Topic of the Month Feb 2019 What IF...

Are we speaking hypothetically here,
Or is this a dark new reality!


Unfortunatly, i know of several youngsters in this very situation thanks to lack of rent controls, no cause evictions, no employee benefits, and rising costs of living outside the income range, amd employer outsoursing!
In other words, the costs of living have outstripped the income of most single source people! Even a married couple each making minimum wage cannot cover the costs of living beyond a weeks pay, nor put any thing aside for emergencies!

 

hmm, tough one, in no particular order:
1. Become a politician and push a social and socialist agenda while lining my pocket.
2. stop paying the bills, hide the car at a buddys house while waiting 6 to 12 months to be evicted by using the legal system in my favor and collecting welfare because I can't (don't want to struggle/hassle of having a job).
3. become a criminal .. there seems to be money in that avenue of work.
4. walk away from all of it, start over, remake myself and this time focus on getting back to the land and self sufficiency. Plus hope it's not winter.
5. Go a bit hungry, lose the house and possibly the car. Couch surf until I can bank enough to remake my life as in #4

 

Bad situation, for certain...sell new car, buy a beater. You'll not only get out of that trap but save on insurance, too. Cut nonessential utilities. Coupon the heck out of groceries...and cut out junk, such as sodas, chips, snacks. Buy in bulk. Also consider store brands vs. name brands.

The house...too many variables unmentioned here...equity, area, size...ours was a fixerupper...200/month.

 

@techsar is correct the car needs to go but will you be upside down on the car loan. So before selling, one must look at the value, is it under warranty? Insurance of the car vs insurance on a beater. Also I always used to assume that a used car will need 800 to 2 thousand in repairs.

@Dunerunner how many are in the house? Or do we use our current household?

One way to make cash is rent a room or two in your home. Also pick up extra work. Look at what you can sell for fast cash. And start economizing and rationing immediately.

 

Loose the car and it's expenses fast ( following what Motomom points out) Get out of the house any way you can with out loosing your ass like short selling and loosing what you put into it! Find the cheapest place you can that's safe, and cut back all the extras you can! Ditch any thing you don't absolutely need now or soon, and see if you can take on an extra job, even neighborhood handy man/yard work stuff!

 

You're screwed. Sell everything. File bankruptcy. Go find some church and sleep with the bums or a refrigerator box and sleeping bag or...take up a life of crime. Frankly, given no variables/options and the parameters that were supplied there is very, VERY little you can do...except try to get enough food to keep you walking upright and a place to sleep out of winter's worse.

WAIT!!!...…. This is AMERICA! AMERICA = WELFARE AND SNAP! WE'RE SAVED! SAVED! WE"RE SAVED FOR THE NEXT 3, 4, 5 YEARS EVEN...FOREVER! THANK YOU NANCY PELOSI AND ALL THE OTHERS THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE!

 

Same assumption, you are 81, have house and car paid for, have social insecurity of $2,000 a month for you and wife, and IRA's of enough to live on for a few years, no credit card or other debt. Social security stops, CU goes under or Nancy Dear and friends take it as it belongs to the "rich". Fixed costs, $5,000 for taxes, attitude of school teachers, govt employees, if you can't afford the taxes, you shouldn't live in such an expensive house, as the town sells it for taxes, close to ten thousand a year for "free" medicare and other medical costs, $3,000 a year for car insurance, house insurance, car license fee's, dog fees, etc. Several thousand a year for food, utilities, car fuel to get to store and medical care, fertilizer, canning supplies, etc.
If you are "retired" and depend on the system to convert your savings into actual cash for living, owning a place and being debt free is no guarantee of continued security as it requires a functioning system to be able to access those savings. Ask those in Venezuela, China, USSR, USA in 1933 when banks failed, etc, how they did when government and neighbors insisted that you "share" your white privilege and excess wealth with the poor "fill in the blank". Your spouse has altshiemers or some other reason the state in its wisdom insists that they be placed in a nursing home and it is willing to take your savings and property to pay the one hundred thousand a year plus costs, and the nursing home insurance you bought 20 years ago pays ten thousand of it.
Point being that the idiot who loses his job, has house, car, credit card debt, isn't much worse off than the prepared individual if TSHTF and we have a melt down like many other countries, including ours, has. Keep several months living expenses in cash, hopefully some in gold and silver, have a sh** piece of property, trailer house on its own land, with deed in a trust or at least not in your name, be willing to bail early and let the devil's steal everything they can get, rather than fighting them until everything is gone, cache your long term goods and get your food production and firewood, good equipment etc moved.
My advice for the individual in the topic of the month, get rid of car and get beater, check and see what rents in area are, if you can find a place for a few hundred less, sell house if any equity or stop making payments, get rid of the toys, snowmobile, lawn mower etc, get whatever job you can and streach your money as far as possible, get known assets down as low as possible and get food stamps, heating help, medicaid for health care, etc. With luck and a lot of hard work, you will be able to live as well as those who know how to game the system and never have done a day's work in their lives. Not being a member of a minority, you will be treated like dirt, may have to "abandon" your wife and children and live on the street in order for them to qualify for aid, will be guilty of all sorts of crimes if you receive aid and still try to work, will be forced to choose between the continued existence of your family and the better situation for them if it is broken up, etc.
Welcome to the new American dream as we all walk on the edge of the cliff.

