Do You Need More Money?

What things? Just on the car I hope

 

Mostly just the car, but the medical things I explained, including the kitties. They're not sick, but one of them needs her shots so she can go outside and she's been very sad that she has to stay in. I feel like a bad cat mama. Also the holidays are coming up and I don't have a lot of gas money to drive to see my family 8 hours away, let alone buy them Xmas presents... It's all piling up, and I feel like a financial failure or like I'm irresponsible and that if I just budgeted better and didn't get that dollar candy bar at the checkout or buy that $2 soup at work when I forgot my lunch at home, I would be okay. But I know deep down it's just that I'm fucked financially until I get rid of my debts, which will never go away a long as I can only make minimum payments... Food stamps here I come.

 

I'm thinking that this cold I have catched could also be prevented if I just bought some oranges etc. sooner. So I can relate in some way

 

Student loans were like dragging a concrete block behind us for many years while we were raising our children. Sallie Mae is a nasty government scam designed to keep you in a spiral of debt. Any deferments you take make the loan grow. Avoid them at all cost. This went on for years until we had a windfall and paid them all off. Since then life has been much easier. We paid the house off about 8 years later, so we're basically out of debt. It has been easier, but it's still not exactly easy. You'd think with no rent we'd be on top of it all. We don't buy stupid shit, I don't have a red Corvette. But it's still a struggle.

 

Sorry to hear about your struggles, Firefly. Are you making very little, or are your debts just very large? What field are you in?

 

I feel no such thing as need. Survival to me is a choice.

 

I could use more money (who wouldn't?) but I don't need it. My household lives on a tight budget, but at the same time we got everything we need and some extra too so I can't complain. We live in a nice apartment, in a booming district close to downtown, the fridge, freezer and shelves are full, everybody has nice clothes to wear (including winter stuff), we got HD cable and super-high speed internet, each of us has a decent computer, a decent cellphone in service, a public transports pass and a bike ... Even though we are poor by definition, there's some things we just don't wanna compromise on in order not to feel poor, it's just too depressing. I don't care if that means we don't go to restaurants or order out, if we don't travel, if our clothes are usually second hand, if a lot of our food comes from the food banks, our garden or my foraging expeditions, or if we have to stick to free hobbies and activities for the most part... Of course having more money would make things easier and our lives would be more comfortable, but at the same time we do well without it so I can't claim I need it.

 

I don't particularly need more money but probably I'd take it. When I was growing up we were definitely poor so I know how it feels to go to food banks and not have electricity or even a place to live. But I don't have much to complain about these days. I make a decent income and have no college debt, credit card debt, medical debt, etc. When I was about 19 or so I had one experience with buying something on payments and it really shaped my mentality about staying out of debt. I think that may be the biggest thing for a lot of people. They would be fine if they could just get rid of that college loan or credit card debt or whatever. I hear about some families owing $40k or $50k in credit card debt and wonder how the hell that possibly could have happened.

 

no, i don't need more money. and if i was given some, i'd probably just put it in the bank since i'm a cheap-ass.

i think i may have a saving problem, rather than the spending problem that a larger number of people seem to have. i mostly just save all of my money for the future. my rent is $885/month, i just bought a 2nd vehicle for about 10 grand, and i spend between 2 and 300 bucks a month on weed...so obviously i do spend some money...but for the most part i save a lot of it.

i feel like i've developed my saving habit so strongly that i will have a hard time actually spending the money some day. i'll probably end up dying with a shitload of money to leave to my daughter or something...but i feel like i would rather spend at least some of it on cool shit or even better, cool experiences.

basically, if i see something i want or want to do, i can almost always afford it. but i don't have very expensive tastes, so i am able to save a lot.

 

I'm the same way, porkstock. A lot of people might call it cheap, but I just have a hard time convincing myself that I "need" something.