Up until I got this job (and I haven’t received my first paycheck yet, so I guess this is still the situation), we were bringing in less money than we were spending ($2700 vs. $3100). My husband makes $19.20/hr, so that’s definitely higher than the living wage, but we kept our cable, phones, auto loans, and pets (things you probably wouldn’t keep if you couldn’t afford it) because we knew we could do it for a few months until I graduated and survive just fine. Luckily, we had some income tax refund money saved up so our account stayed in good shape. Plus, my husband gets some killer overtime in November and December – he brought home nearly $1000 a week quite a few times recently.
However, emergency vet bills, necessary work clothes, and unnecessary (to some people, but not me) makeup, haircuts, and a few other purchases have put us in some credit card debt (about $4000), but we’ll take care of most of that with this year’s income tax refund in about a month and the rest we’ll pay off monthly as my paychecks start rolling in (preferably before my student loan payments start coming out). I get nervous when we have less than $1000 in the bank and we’re teetering on the edge right now, so I’m ready to start getting paid.
I was almost going to say that I didn’t know how people made it even at $15/hr, but that’s just ridiculous. We don’t live cheaply or watch our spending as closely as we could. We could live cheaper, but I’m glad we don’t have to and I hope we never do. I’ve grown accustomed to this...
@Adirondackwannabe $35000 for four people seems pretty cheap to me. That’s like $17–18K per year if both parents are working. That’s about $8 an hour each. If it’s a single-parent home or a household in which only one partner works, then that would be more difficult. I thought “living wage” meant the lowest amount you need just to support yourself, not a family of four. I think I may be confused about what a living wage actually is.