It’s becoming increasingly hard for myself and my family to survive in this economy. Myself and my family are teetering in the edge. I hope there’s some relief soon. I lost my job back in 2021 and went I to business for myself. 5 years ago under Trump’s economy I think I could survive and grow without a problem. Now… a trip to the grocery store costs $500 and running up cards left and right because our two incomes combined still isn’t enough. That doesn’t even touch on all the other things like our healthcare going up etc. 3 kids… I am praying people will make their moves soon to take this thing back and get it under control. I don’t know how much time I have left. I wish there was a relief opportunity for those of us who know and trust the plan to get by until it’s fixed. LoL
It’s becoming next to impossible for myself and my family to survive.
🧘Mental/Physical Health 🏋🏼♂️
Sending prayers for you, Funkefresh. May the Lord God make manifest his promises of abundance and mercy for funkefresh82's family and for all those that love Him. Do not wait, Lord, but deliver us quickly. Thank you Lord. Amen.
Amen
Amen
And all the Lord's people said...
Amen.
Amen
Amen
Amen
I lost my trust in doctors. That has saved a lot of money in healthcare costs. I'm taking much better care of my health now, and living like doctors don't exist.
I've been to the doctor twice in my life, what a waste of time, regret both times.
Doctors are for if it's broken or bleeding. Otherwise take care of yourself
Tore ligaments on my knee, they did xray, no MRI, found nothing broken, gave me a bunch of pain pills I never took and sent me home $5k in debt within 2 hours. Could not even bend my knee to poop for a month, couldn't walk for 3 months.
I could not play soccer for 8 years until I started working standing on my feet a couple years ago, it was like therapy and that was all I needed. I am now playing soccer wondering why I pursued a career in tech without a college degree. Sitting for 12 hour days, sleeping in the office to sit all day long, to get fired on personal bullshit when Trump got elected... Fucking democrats
Doctors will not care for you even by accident, in my experience, they are trying to buy a new mercedez.
Sorry for the rant lol
TLDR: Once visit was when I tore knee ligaments, even then, they tried to hook me on pills, not even a wiff of actual care.
Not pooping for a month seems pretty miserable.
Oh, I pooped at least once a day.
But if you want to "wear my shoes"
I dare you to poop with your legs stretched out, see how you like it.
Sorry fren. I’m not making light of your situation. It sounds terribly painful. Just hard to resist a poop joke.
Oh man I didn't mean to come off butthurt I was laughing my ass off reading your response and while typed mine.
The struggle is real. Former torn ACL, here.
Yeah knees are a work of art you just can't put them back together lol
I think I saw a video like that in college.
No health insurance?
Insurance is a racket.
No
Yeah. They get you hooked for awhile then make you dance like a little monkey to get more. Meanwhile, walk down the street to the park and one can get fentanyl. No problema.
I was prescribed narcs for 16 years. I got pissed off at the bullshit and took myself off of them almost 2 years ago. You know what I discovered? After 2 months of being off of them, my overall pain levels were greatly reduced. The narcs increased the pain significantly. I have learned how to deal with it and I am now free to do what I think is best for me.
Glad to hear of your healing fren
Thank you fren, glad to hear of your recovery as well.. I hope you get better
I'm sure there are good doctors somewhere, but the only time I felt like I really needed one, they let me down completely.
But yeah man... if drugs ruined the country, it wasn't the illegal ones.
Well..this makes sense. When you suffer an injury, you do need rehabilitation. If you break a bone, that is going to hurt well after the bone itself is healed, and if you aren't doing the mobility exercises (relevant for all injuries) then you'll never gain the mobility back until you start to do them.
As it turns out, you suffered a catastrophic injury. That injury healed at some point in those 8 years. You rehabilitated it by using it.
It is pretty standard to recommend that, and if they sent you home with a $5K bill they should have told you that.
Also an MRI should not have been necessary for diagnosis of that kind. That definitely sounds like an awful place. Emergency room instead of urgent care I take it?
I broke a bone relatively recently, and all treatments/advice cost me about $150-$250 (that ballpark by the end of it). There was a bit of additional cost associated, like bandages, but not too bad unlike if I had gone to emergency.
Quick edit: No insurance either.
Emergency room... I was in pain and didn't want to not walk again, that was an expensive mistake... Not making it again. If I need a doctor again.
I don't know how you can tell which ligaments are damaged I even pulled up a 3d image of the ligaments,
also I thought x-ray was for bones and not tissue. And MRI will let you see tissues. So to me that was super sus, it's like they are just adding things on my bill.
Maybe I was in sales for too long lol
I got recommended therapy (not by the doctors), but I underestimated the effectiveness and the effort required.
Can injuries take over 5 years to heal? Could I not have done therapy earlier?
You can diagnose tissue damage and ligament damage by ruling out a broken bone. It may not be the most comfortable diagnosis (they will probably need to touch to verify location) but you can x ray to check for a break then move from there. An MRI is just expensive for that kind of thing.
I get it though, I was scared of not walking again. Still not the same either yet.
So, a broken bone can take up to something like 9 years for the healing process to be complete (bone is formed in 6-12 weeks usually, but shaping can last years and the pain can accompany it).
From what I understand about things like soft tissue damage and ligament damage, they never really fully heal.
For an example, and this is one I know personally, if you suffer soft tissue damage that stretches your tendons out (so, by rolling an ankle) you can't really "unstretch" that tendon. That ankle will ALWAYS be more prone to reinjury, so while the tendon itself may heal, you will still suffer pain and discomfort unless you strengthen the supporting muscles to keep it straight.
So, yes, injuries can take a long time to heal. Usually it's recommended to do therapy as soon as possible, because it keeps your mobility and muscles strong and keeps the blood flowing to the affected areas.
I'm sorry your doctors failed, fren. I hate emergency rooms. They seem like profit margins are sky high by design.
He's the doctor guise get him!
Jk
Lol, well Ive been educated today without being explicitly insulted!
Thank you for taking your time to share your perspective. Really really appreciate it.
I wish I knew this 10 years ago 😭 lol I was just happy to walk without pain. But it's insane how much it healed the past year and and a half. And the biggest change was walking ~6hrs a day at work. My phone would tell me it was my most walked day of my life all the time lol 😂
The shame... good thing this is an anonymous board 😏.
how dare you not be a profit center for big pfarma!!! kek!
Well if they provided some sort of benefit I wouldn't mind paying to get cared for by knowledgeable people who make it their craft to make people healthy.
Not some sleezy salesperson with just enough training to pass you through a profit funnel.
Wonder how human beings ever managed to evolve over the past several hundred thousand years before the invention of doctors and vaccines!
Wasn’t life expectancy for males somewhere around 30?
In some instances. But controlling history is a good way to control the narrative. They pretend things are only getting better and our past was dark. That way we are grateful to "advances" in science and technology.
Noah lived to be 950 yrs old, what happened?
DNA degradation over time is one theory
Another theory is that Noah didn't exist.
I've always wondered what kind of calendars they used in Noah's time and exactly how long one of their "years" was.
They weren't using the same calendar as us, you know. The Gregorian calendar, which is what we use, was created in 1582.
And all the different countries all over the world have used different calendars of their own throughout the years.
We sometimes need to remember that not everything has existed as we know it today, and that includes how people mark the passage of time.
The Israelites used a lunar calendar.
This Messianic Jewish website refers to it as a lunisolar calendar, as there is an extra month added to the calendar every seven out of 19 years to keep it in sync with the sun.
https://www.jewishvoice.org/read/blog/jewish-calendar
Thanks! This is really cool.
I'm thinking land of milk and honey plus animal organs, structured water minus pollution, emf and overall bullshit.
Yeah they kept a running data base of everyone and recorded when people were born and when they died across the entire world.
The entire people used to die at 40 thing is so simplified and full of problems it's not even funny.
I've heard that childhood deaths skewed the results way down. So if you lived passed infant/toddlerhood, you lived a lot longer than 40. Dunno if that's true. Like you said, they kept a running data base, hah!
It's that caveman-dumb mentality. We are so much "smarter" we think than the ancient civilizations. I think we're the morons.
Sanitation, hunting with primitive weapons, hostile outsiders/roaming opportunists, lack of variety in diet, and early western medicine all led to early deaths. Our history is skewed towards everyone believing that people only lived to 30's and 40's. People don't even question it, even when the know about the most famous of elders in history. You'll get this sense of everyone dying young from highly educated people even when they know of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. These are just a couple of the most famous people that lived full lives to the point of being elderly. These are just the few that everyone knows about, however there are a large number of greeks that have well documented lifespans. In China and Japan, there are large numbers of historical texts that describe the ages of some of their more well-known persons. It wasn't until the dark ages that young death was far more common because of the Church, Aristocracy and large population centers. American Indians don't have quite the written record, but it was common for both men and women to live until their 60's and then they started to decline in physical health. The plains Indians were for less forgiving of the elder frailty than non-nomadic tribes. All of this has to take into account the people that died due to unnatural causes, which is probably a quite significant factor in the well known fallacy of extremely short lifespans. In addition, infant mortality and childhood deaths probably have further skewed the statistics.
I believe they are referring to an AVERAGE.
Should find the mode.
Tbh with you even if it’s true that it was around 30 I’m not even mad. Life is too fucking hard to live for long, as a male not born into any privilege.
Both of my grandmothers kept very detailed family histories and did a lot of research going back hundreds of years. Most of my ancestors not killed in wars or by diesase (or died in childhood) lived to be in their 90s, and even some well into their 100s. And they were all ordinary people, not elites, from different backgrounds (some were in Europe, some were in America from very early on, some were Native American). I wonder how much that was the norm, and we just don't know about it because the average is skewed by infant mortality, war, and deaths in childbirth.
Your knowledge of the facts of life in times past is making it difficult to make you follow the narrative that we all are doing better because we are now more advanced and intelligent than the previous generations. Anyone that has done a genealogical family tree has the dates of birth and death going back multiple generations, sometimes for a thousand years. The funny thing is that most people don't have the awareness to note how long the people of each generation lived. Kudos to you!
Fun activity...find the oldest cemetery in your area, and walk around and take note of the birth and death dates. I bet you'll find a lot of people who lived to very old age there.
Yup. My relatives, hard lives, poor, farm people lived way into their 90’s.
Thats because most were sent off to war to die by age 22, the elites lived to be 50-60 thus making the mean average around 30
I think that was thenlife expectancy around the middle ages. They included babies that were still born or miscarriages. If you exclude that group, life expectancy is about what it is now actually.
Weird I was just thinking this. Stocking up on some basic health stuff. I am self insured and paying a ton of money annually for "health insurance." What a crock.
When my Doctor told me about cancer :we got it all but you need radiation and chemo anyway or you are going to die. 30 years ago, I studied and got rid of most of my problems. I even went to my chiropractor to help with broken ribs. He put my bones back in place for one break 2 times and now I am fine. Cost 2 $49 dollar visits.
I hear ya, we are suffering too. This whole ‘we need to show them’ bullshit is wearing pretty thin. Seeing our children suffer and struggle because some fucking idiots need to “wake up” only to be dead from the vax soon after is ridiculous.
I say this as a fren.
Figure it out.
Many of us are suffering. Mostly because we have become dependent on the systems and controls that are the problem. What is happening is not happening because "we need to show them". Its happening because black hats are attempting to enslave us.
What you are upset about is, you expect the white hats to fix everything for you and you don't feel they are doing it fast enough. Which means you have not really learned anything. We cannot go back to our lives of comfort above all else. We have to be engaged. We have to educate ourselves about our potential leaders. We have to act and be involved.
That is what the white hats are waiting for. So they know when they do fix it, we will not slip right back into the same problems 5 or 10 years later.
I prepared myself a few years ago. I think the writing on the wall was very clear if you were willing to see it.
I removed all my debts. I prepared myself mentally that things were going to get bad. In the old economy I was making... we'll call it "damn good money". This current economy has me laid off and unable to find even a remotely comparable job. I cannot do a lot of the things I enjoy, but I am able to survive comfortably. Not just financially, but mentally.
I think part of the lesson in all of this is, we cannot become addicted to a consumer and debtor lifestyle. It enslaves us and keeps us from doing the right thing.
Best of luck to you and your family.
u/#q4407
Oh, well yeah. You made damn good money for years and are able to make do now. Has OP seen this yet? He'll be relieved!
He should. He probably makes more than me at the moment and I had to shrink what was probably a much bigger budget.
But being mad at me won't help. I didn't put anyone in this position, nor do I want them to be there.
Well, small correction. I didn't do anything directly. I had unnecessary debt that made institutions that hate us, money. I grumbled quietly in DEI indoctrination sessions, instead of speaking out, to protect my lifestyle. I did all the big things "right" but I needed to learn to be ok with being uncomfortable, so that I could do all the little things correctly. And the uncomfortable state is only temporary and worth the price of getting our freedom back, and more importantly... KEEPING IT!
When we tell ourselves these things it can be relieving and signal growth. When other people are telling you to get better at suffering, it's often a red flag.
Sorry you are taking it that way, even though you appear to be getting offended on OP's behalf.
Nonetheless, getting mad at me or the white hats will not improve anyone's situation. White hats are trying to put the power back into our hands. We have to be willing to take it and accepting the responsibility of taking it.
I have personally cut out drinking (alcohol), video games, cable TV, sports, eating lunch and sometimes dinner and trimmed down unnecessary spending over the past 3-4 years. Hell, I even stopped using disposable razors and have been using my grandfathers old straight razor. I had no idea how much I was spending on razor cartridges until I stopped buying them. I fully expected to lose my job over the vax mandate. It was threatened for so long, that I thought it was a foregone conclusion, so I tightened up on all the red in my ledger and focused on stocking up the black. I was fortunate to not lose my job when the vax deadline came and then went, but I fully expected it. Since then, I have continued to save up and am still watchful on spending. The funny thing is that I have never been this happy in my entire life as I am now. Even now, I don't have faith that I will keep my job, but even if I lost it, I wouldn't be worried. The world we thought we lived in is dead. Trying to keep the illusion up is what is hurting people.
I was starting to lose faith other anons got it.
Its not about getting "better at suffering". Its about learning to suffer less so you can do the right thing.
Seriously proud. 👌
I hear ya and I do agree with your important points:).
Me or mine are not dependent on government gimmies thank you very much.
My point is: I’m seeing my kid and grandkids suffer, I hate it. I absolutely hate it and if they are suffering because we are getting our country back, we will be fine.
If they are suffering for some assholes to wake up it SUCKS and my disgust for them grow exponentially everyday.
Then why is it pushed as a narrative do you think? It's a serious Plan and it may work best if it's a secret. One may resist harder if they know about the secret plan to not immediately stop crimes against humanity because of a highly mythologized global plan to enter a new age plan. You'll be alright.
— Lewis Mumford
Dam straight! There's a reason people are losing faith and questioning if this side is a psych op too. Agree with everything you said
I really don't see how the average person/family is able to make it today. Cost of living is ridiculous and seems to be getting worse.
We are struggling here also. 3 teen boys, no car payment, groceries and gas are killing the credit card.
I cut waaaay back on my weekly contribution to my retirement just so we can tread water. Not sure if the 401k will survive the crash or even if it will be enough for the wife and I down the road.
Bust of luck Fren!
You're not actively prematurely pulling from your 401k yet? Now you're just showing off.
If you need it, it is wayy better to get a loan from your 401k than it is to withdraw. Then you are paying yourself back and avoiding penalties. The interest on a 401k loan is much cheaper than any credit card out there.
It's amazing to me how many people don't live within their means and go into debt for stupid shit. One year we went trick or treating in a neighborhood where house prices were ridiculously high and all these people who had just bought their houses had no furniture and were sitting indoors on lawn chairs (more than one house). I wanted to give back the snickers bar they gave us.
Hahaha!
The penalties are brutal and I fear it will evaporate even faster if there is a stack of retirement cash on our bank statements.
The Income required to purchase a house now is 93% higher than under Trump. There was a sticky the other day about it I believe
This is what the hubby and I are doing. We went from a lousy garden that maybe produced a meal or 2 a few years ago... to several gardens that are producing hundreds of pounds of food. I am canning, dehydrating, freeze drying everything I can. I have been pressure canning or pickling nearly every weekend for months! This year we did a large plot of field corn, we got that dried and in buckets and now we grind our own corn meal and grits. We added laying hens in 2020 and now we are turning some woods into pasture so we can get some cows (and maybe pigs) very soon.
There are tons of videos on youtube to teach you how to do homesteading type things, that is basically were we have learned. It is really rewarding to make meals out of food you have grown yourself, and you are learning (lost) skills that might be needed in the future.
