Jenny Craig cost of food

Looking for TX Platform like Bayscribe, Etc. with Low Cost [2008-12-01]
Hi, Starting up a TX business here. Want to be able to offer clients a platform like Bayscribe or Vianeta, etc. However, I am looking for one with low cost, I love Bayscribe, but if you are low volume, which we would be starting out, their per line rate is very high. Does anybody know of a good platform with a low per line rate and no or very low startup cost? Thank you, David

craig's list [2008-11-21]
Not all craig's list posts are scams. I actually found one of my accounts on craig's list and have been transcribing for this particular group for about a year and a half. I did see the job posting you are talking about and I agree with the other posters....This one looks fishy. It's probably one of those we will train you but you have to pay for it scams... Stay away.

They probably figured you'd cost too much and [2008-11-04]
these companies surely do not want to offer anything a USA MT is worth. And they probably would rather insult you by failing you on the test, than your insulting them by refusing their low offer. A lot of us oldies with great quality get the same treatment. Or they say we are prima donnas or something, which really means we are not suckers. LOL.

The only "easy in" jobs are in fast food. [2008-10-23]
If you want a job in MT, you're going to have to work at it. That means doing what it takes to get an education that will enable you to get a worthwhile job, then going out and getting it.

Yup, junky, high fat, starchy food is higher sm [2008-10-13]
I went to the grocery in the big city this last weekend. I get to do this about twice a year. I bought fresh produce: Yams (10# $10), HUGE kale bunch 1.79 (same as 5 years ago), mushrooms $2.89# same as a year ago here. Tomatoes, hydroponic organic $2.89 same as the last year when they are full price. Boy choi 99 cents a #, half of what it has been for the past year. Red bell pepper $2.79 each, but they were $3 this time last winter. Blood oranges, always a special treat $2.89 a # and had twice a year if I can get them. Zucchini because I have already cleared a couple local gardners out, $1.79, but they were $1.99 in August. I got cottage cheese for $1.99 for the big container and eggs for $1.99 for 18 count. Left me in good position to buy 6 kinds of rice and other celiac-friendly food. Total? $80. I live alone and that will go for at least 2 weeks, the rice and stuff for 4 months or better. That racks up the same amount as it has been for the past couple of years, and probably a little better. In my basket, not a box of crackers, cookies, snacks, chips or junk food. THAT has gotten sky high. Real food, you know the kind you cook? Still about the same prices.

food prices [2008-10-12]
They certainly are! If you have a salvage grocery in your area, you can save quite a bit. We are blessed to have three. Some cans a bent - I only buy the ones with a ding, and boxes are bent. You have to be selective, but can save quit a bit. Also if you have an ALDI store, they are less expensive and their products are good. Hope this helps someone.

The food is resturant quality food and very good [2008-10-12]
XX

Yep. Just got back from Walmart. Went to the food [2008-10-11]
section and then walked away and decided to do it with DH. We have separate bank accounts and I am not going there and spending 100% of the food out of my account. We have a family of 5 and that would drain everything and he would not contribute because he wants pocket money. Same with the gas. We argue over who wants the car. Neither of us does, because it is always empty and neither of us wants to fill it. Anyway, went to Walmart and got things today I cannot afford and spent 76.00. WHat can't I afford: Well, I got Hanes underwear (yes can't afford it but dared to buy new), food for our birds and hamster/guinea pigs, litter for the cats, some air freshener, and dared to buy a 2 dollar pumpkin to put outside. A little halloween candy, and a 5 dollar purse. These things I can no longer afford but I had the nerve to get them and put off food shopping where DH can help. Isn't it funny? The little things in life we need that we can't afford anymore. Even the check out clerk mentioned how tired I looked and how silly it is none of us can afford things like new underwear anymore!

Anyone else notice prices of food getting higher every week? [2008-10-11]

quality apparently isn't cost-effective, [2008-10-06]
so it's time for us all to be very afraid - not only for our jobs, but for the accuracy of our personal medical records and those of the people we love. I thought I had a career for life, but I was so wrong.

low cost easy digital software [2008-09-23]
After 10 years of working for somebody else, I am looking into starting up my own transcription business. Does anyone have any information onlow-cost, easy start-up digital software? Thanks!

