scary statistics

From the MSN front page today, Do you live paycheck-to-paycheck?

41% say they live paycheck-to-paycheck
20% do not save at all
28% save $100 or less each month
16% save less than $50 per month
25% do not contribute to 401K/IRA/other retirement

Yikes - that is not company that I want to keep.

My job does not offer any type of retirement, so I'm not doing that. Technically, I should be doing an IRA, but I think my debt is really just too overwhelming at this point. But I'm hoping to be in a position to do that by the end of the year.

Paycheck-to-paycheck, yup that's me but I'm trying to break that viscious cycle. How? I'm job hunting, I'm trying to tackle this overwhelming debt and I have an auto-save plan with ING of $10 dollars a week. Yup, it's not a lot. But I think it's better than nothing. And with the super load of debt, I really should be focusing on paying down debt instead of saving. And I've been writing like crazy for Associated Content. Honestly, what I'm writing is a lot of tripe for the most part. But the extra money is great for throwing at the debt and helping to avoid the paycheck-to-pacycheck thing. I've also been selling some ditigal items on ebay using e-junkie, which is a great service by the way. If you're selling digital items it is the way to go. You can learn more about it here if you want. Using it is what has helped me dramatically increase my alternative income! I'm hoping to break $500 by the end of the month now, which is what my out of town trip this weekend will cost.