It is really a change of lifestyle, which was easy for us to do once we realized how "normal" society is fake and ghey. We ditched tv back in 2019, hubby doesn't even watch sports anymore. We still work full time, but have very little debt, and all our free time goes into gardening, preserving, making our home/land more productive.
I am lucky that we are both on the same page and are working together towards a (more) self-relient life.
THIS IS THE WAY!
This. It's coming.. My grandma and grandpa never forgot to remind me how good I had it as a child and told me what they experienced. Never take what you have today for granted because it may not be there tomorrow and if history is our guide it's crashing soon for EVERYONE.
Amen to that.
House was almost paid for and we are taking out equity at 60 years old. Interest rates were not horrible but it still hurts. Joining Mr A in sending prayers to the most high for funkefresh82 and his family. May the Lord God bless you and keep you and yours healthy and safe .
Sell the house. Prices are sky high right now and you can take that money and invest it somewhere, perhaps a good stock with dividends.
I'm in the same boat my brother. I send my deepest prayers for you and your family.
Godspeed to you and your family. My family and I are in the same situation as you. We are self employed and sales are slowly tanking and I expect to see things drop more We are currently working on a “contraction” plan for our business, as both of us work there as of now. We have set a lower limit on sales and once it’s hit, we both start applying for jobs elsewhere and first on to get a job leaves our company and other stays on board to continue it, as we have clients and employees that need support. We’ve also begun to search for jobs when we are not “open” or outside our business hours to help boost our position. Selling unwanted things, contraction of supply orders etc. very mindful and strategic. Also, as employees leave we aren’t replacing them. Remember, you are creative, intelligent and strong. God always opens a door when one closes. Don’t lose faith and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Ask churches, community organizations, perhaps reach out to a competing business with yours and offer your skills to them for payment and opportunity to continue in your field of choice
I will pray for you and your family as well as OP's. I understand so well what you are dealing with. We are in a similar situation and I have posted about that here before. We'll have been in business for ourselves for 17 years next month. Until 2021 we saw steady and sustained growth. 2021 would have been the year that my husband and I finally were able to take some of our proceeds and use them fully on ourselves (ie, kids were grown, weddings done, etc.). We were planning on rapidly paying off the rest of our mortgage and were building up our savings in anticipation of a kind of semi retirement in a few years.
It seems like the day they installed Biden our sales tanked and have never recovered. We're probably doing a quarter of what we were doing in 2020 at this point. On top of this, our state implemented $15/hr minimum wage, so where we HAD been paying our employees (all family) a competitive wage for our area, we were suddenly just barely competing with fast food wages. We kept our kids employed far longer than we should have with the way our sales were going (probably 18 months too long) and fully depleted our personal savings to do so. When it came time for us to downsize, our kids despised us for nOt BeInG GoOd BuSiNeSs PeOpLe.If we had only been smarter and less stingy we'd not have put ourselves in that situation (not sure how they considered us stingy when we provided them with vehicles and jobs and school money and wedding money and helped with honeymoons, etc.- if you can't tell, I'm a iittle bitter about this part of our story and I hate the division that our financial issues have caused almost more than I hate the actual financial issues themselves.)
We've done a lot to stay afloat. Sold our home, lived in our work building for a while- we did buy another home, are working from there now, and are selling our commercial building. Sold off things we'd needed as homeowners like our tractor. We have one vehicle and are thinking of selling it and buying a beater so that we can get a little extra cash. We do NOTHING extra, I've not had a haircut in over a year. I have clothing with holes worn in them because I've not bought clothes in so long. It's devastating to work for so many years to build a business- when it's small and just you and family, you really pour your heart and soul into your work- and watch it just wither despite all your best efforts. We have one employee now and laying her off will be the next thing we have to do. My husband and I no longer pay ourselves a regular paycheck. Bidenomics, lol.
I DO believe that things will get better and that they can be good again if we can stay afloat long enough. It's been my thought that if we can just downsize enough to get through, things will be good again. But I'll admit- I'm almost 50 years old and the thought of starting over and rebuilding is just almost too much.
My biggest suggestion is prayer. I'm a Christian and I have seen God step in and save us at the last minute more than once. Praying for everyone in this thread.
It pains me to hear about people like you paying for cars, college, weddings, etc for your children. It seems like a great thing to do, but it is a disservice to your children. This is and was a big part of the illusion of the "American Dream", when it absolutely has nothing to do with the American Dream (which is all about opportunity for those who are willing to go get it). We have been fooled into thinking that giving away opportunity leads to anything other than pain and suffering for all involved parties. I pray that your are able to weather the storm and continue to put away enough for the winter of your lives. I hope you keep in mind the lack of understanding that your children have shown you in this hardship and steer any inheritance to any of your children that have shown you compassion. If it is none of them, then perhaps leave it to grandchildren or simply someone in your life that you deem worthy. You don't owe your children anything at this point, they took their inheritance when you paid for vehicles, college and weddings.
My husband and I both grew up and did what we did with our lives with literally zero support from our own families. We pulled ourselves up out of grinding poverty with our business, and when I say we were super poor, I mean it. Our business was 100% given to us by God and He's helped us so much. So I have faith that things will get better as far as that goes. He hasn't brought us this far to fail now.
We did the things we did for our kids- misguided or not- with the best of intentions and to hopefully keep them from struggling as hard as we did. I felt like God had been so generous with us, so we could- in turn- be generous with our kids. And as a woman who grew up without support of any kind from family, it was a true joy for me to be able to do for my own kids. I don't know if that makes any sense or not. But you can bet 1000% that our pocketbooks are closed now, and will stay closed for the very reasons you mention above. I also have faith that God can turn these grown kids' attitudes around just like He can turn our business around, though. I'm currently working on ensuring that I don't hang onto bitterness over how everything has turned out, and that's a really tough thing.
