When you have two income streams, with one being irregular ... and uncertain, to boot ... you need to have some funds on hand for cushion. For example - I was leaving a village, bound for the city, driving on a divided highway a month or so ago, just passed a gravel truck and pulled into the outside lane ahead of him ... when I saw a couple of guys who looked as though they might be setting off an a rather long walk ... thought that it would be considerate to offer them a ride, as it was rather cold, began to pull off of road - when BANG! the gravel truck caved in the back end of my station wagon. No one hurt. Vehicle's a write-off. I haven't had message from the insurance co. yet, but went out and bought a "new" car (an old 5-speed one with small engine that sips gas). Wrote a cheque for the $2,500. without having to sweat over where to find the money. You have some regular expenses that must be met. Perhaps you can cut down on some of them, perhaps not. You have some other expenses which are important, but you have some flexibility as to timing and amounts. First thing - sit down and write out everything that you spend money on, and keep itemized record for a time - at least a month, two or three is better, a whole year better yet. Keep them - they'll give you guidance, next year. Also, record the amounts of your irregular distributions: perhaps, over time, you can see a pattern, e.g they're small in spring, larger in autumn. More infrequent, later in the year, etc. Dig up former records of the distributions, if you can, to get some earlier information which may assist you in observing those patterns. If you have credit card debt, it's important to try to get that whittled down, especially storee-issued cards, for most of them charge about 25 - 28% interest - I call that drawing blood. Regular cards usually charge about 15 - 18%. I have a fully secured (by stock, mutual fund certificates) Line of Credit at my bank - that I'm not using at the moment, but when I use it, the interest rate (was recently) 6.25%. I like that rate a lot better. Would you rather get a $100.00 raise in employment income, or save $100. on a purchase, without interfering with your lifestyle? You must earn $133.33 more employment income, for when you share your annual income with your partner in crime, the income tax people, if you're in 25% marginal tax rate, that'll leave you with $100.00 in pocket to go out to buy stuff ... assuming that the stuff that you're buying, as usual for most of the stuff that we buy, isn't deductible. Learning more about where the money goes usually helps people get the feeling that they just got a raise in pay - for when they see their expenditure patterns on paper ... ... they decide to change some of them! Good wishes for success in your enterprise. ole joyful

"Free enterprise" is when there's a more or less level playing field. They claim that competition keeps the market "fair". And they love competition among their suppliers - the more, the better, for it enables them to obtain very competitive rates on their inputs. And they love it among their customers, for it means that the customers can't very well gang up on them and demand "fair" prices. But - they hate it on their own level - it reduces their power. Most corporations dislike that - they prefer more or less "private" enterprise. They'll do whatever they need to in order to get rid of competition on their own level. Buy the competitor out - especially when he's having troubles and is willing to accept a really low price for his business. Or squeeze him out of the market by undercutting prices till he's pushed out of business - large dairies did that to the smaller ones, years ago ... as happened in many other business types, as the big guys ate the little guys. Do you know any major type of business in Canada where there are more than half a dozen players that "serve" 80% or more of the market? And when a few players supply almost all of the market like that ... pricing and other rules become rather artificial! We've had various government studies to evaluate whether there is competition in the price of gasoline ... and they *always* report that there is - that the market is in good shape! And there may be half a dozen people (of about 350,000) in London and area that believe those reports! ole joyful

The person who obtained the home loan was my SIL. No child support and thats a fact. Her ex doesn't even have a job and has 4 other kids to support. I'm curious because my sister and BIL have been trying to buy a house and they have two incomes (but no children) and make A LOT more money than my SIL and they have decent (but not excellent) credit and they don't have a huge downpayment (have about 5-10% depending on the purchase price) and they haven't been able to get a loan. They've tried USDA (they qualify for the guaranteed home loan program but not the other than assists with a downpayment). So it just blows my mind that someone who makes $9 hr could get a loan for that much money. I'm predicting it will be another foreclosure in the next few years. I don't see how she will be able to afford the monthly payments (she was telling us that when she was first approved the bank told her the payments would be around $400 mth. But there is NO way they will be that low when you add in property taxes, insurance etc.

I don't know anything about prices in NJ, but in Michigan I spend between $85-130 week on groceries for a family of 4, but my budget isn't as tight as theirs is right now. I buy lots of expensive things such as cereals, granola bars, extra lean beef . . . I do shop sales and use coupons for cereal and granola bars, but if I were in a money crisis, I could certainly make due with less pre-packaged junk food and focus on nutrition vs. convenience. BTW, I was talking with a friend from out of state who in the same conversation told me about her husband losing his job and her new $32 haircut that she wasn't happy with! Some people just don't get it! When she visited this summer, she wanted to stop at the convenience store for a soda when she had some at the house and we were only 2 minutes from home! Silly and wasteful habits!