Anyone Else Feel Like They Will Never Get Ahead?

[momejay]

I can relate. We had a tree branch fall on our house. Sure the insurance paid for damages to roof & our back porch, but the branch also fell on the washer & dryer. They weren't covered. As the men were taking down the tree one fellow slipped & landed on the truck windshield. He paid for it & the repairs were done, but when it rained it leaked on my Dad's camera & that was more expensive. I have no idea why he left it in the truck!
We got far behind & we were able to dig our of our hole & build up savings. We celebrated with a trip to WDW last June. Now as we finish up paying those expenses, my brakes went on my car & our company changed medical insurances leaving us without insurance for about 10 days. Wouldn't you know all 3 kids get sick in that time period? My autistic son got poison ivy, my daughter got mono, & my other one had a swimmer's ear infection. Now they all want school clothes...
It never seems to end.

 

[threecrazykids]

I think your story is great, and we are following Dave Ramsey in a modified form too. However, I think you've missed the point of the OP's post. Believe me, if I had $800.00 extra a month, I would put it back for emergency expenses too.

This is our situation exactly. If I HAD the extra money to put away I would. We are going to ditch the DISH soon (just got set up on Netflix) and are going to try to figure out a way to get out of our cell phone contract. We do have the internet, which I consider our only "luxury" I really don't want to give up considering we have a high schooler who uses it daily for homework. Yes we have a library in our tiny town which offers free internet...BUT with him playing football he doesn't get out of practice until almost 6...library is closed. We try to cut our groceries because that really is the ONLY somewhat "flexible" bill we have any control over (as far as monthly bills). We're upside down in our house right now so there really isn't any extras we can cut...but we're trying. We don't go out to eat, we take our lunches every day but we just aren't bringing in enough. We've called the credit cards and most of them have been WONDERFUL...except for Cap One. I flat out told them when our savings was gone...they would be the FIRST to not get paid because we told them it was coming. Kind of a crappy attitude I know but I can only do what I can do. The rest of the companies did what they could and thanked us for calling ahead of time...Cap One did NOTHING. Basically said "until you are behind on payments we can't do anything". Ok then...if that's how they want it to be, then ruin my credit. Once the cards and everything is paid off I'm on a cash only basis. Dave Ramsey has taught me so much in such little time and his theories on credit cards have me super motivated.

We all just need to keep plugging away with what we have and pray for the best. It's really all we CAN do.

 

[FINFAN]

Get ahead? We are trying like crazy just to not get further BEHIND! OP, hang in there, there are more of us than ever now in the same shoes.

 

[eliza61]

Hang in there op,
After it rains the sun always comes out!!

 

[disykat]

I do shake my head when I hear some of my friends say how broke they are. If they only knew what "broke" really means!

I think this is part of the point. Like the OP, we have money and I feel bad complaining, but there are times it seems like it's a constant drain! For us, this month was a bunch of school expenses and band camp, last month was one son's wisdom teeth, the month before that the dog needed a surgery, etc. etc. etc.

Having a steady income, retirement accounts and savings doesn't make people immune from being bothered about constant expenses.

I KNOW how priviledged I am to be able to have money to go out and buy shoes, etc. when the kids need them or pay for other unexpected things that come up, however I still find myself resenting spending the money when I've told myself "this month for sure I'm not spending ..." and then realize "oh, yeah, band fees are due."

 

[traces7]

I'm right there with you, between layoffs, pay cuts and no raises in 2 years for me and 4 years for DH, I feel like we'll never get ahead. On top of that everything has gone up.

Our health insurance used to be about $200 a month and now is $550 a month, that's the main one!

We need to get at least one new vehicle soon, but I don't see how we can afford a car payment (we haven't had one in 7 years). DH"s truck has over 200,000 miles on it and my car has 183,000 miles. DH needs a new vehicle first, so we're trying to save up as big a down payment as possible before it dies.

It's tough, we don't go on vacations the last few years or eat out much. I have seriously thought about getting a second job, but I don't want to miss out on being with my 11 year old DD. So we continue to struggle and hope for the best!

Good luck to everyone else struggling too!