 

I cannot conceive such an event so I have no answers.

 

Join the Air Force and leave all these earthly woes behind you.

A sign up bonus should help with the car and housing allowance should cover the house. You can rent out the house while you are in training.

 

Consider changing locations and move to an area that has better job prospects. you are not tied down... (Car payment is almost my mortgage.. my new car is less than $225.00 a month....) you can get out of an upside down car but at $600 it will be difficult...

 

Some of you understand that the scenario that Dune laid out is the new America. People are renting their lives, living paycheck to paycheck because what people bought a house for in the 70's is what a car cost today. Read this if you do not understand- A Dose of Financial Reality - The Simple Dollar According to the US census government the median home price Nov. 2018 was $302,400.

Things that need to be considered: safety, job market in location
Is the house in a safe location? What are rents in the area? If you could rent out two rooms in your home for $500 per room, your mortgage is almost paid. Many are doing that now or they are converting their basement into a rental space. Or you can live in your car. Wal-mart has free overnight parking, you do need to move to different ones every few days but it is an option.

Wi-fi is available at McDonald's so you can cut wi-fi to your home and bring your computer to McD's and search for a job. The local libraries also have free computer access but they limit your time. Make sure to join the local neighborhood group on-line. I just saw an ad on our group. An old lady was looking for someone to hang two curtain rods for $20.

Hang a clothes-line, wash dishes by hand. Heat is turned down to 65 and make sure your windows are covered with plastic. Shower every 2 to 3 days.These will save a bit on utilities. The food bill can be deceased. Coupons and not buying meat will save. If your friends or neighbors get the Sunday paper, ask them if they use the coupon section. Most people just throw them away.

The more I think about it, you have to keep the car. It is your transportation and can serve as a home if you lose your house. A $600 car payment is cheaper then rent in many areas of the country.

 

I would hate to see this happen. But I have been planning, prepping and training for something like this most of my life and I am 72. The things we talk about on this forum are not a joke. Pay attention.

 

OK, looking at the OP it looks pretty bleak. BUT! some hard choices to be made that will get you through. The car needs to go and replaced with a used but not used up pick up. You're probably going to lose the house anyway so don't spend your savings trying to save it, just get a rental and IF you can get equity take it and if not just walk away. It's just a house after all. Your friends or relatives may just be getting by but maybe they have room to let you rent or contribute to utilities or groceries and such. TAKE the best job available, It's an income and looks a hellava lot better on your next applications that you worked instead of sucking the goob teat. If you play golf take Zimmy's advice and join the Air Force. If you don't play, well, the Army is usually hiring. Above all else LEARN from this and plan and prepare for the next time. Yes the next time. ALWAYS assume it will happen again.

 

@duane "Your spouse has Alzheimer's or some other reason the state in its wisdom insists that they be placed in a nursing home and it is willing to take your savings and property to pay"
Wow! Now that is scary and something I never considered. Can the state truly do this? Since they forced me to carry thousands of dollars worth of insurance and then fined me thousands because I refused - well - I would bet you are right and they can. I'm going to tell the wife to just shoot me if this happens just in case I forget where I put my guns. LOL!

The other thing I would point out is the real possibility of the crash of the dollar - things don't look rosy, boys and girls, far from it. Should that happen, I think no one can even imagine the true scenario. It would probably lead to martial law if we're lucky and, if not, The End.

 

Spend it while you got it and make it count for the future security of you and your family.

 

I'm afraid I can't get into or understand the situation as stated in the original post. Currently House & all 3 of my vehicles parked here are paid for. Even the thought of paying $600 a month for a vehicle is abhorrent to me!!! An $500 a month for Food!!! Sumone eating steak daily for that much!!!! Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner!!!

 

I agree, up to a point of course, as one needs to cover all scenarios. Also, I am not sure it will matter much in the end because the 'have-nots' will greatly outnumber the 'haves'; nevertheless, planning and preparation should allow one's tribe to survive a bit longer - and, who knows, maybe that would be enough. My point is without some sort of centralized government, man has proved that he/she does not play nice.

I believe the crash of the dollar to be our greatest threat, not EMP, not nuclear war, not ETs, natural disasters, not pandemics...the dollar/economy.

 

Just the reason I am up grading an older tractor.