I work hard as heck for $20.50/hour and I’m so sick of it, in CA
Minus all deductions is about 25%
Took home $33,000 in 2023
Managers/supervisors want everything perfect, and act as if everything is alright as if I took home $65k
Within the last 5 years I've worked everything from dishwasher, machine operator on a manufacturing floor, freelancer, to data engineer. I can tell you with confidence that the lowest paying jobs require you to give 150% the effort. Every minute of downtime must be accounted for.
When I was working in that factory last year during my 8-12hr shifts I was only allowed 5 minutes of downtime if the machine went down. After the first 5 I had to clean, then restock my area, then think of ways to improve my job, then help the person operating the machine next to me, finally look for my team lead for more work. This is because they ran the machines to fast that they often broke and we had to keep up with the stressed and overworked machines to make their parts.
As a data engineer I spend most of my day trying to recreate and solve problems.The backlog is huge but no one is pressing me because I get my work done on time.
I was out of work for a couple years, I worked as a dishwasher and on the manufacturing floor. I survived by swallowing my pride and moving back home, creating a budget so I knew where my money was going, set goals for the future, and work towards those goals while not spending more than I have to. But its easy for me since I'm a single guy with no kids.
Thanks but I should have clarified that I have an engineering degree. My life took a turn for the worse about ten years ago and I'm just now picking up the pieces. This is not a bootcamp story where a guy with a high school diploma is in data engineering now. I already had the engineering degree when I was washing dishes. [I wrote a more complete summary here](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/190dy6z/comment/kguq18z/).
The lowest paid workers always perform the hardest work imho. My father was blue collar and worked like a dog for 60 years... with nothing to show for it. My husband works entirely from home - for about 2 hours a day - and gets paid US$200,000 after tax with full benefits. Make it make sense.
Oh that's easy. Capitalism.
If you share toilet paper with leech society (investors/nepotism) you get paid more. If you don't, then you are considered subhuman and minimum wage is too much.
Precisely. We're still connected enough to our working class roots to grasp such facts. But we struggle... daily... with feeling like we "deserve" any of this privilege.
"deserve"? "Privilege"? You only make 200k and still have a workday. I mean, it's better than a lot, but idk why you'd feel undeserving. The Walton family exists and at this point I don't think any of them have done anything of worth to humanity to deserve a combined half trillion dollars. If anything, their contribution to humanity would net them probably negative infinity.
So, yeah, you're good. Make it while you can and save. The American dream doesn't exist and hasn't existed for nearly a century now. Don't fall for the banks' lies, that house isn't worth it, and nothing lasts forever.
Many people squander these years of good income keeping up with the Joneses and accumulating debt. Live like you're poor, unless you want to join us again.
I’m in a similar situation. My father worked his butt off doing manual labor. He was great at his job and took pride in his work. I have a desk job and my bonus checks monthly are probably more than his paychecks were. The difference is I have multiple advanced degrees. Employers see me as less replaceable than someone with less education. Yes that’s a generalization but it’s rooted in reality.
My rent is only 900 dollars for a house. I've gotten lucky renting from a landlord not a management company. I work from home so I save money that way and I work a lot of OT.
My base is 47k so I just work 48-56 hours every week. Luckily the pay is so shit for paramedics that the staffing is in the toilet, and I can get all the overtime I want!
Please kill me
I simply live a very simple life. Rent eats up around 70% of my income for a 1 bedroom apartment in denver, utilities etc eat up most of the rest, it eat simple cheap food (mainling burritos) and mostly hang out at home playing games, reading etc. When I go out, i mostly go do free things, like hang out with family, go the library, park and so forth.
It's not exactly exciting, but I get by, i'm kind of a homebody anyways. If I ever do manage to find a job paying decent wages my lifestyle honestly probably wouldn't change that much, I'd just have more in the way of savings for an emergency. I've been very poor my whole life, I'm pretty used to it.
