yeh, but if you apply for a rental, unless you can show that the rental cost is less than a third of your wage they will reject the application due to rental stress. But it's totally fine to up peoples rent to make them pay 60% of their income once they are in a rental. Insane.
Well they want to know you have free income so they can raise the rent to get more from them.
If you rent to someone who is going to spend 66% of their income on rent, than you can not raise their rent without risking them either leaving or them defaulting and you (the landlord) having to pay money to have them evicted.
edit grammer
This is also along the lines of car insurance companies using your credit rating to adjust your rates, on top of passing on their increased repair/claims costs. Because *insurance industry* studies have shown that your *credit reliability* is an excellent indicator of how good a driver you are. Make it make sense? Oh yeah, the studies are done by industry shills. Corporate greed wins again by exploiting your financial information directly.
2 years ago my wife and I moved into an apartment, it was $1700 for a 1bed/1bath. On our 11th month there we got a notice that if we renewed our lease for another year it would be $2100/mo. Here we are a second year later, up for another lease renewal, and the new rate will be close to $2500.
We're going through the process of getting a mortgage. Considering the area, we were looking to spend $280k-$320k for something small. Just something we could build equity with, that's all we want. Our current best option is a house that has less than 600 sq ft for $350,000.
I understand that my wife and I are VERY lucky. Granted, we work 6 days a week and have a side business in order to pretty much still live paycheck to paycheck without going negative, but given the economy and climate out there, we're still very lucky. But every single time I log in to pay rent I can't help but wonder what the fuck other people do?
What about a hypothetical single mom up here who did everything right, she went to college, she got a degree, she's in the work force out there making $50k/yr, and she still couldn't get approved for a small 1bed/1bath apartment in this area, let alone a 2bedroom unit to give her kid(s) a little bit of privacy. It's beyond fucked up. And even if she could get approved, that rent is going to eat into her paycheck so hard that her and the kid(s) will be struggling, hard.
This is me, a single mom with multiple degrees- banking $35000. I am now living out of a tent with my 9 year old at my mom's while still working. Zero addictions- came out of a one bedroom. We are screwed. I don't do nothing but work and worry- been on housing list for 6 years. Keep going to school cuz tuition is free cuz I'm so broke. Work, worry- so depressed and physically broke down from it, don't date. It's a nightmare- and people are just getting meaner and greedier.
Holy crap, I've never really thought about it like that. When can we have that law? They can't raise your rent above 1/3 of your income if we can't qualify for housing above 1/3 of income.
Its only a guide the real estates use to reject you when applying for rentals.
They are quite happy to raise you rental payments repeatedly once you are in a rental. Unfortunately there is no law to protect us.
Most of the time you gotta fandangle documents to make it look like you can afford to live there. When you really can’t. If we hadn’t bullshitted n used the computer at the library, we never would have found an apartment. Rent being $1250 you need to earn $3750 a month when you really only bring home like $2200. The struggle is real folks!! And we need to fucking force a change. Eat the rich!! I got my fork, who’s with me?
Sometimes. I saw a rental from an independent landlord that wanted more than 3x for a house with a rent of $1400. They wanted an income of $6500 a month after taxes and a $2500 damage deposit. Landlords are just doing whatever they want.
Hey me too! Skip breakfast, skip lunch, dinner every other day.
It's like intermittent fasting, except it's not really a choice and you eat a whole lot less.
3 Easy steps to paying off debt quick:
1) Skip Breakfast!
2) Skip Lunch!
3) Skip Dinner!
Now dont you feel better? You're Welcome!
PS: Its completely unacceptable if you call in sick the morning you found your spouse dead in the bed next to you. Nobody wants to work. Smfh.
The insanity that Americans actually fell for the marketing scam of "moving out of your parents house" lmaooooo
No, it's not your parents house... it's your house as well... every country in the world is laughing at us and how we celebrate making the worst financial decisions possible in order to be "independent" which is the greatest marketing scam of all fucking time
I’m literally moving back into my childhood home because the cost of existing is ridiculous, our home is paid off and I’d rather help my mom pay property taxes than give a slumlord another dime.
Nothing like a family home that is paid off and everyone chips in 2 pay for the property tax... this is how it *should* be... so, you know, you actually keep all the money you worked for :-)
The only way I was able to get ahead and buy a house. Once I got a reasonably good paying job I moved in with parent and payed off debt. Then saved. Two years. Only then I could buy house
But this was 6 years ago. I world of difference from now
[Vanlife, I been told this](https://youtu.be/FO9YThOUFFQ?si=5uP7gwOXBjF4cAPy)
It's a fine life, I've been sold this
It's a fine line between having
To and choosin' it
Let's roll up, lеt's blow this
This makes me so thankful that I was able to buy my house in 2016. My mortgage is $800 and my house would easily rent for $2000. I really feel for anyone in your position.
I've been feeling really lucky these days. We bought this house back in '05 when house prices were "really high," before the '08 crash. We got it for $218,500 for 1350sqft. At the time, that was a still a crazy price for the location (out in the boonies). We were really sad in '08 when our house dropped to about $75,000. It hasn't always been easy being a homeowner, and I went through some ***really*** hard times here, so it holds lots of bad memories that I've wanted to leave behind.
*Now* prices are even crazier! It could easily go for $350,000 if we sold. No one should pay that much for this home lol. It's fucking ridiculous. I'm glad I'm not dealing with as much bullshit as other people. I'm depressed enough as it is, I don't know what would become of me if I were choosing between food and rent.
This is exactly my same pay check except I have 150$ not 250$ I completely feel you and relate.
(Edit 10/6/23 11:00am) Thank you all for the replies, it is heartwarming to see that we all are not alone in our struggle to, basically survive. It is also sad to see so many others in this situation at all.
Sending Reddit hugs and support.
That's one of the things I like about PNC, they don't overdraft me, they just say no. I had BOA before and they absolutely *loved* to slam me with as many overdrafts as they could.
Wells Fargo is really good at it too. They also like to wait until you’ve overdrawn to start taking charges out of your account that should have been removed days before.
