My personal Drama (caution, LONG)

[Arkaneinc]

Glad you were able to make it out alright. I'm going through a similar situation right now. I don't own a home so I don't have to worry about that but my wife and I are pulling in half of what we made last year and it's getting tight. Right now I have 2 brand new cars and can only afford to drive on of them. I'd sell 1 but I wouldn't get enough money out of it to make that much of a difference. I just canceled cable and every other bill I could think of to save money. Switched to chicken and rice as well as pb and j.

Was starting to get things turned around last month till I went to the mail box earlier this month and opened a collection notice. Looked at it and just went ohh crud. Looked out the date of original service rendered or whatever and it's from 2004. I had insurance and they never paid it. They declined it. I called the collection company and they send me the notice now because their client (medical bill) is going after all the unpaid debt because they are in danger of closing. I'm trying to negotiate the payments as we speak because so far I haven't had one bill report anything to effect my credit and I'd like to keep it that way.

Thanks for your post though it does reassure me that I am not the only one going through this kind of a situation.

Wish you well for the future.

[Johnny Mullet]

I used to work at a large dealership and made good money. We spent a lot and had some fun during those years, but never saved and never expected me to lose my job. Well that did happen. I quickly got a new job, but had to start over basically. We were able to pay our bills and that was about it. It has taken time to adjust to the smaller wages, but I do have retirement and medical which makes up for some of it. Living paycheck to paycheck is a drag and we have been doing it since the beginning of 2008. Finding the Metro to save our asses through the fuel crisis was the best thing that happened to us financially.

[Coyote X]

Diogenes was asked, "Tell me, to what do you attribute your great poverty?"
"Hard work," he replied.
"And what advice can you offer the rich?"
"Avoid all the good things in life."
"Why?"
"Because money costs too much. A rich man is far poorer than a poor man."
"How can that be?"
"Because poverty is the only thing money can't buy."

A simple life is a comfortable life, it's just to bad there are so many neat toys that need buying It is good that things worked out for you. Hopefully you gave some other people that might be having some similar trouble a few ideas that can help them get through their own personal problems.

[metroschultz]

Hey Rick,
Thanx Again for all you have done to help me out.
I must tell you,
when I was with you and in West Virginia, I became enamored of the simple life.
I spent 1/3 of my formative years living and working a farm in the North Carolina hills. Sprucepine to be exact. My mothers family had farms and farmland there, ( all has been sold now) I would go south in the summer to help out with the work. It was great times and hard work. Even as a very young boy (6 or 7 was when I started) they expected me to do the labor of a grown man, (o.k., a short, weak, man). I did and was rewarded with experiences few people these days get.
I can pop the head off a chicken with a flick of my hand.
I can shoot any fire arm made and when I was qualifying in the Army, I shot 79 out of 80 on my first test earning me the right to wear the expert marksman badge.
I have turned chitlins.
I have churned butter.
I've eaten, squirrel, snake, possum, clover, (and a multitude of other Beverly Hillbilly delicacies I don't remember now)
I've helped run a still. (I even have a small jar of white lightning in the house right now given to me by a relative)
I have enough experience to survive in the wild like Grizzly Adams if the world comes to that. (but I don't believe it will.)
If I did not have a family to think of or a wife who truly appreciates the comforts of city living, I would rent one of your cottages and take a job down the road at a truck stop.
Hard work doesn't scare me, and I often think of getting back to the country. We have relatives still in NC, SC, TN, KN . When the though of selling the house to get out of debt was a very real possibility, we considered which of these we would head for to re-group and re-build. I believe we would've gone to Kentucky, to live in Russellville and re-organize our lives.
Alas, life doesn't always give you what you want so you have to use what you get.
But I wouldn't trade my life now for anything else.
It was tough, we made it through, others will too.
The hard times are not over, but we as a couple, have learned a lot so we won't make the same mistakes again.
And James,
Red Beans and Rice was on the menu as well.
Thank God I like green food.
Turnip greens, Collard greens, Spinach, etc. are all relatively inexpensive.
Schultz