Why Am I poor

[jeffery12]

money managebility is very much essential. me too initially could not make any savings then I followed the tips of a cousin of mine who is too strong at funds managebiility and since then I can see my savings.

[b4freedom]

Daycare. Daycare. Daycare. It's like a second mortgage. Nobody thinks about it before they get married and have kids.

[TutoMoneta]

There is one good idea = you are poor because you spend a lot.

[cschin4]

The problem is you are buying into what is "reasonable". The media or bankers tell us what is "reasonable" and we believe them and buy into their lies. The mortgage itself on your income would be no problem. But, people forget they might actually want to own decent cars, have student loans to payback, might want to actually own some fun stuff or take a vacation or eat out and not just slave away paying for a house. First, why do you need a 4 BR, 3 bath house? We have 3 kids and could easily live in a 3 Br, 2 BR house. Bigger house, bigger bills, more stuff to put inside. Have you considered downsizing? I had a bigger house and even with all of us, I HATED having 3 bathrooms to clean, etc. No thanks. We downsized and glad of it. If you are really struggling, sell you home, downsize, rent and apt, build up your accounts, pay off your loans, and then buy a home when you can really afford it but something smaller, easier to maintain, etc. In the long run, people are going to lose out on bigger homes because when energy costs skyrocket, smaller homes will be the seller.

[TutoMoneta]

Totally agree.
Moreover, you must live your own live. Why buy so much staff you don't need at all?
All these new appliances and gadgets (must have ****).
All we need is a fresh apple and bread with could cup of tea and loving family. All other things are not needed (even education). Who needs it? Work 20 years to become top second manager of a third shop on a forth street? To allow buy Mercedes instead of Vauxhall?

[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...