The cost of living is out of control, my wife and I never go on vacation and haven't since before the pandemic, work like dogs, and we wanted to upgrade our home to get a little more space for the kids and stop paying condo fees, but due to interest rates and high prices we could barely even buy the house we currently live in.
Cost of living is absolutely out of control and wages seem to have stagnated. How are others handling this? Everywhere I look there are fast cars, full restaurants, people just getting back from Mexico. What the fuck are all these people doing for work?!
PS: I'm in Canada. Things here I feel are much worse than the USA.
Suggestion: Pay NO attention to how others live their lives. Always remember that people displayed no common sense or critical thinking during Covid, so they probably live the rest of their lives the same way.
Control you. Focus on your family. Make wise decisions.
I used to have a lucrative contract wiring mobile homes. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how I make 100k a year and these people are driving home brand new Escalades and Mustangs to sit on their brand new couch in front of their 80 inch TV...
Oh yeah,I don't have any debt and they're using one credit card to pay off another. It's a facade or they're dealing drugs.
I think people are racking up a lot of credit card debt. The bubble will burst soon.
These are the people the peppers will have to defend against to protect their food.
It's an excellent question, and I hope you and your family remain well. I have also observed the cost of homeowner's insurance more than doubling recently, on top of all the other cost of living spikes for food, goods, vehicles, interest rates, etc. It is clear to me that there is an agenda by the large, corporate firms, e.g. Vanguard, Blackrock, and other corporate landlord companies to squeeze everyone out of their homes, even if they have previously locked in a fixed mortgage with a favorable interest rate.
I, for one, am hoping that the crash in commercial real estate hits before any such crash in residential real estate, so that these corporations will feel the pain primarily, rather than the common man. Of course, these corporations employ people and there will be a ripple effect to any crash in commercial real estate, but the best I can hope for is that the crash in commercial real estate happens soon, affects only the companies (as much as possible) and a reset and recovery for the common man resolves itself as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, the people you are seeing with fast cars, extravagant vacations, and trips to dine out for every meal are almost certainly living beyond their means but want to keep up appearances. The bubble crash should affect them more than it will affect economically conservative people, such as yourself, hopefully.
Unfortunately prices in Canada need to go down 80%... there will be a big fall and you'll still have the same mortgage. Not looking good for anyone who bought a house more than $250k or within the last 5 years.
Since Jan '21:
Worse in the big city, not quite so bad in the country. But, something doesn't add up. Inflation's only 3%. Right?
Right?
It's a disaster.
I think the answer to your question is that people are simply maxing out credit cards, one after the other.
I spend money mostly on needs and very few on wants. I reduce, recycle and reuse everything I possibly can. Shop using coupons, getting items on sale, visit thrift stores, borrow items I need, etc.
I cook from scratch most of our meals. Working on planting a garden.
Vehicles are all used and aging.
The Leftist Elites could learn a thing or two from you. You could teach them what Common Sense it. Good job. You sound like most of us on here. Keeping our heads above water. The Elites would drown if it happened to them.
Honestly, there are a lot of bullshit jobs out there-they were/are made up out of thin air and the pay is completely out of step with real careers.
It goes something like this:
College: we need more fucking money! Let's make a new degree program for some mundane job!
College Cronies: How about Human Resources? I know traditionally speaking, it's been bottom rung.. but we'll just make a bachelor's degree program for it.
Workplace: HR position available. Bachelor degree+ 2 years experience required.
Starting Salary: $100k
Then rinse and repeat this ideology over and over again the past 4 decades.
It is insane what HR makes these days.
HR used to be the guy who would interview people and fire people. Shit jobs
gophers.
They still are but you know, that pay...
I recently found out music professors at my local university make $280k a year.
Make HR payroll again!
The people you see are massively in debt, stay the course.
Those people are mostly living a false lifestyle thanks to their credit cards. One day soon they'll come up short, having maxed out their cards. Then they'll either spend the rest of their lives in poverty and paying off their debt, or they'll bankrupt out of it and start over. Lotta stress in that kind of lifestyle - don't go there.
I doubled my income,or close to it the last few years with overtime.
I mean but you'll pay for it down the road from stress.
Nothing is free. But I'm just doing this short term. So I can buy more stock and silver. My expenses haven't gone up too bad. I'm single my cars are paid off and my house is on a 2.93 % mortgage. I live 5 miles from work so I don't burn much gas.
canadian here also. find you a nice homeless shelter, its a much better rent situation
I'm living out of my truck the past month tent camping or visiting friends. Went from Michigan to Georgia then St Louis, Denver then Grand Junction, Durango then New Mexico, hitting AZ and Utah next...
I don't know what OP is whining about, I'm unemployed and me and my dog are able to vacation for months each year.
How do you pay for gas and food?
I work a few per diem gigs, wire up a building here or there for a few months whenever I need money. Some only need help for a couple months, some I get sick of... agency electrician essentially.
Old school journeyman!
More like a nomad that acquired a trade, I was bouncing around state to state before I became a skilled tradesman.
Wow, I'm sure you've got a book of stories, hope you get to write/record them for posterity! Don't discount building a nest egg if you can? Sweet water, sunshine and an easy wind at your back.
You aren't the first person to tell me that, may have to publish it as fiction or under a pen name since I'm not certain about the statute of limitations of certain parts of my adventures kek!
I once bought a sailboat in the Key Penninsula and sailed it through the Tacoma Narrows out to the San Juan Islands on a whim. Me and my buddy should've died lol. Found out we should've taken sailing lessons instead of watching a few YouTube videos and learning as we went...
I'll try and remember you if I ever write a book, there's some of my own stories I don't even believe and I was there.
Good question!!!
I donno, I'm not really.
Tech. Fuck tech workers.
You answered yourself, you live in Canada.
The economy on the American continent is divided into three economies:
first economy United States of America, second economy Canada and third economy Latin America.
My diet currently consists of 4 eggs everyday and 2 pieces of bacon. Sometimes I have toast. I eat whatever leftovers from dinner my daughter doesn't eat.
I am blessed. Be blessed. You have so much. Keep your peace and simply smile at the absurdities you see in the world.
Stop blaming government; blame the ppl that elect and support Trudeau. Shame them. Blame them. And let them know that voting liberal is what degenerate inbreders do.
I just find a job on the road with a good wage, over-time and per diem then live out of a free hotel collecting Hilton points while I wire shit and spend the other half of my time camping and traveling. Rent and mortgages are for suckers.
I see it too (in canada). Kids with new trucks putting expensive rims and tires on them, then roaring around town like gas was free. They have good paycheques but no sense of reality. No desire to build a nest egg or a safety net. People eating in restaurants and ordering food to take for lunch the next day. Baffling.
I mean but how can they do this? Literally what is their job. I actually make decent money, and I can't even afford to go away for the weekend.
Great question, I cant afford a house thats sells for 500-700K by me, taxes are 10-15k. Whio has 20% of that tut down orelse you get PMI ins plus 2 7% int rate? I'd rather borrow from the mafia. And dont get me started how people are still buying houses & driving high end cars. I make a decent living, have very little if any cc debt & still work a side job for more $$.