Yes, it does. My hosp is typing in MOX, we lost Word many years ago due to cost. [2008-09-20]
Good luck!

Cost of living [2008-09-11]
Could someone live comfortably in the Phillipines on $2000 per month net with adult and 1 teenager?

When we are not making a decent enough wage to buy our kids food and clothes, it is like (inside) [2008-09-01]
the little kid who wants a toy from another child and runs to his mother and whines he won't give it to me. Just another way for them to try to force more money out of already tired pockets. I for one will not pay for that until they fight for wages to be increased. Let them go out of business like a lot of us have had to do. Now they want to make us pay for the lack of money they are getting from India because I am sure they aren't buying into it, and believe me I don't hate the Indians for wanting to work, it is not them, it is the American company's greed. When transcription companies can spend millions and millions of dollars to buy each other out, you know it is a lucarative business. Why are they cramming voice down our throats at half pay? You can't tell me they are taking half pay, plus half pay is not enough when speech is not trained. Vote for Obama! He says he will close the loop holes for American Corporations to send our jobs overseas.

Shipping Internationally does not cost that much. [2008-08-24]
That in itself is a falsehood. Global priority mail envelope which would fit a pin or a periodical is 11.00 USA. They would just have to chart the Transcriptionist or firm that over in India. So, wondering if this small thing is a lie, what else is in this statement. Selling on e bay, I have even sent boxes of things overseas all over the world and flat rate box is 24 bucks USA. Just interesting they say 11.00 is high, for global priority. One falsehood leads to another IMHO. Integrity with falsehood. Interesting.

What does it cost you in insurance to be [2008-08-20]
BS

Link inside provided as food for thought [2008-08-14]
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/320/RipOff0320581.htm

If you call qualifying for food stamps & section 8 housing [2008-08-06]
As for working at home, it may be more comfortable, but not when your butt is planted in the same chair at your desk for 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the rest of the world goes on without you. Not a perk, in my book.

can you start out at $11.50/hour at a fast food place? [2008-07-20]
nm

Reminds me of transients on street...Will work for food! [2008-06-21]
Working for 4 cpl and 2 cpl is the same as working for free. To make a measly 40.00 a day, you'd have to type 1000 lines, not to mention that whopping 20.00 you'd make at 2 cpl rate with 1000 lines a day. MT is not easy work regardless of if you haveexperience or are fresh out of school. Heck, is there even a guarantee you would be given 1000 lines per day? I can only imagine the portion of the total rate that ispocketed by SS. Iwill guarantee it's a lot more than 4 cpl she is keeping for herself and charging to her clients. My advice to anyone considering this internship: Hit your books a bit harder, visit LWW.com, Stedmans.com,obtain reference books with samples, look on MT-related boards for folks offering to mentor, look for MTs needinghelp with their overflow work, and most of all, have a bit more respect for yourself and don't sell yourself short. By the way, a minimum wage job pays better, and a tankof gas still costs more. Sorry for the negativity, but ever since I saw that ad, I've wanted to puke over it.

Most families struggle. This is when you make too much for food stamps, but need help and sm [2008-05-30]
besides, volunteering in your community is a GOOD THING. You can volunteer, pay for the box and give to a family who is in need. Many, many people did that. An older person who is on a fixed income and who can't get food stamps would likely welcome a box on a monthly basis. This time of year, all the food banks around the country are in need because it is not a holiday, so few give and the need is greater every month. It doesn't have to be for your family.

Help with raising food costs sm [2008-05-29]
While not available in all areas, this is a wonderful program to help out families and communities. I used it for years when I lived in Colorado and now that I have moved, I am in the process of finding this program in my state. The program consists of paying a certain amount for a given box of food (you can buy more than one) on a certain day or days. Then, you put in volunteer hours in your community for each box you purchase. You have a volunteer slip signed where you volunteer. On D-Day, you go and pick up your boxes of food. The boxes consist of fresh fruits and vegetables and meat items. Occasionally there is cheese too. There might be pasta and/or rice. There is often a prepared food item. They offer seasonal boxes for holiday baking, meat lover's boxes in time for summer grilling and Thanksgiving boxes. The retail value of what you get in a SHARE box is usually at least double the cost of the box, and that has been my experience. The kids and I used to go and help on D-Day, passing out boxes, cleaning up for our volunteer activity. http://www.sharecolorado.com/ is for Colorado and several other states, but should link you nationally too.