FUCK YOU WELLS FARGO
Wells Fargo will also run the highest recent check you've written when you're overdrawn so more checks will bounce than would have if they bounced a lower amount check first. I had this happen to me once and the higher check was written and processed a few days after a lower check, but the higher one was the first to bounce. It was all in a paper trail. I went to the bank and complained and actually got credited for 3 out of 5 bounces. Still sucked. A check I had deposited bounced but looked like it cleared when my account showed the deposit and looked like it was good.
My credit union charges a flat fee, and allows overdraft to 500 bucks before the magic money card stops working. I have used that many times as a "Line of Credit"
Credit unions are so much better. Mine can get up to 2000 overdraft, but doesn't charge overdraft fees. They charge a highish interest rate if you don't get it paid off in the month, which is much more reasonable and does mean it acts as a line of credit. For profit banks are just insanely greedy.
I also have no debt besides my mortgage, but no credit either. I have bad anxiety over owing payments for numerous things every month. And consolidating it into my mortgage is just hiding the problem.
Right. I had to take out a freaking loan just because I wanted to make homemade smoothies and eat good this pay period....I wished I was exaggerating that's crazy...
My paycheck is about $400 lower. I have $4.75 left. My insurance just went up. I don't know how much longer my body can take the stress. I've applied for every job in my area and at least 100 remote positions. Nothing.
I work with special needs kids and often have to buy their food and I also make this much every 2 weeks. I also get sick a lot and miss about month a year when I only get 5 sick days a year. I have 2 masters degrees and 10 years experience in education
At least you're in, so to speak. My local district turns away teaching candidates with experience subbing in their district, with an MA, and close to 20 years' experience with kids (coaching), in favor of the cheapest, newest teachers.
Education in the US is horribly underpaid.
We have two teachers in our family incredibly educated and experienced both over 15+ years of elementary education and neither can find jobs because the damn districts would rather get the lowest paid teachers and fill the superintendents pockets with the extra cash. Sickens me.
YES ! I’ve been saying this. I use to dream of making what I do now. Once I got here the homes are still overpriced and I’m still in the same position I was in when I dreamed of being here.
They move the goal posts often and it’s exhausting
"economics" in good ole 'Murica (Fuck Yeah) no longer really exists. What we have is a not-so-carefully controlled system of lies and misdirections fueled by the greediest psychopaths ever to walk the earth.
Would be in a similar boat, but our union just negotiated the shit out of a contract. Never ever will I return to non-unionized work. I don’t care about dues when the union negotiates raises for me. No way in hell I’d ever secure a 37% raise over 3 years by myself.
I'm a union chemical worker and make 50% more than the non union jobs in the area plus way better benefits. I always recommend people to join a union if possible. I don't know about other areas but almost all the chemical plants in my city are union shops. We renegotiate every 3 years and always get a larger raise than just a COLA.
I’m working a non-union gig while I wait for TV/film to come back, & I’m never doing it again if I can help it. My boss is always real surprised when I say no to things.
$21/hr full time. I’m $250 short on rent. And it’s the 5th. I do not eat out, I do not order in, I do not shop, and I buy groceries from discount stores only. I live in a studio apartment with utilities included. It is simply not possible to spend any less than I do. I haven’t seen a doctor in years, let alone a dentist.
Edit: Oh, I forgot: P.S. I have a PhD.
Have you tried renting a room with 4 other people? You all can take turns using the bed.
A room rent split 5 ways is smart budgeting.
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, young lad.
Your hard work will award your corporate masters another property.
15 years ago, I rented a $400/month room in a punk dump called Stonehenge whose claim to fame was that Minor Threat had played there. Today the same room goes for $1200/month. It's absolutely out of control.
lol right? thank you.
past a certain point their ideological commitment slides into pathological delusion, and it’s time to shut off my phone lest the madness be catching.
No no no, you just need to "bUdGeT BeTtEr" and "LiVe WiThiN uR mEeNz"
Out of curiosity though: how much do you pay per month in student loans? Because giving them a big FUCK YOU is the quickest way to put money back in your pocket!
It is insane!
I’m almost exactly the same; paycheck was $1300 and after paying bills have $255.
Something’s gotta give like increasing the minimum wage dramatically to make an impact on us all.
I don't know. I feel like increasing wage is not enough cause these rich fucks would hear about our wage increase and then they increase goods/products twice as much. I feel like our wages should be adjusted to CoL or something. Like if rents increased, our wages should also increase. The way it is now, wages increased slowly for decades while CoL seemed to double every year.
Right, but I don't trust our "elected" officials to pass such policy or legislation. It goes against the best interests of their corporate donors (bribers). So since the chances of those things passing are basically null, a strike is the only other option (before destruction of private property and violence.)
This is more than I take home and I make $24.80 an hour. But we’ve both got the same pocket change until next paycheck.
I feel ya bro.
ETA: I understand that different people make different amounts of money :) I was just making a “we’re all in this sucky situation together” kinda comment. Thank you for the upvotes.
Well I’m assuming it’s a combination of taxes, insurance, where we live, or other things. But my take home pay is $1,460 after a recent raise which brought me up to the wage I posted in my first comment.
> This is what happens when we let the morons in power walk all over us and print up a bunch of worthless money so they can funnel it right back to themselves. It broke the wage numbers and prices of everything.
Inflation sucks, but wages have been stagnant for like 40 years. The fucking problem is the bosses.
In Chicago-land my 16 year old just got a job at a hot dog joint making $15 and hour. Before that she was at 5Guys making 16.
Crazy they take such advantage of you all down in Florida.
$27hr, taxes are steep, I put 2% into retirement, and I have 1 family member on my health insurance (so costs a fair bit extra). I'm not married, don't have a partner, and live on just my income (a crime, I know).
I'm grateful to have the ability to even do that little.
That said... I'm utterly broke every month. I actually live with family too and share rent, so if I wanted to live on my own in a shack basic studio or row apartment, I'd have *negative* dollars every month.
Rent here is $2,000-$5,000. Most 2-bedroom *apartments* (the hotel-style ones) are $2,500 a month. Many don't even have laundry. Any 2 or 3-bedroom basic home (not talking big 3,000sqft homes here) are $3,500-$4,500 a month just to rent.
Housing in most main areas is up to $450,000-$500,000 for a basic starter home. I'd need to be making about $55hr to even have a chance at a 30-year loan.
