Seeking info ..please help

[2Bshinyandnew]

I still find that hard to believe. It's just me and my wife living here in this 3/2 with 2 car garage with NO KIDS. If we had kids, nothing would change. There would be no extra costs other than food, doctor visits, etc. Very minimal stuff.

People are voluntarily raising expenses when they don't have to.

I know they say all of that stuff, but in my opinion, I simply don't believe the hype.

Maybe you and your wife should live in a 1 bedroom/1 bath and lower your expenses. Perhpas YOU are voluntarily raising your expenses when you don't have to? What the heck do you need 2 extra bedrooms for? You choose to inflate your expenses over your actual needs. YOUR choice. If you were living in a house that merely covered your necessities, would it be 3 bedrooms? Did you buy a 3 bedroom because you may want kids in the future?

Before we had kids, my ex and I lived in a one bedroom apartment. We didn't move to a two bedroom until my daughter was 6 months old. Jeez, I wish I could have had a 3 bedroom 2 bath house just for my husband and I! How did you do that? I want to do that too! Not fair that you get to live in a 3 bedroom/2bath house with no children and I had to live in a 1 bedroom apartment with my husband and baby. Not fair.

[fltoo]

Shiny and GreenInk............LOL

[BKOnce]

DM, you want to have 2 kids??... have you tried out "Artificial Insemination" or "Test-tube baby" techniques yet??... Is it the man's fault or the woman's fault?

[debtmonster]

DM, you want to have 2 kids??... have you tried out "Artificial Insemination" or "Test-tube baby" techniques yet??... Is it the man's fault or the woman's fault?

We're in the middle of going BK. Those are options for rich people.

In response to the apartment... there's no way all of our stuff would fit in a 1 bedroom apartment.

I have one bedroom full of stuff for my home office. The other bedroom has a day bed in it with another desk that my wife uses the computer there. Then we have the master bedroom full of furniture. The livingroom has 3 sofa's and a coffee table. Family comes to visit and they had no place to sit or sleep. Having a 1 bedroom apt would be insane.

When we lived at the in-law's house, we were in the 1 bedroom and it was literally like living in a stuffed closet. We couldn't even walk in there being that everything was so crammed. That's no way to live. Remember, our house was only $120,000, not $400k-700k like many people on here have. We're living ON THE CHEAP as it is.

When all of the homes shot up to $500k, that's when I said, "Screw this, we need to move outta here." And look what that got me. A beautiful cheap house where there's no jobs. Every time I try to save money, it shoots me in the foot.

I wish they would pass a law to restore homes to their original selling price when they were new. Everybody should have a fair chance at owning a home and paying a reasonable price for it.

I am a firm believer in a level playing field. I think everything should be fair and everybody should be equal. Have I become a Socialist??!?! <Gasp!>

But when I say "Equal", I don't mean that everybody is poor. I mean that everybody should have the right to own a Mercedes and not a Pinto!

[2Bshinyandnew]

I wish they would pass a law to restore homes to their original selling price when they were new. Everybody should have a fair chance at owning a home and paying a reasonable price for it.

I wish they would pass a law that made it so people could only live in homes that met their basic needs. If they have more "stuff" than can fit in their basic needs home, they need to get rid if their crap. If they want to entertain, they can meet people out at a park or walk around the mall.

Hm, lets see. I think allowing 700 sq/ft of living space per person is fair. Then if you get married, maybe allow an additional 300 sq. feet for your spouse. If you have kids, add another 200 sq.ft per kid. That would keep everything equal. That way people who have no legitimate need for extra space wouldn't be able to live in a nice 3 bedroom home when the couple up the street who makes more money than you is living in 1 bedroom apartments with a baby. Of course, that couple has no debt

[debtmonster]

You're nuts. We use all of this stuff. Nothing around here collects dust.

Our main living area is about 600 sq. ft.

I've lived in 700 sq. ft. apartments. Those places ARE A JOKE! I would never want to go back to that again. It's like being in a jail cell.

[coloradomrg]

Isn't being in debt like being in jail?

Just my 2 cents....

[jessegirl]

DM - I have 2 kids and just them playing on sports costs me alot of money. When we were kids..... You cannot compare raising a child now and when we were younger. Everything costs money now. When I was small, we went to recreation, it was FREE, now it costs money, we played sports, it was FREE, now it costs $$$. Kids used to ride there bikes and walk to where they had to go. Now they can't cause of the sick perverted idiots out there, that are stealing kids left and right. So now they have to be driven. Now, gas was 57 cents a gallon, now its 2.00. See DM everything that the kids do costs lots of money and what are you going to say NO you cannot play sports? Its easy to say you would have the child live modest, but in todays times everything costs lots of $$ for kids to do. Times are different and they are only going to get worse. I WISH it only costs me 20-30 aweek to feed my kids. My son is a growing teenager that literally eats us out of house and home. We call him the machine!!!!!

