I got my W-2’s back today so we can file our taxes and maybe get enough back for a can of beans.
If, we are lucky.
I think we got a whopping $40 back last year.
The Wifely Unit also discovered that she makes more than I do per hour but she doesn’t get half the hours I do because she gets paid by the state to take care of our oldest boy and they have a very funky way of allowing hours worked to be claimed.
She is also taking care of her Father all week but that is a family matter.
I also see I didn’t make nearly as much this last year as I have in the past even though I am making more per hour because they don’t want me working any overtime, compared to Assholes Incorporated, where I made almost half of my wages off of it.
Hey, as long as we are getting by without me having to kill myself anymore I’m very good with that.
All that being said, I’m not sure we even qualify as Middle Class anymore.
Maybe, MAYBE, at the very bottom end.
The thing is, Thank God, we are both pretty simple people with simple needs.
I spend way more on crap than she does.
But, neither one of us has a car payment and because both of us are Geezers now with clean driving records, we aren’t paying out the nose for car insurance either.
We paid cash for both of our vehicles. Hers is 19 years old and mine is now 34 years old.
We don’t need or want fancy stuff and she is basically a Minimalist.
I am obviously quite the opposite with a mild case of Hoarder but even at that I’m pretty much done collecting crap.
Compare and contrast us with the typical Keep Up With The Jones’s types we all see everywhere, who are eyeball deep in debt, living check to check yet still can’t quite grok that having all the newest and bestest of everything isn’t impressing anyone anymore.
All it’s doing is dragging them down.
I about fell over when I saw that people are paying $700 a month for CAR PAYMENTS!!
That is freaking insanity in my book, I don’t care how much money you make.
Then we have the working poor as they are called. These are the people I am worried about.
I have no idea how they are going to make it through to the end of this world wide economic collapse.
Because that’s where we all are headed right now, all of us.
It doesn’t matter what country you live in on this spinning marble, the whole planet is right in the middle of an economic collapse yet no one seems to be able to see it happening.
Some countries are in way, way worse shape than we are already but this thing is just getting warmed up.
The best part is that every bit misery here now and yet to come has been planned out for years in advance.
I just don’t see how a few billion people are going to fare here in the very near future.
Our standard of living is being deliberately degraded in a very serious way.
So what are your thoughts?
Any advice, strategies or cheat codes?
Well, in the abstract view, when the economy does collapse, the car payment people and the poor will be equal, which will be small comfort to both of them. chuckling
The more important concern for the rest of us is to have ammo, barter items, food, water and a means to cook hidden away with very few people if any knowing of this, and neighbors that will stand up and say no, and having the will to deal with anyone that would try to take any of those, with no remorse. Because the losers and grifters will not and do not care one iota for your life.
I live way outside the city and only go in every 14 days to catch the flight to the remote work site. Talking to the much younger guys they live in the city and can barely make rent because the cost of living is way up over the official 6% col rate the turdeau feds claim, heck most groceries are 40% up over last year.
I’m seeing more articles about food shortages at the food banks; read that costs up 25% for them buying bulk, donations down 50% and demand up 250%. That’s a recipe for collapse.
At Christmas I had couple weeks off, so I made pasta noodles, sauce and bought recota cheese. Made 6 lasagnas and 6 loafs of banana bread, I know 6 elderly couples around my area that are struggling so dropped items off at each of their home. One lady told me that was enough for both of them for supper for a week (large pans). I can see both of them are loosing weight too fast and they wont ask for help so Christmas gave me a chance to help. Likely I’ll do something again at valentines and Easter.
Thank you Exile1981 for your kindness and hospitality.
Thanks but honestly all families I know. One couple was the first to offer aid when the wifes grandfather died, another couple used to own the grocery store and 20 years ago when I was hit by a drunk driver and off work for months with no regular income offered to let us run a tab at their store. Not that i wouldn’t help them anyways but its a small community and we look out for each other.
Trusted friends will carry you through times of trouble.
Trusted friends are a treasure to be cared for and protected.
You’re the kind of neighbor I treasure.
FTI, that $700 per month car payment is very likely on a 7 or 8 year note.
Being on a fixed income, i watch every penny as it comes in slowly and goes out rapidly. Any change of inflation rate or food prices screws with me bigtime.
