May sell all my guns

I'm just throwing out ideas here....

Most FF work 24 on, 48 off. Could you pick up any work on your days off? Even three shifts a week at Burger King would be better than nothing. I know of several FF who do lawn work, tree work, etc. on their days off. Any chance of something like that?
 
I've been rich and I've been poor and rich is definitely better. When I was down I never harbored on the snags in life, nothing is permanent. However; I just kept a long range goal in mind and kept hacking away at it and things do get better. Now I'm comfortably retired and I never looked back.
Hang in there, it too shall pass.
 
I am truly grateful for everyone's suggestions, I hate to admit it but I'm starting to tear up as I type this because it makes me feel good to hear concern from the members here.

Truckemup, I actually have worked side jobs before with my schedule but I have a 2 year old daughter that I take care of on my days off so unless I can make enough to cover daycare and have extra money leftover, I can't justify a second job but as I've said, I appreciate your input.

Please don't think of me as too much of a wimp from my confession.
 
JcMack said:
Any MARINE that chooses to be a firefighter is no "wimp". You have my thanks and respect.
Click to expand...

No Marine is a wimp. You to have my thanks and respect. Crying is not the sign of a weak man, it is the sign of a very strong man that has deep emotions.

I have seen Marines, FF, Cops, Hell's Angels and everyday bikers all crying. And believe me, none of them were wimps!

Bob
 
as a fellow veteran I sympathise with your situation. But think it over. From what I gather you dont have a gun collection worth tens of thousends. Will it really help you in the long term or will it be just a quick fix. You need to think about another solution to your financial problems. I really wish you the best of luck !! Cheers from a fellow vet:)
 
firestrat said:
First off, I appreciate everyone's positive comments. Cable Tv is going, as far as other luxuries, my guns and guitars are my only sellable assets. No watercraft, no trucks or SUVs, although I do have a minivan which gets about 20 mpg but having a 9, 6, and 2 year old means a minivan is almost a necessity. The only eating out we do is getting a couple of pizzas once in a while. We have been living a pretty austere life here for awhile.

My paycheck these days is the same as it was 5 years ago, but with the cost of everything going up, my situation is that my househlod income is just enough to keep me at 0 at the end of the month. The only saving I'm doing is $200 a month in a 401k, and the extra $150 I pay towards my house principal every month.

My house payment is approximately the same as the amount I'm going to lose. I could sell the house I suppose and get something cheaper, but the housing market being what it is, I'm not optimistic about a quick sale.

So, do I keep my guns and guitars and not make my house payment?
No, so the objects of any value must go.

Appologies if this sounds like whining and maybe it is, but I'm feeling pretty disconnected and lost right now.

Also, internet will probably go soon too, so I probably won't be hanging out here too much longer.
Click to expand...

What kind of guitars do you have?

Some of us might be able to buy them, hold them, and sell them back to you later.

A guitar forum friend did that for me 10 years ago. Four years later I sent him an email inquiring if he still had my Fender Jazz bass, and he said it was under his bed and still in the original shipping box.

I bought it back (for the original price he bought it for) and still play it.
 
First, unless you have a huge collection, your guns will most likely only offer a "bridge" for 2 or 3 mortgage payments. Right now I'd stop paying that additional money on the principal. I know what you're trying to do with this strategy but currently you just don't have the cash flow to do this and it's not mandated by your mortgage contract. Job One is to get your monthly cash flow UP and that means that as a first step you need to cut your outflow to the bone. I'll also note that if you take the time to do it, you can negotiate some of your monthly expenses down, your telephone and internet provider will probably prove quite willing to help you reduce these expenses just to retain you as a customer.

BTW, leave any steps approaching your mortgage as a last ditch strategy, I know too many people who tried the refinance approach who accomplished nothing but to trigger a foreclosure, better to leave your mortgage holder in the dark if at all possible.

Childcare expenses today can get huge. One suggestion that I would make is to talk to your brother firefighters and see if you can organize some type of pooling of resources to provide childcare at zero cost by trading this service among your group. When I was growing up childcare wasn't a common service, it was traded back and forth by neighbors in the neighborhood.

