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

[Guitartists]

A sitter??? What's THAT?!

Going out??? Why would you do THAT!?

Yeah, I have friends that lead very different lifestyles than mine... it's interesting to see what some people call "necessity"

 

[SpottedCrow]

I love you Henry!!! Can I adopt you?!
I'll give your parents my DS who's a spoiled lazy brat...LOL

Thanks to my DH we now own our house: paid her off in 15 years of a 30 years mortgage.

We have 2 cars which are a few years old, but his Taurus payment is $190 and my Focus is $160.

Our charges are paid off every month...when I first got married, I was in debt up to my eyes. He paid em off for me and we started over. Now I only buy what I need, mostly...

I own my own business. I'll never be Donald Trump, but I'm happy with it.

I garden. Not done in my neigbhourhood.

We make our own coffee and drink it at home which saves a few bucks a week.

We don't drink or smoke, which saves.

We go out for dinner only on special occassions. Not every night which could cost $25-30 for the three of us.

I belong to sites where I can turn in points for gift cards. I have survey sites where I get $ for taking them. I use those for when we want to go out. Or buy something.

I used to be a secret shopper, so I'd be paid for eating out or going to the movies or buying things...

I Freecycle to get things that I might need and to pass along things that I don't need anymore.


As for middle class, there really isn't one anymore...You're either rich or poor these days and the gap is widening.

 

[Reinbeau]

Necessities - you need to breathe. And eat. What so many people think are 'necessities' really amaze me. If you've got food on your table, a roof over your head and happy children (if you want them, of course!) then you are rich by so many standards around the world - what we Americans think is hardscrabble is absolutely rich compared to those living in third-world hellholes where there's mud for floors, if they've even got a roof over their heads, and they wonder where their next meal will come from - that they'll probably give to their kids, who are malnourished, have no school to go to or shoes to put on their feet. We're rich, we've just got to buckle down and learn to live more frugally.

The excesses of the 80's, 90's and early 2000's have made so many people so soft it's scary. If the you know what really hits the fan those softies are in big, big trouble!

My hubby is frugal - some may say cheap, but he isn't. He just makes sure his buck is going to get him the biggest bang. We both have one credit card each that's paid off monthly. I've lived in the same small (by today's standards, but it's big enough for us!) home for 30 years. When I married my husband we kept his home up in Maine, it's small, but it's paid for. I could care less what the Joneses are doing! I garden, we keep bees, we're getting chickens, we can take care of ourselves. That's what people need to do, take care of themselves and quit looking for someone else to take care of them.

 

[TT]

Quote:
I agree!!

There are too many people who are waiting for someone else to do it for them. I want to do it myself and Lord willing in the very near future I'll have my own meat and veggies.

It's hard teaching the boys that just because other people have stuff doesn't mean they are happy. They are able to look around and see for themselves who has and doesn't and who is happy and who isn't. It makes me proud when they say things that let me know they understand.

 

[BayCityBabe]

Some say we are CHEAP, because we pay things off every month, contribute to savings, etc. We are ESPECIALLY CHEAP in the eyes of my step-daughter and her fiance's family. DH declined to take out a second on the house or pull $ out of savings or sell one of the younger kids (ha!) in order to finance The Big Lavish Wedding. This seems to be the required "Middle Class" thing to do: Rent a huge hall, contract for band , caterers, photographers, etc. All to the tune of $30K or so? So DH says he'll spend $6K. That should be enough for a really nice brunch or something. "Oh, no!" cries fiance's parents, who need to maintain their image (or something), "you can't expect to send off 'the kids' like that." Nevermind 'the kids' are 29 and 35 and have been living together for 3 years...
Anyway, sorry to rant, but it just seems that these people don't share my family's values at all & I am glad y'all do!

 

[Guitartists]

That's insane! ::sigh:: I don't get the big wedding thing either.... especially in that kind of a situation.

I agree with you completely! Good luck with that... and them...

 

[fullhouse]

I am not sure what middle class is. I figure if we can own a home, business, and raise a large family in a safe area without worrying about heat or food, and save for the future we are "wealthy".

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Shoot, we did our wedding back in '96 for $5,000 and that included a 10 day trip to maui (airfare, condo everything). We paid for almost all of it ourselves; working on our days off doing odd jobs, trading labor for services, etc. We didn't have a band, but we got our cousin to DJ and through the caterer we worked out a deal on the reception hall. There are deals to be had, you just have to look.

Oh, BTW, make sure they have a "Money Dance" that's the only way we had any spending money for the honeymoon. We were broke as a joke living paycheck to paycheck when we got married. Top Ramen and Kool-aid was standard for lunch and dinnner. Having meat was a luxury. But we finally pulled out of that nightmare with 3 years of hard work.

 

[FloridaChickenChick]

I don't know about you, but I'm accessing this site using the internet (which I pay for). I don't have to make a choice between reading what you have to say today and eating. I think that puts me in a pretty good place compared to the rest of the world and even part of my own community.

Prices are going up, my salary remains the same. I have to learn to make wiser choices if I want to maintain my standard of living...and I may not be able to maintain it indefinitely. But I have enough to eat every day, electricity and a roof over my head, and I can get the groceries I need without worrying about suicide bombers.

I guess I'd consider myself a member of the blessed class.

There is great poverty less than 15 miles from me...I know I'm still middle class, no matter how tough things may be.

 

[d.k]

* The tougest part of living here the past 15 yrs has been it's effect on my oldest. There are a lot of ppl here either very well off or with the acute sense that they need to look the part. DS harshly resented our refusal to keep him in step with "brand culture" as a kid. Now he resents that culture while denying his desire to accepted by it. It's REALLY marked him and hurt me, too, to have to see it happen.