Budget

Post Reply New Topic

Lately costs skyrocketing, especially since Coronavirus

Grocery costs skyrocketing
Health insurance costs skyrocketing
Rent skyrocketing
Gas skyrocketing

I don't have a car, children, smoke cigarettes, do drugs, or anything else expensive.

Just rent, public transportation, utilities, food, health insurance.

My coworkers and I only earn minimum wage.

None of my coworkers act too worried about $$$$. Some of them pay for:

Cars, some expensive ones
Five children
Four week vacation to Hawaii
Smoking cigarettes
Drugs
Uber eats
Gym and boxing lessons

How do they afford it?

_____________________________

What do you want or need, that you can't financially afford?

What is the most desperate thing you have done for $$$?

How has Coronavirus affected your financial situation?

What kind of jobs do you work?

What kind of unearned income do you get?

How much government benefits do you get?

Does someone else financially pay for your expenses, or do you financially support someone?

How much debt do you have?

How worried about $$ are you?

Plenty of people earn minimum wage. Why do they not act worried about $$$$?

How do they afford it? Is the interest on their loan negative?

I'm sometimes surprised how many things people on minimum wage can afford (minimum wage does differ per country though). And honestly, I'm one of them... I don't have a job, and I get full welfare (I should get disability; but that's a different topic) and additional payment for health insurance and housing (as most people in my country get on minimumwage or welfare). Compared to most countries that are not as 'socialist', I'm well off. But my income is about 70% of the minimumwage; and I still make it.

That said; I was homeless during 'rona and lived in a shelter (from late '20 till the 3rd quarter of '21). And managed to crawl out of that hellhole with a lot of financial aid from the government. And by not making any dumb decisions. I don't smoke, I don't have any addictions, no kids, no pets; which makes it somewhat easier I guess. I filed for personal bankrupcy (and entered a debt program) and handed over my financial matters to a court appointed "accountant" for the time being. It's surprising how easy I get by and even save money. I get a monthly fixed amount for groceries, and that's bascially it... plan ahead, act on discounts, stuff like that. My bills are paid; and I'm not living that uncomfortable. It could be worse...

Why I bring up being homeless back then; I ran into a lot of people that were a real mess financially, and kept making dumb decisions while hitting rock bottom. They had no intentions to ever get into a financially strong situation at all. It's all booze and drugs and having "fun". They live in the now; they don't plan ahead, they don't care to plan ahead.

I'm not that worried about my money; I could worry, but about what? That it's not enough? That I have to hustle and make more, somehow? How much more?

What I will say, as an observation about my own finances; the fact that my monthly bills, even with social housing, are that ridiculously high, and need government help (aside from welfare), to make renting even feasible for about 4% of the households in my country, or else they'd be on the streets, is atrocious. (but again; I'm well aware, that in some countries it's much, much worse, and governments don't give a hoot about homelessness and poverty)

It's mostly funded on either debt or wealthy relatives. I'm personally getting subsidized housing from my parents, but most of the rest I cut as much as possible.

A decent guitar, good healthcare that I don't have to sit about waiting for, a new central heating system, double glazing, a new roof, new garden gate, garden wall repointing, interior redecorating of 5 rooms, new kitchen sink and worktops, new bath taps, new toilet (or a good, fully-fitted detached house might do instead of the last 9 things), spare boots, a perfect bicycle, the services of an excellent music producer and recording engineer, new hi-fi speakers, better-than-economy-class transatlantic airplane tickets, good mobile phone with monthly fees paid for life, a few spare pairs of rigid gas-permeable contact lenses, more frequent dental checkups, cleaning, and whatever surgery may be necessary, a more comfortable nest egg (enough savings to tide me over safely in case of future financial trouble).


Passed a lot of school exams and worked for an employer for most of my life.


Didn't notice any difference. Trump gave me a couple of thousand dollars Covid relief, but I don't recall needing it for Covid, so I put it towards the costs of my Green Card application.

Biochemistry research worker, genetic engineering. It wasn't as glorious as it sounds.
I had the US Covid relief payments, and the UK gov paid me a bit for winter fuel relief to offset the horrifying energy inflation.
Nothing unless you count UK State Pension, and I paid National Insurance contributions for those. I get free prescription drugs if I want them, but I haven't had any. Free bus travel within UK city boundaries (roughly), but not during the rush hours. One free visitor parking permit for the UK street I live on.


Nobody pays my expenses. I subsidise my wife's expenses.
None.

Moderately. Inflation has been going berserk and might continue to do so. And there's a very big expense coming up in a few months that might not be fully covered.

Beats me. I've always been quite frugal and the amounts other people spend make my jaw drop.

If you want to know how people do something, ask them! I'd be willing to bet most of them have the debt to match the lifestyle they live. You might just find that their lifestyle isn't as extravagant as you think. It also helps to not be single, 2 entry-level or better sets of wages are better than 1.

As for me, I spend a little, sometimes very little less than I earn. I've also been know to side-hustle and take in a lodger when needed.

I don't smoke, don't drink. never pay for fast-food, don't have the latest phone, don't drive, don't have cable, streaming services, subscriptions to anything, don't vacation and get books, music and films from the library. I also don't get my coffee at starbucks. My needs are simple, my wants are simple. I have what I want.

I thrift shop most of my daily wear clothing, and I've had some savings all of my working life. If I really want something I can probably have it, but I've never been fascinated my "stuff" and don't think its ever an excuse to take on debt.

All new windows on my house. Quoted approx $30K.




Pawned my wedding ring and engagement ring.
Sued a major global corporation.






It didn't really because I wasn't working anyway, but I've spent close to $1,000 on masks.
I didn't get a penny of stimulus money and nor did anyone in my family.
Disabled people weren't allowed to get it.




