Last night while I was watching that TV show about the married couple that has 19 kids, a balloon went up on the screen saying that the average family spends $7,800.00 a year on food.  That got me to thinking about what it costs me in food every year as a single man!

I figure that I spend maybe $350.00 a month to feed myself, and that doesn’t include things like laundry soap, household cleaners and various other stuff that I need.  An average family spending $7.800.00 a year for food may seem like a lot, but according to the US Trustee Program web site, Census Bureau Median Family Income By Family Size (Cases Filed Between March 15, 2009, and October 31, 2009, Inclusive), a 3-person family in Arizona has a total income of $62,002 a year.

Did I read that right I asked myself as I stared at the page?  If that web site figure is correct, then why are so many Americans hurting in this tough economy?  I’d be living pretty good on that income and would not have a house in foreclosure like so many Americans today do!  Is this stuff accurate or is someone trying to you-know-what on my leg but tell me it’s raining?

With that kind of income I’d be eating steak several nights a week and eating out!

My father worked in a Buffalo, NY steel plant for 22 years before that steel plant closed due to imported, cheaper steel.  I was a teenager then, and I clearly remember how our family went from meat and potatoes every night to beans and hot dogs.   Slowly, we went from a two-car home to a one car, then a used car and then finally, my parents lost the home too.   I watched as my father lost his pride and took odd jobs to feed his family.  He worked in a toy store, and washed dishes in a country club.  I watched my family be destroyed as the family was forced apart.  My brother and I had to go out on our own before eighteen and make our way.  My father continued to live with the resentment that all his years of hard work in a steel plant was gone. He got a partial retirement but only being three years away from a full pension, my father got much less than what he and my mother planned to retire on.

Last night I saw on the news the following statistic:  Those who socked away less than $10,000 for their nest egg jumped to 43 percent this year, up from 39 percent in 2009, the Employee Benefit Research Institutes 20th-annual Retirement Confidence Survey found.  Among the respondents, 27 percent said they had less than $1,000 compared to 20 percent last year.

For years now we have all listened to the experts saying that we need to  save for our retirement.  My thought has always been that I’ll be working until I’m dead because I have no 401K, or a company pension to retire on…and sure enough, the statistic above proves my thought.

The problem with the whole idea of working until you are dead is that the job market just got a whole lot tougher to compete in.  I never wanted to be a door-greeter at a big super-store but Grandma just got some competition!  Of course, she’s working to pay for her medication and I’m working to feed myself.

We are now a society of lower-class and upper-class.  Did we ask for this?  I sure didn’t.  I was happy being middle-class!  Now I worry how the bank is going to take more from me on that high (and getting higher) interest rate on my one-and-only credit card as I watch in shock and awe as prices slowly inch up each week.  Please, don’t get me to thinking how high gas is going to cost this summer either!

We all suffer from the same pains that this economy is causing.  So be kind to me as you see me out there working not one job but two in order to make ends meet.  I need one job to pay for my living expenses, and the other job to pay for getting to and from the first job!

Here’s a little side note folks:  As you recall I mentioned getting physical at the ripe age of 47 and this puppy did do just that.  I started on the treadmill and doing some free weights 3X a week.  Well, what’s the next step?  Jogging on real pavement, right?  OMG…that was way different from jogging on a treadmill.  I felt like I weighed 400 pounds as my puny legs stomped onto that cold hard concrete.  I ended up walking a good way from my place in Sedona Shadows up to the Giant Gas Station in West Sedona.  I almost called my friend to come pick me up halfway, but my jogging partner kept pushing me on.  At the end of the jog everything on me hurt, even my feet in my new running shoes that first caused me to wince when I saw the price, but I’m a trooper and I made it home on my own two feet.

Now I have nothing but total respect for anyone I see out there jogging.  And to give you all encouragement, an older couple was out there biking ahead of me going up the 89A incline.   They stopped ahead of me and as I caught up to them I said, “Hello and god bless you both for making it up this hill.”  The older gentleman then said that his wife was 73 years old.  Well, folks, if they can do it, you can do it!  I guess that statement includes me too, huh?

*Have a comment or a gripe, then contact me The Gripe Guy at hollywoodjimadvice@yahoo.com.