Bills

[LadyKay]

I'm sure I'm not the only one but do you ever look at your bills and wonder how on earth am I going to pay all of these?

[jcheeka]

all the time in a perfect world there would be no bills and the weekends would be longer

[Destroit]

Every freaking day. *sigh* I need more income and someone needs to call Raven back for a damn job. I can't keep this household afloat on $8.50 an hour, it just won't happen. *cries in coffee*

Sorry for the ramblement, let's just say I know how you feel.

[LadyKay]

I new I wasn't alone.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I don't look at bills. They make me angry.

[TygerLili]

Yup! Especially now that I lost my roommate and my job.

[Hellion]

This country ain't cheap anymore,wages don't increase cost of living does and its getting worse.

and its bullshit!

[Homicidalheathen]

it feels like quicksand dont it?

I think we are going to die owing.

Unlike my parents who had it soo good.

Not easy but good.

My dad worked at gm and got all the perks.

We have nothing.

[Hellion]

it feels like quicksand dont it?

I think we are going to die owing.

Unlike my parents who had it soo good.

Not easy but good.

My dad worked at gm and got all the perks.

We have nothing.

And they say this is the land of opportunity,not if your born and raised here its not.

[sass_in_the_pants]

You're preaching to the choir. Oh well.

[creatureofthenyte]

Well.. I know its probably not an option for most of you, but y'all need to get the hell otta Michigan! Are there any jobs left out there that actually pay money ?

We don't have places like Luna and or CC out here, but amongst what we do have; we have 2 casinos, both of which are expanding, one of which, Foxwoods is doing an MGM Grand expansion, and they are currently lookin to hire aboot 2000 people. The Mohegan Sun casino, will be doing the same, AND CT is Not a right to work state.

My situation, its not a question of If I'm gonna pay off all my bills, its When.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I put all the bills in a shoebox, and once a week pull one out at random and pay it. If the god-damned collectors call, I tell them to stop hastling me or i'll take their bill out of the box all together! Hrmhph!!

Despite my wise ass story to try and cheer myself and others up...bills are often overwhelming/depressing/frustrating or all of the above.

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

I don't really worry about my bills too much. I'm not rich, and most of the cash I do have is not really mine to spend. I end up in awful situations sometimes because of bills. I'm very fair about what I pay people for work, and this has also held me back a bit financially. What I will say is this.

Anxiety like physical pain, occurs when something is wrong in your life that you feel overwhelmed by. Like a booboo, it tells you that there is some emotional part of you that requires a band aid. You can either apply this band aid by finding a way to sooth yourself until the pain goes away for now, or you can permanently let this pain go by simply doing this.

If you believe in something higher than yourself in this world, give all of your troubles, worries, and emotions to this power.

Now that all your garbage is gone, go live your life. Things aren't that complicated. You work, you eat, you don't you starve. Every once in a while, we're shown that we are not making enough. These are times when we have to find extra work to do, and reprioritize our goals or spending habits.

If you draw out your budget (sounds silly I know) and keep track of your check registrar, cash on hand, etc, you will know to the day how much income you need to bring in. You have to make this a monthly budget first though. Plan for your life first. What do you want out of life? How much money will it take to get there? Now plan for ten years. Then five, 1, 6 months, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour.

If you've outlined all of your goals in such a way, are aware of your budget, and have not set unrealistic expectations for yourself, then you have already succeeded. Now here's another problem.

Say your dreams just don't work out, and you refuse to try anymore. If you've exhausted all of your attempts to pursue happiness, what are you left with? Did you leave yourself any outs, or a backup plan?

Writing out goals and seeing the world as a simple action, reaction, love, attraction, and not allowing emotion to dictate your logic except when passion overrules and passion is justified, will make life feel a little bit easier and a little less stressful.

Don't take my word for it though. Try it out and prove me wrong.

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

I put all the bills in a shoebox, and once a week pull one out at random and pay it. If the god-damned collectors call, I tell them to stop hastling me or i'll take their bill out of the box all together! Hrmhph!!

Despite my wise ass story to try and cheer myself and others up...bills are often overwhelming/depressing/frustrating or all of the above.

Often times it's better to ignore debt collector's Troy. Being that I used to be one, I will give you this advice. You don't even owe a debt until you've made an admission that the debt is yours. While, this debt may belong to you forever, this does not mean you can't challenge it. I'm not telling you to find ways to not pay your bills, but rather to find ways to protect yourself and your credit until the bills are paid. I might end up just writing an entire article on this, because I really don't think this topic can be summarized in a short forum response.

