Honest question about financial situations

[CathrynRose]

The DIS IS a micro climate... a small cross section of Americans just like in any grouping of people who are interested in something... in this case "Disney" stuff.

I am an American and have seriously NEVER met human beings like the ones I've met on the DIS.

I like being here because it opens my horizons. I don't know ONE housewife.. there are PLENTY on the DIS, I don't know one happily married woman, there are PLENTY on the DIS, I don't know one person who would disrespect their parents... I've seen PLENTY on the DIS...

The internet is amazing in that it brings people together who never would've met elsewhere.

I wonder sometimes about those who are not aware of the financial problems that are going on in this country are either NOT supporting themselves or are just sitting in a microcosm ...or just plain concerned only about themselves. It's everywhere. I personally have not lost a home or even BUY milk, but I'm aware of how it affects others.

Excellent points!!!

 

[bigslim]

I find it strange that many on this thread complaining about an increasing lack of spendable money have a pic, slogan, etc... of a particular presidential canidate who has already said he will take more money out of your pockets!

 

[Robinrs]

I have only read page one and this page. I will try to catch up as time allows.


All I can say is WOW. I know many SAHMs and all the women I know who are married are almost all very happy. I guess you run with a different crowd.

Yes, I guess we do.

It's why I get more peace from reading these things.

All of my female friends are professionals, not one SAHM in the bunch. Some stayed home for a year or two, not one liked it, though. Most of my friends are divorced or complaining about their husbands, not all, but most.

Remember, I'm in my 50s. I guess if I was in my 20s my friends would still think their husbands were "wonderful"....

Another difference is most of my associates are either childless or have grown children. My son is 15. I have VERY few friends with young children so they definitely cannot relate to me. Lots of people on the DIS are parents of young children and I've been here since my son was 5yo. I actually loved having a society that went thru the cycles I went thru with my child.

 

[sandy2330]

I can give you some figures based on my personal situation.
I bring home about 1700 euro net a month. My mortgage costs me 571 eur a month (for the next 24 years and 11 months! ), and this is after paying half the appartment in cash (total cost was about 220 000 eur, I have a mortgage of 100 000 eur, and my parents lend me intrest-free money). Every month, I also pay about 100 eur for things like elevator, lighting in the hallways, electric garage door, ...

Diesel costs 9 usd a gallon.
- Going to the movies is about 8 eur (btw, 1 eur is 1.54 usd)
- a 12 pack of Coca Cola cans of 33 cl (about 11 oz) is 5,87 eur.
- 500 g (little more than 1 pound) of pasta is 1.29 eur
- chicken breasts are 10.50 eur per kg (1 kg is some more than 2 pounds)

sales tax is 21%, but included in the prices, income tax for me is about 50%.

I must say that I am in one of the better paying jobs. Most "average" jobs (like people working in grocery stores, desk jobs where you don't need specific degrees, ...) make about 1000 eur a month.
When I grew up, my mom was a SAHM, my dad brought home about 2500 eur, and we were 5.
6-figure incomes are only for the CEOs of the big companies, not too many people make such salaries around here!


In/ around Brussels, the price for a one-bedroom appartment (when you buy it in a decent neighbourhood) is about 180-200 000 eur. A house in/ around Brussels, with 3 bedrooms, runs around 350 000 eur.
Renting a 2-bedroom appartment in my neighbourhood costs you about 800-900 eur a month + charges (sometimes up to 275 eur a month!) for community things like elevator etc.

The big difference it that here most americans do not get a interest free loan for 50% of their home that they buy just out of college. Think how different your financial position would be if you did not get that loan and had to rent at more than your rent and then tried to save to buy your home.

 

[Michelle67]

All I can say is WOW. I know many SAHMs and all the women I know who are married are almost all very happy. I guess you run with a different crowd.

I hope you didn't mean that the way it came out "sounding" when I read it.

 

[CathrynRose]

Remember, I'm in my 50s. I guess if I was in my 20s my friends would still think their husbands were "wonderful"....

.

Im in my 30's. My husband drives me nuts. My g.f's - theyre in their thirties, too - their husbands also drive them nuts.

We've often had talk of 'In the next life' - coming back as lesbians - but we figure a woman could drive us as nuts, if not worse. Woman are vicious!