I'll also make some suggestions concerning grocery shopping. Tip one is to never go to the market hungry, you'll end up purchasing snacks you really don't need. Tip two, you want to hit the grocery store with a calculator in hand, it's amazing at what you'll find non essential when you are totaling up what you purchase as you put it in the basket. Tip three, look at supposed savings versus the actual cost including fuel when you are choosing where to shop, many times what you save at Walmart and the like is squandered on the gas getting there. Tip four, coupon shopping can save lots of money if you aren't currently using coupons. You can also save a lot of money by taking ALL soda pop off your shopping list. Let yourself and your kids drink tap water or milk. Your kids won't like it at first but they'll get used to it. When I was growing up a Coca Cola was a very rare treat that only happened on a special occasion, my daily choice was either tap water or milk, today I drink cold brewed tea or milk. BTW, I started drinking cold brewed tea when I purchased my current home, the old house had so many returnable pop bottle stored in a spare room that I've banned all pop from my house. Since changing to tea, I noticed that I barely ever catch a cold, on average it's been perhaps on cold every 2 years. IMO something about the tannins in tea kills cold germs. Note, growing up snacks were either fruit or garden grown veggies, I didn't have a potato chip until I was at least 8 years old and that was at a party. What people spend on snacks today I still find a bit stunning. Point is for a family of your size you can probably take as much as 50 dollars or so out of your weekly food budget with a bit of sacrifice and a bit of effort. Do that and you've put over 200 dollars a month into the positive cash flow column.

Fact is that right now Police and Fire departments are taking it in the chin on budgets. So you do have my sympathy. A city in my area is currently looking into either closing their fire department or consolidating operations with a neighboring city. End result is that there will be less coverage in these areas and people who voted against funding Fire and Police will soon find their homeowners insurance is going to rise far more than the cost of that funding. In time the voters will put 2 and 2 together but it's going to be a while before that happens.

Now, about your house. If your area has experienced what I've seen in the Detroit area you should do everything you can to avoid selling it because you'll take a beating. Odds are that you are well "upside down" on that mortgage and a short sale will leave you owing the balance to the bank. However, if you do have some equity in the current market, downsizing is a viable option. If so, keep in mind that you'll be purchasing that new home in a depressed market, so you'll get back what you lost on your present home with the future gain on your new home. Just make sure that you don't downsize into a home that isn't well insulated, many older homes have heat losses that can cost a lot of money to address. Saving 200 bucks on a mortgage can be a net loss if the heating costs go up by 300 dollars or more.

Finally, you may want to consider educating yourself for a different career path. There are grants available that you may qualify for. With the aging of our population it might be a good idea to look into something in Health Care. Quite simply if the path you are on currently is going nowhere, it may be time to look for a new path.
 
i would suspend 401k contributions ( if you must contribute at least up to the free match) and extra mortgage payments for a while till you sort this out. if possible refi to a lower rate and term to stretch out the debt. contrary to popular belief paying off your house isnt the greatest thing ever, your paying it off with ever cheaper dollars and getting the .gov tax subsidy. i digress.

for me personally, my pay didnt go down ( unless you count no pay increases for 3 years in the face of this "no inflation") but my health insurance expenses have tripled in those years. really pinching me monthly. as my wife is a stay at home mom to our 2 kids under 3. so i have sold a few rifles that i never shoot, nothing im really in love with and found cash other places. i wear a dress shirt every day so i cut out the dry cleaning at 20$ a week and iron my own shirts. started taking my own lunch a few days a week saving 5-10 a day there.

what im saying is selling the gun collection is something you will probly seriously regret. look for savings other places fist
 
Good luck sir. You are not alone, and you are not the first to go through these things.

I lost a job I'd had for 21 years, at the time that was over half of my lifetime. With two young children and a wife, mortgage, and all the other things that go with it.

It turns out that now I'm making about the same as I did in my former middle-management career. But, I own my own company that owns and operates a couple of restaurants. I'm working the same or more hours, but my family business is all ours.

But don't think that is easy all the time either. Not when you are dependent on sales dollars to make your payments, feed your family, and pay all your employees so they can feed theirs.

No road is ever easy all the time!

Again, good luck sir! We will all come through these issues. I just don't know how long it will take.
 
I'm sorry to hear of your situation. I hope things go well for you.

I would have to second the advice of those who say don't sell. in my opinion selling one's possessions should be the last choice before a person is forced to resort to the streets. reason being as those have said is it is only a short term fix. nobody knows how long this will last. we do know that until we get some change in washington it's going to continue. do you have possessions you could sell that would get you through at least two more years of this? I doubt any of us do so look for long term solutions.

take a pencil and paper and write down your income and then all your expenses. you may be surprised how much waste you find. I am going through a similar situation now due to a divorce so I have had to cut expenses down to the bare bones. you can cut cable and save close to 100 dollars a month right there. trust me you won't miss a thing. secondly if you have a home phone and cell cut the home phone. a real biggie and one that will really help is the thermostat in the house. believe it or not you can tough it out with blankets and sweaters during the day. if you got a fireplace burn that instead of jacking up the thermostat. not saying you can do this with a kid and wife but I have not had my thermostat above 60 all winter. and it's been pretty cold here in texas. it works. also downsizing your vehicle is the quickest way to finding 2-300 dollars a month if you drive one of those suv's.

those are just a few suggestions that have been saver for me. I am sure you have tried some already. the key is as long as you have something coming in monthly you have options. I just don't see you selling off your lifelong possessions at this point.

hang in there and good luck.

mike
 
Chin Up!

