How I Spent My Stimulus

Comments

• Instead of blaming someone else for your problems, why don't you take a look at your spending habits and figure it out. Or move to a cheaper apartment. I suggest looking into some personal finance classes before you start complaining about the government being responsible for your inability to pay rent on time.

  Posted by: Laughable Jul 1st, 06:52

• hey, asshole. I live in a cheap apartment, i pay my bills on time and i dont extravagantly spend money. I am sorry the price of gas has nearly doubled, as well as groceries and everything else....i work hard just to get by. my parents work full time as well at the same place for 25 years, make great money and work overtime nearly every weekend now because they HAVE to! I scrimp everywhere i can, i turn off the lights when i leave the house and turn off the AC, i never had to worry about stuff like this before!
  I am glad for you that you are one of the FEW fortunate ones who probably didnt need the check, but according to everyone I know, we all need it, and YES, we all blame the poor economy and GWB as well.
  So, suck on that.

  Posted by: alicia ferrari Jul 1st, 08:09

• Also, take 'personal finance classes'? Please. With what money!? I would be willing to bet the very small about of money that I do have that you're a republican.

  Posted by: alicia ferrari Jul 1st, 08:14

• Poor angry youth, blame blame blame, nothing buy victims. Spending more than you make does not put the government on the hook for your problems.
  
  Yes, the stimulus check is a joke, because it's only going to cause worse problems in the future, further devalue the currency, and likely won't have an impact. But there you people are, complaining about how little received when you're lucky to have received anything at all. It's free money, yet people still complain.
  
  And PS, there's a wealth of free personal finance articles and calculators on the internet (which you can apparently afford) or you can visit this ancient relic called the library for books. Lesson 1, don't spend more than you make. If you work for a big corporation, then you're already in a more stable job making more than many people who do with less.

  Posted by: Poor Youth Jul 1st, 11:59

• Ha ha ha!! You know, you don't have to be a Republican to know spending more than you make and being behind in rent is a recipe for failure...or maybe you do if you're representative of Democrats.
  
  PS, even if the entire government was Democrats, the fact that you "work full time for a large corporation" would disqualify you from free government handouts and programs, so just plan on being screwed for a while.
  

  Posted by: Still Laughable Jul 1st, 12:11

• While she's looking into some personal finance classes, she should also read a few books on economics of the history of recessions and see how Democrats and Republican presidents both have them in cycles and please research policy lags and recession causes. Maybe check out some current events with the housing market and see if you can tie a logical link to the administration (don't look too long).
  
  Also, oil prices have very little to do with the United States and our administration; I know we like to think we're that important, but we're not. And the US has always had the cheapest gas compared to every other country, so stop whining about the US and our government when it comes to oil. PS, the Republicans want to open up drilling and exploring for oil which would actually make a difference long-term, but the House isn't opening up any options to expand oil supply, which does have impact on oil.

  Posted by: Agree with those above Jul 1st, 12:15

• Nothing substitutes for personal responsibility. It is your job to live well within your means. It will help you cope with the effects of the Greater Depression. Yes, my friend, it is going to happen and within a year or two. Who ever said it could never happen again?
  
  This stimulus is a complete joke. Look how many people are paying past due bills. It is more appropriate to call this the "big banker bailout". Guess who created the first depression kiddies? It was the thieving banksters. So, if you haven't figured it out yet, SSDD... Understand?
  
  You think oil is high now, wait to Dubbya gets us involved in Iran. As it stands now, it will take a $600 stimulus check to pay the heating bill for one month this winter. Why? The thing we refer to as our dollar is worth less and less everyday.

  Posted by: Great Depressor Jul 1st, 22:40

• Okay, everybody chill out with the "live within your means" rhetoric. As far as I can tell none of you know the girl who wrote this, and thusly are in no position to criticize her spending habits. But then I suppose she is young, a member of the so-called "millennial generation" and therefore has no concept of responsibility, fiscal or otherwise, correct? WRONG! Not only do I know this girl, I'm her boyfriend and can tell you without equivocation that all of you telling her how to live her life are entirely off-base.
  
  I work a full time job as well but even with two sources of income we still struggle. Our dates consist of walks in the park and sitting at home watching TV (one of the few luxuries we do afford ourselves) while drinking coffee. We don't go out drinking, ever. We don't take pointless drives for the hell of it because we can't afford the gas. Neither of us has bought new clothes in over a year. Hell, we don't even go to the movies. We do everything we can to save money. We bought hot dogs, coffee and a couple (read: literally two) packs of frozen meat for our tiny 1-bedroom apartment (also cat litter for our cats - for the first time in weeks) and you should have seen us. You'd have thought we won the lottery.
  
