Well Folks, I Decided I'm Running In The Red.

My job is not high paying, but it always paid enough for my family to live a comfortable lifestyle. Well, the last few months I have had to dip into my savings to pay the bills, and I only see it getting worse. I haven't had a raise in a few years and now bloomturd offered us 0,0,0,2,2 with givebacks. My insurance policies almost doubled in the last 5 years, my utility bills are sky high, they just re-appraised my house again so up goes the property taxes, my family's cell phone bill doubled over the last 5 years, groceries are un-friggin believable, gas for the family cars cost about $200 weekly, my wife and my daughter's college tuition went up. It's never ending. Very depressing.

Don't forget the de valued dollar. Every single American has received at LEAST a 5% tax increase over the last two years due to inflation/money printing.

I understand more than most. Couple years ago, I lost my job due to economic downsizing, but was fortunate to get a job laboring for one of my contractors the same day. Still, the reduction in pay, and losing all the benefits meant that the savings was gone after 1 1/2 years and we could no longer pay for the house. Now we are in an apartment 1/3 the size of the house and had to sell many of our possesions. We are now looking at moving away from here and "back home" where hopefully we can get back on our feet. Well, in reality, my wife got a job with the VA, so its hard to pass that up. But to me, the sense of defeat is unimaginable, not to mention leaving a home (Wyoming) that I love and want to raise my son in. Over the past couple of years, we have been kicked in the forehead so many times as we tried to get back up off the ground, it really makes one start to question what the point is...

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Originally Posted by 13Fox

I understand more than most. Couple years ago, I lost my job due to economic downsizing, but was fortunate to get a job laboring for one of my contractors the same day. Still, the reduction in pay, and losing all the benefits meant that the savings was gone after 1 1/2 years and we could no longer pay for the house. Now we are in an apartment 1/3 the size of the house and had to sell many of our possesions. We are now looking at moving away from here and "back home" where hopefully we can get back on our feet. Well, in reality, my wife got a job with the VA, so its hard to pass that up. But to me, the sense of defeat is unimaginable, not to mention leaving a home (Wyoming) that I love and want to raise my son in. Over the past couple of years, we have been kicked in the forehead so many times as we tried to get back up off the ground, it really makes one start to question what the point is...

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Mostly this.

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Originally Posted by timshufflin

Don't forget the de valued dollar. Every single American has received at LEAST a 5% tax increase over the last two years due to inflation/money printing.

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No, not this.

Fox, I guess I'm not that bad off after hearing your story! I'm still fine. Just gets scary when you have to hit the savings just to pay the bills. I feel like i'm getting nickle-dimes to death.

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Originally Posted by Punch The Clown

Fox, I guess I'm not that bad off after hearing your story! I'm still fine. Just gets scary when you have to hit the savings just to pay the bills. I feel like i'm getting nickle-dimes to death.

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If you're not good enough at one job, get two. Seems elementary.

And in the end, we are not that bad off anymore. But for a while, my wife's job and my jobs just weren't getting it done. Now that we are "smaller" things aren't all bad, just not as comfortable as they had been in the past. It was tough for a while and is tough now even. But the hardest part is the "failure". We did everything right and "followed all the rules" and we lost so much because we got sucked into this "perfect life" that every hard working American should have. Now, I have no confidence in the system and a whole new outlook on the American Dream.

In the end, paying bills with the savings sucked 'cause that was supposed to be some of the retirement, college money for the boy, and the occasional vacation. But in the end, I guess savings is for whatever it needs to be for. I guess really, the only thing about paying bills with the savings that chaps my ass is that in the end, we still lost the fight. But, at least we lost with our heads as high as we could and paid for everything with what we had.

Keep up the fight. It'll make you feel better, but you'll still wonder why an awful lot...

I picked the wrong time to retire. I have no savings and dipping into my wife's savings to pay the tax bills. Even with that, we are still short. However, I still have some credit left on the cards. :) I guess I just have to sell more on ebay. I can always sleep in the floor when all the furniture is gone. Who really needs a full set of dishes, anyway? Electric light is over-rated too. Yup, it should all be fine.

Oh, and I'm still waiting for the Obama Middle Class Tax Cuts. I lost the $800 work credit for my income taxes this year, so I don't see how this was a tax cut. Plus the school and property taxes went up, as they do every year. Tim is right too. The cost of living is definitely higher. At least I don't have to pay for the gas to commute to work any more.

Fox, I see the people that live the American Dream everyday. These are foreigners that claim "political refugee" status. They get free health insurance, free housing, utilities, food. They even collect social security disability because they are too traumatized to work. Meanwhile they live far better than most Americans. They live in luxury apartments, drive fancy automobiles, have huge flat screen televisions, and on and on. They go to health clubs and sit in steam rooms and saunas all day on your dime, because some bogus doctor writes them a prescription for "hydrotherapy". They make me sick.