I have used Angel Food Ministries and love it. nm [2008-05-29]
nm

I concur with lolabug. Cost of CD is: [2008-05-15]
$99.95, then there's S totaling: $121.77. However, in somes eyes, it is priceless. Well Worth the time lost looking things up. It's all right there.

funny, I just saw this today at the health food store.. [2008-04-22]
Schiff Knock-Out (which is Melatonin with Theanine and Valerian -- ) I cannot personally advise but it sounds natural and tempting... Perimenopause has been playing havoc with my hormones and I do a lot of investigation on natural remedies. Hope you find something - sleep is so wonderul. I heard suzanne somers say she put herself to bed at 9 p.m. for a year during her changes.

This account is sounding like both old MT sm [2008-12-03]
and the office staff are extremely disorganized. Other than making a list of the patients you transcribed, I would not get involved in any pre-transcription listmaking. That's the office's job. What should be happening is that they give you 1 jump drive for every 1 or 2 days' dictation ALONG WITH PATIENT LISTS FOR THOSE TWO DAYS. They have patient schedules in the office or a sign-in sheet, I am sure. They can at least provide you with those. As far as duplicates, state very firmly that due to the state of the records prior to you doing their transcription, they are probably going to have some duplicates and that you expect to be paid for everything you type. This is simply a cost of doing business the way they have been doing it in the past (or associating themselves with) and they are going to have to eat that cost. It's not your problem. If they give you any trouble with any of this, I would drop the account immediately and let them find a sucker to do free typing for them.

Read further into his proposals and you will not be happy. sm [2008-12-01]
It will hurt any business owner to be in business in the U.S. If you have employees in India or anywhere else, you do not pay taxes, unemployment, health insurance, benefits, etc. I think that it is going to be more cost effective to not have U.S. employees and have to decide if I will close my doors or join in the offshore hoopla. I do know that they work hard and do not call in and will work all holidays. With 48 employees, I had no one that would work the holiday or the holiday weekend and I had to pull four 18-hour shifts in a row.

That's 1 reason why I voted for Obama - [2008-12-01]
stay in this business is if the tax breaks are ended and the loopholes closed for companies that outsource what used to be good American jobs. Ending offshoring entirely would be nice, but I doubt it'll happen. But it should cost less for companies to hire American workers at a decent, livable wage, than it does to send it offshore. Offshoring should be something they do in a pinch, not as a standard practice. Yeah, so what if they're making more money the way they're doing it now. Doesn't make it right. They're greedy and they're un-American when they put thousands of hard-working American MT's in the poorhouse, or out of a job.

Looking for TX Platform like Bayscribe, Etc. with Low Cost [2008-12-01]
Hi, Starting up a TX business here. Want to be able to offer clients a platform like Bayscribe or Vianeta, etc. However, I am looking for one with low cost, I love Bayscribe, but if you are low volume, which we would be starting out, their per line rate is very high. Does anybody know of a good platform with a low per line rate and no or very low startup cost? Thank you, David

You do as you like, but I can tell you [2008-12-01]
that disorganization does not always come from the old MT that you've replaced. You can type for free all you want. That's your business. If this person wasn't smart enough to know that there were dictations already transcribed and just handed it over to you on a holiday weekend to sort out the mess, and now doesn't want to pay, that's a bad first impression of the person handling the work that is supposed to have a handle on things. I guess she should have checked, but then again maybe she was in a rush to get to her holiday and not worry about it. I'm sure they'll pass the word all around that Lisa works for free; try her out! What would it cost for them in all honesty to just pay you for the trouble since it was their mistake and not yours? Honestly? But, hey, if you like working for free, that's your business. Good luck with that account! Why not ask the office how the old MT handled this situation? See what answer they give ya? You are all assuming the old MT was the bad one, when in fact it is probably the office; I think it's horrible to have this girl type on a holiday weekend and then come back with well we don't want to pay you know. Horrible! No, I'm not a doormat. It is actually MTs that type for free that give us all a bad name! Gee, I wish I could afford to type for free, but I can't, so I won't. Do you think a patient goes into thisphysician's office and says I've heard this all before from another doctor, so I'm not going to pay you? Doubt it!