  Why is that two people, each with full time jobs, get so excited over coffee and meat? Maybe it's because the economy is a wreck and only works for the people at the top anymore. Maybe it's because "living within your means" for people like us evidently requires selling our cars (a 1997 Chevy S10 with 130,000 miles and a 1998 Dodge Stratus with 120,000) and moving into a low-rent cardboard box. Also, fact is that it was 8 years of Republican "leadership" on the economy that got us in this mess. And while you harp at us for living so extravagantly, the government continues to bail out huge banks after they go belly-up for irresponsible lending, and shovel billions of dollars worth of subsidies to oil companies even though they record record profits - not revenue, profit- quarter after quarter.
  
  This is America, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for two people, each with full time jobs to have to scrimp and save, and still worry where there next meal is coming from or whether they'll have a place to sleep for the next six months. So please, judge not lest ye be judged. Although, that's something else Republicans are notorious for, especially those that call themselves "Christian."

  Posted by: Enough Already Jul 2nd, 11:24

• Right on! Preach it, brother!

  Posted by: Poopyhead Jul 2nd, 14:52

• Actually, we do know you don't live within your means, because you admit to being in the hole. It's that simple really.
  
  PS, banks and loans are in trouble because of people "in the hole" not paying back the bank. You don't pay back your creditors, they take the house, simple as that. And now big banks are forced to write-down millions in loans because of irresponsible borrowing. Yes, banks gave out money irresponsibly, and people like you happily took it irresponsibly. Democrats say blame the banks, Republicans say blame yourselves, and you know what, they're both right. Idiots bought houses with loans that inflated, because idiots thought the housing market would never drop...sounds like some people need to do some more research before purchasing the single-largest asset in their life.
  
  Long story short, if you're underwater and in the hole, you have no one to blame but yourself. If you expect the government to bail you out your entire life, you're not going to be around too long.

  Posted by: I Can Haz Cheezburger? Jul 2nd, 15:25

• When I was your age I got into serious financial trouble too-all on my own. I learned the hard way and dug myself out by working 2 jobs. Do what you have to do, but the sooner you realize you did this to yourself the sooner you can correct the problem.

  Posted by: agree's 100% with all of the above Jul 2nd, 16:34

• i have to scoff at how you immediately assume that i have happily and "irresponsibly borrowed" money. in fact, i have not. i dont plan to. i do not own a house, nor do i plan to anytime soon as we live paycheck to paycheck. i am smart enough (surprise!!) to know that since I am indeed in the hole, i shall not dig myself in further. i probably couldnt even get a loan if i'd wanted to. the only way to get a loan is to prove that you dont really need it. take a look around on this website, look how many people are posting the same sorts of blurbs i have. people simply cannot afford the basics anymore. is it possible, just slightly possible, that if this many people are writing THE SAME THINGS about not getting by or not being able to find a job, hell, even buy gas to go find a job, that there IS something indeed very wrong with the state of the economy right now? and yes, youre damn right, i do blame someone else. i dont go out to eat anymore, i dont go to the bar anymore, i dont even visit my own mother as often i'd like because it costs me too much money for the gas. this is the only difference from the way i lived my life 4 or 5 years ago when the dollar had worth. i am still in a cheap 1 br apartment, getting back and forth to work and simply feeding our faces costs more now than ever. we are good people, we work hard for our money. and you think you know what our means are??
  i dont see why in times of hardship people like you need to criticize fellow americans who are doing everything they can to get by. my point here is stop trying to preach, your rhetoric is not making a difference to any of us. our voices will drown yours out. there are far more middle class americans in this same financial situation (or lack thereof) than there are people like you. we are doing the best that we can, and sorry that you dont like the fact that some of us cannot afford to even live within our means.
  i know you think we should, but we cant. even though you think we should. but we cant. but youre going to tell us all we should. oh, but see, wait, we still cant.
  your turn.

  Posted by: alicia ferrari Jul 2nd, 16:44

• EPIC FAIL.

  Posted by: EPIC FAIL Jul 2nd, 17:19

• There are indeed not "far more middle class americans in this same financial situation (or lack thereof)". Maybe you've got a bunch of broke friends, but the separation between middle class and poor is growing, and the middle class wages have risen more than inflation for the past 4 years. So the middle class is actually rising, and if you're in that middle class (per GOV wage standards), then consider yourself lucky you're not under the poverty line.
  
  "our voices will drown yours out" - Whose voices? People who are in the hole financially? Actually as of the May 2008 GOV numbers, less people in America had debt than previous 12 months. Seems like your pool of voices are shrinking. Don't drown in the shallow water.

