Groceries on credit?

[disneysteve]

Re: Groceries on credit?

I just don't believe in charging food at a grocery store or in a restaurant. If I have to charge it, I want to be able to see it later. Not on something I have already eaten!! (except of course if I am going to make money on the cc and pay it right off)

We charge everything we possibly can on our rewards card and pay the bill in full each month. In fact, our Marriott Visa gives double reward points on restaurant charges, so even more reason to use it there.

As for the original topic, this is just one more example of insane predatory lending practices, right along with payday loans and refund anticipation loans at tax time. The government really screwed up when they deregulated the lending industry and allowed scams like this to go on.

[Ima saver]

Re: Groceries on credit?

Agree, disneysteve! I don't know why I have such a hang up about charging food. I eat out all the time, I could be racking up $1 a week!!

[disneysteve]

Re: Groceries on credit?

Agree, disneysteve! I don't know why I have such a hang up about charging food. I eat out all the time, I could be racking up $1 a week!!

We charge at least $2,000/month on our card. A lot of that is groceries and dining out, along with general shopping, household bills, travel, etc. So that is at least 24,000 reward points/year. Dining is double points. Hotel bills are 5x points (for Marriott properties), so we really earn upwards of 30,000 points/year. That gets added to points earned by staying in hotels (12 points/dollar spent). We easily get a free vacation week every other year at least.

[Ima saver]

Re: Groceries on credit?

We live out in the boondocks so there is not a lot of places to charge. My husband does charge everything at home depot and I got back $550 in cash this summer.(building materials)

[disneysteve]

Re: Groceries on credit?

We live out in the boondocks so there is not a lot of places to charge.

What about bills? We charge our local, long distance and cell phone bills, our cable bill, our internet access, Netflix, ebay fees, alarm company, auto insurance, car registration, newspaper and magazine subscriptions, road tolls, gas, groceries, dining out and pretty much anything else we can.

[shelbylovesmelby]

Re: Groceries on credit?

I've had to buy groceries on credit when dh was short of hours or when there was a great sale but we didn't get paid for a few more days.
I hate doing it because it brings back memories of my late teens when I was working for minimum wage, lived in sect 8 housing, going to college full time & supported my mom (while she was waiting to get her disability benefits) and the credit card was all we had to keep food on the table. I remember my mom (who is exceptionally greedy when it comes to food) cuss'n me out for buying kool-aid instead of her precious soda pop as that was the extra $ I had that week & kool-aid goes further than a 12pk of soda does (especially when she could guzzle a case a day!) Eventually I couldn't afford the minimum payments on the card. Heck I remember shaking out the bottom of my purse more than once for the change on the bottom to put in my 76 nova (mind you this was in the mid 90's I had this car) and feeling so humiliated making the clerk count out all those coins... but if I didn't put gas in the tank I couldn't get to work or school.

I think like some of you had said there is a seperation between the classes that's getting bigger everyday. You've got folks that work the system because it has become a way of life in more depressed neighborhoods, You've got low-lower middle who are busting their butts for $30K or less a year to take care of their families... Then you've got folks that I've seen complaining & whaaaa'n about how their dh had to take a $40,000 pay cut! When there are alot more people in AMERICA who support families on under that a year who are grateful for every dime they have to their name.

Alot of the well paying manufacturing jobs that made up most of the communities here closed, moved south, then to Mexico & on to China. Otherwise you could always apply @ Harley Davidson one of the few well paying places still in business but the last I heard there was a 3 yr waiting list on applicants! So what is someone to do til then? Get a job that pays under $10 & hope for the best!

JMHO

[Ima saver]

Re: Groceries on credit?

Wow, Shelby, you really had it rough. I guess I did not know you could charge all that stuff. I only spend about $3 a month for long distance, no toll fees, no e bay, no cell phone, no newpaper, no net flix.

[shelbylovesmelby]

Re: Groceries on credit?

Yep lived that way for a few years. So when we did get holiday baskets from the salvation army (bless this wonderful organization!!) it was a blessing to not be eating pb&j's for a week! : SO if we are doing well around the holidays I like to put a few extra dollars in the red kettles for their kindness.

[Ima saver]

Re: Groceries on credit?

I hate to hear that people are going hungry. At our bi lo, they have a big basket for donated food. It also says, if you need some food, just take it!

[shelbylovesmelby]

Re: Groceries on credit?

Nope nothing like that around here. Though there is a Second Harvest food pantry around here & I would love to go when dh is short on hours as they often are after Febuary. But I don't like the idea of them require your SSN to get a bag of groceries! Or is that just me?? & with all the idenity theft, it's not worth sharing everyone in our families SSN for a bag of groceries.

But one of the grocery stores donates some parishable items to the salvation army who then delivers it to the low income senior building my mom lives @ & if she knows were low on funds she'll snag a few extras just for me.

[DivaJen]

Re: Groceries on credit?

...but more than that, you would develop more compassion. Not pity, not sympathy, but compassion.

The world could use more compassion. Thank you for writing this.

[jacquelynrose]

Re: Groceries on credit?

Its not that I don't have Compassion....I have helped out alot of people but there are those who simply take advantage of everyone else. We do not live in a poor country...how is help not readily available? Remember the definition of poor living on Welfare. I received Child Care assistance briefly...then my Jobs got better...I used to do Housekeeping making $6 an hour. It took me a LONG time to earn how much I do now...but there is always a bottom to get out of...people are not looking at their resources nor opportunities that surround them....The mentality is "This is it, I am poor and I make this money and I can barely survive" I think alot of people have lived those days where they eat nothing but Ramen...I did. I went without before...

[disneysteve]

Re: Groceries on credit?

people are not looking at their resources nor opportunities that surround them

I think very often the resources that seem obvious to you and me aren't so obvious to the people that really need them. And there are often other issues to overcome. I work in a very poor area - poorest town in the state. Many of my patients have no transportation. They don't own a car and can't always afford public transportation. Even when they can, that greatly limits their work options.

Many of these folks are single parents. Going to work means arranging safe, dependable, affordable childcare which isn't so easy to find around there.

Many of the folks who are married have spouses who are abusive and/or are involved with drugs and alcohol. That creates a whole other set of obstacles.

I'll be the first to agree that some people are poor by their own doing. But lots of people simply don't have the skills or the knowledge or the self-confidence or the access to resources necessary to elevate their standing. There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to poverty in this country.