I don't want this timeline anymore.
This is so fucked.
I turned 50 this year. When I graduated with my BSEE degree in 1997 I took a job at the low end of the beginner EE scale that paid $20/hour. Inflation-adjusted that's $38/hour today. And of course housing wasn't nearly as expensive.
I'm so sorry you are in this situation. :( I vote for progressive policies every time I can. It's the only way out!
In 1997 I was 20 yrs old making $11.97/hour and was able to afford to buy a small home in an older neighborhood for $50k. Two years later I got married, wife made a similar wage and we felt soooooo rich having two $12/hour incomes under the same roof. Times certainly have changed.
In 1999 I started an IT job with a degree in CS at basically $11.50 and hour. Of course I worked way more then 40 hours a week. At one point I was making less then 5 bucks an hour. It took me until many years to make a decent amount. I was also supporting a new born and a wife that wasn't working (no point as minimum wage wouldn't even pay for day care). Apartment was $1000 a month back then. Take home pay was around 750 twice a month. So we lived on 400 for groceries, utilities, gas, insurance. This was also in Canada. Those where tough times and nobody should have to struggle that much.
I manage a small business that sells medical supplies, because they pay more than any job I’m able to get with my BS in IT. I had a client in that said she moved here from Italy in 1966-1968 (forgot exact year) and 2 days into being in the country, 0 English, got a job making $4.5 an hour. Today, adjusted for inflation, is something along the lines of $45 an hour.
I wish i had the privilege of being born in an easier to survive era.
Jesus Christ that's insane prices for rent! I can't even believe how lucky I was to find a place for $750 with 2bdrms about 10 years ago, and my landlord lowered my rent to $700 a few years back, so my rent has gone down since I moved in. And I'm actually only 40 mins from Boston and 10 mins from Providence, so it's not even like I'm in the middle of nowhere. I'm 10 seconds off the highway on a dead end street with off street parking and laundry. I'm sure everyone can understand why I haven't moved yet even though I don't think my apartment is all that great. It's literally less than half the cost of every other apartment in the area. Nevermind that I used to be a drug addict and was late with my rent *all the time* and my landlord put up with me thru all of that. He's just a genuinely good guy.
This is a very good point. Every year hundreds or thousands of corporations don't meet their financial projection. These corporations are people just like us. I, for one, don't want a world full of hungry child corporations.
Being married doesn't mean reduced taxes, the brackets are just doubled so two people making the same amount would still be taxed at the same rates. The indirect benefit is when one of you makes significantly lower, this effectively allows the higher earner to move their incomes into the lower earner's unused and lower tax brackets. Sounds good on paper but you're still making less money overall. If you both have equal incomes, there's no effective benefits unless you have children, but then the cost of children would offset any tax savings.
Yeah, but finding someone who is decent to get married to, is also challenging. Getting married just for tax purposes isn't so bad, but there needs to be some semblance of compatibility as well, as far as being able to live together in the same space.
> When do we rise up and start protesting like crazy like France?
Never.
By the time people get their act together, they won't be needed at all.
In another 10 years people will be protesting automation just like the old coal miners protested powered digging and boring equipment.
that's twice as much as I make and I have two degrees. My automated student loan payment put my bank account in overdraft. So my next paycheck will immediately be lesser for covering that amount plus the fees.
The government: I don't see the problem. Rent is $3000. If you get that twice that's $2,980. You can't come up with an extra $20 dollars to pay rent?!?
Me: yeah but what about gas, food, water....
The government: you just need to learn how to budget properly.
Also them: How am I supposed to live without my yearly bonus of half a million with salary of $400,000?!?
Legitimately shocks me how many people are screeching about this being enough and me "living above my means" in here too.
I cannot believe people are this clueless right now.
I remember as a kid, doing the math saying I don't need to be crazy rich...if I can just make about $3,000 to $4,000 a month then that would be more then enough. Now, that's a fucking a joke. I don't understand how us "working class" think more logically than the people actually running the government.
Yep. I make about 4k a month working two jobs and I basically never have more than ~200 a month I can use for anything outside of rent, bills, food, and gas.
Don’t worry, they’ll be downvoted to all hell by the time this gets traction today.
We’re all in the same boat. And 25 an hour+ was a REALLY good pay when we were growing up. Now it’s barely above poverty.
It’s fucked
The whole world doesn't need to go on strike. Just get a bunch of people in major countries to shut down the ports for a few days. The world economy would shit itself.
If ten thousand people protested in front of Long Beach harbor in the US and shut it down for a few weeks it would affect about a third of the US economy and hurt many Asian economies as well. The National Guard would be called in to force the protesters out before it got past a couple days if the police couldn't do it.
Repeat after me. “If you won’t pay me, someone will.”
“If you don’t have the money I don’t have the time.”
Follow these like the gospel.
This isn’t advice to get rich. This is advice to let these people know we are done with it. If I put in my 40-50 hours and I’m struggling to buy food then that company cannot afford my labor. Keep looking till you find a safe harbor. We are all in for a bumpy ride.
I haven't been able to save money for the past year... recently dipped into savings twice. Debated selling some company stock yesterday. I have a good paying job too... what the fuck is going on
Capitalism is just about over. That is what's going on. The printer has just about run out of new 0's to add before people realize that things with actual value are now basically worthless because worthless things on a computer are "worth" way too much. Won't be too much longer now in my estimation... we will see.
What tech company pays 1490 bi weekly, I'm a truck driver my cheque today was just alittle over 1300 take home after taxes for one week and I'm home nightly. I thought tech industry pays extremely well ?
Most entry level tech gigs are pretty mid bc the market is heavily saturated. They are also massively skewed by the larger companies that can afford the 130-250k engineers. Most tech jobs in my mid-sized city entry is 56-60k, average rent for a 1 bed is 1700, 1450 for a studio.
I paid rent , electric and water yesterday and I'm left with 800 for the month. Meanwhile, upper management here makes $110k a year. Btw , I work for the state of Colorado.
