Joined: 18 Mar 2005
Posts: 235
Location: 3rd coast
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:05 am Post subject: Check's in the mail . . . | |
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By the end of this week and into next month many fine, U.S. taxpaying citizens may receive checks courtesy of Uncle Sam. Singles get $600; couples $1,200; $300 per child.
I can tell you, a good half of mine is already spoken for in the form of a rent increase (the notice just got slipped under my door this morning.  ). The rest of it gets banked to offset the rapidly rising cost of gas ($3.55 gallon here now and probably $4.00 by Memorial Day) for the duration of the summer.
I can't gripe at my landlord, who is a fair guy and no doubt is getting socked by both rising property taxes here and high cost of fuel. He's a hard-working, hands-on manager who drives to all of his properties to attend even the smallest issues, so rising fuel costs hit him, too. I think what really bugs me about this "economic stimulus" plan is that probably most everyone will do the same thing I'm doing: spend it at the gas pump. Bottom line: this little bonus we're getting is going to Duh-bya's oil cronies, who are reaping big bonuses all at the expense of this shaky economy. 
How ya gonna "spend" yours? |
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Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 457
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:06 am Post subject: | |
| I'm spending mine to pay for bills that come up while I'm off work on FMLA. It's a godsend. | |
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6744
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:52 am Post subject: | |
| Mine will be banked to cover cost of living increases my cost of living increase didn't cover this year. | |
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 139
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:13 am Post subject: | |||
That sounds a little bit like where mine is gong... Back in February I had to have surgery on my left shoulder, at first thought to be a torn rotator cuff. Luckily for me it was only an impingement of the shoulder but I was still out of work for a month. The Short-Term Disability, at 60%, just didn't quite cover all the bills during the time I was out of work. Not to mention what was not covered by the insurance to which I owe. Then on top of the shoulder surgery, while I was still out, I had to be admitted to the hospital, for 4 days, due to a bleeding ulcer. So now I have even more medical bills on top of what was already there. Got behind on rent, other utilities, and such just barely having enough money to buy food for the family of four during all this. But back to work now, still haven't got full range of motion with my shoulder/arm, don't know if I ever will. Had to stop Physical Therapy due to the high cost of that, even with the insurance. You're right, the EARLY mailing of these checks couldn't come at a better time!!! |
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject: | |
| mine is going to a new pair of glasses or a new range | |
Joined: 18 Mar 2005
Posts: 235
Location: 3rd coast
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:08 pm Post subject: | |
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I see a pattern here: out of the four replies to my query, three note the coming funds will help with medical-related issues.
I could add a fourth. I delayed much-needed dental surgery last month. If I didn't lack confidence in our economy, I'd probably schedule it for later next month. Instead, I'm kicking in a second job for whatever free time I have and hoarding the income. And like you, MA, I also need to update my vision prescription. Turning 40 has turned me into Mr. Magoo, so much that I'd mistake a new range for a big screen t.v. 
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject: | |
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well - to be fair...
i have 3 pairs of glasses at present, i just 'want' a 4th pair cuz the frames are hella cool i'll prolly be more practical and get the range though ... the glasses i want are really pricey and even with a sudden windfall i just can't justify the cost right now. |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2005
Posts: 235
Location: 3rd coast
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject: | |||
You mean like this . . . 
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject: | |
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kinda
like this: 
but they are just... really, really expensive. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6744
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:58 pm Post subject: | |
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I haven't had a new pair of glasses since 2002. Medicare covers the basic exam and glasses of course, but to get some frames that will actually last, I have to pay up to $75 extra and I fear I've put it off too long now. I did get a pair of glasses a couple of years ago but I don't count them because I had to select from the cheapest frames in the joint and they lasted about two weeks. Lenses kept popping out for no apparent reason and finally one of them was chipped to the point of being unusable.
Just like having my teeth worked on, I kept procrastinating until it's too late to do anything about it now. |
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Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 238
Location: Your mom's house.
