Parents of Teens

Or lack of it.. Are you being hit hard right now w/ everything that is going on? Have you had to cut back or make serious changes in your life?

I'm actually pretty blessed. Don't get me wrong we are struggling and we're behind on bills and our mortgage but we've already talked to our mortgage co and we're ok, plus we're sitting down every Thursday to go over our bills and see what needs to get paid that week, which is something we've NEVER done! I've even been living the past 2 months on a budget which is really hard for me to get used to... I'm used to going out and spending what I want and worrying about the bills, and such, later. We DEFINATLY lived beyond our means and to think about how much money we wasted on paying late fees or paying things only after they got shut off... BUT... in my mind things always got paid, one way or the other, so I never worried... **SIGH** Not a good way to live!

Honestly? We haven't changed much.  But we've never relied heavily on credit - unless it's a necessity that we simply don't have the money for at the moment we pay cash for everything.  We live in an older, small 3 bedroom house that will be paid off in 8 months.  Hubby's truck is paid for, my car will be paid for in 2 years and we have less than $500 in credit card debt.  I've done a LOT of traveling in the last year, but those trips were paid for before I left.

Probably the only change we've made is my car - I had been driving a car that got 25 mpg highway, and the one that I have now is rated at 36 on the highway - but when I made my last road trip it got just under 34 mpg.  And we are careful about taking DH's truck anywhere at only 18 mpg highway.

It really helps that even though we have DD living here still, and T has lived here for 3 months, both have jobs that pays them around $200 a week, so I'm not shelling out spending money, gas, or even clothing money for them... quite a change from not so many years ago when we had 4 kids at home, only 2 of them working.  As it is, I'm not planning any big purchases until things straighten out in the economy, just in case.

We haven't changed much either. I'm a tightwad. If we can't afford it in whole up front, we don't get it til we can. We just paid off our mortgage (been here 9 years) - I've always put more toward the house to get it done, hoping to finish before college so we can then help fund ds's tuition. We have no credit card debt. We have no car payments (we buy when we have enough to buy outright). We don't have cable. We go out about 1x/week for dinner; I cook the rest of the time and dh and I brown bag for work. But that's just me and my personality about money. Right now the fact that our investments have plummeted makes us feel we'll work til we die, but for now we're ok.

When ds was in 8th grade, dh was out of work for a year. It was very hard living like that but we did it without sacrificing much - that told me we could handle an awful lot if need be (we also both lost our jobs when he was under 2, and I lost mine the day we closed on our first house). I think all of this adds to my frugality...

Sue

Our situation here in Canada is not as "dire" as in the US. Our financial institutions may have to write off a few things here and there but our lending market and our banks are highly regulated. Today there was a report that ranked Canada's banks as the "soundest" in the world.

However, the US is our biggest trading partner. We don't need to import so much but the US is a big customer and if the economy tanks in the US it will certainly affect the level of our exports to the US. So there are people here who are uncomfortable and pulling money out of investments and the housing market etc and that fear is feuling some fluctuation in the market.

That said it HAS been a hard year, financially, for my family. My husband has not been working steadily. He is a construction worker and with housing and building contracts slowing down, so has the need for labourers like him. If he were willing to move to another province he'd be okay but we are not in the position to up and move our family at this time. And he is far too active a dad to even entertain the idea of leaving his kids to work to make some money for a few months.

His being off work so long ate into our savings and then we were forced to dip into our credit again...not good. And so we had to cut back on a few things. I do brown bag my lunch alot more now (good thing). My daughter cut her dance classes in half. We are scrimping and saving wherever we can. I'm not worried about making it through though as I make a fairly good wage and I work in a secure position. I left the job I was at for many years over a year ago because it was not stable. Many of my former collegues have been subsequently let go. So I'm glad I left when I did...