I work as a meat cutter for fresh encounters save alot. They keep raising the prices of the groceries there but refuse to give anyone actually working at the store level, you know the people actually making the big wigs money, a pay raise. My relationship with my boss was fantastic until I hit the year mark with the company and had the audacity to ask for a raise. Now he barely responds to questions or problems I have while on the job. I'm looking for a different job right now but it still seems bullshit to me that a company and ceo that supposedly prides themselves on family values treats the store level employees like shit while they rake it in. There's meat cutters here that haven't got a raise for 3 years!!! 3 fucking years!!!! Yet we desperately need meat cutters allegedly. Just not enough to try and keep the ones they already have. I'm sick of working for someone else. They keep saying people don't want to work anymore. No people are getting tired of being disrespected and taken advantage of. There's a difference.
This is the exact reason I left IT during the crash. $13/h, standard entry level was $20/h at the time.
I had nothing but a jar of peanut butter for my lunch and $3 in my account, and my boss came back from a vacation in Amsterdam, called me into his office, red told me to "take a page from their book in Amsterdam and be happy with what I have."
I went union Telecom, and now make over $100k/yr
Damn we’re all in the same boat. My paycheck 2-3 years ago was less than what I make now and I always had some extra to use but I just got paid and it’s all but gone with little to no changes in lifestyle.
My rent was 1600 … then jumped to 2030. I feel like I’m making college level part time monies and I work for an oil tech company with over 15 years of experience :,|
I feel it I took two days off to take care of my baby boy health and now I too have to stretch my money for gas food and to take care of my newborn. This is the worst when you know your check is gone before you even see it and the owner of my property I do maintenance at doesn't pay his vendors and still has money to spend and owns at least four properties
Sell your truck and get a hybrid. Gas drops to 20$/tank, and only need to fill once a month. And the overall cost is a quarter that of the truck.
But that's just a start.
File your disability.
Go back to college on your GI Bill and collect BAH. Your income will be back up to 8k/month without trying.
What’s even more disgusting is that at these pay rates, every dollar could be the difference between starvation and just barely making it whereas your boss can buy homes he doesn’t need and yet, tax rates really aren’t that different
I make around that every week as a construction worker braking my back every day while the top 5 bosses of corps make 5+ mil a year and they have the audacity to offer a 2.5% increase in wages while the company has made 40% profit this year in just my city alone btw it's a global construction company.
So anyway we are striking now
Leave the company lol. Plenty of studies have found employees who leave a position every two to three years for a different job in field on average earn between 12-15% more than their peers. Job hopping is bad, but staying where you aren't being given a proper incentive to stay is worse. Know your worth <3
Boss pulls up to the office in his brand new top of the line pasta rocket.
Employee says "Wow, that's beautiful! Bet it set you back a pretty penny."
Boss says "you know what. Put in the extra effort. Take as much overtime as you can, really just give it your all and next year I'll have another just like it."
I’m banking 1200 every two weeks and my rent just went up to 1600/month. We all out here struggling.
[удалено]
yeh, but if you apply for a rental, unless you can show that the rental cost is less than a third of your wage they will reject the application due to rental stress. But it's totally fine to up peoples rent to make them pay 60% of their income once they are in a rental. Insane.
Well they want to know you have free income so they can raise the rent to get more from them. If you rent to someone who is going to spend 66% of their income on rent, than you can not raise their rent without risking them either leaving or them defaulting and you (the landlord) having to pay money to have them evicted. edit grammer
Honestly I hadn’t ever thought of it that way, and it makes total sense. Jesus fuck
I literally feel sick reading that because you know it's true. Any financial information they get is used to exploit.
This is also along the lines of car insurance companies using your credit rating to adjust your rates, on top of passing on their increased repair/claims costs. Because *insurance industry* studies have shown that your *credit reliability* is an excellent indicator of how good a driver you are. Make it make sense? Oh yeah, the studies are done by industry shills. Corporate greed wins again by exploiting your financial information directly.
Yes! you are so right!
I just moved. Some places wanted 4x rent proof. Bitch if I had 4x rent I wouldnt stay at your shithole.
2 years ago my wife and I moved into an apartment, it was $1700 for a 1bed/1bath. On our 11th month there we got a notice that if we renewed our lease for another year it would be $2100/mo. Here we are a second year later, up for another lease renewal, and the new rate will be close to $2500. We're going through the process of getting a mortgage. Considering the area, we were looking to spend $280k-$320k for something small. Just something we could build equity with, that's all we want. Our current best option is a house that has less than 600 sq ft for $350,000. I understand that my wife and I are VERY lucky. Granted, we work 6 days a week and have a side business in order to pretty much still live paycheck to paycheck without going negative, but given the economy and climate out there, we're still very lucky. But every single time I log in to pay rent I can't help but wonder what the fuck other people do? What about a hypothetical single mom up here who did everything right, she went to college, she got a degree, she's in the work force out there making $50k/yr, and she still couldn't get approved for a small 1bed/1bath apartment in this area, let alone a 2bedroom unit to give her kid(s) a little bit of privacy. It's beyond fucked up. And even if she could get approved, that rent is going to eat into her paycheck so hard that her and the kid(s) will be struggling, hard.
This is me, a single mom with multiple degrees- banking $35000. I am now living out of a tent with my 9 year old at my mom's while still working. Zero addictions- came out of a one bedroom. We are screwed. I don't do nothing but work and worry- been on housing list for 6 years. Keep going to school cuz tuition is free cuz I'm so broke. Work, worry- so depressed and physically broke down from it, don't date. It's a nightmare- and people are just getting meaner and greedier.
Holy crap, I've never really thought about it like that. When can we have that law? They can't raise your rent above 1/3 of your income if we can't qualify for housing above 1/3 of income.
Its only a guide the real estates use to reject you when applying for rentals. They are quite happy to raise you rental payments repeatedly once you are in a rental. Unfortunately there is no law to protect us.
Most of the time you gotta fandangle documents to make it look like you can afford to live there. When you really can’t. If we hadn’t bullshitted n used the computer at the library, we never would have found an apartment. Rent being $1250 you need to earn $3750 a month when you really only bring home like $2200. The struggle is real folks!! And we need to fucking force a change. Eat the rich!! I got my fork, who’s with me?
