okay, so i'm poor. sue me

[mdmc]

you won't get a penny.

[Sequoia]

What brought this on?

[mdmc]

5. my loss of middle class status brought this on

(did you notice that your post is not numbered? how odd...)

[Jamison]

7. At least you made it to the middle class

I've never been able to make it that far & I don't know if I ever will.

[jhrobbins]

10. Boy can I relate to this post - I drove my family's Rolls Royce....

my junior year in college and now I am about to lose my house to foreclosure. Just 3 years ago, everything was hunky dory and then I got sick with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus and then my partner developed MS. We are up the creek without a paddle. However, I am choosing to believe that no door is closed without another being opened. If you think this is a fairy tale position, please don't write and tell me, I'd like to hold onto this.

[notadmblnd]

1. well, I guess it's off to the labor camp with you then...

might be a good time to read up on the origins of the phrase "being sent to the poor house"

[Demeter]

2. America Doesn't Have Debtors' Prison--Yet! n/t

[notadmblnd]

3. yeah, I know

Just my poor attempt at humor I guess because I think that's probably what is comming in the future and that there was such a thing in the past.

[enid602]

4. KBR

Maybe KBR (the Halliburton sub) will be building debtors' prisons with the $1/2B contract they just got from the feds.

[ThomCat]

6. Maybe that's what those prison camps are for

that Haliburton is building here in the US.

Would any of us be surprised to find out that personal debt is soon going to be criminalized?

[terminal_concept]

8. I hear ya

I'm new so I don't get my own rant yet.But I picked the most appropriate topic anyway .
Some people say if you own a computer and internet your not poor.I sort of agree.
I got my computer setup trying to get into the computer/technology field.I gave up other things I could have in order to have my setup.I don't feel my priorities are misplaced.Sure my vehicles are falling apart ,I don't get cable and I'm still paying rent.I'm old enough to weigh the value of having a resource like internet over something like giving up every spare cent for the next 30 years so that maybe ,if I can handle the large payments,by the time I'm ready for retirement,my children will enjoy home ownership.Sorry kids ,may you have better luck with the employment lottery.And yes I tried going to school ,believe me, the student loan people remind me all the time.

[terminal_concept]

9. I should add

It took me a long time to find anyone that would give me a home loan and so far the best they can do is payments that are double what I'm paying for rent.Also rich people don't understand you can't keep putting your life off till the future.I've been lucky quite a few times and I don't know where I would be if I hadn't got lucky those few times.

[mdmc]

13. well, welcome to DU

This rant was actually about my student loan. They are now garnishing my celery, if you know what I mean. :)

Pray for peace.:kick:

[Dob Bole]

11. There is hope...hang in there!

I lived on $5,000 a year for four years, then $10,000, and now I'm a teacher and have health insurance, etc. I never thought it would happen, and while other teachers are complaining about how little they make, I feel very rich.

Obviously you have a lot of tools available to you. From your post, I can tell you have Internet access. There's a lot of extra money to be made on the Internet. Here are some things I did (and out of habit and poor-mentality, still do) to make ends meet.

1) Do not spend money that you don't have.
2) Use amazon.com, and put up things that you don't need for sale. Things in your house like books, DVDs, or CDs that you don't use are your reserves and can bring in a lot of extra cash.
3) No restaurants. You can save a ton of money by cooking your food yourself, rather than paying someone else to do it. Drink water, because soft drinks are expensive and will give you cancer anyway.
4) If you don't have health insurance, stay healthy. It sounds unfair, but the fact is that if you get sick more often, you will slip further into debt, and it's a trap. Exercise regularly, and cut out junk food.
5) Prayer. I'm not sure if you're a praying person, but in my case I believe that Christ's message is especially for the poor, and God has helped me through many ordeals in my life. This isn't a plug for what I believe, but an encouragement if you believe it.

Hope these tips can be useful to you...and you may already be doing them. Best of luck,

DB

[mdmc]

12. hey! thanks for the advice

[EFerrari]

14. Doug and I were functionally homeless after he came down with Schizophrenia.

After about two years, we ran through all my resources and he sure couldn't work. He couldn't even get a good diagnosis, let alone proper care.

That lasted some years. Eventually, we fought through it.

But, I know now like I never knew before how fragile and how precarious we and our "middle class" are. I'll never take anything for granted again, not a mouthful, not a heater, not a smile.

Hang in, my friend.

:hug:

[mdmc]

15. Peace to you!

:kick:

I am currently working with Schizos in an transitional living program.

[EFerrari]

16. Then I wish you all the patience and humor you can gather up.

:hug: