Living paycheck to paycheck gets harder

[Marilyn. 340]

we were doing ok till last year when our son died and hubby took a couple of weeks off work, his company only payed him for 6 days.. and he was off for about 15 or 16 days... we started using credit just to get by and we are still trying to pay that off .... we are still trying to play catch up after those missed days.....

we also have hospital bills, we do have insurance but they only covered 90 percent of hubby's procedure... so that is another bill we have to pay each month ... then you have car insurance, utilities, groceries, gas etc..... .

I try and save money wherever I can....

hubby is working on a new career though so our circumstances should improve over the next year or so......

[Amby 490]

I cook most of our dinners at the cafe because I don't have to pay for the electricity lol and we look for things on sale often but thankfully haven't had to cut out the good things like fruits and veggies. we plant a big garden every summer and can things like green beans and tomatoes for the winter. it really helps. plus I enjoy gardening

[*JG* 2]

Times are hard even without all the extras mentioned in this thread. If it weren't for the local farmer's market, we would probably skip a lot of fruits and veggies. And, milk......OMFG.......I almost died at the grocery store this week.....

[Amby 490]

we don't drink milk because we both think it's gross lol so we're lucky there right? we both love yogurts though. I take calcium chews and Neil's bones will just break lol

[NavarreMan 10]

I find it somewhat worrisome that people feel that shopping for necessities like milk at 7-Eleven stores can be used as an indication for having trouble making ends meet. People who have financial difficulties and buy milk at 7-eleven don't know how to shop wisely. Corner stores charge substantially more for basic products. If you are truly watching what you buy, you don't buy milk, or eggs or any basic grocery item at 7-11 - ever - and you watch out at Daily Dollar stores as well. A lot of items that they sell for a dollar cost 89 cents at the grocery store.

That doesn't mean that there aren't people who are suffering from their pay checks not going as far as they used to, because there are and there are certainly people who are conscientious and wise shoppers who are not finding their money lasting until the end of the month. I just find it sad, though, that people are complaining about their money not lasting and then say they are having to buy only 1 gallon of milk at 7-eleven a month rather than 3 when if they bought their gallon of milk at one of the value grocery stores they could buy a loaf of bread plus the milk for the same price they pay at 7-11. For many of them it seems not that they don't have enough money but that they don't spend it wisely. There is a big difference.

Again, this is not to belittle those who truly are facing hardships because they run out of money between paychecks and who are shopping wisely, or who have unavoidable expenses due to medical needs or other necessities. They do have my sympathy.

Actually milk is cheaper at the Tom Thumb down the road from me. $3.99 a gallon v. 4.26 a gallon at Wal-Mart. Not an everyday occurance but well advertised sale. I would not buy anything else from them. (except gas)

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And, milk......OMFG.......I almost died at the grocery store this week.....

Our baby girl just switched from drinking formula to drinking milk.

That said, buying milk, even at the high prices today, is quite a relief.

[almaty 19]

amen to that..i remember many moons ago..when cody switched from soy lac to milk and got out of -pampers..i bought a vette with the savings

[Jaseball 0]

amen to that..i remember many moons ago..when cody switched from soy lac to milk and got out of -pampers..i bought a vette with the savings

Die cast or resin?

[Imua 0]

I think that in most markets rents and mortgages have gotten way out of proportion to people's salaries, certainly in NYC. The average salary here is something like $40K - this is what I make and my take home pay(granted this is after 10% of gross is taken out for retirement fund and $76 for monthly transit pass) is $2K per month. For an 'affordable' apartment I should be spending no more than $650-700 per month(30%) - but good luck finding anything within commuting distance of NYC for under $1K - 50% of my take-home pay. You could say 'move out of NYC' but I don't drive due to vision issues and just about any town with decent transit will have similar high rents - if I were to move to a town with affordable rents(say $6-700) then I would need to drive and have the high costs(gas, insurance) associated with that. Food might be cheaper but I still don't think that would offset the increased transportation costs - hard to beat $76/month. I am managing now because I am in a roommate situation in a rent control apartment, this allows me to travel and save money, but I don't know how I am going to manage when G gets here and I need to pay that $1K/month on top of everything else until G is able to work, especially when you add health insurance to the mix - it would cost me an extra $300/month to add him to my crappy HMO plan at work... I think we will be looking for a cheap high-deductable catastrophic plan when that time comes to tide us over until G gets insurance through work or can pay that extra $300 so I can add him.

I don't know how we are going to manage - just thank Goddess both of us are vegetarian and dal bhat is just about the cheapest thing you can eat, along with PB&J, pasta and oatmeal...

[Widge 0]

Actually milk is cheaper at the Tom Thumb down the road from me. $3.99 a gallon v. 4.26 a gallon at Wal-Mart. Not an everyday occurance but well advertised sale. I would not buy anything else from them. (except gas)

Not looking to start a Walmart flaming contest just stating a fact (and save some folks some money) that many seem not to know if shoppers at at our local supercentre are anything to go by............. Walmart will match any other stores advertised price 2/$10, special offers whatver (the only things they don't match is buy one get one free and other Walmarts) at ANY store in our case within a 30 mile radius. Using this method looking at other stores onine ads/flyers we manage to save a fortune never paying top dollar for ant of lifes staples - tend to bulk buy when one store has an offer at walmart. Dont be embarrassed to ask the cashier what stores they match its what we are there for and everyone else is doing it.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

All I know is I'm switching jobs again and getting another raise over the raise I got in January when I joined this firm. Hell yeah, 2007 is turning out just fine B)

ps. Gas, groceries, it's all higher. And my prop tax bill went up 1K this year. But until my luck runs out, it's all good.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

All I know is I'm switching jobs again and getting another raise over the raise I got in January when I joined this firm. Hell yeah, 2007 is turning out just fine B)

ps. Gas, groceries, it's all higher. And my prop tax bill went up 1K this year. But until my luck runs out, it's all good.

We're coming over to live with you.