My plan as a poor retired guy on a fixed income is to stop buying stuff, I don't buy much now so?

[wcmagumba]

[leftieNanner]

1. Just food

And toilet paper.

And maybe some wine.

[dweller]

2. Same here

But my 2 kids have 4 kids btwn them , and I will not let them or my grands go hungry .

I will 1st


✌🏻

[Mme. Defarge]

5. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[stopdiggin]

3. hearin' ya ....

tightening the belt means vastly different things - to different orders of people.

( if I was a half decent comedian I could tear this one up ... )
( but - I'm sure it's all been done before - and better. )

[Rwheeler32]

4. Good plan.

We stocked up on coffee at Costco today, but we have been watching the sales and buying very little. I hope the small businesses can make it.

[BigmanPigman]

6. I've been watching every penny my entire life

so this is no change for me. As a trained artist and teacher there have been too many part time jobs my entire life due to poor health and not having a spouse or employer or veteran to help me out. Living on my own, making min wage, terrified of being laid off, retraining, re retraining made me financially on the edge my entire life.

I never, ever eat out, even fast food
I never buy cell phones or tech stuff
I have always cut my own hair
The last vacation was in 2005
I buy food that is "expired"
I cook, clean and do everything on my own.
My last new car was 2010
My appliances and household items are 20-30 years old
I do ALL of my own maintenance
I live in a 500 sq ft apt.
I live in expensive San Diego
I live at poverty level despite 2 degrees (education and art)
The last time I flew on a plane was 2012, to my grandmom's 100th birthday
I NEVER have had a manicure
I NEVER can afford a cab or Uber
I have not been to a concert in 15 years
I have not gone to a movie in 9 years

What do I spend my disability pension on?
Food (only bought on sale, no name brands and I cook EVERYTHING at home from scratch).
Utilities
Rent
Insurance
Medical expenses and pharmaceuticals
And only a tiny amount on gas since I do not drive anywhere. I was raised to live within my means. My sister and I did all the cleaning, washing, dishes, yard work, etc and we got 50 cents allowance and had to buy our clothes, gifts for others' holidays, we never ate out, we never had new cars, I never had money to go out with friends, .... My parents were extreme in how cheap they were but it trained me to live cheaply as an adult. If I ever asked my parents for a dime I would have been spanked. I learned by the age of 4 that this was the system. I never asked to have money to go out with friends, or for new school clothes or even school supplies since I would get a spanking instead of a quarter.

Not many people understand how living this way for 62 years has deeply affected my perspective about living within your means and having no debt compared to the average American. I have the feeling that a lot of people are going to be forced to live like I have lived my entire life. With the tariffs, etc many people will be in for a shock and will find it difficult adapting. People, even when they have a ton of debt still live beyond their means. I have no pity for these fools. I'm used to not buying anything that is "new" or out of my means, most Americans are not. They are in for a tough, quick lesson in home economics. Perhaps I live like people lived during the Great Depression but it works and soon others will be joining my club. I just don't want to hear all the whining. Tough shit! They've lived their lives well, at least better than I have. Yet, they have massive debt. Whose fault is that? Live within your means Americans!!!!!!!!!

[DFW]

8. I have a quote for you from one of my favorite books

My life has taken a very different path from yours, albeit with a few superficial similarities (ages since my last new car, cut my own hair, terrified of debts). Meeting my amazing wife at age 22 (we are now 73) was obviously a life's-lottery win of epic proportions.

The quote is by a fictitious Basque poet, living in the French Pyrenees in the 1970s, keeping away from the authorities on the Spanish side of the border, who never looked kindly upon Basque nationalists with dubious actions on their resumés:

“a man is happiest when there is a balance between his needs and his possessions. Now the question is: how to achieve this balance. One could seek to do this by increasing his goods to the level of his appetites, but that would be stupid. It would involve doing unnatural things—bargaining, haggling, scrimping, working. Ergo? Ergo, the wise man achieves the balance by reducing his needs to the level of his possessions. And this is best done by learning to value the free things of life: the mountains, laughter, poetry, wine offered by a friend...."

It's a quote obviously better suited to a fictional character living in a small village in the Pyrenees in 1979 rather than in present-day San Diego, a place I have been exactly once, and that was over 40 years ago. Still, the quote does carry a certain wisdom to it, especially "the wise man achieves the balance by reducing his needs to the level of his possessions." It's not always practical, but it's a philosophical goal to ponder, nonetheless.

[BigmanPigman]

9. That makes perfect sense to me.

I find it amusing that he says "doing UNNATURAL things....like scrimping and working".

I've found that I appreciate things and remember them better since I have had so few experiences, like traveling or eating out. Since I have been to Europe only 3 times I know that I have only a few memories but the few I do have are great. I remember each meal, what the weather was like, how people lived, what they wore, the beautiful locations and the unusual surprises from the 3 times I've been there (1983 Rome Art School, 1997 Tour of France after I got a teaching contract, and 2005 Nice and Eze and I took my little dog...my dream since 1997 but this was a different pup). On our tour of France (I'm not a fan of tours) we went through the Pyrenees and stopped in Biarritz. We had two hours to see the sights, buy souvenirs and get lunch. I am a foodie and I made sure that Paella was my lunch. Of course it arrived at the exact moment we had to leave and I learned they do not have doggie bags for leftovers. The waiter was appalled when I ended up asking for foil and wrapped it up to go. No way was I going to eat another cheap tour meal. I enjoyed every bite on the tour bus.

I can remember details like this while my sister can't since she has so many experiences (she became a lawyer and was able to travel 3 times YEAR!). She doesn't remember each meal or details and is amazed that I can.

[DFW]

12. I was in a tiny Basque village when I was 17

I was at the harbor with a few old guys hanging around and gabbing in Basque. They were kind enough to switch to Spanish for a foreigner (i.e. me). I can well imagine that if they had grown used to a life where scrimping and working were no longer natural. Just a different rhythm to things there.

My younger daughter is a hotshot lawyer working out of Frankfurt. Like me, she is in a different country almost every day. That's a different rhythm than most people choose, too. Like me, she just slid into her world, and there she stayed. She somehow manages to raise her two daughters with her man, who travels as much as she does, and a woman from Poland whom they have hired to help them out with the children. Their girls, now 4 and 7, are comfortable in English and German, know some Polish as well. My daughter has gone off to a different planet, celebrating important birthdays in the Maldives and in Oman, and goes down to visit friends in Zanzibar for the weekend. There are all sorts of planes of existence out there, and I came to realize long ago that there were plenty that I would never get to experience, hers being one of them. But it's OK. I never aspired to her level, and never will. Like the man in the story, I let my expectations settle down to the level of what I have (like I have much of a choice at age 73), instead of getting frustrated at having expectations I will never fulfill.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

10. I will start doing a lot of that. Thankfully, I got a new iPhone a few months ago.

[BigmanPigman]

11. I do not use my cell phone much

so it is "old" from 2020. Since I do not go out I don't need or use it unless for emergencies. My Cox cable person tried to sell me a new one a few months ago when I went into their store for a problem. I guess people spend a lot of money and upgrade often. Mine has tape holding the protective cover in place (another way I save money). I do most of my own repairs and I have a ton of duct tape and Gorilla Glue. I can be very productive and clever by jerry rigging everything.

[Kaleva]

7. I went back to work part time when Biden was in office

Too hard to get by on about $1600 a month from SSDI and a small pension from the VA.

Yea, there's some nights my legs twist up from very painful cramps but I'm not spending a lot of time figuring out how to pay the bills.