We've all decided we're NUN'n it, next life. Hours upon hours of 'quiet time'. No one -bothering us- for "yknow". No child birth. A strict bed time! It sounds marvelous, really.

Im with you. Ive never been around a larger group of perfect people....myself excluded.

 

[Robinrs]

Im with you. Ive never been around a larger group of perfect people....myself excluded.

Uhhh, you forgot the quotation marks around the word "PERFECT"...

 

[CathrynRose]

Uhhh, you forgot the quotation marks around the word "PERFECT"...

Sorry. "Perfect" - *wink-wink*.

 

[MrsPete]

All of my female friends are professionals, not one SAHM in the bunch. Some stayed home for a year or two, not one liked it, though. Most of my friends are divorced or complaining about their husbands, not all, but most.

Remember, I'm in my 50s. I guess if I was in my 20s my friends would still think their husbands were "wonderful"....

Another difference is most of my associates are either childless or have grown children. My son is 15. I have VERY few friends with young children so they definitely cannot relate to me. Lots of people on the DIS are parents of young children and I've been here since my son was 5yo. I actually loved having a society that went thru the cycles I went thru with my child.

My female friends are either professionals or SAHMs -- none of them have jobs (as opposed to careers). Several stayed home with children for a while, then went back to work; their experiences varied -- some couldn't wait to return to the work force, others returned only because they feared college costs, etc. None of us look at our choices with regret.

I'm in my 40s, and if you were to line my friends up in order of age, I'd be right in the middle -- about half are older, about half are younger. In other words, they've had time to figure out that their husbands aren't always "wonderful", but they like 'em anyway!

 

[Planogirl]

I can't really group the women I know any certain way. Some are professionals, some have 'jobs' (by choice or not) and a few are stay at home. I know divorced ladies, married ladies and a few just stay single.

 

[RitaE]

I seriously never knew I lived in such a hotbed of diversity

I know women who have no children, some with cats, some without

I know Single Moms

I know Divorced Women

I know SAHMs who like their husbands and their lives

I know WOHMs who like their husbands and their lives

I know SAHMs who would probably rather be Nuns

I know WOHMs who would probably rather be Nuns

I even know one lady who works as an Accountant 9 months, stays at home with her kids 3 months and calls the guy who lives in the same house her "husband" on the months when she is liking him even though they have no official piece of paper and calls him "That ________ whose butt is out of here as soon as I get home!!!" the rest of the time.

I know people who are flat broke. I know people who are worth millions.

And here I thought I just lived in Parker Valley PTA-land when all along I was really existing in a cauldron of multi-culturalism!

 

[Robinrs]

I seriously never knew I lived in such a hotbed of diversity

I know women who have no children, some with cats, some without

I know Single Moms

I know Divorced Women

I know SAHMs who like their husbands and their lives

I know WOHMs who like their husbands and their lives

I know SAHMs who would probably rather be Nuns

I know WOHMs who would probably rather be Nuns

I even know one lady who works as an Accountant 9 months, stays at home with her kids 3 months and calls the guy who lives in the same house her "husband" on the months when she is liking him even though they have no official piece of paper and calls him "That ________ whose butt is out of here as soon as I get home!!!" the rest of the time.

I know people who are flat broke. I know people who are worth millions.

And here I thought I just lived in Parker Valley PTA-land when all along I was really existing in a cauldron of multi-culturalism!

It's not a hotbed of diversity, it's just real life.... something I don't deal with much.

BTW I am a single Mom, never married, been broke and rich, and have been engaged 7 times. It's not like I don't know these things don't exist.

I don't associate with A LOT of people anymore. I did when I was younger but not now. The most diverse and most social group I belong to now is the DIS... and they are people that have convinced that all types exist. (CHECK my siggie quote from the Will Smith movie "Hancock"... I have NEVER heard a quote that felt so MUCH like ME!!)

When I was working in NY I only knew fashionista, show busy types.. it's the business I'm in. I was SHOCKED to see on this board how people didn't like that type of people, and read a lot here about how they despise them. No need, "hollywood types" are just people with publicists...

When I got to Atlanta I felt like a fish out of water. I was SO different than most of the people here. I didn't associate much outside of my work friends and my family. I think I kept myself separate and alienated myself.

The WWW opens us up to so many types of people. It's a good thing.