Same here, both cars are 20 years old (200k miles on them), paid cash, do repairs myself. Just trying to keep them on the road and safe.
I am impressed – 34 years old. Wow, just wow.
I also feel for alot of people – they are no longer making it.
Then the stupid that are continuing to buy new ($700 payments).
It is a very dire situation. Comfort items, like sodas and beer, are climbing astronomically. 2 Liter sodas are twice what they were in 2020, and I most always buy on sale.
Thank God I don’t smoke or drink alcohol, or even do coffee or tea regularly. Just sodas and milk (about 150% up from 2020) and my go-to source of cheap protein, eggs, are ridiculously priced. But for all the wrong reasons (price of fuel, fertilizer, feed and cartons.)
I live in a upper-lower-class neighborhood, in apartments, and I see the ‘kids’ not fixing their own food, smoking, drinking, doing drugs and then screaming about how expensive their rents are. Bitches, please. Living on dual fixed incomes and if it wasn’t for the wife getting additional scratch from a pension, we’d be toast, because of medical bills.
I don’t know how lower-income retirees/disabled handle it. I fear that there’s going to be a lot of self-inflicted deaths coming up over the next year or two, and a lot of ‘murder-suicides’ where the ‘healthy’ spouse kills the bedridden spouse and then kills himself. Yes, I stated that correctly, lots of old men will be self-slabbing after slabbing their spouses. Going to see lots of that in the next few years.
well, I went thru the shelves a while back and got rid of any canned goods that are getting close to “the date” and dropped them off at the local food bank.
close to a case of beef stew and soups. also tossed in a few bottle of olive oil.
some veggies. talk about inflation ! average price on the veggies was 47 cents
local brand- very good ! and the beef stew was 2.49 for the big can of Dinty Moore. veggies are now 90 cents a can on sale. some 6% inflation.
the local bacon which is very good went from 7 bucks per 2 pound pack to 14.99
inside of 2 years. thick sliced and more meat than fat on it. great for BLT’s or
clubs . a while back when the S2 underground had a show on war kitchens
they showed a spilt pea and bacon mix that the German army used for years
not bad at all.. so, made a bunch of it and put it little Tupperware kind of containers. figured if worse comes to worse. I hand out the soup mix to starving
people. maybe.
food shopping is kind of hit or miss some weeks. crackers seem to be in short supply for some reason. I have at least 10-12 boxes on the shelf, but.
same with blocks of cheese too.
other stuff, I good on for the most part. like ammo and parts. started stockpiling
that stuff back in the 1990’s. and only shoot less than a box per trip to the range
learned to reload and cast my own bullets. and I shoot them for the most part.
coffee is getting short or the store brand is, just as good if not better than Folgers too. I seeing a lot more coffee dust now, so I have to use a paper filter
along with the metal mesh one.
one thing I would say, as the price of ammo has come down a lot. stock up on it now. reloading powder is hit or miss too. you can get primers for less than 100 bucks per thousand now too. I still have some I paid 24 bucks per thousand for.
we are watching the dollar become worthless before our eyes now.
as always, stuff is better than money. you can’t eat money.
wifey used to bitch about the amount of food I kept buying and stacking on the shelf, not anymore she does. same thing with paper products and TP.
remember soap. hand, dish and laundry. it does not go bad and stores easy.
hate to say this, but most people have no idea how bad it will get. and they are going to get fucked by the system big time.
the thing that does worry me up here is most of these homes around me are second or vacation houses. they have little to any food stocked in them I bet.
and if they can make it up here,,,, but they do have lots of toys. ATVs. golf carts
and boats, dirt bikes and shit like that. but not much food or fuel to heat with.
Most people are pawning things, selling things and running up debt to survive.
That’s a short term response to what is almost certainly going to be a long term problem. Some will seek multiple jobs. Others will try to downsize their lives.
Everyone is going to have to take a big bite of the shit sandwich the politicians are fixing for us.
How in the world are people getting by anymore? One day at a time. We are well positioned both financially and otherwise, but that could change at any given moment now couldn’t it? I have been a penny pincher my whole life, first out of necessity then out of habit. I pinch pennies so hard that they squeal like a pig straight outta Deliverance. If you take care of the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves. My son has repeated that mantra back to me, such a proud momma! And just for perspective Phil, my son is younger than your truck 😄.
