I want to know what it is like not to have to worry about money.

I feel you there, I really do. I'm expecting a baby in February, and it scares me to think about what things will be like then when we are already struggling the way we are. I've been racking my brain trying to think of ways to make extra cash here and there, since I know things are gong to get that much tighter once I am on maternity leave. Everything is just getting so expensive, and it's harder and harder these days to find a job that pays a good living wage.

i know how you feel. with this economy i'm sure a good 80% of people today know how you feel. we're a 4 person 1 income family and recently we started to catch up to where we didn't go into the negative, but recently with my husband deciding to take online classes we started to fall behind. just this past week we had to save and scrape to eat dinner because i didn't have any money to buy food since our account was negative $400 so no money there. thats why i'm starting to become more active here. if i can make enough money online within a month, i can at least be at ease to feed my children.

I'm sorry to hear about your financial situation. It's a challenge these days to live a happy and contented life not having to have to worry about how to make ends meet, have enough to support your living and pay off your debts. I'm not even talking about being rich, just being able to live by not having to worry about such things constantly, so that you can focus your life on other more important things. Maybe you might want to give online work a try. A site like this http://www.dataentryjobs.us/ has several kinds of easy enough part-time or full-time jobs which anyone can do from home and earn a decent living. I believe they do pay for honest and reliable work done by people who sign up. I'm not selling for them, but I believe this may present an avenue for people who may otherwise find it hard to earn well enough to support themselves and their families. God bless you and I do hope you will find a viable way out of your financial situation.

I have no idea! I've heard this phrase, "Don't work for your money, make your money work for you" but I have no idea how to put that into practice! Real estate. If you can buy a house, live in it for awhile, then sell it for a profit (all housing goes up except for mobile homes), you can either buy a better house, or buy a comparable one and have the profits in the bank. As far as I know, personally, real estate is the best way to get money in the bank. I bought some property that was a foreclosure. Three acres and a mobile home. The home won't go up in value, but the land will! The property was worth $67,000.00 when I bought it for $26,000.00, so I already had a profit of $41,000.00 just for signing the papers!!! I'm about to sell this property, which is now worth about $90,000.00, for $70,000.00. I'll hopefully get a fast sale by pricing it way under value, but I'll also be making a nice profit... in only two years!!! My husband and I are living very nicely in our new home in the country because we sold our other home and made a profit of over $200,000.00! We put $100,000.00 down on our new house and have the rest in the bank, drawing interest in a money market account. If we need additional money, we use the interest from the money in the bank. That's the only way I can think of for getting out of that vicious cycle. I was there, where you are. I know it's no fun! It also never hurts to ask for a raise! I don't know where you work, but if it's not government work, you could always ask for a raise. You might not get it, but then again...

I'm not too much better off, but a little bit. I'm dancing right above having to deal with Paul and Peter and it takes hard work to stay there. All I can tell you is have a plan to get out and try it. If it doesn't work try another one. Remember you haven't lost until you give up. You can make it.

I wish I knew but not in that situation. It would be nice not to worry about money. Then I could post all day on mylot. LOL

i am not married yet. i am single and earning but i feel what you feel..my salary is not enough for my family and my self. i spend for the house rent, and grocery and internet bill. and it's really not easy. both of my parents are not working, they are trying to make a small selling business which doesnt make much. my older brother and eldest sister are both working already and are both single.. the three of us help each other with the finances in the house. but i am trying to save already. i dont want to be poor forever..how can i get rich? any suggestion?hehe

Hi there, SmallT! Fancy meeting you here! LOL If you ever figure out the answer to this, PLEASE let me know! I'm just praising God right now that my husband seems to have gotten a 2nd job. I say "seems" to because it's doing massage and the spa has to actually BOOK him or call him in for it to be extra money, but they did call him last night for 1 massage and scheduled him again for 1 massage tonight, so that's a good sign. Honestly, you might want to check into reading Dave Ramsey's book. I forget the name of it, but he has some excellent ways of helping people learn how to handle finances and pay down debt. I've done his methods before and made great progress. But it is not easy. And it's not going to get any easier with the economy as it is. Good luck to you! Renita (rperrone from PL)

I use to be in that situation. My method of getting out of it was, something has to go. I turned off the cable to absorb the rising cost gas, and found that a good book works wonders. And for a special event for the family, rent a video on fridays. I stopped grocery shopping at the big stores, great deals at little stores, fresh produce/meats almost everyday. I started taking my lunch to work instead of eating at the cafe or vending mchines. I there was a bill with installments and only a few payments left, I would call the next highest bill and arrange to miss a payment or two, to pay one off, one ballon payment the that one and one down. Most inportant thing is I didn't go out and make another bill. It worked for me mabe it'll work for you.