I totally agree with you. [2008-12-01]
I have been burned before too, to the tune of about $500.00. This from an account I had worked on for about 8 years. In the end, it was constant e-mails from them telling me they had not received this, that, or the other, which I politely and even happily re-sent, time and time again, without any complaint whatsoever. The office manager admitted two things: 1) that they were harassing me, and 2) that they had found a girl who would do the work for less money. Still, I understand OPs predicament, and I know I would be sorely tempted to let it go just to have the account. But I still agree that they should never have asked or implied that this service should not cost them.

are you one of them? [2008-11-30]
every one of us is trying to put food on the table, every one, so no one has the right to do this to their fellow MTs. I do blame my fellow MTs because they are the ones doing it.

THEFT? That's going a bit far and is unfair..sm [2008-11-29]
While I agree that cherry-picking is not fair, either, I wouldn't go as far as to call it theft. The MT is doing the same work, a day's or line's pay for a day's (or line's) pay. If you were to go to a store sale, and someone else were to pick out the most desirable items first, would you also call that stealing? More importantly, I would not blame your fellow MT. (They are trying to put food on the table the same as everyone else.) I would blame the crappy, thoughtless dictators, and those who have made outsourcing possible, thus leaving all the crap work for us cherry-picking MTs.

I would ask [2008-11-28]
Do you have to pay a fee to receive it? Can you pay any of your bills (besides food) with a credit card? Why don't they want to issue payroll checks?

Doctor's hate to dictate. I can't tell you how many docs [2008-11-28]
have told me over the years how dictating is their least favorite part of their job. This is why so many of them suck at it. I used to the transcription supervisor at a teaching hospital and I used to have to train the new residents each year on the dictation system and I used to beg them to dictate slowly and clearly and I would bribe them with promises of food. I would stock the chart completion room where most of the dictated from with all kinds of snacks and treats. Docs are so sweet when they are residents. Then they turn ugly as the years go by!

Had equipment problems with Transcend... [2008-11-25]
that they ignored with me though I complained daily. Even worked with a Dictaphone guy who apparently could not fix the problem though he tried. Long story short, I like the account assigned to me but just got tired of this stupid problem - I would have to log out and back in after single every report. I quit in disgust after 10 days because I felt they didn't take me seriously; they didn't even offer to send me one of their PC's, which would have cost me to rent anyway. They hated to see me go. Yeah, right.

you are not alone [2008-11-25]
After reading posts, it seems there are a lot of folks out there in the same boat. We all know it's tougher to get a job and to hold that job. The tests I don't feel are fair. They don't tell you if they want them by BOS or verbatim, so that's up to your own judgment and frequently they don't even know what they want. Let me tell you about me. I had a full-time and a part-time job. I am in QA and QC. I worked very hard 7 days a week and we had pretty much anything we wanted, new home, new car, you name it. Then I had surgery and had a stroke. They fired me from my part time job because they said 30 days was enough to recover. Try getting over being paralyzed on one side and in a chair in 30 days. I too am getting back into the swing and looking for a job. The first couple of tests were awful, I wasn't sure of my own brain, it takes me longer, plus the urgency of finding something. I did fail one, but that was Focus and I really believe they let pass who they want because it was extremely simple. We did lose our home and everything we had and resorted to food pantries to keep the kids fed. Spent many nights crying and worrying. Have now moved into a small rental house and starting all over at nearly 50 years of age. No the feds aren't bailing me out, too bad I'm not a bank or car builder with private jets! No turkey this year, can't afford it. So far nothing for Christmas but decorations. That's okay, we'll live! You'd be surprised what you can do without when you have to. So we have to resort to using cash only instead of my two credit cards, big deal. So I don't have the nice big house now, big deal. I have my children and I'm still here, which was iffy for awhile. Just slow down, take a breath, get rid of what you don't need to pay off what you don't need, and work to live instead of living to work. I'm still looking for that full-time job but it will come. I think everything happens for a reason and this too shall pass.