Y’all take care
Just for perspective, I have a couple of T Shirts that are older than your kid too.
😉
I have a corn on my proximal R big toe that is perhaps older then her sons…
My outflow exceeded my income for the last half of 2022 because my food preps went from one year to three. The cost to do that now would be much higher or possibly not doable. I don’t have a car payment or rent and wouldn’t make it if I did. There are a number of places to buy groceries around here and there are still sales, pork butt $1.29/lb at one place this week, at block of NY Strip uncut for $5/lb next for example. I can’t eat starches, but have mucho rice, beans and pasta stored up for others.
Those who are at or inevitably heading for poverty are the lost, dig out the stories of what happened to the middle class in Venezuela,for examples. Credit card debt is at astronomical heights and at 30%. Discover card has already announced that they expect defaults to be at record highs this year. Many are feeding their families by running up the debt and that has a limited life span.
Nothing good is coming and if your money is in dollars, it will soon be worthless.
Fixed income below the poverty line. Only expenses are utilities, car insurance and home owners and I save for taxes and vehicle maintenance. The car is 8-years old, both the house and car are paid for. I spend no more on groceries than I have to but that has always been the case. That said, groceries have went from $35 a week to well over $70 per week most of it in the last year. Trips from Arizona back to visit family in Kansas have come to a halt; 2 reasons: my health and the cost of the trip. I used up my cushion paying off a hospital stay last year and until that is rebuilt (if it ever is) ain’t spending money on anything that is not a necessity.
I; suggest that now is the time for you to get out of that big city and move to a small town/rural area. There are lots of jobs especially for guys with mechanical skills. A lot safer and easier to live. Especially when things get worse.—ken
Right. Do you know what it costs to pack up a household and move across country? I’m sick of this advice. Most of us down here at the bottom are getting by month to month, if that. So where’s the couple grand going to come from? The job market ain’t so great as you read about in the news either. Unless you’re sitting on a nice financial cushion, spending the bucks to relocate is very risky.
Exactly, and then there is 1st and last months rent plus deposits on everything. Restocking perishables, yada, yada, yada.
Read “The End of the World is Just the Beginning” by Peter Zeihan for a comprehensive history of how we got here. His (and my) view uses geography and the United States hegemony to explain why we are not ever going back to the “good old days”. Adapt or die is the new do not tread on me slogan. The world is going to get much worse in terms of the economy before we come out of this restructuring . Do not be fooled by the “bread and circuses” of our crumbling society. Find a place you wish to fight for and prepare as best you can for a new reality. No one knows what it will look like exactly. The fix is in , the change is coming, and you will not like it.
Just for a positive spin on things… I went nearly a decade without a raise to speak of. Finally, 2022, they started pushing up pay across my industry and a few others I have connections in. A local restaurant is paying $20 / hr for starting cooks. This is a burger and beer joint, not a high end gig. Everything else is increasing in price but atleast the pay is rising, too.
A local McD has a hiring sign up for nearly 2 years: $19 to start, $25/hr after 90 days. We don’t like McD, so we never go there or hit the drive-thru. I don’t know what kind of “starting wage” people expect.
OTOH, the supermarket is always an adventure: “How much have prices risen since the last time we were here.”
But hey – we MUST sacrifice for……….Ukraine!!!! /s
How much you make is probably irrelevant for the most part. Unless you are part of the 0.1% who are FILTHY rich and who can actually influence legislation what’s coming will hit everybody hard. Having money/made a lot of money often means you have a lot of STUFF. Stuff that has to be maintained, insured, taken care of.
In fact a lot of people don’t own stuff. The stuff owns them. And once you can’t maintain your stuff it becomes a burden. Why and the missus have been selling off vehicles and going through stuff to see what we don’t need for the past couple of years. Putting that money into replacing our connection with the unreliable power company with a power source they can’t turn off.
Nothing new here, but-
Deleverage. Debt in a recession/depression can be deadly.
