Reply #11: I don't want to see the ecomomy crash.

[HillbillyBob]

I would like to be able to have a decent standard of living where I don't have to choose between food and the light bill, or a new pair of jeans and fuel to heat with.
We have done reasonably well cutting down, but you can only cut so much before you are naked and in the cold.

It has crashed for us in 2002, and we knew this mess was coming and when I said ya might want to figure out how to survive w/o regular income and lay in some rice and beans..I was told I was a doom and gloomer.....

We did buy a house, because we could not afford rent anymore, rent was 950 and went to $1,275 per month.
We grabbed and abandoned home, they walked away and it went into foreclosure, we spend a little every month for insulation products, from insulated/black out curtain liners(still dont have draperies 3 years after moving in), to great stuff foam, and stuffing cracks with styro, i even made gaskets for outlet and switch covers (makes a difference , if you smoke go over to your outlet or switch covers and hold it near if you see air movement, you are losing heat or ac, if you have a video camera with night vision, go around inside and outside and where you see bright spots when outside that is where heat is leaking, and if you do it inside and see dark spots near doors or windows you have cold air leaking in)
The payments are less than 600$, we looked for even cheaper, but those places were pure shacks or burned out and we needed a place to live.
We have cut to the bone. We live on much less than we were making 10 years ago. My partner took a 40% pay cut I took 70% because now I am sick on disability.

The only way we got the place is because of partner being able to use his VA benefit to get a loan. We insisted on non adjustable, after a year we were on time with every payment we got a chance to refi for a lower interest rate so we did. We did it with very little down too, but we had to scrimp for that and we had to pay off our old bills from when we both found ourselves out of work and savings were all gone. We were not living high on the hog. We had rent, gas(heat), power, food and truck payments. The last job loss was after being outsourced several months prior and out of work for some time and living on our savings.

I had to be sick and homeless for almost 2 years to get help, and that after I landed in hospital with pneumonia.

So F**K Wall Street I hope the hell it does crash and we have to start a different kind of economy. We sort of have by dealing with mostly local folks for food, and growing some of our own and bartering tomatoes for eggs with our neighbors (unfortunately some raccoons got into their hen house so no more eggs). Those fat theives can starve for all I care.
I have busted my butt for years working 2 or 3 jobs plus side work doing restorations and side electrical jobs for what to land on SSD less than 900 a month. I have no sympathy for Wall Street fat cats.