What would you do...financially?

[bignateyk]

Send the kids to foster home and become a prostitute.

 

[LurkerPrime]

personally they should let the car get repoed and then file for bankruptcy, that'll free them from the car bills, credit card bills, and hospital (but not the student loans). That should free up about $1200-1300 a month (depending on how much the student loans are). They should also cut out the gym, and at the very least cut the cable, which should be another $100 of savings a month. Only 1 person is working and he bikes to work, so the car isn't needed anyway, in the future they can buy a decent used car for 3-5k. ditching the car also saves $165 in parking fees.

Either way with those savings, it brings thier monthly bills to around $1500 a month, which is easily managable with thier current income. If they all worked full time for around $8.50 an hour, they would bring home roughly $3200 a month (after taxes, etc), which would greatly improve thier situation.

Either way, they dug the hole they are in, and they can dig themselves out of it if they wanted to. They just choose not to for the most part. So I dont feel sorry for them one bit.

 

[rh71]

Nowadays my only expenses are for my family... I can save when I really want to as evidenced by my personal credit card statement that just came in the mail totaling 3 McDonald's lunches and that's it for 30 whole days and I never carry cash. When you're used to being a miser in certain areas, it's no big deal. Oh and stay away from Hot Deals.

As for the family, the pet's gotta go, the kid's gotta get a job, and cut out cable. If you're making a big deal about only having$10 left at the end of the month, how is it not obvious the kid needs to help out? I've had a job since I was 14 when we had to get work permits.

 

[Oyeve]

Instead of going to the gym they can all push the car around being they cant afford the gas.

 

[CLite]

My wife and I live in Hoboken, NJ (close to Newark, NJ) and our car expenses were about $500 prior to paying off the loan. This is with a 10 year old Honda Civic, parking on the street, and regular maintenance (including major items like timing belt/etc). When we moved to Hoboken I ditched my car because my wife could commute via mass-transit to NYC, so only one car. Considering my wife and I combined are in the top federal income bracket and we still choose to park on the street and walk the occasional few blocks to our condo makes me surprised a Section 8 family is paying $165/month for parking. Street parking in Hoboken is probably one of the hardest places in the country, but I still rather do that than blow $2k a year which can be spent on more important things.

However I don't want to preach too much. I would never wag my finger over such minor penny-pinching details when my wife and I still have the pleasure of company match on 401k, dirt cheap company-supplemented medical insurance, the ability to purchase a condo this family could never have, and an absolute knowledge that we can map out all the future children expenses and fund everything for them through college. Then of course on-top of the more mundane financial details the funds for vacations/etc.

Yeah the family could eek out another 5 grand or so a year but that doesn't address the wider issues of income disparity and lack of meaningful opportunities for a middle class. This is something that neither party really cares about, all both parties try to do is buy votes with idiotic policies all around.

 

[jagec]

Why are you trying to figure out what someone who gets free money should do to have more at the end of the month? If they were any good with money they would not need mine. It is much easier to spend money you don't have to earn.

Only about 4% of their monthly income was "free money" (the food stamps), and, let's face it, most people who rant about other people spending "their" money pay very little in taxes.

Also, it's not "your" money, it's the government's money. If you don't think they are spending it wisely, vote for someone who will.

 

[Jadow]

405 rent for 2 beds apt
315 food
40 laundry
734 car expenses/insurance
658 credit card/hospital/student loan
165 parking
42 check cashing fee
280 cable, internet, phone
181 gym, shoes, gift, entertainment
50 cat food and liter
30 loan for medicine
1.5 coffee
1.5 mother day card
2 lottery ticket
2905 TOTAL EXPENSE

America, where our POOR still have gym memberships.

seriously, run around the block a few times, that's free.

lose the cat

280 for cable, internet, and phone? get real

734 a month for cars? Don't know how my wife and I get buy with our 2 cars at only about 80 a month for car insurance.

 

[Jadow]

Also, it's not "your" money, it's the government's money.

ugh

 

[SunnyD]

Student Loans
IMO, student loans are a responsibility only if a degree is earned. I would balance payments between student loans, credit cards, and hospital bills carefully. Each month selecting which one goes unpaid.

lol wut?

Here's a hint - if they're federal student loans, the government begs to differ with you. In fact, they take priority over just about anything else on the list. Including bankruptcy. Ignoring them will only make ALL of your other financial problems worse.

That said, this family "appears" to be eligible for a financial hardship deferral.

Other notes: despite the Humane Society bleeding hearts posting in here - dump the cats. Get rid of the cars. Get rid of internet and cable. Pay down credit cards. Have the "kids" get jobs or get the fuck out. Cut unnecessary expenditures. Retire in Jamaica.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

280 cable, internet, phone

Good gravy. We pay a third of that for our equivalents here... and that's with a much higher income. $60 for cable Internet, $25 for Vonage (itself more expensive than it needs to be), a prepaid cell phone and $8 Netflix or equivalent.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

She was fired as her employer closed up and moved to another state. She did not quit.

She was made redundant from her data input job, then got another in the city but quit as it required 3 hours commuting a day...

So... well played her.

 

[jagec]

ugh

That's what taxes ARE. When you pay your cable bill, you might gripe about the amount, but you don't gripe about how Comcast is wasting "your" money, do you?