I completely understand what you are saying. I only feel the way I do because I did exactly as you did. I see how much harder I made it made it for the kids. They aren't self sufficient and are selfish and intolerant. One of the girls lives in New York City and is a complete liberal. The other hasn't been heard from in five years. I honestly have no idea how she is doing. I felt great because I grew up in a trailer on the desert in west Texas with a sister being raised by a single mom working three jobs. I thought I was being kind and generous and it honestly felt great.
I will pray for you and your family. And I am so sorry you're going through this, because this is such a painful thing to deal with. Please don't beat yourself up over it- because I think it's not just doing for your kids that produces this kind of division- it does play a part but I know so many families who have done more for their kids and don't see the same issues, and a few who have done far less and are also dealing with it. I think it's just that a lot of younger people these days feel entitled for whatever reason.
I have a friend that has two older sisters. All three were from a good family that were all sent to private school from K-12. All 3 went to college, but only he paid his entire education. It took him 8 years of full time work and school to get his engineering degree. They are all in their 40's now, but both sisters are living with their parents. Only one of the sisters finished college and she doesn't even work. She has an autistic son and has mental problems herself. It is crazy how that all worked out. He has three kids himself, buy they are all still young. He has a great family that are doing great, but his sisters are just lost. He is also the only one that is conservative. It seems to be related to him deciding to do it all for himself after he grew up. It is just my limited experience that I go from. I had a much humbler upbringing, we were very poor with a single mom. I think I over compensated by trying to give every advantage and over indulged. Perhaps when they are older and have children of their own, things may change, but the damage is done.
"don’t be afraid to ask for help. Ask churches, community organizations," This 100%. At times we're in a position to help others & at times we need to be the ones to ask for help❤The latter can be very difficult, but please consider seeking/accepting assistance as a future gift to another since you'll be passing it on when you're able.
I hope that people aren't to proud to ask for money and food and shelter for their family. A man especially. There's so many homeless.
I think the companies that are right sizing during this period of contraction are the ones that will survive. You're making all the right moves.
you are not alone fern. Many of us here are in a similar boat. The oatmeal brain keeps pushing how great things are but we all know better.....it is coming to a head rather quickly now..it seems slow but its not. hang tough fern God provides for us and we will survive...it may not be easy but we will....just know you are not alone and we are all family here.........
Ick. Family? I have a family. This is people commiserating on the internet. That's not a bad thing. People on the internet being supportive of one another is a wonderful enough thing. Doesn't need to be conflated with the people I spend my life with.
Please recognize: You are NOT alone. So many of us are struggling. So many of us run our own gigs "because - reasons" and it's been a brutal path for many years.
I've found it helps to count my blessings. EVERY LITTLE THING - God thank you for my dog...my toothbrush...my shoes...my breakfast. Etc. Sounds trite, but it softens the edges when I frame it like that and increases my vibration from low, dark and sticky to light, bright and feeling God's abundance. Try it.
Not for nothing... Humanity can't and hasn't endured on it's own. We've always been helped, guided and protected by a hidden hand. Look back on history and the countless near misses (even your own personal history with unexplained) - and it's clear - we're supposed to be here and we are supported.
I'm not for one second saying that any aspect of life is easy... just imagine how much harder it'd be if you were stupid - so thank God for that. Some days I just can't believe how hard it is to just "be" let alone crack the whip on myself to drive on, get work done and "advance" - which just really means treading water most of the time.
Anybody who runs their own business can relate when I say, the cup is empty. It takes a tremendous amount of constitution and energy to produce each and every day - and sometimes, the cup you pull from is dry as a bone...It just won't chooch no matter what you do.
Personally, I have to take things to the limit - push ideas & fears to the extreme in order to understand where I am somewhere in the middle - like a torpedo finding it's target i guess... and often I have to paint the darkest, bleakest picture and find away to be okay with that possibility in order to free myself of that fear and get back on track.
If you've even been paying a little bit of attention these past few years, you already know we are at war. THIS cold pile of shit between your toes you stepped in first thing in the morning - is what our war feels like. It's a battle in and of the air - or Spirit. We are fighting for our minds and our souls right now. EVERYTHING, except your eternal connection to God, is tainted, adulterated or otherwise completely f'd - and it's becoming clearer that's the case each and every day.
It pays to stop for a moment and hold up your situation against eternity. Realizing whether it's good or bad - on this earth - it doesn't last forever. We WILL triumph over these evil bastards. Every day, more are waking up. Every day, what used to be just conspiracy talk, is now flooding out of every crack to the point that it's unavoidable that EVERYONE will "get it" - and the rein of evil will be exposed for all to see, because there won't be anything left to shroud them. IT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!!
It's no mistake you are here right now. God asked us to be here now - His strongest, cleverest and hardened souls to see to it that justice is served and evil is snuffed out. Our own free will demands it. We're not going along with the bs anymore. We allowed it to go on - maybe for novelty just to see where it'd go - now we're pulling the plug. We've had enough. Period.
Soldier on. Spread the word. And by all means pray - whatever that means to YOU.
WWG1WGA... it's way more than a motto. It's the truth.
I'm asking everyone who is reading this right now, my fellow free willed co-creators to do your part in believing our future together. In your spare time... standing in line...on hold... imagine our future in as much detail as possible - smell it, taste it FEEL THE EMOTION OF BEING FREE AND VICTORIOUS!!! - Increase your vibration and wallow in it - AS IF WE'VE ALREADY WON!!! DO YOU BELIEVE IT???? That's what I'm asking all of you to do for us. Brushing your teeth? Visualize and FEEL it. THIS is a proven method and we WILL WIN!!!
