re: Do you ever escape the churn of worrying about money?

In 1994-95 I was in grad school and I had a university job which paid 750 dollars per month after taxes.

I lived on that money. I had the worst apartment in Tuscaloosa for which I paid 225 a month. It was a hell hole. I drove a 12 year old Nissan Sentra standard shift and on Sunday I would buy 5 pounds of chicken thighs and eat them all week with Mac n cheese or similar side.

Now I make much, much more money but I have 3 kids two in college and one about to go and a wife. I am now the owner of five cars (one per family member) and I’m paying for a house, an apartment in Athens and a dorm.


It seems like I had more money then than I do now.

But I can see a day where everyone but the wife is off the pay roll and I will be living large. Of course by then a week’s worth of food will probably be 500 dollars so who knows.

My point is we seem to match our expenses to our income and most of us have to watch what we spend.


My parents are close to 80 and they told me they have finally got to the point where they buy what they want and don’t have to consider the cost. But I don’t think that applies to big ticket items as they both have decent cars but not fancy cars.

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I met my wife while driving a truck that had 175k on it and when I sold it shortly after we started dating I got 3500 for it. On our first dates she never asked why I parked heading out every place we went. Only later I told her it would not go in reverse.

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I had a 10 yr old truck when I met my wife. It was a basic work truck too - vinyl seats, manual windows, manual transmission. It probably wasn't worth 5k.

It did go in reverse though

MFer, you hit the wife lottery.

Yes and no. You will always have expenses, so you have to adjust your life to where you're able to let it roll without stressing about it too much.

Also, money is a renewable resource. You can always make more! Grab a side hustle, if needed. There is no lack of jobs out there.

Oh, and contribute to retirement savings!!! This is one thing I'm so glad we were diligent about. Takes some pressure off in older age.

Marry an equally ambitious person who likes to bargain shop.

My mom put our family in a bind growing up by gambling and using credit cards. My dad made decent money but never had anything nice. My dad told me two things: save money and don't get in CC debt.

I have saved at least $100 every paycheck since I turned 18. I'm 44 now so we have a nice nest egg in case anything happens. I could have a lot more if I had invested it. We have no CC debt. My wife and I combined don't even make six figures and we live very comfortably. We never worry about money.

OnlyFans bruh

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MFer, you hit the wife lottery.

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if you knew me you would know truer words never spoken

Should have never gone to a college you could not afford. Student loans are/were your issue...the easy road is a long range bitch...

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realized I was way behind on retirement savings.

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Just work til you croak. The way this country is headed you won't be missing anything good in about 30 years