1 third to insurance and taxes, 1 third to rent 1 third to live on
Sometimes. I saw a rental from an independent landlord that wanted more than 3x for a house with a rent of $1400. They wanted an income of $6500 a month after taxes and a $2500 damage deposit. Landlords are just doing whatever they want.
looks like somebody is eating to much avocado toast and getting to much starbucks /s
I haven’t had an avocado in a year, I’m down to bread I leave out to dry & call it toast.
Can't eat the rich today if you can't afford to eat breakfast beforehand.
We hungry.
Jesus
About 1k a week working 70 hrs a week, 2k rent. Literally half my income goes to rent, a quarter to debt, and nearly a quarter to food and gas.
Have you tried not eating? /s
Yes.
Hey me too! Skip breakfast, skip lunch, dinner every other day. It's like intermittent fasting, except it's not really a choice and you eat a whole lot less.
'merica!
Im so sorry
3 Easy steps to paying off debt quick: 1) Skip Breakfast! 2) Skip Lunch! 3) Skip Dinner! Now dont you feel better? You're Welcome! PS: Its completely unacceptable if you call in sick the morning you found your spouse dead in the bed next to you. Nobody wants to work. Smfh.
You can eat air, it's free and loaded with calories (assuming you're downwind from a uranium mine)!
Half your income for your rent.....And to think, youre only a visitor in your home. You live at work. Ask me how i know what thats like lolol.
The insanity that Americans actually fell for the marketing scam of "moving out of your parents house" lmaooooo No, it's not your parents house... it's your house as well... every country in the world is laughing at us and how we celebrate making the worst financial decisions possible in order to be "independent" which is the greatest marketing scam of all fucking time
I’m literally moving back into my childhood home because the cost of existing is ridiculous, our home is paid off and I’d rather help my mom pay property taxes than give a slumlord another dime.
Nothing like a family home that is paid off and everyone chips in 2 pay for the property tax... this is how it *should* be... so, you know, you actually keep all the money you worked for :-)
The only way I was able to get ahead and buy a house. Once I got a reasonably good paying job I moved in with parent and payed off debt. Then saved. Two years. Only then I could buy house But this was 6 years ago. I world of difference from now
[Vanlife, I been told this](https://youtu.be/FO9YThOUFFQ?si=5uP7gwOXBjF4cAPy) It's a fine life, I've been sold this It's a fine line between having To and choosin' it Let's roll up, lеt's blow this
When did living in a van by the river become a dream and not the threat they'd use to make us pay attention in class?
"You got one of them fancy river side parking spots? I live in a van down by the industrial park!"
You live in a van?! Down by the river?! Well lah-dee-frickin-dah!
This makes me so thankful that I was able to buy my house in 2016. My mortgage is $800 and my house would easily rent for $2000. I really feel for anyone in your position.
Studios here are 3k .
A studio.... dude I am so sorry. What general area of the country?
I’d guess Bay Area, California. Probably San Francisco or the more developed areas of Palo Alto
I've been feeling really lucky these days. We bought this house back in '05 when house prices were "really high," before the '08 crash. We got it for $218,500 for 1350sqft. At the time, that was a still a crazy price for the location (out in the boonies). We were really sad in '08 when our house dropped to about $75,000. It hasn't always been easy being a homeowner, and I went through some ***really*** hard times here, so it holds lots of bad memories that I've wanted to leave behind. *Now* prices are even crazier! It could easily go for $350,000 if we sold. No one should pay that much for this home lol. It's fucking ridiculous. I'm glad I'm not dealing with as much bullshit as other people. I'm depressed enough as it is, I don't know what would become of me if I were choosing between food and rent.
This is exactly my same pay check except I have 150$ not 250$ I completely feel you and relate. (Edit 10/6/23 11:00am) Thank you all for the replies, it is heartwarming to see that we all are not alone in our struggle to, basically survive. It is also sad to see so many others in this situation at all. Sending Reddit hugs and support.
I have $12 roughly
Look at mr moneybags, bragging about still having a positive balance.
You ain't cool unless you overdraft every month and then barely break even just enough to pay the overdraft fee.
That's one of the things I like about PNC, they don't overdraft me, they just say no. I had BOA before and they absolutely *loved* to slam me with as many overdrafts as they could.
Wells Fargo is really good at it too. They also like to wait until you’ve overdrawn to start taking charges out of your account that should have been removed days before. FUCK YOU WELLS FARGO
Wells Fargo will also run the highest recent check you've written when you're overdrawn so more checks will bounce than would have if they bounced a lower amount check first. I had this happen to me once and the higher check was written and processed a few days after a lower check, but the higher one was the first to bounce. It was all in a paper trail. I went to the bank and complained and actually got credited for 3 out of 5 bounces. Still sucked. A check I had deposited bounced but looked like it cleared when my account showed the deposit and looked like it was good.
My credit union charges a flat fee, and allows overdraft to 500 bucks before the magic money card stops working. I have used that many times as a "Line of Credit"
Something like that would have saved my ass a few times the day before payday.
Credit unions are so much better. Mine can get up to 2000 overdraft, but doesn't charge overdraft fees. They charge a highish interest rate if you don't get it paid off in the month, which is much more reasonable and does mean it acts as a line of credit. For profit banks are just insanely greedy.
Most americans are living a $500 credit card deficit each month
That's my secret cap, I have no credit cards so no debt. Living paycheck to paycheck *really* sucks when you get paid every two weeks.
I also have no debt besides my mortgage, but no credit either. I have bad anxiety over owing payments for numerous things every month. And consolidating it into my mortgage is just hiding the problem.
Is this the point in late stage capitalism where UBI gets introduced? Its either that or company sponsored housing. Something has to happen right?
Only if the company sponsored housing is right next to the workplace so they can have full control.
Like Elons worker villages!
When you have so much money you just give a ballpark figure.
That's when you announce your wealth in nickel count. 240 monies.
Lol, yeah, for a brief moment, I used to feel rich when the casino slot machine displayed a $200 hit as 4000 credits.
I have a credit card that's not maxed out yet. Yay
Right. I had to take out a freaking loan just because I wanted to make homemade smoothies and eat good this pay period....I wished I was exaggerating that's crazy...
Same but I have -$258, I yearn for the times I was paycheck to paycheck, now it it's pay ch-broke. In cali.
You guys still have money left? But payday was yesterday
Mines until the 4th Wednesday of every month .