Thank you all!
TaQo, thanks to you for such an encouraging word and to the many others who are struggling but choosing to go on KNOWING this affliction is only for a moment even if it seems SOOOOo much longer. Remember, there is a way to ensure we will have enough..........that WAY is to share..........even when it won't be much that you even have to share, this principle works because it is GOD's idea and GODs instruction. WHAT EVER YOU SOW, THAT SHALL YOU ALSO REAP. Give a smile and someone will smile at you. Give a bottle of water to someone and when you need water it will be given to you. Not only one bottle but perhaps many bottles because everything you give is MULITIPLIED back to you. Start buying a few groceries for someone you know that is in worse shape than you are and you will never starve. For so many years in America it has been everyman for himself, so to speak. Now is the time that we go back to being our brother's keeper. We might not think we have anything that we can spare to give away, but we always have something. Maybe it is time........or money, or food etc etc. About 7 years ago, I knew a lady in her 70's. She was having seizure and loosing her memory. Her son was not stepping up and she was in a lot of danger because she was still trying to keep house. One day I ask the Lord what He was going to do about her. The answer I got was not what I expected. He said, "if this were you in this situation, what would you want done for you? I replied, Lord, I would want everything possible done for me. Then He said, "YOU GO DO THAT FOR HER". This put me (and my family) on a four year journey to help this woman in EVERY way possible. It was MORE than I thought we could do and I won't go into that four year. But afterward, she was in a safe place being cared for by loving people. So don't think God won't entrust you with things you don't think you can do. He will because He loves people and expects us to love them also. If you sow just one seed of corn into the ground, think about how many corn seeds/kernels come up........ a whole stalk with 3 or 4 ears on each........thats a lot of corn seed just because you sowed just one in the ground. So it is with sowing and reaping in other areas. It is a God idea so we will never be without if we put it into practice. Blessings on all who help those here to survive and thrive during this unusual time in America. We are going to make it because we have been chosen to be here at this time to show the LOVE AND KINDNESS OF GOD TO ALL OF HIS CHILDREN.
Amen, fren.
It pays to be generous with everyone.
The final thought after reading your comment was, "Love one another. What else is there? I mean really? Collecting more "stuff" with fleeting excitement - and then burden of what to ultimately do with it when excitement quickly wears off?"
I believe that's God wisdom shining through, which was triggered by your generous and thoughtful response, so thank you my friend!
I am a handyman. I can fix almost anything, remodel, etc. I always have work.
I’m wondering if it is good to transition to a career that is always good no matter what the economy is like.
Liquor sales? Kek.
Like AC repair when it is 105 degrees. Nobody want to “mull it over” for a while to think about weather they want to spend the money.
My father's advice was to always be a glazier.
His joke was that when times are good, people build and construction needs windows. When times are bad, people drink and they break windows. Broken windows mean money for the board up (with your company's logo on the plywood of course) and money from fixing the windows and doors for businesses.
I don't even need to mention hurricanes, tornados, hailstorms...it's always good to be a glazier. e even made money during COVID (when we were allowed to stay open) because everyone wanted sneezeguards. Guess who had a lot of plexiglass in storage? We did. :)
There is currently a shortage of glaziers and a lot of small businesses would love to train you and even get you into the union where certain jobs can get you a very nice hourly rate. You can be a union glazier in a non-union shop. The investment in the appreticeship is worth it.
https://www.iupat.org/join-us/glazing/
I live in one of the most expensive cost of living areas in the country and only buy meat less than $5 a lb. For example it’s common to have pork shoulder or chicken thighs or legs for .99/lb. Both are fucking delicious. These prices at your every day grocery stores only buy what’s on sale.
Grocery stores also deeply discount meat, I stock up on that & put it in the freezer.
Re: Farmer's Market - it depends on where you live, but farmers markets are getting more bougie and expensive
Those 2 words are very important. And I know its hard to do, especially in this economy. My mom, who was a doomer and gloomer but great mom nevertheless, raised me to remember "there will always be rainy days, so save and plan for them." That stuck w/ me very much. In my mid 40s now. It's very hard to save these days when cost of living is so ridiculously high, but best advice is to live within your means, cut costs wherever you can, and commit to saving 10-20% of your earnings. I even use a spreadsheet with monthly budget and have a line item specifically for "putaway" meaning a few hundred dollars every month is just putaway for the rainy day.
BTW u/gassy_burrito_lover/, awesome username and Yuge fan of burritos as well. Cheers burrito-style!
God bless you fren
Hang in there
Praise Jesus! We pray for your family in Jesus name, Amen! Lord, may your grace provide for this family, as only you can. For you are The Lord our God. We are waiting for our blessed hope to come real soon. Keep looking up, he is so near, Amen. HalleluJAH!
Amen!
I feel ya fren.
I had to close my business recently. Getting divorced. Selling the house. Trying to find a job somewhere that I can offers enough salary to live and pay child support on.
Ffs this shit is overwhelming! Lots of frens in this boat. Awful!
I read some ludacris shit on reddit about 2 weeks ago - economy is apparently booming, we just haven't felt it yet. Which botfarm comes up with this blatant propaganda??????
Prayers for funkefresh82 and all those struggling to survive the economy. Lord have mercy on your people.
Username checks out
I will pray for you and your family that you will get some relief through increased business for you or a raise for your wife.
