If it all hit the fan

[runamuk]

The whole deficit budget etc..got me to thinking........yes always a scary thought :bgrin

: ...what do you consider normal.................I am very odd so will wait so as not to taint results.............but if you had to get rid of ALL extras what bills would be left?

my answers will appear shortly

:

 

[shminifancier]

The whole deficit budget etc..got me to thinking........yes always a scary thought :bgrin

: ...what do you consider normal.................I am very odd so will wait so as not to taint results.............but if you had to get rid of ALL extras what bills would be left?

Well I just went through this So now I have 400 For rent 62 for Satellite TV Telephone and DSL 65

car ins. 46. 450 for health insurance of which will be cut way back to under 200 when I get on Medicare in the fall. So right now it is close to 1,000 Per month... with income monies of 1700 Non of this is food or any of the "extras" like a movie once in awhile food for my donkey, and steer things like that

I hope to have 300 at least to put away each month in savings now that I used my savings to pay off the plastic cards and other bills.

 

[runamuk]

oops didn't mean dollar amounts...but more which things people consider normal neccessary living expenses..........rent/mtg + food+......etc etc..........

 

[nootka]

Necessary bills:

Mortgage

Vehicle payment

Insurances (all types)

Electricity

Oil (for the heat)

Phone (both cell and land line), necessary for maintaining our business/employment

Vehicle maintenance

Food and personal care items

Clothing (no matter what we have, it seems there's always a need for something else, not a want but a need)

Accountant (again for the purpose of maintaining our employment)

Taxes and fees to be able to stay employed (lots of these in this industry)

Not SO important, but it would be one of the last things to go if we had to cut back to bare bones:

Internet satellite service

Satellite TV

I am sure there are some I've missed, just trying to think of what it takes to make things "go" here.

Liz

 

[Jill]

The type of line of work I am in, the more uncertain the economy, the better off I am in terms of income because I benefit when more people seek professional financial help. Also, I specialize in some investments that guarantee against losses but still have good upside, market linked, potential.

But to answer the question, if things got tight for me, the would eat onlyramen noodles before missing these bills are:

Mortgage

Electric

Insurance

Horse expenses (but of course some could be sold)

Taxes

Phones

 

[Cronewolf]

Housing

food

lights

heat

Can and have done without Phone, TV, computer,movies ,eating out.

 

[KrisP]

1) Home/property and all costs associated with it, mortgage (if applicable) HELOC (if applicable) taxes, insurance.

2) vehicle insurance, gete pulled over without it here you're toast.

3) food for us/feed for animals

4) electric/gas

5) then all other expenses.

Please NOTE though, the VET goes up on the list when needed, he WILL be paid, he has a home to run too. If I can't afford to pay him I don't need to have the horses.

krisp

 

[miniapp]

Good question..

Necessary Bills:

House Payment

Truck/Trailer Payment

Home and Auto Insurance

Horse Bills (Vet, Feed, Board, etc...)

Fuel

Electric

Communications: ie: phone, internet, etc ( I work in the industry so gotta have 'em..

: )

Food

Not so necessary:

Evenings out

Movies

Anything that does not relate to the above... LOL!

I live in Central California... really getting expensive to live here, so there is a reason I work a full time job AND train horses... :bgrin Don't get much sleep, but, oh well....

:

Suzy Hooper

Show Horses by Suzy

Fresno, CA

 

[Relic]

l saw on Ophra that the majority of Americans are living on the edge and if they lost there jobs over night thats it for them game over. Scarey to think everyone seems to have it all but on credit.

 

[runamuk]

Interesting.........

my list

mortgage/rent

insurance/auto

power

food/people and animal

I would forego my internet and phone if I had to

this is pretty much where we are at.the only other is car pmt which the new car could go if absolutely neccessary.

having lost a job recently and that particular employment paid the mortgage I am in the middle of knowing how fast it can all be over........we have never bought much on credit..always saved that for the huge things like mortgage and auto if we needed one.........no credit cards.........

interesting to see .......keep adding

 

[backwoodsnanny]

mortgage if I had one which we dont

Property taxes

Food or amunition to kill food

Clean water or ability to boil some.

Wood for heat

There are only 3 necessities food water and shelter the rest is NOT necessary to live.

Things I would like to keep not necessity to live

Electricity in which case I would want oil as well so we didnt have to depend on just wood.

Gas for vehicle so we can work

Food for the animals or there wouldnt be any animals

Phone but can live without it and have

Cable but can and have lived without it

Internet not a necessity

I guess your question needs clarification it depends on if the entire country has shut down or not. As there would be no job to go to so no need for gas.

 

[runamuk]

mortgage if I had one which we dont

Property taxes

Food or amunition to kill food

Clean water or ability to boil some.

Wood for heat

There are only 3 necessities food water and shelter the rest is NOT necessary to live.

Things I would like to keep not necessity to live

Electricity in which case I would want oil as well so we didnt have to depend on just wood.