 

[PaDisney02]

Yes, this is a serious problem hurting every1 including me. My father, who has had a very sucessfull contracting business for 30 years is even feeling it. My father's business is primarly made up of doing maitnance and painting of apartments that people r moving out of (primarly in the lower income area of town). Other years the summer is booming 4 him, this year there is not much work. Why? because of the economy, these lower income people can no longer afford to move from one apartment to another therefor my father isnt getting the work of repairing the places they move out of. As for me, I teach preschool, 20 min. away from my home. Being an educator, I dont make much. Most of my income is used for gas and groceries. I hope something gets straightened out with our econonmy...fast. I am fortunate, I have a hubby who takes care of us financially but I know alot of mothers who are alone and just barely making it. From the majority of people I have spoke with in my area they say that they are hurting too, so we r not alone, its every1. The stimulus check did help alittle but most people I know just used it to catch up on bills.

 

[punkin]

Yeah, you can't believe that all Americans live in houses like the ones on TV. Even the "poor people" on TV live in nicer homes than the average real family. I want to live in a cute little place recently painted in a trendy color, filled with eclectic thrift-store finds that somehow mesh together perfectly. I want this house to be clutter-free and always clean. I want to have attractive, creative decorator items (like candles and wreaths) sitting around. Nothing worn, nothing dirty. Nah, that's not going to happen!

The only TV families that I recall who lived in "real" houses were the Bunkers (All in the Family) and the Connors (Roseanne).

 

[PrincessKitty1]

It's not hurting us immediately, but we have serious financial concerns. With the stock market tanking, DH and I wonder if we may as well be socking our money away in a mattress vs. our retirement accounts.

Since I work in healthcare, I know how absolutely financially devastated people are in the USA who don't have health insurance or who need to go into a nursing home (which is not covered by health insurance anyway, except for a very short term). I really worry about how we will be able to live when we get old, since the USA would rather pay for fighting wars in countries far, far away than pay for national health insurance and a national pension system.

We are very comfortably middle class but I know we could be one accident or one illness away from abject poverty. We are saving hard for our future but wonder if it will be for nothing.

 

[C.Ann]

It's not hurting me to the point where I "can't afford it" - I'm just choosing not to spend as much money as I might have prior to all of these price increases..

I see things getting much worse before they get better, so for now I've made the choice to hang on to more of my money - so that I won't end up in that "can't afford it" group later on..

I do know people who are hurting though because the cost of everything is going up right now - not just food and gas.. I guess other areas of the economy decided they might as well jump on the gravy train wagon too..

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I should add that there are literally thousands of people who live in the rural area surrounding my city who regularly commute 20, 30, 40 miles each way to work at 8-buck-an-hour jobs. The gas prices are REALLY hurting them.

 

[CPT Tripss]

The problem is Dawn....is that it's not like that everywhere. Our milk is $4.00 and up per gallon. Our tuna is twice the price of yours and there sure aren't any prime rib dinners for under $20 no matter how "hard you look", and everything else is costing so much that a prime rib dinner is the last thing on our minds.

Just look at this - you are not alone.

Connecticut Milk Prices Statewide Average:

Skim 4.08
1% 4.00
2% 4.13
Whole 4.15

"The upper class: keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class: pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there...just to scare the **** out of the middle class." G. Carlin on the economic and social classes in America,

 

[SandraVB79]

I am an American and have seriously NEVER met human beings like the ones I've met on the DIS.

This made me

The big difference it that here most americans do not get a interest free loan for 50% of their home that they buy just out of college. Think how different your financial position would be if you did not get that loan and had to rent at more than your rent and then tried to save to buy your home.

I think I didn't explain well.

Appartment: 220 000 eur.
I received 50 000 eur from my parents as a "gift"
They also gave me 20 000 eur as an intrest-free loan.
I used all my savings
And I got 100 000 from the bank. Whis is NOT intrest free!!! By the end of the 25 years, I will have paid back 171 300 eur. That's 71 300 eur in intrest!!!!!


ETA: Since renting was going to be so expensive (about 1000 eur a month), I bought. And therefore, for the next 25 years, I'm stuck with that mortgage. The appartment I have, is not a place where I'll be able to house a family! So while I pay my mortgage etc, I will also have to save for a future house!

 

[bettyann29]

Honestly.. I feel the pinch a little.. Gas is getting higher, groceries are getting higher.. electric bill is getting higher since its summer..

It hasnt affected us all that much yet..