See ya in the Food Line

I didn't really have an idea how serious this is. This is a breeding ground for resentment. And we're spending 87 billion, enough to put everyone on universal health care for 10 year, or feed a lotta people. *Hangs head in shame*

"But since 1999, the number of people getting emergency food aid in Ohio alone has grown from 2 million to 4.5 million." "But in Ohio, the lines continue to grow. In the first three months of this year, the lines jumped by nearly 20 percent with over 200,000 more families standing in line for food. "

"It�s funny, I sit and watch these news programs and they tell you to have six months of your income saved. And I just have to laugh at that because you know, I can�t put $5 away per paycheck. I can�t imagine somebody having six months of their salary put away. That�s just completely unobtainable for us,� Payne says.

Almost half the people fed by these lines are kids. The Agriculture Department figures that one in six children in America face hunger. That�s more than 12 million kids. Nationwide, children have the highest poverty rate. "

www.cbsnews.com...

I don't see how its possible to save money these days. Unless you're rich. I never have more than $1,000 in my bank account at any one time and I only pay standard bills and food.

Seems to be a worldwide problem. No one appears to be interested in getting to the root of the problem.

The rich get richer. The poor get poorer.

wow... I am a bit shocked, I didn't know it was that bad on your side of the ocean...
Isn't much better in Austria either. This month we have reached here a record number of unimployed: 208,502, thats 6,1%.

on tv, in books, in commercials, even during conversations...

of course ther are some in america who are part of the elite...

that is not its destiny...

but those hogs who continue to eat, in time of harvest will be slaughtered...

and my hands will be partially clean for i cannot take back my country of birth nor would i want to....
yet i am as part of this beast as the un to the worlds issues...

last remark, lets love and while doing such change things for the better...

Originally posted by bigsage
on tv, in books, in commercials, even during conversations...

of course ther are some in america who are part of the elite...

that is not its destiny...

but those hogs who continue to eat, in time of harvest will be slaughtered...

and my hands will be partially clean for i cannot take back my country of birth nor would i want to....
yet i am as part of this beast as the un to the worlds issues...

last remark, lets love and while doing such change things for the better...

If you cant kill at the time when you need to, then you will be killed.

Being nuetral in the future will get you killed.

Yeah, its funny, in all these books and tv shows, i am amazed how out of touch with reality thise experts and advisors are.

The talk to a non existant population that makes 40 grand a yearm works nice white collars jobs (notice how on MSN and other sites, thier job tips include words like office, managers, ect).

They seem to overlook that many of us are lucky to make 20,000 dollars a year. When you consider the cost of rent, utilities, food, and what that leaves you with out opf a paycheck......

They are compeltely out of touch.

My income info:

On an avergae month when I worked full time:

My total month income was 1150.

Rent, in a cheap apartment: 600
Phone bill with one long distance call to california: 40
Electric bill:50
Car Insurance: 90
Gas:60
Water and sewage:30
Food for myself: 100
Personal hygeine:30 bucks
Medical insurance: 25
food and cat litter for my cats: 15 bucks

Total for basic living:980 dollars a month spent on basic necessities.
that leaves me with:


170 for everything else: clothing, entertainment, emergencies when my car broke, car maintainence, unexpected high electric bills (electric bills in the winter get as high as 80) UNEXPECTED MEDICAL EMERGENCIES, doctor expenses not conevred by insurance, extra gas for longer trips, veterninary emergencies for that cats, extra phone calls, having dinner out once in a while, ect ect ect.

170 bucks aint #. Emergencies and the unexpected always popped up. Even with buying most of my clothing at the goodwill when I needed new clothing. I often eprformed routine maintancence on my car by myself buying oil filters and oil for changes. There is also car registration, yearly, smog checks, ect. Taking the bus was not an option, as I worked graveyard shift, no busses run at that time.

Above figures are for a 9 dollar an hour job, working 40 hours a week, minus federal income taxes, social security taxes, and medicare.

9 dollar an hour jobs are the most common, and when we do get a raise, it usually, after like a year, if were licky, we get 25 cents an hour.

Economists and experts are totally out of touch with reality. They ened to wake the # up and look at the actual cost of living in comparison to what people make. for isntace, 40 grand a year in georgia might be alot of money and make you rich, but say, that same amount on the west coast isnt #, its considered about average.

I cant afford to live on my own anymore until ive saved up at least 1400 dollars just to get into an apartment.

And i knwo alot of people who work 9 dollar an hour jobs and have to support families on that income. My figures are for a single person living alone.

When i was collecting unemployment for 800 bucks a month, can you see how bad it got?

