Having financial plans in place is very important, I know it's hard but making a savings account will help a lot. Even if you just set it up so that $20 a week goes to it it will help.

Most Americans can't afford a $500 emergency so your first goal will be getting to that point in a savings account. Your second goal will be getting to that point plus having funds in your account for you deductibles for your insurances (car, health, renters, etc). Then your out of pocket max for health.

It's a slow roll building a savings account and it's hard to leave it alone but it will help a lot.

Of course even then it's still pretty nerve wracking so one thing that I've done is get a line of credit with my credit union and some credit cards with really high limits that I pay off every month and only use for like gas or groceries. That way they stay open and in the event of a financial emergency that surpasses my savings I'm not completely fucked. Which saved my ass 2 years ago when I had to have emergency dental surgery 3 times in one year. ($10k that I'm still paying off)

Basically trying not to over extend yourself financially will help immensely.

But a massive help is having a healthy social safety net.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for writing that. I felt like credit card taught me to be a little irresponsible with cash (even though I payed for everything from debit straight away - I thought this two-step payment would better my score and limit for the future, lol), so I blocked it, but from that angle it really makes sense to have one in case of emergencies.

Paying for three dentals in a row can be only topped by the constant dental pain itself. If you budget didn't crumble under that weight, with your situation, you are a tugboat called Unsinkable (or even Unthinkable?). I'm not joking, I can't imagine it now, even though I'm housed and have some people I can loan from. It's just too much.

Why's that much discipline and intellect is needed to stay alive while poor? Stereotypes paints poor people as lazy and stupid. Is there a special program I can apply to and stop caring at all? Doubt so ):

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 10 months ago

My finances took a huge hit due to that and basically had me plate spinning for awhile.

Now that I've only got a few thousand left to pay it's a lot easier.

The fun thing about stereotypes is that they are just blanket statements that apply to basically none of them.

Are there some lazy and stupid poor people? Yes, but they exist all along the financial spectrum.

The discipline necessary for having credit cards with high limits makes things really tough (trust me I know)