Does anyone else out there live week to week like I do?

[panader0]

It's an accomplishment to pay my bills. Work is scarce, I'm getting older (61), and that makes work harder.
Luckily, I own my house and land, but land taxes make me feel like I only rent my land from the county. If I don't pay, they take it away. I make out, Jeannie has a decent job, I can still work when there's an opportunity. But it is week to week.

[Tsiyu]

1. You're not alone by any means

And I think 5 recs still gets you to the greatest.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

2. I started Social Security as soon as I could

We get by month to month. Someone planted Chestnut trees here over 100 years ago, and we can sell them at the farmers market in the fall. That is our money to pay the taxes. I get a job or two a week weed eating in the spring and helping neighbors to get by. Join the party of 'just getting by'...

[underseasurveyor]

3. Yup

And yesterday I was let go. 150 dollars in the bank and one last small check to come. I have no idea what the fuck I'm gonna do. I have a couple of days work here and there but my steady part time job just went by the wayside

You're not alone.

[renate]

37. oh no--that's so awful

I'm so sorry... will you be able to get unemployment?

I don't know what your part-time job used to be, obviously, but I've actually seen some help-wanted signs up at retail places lately. It's been nearly four years since I've seen them, so hopefully that's a sign that things are getting better. (Sad, isn't it, how something so small as a help-wanted sign for a minimum-wage job is seen as a positive sign?)

I hope things look up for you very very soon.

[emilyg]

4. You're not alone.

[spanone]

5. k&r...

[progressoid]

6. Yep

Sometimes we breath easy, but not often. It going to take many many years to make up for lost income from the last decade.

[longship]

7. Month-to-month because that's when I get my SS

But that's only a grand. I, too, own the property. But out here in rural area, there's maintenance. My septic is shot, roof leaks, garage door's fscked. My 24 year old Volvo has served me well, but I can no longer afford to fix it. And, yes, I am behind on my property taxes. At least I had heat all winter due to planning ahead and getting my heating oil delivered early, when I could save a few bucks.

Oh boy! Whatta life.

[RebelOne]

25. Yup, me too.

I live month to month since I am also on SS. Fortunately, I receive more than a grand. I live in a mobile home which I own, but I am in a mobile home park, so I have to pay monthly lot rent. My only other bills are utilities, cable, phone, Internet and home and car insurance. I have a 13-year-old car that runs fairly well, but the A/C went out just in time for summer. Fortunately, I don't drive that much, so I will make do.

[hfojvt]

8. I don't and I never have

I have done without for a time though. No phone, no cable TV, no cellphone, no water, no hot water, no car, no eating out, etc. Most of that stuff I do not want anyway. I would love to get rid of the phone, except that work requires it. Of course now they gave me a cellphone so maybe I can, but then I think I might need it for campaigning somehow.

Anyway, I don't think most people need to live like that, that people can and should save more. Doubtless there are some, even many (I mean even 2% of 100 million households IS 2 million households which is a lot of people) who have a huge misfortune or a string of misfortunes or some bad choices hit them and knock them down, but I doubt if that is true of most people. It seems to me that most people do not save as much as they could.

I would not, and have not, lived without a cushion. I would do without some things for six months, or a year, until I had a cushion before I lived without one.

But, heck, most people seem more successful than I am as well. Most people get married, have sex, and have children. I've failed at all of that and maybe being a miserly old cuss had something to do with that (somehow). Or maybe being in a relationship would make saving almost impossible. Lord knows, even the one girlfriend I sorta had cost me a couple thousand, not even including the $500 I put into her daughter's college fund. Still, I would expect there to be big savings from having a partner. Splitting housing costs, splitting utility bills, etc. My utility bills might go up by 30%, but then my half would only be 65% of what I was paying now.

But obviously too, not having a job would be one of those misfortunes that made saving or having a cushion almost impossible and there is 8% of the population (or more) in that particular boat, but I do not want to still be working when I am 61. At least not at my current job.

[jtuck004]

13. That seems at least insensitive...

Last edited Thu May 17, 2012, 09:49 PM - Edit history (1)

"Anyway, I don't think most people need to live like that, that people can and should save more."

Seriously? Mom with two kids, working for $14,000 a yr at Walmart and in your brilliant analysis she doesn't fucking save enough?

It was just reported that half - HALF - of ALL families in the Boise school system qualify for free or reduced price lunches - that means their family of 4 is living on less than $41,000 a year. Should the kids tear off half of their food card and put it in the bank - because they can always eat later.

