Book Of Likes Faces

Way worse. 
Every single bill has gone up.
My brother was hit & wrecked his truck that only had liability on it so we had to get a different vehicle.
Then he had a heart attack so we have medical bills.
Rising cost of everything.......I physically cannot do another job to help hiss family & am trying to cut corners.

 Thank you for reaching out to answer! I do try to get out but have been working long hours, it's getting dark earlier & I have fibromyalgia so am pretty wiped out. It is just getting in the habit again!

I wish it was better, but no, it is much worse. Accidents always happen in the worse moments to my our lives difficult and painful!  My husband had back surgery last year and the surgeon was horrible! He ended up getting spinal meningitis and now can’t work more than a few hours a week

Better, Better almost every year because we always.
1) pay ourselves first to our savings and 2) pay into our retirement regularly and 3) have been making a conscious effort to pay off our house early by making at least double the payments monthly.

We fared well through the pandemic solely based on my hubby falling off a ladder at work in summer of 2019. 3 surgeries later and he’s finally back at work. The regular WCB check kept us afloat and I’m an “essential worker” so I didn’t lose my job.

Isn’t it sad when getting hurt also means getting lucky with a steady paycheck? I’m right there with ya. Going in for surgeries 8 and 9 (since 2016) in December. Woo Hoo!

Worse, but due to life circumstances in part. Sick dog that cost 7k to treat ( & was worth every penny), my wife only making half the income due to economy, then quitting her job (but starting her own business)
We’ll get back on our feet but it’s been a terrible year all around - financially, emotionally, etc

Much better! I paid off our truck & our mortgage in August... and then almost retired at 50 yrs old! It's been a very good year!

Inflation is hurting us horribly, we are lucky / blessed nothing changed for us financially due to covid . It didn't get better or worse, now Inflation is killing us, we are trying to pay higher bills on the say pay as before, so it's very scary right now.

Better especially mentally. The last few years were such a drain on my spirit, seeing so much hate in the media encouraged by the countries leadership.

Much better. We were lucky that the pandemic didn't adversely affect our finances and my mother said: I'd say same, maybe a bit better, but then I'm a miser, so I've always feared we'd end up poor. I had a very 'sparse' upbringing, so being frugal is ingrained in me.

Better. We moved to a state with much better cost of living so we can finally afford to save money, even if my partner says that this hasn’t been the best financial year for us but we’re OK. Praise God!

Better, last year at this time I have moved across the country and my husband had problems finding work. This year we are back where we were and we both have jobs so we are better off even though it cost almost double to live here.

A little worse, but mostly because we’ve had a rough year. We lost our sweet Irish wolfhound to cancer and had her euthanized at home. My son was deployed to Afghanistan so we traveled for his return, then he and my husband were injured on the same day in different states. My husband fell from a ladder at work, breaking a vertebrae while my son fell from a rope during a training exercise and tore his ACL and needed surgery to repair that and reconstruct the side of his knee. There’s been mishaps with paychecks, travel back and forth to my son’s base, and back surgery in our near future. Our savings are pretty hurt, but I’m thankful our bills are getting paid and groceries / medications are paid for. So while we aren’t as well off, it’s not because of anything other than life happening.

Last years shut down was great for us financially and now we are better off. Husband worked from home much of last year so saved on commuting costs. He started drawing social security and we’ve been able to put that and the stimulus payments toward debts. We don’t have a lot in retirement accounts but 2021 has yielded good returns.
With the lock downs last year and this year we could focus on things around our home, increasing our garden and rehabbing our property (mostly with our own labor) to set us up for saving money in the future.

I’m about the same. After my last divorce, I learned how to be frugal in a hurry. I found so many little ways to tuck back a few dollars. It’s my way of life now with my new wife. Just me her and the cat.

Learning to be frugal is the best that had happened to me and not eating out a lot has help me too. Now that I have some savings is harder for me to spend it.

At some time, it was really hard in our family latest years of being together in the same home. I had other family help us for a while. We started using coupons, buying groceries on double coupon day or 2 for 1. Started walking more locally…doing that now because gas has gone up so much. Not leaving lights on in rooms not being used. Keeping the AC on 75 in the summer and heat on 69 until it drops below freezing several days in a row. At Xmas, my grandmother and my mother made homemade fudge. We have pecan trees so I crack the pecans, make salted pecans, give fudge, pecans and a small jar of spiced tea as gifts for neighbors and friends. Not eating out and eliminating fast food has been my biggest savers. Fast food was easy for me but for my grandma, it was terrible for her cholesterol.
It took a year, but by eliminating fast food, her cholesterol is now in the normal range, I feel better to see her healthier and she doesn’t have to take medicine. I have to think about something really hard before I think it’s worth to take money from savings.

Sometimes simplicity is best, I'm glad you are doing OK. And peace of mind has not price.

Worse, due to lost job and some unplanned home repair and medical expenses... and a wedding. Not terrible though - considering the lost income because I had some serious money saved for emergencies. Hope to have a better year next year, but there is another wedding coming up soon....

Definitely better! We paid off our house AND car last year. So we're able to save the money every month. Plus we're still employed.

About the same..income has gone up but so have bills, groceries and gas etc. Plus, we added our teen driver to insurance & added on a car payment this year.

For my parents it is worse, but for personal reasons. 2 showers, a wedding, a grandchild, helping setup an apt, and senior year hs have hit their budget hard this year. But we’re blessed to be able to do these things.

It has been a wonderful year!  it made up for the crappy covid year. But I’m completely burned out on buying things right now. I have no desire to Christmas shop.

 Christmas always stresses me out!
I feel blessed as always. Within the last two years we have gone from $30 an hour income down to $12 and hour and then unemployed But no matter where we were we had a roof over our heads, food on our table and family to love.

Better off. But I have a higher paying job now, and during everything being shut down both myself and my partner still kept our jobs, and there was very little spending. Expense wise, things are going up but we are still doing fine because of our budget and not over spending on "stuff".

We're about the same. But a lot of people will get help when Biden's bills pass. It will help a lot of kids and parents with childcare and tax credits

Better - from making better decisions overall. I'm working on doing even better next year!

About the same, even if we are taking care of small children. My bills haven't fluctuated much and i keep a strict budget of every pay a certain amount gets set aside for bills. The only real increase was to our gas budget. Which has been a substantial increase. I refinanced this year to a 15 year mortgage for the same payment as my 30 year.