Why Am I poor

[tripods68]

Sorry to burst your bubble....85K is considered "middle class" earners that is now considered POOR-MIDDLE CLASS. Welcome to the club!

[1milliondollarchallenge]

I would not say you are poor, but can understand you feeling that way.

I live in Australia and a $160,000 mortgage/house would be a 1 bedroom unit in a bad area here. The average house is about $500,000 or so. And no, we don't earn big money. That sort of debt is often supported by 2 ppl working $60,000 jobs. Things are very different here to USA.

I think you need to do a realistic budget. If you post your expenses we can probably help a lot.

I also think that mindset has a lot to do with it. I know when I focus on being poor everything seems worse and I get nowhere. When I focus on the positives good things happen.

[Shewillbemine]

I think it's odd that you make a thread asking why you're poor and then another thread asking how to deal with your poor friends.

At this rate, do you only have homeless friends?

[alex499]

Yes, when setting up your budget, take the total of all your on-budget bank accounts and your on-hand cash, (let's say it's $3000) and then budget it all out. Like ishtar said, If you currently have $200 set aside for clothing, budget $200 of your available cash to clothing. You will now have $2800 left to budget. Continue down the categories until you have budgeted all your money to zero.

Now guide your spending by your budget page, just like you probably were doing using your excel system.

[jerrycates]

Live within your means. That will always be the bottomline. Why? Because if we can all do that, we would not overspend, impulse buy... the needs would be enough for us to live our daily lives. The wants are always the one that makes us spend more than what we have.

[couchrobt]

Do not live too lavishly when you cannot really afford it. Nothing good will come out from splurging too much!

[BudgetMath.com]

Yes Lindsey23, you definitely need to make a budget. That way you can see exactly where all of your money is going. Once you have it down on paper, you can get a visual on your financial situation. Then you need to make decisions on what you can live without. When you make your budget, make sure you include ALL of your spending! This includes stuff you may forget about like: gym memberships, eating out, pet related expenses, etc...