Anyone still feel like they belong to the middle-class? Vent...

[2boxers]

I grew up poor. I mean, poor. I had two pair of jeans to wear to school, and if one got messed up, I had one pair of jeans to wear to school.

I went out after high school, got a job, and learned how to live with twelve pairs of jeans, a closet full of blouses, sweaters, shoes, purses, and I was not near as happy. All that stuff had to be washed, kept neat, folded, ironed...

I am not too worried about what "class" we fall into. We have enough to pay the bills. My daughter has decent clothes and we are sending her to private school. My husband does a job that pays him a decent wage and he finds fulfillment in his work. I am a sahm with a part time job working with kids and I am very fulfilled with my work. We have low debt (if you can't buy it with cash you don't need it is our motto.)

Too many people are trying to live beyond their means, and for what?

Now, I do think we, the middle class, get it up the butt at tax time. But that's a whole nother ball of wax.

 

[Sonia]

DH and I got married at the JP, then went home and had a cookout with the kids (I had two from a previous marriage). I bought my dress at a yardsale for $50. Worked for us.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Exactly. Too many of our fellow americans have become conditioned to believe they deserve stuff. And not just any old thing, nope they gotta have the hottest whatchamakalit. The entitlement mentality many americans have makes me sick. When there are so many others out there suffering on a level we cannot comprehend, there are people who will whine because they can no longer afford Starbucks but must buy 7-11 coffee. I'd like to see those folks go to a country where REAL poverty exists. Places where the only reason they have food is because somebody else on the other side of the world dug deep in to their pockets, to send these starving people the food they need to survive.

I wanna see the "jones'" meet people that are in real poverty face-to-face so they can see just how stupid it is to buy these worldy status symbols instead of basic needs.

I'm not poor. I'm not rich. I'm not middle class.

If I must be put in to some kind of class, put me in the "trying to make a difference" class.

With all that we have, we have so much to give, even when we think we have nothing.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I can understand why you might feel this way sometimes.

However, I have to agree with some of the other folks who answered. I am not rich in money, but I am rich in happiness.

Five years ago we had a LOt of debt - credit cards, cars, house, etc... We had a foreclosure notice on our house, which was really the eye opener.

We got rid of the credit cards, and paid them off. We made double payments on one item per month until that was paid off, then paid double on something else, until it was all paid off (you cannot believe how great that felt!!).

We now do not have credit cards at all. We have our savings, and we are both retired (living frugally) on a farm in kentucky, which has been our dream since we met (well, before we met, thankfully we had the same dream). I am 43, and hubby is 52.

Five years is like NOTHING on a time frame to accomplish this, and I still wonder that we did it. The move was expensive, and we are still getting the farm in shape, but hopefully the big expenses are done with.

My favorite thing in the world - getting up every morning, looking out the door and seeing my farm, and being greeted by all my animals (it sounds like Old MacDonald's Farm here in the morning, LOL they all go off when they see the "food lady").

I don't need a credit card, a new car, a fancy handbag, or designer clothes. I feel healthier than I have in years, just getting away from the stress of the city.

I can honestly say -- I am the richest person in the entire world.
Yeah, I get resentful sometimes too of those who seem to have a lot of "things" - but then I think of the debt they have, also.

I love lobster - I eat it maybe once every five years, LOL. When I feel the need to run out and buy that expensive meal I remember that people in Haiti are eating dirt just to survive -- yes, dirt - they make it into a little disk, like a cookie

this is not uncommon in Haiti - it is just not heard about in this country - Haiti only seems to make the news in the United States when it has some "Hollywood" appeal.

Peace -
Meriah

 

[tomstephens]

I was saved by my wife's credit when we got married. Ever since I can remember I hated credit so I didn't get it, I didn't want it. When we wanted to buy a house though, I found out just why I did want it.

I was lucky that my mom is a mortgage underwriter and could give us tips on what program to use etc that would take advantage of our situation where my wife had all the credit and I had all the money.

So now we have a couple of credit cards we use so I can build some credit, but they get paid off in full every month.

We put as much as we can in savings each month - but that amount is getting smaller and smaller. I started riding my bicycle to work to save money. We drive her car anytime we go anywhere because it gets much better gas mileage. We have to cut out all of our extras in food because we are determined to sitck to the budget we two years ago.

My car only takes premium so with gas prices where they are I realized it costs me $0.20/mile to drive my car, and that doesn't count maintenance; as much as I love my car it moves as little as possible these days. I'm just glad we were intentional to buy our cars with cash so we don't have to worry about car payments or anything.

This though, is why everyone should go and click my ads on my blog so I can afford to drive my car!!

Just kidding!

I'm with Guitarist though, I go to second hand shops for clothes and there are places that have the clothing rejects/overstocks for one reason or another -- so I buy everything there. Our family and friends think we're loaded. They just don't realize how hard we work to save money where we can...

 

[AnimeChicken]

As you can ask RoosterRed, We're sorta between middle and lower class.We don't get a lot of money, but we're not poor.We make due with what we have. Sure, every once in a while, I get a purse or even a Shonen Jump, but that's when we are able to pay all of the bills,maybe.

I tend to stay off in my own little world..

So..I'm not really sure....Yeah...

 

[d.k]

* The credit card and other forms of the credit industry in this country is a scandalous part of this nation's problems. I rented a little movie about it-- OMG!!!! It was horrifying. I just wish I could remember the name of it right now. ~:[

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
$30k Wedding! I've read that's the close to the average cost in the Seattle area for one too. Shoot, if that's the case, I'd ask my dad to put that 30k into a down payment on a house instead!

 

[eggzettera]

d.k :

* The credit card and other forms of the credit industry in this country is a scandalous part of this nation's problems. I rented a little movie about it-- OMG!!!! It was horrifying. I just wish I could remember the name of it right now. ~:[

Maxed Out?​

 

[GRAM49]

I used to feel insecure about being middle/lower class, but now when I see the excess some people go to I feel very lucky. We put two children through college on one average paycheck, the children acrued no debt. Our van is 5 years old, but paid off and our home is paid for. All with hard work, clipping coupons, shopping sales and doing without expensive needless items. My stuff fits in a $9.99 bag as well as a $199 bag. My husband thought it was important for our children to have a "stay at home mother" so worked extra hard to meet our needs. About the credit card - we tried that for a while and finally buckled. We could not rent a car one time when we needed too. Just get a card or two and use them once a year for a minor item and that is all you need to do. You can still stick with cash payments, but the credit card is there if you need it. We are just a couple of "getting older" people with chickens. I couldn't be happier!