  Posted by: Middle Class? Jul 2nd, 17:22

• no, youre right, im sorry. i wish to think of myself as middle class. im dirt poor. and again, i dont see why in times of hardship people like you need to criticize fellow americans who are doing everything they can to get by. my point here is stop trying to preach, your rhetoric is not making a difference to any of us. our voices will drown yours out. there are far more AMERICANS (i think that is the most important point) in this same financial situation (or lack thereof) than there are people like you. we are doing the best that we can, and sorry that you dont like the fact that some of us cannot afford to even live within our means.
  i know you think we should, but we cant. even though you think we should. but we cant. but youre going to tell us all we should. oh, but see, wait, we still cant.
  your turn.
  

  Posted by: alicia ferrari Jul 2nd, 19:05

• Can't you all just get along?

  Posted by: Lorraineksss Jul 2nd, 19:18

• Wow. It's not clear which divide is deeper - the one between the rich and the poor or between the political rhetoric and the painful reality. Are you conscious? Are you breathing? Almost HALF of all households don't take in what the budget project reckons is needed to make ends meet! Families very often must do without the things viewed as essential to even "middle-class" life, something so simple as health insurance or a separate bedroom for the kids. We're losing the middle class in this country. You used to be able to pay a month's rent with one paycheck a month. Now it takes two paychecks, three paychecks, and (if fortunate enough to have two incomes) both partners working. Too bad any effort to reduce poverty has essentially been abandoned over the last eight years.
  The federal poverty threshold for 2008 is an income of $21,027 for a family of four. This means BASIC necessities cost roughly 3.5 times the federal poverty level. Estimate the prices of housing these days, child care, transportation, food, health care, taxes and miscellaneous....just because the costs of everything else are rising doesn't mean your paychecks automatically are. If you're working 40 hours a week at minimum wage, you can't make ends meet. I make more than min. wage, and remember, I am still struggling.
  It seems to me that offering Americans better jobs instead of sending our jobs overseas would help stimulate the economy better than increasing our national debt even further through tax rebates that are likely to go straight to paying for higher gas prices or rent. Am I wrong here? Please tell me yes. The stimulus package was designed to get consumers moving, but it isn't likely to do much, if anything once all is said and done. What counts ISN'T the dollar amount people have in their bank accounts. It's how far each dollar will go. What initially was supposed to be a boost to business has been consumed by the rising burden of commodities! A better stimulus plan would have focused on helping out the ailing investment-related sectors of the economy. But, unfortunately, the current proposal resembles an old baseball player trying to prevent his decline by injecting himself with steroids. It may help in the short run, but the long term effects including a growing budget deficit will be much worse for the nation's economic health and the American people in general.
  You know what I should have done with my check?
  Prepare for the revolution.

  Posted by: its me, again. Jul 2nd, 20:06

• Ferrari... I am sorry for these people attacking you. Yes, it is getting so expensive that living within one's means will not be much of an existence, hence the term DEPRESSION.
  
  You sound like you have a pretty good idea what is going on. You mentioned our "dollar" is ever increasingly worthless. Do you understand why? When you figure out why, tell all your friends. Tell them it is being deliberately crashed. If you know the truth you will know why.
  
  Yes, it is all very sick, but the people behind the curtain are very sick people. They really do not care if you survive this or not.

  Posted by: Great Depressor Jul 2nd, 21:26

• I love this, more and more people saying to the millions of American families and individuals who are struggling "know your place and pull yourself out of the hole you're in." That's all well and good but if two people working together and combining their purchasing power, effectively doubling their respective incomes, can't make ends meet, what hope does anyone have. I shudder to think what the single mother of two or three has to do to make sure her children can even eat. Let alone put presents under the tree at Christmas. I can only speak to my own situation, and for all the assumptions and derision about my "irresponsible borrowing" (of which there is none - I've never borrowed money or even had my own credit card, I've never had enough money to get a loan) there is a severe disconnect between my critics on this thread and the stark reality of this recession (pre-depression?) .
  
  It's not my fault that $10 is really more like $7.50 due to the depreciation of the dollar. Add to that the level of inflation we're experiencing and prices rising across the board pinches wages even more, so my $7.50 actually feels like $6/hr, well below the minimum wage in my home state of Pennsylvania. But I suppose inflation is also my fault for not borrowing all that money.
  