I can't imagine having to feed 5 in this economy. However, there are ways to reduce your grocery bills. My mom had to scrimp for us when we were kids. There were eight of us in my immediate farmily total. My dad didn't make enough money to make ends meet. So mom made a lot of casseroles to stretch the meat. She spent her weekends making meals for the week since she went back to work when I was 12. This was in the 60's when many women stayed home still. She bought what was on sale and used coupons. We all had to clip them out for her as kids. She made scoup and stews from scratch, too. All more healthy and less costly than prepared foods. We very rarely had roasts (only special occasions) but she would make a mean pork with sauerkraut pot roast (She was of Gernman desent)
Remember, anon, you are not alone. We are here in prayer for you. And if you really need help with anything else just ask.
I have come within 100 dollars of missing my mortgage payment for the last two months. And that's while borrowing 300 from my brother this month to stay afloat. I did just secure a small raise for myself, so hopefully that helps turn things around. Also I am taking an expensive class that hopefully turns into a more lucrative career path for me. And there was an extremely badly-timed leg break for my dog. So once this confluence of financial problems is in the past I think we might have a good 2024
God bless you and every patriot in this thread.
How's the dog?
She's doing well. I had to put like 1500 down and max out a 1500 dollar credit card but we got the surgery done
All I can suggest is dropping the "healthcare" and switching the resources to um actual healthcare. I know how expensive it is, so that could be a way to balance the books for a time, hoping that you pull through however you decide to do it.
I know a guy who did not have health care for his 10 kids.... he's a Mormon. When one kid broke a leg he worked out a plan to pay it off over time. His kids only needed healthcare when they were injured since they weren't vaxxed they didn't have the problems most of typical kids have today.
Look into https://chministries.org/
I was going to suggest something similar.
I do not know if it is the same one, but I have heard of a Christian organization that offers major medical coverage. Covers the big bills.
There are two that I know of, this is the largest one. They do radio ads on talk radio stations
I am with you fren. Lost my job last summer. Things just get worse. Find myself doing a lot of deep breathing. Prayers for you.
Dear Lord, hear my prayer.
I pray for funkefreshe's family and for millions like him, may you work a miracle for them and shower them with abundance beyond their dreams, mercy and hope that this terrible war will be over and that this family and others will be saved.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Have you tried looking on https://www.redballoon.work/ ?
I'm not sure how good it is since it's for US only and I'm not American, but there seems to be some good paying jobs over there, in companies that, hopefully, would appreciate a patriot.
Maybe it would be a better alternative to put your business on hold and get a better paying fixed job for now anyway, at least you'd get some stability.
I searched on there for "maintenance" and "engineer" (my fields of experience) in Michigan and it came up empty for me but hopefully it helps some.
get out of Michigan. You have been warned.
And go where? I think if THEY get their way, we're all fucked regardless of location.
There are plenty of great places to go. The “there’s no place to go it sucks everywhere “ is keeping a lot of folks stuck in very bad situations. Think out of the box. No matter how “difficult “ it may seem. We moved from Massachusetts to SC in 2021. It’s been glorious. We know folks who moved to Florida. They couldn’t be happier. Be careful not to become your own worst enemy by giving up.
Best wishes
Running from the problem got us in this mess in the first place...
We are not running from the problem, we are building our army. SC is where I moved to 22 years ago from California. I left California so that I could afford to prepare. You better believe I am prepared now.
I'm open to the idea of leaving, as I have no wife or kids, but I never said it was bad here,because, well, it isn't. The governor sucks but that's not enough for me to pick up and move over. There's lots of good job openings here too, just not on red balloon, and I currently have a well paying job.
not much for me here either.
https://www.usajobs.gov/ is another place to look.. gov job will help pay health/dental and what not.. maybe something close by??
I have little respect for most people who suck from the govt teet
As a recently retired Federal employee that has worked sweated and bled in forty-four countries around the world, I gave you an upvote. The truth is that a majority of the employees are phoning it in. We have a saying in the service, "20% of us do 80% of the work. You can guess what the other 80% does". The government service needs an enema as badly as the rest of the country.
I retired early and moved abroad came back and then started collecting SS at 62.Had to go back to work, but am ok doing so. Security @ 17 an hour and I work OT when I can get it...
I'm happy with a simple life, and haven't been broke since I was a child, not that I have ever been rich, but you MUST bring in more than you spend and you need an emergency fund at least 3 months cost of living if single, 6 if married, a year if there are kids. When you use the emergency fund, and you will, don't spend a cent you don't have to until you fill the fund again.
You can earn around a thousand bucks selling plasma in one month takes around 2 hours plus travel time for each of the 8 trips in a month.
40 hours is less than 25% of your time 80 hours is less than 50% of your time. Do what you need to do.
Most people have too much crap they don't need, you can get by with a lot less stuff.
Can feed your family of 5 a good breakfast at home for 10 bucks, at I-Hop it will cost you 50.
Get rid of pay TV its way over priced and mostly a waste of time.
Take up hobbies that you can make money at or that saves you money.
Do yard work for lazy neighbors.
Learn better shopping skills.
I had a friend who worked in an A/C company warehouse, had kids, and a stay at home wife. When home he was always stripping wire to sell at the scrap yards.
Downsize your home.
Cut back on number of cars. Car payments, ins, gas, and upkeep eat a LOT of money.
Doing just one of the above will yield results. Sage advice.
Dang, hearing all too often! One of my kids just had to move back in with us! She is a hard worker but can’t keep up with the cost of living! Pray you have family or a church you can lean on! God and family are about the only constants we have! We need our churches to step up and be the local assistance, instead of capitulating, so government can keep encroaching! Stay strong and fight the good fight!
The "National Debt Clock" now shows more than $250,000 for each taxpayer's share of the national debt! And the debt to GDP ration is ~133% (it was ~30% in 1980!). It's obvious that the country's finances are just an illusion at this point.
Not paying a cent, not my debt
Many are in the same exact boat.