Assure your income. Repair-type skills go up in value as folks must make-do. Fixed income= suffering/starvation in a depression or hyperinflation scenario. What knowledge/skills do you still have? Can you teach others?
Downsize your lifestyle. Vacations, etc. But for sanity’s sake keep some luxuries (tea and coffee for me). Don’t overlook the little savings (cell phone plans, etc.)
Partner/barter. Do favors, receive benefits from others. I trade errand running and grocery delivery for eggs and milk, and butchering skills for 1/3-1/2 of the slaughtered meat.
The only debt I have is the house payments, and I’m down to under 93K on the balance. ALL of my vehicles are older, I’m currently tearing down my ’03 Jeep engine and rebuilding it because it’s FAR cheaper to rebuild than buy new. And the parts are not cheap any more, either – a $1K rebuild is now $2K. Parts are getting harder to find, too!
My ’85 Beaver Motor Coach is our lifeboat, if all else fails I can live in that for the rest of my life. It’ll be hard to haul my food/ammo/fuel supply but it can be done.
Personally, anybody that plunks down money for a NEW car is stupid beyond belief and/or has money to burn. Which won’t do ’em a damn bit of good when the food stops. And buying electric is even dumber.
When you’re on a fixed income you HAVE to pinch pennies. And my wife is Master Class when it comes to a bargain! I swear, I married UP in life…
“I swear, I married UP in life…” I can attest to that!
My 05 Wrangler rotted out underneath, won’t pass inspection now. Last of the 4.0L. haven’t driven one with the V6 yet
Finally, . . . whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me (Paul), do: and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Just think of that bum as a scout for the golden horde.
I don’t know if this is even worth sharing, it’s just a rehash of a rehash of previously written stuff, both my own and by others.
A response to the generalized first question “What are people going to do?” They are going to die.
I’m a broken record on this topic. People don’t know what they don’t know and there is too much to learn in too little time. Sadly too many folks don’t have the resources to provide for themselves even if they have the knowledge. Food growing and animal husbandry are huge topics and require lots of space to achieve when doing them for a whole year at a time. Food preservation is another huge topic. Let’s make it more fun – the power just went off. What is a person going to do then. It’s not just food production either, add in the other basic necessities of survival, each a huge topic in themselves – defense, breathable air, shelter and potable water. I imagine more people will die from a lack of potable water than gunfights at the OK corral once the ball drops.
“Any advice, strategies or cheat codes?”
Acquire guns and ammo. I know, I know, but the simple fact is if you can’t protect what you have you don’t really have anything. You can never have too many guns or too much ammo. In our current climate this means you are going to have go at it like you’re the third monkey on the ramp into the ark and it’s just started to rain.
Get out of high gen/pop locations. In most cases your neighbor is not your friend in a true survival situation. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at any area where there has been a major disaster and see what people do after a few to several days of desperation.
There probably isn’t enough time for this one – get out of debt and stay out of debt. That is easy for me to express because I’ve lived my whole life that way. My wife and I haven’t carried any debt since we paid off her student loans after we got married. We’ve always paid cash on the barrel head for everything including our home and vehicles. This isn’t because we were making megabucks either. When we got married I was only earning $4.00 an hour working on a ranch. After this there were periods of higher income but never any of that five figure and six figure stuff people talk about. The most I ever earned was when I started working for myself but that is a whole different topic.
Due to the fact most people don’t have the knowledge, skills and/or resources to fend for themselves attempt to develop TRUST with folks that do and be willing to work your ass off proving yourself. This needs to be done pre-collapse because post-collapse take the next sentence to heart. Personally I don’t care how much you know, how many guns you have, how far you can shoot accurately, how much survival stuff you have, what your skill sets are, etc. if I don’t trust you I won’t have you around.
This next one is a tough one and will make me out to be a cruel bastard. Recognize you can’t save everyone. Human nature what it is many of us are too sympathetic to the plight of others but that desperate guy with a wife and three hungry kids in the middle of the street in front of your house is not your problem. As soon as you take them in you’ve just lessened your chances of survival. Even giving them some food and water and sending them on their way is to your detriment because as soon as they know you have ‘stuff’ they will be back, probably with others. How many do you want to kill to protect you and yours?
