She said her name was Suzy, and she sounded desperate. By listening to her, I could tell she was from the East Coast. Her voice also told me she was sincere. She had called to share her concerns about her financial situation.
She explained that she lived on a fixed income of around $1500 a month. She said that she no longer had enough money for food for the month so she was using her credit card to buy groceries. She kept repeating, “I have to eat, I have to eat”. There was no doubt she was distraught about her situation.
Once she gave some more details about her situation, I got a better picture of her predicament. I found out that she owned her home so she had no mortgage or rent payment going out. When talking about her home, she repeatedly told me, “I don’t want to lose my house”. She seemed really concerned about her rising utility bill and explained that until recently, her utilities were partly subsidized by the government.
Then I went on to ask if there was anything she could cut back on that would let her have some extra income for food. She said there wasn’t and explained that she had cable, but couldn’t give it up because otherwise she would only get three channels. She became quite defensive about her cable even though I didn’t even directly ask about it.
Suzy saw no way out of her circumstances, and that became obvious after a few minutes into our conversation. As she repeatedly put it, “There is nothing I can do”.
But it seems to me that she can’t keep using her credit card to buy groceries because eventually she won’t have the money for the credit card payment. So something is going to have to change. I don’t know all the details of her situation, but it seems clear that she will eventually have to make some decisions.
She is fortunate that she owns her home and doesn’t have to make a mortgage payment. This might be what allows her to make some changes in her situation. Perhaps she could downsize and save on utilities and taxes. Maybe she could even sell her home and move to an area with a lower cost of living since she isn’t tied down to a job.
I am not saying these are easy decisions to make or even appropriate ones for her circumstances. They may not even be realistic solutions for her, but it seems clear she can’t keep going on spending more than she has each month. The fact is that if she doesn’t do something to change her situation, someone else who doesn’t have her best interest in mind, will make a decision for her.
Sometimes, even though it may be difficult, we have to make some hard decisions in order to change our situation.