Keep your chin up and attack your financial issues like the Marine and Firefighter that you are. Make two lists...one Positive and one Negative. Make two more...Important and Unimportant...in terms of what you pay out monthly. Make a list of your tangible assets, such as jewelery, guitars and guns. Sit with your family and go over the lists, letting each member add...even children... to get them involved. Keep the lists on your refrigerator. Use the internet and mailers for coupons. Buy clothing at thrift stores (I bought a pair of nearly new Wranglers for $4.99 last month.) Consolidate your trips and map them out. If you're close to shopping, use bikes or walk. Look at your auto policy and reduce coverage or shop around for lower costs. Do your own home repairs. Make a list of your monthly bills and eliminate the frills. Think about asking your county/city about lowering your property tax. You get the idea. Make a game of it with the family...who can save the most money daily and monthly. If the kids are old enough, send them out in the neighborhood to earn money, snow shoveling, garage cleaning, leaf raking, etc. Ask their opinion. Kids are smart! Whatever you do, don't get into a funk...you're not alone. Get together with your friends and spouses and brainstorm the issues each face. Pass ideas around. Share common tasks. It's amazing how much better you'll do if you attack the problem. Make your own Luck. Just do it! You are NOT alone!
 
firestrat said:
First off, I appreciate everyone's positive comments. Cable Tv is going, as far as other luxuries, my guns and guitars are my only sellable assets. No watercraft, no trucks or SUVs, although I do have a minivan which gets about 20 mpg but having a 9, 6, and 2 year old means a minivan is almost a necessity. The only eating out we do is getting a couple of pizzas once in a while. We have been living a pretty austere life here for awhile.

My paycheck these days is the same as it was 5 years ago, but with the cost of everything going up, my situation is that my househlod income is just enough to keep me at 0 at the end of the month. The only saving I'm doing is $200 a month in a 401k, and the extra $150 I pay towards my house principal every month.

My house payment is approximately the same as the amount I'm going to lose. I could sell the house I suppose and get something cheaper, but the housing market being what it is, I'm not optimistic about a quick sale.

So, do I keep my guns and guitars and not make my house payment?
No, so the objects of any value must go.

Appologies if this sounds like whining and maybe it is, but I'm feeling pretty disconnected and lost right now.

Also, internet will probably go soon too, so I probably won't be hanging out here too much longer.
Click to expand...

My heart goes out to you and your circumstance. Been there done that more than once, fortunately not now in my life. Some really good advice has been offered with good strategies so I won't go there but will share this instead
Learned a couple of things along the way:
- Man can tap on his greatest resiliancy during times of crisis.
- do what you need to do in order to survive, bad times can only last for so long!
- Things are just that....things, in the end we are seperated from them anyway. Enjoy them while you have them and forget them when you don't.
- Sooner or later everything is replaceable if needed or wanted bad enough.
- most important of all,Trust God for his provision for all your needs.
May Gods love, protection and provision be with you. take care
 
firestrat said:
having a 9, 6, and 2 year old means
Click to expand...


means your family has to come first, no gun is worth your kids future, keep at least one gun for protection.
Keep you family as comfortable as you can, one day things might get better
 
firestrat said:
Recent legislation in my state means I'm looking at a $1000.00 a month reduction in take home pay as a best case scenario, and possibly more.
Click to expand...

May I ask what legislation this is?
 
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I would recomend if you are going to sell your guns that you in not so many words "pawn" them to someone you would trust to sell them back to you for the same price. I curretly have a 4506 in my safe that my wife's best friends husband "pawned" to me to fly out for a job interview. He had a 44-40 vaquero he did the same with but the guy sold it the next day so be careful who you trust. I paid under market value for this so if he decides to stick me with it i still have the gun at a good deal. Sell the guns as a last resort we dont know whats around the corner in the future. No one asked and I hope I'm not over stepping my bounds but what about your wife. Is she working, are you a single parent can your inlaws or parents keep the baby if you got a side job? I realize not everyone is blessed to have the family stucture I have with the extended family. I currently work 2 full time jobs and seem to just scrape by every month but my wife has just started back to work. My advice to you is do a search for dave ramsey and watch his show its free for one but is a christian based program. Don't know if you are christian but the principles of finance have been around for hundreds of years. If you learn the debt snow ball you can get out of debt and control your money he has all kinds of free things on the sight you can print off. Its good advise it got me out of most of my debt only because I buy too many guns. If you live like no one else you can live like no one else. Doeboy
 
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