Being hungry isn't life threatening,most people in the US don't have any idea what it really is to be hungry anyway,these people for the most part eat too much,if they were to make a conscious effort to try to determine when they were actually full,and stop eating then,and stop preparing more food than they need to eat anyway......
Not to say that it isn't a shame that some people don't get enough to eat,but I see it almost as if a lot of them are spoiled and helpless,there are ways to keep yourself fed without raiding your neighbors garden or stealing.
Live Cheap,forget about your new car,drive an old efficient one,educate yourself on how to fix it if it breaks down.
Most people here are broke because they are too vain to drive a beater,and too ignorant to maintain one.
forget the hot-tub
forget remodeling your house
forget about buying a new lawn mower
forget about running A/C in the summer
Buy non-perishables that need no refrigeration
tell the kids to get a job if they want 100.00 shoes
Get #ing Realistic,it is not really that hard to see the real problem here.

Unbalanced,

Its not like that for all of us.

As you can see from my monthly budget, people simply arent making enough money in comparison to the cost of living. Like I said,

there are people with my monthly income who have to support kids with the amount of money I have to support myself.

Thus, even by living barebones, like i did, they stilldont make it.

I have no debt and no credit cards, and drive a #ty beat up car.

Iyts not those 40,000 dollar a year jobs that are in danger, its people at my level who have to survive on this income.

they are the ones ending up in foodlines, not the guys with lawnmowers and nice houses.

Remodeling th home increases it's market value. Put in the hot tub & fireplace.

A/C is a must. I'm not elderly but i can die from exessive heat. hehe.

Buying only non-perishables means canned food. Yuck.
Out of the question. I can die from malnutrition eating this junk.

I'm either going to give my old car a makeover soon or buy a nice hybrid car.

Quality footwear is more expensive but lasts much longer.

Part of the problem is that most people aren't taught how to not rely solely on the income from their job (in the case of low income earners).

Here are some ideas. Do you have a hobby you can parlay into extra cash? Like make stuff that you can sell to others by setting up a stall amongst other vendors (at a flea market e.g.)

Another idea is to educate yourself in investments. You can start off buying portions of a share or shop around for guaranteed return investments with a financial institution. I'm not going to give a lecture on this. It's worth going to your library to educate yourself on these things.

One small step in expanding your current situation pays off in big dividends in the long run.

On the other hand, some of us are trying to learn to live on our low income and still have a hard time. If I were to drop out of college, I could probably live on $7.50 an hour, until it came time to pay my car insurance, otherwise I'm walking 15 miles to work. Even with student loans, I still have a hard time paying my tuition. I don't have a bunch of flashy new things like everyone else does. I rely on the school's computers, I'm wearing the same clothes I bought my senior year in highschool (3 years ago), I finally caved and spent 30 bucks on a new pair of Converse All-Stars, to replace the pair I've had since 1998. When all's said and done, I have about 15 bucks to myself every week, after I've set aside money for tuition and car insurance. Thank god for ramen noodles!

I like your attitude.

When I was younger and not making lots of money, I did whatever I had to get by. Take on another job, sell stuff, make stuff, fix stuff whatever. I learned what I needed to know and went about it.

I didn't have the money for entertainment so I had nothing else to do with my time anyway.

I think there is a trap folks get in when they are down. They can't see the light at the end of the tunnel so they kind of give up. When the reason they can't see the light is because they are sitting on their ass instead of RUNNING toward the end of the tunnel.

If I was making $9.00 an hour, 40 hours a week, I would be spending another 25 - 40 hours a week doing something I could make more money at.

Even if it was only a couple bucks an hour, it all adds up.

The group that I truly beleive needs help are the "single moms" they can't spend that extra time each week "making money" they need to raise their kids. These ladies need society's help and I think we should give it to them.

But everybody else who is able to walk and talk can do MORE to help themselves. Heck they might just learn something too. One thing I figured out early was NOBODY owes me a thing. If I want it I have to go earn it.

It wears me out when I hear someone complaining about how unfair everything is when they put no extra effort out to imporve their situation. I am not talking about anyone in particular here. But if you are only working 40 hours a week you have LOTS of free time to make extra money.

I happen to know that if you work your ass off you will succeed. I've done it and continue to do it to this day. You may fall flat on your face the first time or even the first few times, so what? Get right back a up and keep plugging. Persistence is the answer to financial woes.

PEACE...
m...

You go!

You are learning the most valuable lesson of your life, the VALIE of a dollar. Once your education is complete you will be ready to take care of yourself and you will be a successful member of society.

It's people like YOU that give me hope for this crazy world.

Keep chugging!