In-fucking-credible that person could think this living in a country where there are 12 million unemployed, another 8 million who want and need full-time work but cannot get it, another 2 million whose spirit hurts so bad they can't face much more rejection, and another 86 million not in the labor force among which at least 15 million, or maybe twice that many people, will re-enter the work force when the depression ends. Government reports tell us there along with 2 million people in foreclosure that have not paid a payment in two years and another at least 9 million, and perhaps 12 million underwater with their home loans, a record number of people on food stamps...

while our senior population is going from 10% of the population today to near 20% in about 20 more years, and 10% of them live in poverty today because they were never paid enough in their lifetime to have anything when they had to leave work, or a Mi$$ Rmoney came in and stole all they had worked for for 20, 30, or 40 years...

and they just need to save more?

Horseshit.

[badtoworse]

22. He's 100% correct about saving

Obviousdly, if you have no income, you can't save, but too many people have saving too far down on the priority list. it should not be viewed as an option - something should come right off the top and into a savings account.

I disagree that having a partner will reduce your costs - it hasn't been true in my 18 years of marriage.

[jtuck004]

24. Oh yeah - the Joe Arpaio Diet Plan - beans and water.

Screw having a house, put 'em in tents on cots. And clothes - way too much - just stick em all in robes - they're animals anyway, right? It's not like they're our neighbors. So don't waste money on underwear...

Yeah, I feel ya'. You are 100% right as well - people can save money. But this isn't really about people with money who have it to waste. In the original post it's about the seniors who worked for 60 years, either in the workplace or perhaps taking care of a home, and are now one of those who live in poverty so that others can afford their multiple homes, car elevators, private schools.

There are those who are saving - the average for 401k's was about $49,000 a while back. But at the same time the median value was $2000. So half of all of us are hitting 60 with little more than Social Security. Hard to understand when the fastest growing job segments are the lucrative home health aide and travel industry jobs such as wait staff or housekeeping, eh?

People can be cruel and thoughtless in not considering the circumstances others have to deal with, and I am just astounded that that people don't seem to realize or care about the millions in dire circumstance, or about the decades people spent being taken advantage of by others, or by a government that abandoned its people to allow banks to perpetuate an ongoing fraud that may still destroy this country.

There is not enough opportunity to overcome the structural barriers because the investment that would otherwise go into our country is being used to support the assets of the wealthy by the banks, with the help of their friends in government.

Contrary to the popular opinion of some I think the fault actually lies with how the economy is structured to take away the possibilities of wealth creation from most people and funnel it upward, not with the person of low-income.

But I don't want to leave the impression that there is no hope. There are always people with vacuous phrases such as "People should save more".

Maybe they can eat that.

[badtoworse]

27. I don't like seeing anyone in the position you describe.

[4 t 4]

33. why are you so mad at his post

he is just giving his opinion and he is struggling too like most of us . bring him up and teach him if you think he is wrong, don't condemn him.

[jtuck004]

40. That's a good question. I think it was the subtle cruelty I read

into it, and I emphasize "I" because that's probably not what the author intended.

It sounds a lot like blaming this person for their own condition, in a country where the government and private business have spent the past 20 years extracting every available bit of wealth from its own citizens, but most especially those with less income, (for example, here ), or perhaps the story on the DU front page where a man paying his mortgage kills himself when Wells Fargo makes a mistake and forecloses, all while the government is patting itself on the back for screwing millions of homeowners and letting the perpetrators of crimes walk freely in the Fraudclosure settlement. Or here, where states are using the settlement money to prop up their own budgets, instead of providing help to homeowners who have been hurt by the crooked actions of the financial industry.

The OP is a 61 year old guy, in our culture which, frankly, is moving toward throwing away anyone that makes it to 50. He is wondering if he is alone, if anyone else is struggling. He is greeted with "I don't and I never have", a litany of what one could do without (never acknowledging that living under such conditions would nearly guarantee poverty - no phone = no job no income for most), assuming that everyone must have a well-working kitchen and plenty of hours to cook so they don't HAVE to eat out. Not that their feet hurt so much after the shift at Walmart, where he/she makes $14,000 a year to feed, clothe, and house herself and a kid that they can't cook.

