Aggravated

Ugh - I get so aggravated with people sometimes.

I read Yahoo almost every day. I will check to see what is going on, but they have Yahoo contributing writers that are people like you and me. Sometimes the articles they write are helpful, sometimes they are not, sometimes they are just plain ridiculous.

But what aggravates me so much are the people who comment. Especially in this economy. I am just so tired of hearing people complain about money. And unemployment. And how much money they don't have. TO me, if you are on Yahoo, commenting and making fun of the ideas that some of these people used to save money or get debt free, and you are saying you are unemployed and "I'd like to see him to what he said living in my shoes, I've been unemployed for two years..."

Well, my answer to that is that MAYBE you should spend your time NOT on Yahoo, commenting on articles that don't even matter. MAYBE you should be using that time to find a solution to your problem.

I read this article today. This man wrote two books and this article is about how to raise a family of four on $40,000 a year. People just criticized him and I am not sure why. He talked about how he and his wife were both teachers and before they had kids, they knew they wanted her to be home, so they planned for four years, saving her salary and only living off hers. They only planned on her being home for a year, but she has been home for six. It talks about living frugally. (From the sound of this article, they followed Dave Ramsey's advice on Total Money Makeover.)

But this family sacrificed and they had a PLAN. And yet still, people continue to write their opinions about "whoa is me" and "$40,000 is alot of money, compared to what I make" and "I'd like to see him make $15,000 on unemployment with 5 kids and a mother in law to feed." Um, excuse me? I am SO TIRED of people in this country being victims. And that's all I hear constantly. Trust me, I have empathy for people, I do. I can never judge someone until I walk a mile in their shoes. I know what it's like to be broke and poor. I know that sometimes, you just have no choices about your situation. I know. I just know that the people who are like me, the ones who are doing everything they can to get out of their situation, are NOT on Yahoo making fun of someone else who made different CHOICES and is now not suffering the consequences.

Jason and I know that it was not ONLY his job loss and me having a baby that contributed to our money problems. They were choices we've made, for a long time, about how we chose to spend our money. Things wouldn't have been so bad, had we planned better when we did have money. I mean, you could sit there and say, "If only I had more money, I wouldn't have these problems anymore..." but it's simply not the case. Jason and I struggle everyday with how to spend money. It's a huge obstacle we both have, something we fight against. We are not savers at heart, we are spenders. Always have been. And it's worse when you've been broke, because your first inclination when you have a little extra is to spend it. "We NEED this," we say. And yes, sometimes we do. It's very hard for me now to spend money on clothes. But when you've got holes in your shoes and no jeans because they are torn, you need to buy things. What happens when you are broke is that you put off things for so long that you need because you can't afford to buy them, that when you have a little money, it goes fast for things you need. Clothes, getting hair done, oil changes and other car maintenance. It's hard, I am not going to lie. But I would never sit there and judge someone because of my lousy choices (and lousy luck sometimes). It's not fair.

And furthermore, you could have all of the money in the world, but if you do not have a plan on how to spend it and have some limits, you will end up right where you started, which is exactly why lottery winners so often go broke. Before, if they had an extra $20, it was spending it on going out to eat. Now, they have an extra $20,000 and it's spent on a vacation. Or new car.

I guess I am just tired of hearing all of these sob stories. Just today, I am. I know there are genuine people out there with sob stories. But survivors are not going to sit there and complain about it all day. They are going to actually do something about it and sacrifice to get back where they want to be.