I was talking about credit cards.
They need to spend all their time and energy looking for extra sources of income.
Sorry, but without solving the income problem they’ll just be picking at the edges of their huge financial mess.
It sounds like they are making about $350 a week each. When I was 17 years old I was making around $400 a week. Their income level is ridiculously low, and I can’t imagine there is nothing they can do to improve it.
Congodwarf, if you could post their work situation then maybe dopers could make better suggestions on how they can find new ways to earn money. How old they are, what they do, and their location would help out.
$30,000.00 is not much, only if you are spending more than $30,000.00.
An identical family who spends $20,000.00 would think themselves they were rich if they earned $30,000.00.
Moreover, they probably pay little, if no, income tax.
The problem is not that they earn too little, rather, the problem is that they spend too much. I know other families who make $100,000 a year and yet they are in the same financial sinking boat because they are spending $110,000 a year.
One has to adjust spending and saving to whatever income is obtainable. In the new “free trade” American economy where all the good jobs are off-shored to asia, more and more Americans in the future are going to be making $30,000 a year.
Get used to it. Adjust your lifestyle to your new income
Why not adjust your income to your lifestyle?
You sound exactly like my father who - when I was out of work for two years after being laid off - advised me that I should, and I quote, “sign up for one of those full-time jobs with benefits.” :rolleyes: Ah yes. Sign up. There’s a line right there - why didn’t I see it?
Lakai, if you’d like to share with us a way to just magically improve one’s income, perhaps we at the SDMB can overhaul the entire domestic financial crisis. Heck, then we could tackle the EU financial crisis! After all, it’s just a matter of “adjusting” one’s income. Why didn’t I think of that?
I did! I am doing great.
I have always done great, and still am doing great, because no matter how little, or how much I made all my life, I always spent less than my income, and therefore I always saved a bunch each and every year.
Virtually anyone can save money, if they spend less than they make - which has always been the way to do it.
On the other hand, there is no limit to spending, even well paid movie stars spend too much and go bankrupt.
$30,000 may not seem like much to some, but to a family out there who is barely making it with only $10,000 a year income, for them, getting an extra $20,000 would be like Heaven.
You act like there are no jobs out there. You act like there is no opportunity out there. The guy that invented Facebook just a few years ago is now worth BILLIONS!!! of dollars.
If there are no jobs out there, then how do you explain why we need to import millions more immigrants each and every year? About 2 million more immigrants are coming here each and every year and they all, apparently, get jobs.
“If” there really was a job shortage, then it would not make sense to be adding millions more job seekers each and every year, and somebody, some unemployed person would complain, and then we would stop all immigration…but we are not.
Oh so relevant to the OP. :rolleyes:
At the end of the day, unless they actually change the way they are living, the end result is going to be the same.
So they either cut their spending, including frivolities such as cable, or they get a second job.
Get me an unlimited subscription to Netflix and I could live without cable in a heartbeat.
Paying $700 to a wireless company for early termination is insane. I’d let them take me to collections before I paid that. The phones that they said are worth $350 apiece cost them a fraction of that. Let them settle for the real cost of the phone and I’ll pay it.
You haven’t mentioned it, Congodwarf - do your sister and brother-in-law write down everything they earn and spend every month? The first stage of financial planning/crisis management is to know EXACTLY where your money is going. They might think they are living as frugally as they can, but most people find when they actually write everything down that there are leaks that they were not aware of.
I must regretfully agree that the phone is essential, the cable and internet are not. They need to be in touch with their work and vice versa, but they don’t need to watch cable or surf. When I was paying off my student loans, I actually got a lot of satisfaction from sitting down with a spreadsheet every month and budgeting out every dollar for the next month, and every single extra dollar was applied to my student loan debt. This could also help your sister feel more in control of things and not as overwhelmed.
I can’t stress this enough, either - every little bit helps. If they have ten dollars left over before payday, that goes on the credit card debt. If they pick five dollars worth of cans out of the ditch, that goes on the credit card debt.
Internet is nessesary for job hunting in todays market.
The job centers near me all have free internet for job hunters, libraries as well. If you have to cut expenses, there are ways around needing internet for job hunting.
I astounded when I go into the library mid-day (I sometimes leave my desk and do my work related reading in the public library so I can’t be found) how well staffed, well equiped and well used our public libraries internet resources are. As well as their job resources. At the one by work there is an entire “job hunting center” which is staffed, has internet connections (that they will kick you off of if you are surfing the Dope while people are waiting to look for work), and has all the “looking for work,” “resume,” and “what color is your parachute” type books.
Now, I’m willing to bet not all communities are as well funded (and our librarians will tell you they are underfunded themselves), nor are libraries necessarily convienent to everyone, but its worth a peek before “you need internet access at home” is assumed.
Are you serious? Why are we importing millions more immigrants each and every year? Because plenty of companies want employees they can pay as little as possible, like immigrants desperate for work and willing to gamble on the chance to get a greencard. Yes, conditions here are better than the 3rd world or the former communist nations, but get serious. The job shortage is quite real for anyone looking for work over the minimum wage McJob category. And a lot of unemployed people are complaining. What do you really think all that border patrol and Minute Men stuff is really about?
They should see if there is a Consumer Credit Counseling office in their area. Many of the people in my neighborhood have been helped by them. They work with the credit card companies to get interest rates lowered.
Did I say it would be simple? I said (and you even quoted me) that I can’t imagine there is nothing they could do to improve their income. That’s a far cry from having a magical solution to everyone’s job problems. But feel free to exaggerate my position into a straw man argument whenever you feel like it.
I could recommend some options for the OP, but I would rather know a few things about them before I do. I don’t want to suggest they look for a construction job to find out that they’re in their mid 60s.
That said, I’ve known a lot of families, my own included, that immigrated into America with young children, no degree, not a word of English, and they still managed to make more money than the family in the OP. In some cases over 100K a year.
I was talking about the OP, but that’s awesome. I hope you keep doing well!
Well, hon, I’ve been trying to “adjust” my income upward for three years now - almost four. So far, no luck. So until I DO pull that off maybe I should adjust my lifestyle, hmm?
In case you hadn’t noticed, unemployment hasn’t been this bad since the Great Depression. There are a LOT of qualified people who aren’t working at all, much less making $30K a year.
Meanwhile - if you ARE aware of an Exciting Opportunity that’s just sitting out there waiting for someone to take advantage of it please share because there are a LOT of folks who could use that right now.
If you are reasonably erudite and present yourself well there are tons of commissioned sales jobs that will easily surpass 30K a year. You are an intelligent woman, why aren’t you looking at those?
$20,000 is an amusing hypothetical for a 4 person family with young kids, but in the real world 99.99% of all cases that income relative to supporting 4 people equals abject poverty. To get clarity re the OP’s question we need to stop being polite for second and recognize (per the cell phone example) that these people are borderline idiots. They will never make the right decision or the canny decision re parsing out their income, they will always make the desperate, stupid and dangerous decision.
Unless they can get more money as a buffer against their foolishness this is all going to end up in the ditch.
WHERE?
Seriously - where in NW Indiana do these jobs exist? Car salesmen? They’re starving. How can you survive in commissioned sales if no one is buying stuff? Sure, I can get such a job, the employer need not pay me unless I sell something - but that’s the problem, finding buyers.
Right now I’m having more success with drywall, lawnmowing, and painting. At least I get paid for that work, as opposed to spending 8-12 hours a day *trying *to sell stuff.