There was a faint acknowledgment of a couple million folks in poverty, but the OP is among the more like 50 million who are working on the edge, above that line. Those are the victims of people like Mi$$ Rmoney who, after buying hundreds of companies where people used to make enough to send their mids to college, buy a home, and even save for retirement, loaded the companies up with debt, stuffed his pockets bull of the ill-gotten gains, and walked away from the companies before they filed bankruptcy. He then replaced those jobs with 80,000 positions at Staples, where, when the unemployment rate was about 6% had a 65% turnover. Want to bet clerking at a Staples is not going to provide enough to send the kids to college, buy much of a house, or even provide enough that you can save for retirement?

What bad choices did the millions who are in real trouble today make, except perhaps not taking to the streets with pitchforks? They bought homes with borrowed money that criminals told investors was a AAA investment, while the Chairman of the Federal Reserve took to the airwaves and said he couldn't conceive of the housing market going down, encouraging people to think that housing was a safe investment. Between that fraud, the private equity firms, the people speculating with our food and fuel, and dozens of other ways that governments and private companies have arranged to hurt people, what choices could one make that would allow any kind of safe future?

One of the things I learned in education over the years is that there has to be a window open in a person's mid before they can learn, so I agree, when possible, that the best course is to try that.

But sometimes it just looks like a bully beating up on a weaker person, (and, as I wrote above, in hindsight I don't think that is what the author intended), and the only appropriate response is to say it's wrong in the strongest terms, get in their face. Not enroll them in class.

But yeah, I probably shouldn't have been so harsh. I'm just tired of our two-party system - one party with the victims, the other with the corporations and government - and people pointing out the victim's behavior as the problem.

They are not.

[Selatius]

18. From my experience, there was no financial benefit to being in a relationship. I spent more in them.

You enter into a relationship for personal or emotional reasons, hopefully the right ones.

Money had nothing to do with it. A good dinner, a movie, a little recreation for the missus, these cost money.

Fine clothes, shoes, purses, decorations for the place, holiday gifts, Valentine's Day blowouts and more gifts, etc.--these things drain a budget. That, and going out with the missus for a few drinks on the town to celebrate some more can run up a hefty bar tab.

On that score, she benefited as well when there was a "ladies night" at certain bars and dives. Then, her drinks were free. I paid for all of mine and the tip.

It was good times. Yes, it costs money, but I wouldn't take it back. I learned a lot of the world this way. From a financial standpoint, I was screwed to hell and back, but whatever. Youth is a luxury of the naive. We all wanted that pretty woman on our arm.

Having said that, though, I would say you've placed perhaps a little too much emphasis on pure cash. Saving is good, but if it comes at the expense of foregoing any pleasurable or meaningful experiences that life could offer, well, I'll just say that I'd leave all of that to the Ebenezer Scrooges of the world who'd rather consume all their days pinching pennies and dollars than stopping to enjoy the roses just once, but they can't. Their roses are all dead and dried because they haven't the time to water them.

[hunter]

49. Why should I lend money to crooks... er... um... "save?"

I'm investing my personal energy in community and goodwill... that way maybe I'll always have a sofa to sleep on, or a place to pitch my tent.

In my personal utopia I have no contact with the inhumane and environmentally destructive U.S. dollar economy. Presently I strive to minimize this contact.

Money is toxic.

[provis99]

9. most Americans live like that.

but without owning a house or land.

It's because all the money that workers have been producing through work has been going to the rich, rather than the workers. You're being robbed by rich people; that's why you're struggling, along with most Americans.

[donco]

10. WEEK TO WEEK??

some don't make it to Tuesday.

[concreteblue]

12. beat me to it....

You can see a week? I was gonna post a bit about my life, but then realized it's not a contest.......hope you can find a way....hope that for all....

[Left Coast2020]

11. Makes You Wonder Where that light at end of tunnel is.

[jtuck004]

14. Oh HELL YES. Millions of us.

But it's probably up to us to fix it, eh?

People in Iceland threw rocks at their legislators - imagine senior Americans, sans rocks, mad enough to vote for more opportunity and investment in our country...

Can ya dig it?

[FirstLight]

16. +1000!!!

exactly... i hope the WH & Congress can make the right choices soon...meanwhile i struggle to make subsidized rent...go figure

[Walk away]

15. I live week to week and my mortage and property taxes are about $3000 a month.

I amaze myself that I manage it.

I used to have equity but those days are over. My health insurance is astronomical and it covers shit.

