Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Is 400 dollars too much to handle?

people always talk about avoiding CCs , but that just seems silly to me. (unless you have no impulse control, I guess).

I have several I never use and one (an Amazon Visa) that pays back 1-3% depending on the purchase.

I put everything I can on it (maybe $4-5K a month on average) and get literally thousands of $$ of free stuff every year....

Same here Matt but I do believe I spend more than when I had to pull cash out of the wallet


Big fan of Dave Ramsey here but never heard of him till I was already debt free

So I'm a bigger fan of my grandparents that taught me by example

Truly thankful & blessed for the resources we have at our disposal

We've been fortunate

But you obviously have the discipline to pay it off every month so you don't pay interest. 99% of Americans don't and that's the whole problem. The banks get rich on fools' money.

If you are an employer, you see it every pay period. People that make a decent wage coming in with sob stories that their electricity is going to be turned off so they need a draw.

The amount of interest, fees, penalties and punitive interest rates people pay boggles the mind.

One of the most amazing ones is the "buy now, pay no interest for two years" promotions. Apparently, less than 20 % of the contracts get paid off according to the offer. The rest all miss a payment or are late, and are hit retro-actively with huge interest rates for the whole shebang.

People are financial babes in the woods.

That's the other side of this study, or a similar one. The authors estimated the typical major car repair, or unexpected trip at $2,000, and 60% couldn't come up with 2k in 30 days, even through borrowing and the selling of assets. So, they don't have $400 in cash, and can't find $1700 worth of stuff to sell to make up the difference.

I imagine half the folks here could come up with 2k in just primers and .22 ammo.

They'll get my 22 ammo when they pry it out of my cold dead fingers.

I was one of those that had to learn the hard way. I got so deep into credit card debt the only way I could pay it off without filing bankruptcy was to move into an old abandoned house on a ranch in Colorado for three years. No running water or electricity for the first couple of years, but I got myself out of debt and except for a mortgage haven't been in debt since. I use my credit cards all the time but would go hungry before I failed to pay them off every month. On a side note, if I could relive any time in my life, it would be those 3 years in the old abandoned house

I have two credit cards. One we use only for travel, and I put all my daily expenses on the other one. I pay both in full every month and have not had a dime of CC interest in years. Claudia manages her own daily expenses on a different card so we can avoid confusion over who bought what.

Both of my cards give airline miles, on different airlines. We fly for free on most trips.

We have no mortgage, one small car loan and a nearly-paid home equity loan which I keep active because it has an extremely low interest rate. As of this morning, my Experian credit rating is 823.

So many hope and pray for prosperity but so few can really withstand prosperity!

There are lots of folks around here that live paycheck to paycheck, couldn't afford an unexpected 400.00 bill and don't have any luxury toys/payments. The median annual income for males here is less than 30,000 per year and the median household income is less than 40,000. It's rural so you have to keep a dependable vehicle on the road as the average distance traveled for work is 23 miles. Between the purchase price, repairs, maintenance, insurance and gas there goes 6,000 - 7,000.00 of your income right there. And that's only if your buying/driving older used vehicles. Add another 7,000- 8000.00 per year for housing {average rent for a 2 bedroom apt. is 600 -700.00 per month} top those off with utilities and groceries and it's no wonder folks are broke. The wife and I make more than 50% over the median income for this area. We have no payments/loans other than a very modest mortgage, we don't take vacations or go on out of state hunts and it's about all we can do to make ends meet.

There is an excellent article in "The Atlantic" magazine (April?) on this. The author of the article is in this position.

I have seen people make 5 times the local median income and live check to check. Spending never satisfies their false needs.

Some years ago someone did an extensive survey on how much more money people thought they needed to live comfortably. It was 'enlightening'. From the poor people up to the 6 figured ones, they all said they needed 10% more. Very few were comfortable with what they already had.

According to economic studies, money can buy happiness, up to a point. Generally, after about 80k-90k the effects of more money on happiness begins to diminish. As I recall, after about 150k more money didn't make a real difference.

With 60% of working Americans making less than 20.00 an hour {WAY less than 80k} it's no wonder folks aren't happy.

Factor in a devalued dollar and rising government caused health care costs and a torpid economy - I'm stuck until I can retire and sell.

My wife complains that I don't take her out and it's true. She cooks better than any restaurant I can afford. I can't afford the air conditioner repair so it is another summer of fans and wifely gripes. Luckily the kids are young enough to enjoy running through the sprinkler. I indulged in a "bucket list" hunting trip this year, the first real vacation in over ten years but I paid for it in advance. Now I must save up for the oldest child's braces.

I know that I am lucky as I have a job, a mortgage instead of rent, and we are not going hungry. But I can't wait until the National nightmare is over and the economy picks up again. I have become the penny pincher my parents were.

My sister and her husband were worth over $1,000,000 eight years ago. But their main customers have gone out of business or retired with less than expected incomes. So now my sister has not received, though she still works, any income in over three months. They did not expect the recession to last so long. And no, they do not have toys or vacations. I have taken up their role in taking care of the rest of the family. I hope instill the proper work ethic and common sense frugality in my kids.

I recently gave that amount to the Salvation Army,
I'm sure they get enough requests for help from legit people who need the help.
Glad I can do it.

Average salary around here is about 12-14 bucks an hour. You will be damned hard pressed to find a 2 bedroom house for under 100,000

Christ at the largest lumber mill in the county, I know guys who have been there for 20 plus years and are only making 14 bucks an hour

The factories are, for the most part, hiring temp workers.

Yep...... they're likely doing it to beat the health care issue. It's a growing trend around here for LE jobs as well.

George

No George they have been going that route for the past 15 yeaRs or so. Hiring from temp services aND promising full time employment after 90 days, laying them off on day 89


Housing prices skyrocketed when the gas boom hit, 2 bedroom houses were being rented for 2500 a month, 2 bedroom apartment rents went from 3-400 to 900 a month, people were evicted so owners could get oilfield tenants and more money.

The boom is over and those tenants still think they can get that much rent.

2 bedroom ranch styles. On a half acre lot in town started selling for 190,000