Good luck, but you'll need your CMT... [2008-11-21]
The only other way possible I can think of, and someone above already mentioned it, is have another Transcriptionist train you. That's how I got into this field. However, most transcriptionists aren't in the situation to train to nor do they probably want to. If you do choose to do online courses, I would personally recommend CareerStep... just stay away from PCDI! I have two friends going through CareerStep and they both are enjoying the course. Otherwise, this isn't a job you can just walk up to and start without any knowledge. If you want an easy job like that where you need no training, or training on the job, try a gas station or fast food restaurant. Sorry, I'm not trying to sound harsh, just truthful. You need a lot of training before working as an MT, as another poster said, it really is like a second language! You have to learn terminology, pharmaceuticals, anatomy, etc. However, I wish you the best of luck. If you *really* want to become an MT, then you can do it!

That is not what the OP is stating.. [2008-11-18]
If the company is advertising for shifts meaning 7 a to 3 p, then that is an employee that they need, not an IC. ICs choose their own hours; yes they do. Anything dictated by an MTSO for shifts meaning the MT must be accountable for those hours equals EMPLOYEE, not IC. The OP is absolutely correct. These MTSOs take advantage by instituting a shift or schedule. As an employee, that's great. The reason behind the MTSO doing this is that they feel they can just not hire the employees which cost more money and get away with not paying the taxes. So many MTs fall for this scheme. This is the whole reason you see posts about companies that hire ICs and then ICs are on here complaining of no/low work and there is nothing they can do about it. Such a shame not all of us are smart enough to see this racket, which is what it is a racket. Kudos to MTSOs who hire employees. Bah Humbug to MTSOs who hire ICs and then dictate the hours or shifts to that IC. When in fact an IC equals self-employed which means I make my own hours.

What's the deal with paycuts [2008-11-14]
This seems to be something that happens every year, even if the economy is better. This is not the first year I have heard of layoffs or paycuts around Christmas. What are these companies, Scrooge? It is the winter-time when most people fall ill, and in fact, a lot of people die beginning at holiday time. I don't know why this is but even if the hospital admissions trend down in a poor economy, there are still the older people and very ill who seem to pass around now, or fight for their lives in the ICU. It never ceases to amaze me when I hear about transcriptionists going through this when they need money most. I think they should set up shelters in every stage which gives people who are laid off during the holidays food for Thanksgiving and toys for kids. Remember scrooge who kept the poor guy there on Christmas eve? These companies ask us to cover holidays while they cut our pay. I often wonder if this is because the suits get their bonus around the holidays and they have to cut what they consider the fat. To them, that would not mean their golf outings or their boat docked in the Bahamas or funding for their offshore office overseas, it would mean the production worker, the MT. Someday, MTs will figure a way to develop a USA union and that would not be run by the founders of the once-called AAMT. So sorry to hear everyone's bad news here. My heart goes out to you. After all, we are all in this together!

The only things that I find silly [2008-11-12]
about the Safetypeare the price and the 12% restocking fee for returns (not to mention shipping costs to and possibly fro). More like ridiculous! I looked at many, many keyboards during my search for an alternative, but I was looking morefor an alternative to the mouse, and I found it. Not to be redundant, as I posted about this a week or so ago and have posted about it before, but I LOVE MY ALPHAGRIP!!! It's a match made in heaven! The cost is a third of Safetype, and some of the others that offer similar hand positioning are up to $400 dollars or more. With the AlphaGrip, at least there is no restocking charge if you decide to return it within the 30-day timeframe allowed. I love mine so much that I just recently purchased another one! Not because the first was defective, but because I s tu pid ly spilled coffee on the first one . It still worked and I used it for a while after that, but the keys became harder to press and it was too much of a workout. As I mentioned in my previous posts, it does look complicated, but I found it very easy to learn to use, what with all the helpful information and tools provided on their site. That said, I have (quite some time ago) seen several posts from people here that use keyboards similar to the Safetype and were happy with them. I've included the link for the AlphaGrip below in case you want to check it out. It looks like they decided to change the name to the iGrip, which I am not too happy about, but I guess a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and I'm sure the name doesn't change anything about this product either, but I still prefer to call it an AlphaGrip!

