Definition of being broke/strapped for cash!

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Definition of being broke/strapped for cash!
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gardening-girl

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 6024
Location: Somerset.

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 11:51 am Post subject: Definition of being broke/strapped for cash!

Last year, for various reasons,I gave up my second job.I knew it would make things a bit tight, but with carefull planning, and thinking before spending, we,re not doing too badly.We have made some changes in lifestyle, and we have more in the pipeline.We are not well off, but I think in the great scheme of things, life aint bad.
Several people we know seem to be in the same boat.

Someone we know as a neighbour,not very well, was telling us how broke he was, he had been put on a three day week.Yesterday, imagine our surprise when we saw him driving a truck that we had seen in our local garage, price, £10,000 plus vat!
He,d put the lot on finance

Is this the definition ofbeing broke

boisdevie1

Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3897
Location: Lancaster

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 12:01 pm Post subject:
Sadly there isn't the option of making people take an IQ test before being allowed to have finance.

Katieowl

Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 4317
Location: West Wales

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 12:03 pm Post subject:
I guess being 'broke' is directly proportional to how 'well off' you are/were to start with. I used to work with somebody who always claimed she was broke, then went shopping for gadgets at lunchtime! Buying a ten grand car isn't in the same league as not being able to afford to buy your kid a winter coat is it??? Kate

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 12:06 pm Post subject:
Or not being able to afford beds for them, although we finally have Poverty is a funny thing to define. By all measures the government have, we're very poor, but by any definition we have, we're very rich.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 12:10 pm Post subject:

Penny wrote:

By all measures the government have, we're very poor, but by any definition we have, we're very rich.

Exactly. 'Stuff' is over-rated.

gardening-girl

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 6024
Location: Somerset.

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 12:23 pm Post subject:
Its a question of need or want!

robkb

Joined: 29 May 2009
Posts: 4205
Location: SE London

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 12:53 pm Post subject:

Katieowl wrote:

I guess being 'broke' is directly proportional to how 'well off' you are/were to start with.

Kate

Yup - I work with a guy who spends several hours every week telling me how little money he has and then in the next breath says that he's just bought a new 42" plasma screen tv (he currently has 7 tv's in his house - where only 4 people live!). He's also adamant that you can't get a family holiday for less than £1000!

Cheers,
Rob.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:25 pm Post subject:

I've always looked at it the other way around and felt that the definition of being 'comfortably off' was when a brown envelope comes through the door and you don't panic,- in other words, that you know all the bills can be paid in a given month.

Its looking more and more likely as if I'm going to be drastically reducting my 'dayjob' hours soon, whether I really feel ready to or not. I'm just trying to keep this in mind as a guideline of what we really need to get by on, anything else, in the short term, is a luxury.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:26 pm Post subject:
Not being able to heat your home. Not being able to pay utility bills, or having to not use said utilities because you can't pay for them. Not being able to keep a roof over your head.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:27 pm Post subject:
Our neighbour used to be a farmer, until he gave it up to sell garden stuff online. He still complains about not having much money, which is true, after paying for the brand new leased Landrover discovery, childrens school fees, etc...

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:34 pm Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

...after paying for the brand new leased Landrover discovery, childrens school fees, etc...

I often wonder how people afford all the shiny cars I see around, is it by leasing them then?

Ours is usually one of the oldest cars we see in any given day, but it gets us to and from Cheltenham at 55 mpg and recently took us to Southern Spain and back (3,500 miles) without a hiccup. It's N reg.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:40 pm Post subject:

Penny wrote:

Rob R wrote:

...after paying for the brand new leased Landrover discovery, childrens school fees, etc...

I often wonder how people afford all the shiny cars I see around, is it by leasing them then?

Maybe. I remember from machinery classes at college that the 'big' tractor there was leased- it worked out better for them as they didn't have a large chunk of capital locked up in one machine, and got a replacement when it went wrong.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28118
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:45 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Couldn't have put it better myself.

We do do almost all the spending (including business spending) on a cash back credit card, and the bill which just came in was for various reasons "scary" I thought

But it is molehills to mountains compared to how you feel when not only can't you keep up with the bills this month, but next month looks like being worse

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:47 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

how you feel when not only can't you keep up with the bills this month, but next month looks like being worse

That's one of the definitions, for me. That 'hollow pit of the stomach' thing is horrible.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6540
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 10 1:51 pm Post subject:
descriptions seem to keep coming up of people that feel they're strapped for cash, yet can't help but to buy things they can't afford. That doesn't mean they're not strapped for cash, if anything it suggests why they're strapped for cash... If you ask me, consumerism is a disease...

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