson really is that none of us are guaranteed a cushie life, whether it is financially, health wise or with our relationships (I'm sure there are others) and she got hit with a triple whammy. I hope her kids can take a lesson from this--my parents were never able to get ahead financially so help with college was never an issue. I worked during the summers from the age of 10 and paid my own way with savings, loans and scholarships (there are a lot out there). It taught me a thriftiness that has never left me.
I don't have kids but my friends' kids are getting state lottery money--they are in college but not learning what they need to most--to manage money!
Daisy, It is such a shame that your sister had to go through this, but you are right, both spouses should have a handle on the finances. I have done ours all the time because of my hubby traveling. Sometimes I would beg him to do it but he always says I am doing just fine.
I don't mind doing it I guess cause then I know what I can spend, etc. I can't imagine what it would be like to not know about the money situation. I would be a wreck every time I wrote a check thinking I was spending more than we could afford.
So many people just have no money training when they are growing up and have no clue on how to manage money. I have tried to always leave the statements and other papers on the kitchen table for hubby to read when he eats breakfast. That way he knows the score and if he doesn't like it he can change the game. HaHa!!
Seriously though, your poor sister is probably wishing she had paid more attention now. Having to go back to work after being out of the job market for a long time can be really difficult---especially with bad health. Irish ;D
Daisy,
I agree! It needs to be a team effort and we've always taken care of things together. We laugh, because some years we've been broke together and sometimes had a little more together.
I'm sorry to hear of your sister's situation. What an awful shock to her! So sorry she is going through this now.
My husband and I made a rule for one another years ago; if either of us wants to spend more than $50, we talk to one another first.
I have a neice whose given over the household finances to her husband, who is a great guy but buys every new electronic gadget that comes out. They each have a laptop, an Ipad, new cell phones, etc. It scares me, frankly. They both have received big raises lately and have even more disposable income. They eat out a lot (and not cheap places), just bought a new car, spend on clothes like crazy, and are looking to buy a newer home. Makes me and my husband very nervous for them. Her grandma has talked to them about this, but they will not change til they have to. We all need to learn our own lessons...
My husband and I began the budget and envelope system about 25 years ago and have had the system taught also within our church to young families.
I found it amazing when I realized my oldest daughter had envelopes taped to her door in her bedroom, with her budget plan, when she started her first job.
You know they say "caught not taught", both our daughters caught what they saw.
When my oldest daughter realized her husband was not exercising good money sense in the 1st couple years of marriage, she took over, funny, now I observe she handed the reins back and he is budgeting to perfection. They will save for their next vehicle to pay cash, they live debt free.
My younger daughter also, they keep a healthy savings and use the same envelope budget system they saw us using as children.
We buy used everything. In 32 years of marriage we have never had a new car, only a couple of cars less than 10 years old.
Furniture and appliances I purchase all used. Clothes, mostly consignment, and thrift shop bought.
Sometimes I will take a couple years waiting for the perfect deal. I needed a new frig. I got it finally for $300 a 3 year old whirlpool with ice and filtered water in the door, my first really fancy one this year.
My living room; couch, love seat, auto- man and room rug all very beautiful for $350.
Because I have always shopped second hand, when I price new stuff, I walk away thinking. ?NO WAY?.
I had been searching for a recliner love seat for the past couple years. Search and searched. My husband had me in Sam's and wanted to just buy a recliner there. I wanted double so we could recline together.
Finally found the deal I had been waiting for, used double rocker recliner Lazy-boy for $200.
I think most people think it's easier to purchase and pay out. You get it now and pay a long time for what doesn't feel of any value went it is finally paid off. And then start the viscous circle all over.
My husband does our budgeting, but I know what is going on. Most bills are paid electronically.
We have some credit debt we need to get paid off, because a motorcycle accident in 07, there has been insurance issues for physical injuries, we have had to pay big medical bills while waiting for an insurance company to pay up. We had no clue it would take this long to settle.
This has caused us to live tightly trying to pay those medical bills while waiting for insurance settlement.
Reading this whole thread has caused me to zone in on future look of finances.
Thanks Ladies
My hubby has a rule that we keep a year's worth of income in available savings. I always thought he was too conservative, then I got Sjogren's. Now I think he's an angel. Well, I always thought that, but I do appreciate him more every day for his caution and good planning. I still work, but know that it is not a sure thing, and it would take a long time if I have to go on disability.
If you have been on these boards for the last few years, you will know that I love my garage sales. ;D A really good way to make some fast cash (with no taxes withheld) is to hold a garage sale. Sell some of the things you/family no longer use or want. This week I had a 2-day sale and made $218. Last fall, I had a sale and made $485. Between both sales it totals $703 . . . nothing to sneeze at!
I think with the current economy, more and more people are holding garage sales. Tomorrow, there is a town-wide sale with 60+ homes participating! :o (guess where I'm going bright and early in the morning ;))
Bucky
Buckey,
Our town is having a town wide garage sale tomorrow, also.
And I believe you are right, every one is shopping more garage sale, used and second hand these days.
The used car sales is so much higher than it used to be. And that means their messing with my bargains. Because I am due to replace my ole used car with a new used car. The used prices are crazy high.
kimbo,
You sound a lot like us. We have a clothes dryer we bought used about 8 years ago for $50; it works great. Our present couch and chair in the living room were actually "freebies" from an aunt and uncle who bought a new set. The big blue flowers were not our style, so for $75 they got some new slipcovers. We recently painted the room and I sewed new curtains, and it looks like a new room! (for about $40)
I am all about second-hand these days. ;) My MIL was shocked when I showed her a really nice leather purse I found at Goodwill for $3.
We had a city-wide garage sale every May in the Ohio town we lived in. It was a hoot! A town of 8,000 overflowed with people for the entire weekend. There was one main route, the town was 2 miles long and that distance could take you an hour to drive. People would come from several states around, setting up booths of all kinds. And the locals sold anything. You could find anything from a car, a truck, a boat, to all the normal stuff like clothes and tools, or a hot dog, a "slurpee" or homemade cookies. When my husband first moved there, he thought it was the funniest thing ever! Then we found a new pair of soccer shoes for our daughter for $1 and he was "a believer!" ;D :D
Hope you guys enjoyed the weekend sales! :D