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Sister Can You Spare Me a Dime?
If you're not already feeling the blows of economic hardship, I have some bad news for you, it might just be a matter of time. All it takes is a quick glance at the headlines: The unemployment rate is at a five-year high. Second quarter foreclosures have surged. It's not exactly a shocker to read that the US economy continues to be weak. Ok, we get it already, it's bad. Unfortunately avoiding the headlines won't make much difference to those that are already facing tough times due to a rising cost of living, stagnant job markets and in some cases, mortgage issues. Here are just a few stories from around the iVillage community...
"I work as a waitress at the moment. Working nights is wreaking havoc on my family... It isn't enough to live off of but it is more than an hourly wage and you work less hours. I don't know if I will be able to support my family in a few years the way cost of living is going up." -- indiccarose
"I wish I could [get rid of my credit cards], but sometimes that is the only way I can buy groceries. We just don't bring in enough to cover all our expenses." -- luvmypunkin
"In the last 3 years, my husband and I have had a combined 6 job losses (layoffs & contract jobs) thanks to the economy, that has caused our cc debt to spiral out of control to $65K." -- gachick08
"I have been online applying for anything I am qualified to do. Even if the job does not offer benefits. I don't care now. I need a income coming in. We barely can make it on [my husband's] disability check. [He] has MS and is unable to work due to how bad his disability is. " -- carolwood
"There is a house on our street that was foreclosed, bought, rented out, foreclosed and is now for sale again all in the space of a year." -- pameleen
"Our house is in foreclosure status and we have no idea where we are going to live soon. For the last 2 weeks we have been eating PB&J and spaghetti. It is all very discouraging and it takes a big toll on every family that is going through similar problems." -- cl-yourhopeful_gigs
"I do know several people who have lost their jobs recently. Sadly, our state has lost a lot of its better jobs in recent years, with few decent replacements in sight, while pay has lagged inflation in most cases for the jobs that remain. Other people we know thought they had saved enough for retirement and have been forced to either delay retirement or get back into the workplace." -- akrogirl
Are you struggling due to the weak economy? What is causing the most stress for you? How are you coping? Leave a comment and let me know how you're being affected, your strategy for survival and anything else you're seeing out there.
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As a single mother of 2, my concern is making ends meet. I'm looking for a part time job that I can do from home so I can be there for my children. We are eating our meals at home and only eat out on special occasions. We shop at the thrift store for our clothing. We just support each other and stay positive.
I have picked up a very small job to do 1 time a week and as needed. Lucky for me there has been people calling out and vacations to cover. Other than that we are down to 1 car and I stock-pile on really good sales just so when we do need things its not a huge hit on our wallet. With the price of things constantly increasing I cannot afford not to.
people need to learn to save and quite spendinng more then they make .you cann't tell me everyone didn't know how ARM loans work and financing more then what your house is worth
is someone elses fault .we all went to school .this is people not wanting to take responsablity for thier actions.all these bank ceos need to spend the rest of thier lives in jail for fraud.with the bail out they should no longer get big pay outs