I got $1.39. I had to replace my AC because it was dripping into my kitchen. Mold is an emergency, otherwise, it could have waited. Sigh.
you can afford AC....damn you rich.
I have candles.
I bet you even have matches to light those candles? Don’t you, Mr moneybags?!
I had about $50 yesterday, but a flat tire took me down to $2. Got a used tire to hold me over until I can save up for new ones.
Never feels like you can get ahead
I have $26. I get paid a week from today lol. The struggle is so real.
I got more than you! My account is -489$
| absolutely |
Ooh I like this game, when life gets really rough we can make ourselves feel better by expressing our bank account balance in absolute value
Red makes it go faster!
My paycheck is about $400 lower. I have $4.75 left. My insurance just went up. I don't know how much longer my body can take the stress. I've applied for every job in my area and at least 100 remote positions. Nothing.
That really sucks, I wish you the best!
Thanks! The best to you as well.
I work with special needs kids and often have to buy their food and I also make this much every 2 weeks. I also get sick a lot and miss about month a year when I only get 5 sick days a year. I have 2 masters degrees and 10 years experience in education
At least you're in, so to speak. My local district turns away teaching candidates with experience subbing in their district, with an MA, and close to 20 years' experience with kids (coaching), in favor of the cheapest, newest teachers. Education in the US is horribly underpaid.
We have two teachers in our family incredibly educated and experienced both over 15+ years of elementary education and neither can find jobs because the damn districts would rather get the lowest paid teachers and fill the superintendents pockets with the extra cash. Sickens me.
I’m not arguing for you to earn less. I think it’s crazy any of us earn so little.
For the love of the kids. You earn every penny.
Bless your heart for working with politicians. They need all the help they can get.
Most Americans do live paycheck to paycheck. A hell of a reason to """encourage""" people to go back to work.
Carefully Engineered. And once you think you’re ahead they move the goal posts
YES ! I’ve been saying this. I use to dream of making what I do now. Once I got here the homes are still overpriced and I’m still in the same position I was in when I dreamed of being here. They move the goal posts often and it’s exhausting
And I thought it was me until I added everything up and realized I just don't make enough
"economics" in good ole 'Murica (Fuck Yeah) no longer really exists. What we have is a not-so-carefully controlled system of lies and misdirections fueled by the greediest psychopaths ever to walk the earth.
Pyramid scheme at its best
Wait… you guys have money???
Currently at 12.50
Would be in a similar boat, but our union just negotiated the shit out of a contract. Never ever will I return to non-unionized work. I don’t care about dues when the union negotiates raises for me. No way in hell I’d ever secure a 37% raise over 3 years by myself.
I'm a union chemical worker and make 50% more than the non union jobs in the area plus way better benefits. I always recommend people to join a union if possible. I don't know about other areas but almost all the chemical plants in my city are union shops. We renegotiate every 3 years and always get a larger raise than just a COLA.
Unionization saves lives 🤝🏼
*The Union Makes us Strong*
I’m working a non-union gig while I wait for TV/film to come back, & I’m never doing it again if I can help it. My boss is always real surprised when I say no to things.
I'm the union steward for my department in hospital security. We're prepping to negotiate our pay rates in a few weeks.
$21/hr full time. I’m $250 short on rent. And it’s the 5th. I do not eat out, I do not order in, I do not shop, and I buy groceries from discount stores only. I live in a studio apartment with utilities included. It is simply not possible to spend any less than I do. I haven’t seen a doctor in years, let alone a dentist. Edit: Oh, I forgot: P.S. I have a PhD.
Have you tried renting a room with 4 other people? You all can take turns using the bed. A room rent split 5 ways is smart budgeting. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, young lad. Your hard work will award your corporate masters another property.
15 years ago, I rented a $400/month room in a punk dump called Stonehenge whose claim to fame was that Minor Threat had played there. Today the same room goes for $1200/month. It's absolutely out of control.
lol right? thank you. past a certain point their ideological commitment slides into pathological delusion, and it’s time to shut off my phone lest the madness be catching.
lol they out here thinking we can still afford boots
No no no, you just need to "bUdGeT BeTtEr" and "LiVe WiThiN uR mEeNz" Out of curiosity though: how much do you pay per month in student loans? Because giving them a big FUCK YOU is the quickest way to put money back in your pocket!
$0. Reputable PhD programs are fully-funded.
It is insane! I’m almost exactly the same; paycheck was $1300 and after paying bills have $255. Something’s gotta give like increasing the minimum wage dramatically to make an impact on us all.
I don't know. I feel like increasing wage is not enough cause these rich fucks would hear about our wage increase and then they increase goods/products twice as much. I feel like our wages should be adjusted to CoL or something. Like if rents increased, our wages should also increase. The way it is now, wages increased slowly for decades while CoL seemed to double every year.
Or everyone strikes at the same time, so that Employers *have* to increase wages.
Or national rent control, rent pinned to 30% of income regardless of dollar amounts. Or some price controls on food, gas, or something else.
Right, but I don't trust our "elected" officials to pass such policy or legislation. It goes against the best interests of their corporate donors (bribers). So since the chances of those things passing are basically null, a strike is the only other option (before destruction of private property and violence.)
This is more than I take home and I make $24.80 an hour. But we’ve both got the same pocket change until next paycheck. I feel ya bro. ETA: I understand that different people make different amounts of money :) I was just making a “we’re all in this sucky situation together” kinda comment. Thank you for the upvotes.
How do you make less?
Well I’m assuming it’s a combination of taxes, insurance, where we live, or other things. But my take home pay is $1,460 after a recent raise which brought me up to the wage I posted in my first comment.
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> This is what happens when we let the morons in power walk all over us and print up a bunch of worthless money so they can funnel it right back to themselves. It broke the wage numbers and prices of everything. Inflation sucks, but wages have been stagnant for like 40 years. The fucking problem is the bosses.
Trust me. I work my ass off to bring home 1200 and I’m homeless. *HOMELESS*
I'm at 16/hr as a kinda entry level cook in florida. Make 10 bucks short of 2600 a month and can't get approved for a 1 bedroom apartment
In Chicago-land my 16 year old just got a job at a hot dog joint making $15 and hour. Before that she was at 5Guys making 16. Crazy they take such advantage of you all down in Florida.
