Anonymous
Yep and yep. If anything major happens we are screwed! The only saving grace we have right now is our oldest son just finished paying off his dentist bill and now has more money to share with us. We have been a one income family from the beginning so I know how to pull dinner out of the air, but I sure don’t want to if I don’t have to.
Right up the road at the local walmart there are people who sleep there in their cars every night, they can’t afford rent. It’s really insane around here for rental prices.
I know if something happens we won’t be able to afford to move easily. Our rent goes up yearly by $25 and for other houses of this size, 3br, we are paying nearly $300-$500 less where we are, since we are in a ‘bad neighborhood’. It’s not as bad as people make it out to be and it’s the only reason I can stay home and not get a 9-5 outside the house.
Most homes around here are multi-generational, grandparents, their kids and their grands. Usually the middle generation has the name on the rental and their parents and kids live with them. My kids are still living here and my MIL has most of her kids living with her. It’s impossible to make it on fast food wages and that is what 99% of the jobs are, even outside of fast food, you don’t make enough to cover the basics.
Weekly rental motels make a killing out here too and drag people deeper and deeper in a hole because you can’t save up anything when you are paying 75% of your weekly check on a room, that’s how you end up sleeping at walmart.