Does anyone else out there live week to week like I 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.