It is nuts. Anyone is only one step away from being demolished. We are taught to not go in business with our own families. We are taught not to talk politics with our families. If we do either the culture looks down and tells you to be selfish and buy the biggest house and most expensive car. Move every few years because you need to keep getting bigger homes.
We are never content.
While they will go into business with their families, they will talk politics within their families, they will help their families.
Do not give up. I believe you will be a successful business owner and teach your kids to talk politics and be content. Sometimes we have to go thru it to become what we should of been.
Doctors will be having a harder time than all of us soon. The young doctors only know how to push buttons and we have had enough of that.
God is always constant. It is us who are not. He is still there for you.
funkefresh82, seek out distribution centers. They give out food at various times of the week. Find several inside or outside your area. You cannot choose what you want but you will receive boxes of what they have. More and more of the middle class are arriving and getting relief from high food costs. Find them now. Most places, you don't even get out of the car, just get in line and pop your trunk.
If you have an over abundance of potatoes or other fresh food products from the distribution centers, preserve them. The internet can teach you how. There are tons of videos to put up food, i.e. can or freeze.
In order to survive, concentrate on the basics. Food, Water, Shelter. Let un-necessary expenses go. Everybody is doing it. Assess and adjust your needs. Seek out help. Preserve. Pray. Anons here will give support. Keep talking. We know how you feel.
Why the fuck are Patriots suffering while Demonrats floating. FUCK
Yeap! This week I've hit my point too. Keep questioning exactly this. Aussie so not democrat vs patriot, but moreso those who held the line and lost their job vs eg cops getting suspended pay after being caught raping minors 😡😡😡
It's the crucible, brother. The dross floats to the surface and is swept away. We will endure the forge and come out stronger than we ever imagined we could be.
Have you been talking to God about your situation? I’m not saying it’s not hard for us as well but God has changed my perspective on abundance lately. I’ve been changing my mind and doing more from scratch which is cheaper. Foraged elderberry and made canned juice which I can sell this winter. Just trying to live more like my ancestors. Studied depression era cooking and tried some simple cabbage dishes and potato dishes.
I will also pray for you and I too hope something happens soon but we may have another year so we need to buckle down and make do.
Does cabbage and potato have all the nutrients required to sustain health?
You must have fat to survive. The demonization of fat is wrong on so many levels. Anyone that has either been in a survival situation or studied for them knows that fat and protein are a must when surviving. Potatoes are high in starch and carbs and some vitamins/trace minerals, cabbage is less helpful, but good for fiber and other trace minerals. You can survive on them, but your health will suffer and your immune system will weaken if you don't get other sources of vitamins, minerals and proteins and fat for an extended period. I would not recommend a long term reliance on such a limited variety diet. It may be beneficial for a couple months (depending on your current diet), but it isn't sustainable indefinitely.
Not indefinitely.
Probably not but you eat what is available.
Kept the irish going through the potato famine
I miss Clara! RIP
It's going to get worse until the next election. REALLY bad. But EVERYONE will be struggling with you fren.
We are retired and debt free. However had two daughters (and a grandchild) lose jobs and relocated home to get back on their feet. The added groceries, electricity and water are hurting.i typically only buy what's on sale and build meals around it. Getting the ground ready for a garden now. Might need it to be a prayer garden since I'm not good in that regard. At least we are all redpilled...even our 6 year old. When I talk of the high costs, she does a tsk task with an eye roll, and yells "thanks a lot sleepy creepy Joe". she is fun to go shopping with tho. Especially in the checkout line.
We have to get back to community support.
There is simply no reason your family and others in the neighborhood can't pool resources to help each other survive. Create a group on Facebook or whatever {use the tools that are there and have the furthest reach} and invite people who live around you to trade resources.
My wife and I make good money, but it's simply not enough in this economy, especially living in the northeast. We've been looking into doing this ourselves. I have skills that I could easily utilize in exchange for items, or skills I don't possess. You could do the same.
When did we lose the sense of community? It's yet another cruel trick that they have simply removed bartering from the minds of people.
Excellent point. I miss the sense of community I grew up in (I'm mid 40s now). I've said it before but I'll say it again, 3 key pillars to an unstoppable society:
United (the community you reference, which "they" try to divide us in so many ways)
Wealthy ("they" F w/ inflation, economy, taxes etc to keep us in line)
Armed ("they" constantly try to take from us)
A population/society with these 3 pillars is an unstoppable force. And also a major threat to "them"
Bravo
That's how it's done.
Some groceries are inexpensive, like bananas and cabbage. Get beans and grains in bulk and they will give you complete protein. Canned tuna isn't too expensive for a meat meal. I learned these things working my way through college. One of the best drinks is water with ice. I grow mint for ice tea and hot tea.
Some things that helped us to save money when times were tight:
The book "Dining on a Dime" really shows how to shop for deals and to make good family meals for pennies. It can really bring down your $500 grocery bill which seems pretty high.: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31547087989
The book "Tightwad Gazette" goes the extra mile for serious extremely frugal ways to save money while raising a family: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30834325092
Used book stores - they sell older model gaming systems and games as well as books
Review the classifieds or craigslist for free items - then see if you can renovate it or turn it into something someone would buy - an example of this would be using pallet wood to make an adirondack chair or old food plastic drums that could be made into a rain collection system. Another idea is finding large amounts of old wires and harvest the copper out of it to sell it to a scrap metal center. Lots of side hustles to get that 20, 40, 100 bucks that you need for rent / mortgage. Grabbing processor chips out of old washing machines could also be pretty profiable. https://www.scrapmetalbuyers.com/current-prices
Taking on side jobs - there is always some job that someone wants to pay someone else to do. Between food delivery, rideshares, lawnmowing, leaf raking, snow shoveling, the money is out there.