Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Your Personal Finances?

Earlier today I stopped for a quick lunch and was reading through the Dollar Store thread. Evidentially people are spending less on stuff they don't need and are instead saving and spending that money on food.

I got to thinking about how many people are actually getting economically pinched enough that their Dollar Store shopping has decreased?

My wife and I are FAR from 'rich' but luckily we haven't felt any pain due to inflation. Old house that's paid off, old vehicles that are paid off, no kids to feed or send to college, no vacations, boats or campers, don't eat out or go to bars, basically we have no life but also have no money worries. A health issue is the only thing that I'm worried about in regards to the future. Rough estimate inflation on daily needs has cost us probably less than $500 per month.


I can see where single income or single parent households, or fixed income households are getting stressed but they've always been stressed. Hell most of our town has flirted with poverty and for a long time.



I'm wondering how much of the economic doom and gloom is self inflicted by living beyond ones means and how much is legit?



How many of you guys are worried about the present and/or future in regards to your day to day money situation?

(will add that I make about $2400 a month in wages so this is NOT a brag thread.....lol)

Be careful,

lest your outgo

exceeds your income

'cause

your upkeep

can be your downfall.


ya!


GWB

Thankfully, it hasn't affected us too much. We have a mortgage, but no car loans or credit card balances. We do have two kids in catholic school, primarily due to the woke BS Maryland public schools, which hurts when you're trying to also save for retirement and pay off the house.

I'm more worried about inflation eating away my retirement savings and not having enough saved.

I am worried about the prices of the essentials getting out of hand. You know, Copenhagen, Camels, beer and whiskey. The bare necessities.

About the same as you all Sam.
Except we have a kid living here that brings her fiancé to supper a couple
nights per week, and another daughter.


House paid off for 5 or 6 years, haven't borrowed a dime in 20 some years.
We aren't rich, don't do the "Brag about it" things.
Don't party, don't gamble.......it's cheap being boring!


Our biggest issue is spending money. Both of us hesitate to buy expensive
things, ones we can easily pay cash for.

Often, I buy stuff she won't buy for herself.
A $300 skillet for example.
(She loves it, uses it 2-3 times weekly. We are both happy!)

I lived like a miser for many many years...

"Turning a nickle into a dime... a dime into a quarter... and a quarter into a dollar" a friend once said... "Never seen anyone better than you."

With that said... I still have a plenty to worry about...

Namely... If my fellow man is not likewise prosperous... he might come a knocking and I might have to shoot him before he shoots me...

Every post I make is pretty much exactly this...

Or me trying to beat same into Ballz, Seafoam or Tonto.

I'm counting on the lotto to bail me out.

The "I'll take it" posts on the classifieds will be the first indicator.

Then it'll be racks of lambos in my garage.

I'm not wealthy by the standards many look at, but I have no debt whatsoever and have a little money put away. I own my home and vehicles. I have most everything I could ever want (and need to downsize a good bit of it) and am in good health...and that's probably the most important thing right there. My property taxes are very low and the wife is still working for another six or eight years and making the best money of her life.

OTOH, things can change on a dime. I could be in the same boat as the tons of people who own nothing and have nothing put away, just in the blink of an eye. Whether folks are willing to face it or not, we all live hand to mouth. There is NO security.

My end of year raise and inflation adjustment last year didn’t at all keep up with real inflation but it hasn’t really affected me.

I have less money to spend on fun stuff. It isn’t a huge difference but it’s noticeable. Two mortgages but both have skyrocketed in value according to Zillow. My wife’s Traverse is 7 years old and paid for. My truck is 18 years old and still keeps trucking along. We have minimal CC debt and we’re not big spenders or into designer clothes or new rides.

I don’t believe the stats about X number of people are within a paycheck of being in bankruptcy court. If that were true chit would eventually happen and they’d all be in bankruptcy court.

My wife and I are nowhere near flush with cash but if a life happens minor emergency home or auto repair comes up we can figure out a way to move some money around or put it on a card for a month or two and rock on without cutting into groceries or having to meet the bankruptcy judge.

I'll say I'm worried about the future. Seems like the country's going to a road that's going to be too hard to turn around on.

Lately I've haven't been buying anything extra for myself. The wife and kids get what they need without going overboard. But I'll talk myself out of any bullshit.

Our family farm/business has agreed not to take on any extra debt in the last couple years. Seems like we're all waiting for chit to hit the fan. We're still moving ahead and what not. Just not borrowing, just working slow. Paying for what we can one step at a time.

I’m not real concerned for me and the wife, but I don’t envy what chit my kids will have to deal with in the future.

Samo, we are about the same.
I retired 6 months ago, and we still toss $1500 mo into an IRA. I pay insurance,:auto and home and firearms. $150/ mo phone and Inet, $300/mo electric, $400/mo gas liberal allowance, and maybe another $400 for grocery and house hold.

I should have known better than to ask you guys.....lol



Pretty much all share the same plan and way of life.


But I will say, if we had kids I'd have a different outlook in regards to worrying about the future and to a point, how we save/spend money now.

In 43 years our quarterly income has only went down under Obama and Biden. Not including the 3rd quarter when the government shut down the restaurant's because of the China flu hoax. People are starting to feel the pinch.

I had a lot more money when I was working. Since I am on S.S. and State pension things are tough. My meds are the big problem. My Eliquis is around $600.00 per month plus all my other meds. We own our home and are still paying on one new car. My insurance for meds only pays for about 6 months. Then I order my meds from Canada. The Eliquis is $80.00 shipped to my door, plus others are cheap. Big Pharma is a HUGE Ripoff. There is no generic for Eliquis so my hands are tied. Just cut down on things I used to buy and not think a thing about. Adlusting to it takes some getting used to.

If I could just stop buying guns……

I always figured I'd knock off ATM's if it got hard enough.

Work pretty much every day, everything’s paid off for the most part, DGAF what other people do/have,
The cabin is in a spot that if the SHTF we’d be as well off as we could be. Quit watching the news so not that stressed over the future. Can’t think of any habits we’ve really changed.

ETA: I drink cheap beer and Jim Beam and DGAF.

I hear ya.....

Living healthy is rarely the cheapest route.

We have cut way back.


As far as worry...yeah....it's going to take a long time to dig out of this mess. 4 years of drought and now everything is at least double in price.

I am sitting in my old combine....eating a Town Pump burger for dinner.

Paying 10 percent interest on the 7 (!) gas station burger.