One accident + one economic crash and a dash of Teabagger sponsored "death by lack of health care" and I look into the abyss every day.

I am learning to ignore it.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. $3000 a month? Try living on $1000 a month

Which pays for food, rent and utilities. I've learned to sew and repair my clothes, I don't have health insurance either. I'm not slamming you






I guess its all relative.

[Walk away]

44. I have work very hard all my life to get a little security...

I have none and can lose everything tomorrow. Just as fast as you could. What is your point? That I am somehow rich because you live in a less expensive place? I live in one of the most expensive counties in America. It's where my business is. My business is in my home. Without my home I am unemployed. I cannot move. My mortgage is underwater. My expenses are more that the money coming in and so you may actually be living better than I am.

There are people living on the street. I am not comparing myself to them. I am, however, a little pissed that I have been working, paying taxes and insuring myself for forty years and my medical needs are not covered. Should I accept that because you are not in my situation?

I haven't been to a dentist in 4 years, I don't buy clothes at all and just repair my old cloths and I cut my own hair. Try living 5 mins outside NYC on four times your salary.

[Rain Mcloud]

17. I go month to month

as that is how the award winning school district that I work for pays.
I make about $10,000 less per year than my brothers in the private sector for comparable experience and 20-30,000 less than US Government and Union guys get under prevailing wage.
The Superintendents are of course members of The Chamber of Commerce who pull down with Benefits nearly 300,000 per year each.
The School Board voted the head honcho a 2.5 million dollar bonus which he will defer till retirement.
A simple yearly cost of living raise for the uniformed would be nice but I suspect it would cut into the administrator's yearly pay raises,either way we don't get one.
I guess i know how you feel but at least i don't feel so alone.
Thanks.i guess.

[Sirveri]

19. I used to, things turned around after I enlisted though.

I still remember how excited we were when we remembered that I kept an emergency 10 dollars in my car just in case I became desperate for gas. We managed to be able to afford groceries that month instead of having to spend it getting to and from work because of that...

[Skittles]

20. you are not alone, panader0

I am not in your situation, but I am one serious illness from being in your situation - yes INDEED

[Sanity Claws]

23. no you're not alone

I'm 55, well-educated, energetic, but have not held a regular job in almost five years.

[quinnox]

26. been unemployed

for a long time, and no more unemployment benefits, they ran out. I have zero income right now. If it wasn't for my good friend loaning me money I would likely be homeless. So yea, I am there.

That said, never give up, and fight like hell. Determination and persistence can overcome just about anything.

[Liberal_in_LA]

43. I hope some work or $ comes your way soon

[DiverDave]

28. Us too.

Hang in there, we are just barely making it.
I just hope nothing big breaks as we couldnt afford to fix it.
But we seem to manage, somehow.

[deutsey]

29. We've struggled to stay afloat week to week for a while

I have a second job (which I like, actually...it's a writing gig doing marketing for a local theater) that's been helping us out a lot, but we live a rather threadbare existence nonetheless.

[Initech]

30. I'm 31 and I'm working paycheck to paycheck - it sucks.

And on top of that I haven't had a significant raise or promotion in years and no matter how many responsibilities I take on or extra hours I work I'm still stuck in the same position with the same pay. I'm badly looking to change my job and I've even enrolled back to school to do so. It sucks believe me.

And what pisses me off is no matter how many times you complain HR will *ALWAYS* paint you as the victim. And then I found out my German friend gets six whole weeks of paid vacation.

[notadmblnd]

31. Of course. I'm 53 and decent jos are scarce

the last couple of years, I've been cleaning houses for 12.00 an hour to make ends meet. On a good week I average 30 hours plus mileage. That and the small pension my husband left me is what covers the bills. However, there is nothing extra. I only buy sale items at the grocery store and some weeks only bread and milk get bought.

The good news is, I have an interview tomorrow for a job in my former field. Full time Desktop Support position, the pay is more and I won't have to be on the road all day wearing out my car whose engine I just had to replace.

I am so grateful that I have friends and family that have helped support me through these difficult times and I'm hopeful that I will be able to start making a dent in what I owe to many of them.

[KatyaR]

32. You are not alone.

I haven't had a promotion or a decent raise in years. I do fund development work that an accountant should be doing (in the last year I've handled over $5 million in donations) as well as high-level administrative work but only get paid half as much. I'm told that I'm really smart and talented, but there's never any money for me to have a raise, and no overtime or bonuses either. Last year I had to buy a car after my old clunker bit the dust. Car payments and insurance now eat up what little money I had for things like food and clothing. I haven't had a haircut in almost two years, and no new clothes or shoes in almost three. Try finding another job when you're in your mid-50s and look like that.

