Do you have enough money for basic necessities?

Question

or do you have to scrimp to pay your cable, internet provider, trips, cigarettes, boose and ebay purchases?

Answer 1

Cant afford housing, food, never mind trips, wow what a luxury, booze? I have had to live with friends and family since 2003 - recently reapplied for Provincial and Federal Disability pensions and in a fit of optomism arranged to rent a place from a friend, moving in at the end of the month if my son comes through and moves my stuff. Otherwise I will have to leave everything behind. I have been taking in boxes everytime I go into the city to put in a storage locker and thats where my money goes. $110 for the locker, I receive a whopping $252.85 a month from a partial disability pension.

This friend could easily rent the place for 3 times as much but has taken pity on me.

IF I dont get my pensions I will be living on the street. There is no safety net in Canada for people between the ages of 55 and 65. If you are disabled, tough, you have to fight like hell for anything. I've been fighting for 17 years, and I am tired. My condition has gotten steadily worse, now my spine cord is narrowing and degenerating. In two place, both where I was injured when the roof fell on me at work.

Sold my house and lived on that money but now its all gone too. RRPS's gone. My childrens college fund gone, all I have is a car that is going to die anyday.

I suppose I could live in it rather than on the street. I would have to turn my cat over to the humane society because it wouldnt be fair to him.

My roommate has gone back overseas, the lease is up on the 31st and I dont have the money to rent here, dont want to stay here because I have a frozen shoulder and have to drive 2 1/2 hours to physio and shopping, then 2 1/2 hours back and each time it takes about $30 worth of gas too.

I dont know anyone here either, havent spoken to a single soul since moving here in December other than a clerk in the corner store. Now I am here all alone. Kind of like being in solitary confinement. But I slept for 9 hours last night ! First time since moving here, because my roommate made it part of his torture routine to see that I never got more than 3 - 4 hours of sleep a night.

Its been a very abusive situation . I moved in because I had helped him financially in the past, and had nowhere else to go. But have been here for 9 months and he did NOT like that one bit. I know that sounds awful but with all my health problems I wouldnt last a week living on the street or in my car. Y'all can read my profile if you want to know about my disabilities.

So there you go, I am applying for "welfare" disability so do y'all think I should be ordered to have drug test every other day because people on welfare are druggies, drunks and losers? I dont mean to be confrontational, just fed up with the assumptions and generalizations and each one HURTS.

Lilabner some people would like to contact you, you dont allow emails -

Answer 2

I live a frugal life with a few perks and am on SS widows benefits and yes I have enough for all the necessary things and manage to keep a bit back each month in case of an emergency. I use no credit cards and I watch Craig's List if there is something I decide I need. I seldom eat out and cook from scratch. If I am traveling over a hundred miles I use the Hound. If you buy in advance you get a discount and another for being a senior. I wouldn't call it scrimping I would call it common sense with what is available to you. I quit being a caregiver about 10 months ago it was too hard on me mentally and physically to continue. ADENDUM--I changed the E thing, let me know if I did it right.

Answer 3

Yes, I have enough money for the basics right now. The future is yet to come.

From your list above, I only pay cable (which I may just get rid of), Internet, and take some day trips. I was saving x amount of dollars before I retired, and I am able to continue to do so since I am in the habit now.

Answer 4

If you can not cover your basic necessities, then change your life to something that allows you to do this....

I personally had no income when my father died. I had been out of work for 11 years taking care of my aging parents. All I had was the house they left me as compensation for changing my life drastically to help them.

I found out the hard way that I was considered no longer employable because of my age.

So I invited my daughters to move in here with their sons and make this a true multigenerational home. Now they work to earn the money that the bills are paid with. And I take care of their kids while they are working, so that they CAN work.

And now each of us are much better off financially than we were separately. We have been living this way for three years and it seems to be working quite well.

So now, because of the choices I made in the way I handled my resources, I have more than enough money to pay cable, internet, gas and hydro, phone and taxes. And I am slowly working on bringing this old house up to modern standards.

Answer 5

Yes, we do. And we had enough for extras. Now hubby has decided at the age of 58 that he's tired of working for other people and is embarking on his own. So the bills get paid, but there's no extra for now. His goal, however, is to buy the first of 3 houses in 2 years. That would mean travelling to get to the houses, so the outlook is good. I hope.

Answer 6

Sweetie, all the planning in the world can never cover those unexpected emergencies! When, at the end of the month, I find that I have $17.50 remaining that isn't ear-marked for something--I sock it back for those things that are often considered luxuries for those of us on strict budgets. By luxuries I mean, birthday gifts for friends/families, holiday shopping, etc.
When you're saving, how do you determine what is enough to get you through for ALL the days ahead? You simply can't.

Answer 7

I save money on the booze, cigarettes, trips and ebay purchases.

Answer 8

I was going to ask you to define 'basic necessities' then I saw the details to your question. It all makes sense. I wish we could get these retarded politicians to define basic necessities. Then they might think twice about these fascist minimum wage laws.

Answer 9

have enough for the basics but would like a little more
" breathing room " in case prices rise.