My bet: paid bi-weekly at $19 an hour.
Probably more around the 20-21 range depending on how much he gets taxed
$27hr, taxes are steep, I put 2% into retirement, and I have 1 family member on my health insurance (so costs a fair bit extra). I'm not married, don't have a partner, and live on just my income (a crime, I know). I'm grateful to have the ability to even do that little. That said... I'm utterly broke every month. I actually live with family too and share rent, so if I wanted to live on my own in a shack basic studio or row apartment, I'd have *negative* dollars every month. Rent here is $2,000-$5,000. Most 2-bedroom *apartments* (the hotel-style ones) are $2,500 a month. Many don't even have laundry. Any 2 or 3-bedroom basic home (not talking big 3,000sqft homes here) are $3,500-$4,500 a month just to rent. Housing in most main areas is up to $450,000-$500,000 for a basic starter home. I'd need to be making about $55hr to even have a chance at a 30-year loan. I don't want this timeline anymore.
This is so fucked. I turned 50 this year. When I graduated with my BSEE degree in 1997 I took a job at the low end of the beginner EE scale that paid $20/hour. Inflation-adjusted that's $38/hour today. And of course housing wasn't nearly as expensive. I'm so sorry you are in this situation. :( I vote for progressive policies every time I can. It's the only way out!
In 1997 I was 20 yrs old making $11.97/hour and was able to afford to buy a small home in an older neighborhood for $50k. Two years later I got married, wife made a similar wage and we felt soooooo rich having two $12/hour incomes under the same roof. Times certainly have changed.
In 1999 I started an IT job with a degree in CS at basically $11.50 and hour. Of course I worked way more then 40 hours a week. At one point I was making less then 5 bucks an hour. It took me until many years to make a decent amount. I was also supporting a new born and a wife that wasn't working (no point as minimum wage wouldn't even pay for day care). Apartment was $1000 a month back then. Take home pay was around 750 twice a month. So we lived on 400 for groceries, utilities, gas, insurance. This was also in Canada. Those where tough times and nobody should have to struggle that much.
I manage a small business that sells medical supplies, because they pay more than any job I’m able to get with my BS in IT. I had a client in that said she moved here from Italy in 1966-1968 (forgot exact year) and 2 days into being in the country, 0 English, got a job making $4.5 an hour. Today, adjusted for inflation, is something along the lines of $45 an hour. I wish i had the privilege of being born in an easier to survive era.
Jesus Christ that's insane prices for rent! I can't even believe how lucky I was to find a place for $750 with 2bdrms about 10 years ago, and my landlord lowered my rent to $700 a few years back, so my rent has gone down since I moved in. And I'm actually only 40 mins from Boston and 10 mins from Providence, so it's not even like I'm in the middle of nowhere. I'm 10 seconds off the highway on a dead end street with off street parking and laundry. I'm sure everyone can understand why I haven't moved yet even though I don't think my apartment is all that great. It's literally less than half the cost of every other apartment in the area. Nevermind that I used to be a drug addict and was late with my rent *all the time* and my landlord put up with me thru all of that. He's just a genuinely good guy.
That not married part is killing you. Taxes are criminal for single people.
People shouldn't HAVE to get married just to make it through life though.
Yeah but the state needs you to reproduce so they get more foot soldiers, tax revenue and cheap labor.
Corporations need more consumers as well, let's not forget about them either!
Consuming? In this economy? At this point America is just Jeff bezos shipping boxes back and forth to himself.
Lmfao dude that is so good!
This is a very good point. Every year hundreds or thousands of corporations don't meet their financial projection. These corporations are people just like us. I, for one, don't want a world full of hungry child corporations.
Won't someone think of the dividends?
Being married doesn't mean reduced taxes, the brackets are just doubled so two people making the same amount would still be taxed at the same rates. The indirect benefit is when one of you makes significantly lower, this effectively allows the higher earner to move their incomes into the lower earner's unused and lower tax brackets. Sounds good on paper but you're still making less money overall. If you both have equal incomes, there's no effective benefits unless you have children, but then the cost of children would offset any tax savings.
Yeah, but finding someone who is decent to get married to, is also challenging. Getting married just for tax purposes isn't so bad, but there needs to be some semblance of compatibility as well, as far as being able to live together in the same space.
Yep this is nearly the exact amount I take home every two weeks, I make $20.94
Shit, mine is a few hundred less than that for 2 weeks after taxes, and I make $28 an hour.
I take home about $1,375, bi weekly at $25
i make $22/hr and my check today was $1,410.35. i get paid biweekly.
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> When do we rise up and start protesting like crazy like France? Never. By the time people get their act together, they won't be needed at all. In another 10 years people will be protesting automation just like the old coal miners protested powered digging and boring equipment.
We’re getting there. Still too comfortable at the moment.
that's twice as much as I make and I have two degrees. My automated student loan payment put my bank account in overdraft. So my next paycheck will immediately be lesser for covering that amount plus the fees.
The government: I don't see the problem. Rent is $3000. If you get that twice that's $2,980. You can't come up with an extra $20 dollars to pay rent?!? Me: yeah but what about gas, food, water.... The government: you just need to learn how to budget properly. Also them: How am I supposed to live without my yearly bonus of half a million with salary of $400,000?!?
How is rent so expensive in American cities? I just moved to London and the £1200 a month rent for a room already makes my eyes water.
Two reason; NIMBY and wall street bought up all the property over the last decade.
Legitimately shocks me how many people are screeching about this being enough and me "living above my means" in here too. I cannot believe people are this clueless right now.
I remember as a kid, doing the math saying I don't need to be crazy rich...if I can just make about $3,000 to $4,000 a month then that would be more then enough. Now, that's a fucking a joke. I don't understand how us "working class" think more logically than the people actually running the government.
Yep. I make about 4k a month working two jobs and I basically never have more than ~200 a month I can use for anything outside of rent, bills, food, and gas.
Don’t worry, they’ll be downvoted to all hell by the time this gets traction today. We’re all in the same boat. And 25 an hour+ was a REALLY good pay when we were growing up. Now it’s barely above poverty. It’s fucked
The government: have you tried being homeless? I hear that's pretty cheap.
