Are we letting fear make us stupid?
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| The best line:
"It's not the high cost of living, it's the cost of living high." How many families could "get by" with one car instead of two; one spouse dropping the other off at the train station for example. Save that up over 10 years and that's just a TON of money. How many have cell phones with huge monthly minute allowances and text and picture and all those fees? My brother's family cell phone bill is around $150 a month for his 4 phones. My dad's Cable and Internet bill is $127 a month, not including phone, and don't forget the NetFlix subscription! That Comcast commercial that is playing nails it too: "More more more!" How about "Prioritize prioritize prioritize" and "Budget budget budget?" /rant over |
| true...people live beyond their means-- and the term "own" is used very loosely. most people own very little. instead, people are in huge debt. but that is some tricky math i know is going around---how "really, things are less expensive now than so and such years ago". bologna!!! campare what people could "buy" and "own" to their anual incomes at any ginen time. that's when you see how bad things are, and how the dollar has virtually lost it's value.
that's why old movies are so educational--you'll see things like, people rarely had a mortgage--they bought their homes! in mr. blandings builds his dream house, a man who made $15,000 a year (lining high mind you, with a full-time maid, and two kids in private school) went way over budget when he purchased a home with 35 acres in connecticut, only to knock it down and build a top of the line luxury house all for $35,000. that's just a little more than double his income. can we get even a shack on our doubled yearly income? rhetorical question, of course. |
| Ron, I'd LOVE to take a train to work instead of driving 52 miles every day. There is a bus service from my town to where I work (limited to employees of my employers--only 1 / day each way) and I used to take that when I could, which wasn't frequent. Now, I cannot because my dept. moved across town and the transfers wouldn't allow me to get to work on time or stay as long as I'd have to and still make the bus home. What I did was to switch to a 4 10 hr day work week, saving me a lot of miles/gas each week. Most of the 30 years we've been married, we were only a one car family. I commuted via bus and subway when that was available. We have purchased exactly one new car in that time: my current car purchased for its excellent gas mileage and because they were offering 0% interest on new cars, making it a better deal than a used car.
We have 4 people on our cell phone plan--runs about $150 a month. Two of them are college students--this is the cheapest route to go for them to have phone service. I got a cell phone because it was driving everybody crazy that I didn't have one because of the long commute and Minnesota winters, so I caved. Husband finally decided to be added to our plan because he had car trouble the same day he also had an unexpected biopsy and it was blizzarding. Could we do without? probably, but it adds to a sense of safety and helps us stay connected to each other. We've had a few emergency situations when cell phones were very helpful. Our kids in college live a little better than my husband and I did when we were there age, but they live much more close to the standard of living that their parents lived than most college students I see around my college town. No cars, many fewer luxury items, etc. Could we do with less? I am sure we could. |
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