If you don't think that you're getting good value for your tax dollars, do something about it. Don't pretend that taxation itself is some horrible injustice that was only invented when Obama got elected.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

lol wut?

Here's a hint - if they're federal student loans, the government begs to differ with you. In fact, they take priority over just about anything else on the list. Including bankruptcy. Ignoring them will only make ALL of your other financial problems worse.

That said, this family "appears" to be eligible for a financial hardship deferral.

Other notes: despite the Humane Society bleeding hearts posting in here - dump the cats. Get rid of the cars. Get rid of internet and cable. Pay down credit cards. Have the "kids" get jobs or get the fuck out. Cut unnecessary expenditures. Retire in Jamaica.

They only have one car. It belongs to the mother, yet is sucking down 77.5% of her monthly income.

 

[Savarak]

Regardless of ALL their mis-spendings... their financial situation would be easily cured if the bum 21 year old kid gets a job to pull in at least 1.5k to contribute to the family after the unemployment runs out(which, by the way, isn't "welfare", as one poster mentioned above, its an insurance employers pay towards while you are working... UI is not funded like welfare/food stamps/etc). When the mom finds a job, all the rest of the burden would be covered + a good amount towards savings as well.

 

[BoberFett]

Why do they have cable? Get a library card and read a book if you're poor.

Gym membership? Go run around the block. If you're poor, you have no need for a gym membership.

Get rid of the cat too.

I saved that lazy woman and her worthless kids a couple hundred dollars a month. You're welcome.

 

[cronos]

Getting rid of the cat is messed up lol. Getting rid of the cat pretty much means killing the cat. Adult cats have almost no chance of being adopted. I'm betting you get rid of the cat people don't have pets. The $50 to keep one of their family members alive a month is one of the smallest of their expenses. Its the gym membership, car, and cable/phone/internet that are the dumbest and need to go or at least be cut way back on.

Keeping the cat is more messed up. $50/month for.... what, exactly?

Gym/car/cable/phone/internet needs to get cut extremely down as well. Get rid of the gym/car/cable/internet and get a prepaid phone. I'm paying less than $10/month on my line. They need to realize that they can't afford yapping to people and just stop talking too much.

 

[iGas]

Cut out the car, parking, check cashing, cable, internet, gift, entertainment cat food, liter, and lottery ticket.

 

[PingSpike]

Bum kid needs to get a McJob or get McKickedOut. Just let the car get repo'd. It can't be sold for money to buy something cheaper, it pretty much goes without saying it has an astronomical interest rate and is upside down. And with no job to drive to it is literally just dead weight. And if their credit is already ruined there's nothing left to ruin.

Might as well flake on the hospital bills too, that's how American universal health care works: poor people just don't pay anything. And again, their credit is already ruined. Obviously there is room to slash the cable and the gym bill can go. They spend half as much on food as I do though so I'm not sure what's going on there. The car is the real killer.

 

[DrPizza]

Why am I one of the few not amazed by the car expenses? I'm not certain about NJ, but in NY, if a child reaches legal driving age, by law, they have to be added to the insurance, regardless of whether or not they will be driving the vehicle. So, her car insurance is probably going to cover herself and her 21 year old son. I'm not sure whether or not she purchased that vehicle before or after she lost her job. If after, then shame on her. If before, then she probably was able to afford it just fine - they still have $10 left each month while on unemployment. I've never heard that unemployment pays you the same amount.

But, on that car, it's very possible she has a $300 or more payment. Add on the insurance, and you can easily be at $500. Now, I think only one person (ElFenix) in this thread mentioned gasoline & maintenance. I don't think $240 a month is anywhere out of line for those expenses. Hell, I spend more than that each month on gasoline alone. (This month, I'm pushing close to $1000, if not more, on gasoline, but that includes gas for the boat.)

 

[DrPizza]

Also, regarding the phone/cable/internet - what if she's locked into a contract with an early termination fee? With $10 left at the end of the month, while over the long run, it would save money, in the short term, she can't afford the early termination fee.

 

[Theb]

I make more than that and I don't spring for a gym membership or cable.

 

[rudder]

29% is the standard rate for credit cards now.

Actually the average is ~14%. But no one is forced to use a credit card. This family should be able to cut back and pay everything with cash. Sometimes a credit card is needed in society... so you spend no more than what is in checking and you won't get dinged at 14%.

 

[nanette1985]

Why am I one of the few not amazed by the car expenses? I'm not certain about NJ, but in NY, if a child reaches legal driving age, by law, they have to be added to the insurance, regardless of whether or not they will be driving the vehicle. So, her car insurance is probably going to cover herself and her 21 year old son.

You're right about NJ. Doesn't she have 2 kids? That adds up.

 

[gmaster456]

30 and 21 you say? Have the two boys join the military (assuming they meet the physical and mental requirements. I didn't watch the vid) while they still can. Even as an E1, they'd be making around 1,500 a month plus benefits. Not much but a hell of a lot better than what they're doing now. And of course, the longer you're in the more you get paid. Plus, it's a helluva career.

 

[gmaster456]

Actually the average is ~14%. But no one is forced to use a credit card. This family should be able to cut back and pay everything with cash. Sometimes a credit card is needed in society... so you spend no more than what is in checking and you won't get dinged at 14%.

Those prepaid credit cards are also on option. Load up what you can spend for the month and you're set. It's a lot harder to go beyond your means that way.