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Originally posted by Hopechest
I'm doing just fine working and going to school. Pay rent and save money each month.
The key is to not live beyond your means, improve your skillset, and continually look for better jobs.
Does somebody really need a new car when they could take the bus, can you live without that cellphone, do you really need credit cards? [\quote]
i will agree most people don't need a NEW car, but even old cars need replacement even if another beat up used one, as you generally need RELIABLE transportation to get to work.
take the bus? don't make me laugh, quite a few areas have dismally poor public transit systems. even places that have GOOD systems public transit is not very practical in a lot of cases. for one thing public transit is a MAJOR time hog. for example for me to get to work by private car took 20 minutes to half an hour normally. care to guess the travel time via BUS? THREE HOURS each direction sometimes even longer. that is 6 hours a day of wasted time. so with an 8 hour work day plus a six hours in and waiting for buses, leaves you a whole 10 hours a day. it's recommended that you get 8 hours sleep, so by taking the bus you have TWO whole hours a day to do things like eat, shop, parent children etc. many people have no choice as they don't have a car, this is why so many children spend more time at school, daycare, after/before school programs or even HOME ALONE, than with an actual parent, the parents are too BUSY working and TRAVELING to work because they are stuck on transit.
the other MAJOR problem with public transit is the EXPENSE. taking the BUS costs a small fortune. i found it rather strange that by DRIVING a VAN to work was CHEAPER than the 3 hour trip to work by bus, and that's JUST back and forth to work (the long haul for most people's travels). then there is shopping. by bus i needed to grocery shop at least twice a week due to limitations on how much i could handle, not to mention you don't save money by "buying in bulk" since transporting it is an issue. so that's like $13 for bus fare to shop 2 days. yet if you have a CAR you only need to go out ONCE as you have room for almost anything you want, add to get there may only cost a couple bucks in gas. unless you travel a long distance and have to pay for parking, it is always cheaper to DRIVE short trips than to take a bus. i really don't understand why people think buses are cheap, must be all that "greenwashing" out there.
living without a credit card is a pain since quite a lot of things REQUIRE one even if it is not being used for payment. you can even SAVE money several ways WITH a credit card that you can't without one, online shopping for one. need to rent a car for an out of town trip but you don't own a car, need a card. want to save the environment and cash by reading e-books? need a credit card. need a plan cellphone? need a card. want to rent a cheap dvd for cheap entertainment? yup need that dammed card. the list goes on.
many people NEED their cellphone as the company they work for needs to be able to contact them any tine. heck even working retail i was constantly whined at BECAUSE they could never get a hold of me since i didn't have one.
Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by Wide-Eyes
America produces oil my friend, UK rent the rights to extract oil, is a difference as big as the pacific ocean.
Originally posted by Jeremiah65
It's a retracting cycle. It has been working toward this for years but it's now drawing to the big finale. The system we have been using for centuries and centuries is not working properly anymore...I don't think it was ever created for this many people...or for a fair and equal society for that matter.
The big companies and wealthy business owners are paying less money which means that their workers have less buying power which means they will buy less products...which means the corporations will have fewer sales and make less money. It's kind of astonishing when you look at the inevitable end of this.
Originally posted by camaro68ss
It’s been a long time waiting and it’s only going to get worse, this economy sucks!
Taxes are up so my paycheck has shrunk. I’ve been paying taxes for 8 years now, I’m 26, and for the first time I owe money to the IRS. Food prices are sky rocketing, there up by at least 25% from last year, gas prices are up, power and heating gas bills are up because it’s been so cold lately with all this global warming going on sarc/ off. Garbage bill is up, water bill is up, cable bill is up, I’ll be cutting that soon, the bills just keep pilling up. I’m surprised I’m not paying money to breath yet. The only thing that’s down is the value of my house.
My friends and people my age are hurting too. 95% don’t even own a home because they can’t afford it. If there renting there renting with 4or 5 roommates, even selling couch spaces on a monthly bases as they look for jobs. Most of them still live with their parents as they pay off their $20,000 student loans that were pushed on them by our “education” system. It seems like more and more people are getting depressed and its depressing. I see a lot of people turning to the bottle. I catch myself reaching for a cold one and needing to stop myself. Dont want to start that bad habit.
Another frightening thing I’m noticing is the amount of people waking up to the fraud. I say it’s frightening because the more people that wake up, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t know if it’s the circle of people I hang out with or if more and more people are just becoming open about it but there are a lot more people prepping for social unrest or an economic collapse. It’s even popping up more and more on the MSM.
I’ve been prepping for some time and have nearly everything I think I need. I would like to pick up one more .45 hand gun for the wife and I always pick up ammo when I’m at the store. I CANT FIND AMMO ANYWHERE for a fair price! Rounds I bought a year ago are now TRIPLE the price today if you can find them! My local gun store is completely cleaned out and had to close for a week because they had no inventory. I’m on a waiting list to get a backorder for the hand gun I want. It’s so nuts. I’ve never seen anything like it. I stop by once a week and completely random people are now walking in trying to buy guns. There was this one lady that walked in and walked up to the counter, asked if there was any available guns she can buy and in the same breath says “man this places scares me”. What? So now the anti-gun people are getting scared enough to buy guns? What’s going on?
It’s a crazy world we live in and I think we are and will be living through the most historic moment in the history of mankind in the next 3-7 years as the civil society collapses. What’s your story at your home front?
edit on 1-3-2013 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Wide-Eyes
reply to post by HawkeyeNation
I wish Americans would stop whining about the price of gas. Come to the UK and you'll be paying $10 a gallon. You really don't know how easy you've got it over there.