[debtmonster]

DM - I have 2 kids and just them playing on sports costs me alot of money. When we were kids..... You cannot compare raising a child now and when we were younger. Everything costs money now. When I was small, we went to recreation, it was FREE, now it costs money, we played sports, it was FREE, now it costs $$$. Kids used to ride there bikes and walk to where they had to go. Now they can't cause of the sick perverted idiots out there, that are stealing kids left and right. So now they have to be driven. Now, gas was 57 cents a gallon, now its 2.00. See DM everything that the kids do costs lots of money and what are you going to say NO you cannot play sports? Its easy to say you would have the child live modest, but in todays times everything costs lots of $$ for kids to do. Times are different and they are only going to get worse. I WISH it only costs me 20-30 aweek to feed my kids. My son is a growing teenager that literally eats us out of house and home. We call him the machine!!!!!

I hear ya, I just don't agree with it all. Perverts and sickos have been here forever.

When I was in 2nd grade I used to ride my bike to school. My mom took me to school for kindergarten and 1st grade. After that, I was on my own.

I didn't get involved with costly sports. That was a luxury.

My dad got an old Lincoln that didn't run for $50 dollars. He fixed it and traded cars for some old mid-70's Toyota. That's the Toyota I drove back and forth to high school at 16 years old. I drove it for 4 years with no car insurance. Insurance was too expensive and I didn't have a job. I got along fine with no accidents.

I'm telling you... we lived MEGA CHEAP!

If I had kids, it wouldn't be much different except that the cost of milk has doubled. I also wouldn't be letting my kids drive at 16. There's no way I'd wanna pay $3,000+ per year insurance.

[debtmonster]

Isn't being in debt like being in jail?

Just my 2 cents....

Damned straight, Skippy!

If they would just do away with unions and get the costs of everything to come down, we could afford to pay cash for most everything and not have to charge everything on credit cards.

[coloradomrg]

Damned straight, Skippy!

If they would just do away with unions and get the costs of everything to come down, we could afford to pay cash for most everything and not have to charge everything on credit cards.

DM - Medical issues, disabiltity or death not withstanding - If you can't afford to pay cash for something going forward, WORK MORE. I work 75+ hours per week between two jobs now. We just discharged, have a few bills, but we for once in our lives have the ability to pay more than the minimums on payments (car and family loans) AND save for any emergencies that might pop up. Suck it up, swallow your pride and flip burgers if you must.

Main point though... debt sucks... no matter what it was for. I think what shiny was getting to was "How much would a smaller home have been when you bought that one for $120k?" Remember, I'm not judging your choice, just asking a question. My wife, son and I live in a 2 bed, 2.5 bath townhouse 2.5 miles from my day job. It's probably more than we have to have, but it's a reasonable expense given our budget.

[wonkettegirl]

Can we please issue a moratorium on allowing threads to be hijacked by DM's asshattery? DM, here's a little hint: if you have no idea what you are talking about, have no experience in the matter at hand, and are tempted to tell OTHERS how to live/manage their debt . . . stop. Just . . . stop.

[debtmonster]

DM - Medical issues, disabiltity or death not withstanding - If you can't afford to pay cash for something going forward, WORK MORE. I work 75+ hours per week between two jobs now. We just discharged, have a few bills, but we for once in our lives have the ability to pay more than the minimums on payments (car and family loans) AND save for any emergencies that might pop up. Suck it up, swallow your pride and flip burgers if you must.

Main point though... debt sucks... no matter what it was for. I think what shiny was getting to was "How much would a smaller home have been when you bought that one for $120k?" Remember, I'm not judging your choice, just asking a question. My wife, son and I live in a 2 bed, 2.5 bath townhouse 2.5 miles from my day job. It's probably more than we have to have, but it's a reasonable expense given our budget.

I used to leave for a job at 6:45 AM and come home at 7:30 PM. Then I'd work my home business from the until sometimes 11, midnight or 1 AM. I was sometimes getting 3 to 5 hours of sleep per day.

Working all of those hours is very bad for your health. You need time of rest. Life is too short to be putting in all of those hours. I'm done with that crap. I will no longer put those kind of hours in unless it's for a $90k job in a state with a low cost of living.

My home business paid me $4200 last month without me having to drive anywhere. We're going to go back to the inlaws house and live small again. We'll put all of our stuff in storage (whatever the trustee doesn't take). Then I'll have to figure it all out like the clock was turned back to 2005.

From working all of those hours, I have put on a tremendous amount of weight. I have tried exercise but now my body has so many health issues with my knees and feet. I need $20k for a gastric bypass operation. Once I can get down to my normal weight, I can take jobs that require standing. I can't stand on my feet for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.

Flipping burgers would require standing all day. I can't do that. I'd rather be homeless and live on the $4200. I could live good on that living out of a van some place. Ya think?

[debtmonster]

Can we please issue a moratorium on allowing threads to be hijacked by DM's asshattery? DM, here's a little hint: if you have no idea what you are talking about, have no experience in the matter at hand, and are tempted to tell OTHERS how to live/manage their debt . . . stop. Just . . . stop.

Okay... Hitting brakes... Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrr! <Crash!>

[GreenInkOnPaper]

Can we please issue a moratorium on allowing threads to be hijacked by DM's asshattery? DM, here's a little hint: if you have no idea what you are talking about, have no experience in the matter at hand, and are tempted to tell OTHERS how to live/manage their debt . . . stop. Just . . . stop.

Oh no. I think I just split a gut!