You're right if you're single it's tough. [2008-11-12]
I am an IC as well, but I have a husband with benefits and makes a fair buck. I am fortunate after 20 years to able to work from home. I worked on site for 17 years with a chocolate cake the day I left. Nothing more... The loyalty in any profession is gone, gone, and gone again. Most companies want new employees/ICs that will take low pay and that won't cost much in the way of paying vacation time. I do take every Friday off and try only to get on to check e-mail, etc. However, I wouldn't trade being here for my kids at this point. There are headaches no matter what profession you are in. It seems if it isn't one thing it's another. Raises? Out of the question in this profession since most are afraid they will lose the account including myself. I also underbid my last account because I wanted the account so bad. I should be charging more. It is a neverending cycle really. But, I still enjoy the work, so I guess that's the difference. It does take will power to sit and type. Some people need that boss hanging around to keep the production up and the incentive of a nice paycheck is just not good enough. Good luck with your new job! Sounds great!

Depressing news today [2008-11-12]
Well. My hospital job was outsourced in August and I also had a PT job to help pay bills too. Today I found out that I will no longer have that PT job as that I was working PT forhas decided to put all MTs in one pool to work at all of their hospitals they own, so the Outsource Co I have worked for four years has lost that contract basically. Another financial loss. I was making bringing home about $2300 a month and now I am down to about $900 a month or less. What a blow. Jobs are so scarce now and I just cannot go to Walmart to get a job because I had major back surgery years ago and I just cannot stand lor long periods of time. I do not know if I would even qualify for unemployment benefits which is so little but it would pay credit cards maybe. I have not heard really of MTs qualifying for unemployment and I am not so sure about this either. I am going to check into it, but I doubt. MyMT friend where we used to work had to borrow $30 yesterday to buy a couple of groceries. She bought food to make chilli and Hamburber Helper to last for days. I hope things turn around, but at this point I am not so sure. So depressing and I am tired of taking typing tests. I have been an MT for 29 years and score really high on tests, but then a person never hears back from those companies. Just how depressing is that and I know that a lot of us have been there, done that. Have resumes in everywhere I can think. Lets all hope and pray hard for things to turn around in this next year.

Need advice about changing jobs. sm [2008-11-12]
I've been an MT for 33 years. I lately have been working with a vocational person through the rehabilitation services who is trying to find me a different job doing billing/coding which I have no experience doing although I have taken classes and I would eventually like to get into coding. I broke my wrist last January and now find it difficult to do more than 800-900 lines per day. I have an MT job now making 10 cpl as an IC. I'm doing okay, but no benefits. I also don't have a mortagage or rent as my dad owes the place where I live. I am single. I am 54 years old. I have been applying for full time jobs at hospitals and doctor's officessince July with no success. Ihad one interview in August for a part time (4 days a week)front office person at a medical office for $8 an hour.I live in a very rural area and some of these jobs I'm applying for involve traveling up to 1-1/2 hours one way. The vocational person is really pushing me. She thinks I should take ANY full time job with benefits even if the pay is low, like $8 maybe $10an hour which she thinks is a fantastic wage with benefits. She even suggested I take a job in a hospital 1-1/2 hours awayas a housekeeper just to get my foot in the door. She also suggested taking a temporary job and just not do my other job for awhile. In these economic times I think it would be foolish of me to give up a job I have for a low-paying full time job just because it has benefits. I think any new hire is subject to being laid off first. Plusthe expense of gas, clothes, food, etc. of working outside the home would further reduce my take-home pay. Plus you usually pay at least part of health insurance coverage anyway (I have no health insurance now though).I have emphatically told them I'm not giving up my MT position. Itold them I would be willing to accept a part time position just to get some experience in billing and coding. They just think I don't have confidence in my knowledge and I suspect they think I don't want to work. Let me tell you I have worked up to 3 jobs at a time as an MT and I'm not afraid to work. I just don't think now is the right time to make a job move and actually right now there are pretty slim pickings. I also really don't want to outside the home and work. Am I wrong? Any suggestions! Thanks for your feedback.

