People are borrowing at an all time high level.

Consumers charge it: Borrowing surges in March - USATODAY.com

It seems like us Mommysavers are going against the flow.

Anyone else find they are needing to borrow more to make ends meet? I am driving a lot less. Food prices have gone up which has been a stretch. We've also had some car repairs. But so far, we've just been able to squeeze things into the budget without having to borrow.

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We're not. If I was having to borrow just to make ends meet, I'd either get a job, dh would get a 2nd job, or we'd cut some of our expenses.

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No way would we borrow for anything right now. We are doing great. What we don't have we don't need and I can't think of anything that could break down right now that we wouldn't be able to get by without until we saved up.

I Agree I can't See borrowing Unecessary stuff - Alot Can Wait - BUT I Can Very Well See having to Borrow for A Major Dental Or Medical Need.
I Mean what Can you Do ??
My Friend just had to have 12,000 Worth Of Dental Work Done- she has Insurance too.
Several Of Her Teeth Were loose and were Dead at the root.
Had She saved Up for this , she'd end up with No teeth.
I Feel so Bad for Her.
Her DH lost His Job - 2 yrs. ago - And They went through All their savings.
And She does work 2 jobs!!
Now she has another - 300.00 a month Loan payment.

I don't Know ..... we Hear Stories Of high Debt , It all sounds bad.But I am still Convinced We all could Fall into it.
Some people have bad luck.

Yep, the borrowing goes up, as does the credit card company profits, along with new fees instituted for those they already have over the barrel (pun intended).

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There are actually solid statistics on this, and the woman--what's her name? Barbara something--who wrote Nickled and Dimed wrote about it, too. An amazingly high percentage of people who filed for bankruptcy before the changes to the laws HAD lots in savings, what most of us would think was plenty, they were smart and reasonably frugal and had health insurance, but they were wiped out by a sudden medical tragedy (insurance dropped them, etc.). I can't remember the numbers, just being stunned by how many: at least 50%.

Well - to be honest with you, we did borrow last year. We had gone through a third of our savings in 2006 when my husband was out of work due to a back injury. We had several huge unexpected expenses last year, including an almost $13,000 home repair, an unexpected adoption, extra medical expenses incurred because of the baby's medical issues, unanticipated legal fees incurred because we had an EXTREMELY difficult judge to deal with during the adoption process, and, on top of it all, our car died last summer so replaced it with a used mini-van, which is the only vehicle that all four of us fit in.

However, we have always lived below our means and we have one emergency fund that we will not touch unless we are in the most dire circumstances we can imagine. So, we opted to take some of the equity out of our house. We bought our house low and it has appreciated to double what we paid for it. It has held it's value, too. So - we ended up taking out some of the equity we had gained through frugal living to get us through what was the most difficult year of our almost nine-year marriage, which had been preceded by the second most difficult year of our marriage.

Having said that, we have continued to live within our means and cut back where ever it was necessary so that we are not living off of credit cards. We wouldn't do that, because we enjoy freedom more than we enjoy things.

We barrowed yet again last month. While we had the money I didn't want my bank account to go without a cushion. So yet more money is going to have to go toward debt. But there is still a way for us to immediately earn more. Thats adjusting our tax withholding so we don't get a refund next year and then can be using that to pay off the debt instead of waiting until Feb. Another thing we have been meaning to do is ask for a raise though if DH doesn't work up the courage he will be getting one in Nov and that will help us alot to.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

well unfortunately we may be borrowing my van pretty much died i wanted to make it until fall to purchase we have just started saving but fil got a great deal on a 2005 minivan at the auto auction so we may borrown a small amount only 2500.00 that we can pay off by fall but i really don't want to but it is a huge steal we will look at it tonight and see but i hate not having a car incase of an emergency we live far from everywhere.

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We've kind of been the opposite right now. Thanks to our tax refund and stimulus payment we were able to pay off one of our car loans. That frees up $550 a month and gives us some breathing room. Had we not paid off that car loan, I don't how long we would be able to be operating in the negative each pay period.

Having a large amount of unexpected medical bills in 2007, I can totally understand how someone's savings could be wiped out. Fortunately, we have insurance, but we still ended up having to pay a considerate sum. I can't think about how much we'd owe without that insurance.

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SAHM of 4

August food budget (groceries/take-out): $500.00/$75.00
Total spent: $238.97/$14.12

July budget/spent: $500.00/$650.00