For a few months, my cousin's wife and I've been planning a trip to Oklahoma State's Insect Zoo with our kids. We both homeschool and thought it would be a fun field trip for our (combined) seven girls. I got a phone call this morning from her, as the trip is planned for this Friday. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears as she told me that she just can't afford the gas money to go on the trip (It is about an hour and a half one way.) She was having to make the choice of either buying groceries OR going on the field trip. Thankfully I have a full tank of gas because I didn't go house hunting this week, so I am going to have room to take her two oldest girls with me. She's considering taking a night job stocking shelves at Target for the holidays to help them get by. We talked quite a while and I'm planning to go over and help her put in a fall garden to help feed her family (their home has raised beds already built around the patio out back, and with a little bit of work, we could make it so they'd at least have salad veggies during the winter)....My cousin has a good job in broadcasting, and yet they have to choose between doing something fun with their kids and eating. A few weeks back, they really wanted to go camping, but couldn't afford to, so they chose to sleep out in their back yard instead. It is hard to imagine how really poor folks are making it right now because even when both of our husbands work really good jobs and make good money, we're having to pinch every penny till it hollers. It stinks. :-\
I hear you. I have been asking myself the same question for the past few years. I make a decent living, we don't have a lot of debt, and we are scraping by sometimes. I have wondered for years how are people in the bottom 10-40% brackets of society are getting by? debt. credit cards, home equity lines of credit, leased vehicles, adjustable rate loans with teaser intro rates, welfare, county city state federal subsidy services. It was that moment that I started getting scared about whats coming.
Credit is shrinking, the fallacy of borrowing ourselves into prosperity is as ludicrous as taxing ourselves into prosperity. The largest user of credit and borrowing is our own government. As lending and borrowing slow, those entitlements will get quite an adjustment in the future.
Today's paper shows Chicago looking to simply close the city government for 3 days in hopes of offsetting budget losses. Rhode Islands debt rating by Moodys was cut yesterday and their bonds were decimated. 3 states have postphoned their muni bond auctions this week because of the environment. Something like 6 states are seeking federal bailouts as well, CA, NV, NY, FL are the ones I recall.
Without those mechanisms of credit and welfare the bottom 50% of our country cease to be able to keep their head above water. Times are going to get much tougher.
OK, get this... I only go to WalMart when there is something I need that I can't get elsewhere. It is just a pain to go in there and have to hunt everywhere to find whatever you're looking for. So, I went in there a few days ago to get something, and thought I'd grab some baking powder while I was there since I'm nearly out.... it was then that I started noticing that in the food section, there were whole sections of stuff empty, mostly canned goods and non-perishables. At first I thought, wait a second, is it the first of the month? (Since SS checks and welfare checks tend to come at the first of the month, it seems like if the grocery stores are going to be running low, it is usually then.) But no, it was already nearly halfway through the month, and not even a weekend. Well, tonight I went to our usual grocery store. I've not seen it this crowded since we moved back to OK. We had to park way out in the lot and it was just packed. People looked like they were really stocking up. I usually do grocery shopping on Wednesday night or Thursday morning because those tend to be the least crowded times, but, there were tons of people in there. I don't buy much in the way of canned goods, but noticed that other things seemed to be in low supply (potatoes, flour, cornmeal, some of the meats, eggs, milk, cheese, etc.) Decided while I was in there to buy a few extra bags of beans... who knows... it is kind of looking like pretty lean times ahead.
Whitlock's wife is stocking up also and is picking up dry goods for us while she is at it -- beans - wheat etc. packed for long term storage.
Around here the Walmart grocery shelves go through a cycle of plenty and lean on a constant basis. Been that way for as long as I remember. The shelves only hold so much and they are always busy; sometimes busier. I notice the juice shelves and the cereal shelves get cleaned out quickly. Go in there after 11 at night and there is more staff than customers. Shelves being refilled.