  I understand the sentiment of those who say "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," I really do. But when two jobs don't pay the bills, what can I do? I would like to say that excessive spending or renting an apartment that's too big or buying a car I can't afford or, again, borrowing money I couldn't pay back is the reason I fell behind. If that were the case I could at least understand WHY I don't have any money or why I couldn't put any away or make an investment to continue my education so that I could earn more. But the fact is that I fell behind because prices have risen, contrary to what a poster above said, faster than wages have across the board. Indeed wages have not risen at all, and as illustrated above, purchasing power of those wages has actually dropped significantly. And no, the middle class is not doing fine. The middle class IS shrinking because of the disparity between inflation and real wages. So maybe you're one of the lucky ones joining the ranks of the wealthy while we plebeians continue to shovel your waste for peanuts (STILL WAITING FOR THAT TRICKLE-DOWN!!).
  
  I suppose there is an answer, work a third job. That's it, three full-time jobs. That's 24-hour shifts 5 days a week. I suppose I don't need to eat, or see my family or friends. I'll have to sell my cats so they don't starve while I'm working all week (literally) and I can sleep on the weekends. Look, I get what you're saying about lifting myself out of my hole on my own but I'm not going to waste my youth working three jobs for years on end just so I can afford a house I'll never be able to live in since I'm always working. Call me crazy. Or call me spoiled because I just don't feel I should have to.
  
  As I said before, THIS IS AMERICA, the land of opportunity, whatever happened to that? Life is hard for me now but I know that I'm rich where it counts. I have great friends, a loving girlfriend and a devoted family that all give me the laughs and love that make life worth living. And that is the most important thing in life - not breaking your back for a faceless corporation (or two, or three) that refuses to acknowledge your humanity by paying a a wage that makes it possible to feed, clothe and shelter yourself.
  
  And isn't that the point. Isn't the dream of America that one can just have a job, show up every day and do their work and everything will be alright? This isn't just an issue of whether I'm doing enough for myself through my hard work, it's about whether this great nation we all love and cherish is living up to it's promise. And sadly, for too many millions, it is not.

  Posted by: Enough Already Jul 2nd, 21:32

• Wow, leave the poor girl alone. She is just trying to get by like everyone else...besides this is her page to tell the world what she did with her money...not a page for your harsh words.

  Posted by: Me Jul 16th, 18:52

• I love how "working full time for a large corporation" precludes people from living within their means.
  
  You are not ENTITLED to anything! Pave your own way! Listen to Dave Ramsey. I'm 29. Three years ago I was in credit card debt $13K+ and living at my girlfriend's parents house. Not once did I blame the Government for my situation (this was basically carry-over from being unemployed for 11 months just 1 year out of College). Even though I had a 5 year professionally-accredited degree in a large metropolis I realized I didn't deserve anything ($) and started realizing it's all on me. This summer I finally got debt-free (student loans) and on top of that have a net worth in the 6 figures. I live in a modest $850/mo. apartment. I drive a 2003 Impala with 110,00 miles on it. Most people would have no clue I have $ because I don't flaunt it. Next summer I will buy a ridiculously-marked-down home with a minimum of 50% downpayment, and will own it free and clear by age 32. My life is going to kick ass because I have discipline and understand the basic, primitive concepts of compensation and trade. I will not pay bankers to borrow money. In fact, I will lend them money and they will pay me interest. This has already happened. I want to be a hero for my future kids by showing them that I'm fiscally-responsible and did not bring them into this world until I have proven that I can take care of myself, my fiance, and my dog. Whether or not they ever know or understand my struggles, I will always know I've done the right thing by being a good provider.
  
  I'm not trying to be mean with this post, I really do feel pain for some people on here because I felt it, too. But it's high time people pull their diapers up and stop buying things to impress people and start setting a budget and some priorities. Stop making "Life" what happens to you. And start putting your imprint on the world. Set a goal to leave $100,000 to Cancer research when you die. Give your life meaning. I'm not saying don't have fun along the way, but take your life by the reins and maybe in 5 years you can come onto these sites and be a "Jerkstore Republican" (What does that mean, and why do Dems think only Reps are successful!? lol) like myself :P
  
  GOOD LUCK. You are already in a much better position than some other people on here...single moms of 4 who are 29 with 11 year old kids... come on. This site is full of unintentional comedy, like the idiot who burnt his stimulus check. What a d00shnozzle.

  Posted by: Positive Net Worth Jul 20th, 15:30

• Again, my rent is cheaper than yours, and again, neither of us have ever borrowed any money. I never said I thought I was entitled to anything, I never asked for free handouts. My point was simply to say that the economy sucks, the worth of the dollar sucks and all you people who want to criticize, well, you suck too. I dont see how you can even argue with the last post by myself or Enough Already.....unless you have no clue what is going on nowadays. I do not complain, I do the best with what I have. I was simply stating that recently, it has been far more difficult to get by with the same amount of money I was making 5 or 6 years ago. THATS ALL.

  Posted by: Alicia Ferrari Jul 24th, 05:53

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