{{smallT}} I know what you mean, I know what you mean, I've done the same thing borrow peter to pay Paul and so on;, I never will catch up I swear I won't: when you live on just disability pay, its a "stinker" to try and exist each month; its the middle of the month, and I just don't know which way to turn anymore; The refrigerator has some ice in the freezer, some chicken fat I'm saving for "broth", when/if I get a baking hen... let's see there is some left over turkey in there; that's it for the freezer; the bottom part of the ref is "lonely" too, no bread, no milk...almost out of butter, it sucks it just sucks... I spend hours each day looking and searching and trying to figure out what to sell or what can I do to make a few bucks;;;ARgghh! I wish I knew if there was a way out of our holes we dig; good luck to you, its a day by day thing I swear it is;

I hear ya. It seems like every time I am able to pay things off and stop worrying, something worse comes along that drains my bank account. It doesn't help me any right now since my neighbor comes from a very wealthy family and gets whatever she wants...and she's 25 and has a job, but they still send her money and house decorations.

Unfortunately, unless you win yourself a lottery or something like that, you're probably always going to be stuck like this. I know it's really hard and stressful too with all this stuff on your mind. You pay off one thing and there's another waiting behind you to collect it's toll. It's really annoying and the only thing you can do is continue working hard and pay off what you can. Try to do some kind of course in college or university on something that you're interested in and you might be able to get a well-paying job that might take a load off your mind. Good luck. Hope this helps.

I want to know how that feels too... And at this moment I am doing everything that I could so that one fine day I would be able to have that feeling. One of the steps that I have taken is to reduced and eventually get rid of my credit card debts. I am hoping that by end of October 2008, I would have no more credit card. I am throwing away my credit cards one by one and when that is done, I am sure that I would be able to better manage my money. Right now credit card payments take the bulk of my income away and if I have no more credit cards than i would have that bulk of my income that I can put to other uses... Without credit cards, I am now going for only debit cards since I still need to buy and pay things online such as utility bills and flight tickets and some other stuffs where it would be more convenient to buy without using cash. Debit cards are okay since we are using our own money. I really hope to settle the bulk of my debts first and then paying for those other stuffs as you have mentioned in your post would be much easier. Cheers!

Hello! I know exactly what you mean.Every month I end up waiting for my cheque because I can never make it till the end of the month. It's always the same thing and for better or for worse we have to work for all or coming years. Happy mylotting!!

Tell me about it. I don't want a lot. I just want a decent little house and more money left over at the end of the month than month. But, if you are always borrowing, you need to look at your spending. Are you really only spending on the necessities. If you know taxes and insurance are going to come up, put some money aside every month to save towards paying those. Then the budget doesn't take such a large hit when you do have to pay them.

[i]Hi small, ohh..I know this is common to everyone no matter how we tried to save and budget! I guess some solutions are finding a part time job having a regular job and that will help us earn an additional amount for bills and expenses and then working here online will us also in a way and then try to evaluate our recreation in a week or month and try to cut off or minimize it![/i]

It is hard, I know been there - done that - still working my way out. I would bet the hole I had to dig out of was deeper than most as mine was a divorce hole with a ex who left me deep in debt and then stole my identity just to add insult to injury. I learned some hard lessons, believe me. So tips from the dark side of debt management and digging out. 1. If you have consumer debt that you are trying to service and you are paying only the minimum consider a Debt Management plan. This will lower and then freeze the interest rates, freeze the payment to a lump sum and have you completely out from under your consumer debt within 3 years. Yes it will ding your credit report, however it is not as bad as it could be and believe me 3 years is nothing compared to how bad it can get. 2. Reduce spending. Create a tracking budget for 30 days and write down every single dime that you spend. Whether it is for household goods or a soda, write it down. At the end of the month put it in categories and then add it all up. You will be shocked at where your money goes. Example: 2 sodas per day @ $1.50 5 days per week at work, assumes a 20 day work month = $150 per month in spending. Once you have figured out your "extras" cut them! Put half into a savings account and half toward debt servicing. 3. Turn off the air conditioning and heat! Really turn it off. Or at least set it to a steady 79 degrees in the summer and 69 degrees in the winter. Dress appropriately. It is easier to put clothes on and take them off than pay the bills. 4. Do not shop in bulk for food unless you have a large family to feed. The food goes to waste. Shop for what you need once a week. We are a country of consumers. Stop buying more than what you will ever consume. Don't cook more than what you will eat either, if you don't eat left overs don't make them. 5. Don't try to keep up with the Jones. Believe me you don't need to buy the latest and greatest of anything. Purses, shoes, and clothes are simply another trick of consumption. Forget it. Create your own style.

I also don't want to worry about money :D Would be nice I think :) Have a nice day :)

I know exactly how u feel. i am constantly worried about money and i feel like i hardly get to buy anything just because i want it. i dont buy things i want b/c i have to save all my money for things that i NEED. And it's getting harder and harder with the prices of EVERYTHING going up dramatically and everyone losing their job. our economy is in a state of emergency if u ask me. it's headed down the toilet.

hi, i hope that the life gets that easy so that we do not have to worry about the money. every moment we spend something we feel that ..... we are paying some of the hard earned money and after that if the spending goes a little too high then the worries increase a little.