I will say this though. Every time you apply for credit, have someone else do your taxes, do a change of address though the post office, or give your physical address out anywhere you risk both your money and your freedom. Your money is your only guarantee of freedom and the only thing that will bail you out without fail, when trials befall you. You don't have to be a criminal to see the logic in this. There is no reason for you to even allow debt collector's to call, and if there is nothing saying you can't "cease and desist communication". As a matter of fact, it's quite the opposite. If you ask them not to call or mail you, they can't. If they refuse to by phone, and you submit it in writing (which you don't have to but for legal purposes it helps) they cannot only be held accountable for a $5,000 fine or greater per the FDCPA requirements, but in addition to this, they can be held accountable for the debt itself.

I'm not saying to pawn your debts off on collection agencies. I'm saying to assert your RIGHTS so that people like this can't harass you while you're trying to live your life so you can pay your bills one day.

[freydis]

bills are the bane of my existance....

[Fierce Critter]

<-- debates posting as she just might end up on many people's hate list...

I don't worry about bills anymore.

Jon has a good job. He just switched back to a company he worked at for 2 years, after 3 months with a new company. His income has gone up $6.00 an hour since last fall. We're doing well enough that when the 2nd company heard he was going back to the first one and offered to top their offer by ANOTHER $2.00 an hour, he was able to say, "No, thanks" in order to go back to a place that valued & treated him better. More job security, which is more valuable than $2.00 more per hour.

But this was a looooooooooooooooooooong time in coming. We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary this October. And if you look back at my old posts here on DGN, you'll see that the majority of our time together has involved financial struggle.

When we first got together, sometimes things were so bad, all we ate were 26cent pot pies and bagels a friend brought us at the end of his shift at Einstein bagels. Sometimes all I ate were those bagels so that Jon could have the pot pies.

We have no problem paying our bills now. But we also have been good about making intelligent choices over the years. We have only had one single credit card in that time, and kept it at a minimum spending limit. Whereas a lot of people complain of having an average of $10,000 in credit card debt, we have less than $2,000.

We shop at thrift stores a lot, and yard sales. Precious little of what we own was brand-new when we got it.

We're not perfect. The move back to Michigan from North Carolina resulted in our having a motorcycle repossesed, and we still owe $1800 on that. And we couldn't get Citibank to work with us on our credit card payments at that same time, so we basically told them "go to hell" and stopped paying on it altogether.

But we're now entering a period of relative prosperity that will enable us to pay off those back debts in total. AND move into a nicer rental, and save to buy a house. We're eating better. And looking forward to medical insurance kicking in in March so we can get back to the doctors we need.

Hang in there, people. It took us 10 years. Jon has A GED, no training or education in what he's currently doing, and he's ended up with companies fighting over him. We do count ourselves VERY lucky. But it didn't happen overnight. We had to make sacrifices along the way, including moving out of state when we knew we didn't have a better alternative. A move that caused some major problems in both of our mental and emotional health.

I really am hoping the best for my DGN friends. I know the fear of answering the phone, reading mail with red "URGENT!" stamps on the envelope. Having creditors scream at me. Having my dad call me to tell me that my creditors called HIM and the fucking NEIGHBOR DOWN THE STREET.

It sucks. And I feel sorry for ANYONE going through the same. I have been there.

[jcheeka]

nobody is going to fault you for working to get where you are. Its awesome some of the stress of bills is gone. My situation is just the opposite. My husband took a lower paying job to be home more which made our daughter very happy but his pay was cut in half. I am not complaining in any way but we are just playing catch up now. You know pay goes down and bills seem to increase.

[Homicidalheathen]

I heard gm is trying to buy people out of their contracts???

All I know is, my dad gets a pension......full medical and hospice.

[Nienna]

Oh god... don't even get me started! *cries*

[TomCat]

Bills suck. However, "the machine" would come to a screeching halt if we all stopped paying them. As much as I hate bills, anarchy and chaos suck even more.

[CandyQuackenbush]

I worry about bills all the time.

My half of the house payment: 700

Jeep: 250.00

Insurance for jeep: 112.00 *

Cell Phone 100.00*

Feed a family of 5: 250.00 everyother week.

This is why I need a better job. the (*) means thats every month. (**) means it varies.

[Daevion]

Bills suck. However, "the machine" would come to a screeching halt if we all stopped paying them. As much as I hate bills, anarchy and chaos suck even more.

Yeah but from within the choas a new debt free society may emerge.....maybe

[Nienna]

I've pretty much dispaired of ever paying them off. It's all about paying them all and still finding money for food.

[Hellion]

Like I mentioned before everything but wages goes up which is BS!

[slingerlandstyx]

My car breaking down last month and lack of a tax return for this year have put me 2 grand in the hole. Yes, billls definitely do suck.