Don't have a mortgage(haven't since about 1985) and the credit cards get paid off every month. No car payments but momma quit and we still make out ok.. I still make a little selling shootin stuff and we buy small antiques etc to make a little on. The thing is we really don't overspend on stupid stuff. Not big drinkers or travelers. People nowdays only think of what they have or what they can get. They don't seem to think of what the cost is to them. Where I moved from in Md we had all kinds of folks movin into the area. Nice farming communities that are being built up into 400,000 dollar plywood orchards. These are young folks movin in to get away from the city....and bringing it with them. They are building 400,000 dollar 3 story houses in an area where an expensive place was that much. They are 20 somethings with debt on the house..2 new cars..boats..four wheelers(that they can ride on their 1 acre) and they now have to commute to their jobs(that the government is pushing out of the country). They are going to be drowning in debt that they can't repay in a year or so...or when the mortgage rate rises after that short period of low rates goes away. Heck my daughter is one of them. No common sense at all. Where will it end? I still have about 25-30 acres on the eastern shore of Md...but I don't see how anyone can afford the costs of living there anymore. At least anyone with a mortgage and all the other things they have. And as far as saving...sheesh...ya know 90% of 'em aren't and really can't!
