Cost of living effects?

[zr600]

Man the last year has really kicked me and my family in the butt. Has anybody else been feeling the effects? I have less bills now then a couple years ago i have a decent paying job but just feel like i can barely make it by. How are people getting by and still buying sleds and going on trips? I feel like this sport is tripled in price since i first got in it in 01. Heck when i was in college i could afford to sled more then now. Is it the gas prices and grocier prices that is killing a guy so bad? I haven't been on a real vacation in like 3 years haven't been sledding in 2 years, just a few camping trips a year. Just 2 years ago i felt like i had way more money available for fun/recreation, now it seems we are barely getting by. How do people making less money then me get by. Just wondering if im wasting money some where i shouldn't beI make 50-60k a year just depends on overtime avaialable. Never made less then 50k since i have been a journymen. Im a boilermaker.

 

[apex jeff]

I don't know your particular situation,but from your post I can see almost 80k in crewcab pickups and upgrades over the last ten years. Can we assume there are large toys you pull? Toy hauler,fifth wheel,camper? If coupled with a mortgage,kid(s)in college,second mortgage,alimony, then 60k of income might not be enough.Like I say I don't know if any of these hypotheticals apply to you personally,but if your only debt is a 08 duramax payment,then I think you can afford to upgrade from the 04 cat.

 

[snowmobiler]

ya the country blows right now.greedy f**** everywhere are gouging the normal people.

 

[Mtn-Track]

Congrats. You're another frog in the boiling pot that's finally starting to feel the heat. The cost of living has been getting more expensive for years; a slow process that most have never really felt or acknowledged until the last couple of years or so. Same thing happened in the mid-70's. Do you know what you make now by being a real man and working for a living you can 'make' sitting on your azz in a guv'mint house, filling out 'gimmedat' forms, and joining the check-of-the-month club? Well you should, as that's why you think your hard-earned dollars don't seem to go very far these days. You're sponsoring the lazy-azzed types that claim (and GET!) disability because they find work to be "too stressful" as well as the rest of the 'free-chit' programs they're leaching. Do we even need to mention the ever-increasing fuel costs and their impact on food and everything else people need to live?

Try not to get depressed about it all this early in the game. It's going to get A LOT worse in the very near future!


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[polaris dude]

yeah 12% of the budget goes to welfare, 22% to the pensions of our lawmakers, 22% health care, and 24% defense...

 

[av8er]

since u live in ND. tap into the oil market

If your willing to do the work I know guys making $100 to $130K a year . they are working their butts off but making the moolah

 

[skidoorulz]

If your willing to do the work I know guys making $100 to $130K a year . they are working their butts off but making the moolah

What and where?

 

[sdsnocop]

With todays cost of living It would be tough to raise a typical family of 4 on less than 50K per year. Our family (wife, I and 2 teenage kids) lives on 50K per year and we barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. We have a very modest house (1600 square feet 3 bedroom), no vehicles newer than 2001, tent camper, 1970's boat, 93 fourwheeler (given to me to fix), and a pair of older snowmobiles (2001 newest). I carry 5-7K in savings account for unexpected expenses and do not have any vehicle payments (cannot afford one). 50K equates to a take home pay of $3300 after deductions (taxes, insurance and retirement), our monthly budget is as follows:

Morgage: 850
Utilities: 355
Vehicle Insurance: 105
Groceries: 600 (includes shool lunches)
Gasoline: 200 (does not include distance travel)
Miscellaneous: 1140 (medical/dental, vehicle home repairs, entertainment, clothing, kids school needs, gifts, church offering, ect.)

That leaves $50 to put away in savings (which does not happen most months).

There is nothing left over for vehicle or toy payments, I replace the family vehicle every 8 years and have never paid more than $5500 for a vehicle. I drive a $2200 chevy pickup and have a $1300 Mercury Tracer for my daughter to drive.

I do the following to help make ends meet:
-burn wood to suppliment heat
-do most of my own vehicle, toy and house repairs
-buy many of my repair parts off e-bay
-part out atv's and snowmobiles on ebay (income used for travel to visit family and camping trips)
-utilize wild game (obtained locally) to suppliment meat supply
-vacations usually occur in state and involve camping or staying with family
-receive $1000 per year ND oil royalty which goes into college fund
-eat conservative when out of town for work, save extra perdium to use for snowmobiling and hunting expenses

 

[Twostroke]

price of fuel killing me, food is getting up there now too. They are my two biggest expenses.

 

[RMK-King]

The dollar is getting weaker everyday,middle class folks are going to start feeling the effects soon if they haven't already. Sadly I do not see it getting any better in the foreseeable future.

 

[XXL]

Morgage: 850
Utilities: 355
Vehicle Insurance: 105
Groceries: 600 (includes shool lunches)
Gasoline: 200 (does not include distance travel)
Miscellaneous: 1140 (medical/dental, vehicle home repairs, entertainment, clothing, kids school needs, gifts, church offering, ect.)

SDSNOCOP, Just curious if you don't mind, what services you are using in your utilities figure? I also have a small house and burn wood most of the time, electric backup heat, electric dryer, and electric hotwater. I am paying around $70-80 a month for me and my wife. I think our rate is .08 or so per KWH. We definately don't use the dryer much as we hang clothes out in the summer and inside in the winter to remedy the dry heat from the woodstove. I do remember though how hard kids are on the electric bill!!

 

[snowmobiler]

add $4500 or so to your bills if we drive off the fiscal cliff.

 

[polaris dude]

^maybe if you make 100K+

correct me if I am wrong, but those tax cuts didn't do that much for those making less than 75g right?

 

[snowmobiler]

90% will pay or iou..think its 4500 if you have 2 kids.and only 2000 extra for the single
people..

 

[slednutz]

The tax cuts won't be gone until 2013 tax year, not to many changes to the 2012 tax code.

 

[coyoteman]

Two at a time is what created my cost of living crunch

 

[sdsnocop]

Morgage: 850
Utilities: 355
Vehicle Insurance: 105
Groceries: 600 (includes shool lunches)
Gasoline: 200 (does not include distance travel)
Miscellaneous: 1140 (medical/dental, vehicle home repairs, entertainment, clothing, kids school needs, gifts, church offering, ect.)

SDSNOCOP, Just curious if you don't mind, what services you are using in your utilities figure? I also have a small house and burn wood most of the time, electric backup heat, electric dryer, and electric hotwater. I am paying around $70-80 a month for me and my wife. I think our rate is .08 or so per KWH. We definately don't use the dryer much as we hang clothes out in the summer and inside in the winter to remedy the dry heat from the woodstove. I do remember though how hard kids are on the electric bill!!

We have an all electic house (heat, water, dryer). Our rate is at .0825 per KWh. We do not have central air but use 2 window units in the summer. Our electric bill averaged $120 the last 12 months but I have budgeted $140 with the expected rate hikes. $135 is budgeted for phone, cable and internet. $80 budgeted for city water, sewer and garbage service. The electric bill for September was $95 AC was used first half of the month but no heat, October was $150 no AC but used electic heat but burnt no wood.

 

[mold]

I have gone to using only one zig zag instead of the conventional two.

 

[togwotee9]

I have gone to using only one zig zag instead of the conventional two.

If you put it in a bowl you could save even more

 

[mold]

If you put it in a bowl you could save even more

The penalties around here are stiffer for paraphernalia than they are for reefer.