Gas for vehicle so we can work

Food for the animals or there wouldnt be any animals

Phone but can live without it and have

Cable but can and have lived without it

Internet not a necessity

I guess your question needs clarification it depends on if the entire country has shut down or not. As there would be no job to go to so no need for gas.

I was thinking more of a generalized....major wage earner loses job..........you pose an even better one........how many could survive if our country completely collapsed....

I do not relish it but...I could be a pioneer if needed

: ...I grew up pretty rough.....our luxury was electricity and a phone.and later a black and white tv :bgrin ..it used to totally stink when the power was out for 10 or so days

: all cooking was done on the woodstove all reading was done by oil lamp and..we didn't have an outhouse so had to haul dang water from the pond for toilet flushing and dish wasing people washing etc.....and to get drinking water we had to go to the spring about 2 miles away and fill jugs( we did have a car so that helped)

: ..and in reality we had it pretty good having a house and indoor plumbing and electric.....many of our neighbors lived in...lets see..one family lived in a teepee......a guy up the road lived in a treehouse...........oh the really cool one was the guy who lived in a series of old stumps in the woods

: my neighbors started out in a woodshed sized shack with an outhouse and over the years they built a house etc......we grew a huge garden and canned...others raised a pig or cow and we did share alot of those types of things.........several people also were avid hunters so we ate alot of bear, elk, deer.......

I prefer to not have to be a survivalist but if push came to shove we could do it

:

 

[susanne]

We drastically reduced our living expenses when we moved from Portland out to Scappoose...

NO MORTGAGE!! we bought our current home with profit from the sale of our last place.

We just paid off our one vehicle (so we now have the repair bills that come the day a car is paid off!))

We are on well and septic, so no water/sewer bills, and we now haul our own garbage, unlike in town

Our property taxes here are about 1/4th what they were in Portland.

That leaves:

Food for people//animals

Paying off past debt (health and business related, NOT luxury items)

Phone/Internet (essential to my work)

Healthcare for people/animals (moves up in case of emergency)

Insurance (home/auto)

Transportation

Electricity (includes heating)

Savings (needs to move up on our list -- we aim to balance saving with paying off all debt)

Property Taxes

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Necessary: I have no mortgage (very very lucky), electric bill, propane bill, phone bill (my puter is on it), I could live without my DirectV amd get an antennae. Then there is the insurance and the taxes but I'd love it they weren't necessary. Oh we can forget the credit card bills, they sure can go away.

: Gotta have food for me and the critters, but I could live very pioneer, the amish could install oil lights for me.

 

[Jill]

Okay, I know this is going to sound crazy to some people, but I hope I die with a mortgage! That's one of the best tax deductions out there.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

Hmm

Necessity

Mortgage

Vet (I always am paying him monthly it seems need him happy and in my corner ALWAYS)

Feed for animals(cant imagine living without them could cut back on horses if I had to but would always have some and dogs and cats are here forever)

Food for us (could cut back alot on chocolate and diet coke I suppose)

My van was paid for in full

we are on well and septic

I could if I had to cut back with satellite dish

but bottom line is we live pretty scarce now. Dont get me wrong the kids have more then they need even though no where near what they want

:

 

[Pepipony]

Guess that depends on what you mean by hitting the fan? If its just a recession, than the normal bills would apply House/ins, car/ins , elect, phone ( would be able to cut that but hubbys works off it) and food.

If we had a depression ( God forbid, please!) I think most of us would be doing good to just put food on the table. Back during the last one people didnt hvae nearly the bills we now have and lived closer to the land than we do now. Can you even imagine living in a city and having to rely on growing your own food? Terrifying thought.

Growing up I always wondered why my GPs lived in this huge house, lived quite well, yet saved/washed foil, sandwich bags, bread bags etc. It was because of the depression. Bet a lot of us recall growing up with parents/grandparents like that. Bet even more couldnt even imagine hvaing to do that, let alone actually doing it.

i dont worry so much about a depression, as I do loosing retirements. So many companies are doing away w/them its scary. Hubbys work now has this rider onto their agreements that if you dont work for them for 5 years before you retire, you get nothing. So if they lay you off 5 year and one day before your retirement age, tough tookie. Doesnt matter that you put in 30+ years into it. Think Enron

 

[backwoodsnanny]

I guess I was thinking if the crap REALLY hit the fan as in a complete collapse. As for losing a primary income we all come to that at some point and I think we are well on the road to being able to handle that. And though I agree with Jill that a mortgage is a wonderful thing for a tax write off it doesnt do much for those who are on fixed low incomes. If this country had a complete collapse then it would be Food Shelter and water period. We would all relearn the barter system thats for sure. I know most dont think this could happen but remember it already did in 1929. And those who continue to live close to the land would be the winners if that kind of collapse happened.

 

[Jill]

I really, really do not think there's a chance of a "Great Depression" happening again. The world is a different place now and we are in a world economy to boot.

 

[mountain_waif]

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