Frugal, starting now

re: Frugal, starting now

spoonyone — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:31:04 GMT

The younger generation or people under 40 hopefully will learn a painful lesson from their parents. It is not all about "me" and what I want to feel good. The narcissism of the baby boomers has fueled this shopalholic economy for at least 25 years. Changing now is going to be painful for many. I am afraid much of my generation is going to end up very poor and dependent upon their children or society as they age. The boomers who were frugal along the way should end up okay...not rich but hopefully not destitute. It is time to reassess family, friends and generally the values this country used to have. It is also time to stop treating the planet like a giant trash can. Recycle and reuse.....buy what is necessary and very very occasionally indulge in a few luxuries. You and your family will be better off.

Another thing.....keep an emergency fund and a stockpile of food in case you are laid off. At least your unemployment won't be totally consumed by food costs for the first several weeks. Getting a job now is taking a long time.

re: Frugal, starting now

sh ma — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:27:01 GMT

I am not hurting, except for the self inflicting hurt of reducing expenses because I wanna be out of debt. I have one car, a small house, student loan, and some credit card debt. I want it all gone by the time my kids are ready for college. Big goal I know since im a single parent with two kids, but I'm working at it. Whenever I see something I want to buy, i think of that feeling of being debt free and it feels way better than having more junk sitting around.

re: Frugal, starting now

Rita — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:51:52 GMT

Generic medications are a great way to keep your prescription drug costs down. I’ve seen ads on TV for Caduet. It has two ingredients. One is Amlodipine and the other is Atorvastatin. With my RxDrugCard I can get 30 tablets of Amlodipine for $9 and 30 tablets of Simvastatin for $9. I’ll bet they are charging more than $18 for this new drug! The unthinking public is going to pressure their doctors into giving them something just because it’s new, when something old or generic would do the job for cheaper.

re: Frugal, starting now

Pamela — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:20:25 GMT

Up-n-Down, Up-n-Down...when your 51 you've seen it. It's a good thing to go through , these economic "hard times" , because it reminds us that not chasing the

Jone's and submitting to jeolousy & greed has put us in the best place we could be!

I'm not hurting,my children are not hurting and we're not "scared".

re: Frugal, starting now

JIM — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:42:53 GMT

THE GOVERMENT IS NOW GOING TO HAVE{750 BILLION} OF OUR MONEY TO PLAY WITH ALL PET PROJECTS NOW ARE NOW FUNDED. DOES THAT MEAN WE ARE ALL SAVED? I HOPE SO BECAUSE I DONT THINK WE CAN MAKE MANY MORE BAD JUDGEMENT CALLS LIKE THE ONESE WE JUST PUT A BANDADE ON

re: Frugal, starting now

Wendy — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:52:09 GMT

Amen, startsmart. A Millennial myself, I've read plenty of literature forecasting everything short of Biblical apocalypse as a result of all the things that are so very wrong with every single one of us. Well, one doesn't exit the womb as a responsible economic entity. If we're so bad, it's only because the previous generations who raised us didn't consider such things important - who did when a house was considered a fail-safe investment for so many years? Any kids that pop out of me will have retirement accounts (and contribute to them regularly) as soon as legally possible.

I'm 21, and I'm helping my mother manage her pittance...er, divorce settlement. She's 50 with no retirement savings (Dad is/was horrible at saving, and had a way of finding whatever money she'd saved), and has no idea how to use her settlement to prevent her from eating dog food in 20 years. I learned responsible spending from her, but she's learning everything fancier (retirement savings etc.) from self-taught me. I'm trying to talk her into getting a reputable financial planner, but she's stubborn... I guess hanging around here wasn't such a time waster, eh? ^_^

re: Frugal, starting now

agnes — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:14:44 GMT

Im not single and my husband isnt leaving me but we both work,I am a daycare provider and have been for the last 19 yrs and he is a custodian at our local high school. we have 4 children 2 that live with us and 2 that are grown.But we both are hurting, we are 1 month behind on our house payment and everyweek i feel im paying last weeks bills . Whens it going to end for us and this money problems the whole U.S is having.When we see alilltle light something happens like the Van broke down and it cost us 1000.00 to fix . whens does it get better.

re: Frugal, starting now

sixties lady — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:14:35 GMT

those of us who lived thru the finicial turmoil of the late sixties and early seventies know how to be frugal without hurting; its not fun all of the time, but we have to be realistic; how much of the "stuff" that you buy is really essential? if you are young and think that the ability to live on a thousand dollars a month is not real, talk to those who have retired or who work earning minimum wage; hang in there!!!

re: Frugal, starting now

startsmart — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:45:27 GMT

Donna,

when I read articles like this it really reinforces that those who are learning from their money mistakes (myself included) need to mentor the younger generation. How are we ever going to break the cycle of debt and poverty unless we do more? Sure, it would be great if schools taught personal finance but I know my school spent a very short time my senior year most of which I ignored.

I'm 23 years old and mentor a 15 yo and a 18 yo in a very informal arrangement. We're more likely to talk about buying cds than mutual funds but the groundwork is there. I also joke that I mentor my 22 yo best friend but this week when she buys her first car she's learning from the mistakes I made when I purchased mine two years ago.

These message boards are great but for every older person that complains about the state of our youth and wonders who stupid you could be to make those financial mistakes I have to ask, what are you doing to change that reality?

"startsmart" from the WIRR

re: Frugal, starting now

vickie young — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:53:35 GMT

I thought (with exception of toilet flushing) this story was about me. I lost a job in a layoff as a pharmaceutical rep....my husband left and I filed for divorce. Legal costs are enormous. Unemployment leaves me and 2 tennage kids ( from a 10 yr previous marriage) at poverty level. I also had more legal fees trying to get additional child support. I have lived on hardship distributions and a loan from 401K's. That is exhausted and still no real job.

Nowadays the emergency fund need to be able to cover more than 6 months. Try a year. Thats the first thing I'm doing. Then stuffing money into rretirement and college funds.

No more eating out. I am selling the 4 bedroom ranch to rent for a while and actually relocating to a larger town in order to have better college options for me and the kids. I hope to get into pharmacy school...keep telling yourself "change is good". Somedays it actually works!!

Single Mom Struggling