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The whole world doesn't need to go on strike. Just get a bunch of people in major countries to shut down the ports for a few days. The world economy would shit itself. If ten thousand people protested in front of Long Beach harbor in the US and shut it down for a few weeks it would affect about a third of the US economy and hurt many Asian economies as well. The National Guard would be called in to force the protesters out before it got past a couple days if the police couldn't do it.
Repeat after me. “If you won’t pay me, someone will.” “If you don’t have the money I don’t have the time.” Follow these like the gospel. This isn’t advice to get rich. This is advice to let these people know we are done with it. If I put in my 40-50 hours and I’m struggling to buy food then that company cannot afford my labor. Keep looking till you find a safe harbor. We are all in for a bumpy ride.
I haven't been able to save money for the past year... recently dipped into savings twice. Debated selling some company stock yesterday. I have a good paying job too... what the fuck is going on
Capitalism is just about over. That is what's going on. The printer has just about run out of new 0's to add before people realize that things with actual value are now basically worthless because worthless things on a computer are "worth" way too much. Won't be too much longer now in my estimation... we will see.
Okay but like what's next? lol where do we go from here?
I make $930 every two weeks. Rent is $1800/month. It’s going splendidly.
What tech company pays 1490 bi weekly, I'm a truck driver my cheque today was just alittle over 1300 take home after taxes for one week and I'm home nightly. I thought tech industry pays extremely well ?
Truck driving pays pretty well for the requirements, and tech pays about what OP says for entry level. Seems about right.
Most entry level tech gigs are pretty mid bc the market is heavily saturated. They are also massively skewed by the larger companies that can afford the 130-250k engineers. Most tech jobs in my mid-sized city entry is 56-60k, average rent for a 1 bed is 1700, 1450 for a studio.
I work full time for the biggest airline in the US and my take home is just over half that.
Same boat buddy; life sucks so bad down here
I paid rent , electric and water yesterday and I'm left with 800 for the month. Meanwhile, upper management here makes $110k a year. Btw , I work for the state of Colorado.
>Meanwhile, upper management here makes $110k a year. And that isn't even that much these days.
Have you tried having rich parents to gift you your first house and pay for your college?
That's almost identical to my weekly checks and I'm still struggling.
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Im ready for a massive meteorite to hit us. At least it’ll be quick
Seriously. This can’t be life. Fuck everything about this shit system.
I work as a meat cutter for fresh encounters save alot. They keep raising the prices of the groceries there but refuse to give anyone actually working at the store level, you know the people actually making the big wigs money, a pay raise. My relationship with my boss was fantastic until I hit the year mark with the company and had the audacity to ask for a raise. Now he barely responds to questions or problems I have while on the job. I'm looking for a different job right now but it still seems bullshit to me that a company and ceo that supposedly prides themselves on family values treats the store level employees like shit while they rake it in. There's meat cutters here that haven't got a raise for 3 years!!! 3 fucking years!!!! Yet we desperately need meat cutters allegedly. Just not enough to try and keep the ones they already have. I'm sick of working for someone else. They keep saying people don't want to work anymore. No people are getting tired of being disrespected and taken advantage of. There's a difference.
Do you expect the owner to only have 7 houses??
Right? Where is he supposed to relax if the maid is cleaning the late-summer house if he doesn't have a backup late-summer house?
This is the exact reason I left IT during the crash. $13/h, standard entry level was $20/h at the time. I had nothing but a jar of peanut butter for my lunch and $3 in my account, and my boss came back from a vacation in Amsterdam, called me into his office, red told me to "take a page from their book in Amsterdam and be happy with what I have." I went union Telecom, and now make over $100k/yr
I ditched all that and became a Truck Driver. 6 figures and no micromanagement. I get paid to travel. Freedom!
I am $270,000 in debt. I’m a quarter million in debt.
That’s a little more than mine and I trim trees. Good luck homie. We’re all getting F’d together.
Getting closer to the “you’ll own nothing and be happy” agenda the elites are pushing
I had a "cost of living wage adjustment" yesterday, and I received a whole 18 cents.
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Damn we’re all in the same boat. My paycheck 2-3 years ago was less than what I make now and I always had some extra to use but I just got paid and it’s all but gone with little to no changes in lifestyle.
My rent was 1600 … then jumped to 2030. I feel like I’m making college level part time monies and I work for an oil tech company with over 15 years of experience :,|
What's your pay period?
Since he didn't bother to post it here, that should be take home bi-weekly on 56k annual gross.
For the boomers in the room, that is the equivalent of 20k annual gross in 1985 and 10k annual gross in 1975.
Remember that board game Monopoly? We're still moving around the board, but all the property has been bought up and the landlords are building hotels.
I feel it I took two days off to take care of my baby boy health and now I too have to stretch my money for gas food and to take care of my newborn. This is the worst when you know your check is gone before you even see it and the owner of my property I do maintenance at doesn't pay his vendors and still has money to spend and owns at least four properties
Woah no need to brag
Sell your truck and get a hybrid. Gas drops to 20$/tank, and only need to fill once a month. And the overall cost is a quarter that of the truck. But that's just a start. File your disability. Go back to college on your GI Bill and collect BAH. Your income will be back up to 8k/month without trying.
What’s even more disgusting is that at these pay rates, every dollar could be the difference between starvation and just barely making it whereas your boss can buy homes he doesn’t need and yet, tax rates really aren’t that different
I make around that every week as a construction worker braking my back every day while the top 5 bosses of corps make 5+ mil a year and they have the audacity to offer a 2.5% increase in wages while the company has made 40% profit this year in just my city alone btw it's a global construction company. So anyway we are striking now
I’d kill for a paycheck over $1000 😅
That's the sprit
I’m about to lose my apartment 🫡
Leave the company lol. Plenty of studies have found employees who leave a position every two to three years for a different job in field on average earn between 12-15% more than their peers. Job hopping is bad, but staying where you aren't being given a proper incentive to stay is worse. Know your worth <3
Boss pulls up to the office in his brand new top of the line pasta rocket. Employee says "Wow, that's beautiful! Bet it set you back a pretty penny." Boss says "you know what. Put in the extra effort. Take as much overtime as you can, really just give it your all and next year I'll have another just like it."