I was a prof and an AP teacher. Some published research.




I don't know what this means.
None?





Around $15K / year disability.





No one has paid my expenses in 40 years.
I pay everything including a mortgage and all homeowner costs.
I support three adult children and my widowed mother.




About $350,000 including second mortgage and credit cards.





9 out of 10.




I have no idea. Perhaps they live with their parents or they're independently wealthy.

The dolt minister of Canada keeps raising prices and he wants to quadruple the carbon tax. He wants to do that because he doesn't give a damn about the poor.

*What do you want or need, that you can't financially afford?
a fancy house high on a cliff overlooking the ocean, along with a classic cadillac [not because they're really expensive but because they are money pits that require the regular services of a master mechanic]
*What is the most desperate thing you have done for $$$?
sold everything to my name, lived homeless. worked as a professional striker. tried to sell cutco knives and amway. joined the military
*How has Coronavirus affected your financial situation?
was retired in genteel poverty at the time. no effect, thank god.
*What kind of jobs do you work?
i'm retired now on social security. i did the aforementioned professional striker/picket sign carrier/strike walker, various phone solicitation jobs, hard labor jobs, picked produce in the hot sun, cashier at a goodwill store, parts clerk/gofer at an HVAC firm, transported and washed new cars fresh off the boat from japan, army surgical tech/orderly, same thing in the uncivil service plus billing/coding and ward secretary, that was my last job ending in 2006.
*What kind of unearned income do you get?
i earned every GD thing i got from decades of nasty hard [and sometimes backbreaking] work. at the same time i fully understand that some folks could not do what i lucked into being able to do by dint of some fortunate combo of circumstance and genes and back-against-the-wall gumption/discipline. not everybody can do this, i begrudge nobody in this case.
*How much government benefits do you get?
social security, military vet's medical disability pension, uncivil service pension
*Does someone else financially pay for your expenses, or do you financially support someone?
up until i met my sweetie, nope. life can be easier with a mate at least in a financial sense. two income streams instead of just one.
*How much debt do you have?
too GD much for comfort, was in the hospital a decade ago which put me into longer term medical debt that i'm still feeling the after-effects of to this day. amuurica's an exorbitantly expensive place to get sick in, unless one is filthy-rich.
*How worried about $$ are you?
less than i was last year, thanks to social security which greatly increased my income to where i could start paying down medical debt more seriously.
*Plenty of people earn minimum wage. Why do they not act worried about $$$$?
i don't have any idea how anybody could keep a roof over their head on minimum wage unless they lived with their parents or good friends. perhaps the OP's "friends" and acquaintances were getting some other kind of support or were superbly talented bargain hunters or had numerous side gigs [this last one is the most likely thing]. they might have burned the candle at both ends perhaps assisted with meth or other stimulants, and did without sleep. i've seen that before.

Are there any precursors to an economic crisis here?

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but in my case there's no imminent crisis. I own my house and it's worth about 4x my debt load so I could pay everything off quite easily by selling. It would actually cost me 2-3X more per month to rent than to keep my mortgage, so I'm not about to sell. Renting wouldn't make any sense where I live because it would be much more expensive.

In addition to my government benefit I get LTD pay from work which is about 70% of my former salary and it's tax-free. I didn't mention it because SF Man only asked about government benefits. In February I'm switching from LTD to my retirement pension, so I'll get an indefinite work pension and also continue receiving my government benefit for about ten more years.

I have investments and RRSPs too but I'm not about to cash them in so they're mostly just kept as life insurance for my kids.

I struggle month to month but I think it's still worth it to keep my house. I have an advisor who makes pretty good decisions for me, which helps a lot because I'd be clueless otherwise.

most people don't "live within their means". The burden of personal loans and credit card debt is phenomenal and has never been higher. We lived a frugal life, had credit card only for emergencies and paid it off monthly or as quickly as we could in our younger and poorer days. I sold books on ebay, cleaned the neighbors stable and fed her horses, did house cleaning, and worked in a factory full time. Worked 2 full time jobs sometimes and still fit in extras such as teaching private lessons (horsemanship instructor certificate early on), and the above. I bought all the household furniture (which wasn't hand me downs) and household goods such as dishes, cooking utensils, etc. second hand, bought all clothing except underwear, socks and shoes second hand, for our kids and myself. wrote a shopping list and planned meals, cooked and baked for daughter who is celiac and has other food allergies rather than purchase the extremely expensive pre prepared gluten free meals (which were mostly not available 'back then"

We bought used cars , having them checked by our reliable mechanic before purchase to make sure they did not have hidden defects, and drove them until they could not be repaired any more.

Any extra scrap of $ we made was saved. We are about 10 years into retirement now and have no debt. It requires focus and concentration to save $ and is much worse now than it was when we were raising a family. I made it a game and was vigilant not to spend a single unnecessary dollar.

We were able to retire and are still living frugally in a different location and it is going well.(so far) No major health problems, which is a huge blessing!

Fixed income about $20K per year. We chose a low tax, low cost of housing rural community to live in when we retired. Bought a little house, 1000 square feet. Careful , careful with money all our lives and it has paid off.

We drive an old van that we bought used and has stood us in good stead for about 6 years now, after the other one we had finally quit with 250 thousand miles on it and structural damage to the frame. (rust)

Daughter is disabled and lives on about $12K a year, barely squeaking by, but so far has food, shelter, and clothing as she needs it, runs a car ( we help pay for that) to get back and forth to therapy and doctor and to buy food in a rural town. So many folks today just barely surviving. So many folks are their own worst enemy, taking on unnecessary debt . In- laws gamble in casinos and spend lots on lottery tickets, slots, they go on fancy vacations, eat out a lot, and call us "rich folks", never seeing how their own habits set them up for failure.