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:27 am Post subject: Re: Check's in the mail . . . | |
| I think I am going to take my rebate check and invest it in ramen noodles. The way I figure it, if the economy is going doing down then the demand for ramen noodles will be going up. What will $600 worth of ramen noodles pull in these days? 2400-3200 bags retail? I figure I can buy them all now and double my money by selling them this summer. | |
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 171
Location: Washington State
| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 4:35 pm Post subject: | |
| My college kid lives on ramen noodles. | |
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6744
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 5:11 pm Post subject: | |
They make up a large part of the diets of a lot of us oldsters on fixed incomes too. Glad ME thinks it's so funny, eh? 
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Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 238
Location: Your mom's house.
| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 8:16 pm Post subject: | |||
You bet it's funny. If the price of ramen doubles, college kids and people on fixed incomes of $50/month will no longer be able to afford 3 square meals a day. Instead of eating ramen noodles 3 times a day for 833 days straight, they will have to settle for that same amount of money only lasting them 416 days. |
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:25 am Post subject: | |
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ramen is ridiculously high in sodium
theres no way anyone should eat that stuff more than occasionally |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6744
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:04 am Post subject: | |
| Yeah, well... some folks have to deal with their pocketbooks when making those decisions. At least it';s not like it was in my younger days... back then old poor folks ate dog and cat food when times got rough faster than their pensions could keep up. | |
Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 457
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 7:55 am Post subject: | |||
So...."Let them eat cake"...? 
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Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 457
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 7:56 am Post subject: | |||
trolling? no doubt. |
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 12:22 pm Post subject: | |||
let them eat whatever they want, however be aware of the possible negative effects. i used to eat it myself until i started reading labels... but no more. |
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Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 238
Location: Your mom's house.
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject: | |||
Nobody eats that stuff more than occasionally. That's why it's so funny. $600 worth of top ramen would last an individual years (maybe even a decade). Nobody takes the price of ramen into account when they do their grocery shopping. Last edited by modelemployee on Sun May 04, 2008 6:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 238
Location: Your mom's house.
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject: | |||
I don't know any pension plan that pays so little that it would force an individual to consider the price of ramen noodles when they are planning their budget. Such a plan would have to pay somewhere around $1.50 a week. |
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Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 238
Location: Your mom's house.
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject: | |||
Maybe I should start calling everyone on here a troll whose opinion I disagree with. It seems to work well for quite a few people here. Is bc5yr trolling with a response like this? trying to bait me? No doubt. |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6744
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:48 pm Post subject: | |
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And you just had to bite, didn't you?
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6744
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:09 pm Post subject: | |||||
Nothing but pure bullshit rhetoric. Maybe you ought to get off your smug comfortable ass and get out and around amongst the masses more. Just because YOU don't "know" of something has nothing to do with whether it exists or not. In fact, I'm guessing (and I know what a shock this may be to you) that there's a lot of stuff you DON'T know, my man. I also suspect you don't know these things mainly because you don't WANT to know because it might upset your smug little view of the world at large and the people in it. My pension consists of $791 a month. Out of that I pay rent and utilities and the same high fuel and grocery prices as everyone else. Milk costs me $3.70 a gallon and bread $3.50 a loaf, just like they do for you. Yet the only item in my budget I have any control over is my food and household budget and yeah, there's a lot of quickie pasta meals at my house and yeah, their numbers are increasing depending on what else I need this month or how many times BofA found a way to jam another fee down my throat. And believe it or not, there are elderly (and even not so elderly) poor people around my area even worse off than I am. I'm actually considered pretty well off among my crowd.
So come on man, don't start the usual pissing games with me because you'll only wind up making a bunch of sweeping generalizations in regard to situations you know absolutely nothing about and that don't apply, either to my situation OR that of any of the other folks I'm referring to. You've already made a pretty good start. |
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 2:14 am Post subject: | |||
same thing happened to me i posted some views that differ from the 'sears sucks' daily mantra, and my veracity was promptly questioned on every point |
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