I don't have time to read and post much now but this jumped out at me:

>>I have been at a point with just $1,000 in the bank and praying for no emergencies<<<


LOL! Sorry, but that was funny! And Starbuck, I can hear your heart in this matter and know that you don't want to be offensive. I just have to laugh at that statement. The only time we have $1,000 in the bank is on payday. The way you said it though..."I have been at a point..." as in that was dire straights for you, LOL! Ok, enough of my silliness. Gotta get on with the day. Hopefully, I'll have time to read the responses later.

Being in debt doesn't always mean someone has overspent or made bad decisions. When I was kid, things got really tough. My dad was a coal miner in Southern Illinois. When the coal mining industry went down the toilet, thousands of people lost their jobs. There were no jobs to be had. While we didn't lose our house, there was no extra money to spend.

Today, DH and I are out of debt, but that is no guarantee that things will always be rosy. Anything could happen. After all, Job lost everything, and he certainly wasn't in debt.
When (or should I say if) we ever move, I'm sure we'll take out another mortgage.

But, I don't think debt is always a bad thing. I had student loans and they didn't bite me in the behind. I paid them off in 5 years, and I went to an expensive private university. I worked my way through college, and had no help from my parents.

Of course, on the flip side is their are people in over their heads because they've made poor decisions. Each new house that is being built in my area is bigger than the last one.

we are in decent shape financially. the only debt we have is our farm payment...and hope to have that paid off in 6 years (paying extra each month).

we do without to make everything else work.

we are big believers in "no debt"...not even for education! and YES...God can make a way for your children to attend college and be debt free. We now have one college grad, and two in college (both on full academic scholarships) and are looking at community college for the youngest son (at least to start).

However, i also know that catastrophes happen. People get sick. They lose jobs. Divorce happens. Law suits occur. Things do happen which are out of our realm of control. But for that reason, it's nice to stay debt free, have some collateral in the form of equity, and perhaps some savings (or other assets) to fall back on.

In addition, we have always tithed...which often didn't make sense becuase it was a decent amount of money each month, and yet, seems like we did BETTER with tithing 10% or more of our income to God than if we dared to NOT tithe. :)

deleted

This post was edited on Nov 06, 2009 07:43 AM

Haven't read quite all the responses. I can't understand how people get themselves in as deep as they do in personal debt either, but I know most people aren't willing to live with next to nothing.

We got married with $800 to our name. We accumulate furniture painfully slow of cast offs from friends and relatives (ugly furniture!! LOL). We got our first new couch 13 years into our marriage. We've added babies to the family at regular intervals with no insurance. We've spent extremely frugally over the years....I didn't even buy paint for my walls until we'd lived here for probably 10 years!

We moved here 18 years ago. Moving is expensive and we live in a transient society. People are moving all the time.

We've driven clunkers. Literally so bad that when we were done with them we took them to the scrap yard.

We have a little business debt but that is it. No credit card debt to speak of. I know people making MUCH more money whose net worth isn't as much as ours. They just look richer! LOL.

blessedw4; thankyou for not being offended by anything I said. And I think everyone for sharing their heart. I guess Im just seeing so so much where I live of people losing their homes and bankrupt situations; that I was just wondering how that many people ran into trouble. I have friends that I have watched have new cars every year and huge vacations and big fancy houses; who are now puzzled by how they got into trouble.

I know that medical insurance is a big one; one trip to the ER is can be pretty expensive. The job thing is another issue; it just cannot be helped. We are really trying to make sure our dd17 understands that she will need to college and find a job that is economic proof; which around here is anything in the medical field.
My husband is self employed, and one of the first things we saved for was saving enough money to cover his salary for two years just in case he was out of work. WE have been very lucky that we seem to have an economic proof business. Its not as busy as it usually is, but I have not had to fire anyone thank God.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to post. Hope I wasnt too nosy. I live in an area where there are hundreds of multimillion dollar homes( though my home isnt one of them) and they are just beginning to set empty. I see really nice cars being reposessed. I am always just scratching my head on how they got into a fix. Most people I know that live very extravagant lifestyles cant really afford to live that way. This is a very keep up with the Jones area.

Miss Mayberry - We've been married for 12 years and I'm still using a hand me down couch. Maybe next year I'll get a new one. LOL. I don't mind using hand-me-down furniture, because I would rather put the money into new flooring for my kitchen.

I do think educating our children on financial matters is very important. Learning how to manage money starts early. DH and I were both raised by financially conservative parents, and we both can manage money well. I have cousins who were so spoiled growing up, and now they still think they just have everything. They are also buying their kids everything they want, too. Then I have to listen to them complain and how expensive everything is. Well, if you wouldn't buy your kids clothes are Limited II, maybe you would have grocery money.

This post was edited on Nov 06, 2009 09:28 AM

I'm posting as someone who totally understands being in a mountain of debt so I hope I don't offend anyone. Yes, there are unexpected crisis - many times compounded that can break someone in body, mind, spirit, and the bank account. However, it is my goal to even try to be as prepared as possible for that too with working toward no debt and making sure we have marketable skills and survival skills (need to work on that one :)).
A few more things - I once read the book the Millionaire Next Door - the majority of people with the fancy houses, cars, etc. - are one paycheck from losing it all. They did a study of true millionaires - most live a middle class lifestyle. They pay cash. They buy used cars - never new - maintain them like you are suppose to and drive them until they die. They rent until they can afford to buy a house - without a mortgage or one that can be paid off in a few years.
We live in a very instant gratification time - you get credit b/c surely you can afford to pay 10 a month but then you are working to pay off the credit cards. When I worked for Sears Credit years ago , we sat down and figure out how long it would take to pay off a washer and dryer ($1200) with the min. payments required and the interest rate at 21% - are you ready? over 20 years. By then, most people don't even have that anymore and with what they paid in interest - they could of bought another. We don't look at the long term effects of such things.
My grandparents purchased their first house in the 1960's when they were in their 50's or 60's - they rented before then. I think one major problem is our society is one that really pushes owning a home. A lot of people lose their job or have a medical crisis and deplete everything to save their house - my inlaws did it. You don't have to own a home. The house you live in should never be considered an investment unless you owe nothing on it. Investment real estate is the real estate you own and you rent out. That has been one thing that has really hit me in this venture of ours at my house - we fell into that trap and buying in SOCAL when the market was insane was a big trap to fall into.
I think most of it is never planning for a rainy day and falling for the must have it now, have a home decorated like HGTV, have stuff for our kids like the Jones do, and buy a house mentality. Over time, technologies change, employment opportunities change, crisis happen, and life happens. We have to be prepared (we aren't but working on it) but you can be as prepared as possible and still have an huge crisis and lose it all so another part of being prepared is being able to brush yourself off and start over and be able to market yourself and keep your skills marketable.
In the end- it really isn't ours anyway - it is all Gods and we are stewards of it.