My employer's moving the HR services to a PEO, I'm sure our insurance costs are going to go up, I don't know how I can afford to pay any more than I am now.

Now my crappy apartment complex is for sale and we're afraid that it's gonna get turned back to the bank and we'll all be out on the streets. If that happens or even if they just raise the rent, I'm done.

Right now I have $80 to my name, and I owe almost $50 to the state for a car tag. No fallback, no savings, and no family to help. I haven't had a vacation since the 80s, hell, I can't even drive across town to see a friend or go to the movies. I go to work, the market, a couple of errands, and that's it. I can't afford a full tank of gas. I haven't been to the movies (and there's a theatre 2 blocks away) in probably four years?

For people who say "you should always save," I say shut the hell up and stay out of my face. The last time I had a job that gave promotions and decent, LIVABLE raises was back in the 80s. Try living on what you made 30 years ago when everything has doubled or tripled in price or more and see how well you do.

And there's no light at the end of the tunnel anymore. Bain Capital bought it and sold it off for a few bucks.

[4 t 4]

34. my mom always said

you can't get blood from a turnip. for those of you who will flame me. You can't save if you don't even have enough to eat!

[Zax2me]

35. Obama says things are turning around - and I trust him.

PLEASE, just a little more patience.
Next term.

[Ikonoklast]

50. Thirty years of wage stagnation, and you blame Obama.

Really.

Try harder.

[2pooped2pop]

36. some don't? n/t

[NNN0LHI]

38. Except for a few brief periods, yes I have lived week to week since the early 1980's

[onestepforward]

39. You're not alone.

I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of worrying and being afraid just to pay for basic necessities.

Hugs for everyone struggling right now and hopes for strength to get through it.

[ileus]

41. We manage to spend 6k a month

And at the end of every month I can point at 500-2000 in "unexpected" bills.


Yeah we live pay check to pay check saving a few dollars this month and spending them next month.

[guardian]

42. Probably the majority of people live week to week.

n/t

[unreadierLizard]

45. We do!

I'm 20 years old and unable to find a job, since apparently even working at fast food places require "experience".

Mom's a stroke survivor who gets disability - which is a joke, because most of her money is taken by her pension and the non existent child support my father hasn't paid in years.

85 year old grandmother is here too - she helps with her pension but it's basically day by day.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

46. I've been in your situation, and I might be now

but for a bit of luck. There have been times when late-paying or non-paying customers put me close to the edge.

I have friends now who have literally not worked full-time for YEARS. Some have sold their houses, gone through their savings, bunked with friends, done everything "right," and still ended up desperate.

That's why I have no patience with rich people who whine about "paying most of the taxes in this country." I have even less patience with the Scrooges who rant about "half the people in this country not paying income taxes and freeloading off the rest."

[SmileyRose]

47. check with your county if you have not already.

you might get an extra exemption on property taxes. My county takes any extra so many grand off the home appraisal before figuring taxes for all sorts of hardships. Some of them are limited to a year or two - some are permanent beyond a certain age. After 65 homeowners can opt out of paying the school tax, which is most of it.

I live in one of the poorest counties in Metro Atlanta, run by democrats who understand hard times, so I'm "lucky" that way.

I wish you and your Jeannie a little luck too.

[lunatica]

48. My money runs out mid month

I still pay a mortgage and taxes and the Homeowners Association which takes up 2/3 of my salary. The rest pretty much goes for food for two people and two dogs. And I'm one of the lucky ones who was laid off and fortunately rehired. I did have to go through a bankruptcy and near foreclosure after my mother died and her income stopped. I was able to get a mortgage loan modification so I could keep the condo so I pay less than I would if I rented. I live in the SF Bay Area and work in administration at UC Berkeley.

But I can't deal too much with those extra unexpected expenses like someone busting my passenger side window. But I own the car so that's good. I just tape up the window with see through plastic, and drive only when necessary. Gas is too high to do otherwise. Paying things like car registration puts me even further in the hole, but thankfully that only happens once a year.

[treestar]

51. Pretty much

And I don't own land or have a spouse. But I remain optimistic - not sure how, but I insist.