Stop spending on whatever you blow money on and acquire at least a three year garden seed bank of heirloom or open pollinated seed. The first year to plant and harvest. The second and third years worth to meter into your collected seed over time to enhance the genetic diversity of what you plant.
I’m sorry its just not in me to keep going. I personally believe we’ve run out of time for most folks to take any real meaningful steps towards improving their odds of survival.
Enjoy the ride because it’s going to be a rough one. See you on the other side.
wes
wtdb
My thoughts on helping ” … that desperate guy with a wife and three hungry kids in the middle of the street …”: Tell them to go to the local church for help. Donate what you can afford to the church. You will be helping them without putting yourself at risk.
Mark this will demonstrate what a terrible person I am. While I appreciate the sentiment, a problem with that is the church will be filled with people who are desperate as well. Also, and this is coming from someone who has been a believer since my early twenties and attended many churches, the church is filled with scoundrels. Not all of them by any means but too many to take the chance in a true post apocalyptic situation. I’ve had church members cheat me, steal from me, lie to me and slander me and that was when times were good. I hate to think what it will be like when times are bad. Unfortunately giving to the church will not insulate you from putting yourself at risk.
In summary I just don’t have much faith in the average human. History is replete with examples of the good guy getting run over and victimized due to his good nature and trust.
Let’s hope I’m wrong and then I’ll only be an asshole.
wes
wtdb
If you buy milk in plastic “blown” jugs, be prepared for adjustments in availability. The Jan 24 Tornado in Deer Park Tx took out a large supplier of resin.
“So what are your thoughts? Any advice, strategies or cheat codes?”
It’s getting kind of late to take the advice I’ve been both giving and living by for the last 20 years but here ya go.
Live like you are dirt poor.
Pay off ALL debt.
Stack PM’s higher than the roof of your house then keep stacking.
STOP eating phast phood, junk food and all prepared foods.
STOP smoking and drinking.
Buy raw meats, fruits and veg and turn that into foods you like.
Grow a garden and can food.
Do everything you can to improve your health and avoid the medical industrial complex.
Prep in every way possible. Food, clothing, hygiene items, cleaning supplies, first aid supplies, alternative power supplies, water purification, emergency home repair supplies, common car repair parts for your cars. Make sure you have new enough tires to last several years. Spare gasoline, diesel, propane, wood etc. Have a handgun, shotgun and rifle for each adult in your house plus plenty of ammo. A bb/pellet gun for picking off small game in your neighborhood might be handy.
Rotate your supplies and keep them topped up. Increase your basic life skills. Get to know neighbors. Be ready and willing to help them if you can.
Practice OPSEC and keep your ear to the ground. Don’t trust ANY “officials”. Keep a supply of popcorn and be ready to enjoy the show! It’s going to be a very tragic comedy with emphasis on tragic. The great die-off has started and as families lose everything, suicides will follow. Don’t despair though, everything is going to turn out fine. It’s just going to take time. Finally, have a plan to improve your overall situation/position in life. Tragedy for some will present opportunities for others. Bob and weave!
It’s simplistic but as my Grandmom said, “Never be too proud to eat beans”.
I’ve done a weekly white bean crockpot and it’s an honored side dish every supper and most lunches. Saves a LOT of money on meat when you replace at least half of your meat with beans.
Why white beans? Mild flavor easily blends in with most every dish. Can be blended and added to soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, and so on to boost protein.
It’s not a complete protein but just a small egg or a tablespoon of “Real Meat” (even tree rat LOL) will make it complete.
AND I can grow beans, even from the bag of dry white beans I buy at Wal-Mart.
BTW Bean leaves are edible, young as salad, older ones as cooked greens. You can take about 25% off the plant over the season with no real reduction in bean production. They just grow back.
The goal is to not get anything back. Don’t give any more than you >have< to – besides, they tax your "refund" (too much money they took from you last year) and tax it again as income this year. F* em; you need to owe them just a little bit every year.
Phil that is a good thing because it means you did not give the goobermint an interest free loan for the year.
No name brand items if I can help it. Besides those items are made by the same people generally. Less driving, consuming perishable preps and other methods as well. Glad I bought early and often during the pandemic. Yes, I will suffer when that runs out but it is what it is till then.