PEACE...
m...

Thank you Springer. I do what I can to maintain, and sincerely hope that other people will learn what exactly a person is capable of when they learn to go without. I also agree with your comment on single moms/parents. They do need the extra help, but no one seems to want to help.

Skadi_the_Evil_Elf- This is going to sound kinda sad, but it might help: As for your food costs, Wal-Mart sells boxes of spaghetti for 50 cents a box. Each box will give you 2-3 nice bowls of spaghetti a day. You can, in theory, feed yourself with $15 a month. Amenities like sauce and herbs can be added cheaply. I think the most expensive thing is the grated cheese. You can buy water from Wal-mart for something like 50-70 cents a bottle, too.

Hmmmm.... where to start.....

I am in agreeance with most here. I too only make about 1200 per month. After mortgage, gas for the car and maintenance, food, and other normal bills (electric, heating oil etc) I'm lucky to have 3 bucks in my account at the end of the month. Living Paycheck to paycheck sucks. This is with my wife and I only in the house. We want kids but, how the hell I gonna cover them with my pay????

Something needs to be done. The big problem I see is that our own damn govt has more interest in making themselves richer and keeping internation interests afloat, than they have keeping us afloat.

Our jobs are being sent over seas. Our money is being spent rebuilding countries we bomb, and then bombing other coutries to rebuild them too.

Other issues I see are welfare. Don't get me wrong, some people need welfare, but many get it that could make their own money. I know a chick with 3 kids. She makes 3 times my salary in welfare each month. ALL WELFARE. Then, she gets money back on taxes too. She never made a dime in the past 4 years from anything but welfare, and she still gets tax refunds. WTF is up with that???

You have problems with medical. Dr.s make s-loads of dough. They should be forced to drop prices. But instead, they get to charge more. Then our insurance goes up 6-16% annually, and weather we go see a doc or not, I now pay roughly 200 bucks a month for insurance. AND THAT IS MY 50%. My company pays another 200 on top of that.

The banks have so many damn fees. I pay nearly 25 bucks a month just to use my own money. A fee for your card, a fee for a low balance cause I make dick at work, a fee for writing too many checks in a month. AND THEY GET AWAY WITH IT.

I could go on and on, but rather than doing so, I will stop here as I am beginning to only ramble and get really pissed off.

[Edited on 6-10-2003 by ImAlreadyPsycho]

Wow you certainly get alot out of that $1,200.00 a month! Good management skills I'd say. Does you wife work too? Is that your TOTAL income between the both of you?! $600.00 a month each?

Have you considered learning a trade you could do at night/weekends? Or selling something in your spare time for commissions?

With as well as you manage your money, i bet if you could get a little extra income each month you'd be rolling in 4 - 5 years like you never dreamed possible!

The discipline you have now will pay HUGE dividends if you can get a little (I mean just a little - like $250 a month more would do it) more income to stash and invest.

PEACE...
m...

Funny. In this thread you said you were only 16 years old.

Originally posted by ImAlreadyPsycho
I hear you bangin. I can relax easily, I just have troubles clearing my mind of thoughts. I meditate and try OBEs but often I am unsuccessful because of this. I hear after your twenties it only gets worse too. I guess I will be doomed in just over 4 years.

www.denyignorance.com...

My wife babysits, but that doesn't bring in enough to make a difference. But, at the same time, some is my fault, as I was brought up the old fashioned way where my old man worked his ass off, and mom stayed home and took care of the house and kids. So, I am quite close to fully to blame. Another reason she doesn't work, is she only has background in daycare. She did babysitting from 12 to 16, then started in daycares at 16 until about 2 years ago.

I make roughly 1200 a month. I work as a computer geek. I work an hour away from home (the reason being that I have a 500 monthly mortgage vs the 800+ that everyone I work with who owns pays).

Now, New York is a very high tax state. I believe the highest nationwide. For her to drive to work (as once again, everyone in our area drives at least an hour to work unless it is a home business, restaraunt and gas station) she would also be looking at an hour. There are no daycares that pay more than minimum wage within 45 minutes of our home. This would double our gas and car maintenance and nullify her paycheck. We did this for three years before realizing that, we make the same monthly after bills without her working, as we did when she worked.

I do feel that I do well with what I make, because we manage it well. But, with me working 9 - 10 hour days, plus 2 hours of driving daily, I don't have much for spare time which kills much chance at me doing much else, and still having time with my wife.


But this is why I agree with the dude in the article. How can one put six months salary away, when they can't have the money to live on. My wife and I have not been to a damn movie since "Return To Me" was at the theater (I believe this was roughly 4 years ago).