Job change [2008-11-12]
If you are making 10 cpl and you live in a rural area, I think you are doing pretty good, except for benefits. Have you seen the job postings lately? ekk...6,7,8 cpl... I live in a Western City where we used to make $25-35 an hour at 10-12 cpl (yes some still do), but ever since V.R. became popular every Hospital and Medical Imaging Center and Clinicseem to be sending work to services. I have been doing this for 24 years and I thought I would be able to do this forever also, but we still have a high cost of living and less pay. I have bad wrists and I am not sure what else I can do at this point. I am a caregiver part-time as well to supplement my income, that doesn't pay much $11/hour but it helps. Good luck

Answers to poll. [2008-11-11]
1. For my part of the expenses yes. But if I lost my job, my husband would carry us, though he works 3 jobs, I would not want him to do this for long. We have 3 kids in elementary school and you know you need to buy groceries. 2. I could find a job today if I wanted to, but I don't know if they could set me up by the next payperiod. It usually takes 2 weeks and then you have to wait a week or 2 to get your check. 3. My husband has savings but it has been depleted as my income has decreased as an MT the last few years. Not because of my ability or years experience but because the MTSO somehow changed how they count the lines. 6 months ago I became an IC as my husband now provides insurance and I make a lot more but not yet enough to put money back in savings. Actually my goal as I increase workload is to buy more groceries. We have cut back so far on food, we need to increase the food bill before the savings. Savings will come next instead of a vacation.

My answers [2008-11-11]
1. Are you living paycheck-to-paycheck? Defined: Missing one paycheck would seriously harm your basic living (housing, food, utilities or necessary meds/medical care). Yes, but not out to the street. Would put us behind, which we cannot afford to be. 2. If you lost your job today, without warning, do you think you could be employed again within 1 payperiod? Not sure. I imagine it could take a while with the holiday season fast approaching. 3. Do you have an emergency fund in case a loss of job happens? No and this is something DH and I need to start getting serious about...hard to do when you live paycheck to paycheck though.

My poll answers: [2008-11-10]
1. Q: Are you living paycheck-to-paycheck? Defined: Missing one paycheck would seriously harm your basic living (housing, food, utilities or necessary meds/medical care). A: Definitely. On both accounts. 2. Q: If you lost your job today, without warning, do you think you could be employed again within 1 payperiod? A: Only if I wanted to work for one of those huge, 'McTranscription' companies which pay even less than I'm making now. 3. Q: Do you have an emergency fund in case a loss of job happens? A: I used to. But over the past few years I had to keep siphoning funds out of it because even though I work full-time, the pay isn't enough to get by on. I expect to be in rather deep doo-doo by the end of this year.

I really do feel like a sm [2008-11-10]
1. Are you living paycheck-to-paycheck? Defined: Missing one paycheck would seriously harm your basic living (housing, food, utilities or necessary meds/medical care). No. I would panic if I had to miss one, however. 2. If you lost your job today, without warning, do you think you could be employed again within 1 payperiod? Yes, but actually working might be another story. Companies always take longer than they should. 3. Do you have an emergency fund in case a loss of job happens? Absolutely. This is new for me over the last few years. I am grateful for it. I work more than I need to because I have lived paycheck to paycheck for years. I cut expenses in half (think downsized) and that helped make up the difference between being better off and being broke.

I am glad I am not the only one sm [2008-11-10]
My friends laugh at my pantry which is overflowing. My freezer is pretty full and so is the fridge much of the time. I worry about not having food because I grew up poor and when my kids were around I didn't ever think I fed them enough, even though they were tall, slim and very healthy. (I didn't get child support.) I worry! I love my stuff, but my stuff comes from the second-hand store, the dollar store and about 4 times a year, Walmart. Sew my clothing from the $2 table of fabrics at Walmart or pieces from the thrift store. My furniture and kitchen stuff is either wedding gifts from 25+ years ago or garage sale stuff, thrift store finds, etc. I have wanted a spice rack for about 2 years and held out for the right deal. I got an almost new one with all the jars at the thrift store $1, compared to the $30 ones that were new just like it. Living as small as you can is the key to prosperity, if you ask me. Right now, I work 2 jobs and have 2 paychecks every 2 weeks. I live on 2 of the small ones and part of one of the bigger ones. The other big one goes directly to savings. I am saving about 35% of my after tax income. It never bothers me to live without most of the goodies I want because wanting is often better than having. My home is small and I don't have room for anything else anyway.