The Kroegers and Albertson's are not as busy as they used to be, but they still do a good enough business. I see similar things there, shelves get cleaned more or less and then replenished.
The thing to remember is that most, if not all, food stores work on a just in time basis. There's never much, if anything, in the back room anymore. That's usually good for the business bottom line but will always be a problem area when a disaster occurs, or people start hoarding en masse. It pays to have your own little storehouse of food at home all the time.
I should write a book.....The paranoid cheapskate :(
I buy beans from local farmers that have them dried and bagged already. 50 pound bags
I buy rice from Costco in 50 pound bags,
I buy salt from Tractor supply 50 pound bags
I buy Molasses (dried) from Tractor supply in 50 pound bags
That way I only have to restock the end of the world food once a year and it doesn't cost much.
It's a good plan, Peter.
I really miss having a deep freeze, and also the garden. We have enough of a supply on hand to eat for several weeks, but not like we would if we had a real garden here. And there is really no storage space in this house... it is a study in ridiculous wasted space.
Quoteit is a study in ridiculous wasted space
Typical American house.
We keep a 2 week supply of food on hand. I also have another weeks worth of emergency rations in the form of dry goods. I haven't seen any shortages around here yet. On the good side gas is way down. $2.58 for regular unleaded today.
Quote from: ScottA on October 16, 2008, 04:21:10 PM
Quoteit is a study in ridiculous wasted space
Typical American house.
We keep a 2 week supply of food on hand. I also have another weeks worth of emergency rations in the form of dry goods. I haven't seen any shortages around here yet. On the good side gas is way down. $2.58 for regular unleaded today.
I guess we will get to those gas prices eventually. I was paying $3.09 Monday and felt fortunate. Negative programing by the oil companies did that to me. I remember being upset when it went up to two bucks. Cut my company back to four 10 hour days a week to keep the trucks off the road one extra day. This last summer has taken it's toll. We get all focused on Fannie, Freddie, Lehman and the bailout and forget about all of that. The things that are going on now aren't the only things that got us to where we are.
I have a good stock of a variety of beans, rice and wheat berries.
I do not care if people think I am paranoid. Matter of fact I really don't care in general what people think, cause I do not like people.
I filled the Civic, the Jeep and all my portable cans (4x5 gallon, 4x2 gallon and 3x1 gallon) today @ $2.689 today... everything was just about empty all at the same time.
We have a variety of emergency supplies.
Depends on the people, I like/accept/tolerate most until proven unwise to do so. At the same time I exercise caution.
Quote from: StinkerBell on October 16, 2008, 09:57:03 PM
I do not care if people think I am paranoid. Matter of fact I really don't care in general what people think, cause I do not like people.
Wow Stink... reading those words on the page it was as if I typed them myself... Awesome... if you lived close I would give you a hug for that..... That made my day!
Quote from: StinkerBell on October 16, 2008, 09:57:03 PM
I have a good stock of a variety of beans, rice and wheat berries.
I do not care if people think I am paranoid. Matter of fact I really don't care in general what people think, cause I do not like people.
I am pretty much the same. People as a whole and crowds of people i do not like, but I like individuals I share common interests with and people I choose to like.
I don't trust people in suits... they are usually trying to hide something...
I trust nudists...they have nothing to hide... [crz]
Glenn
Well let's just say I trust you and you can keep your trousers on... okay? ::)
rofl
Thanks, Peter.
With a name like Peter you would think he'd be a bit more tolerant.... [crz] Where's the democracy, Peter? hmm
I am very tolerant Glenn
And I used to believe in Democracy...Your friend Shrub and his cronies have ruined that for me though.
As for the trouser debate (which might be more interesting than the presidential debates) men should only drop trowser for their wives...or if unmarried...Large breasted females...I think that is how Peternap put it?
Eve biting the apple was okay by me...At least we got clothing...if you believe that story
rofl
glad to be of service.... always good to make people here chuckle :)