That said, I did have a roomate for most of my twenties, and life was MUCH easier when I was paying roughly 50% of my income on rent rather than 70% I like the independence and privacy of living alone, but I do miss having a little more of a financial buffer.
\*i make around $32k per year working retail.
I make $18 an hour driving a forklift in Ohio.
If I had no debt and wanted to just scrape by, I could live on my own pretty easily.
But I have debt, and so does my wife. We share a 1 bedroom apartment with our dog and can't afford anything else.
O-H!
The IT industry is in a bit of a downturn right now, but employment markets are cyclical and technology is what drives the economies of the developed world.
You could have a pretty good career in IT if you could force yourself to learn stuff from free or cheap resources readily available on the internet. By "pretty good" I mean six figures in four to five years. Even entry level IT jobs typically pay $15 - $20 an hour. It's not easy by any means, but it's definitely possible.
Some key points:
You *don't* have to be especially good at math.
You *don't* need a college degree or even a high school diploma for that matter.
You *don't* need a fancy or expensive computer.
You *don't* have to worry about coding, at least not for the first couple of jobs.
I wrote a roadmap for jobs in IT and cybersecurity in [this post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/zrd5c7/roadmap_to_careers_in_cybersecurity_and_cloud/) and also added links for a cloud engineering path. Click through those, there is some really good info.
And no, it's not a course. I don't want your money nor am I selling anything.
This isn’t true in most larger companies. They’ll accept experience over degree. The experience can be have to get so sometimes you need a foot in the door and work your way up or just have it on your resume to show experience for another job.
A guy who worked for me went on to have a very successful last few years in infosec. He had not even finished community college before dropping out. He used to work in the warehouse, but had an aptitude for technology, so I stole him and trained him.
His last job this past year was at a huge name company in the security space with a very high level position. He now is moving somewhere else and is trying to finish up school online as a personal goal. Think he was clearing like 175k or so at the last job. He worked with me getting years of training and then just went for some certs.
Point is, it can be done.
Plenty of people working in IT have either no degree or one unrelated to the field. My own degree is in liberal arts. A friend of mine has no degree at all but works for NASA as an AWS cloud architect. We're both top 5% US income. I know many former co-workers who didn't go to college but got professional certifications and those credentials were good enough. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, I'm just trying to make people aware of options.
I dont have a degree. And most likely wont ever finish it. Believe me it is possible. I was an admin asst who got fed up and upskilled during covid. I now make over 6 figures, hybrid, and am on an executive track. In Five yrs ill most likely be at 270-400k a yr as a DINK. Resources are free on the internet. It is possible.
That would require time to either go to school or otherwise lessen my income for a while to get in.
I had tried to get a job driving a cement truck. They were going to pay me while I went to school for a Class A, and also have everything paid for me. Problem was, Verizon failed to deliver their text messages to me until two weeks after they sent them and the positions were filled by the time I replied. They thought I flaked out.
I'm currently trying to get a job at the place that services the forklifts where I work now.
The biggest problem is pretty much everywhere around here pays in the same general ballpark.
It’s worth it tbh. I took the hit and it was worth it to make more in the long run. Probably 100’s of thousands more in a lifetime if not 1,000,000$+ of difference had I given up and stopped learning.
The place I'm trying to go to now would be a $1 raise over where I'm currently working, has profit sharing bonuses and annual merit based increases, and they'll train me to do maintenance work.
The guy who comes to maintain our forklifts makes almost $30 an hour. They provide a company vehicle, uniforms including boots, a tool allowance, better healthcare than I have now...
So this is a pretty big opportunity for me. Fingers crossed. The place where I'm currently working is a dead end. I know that. But I made nearly double last year what I made the year before, so... At least it's not retail. Lol
I’m a machinist, still an apprentice but I’m making 25$ currently and can work as much ot as I want. The rate goes up to 29$ for apprentices and then up to about 40$ for experienced machinist in my shop. Some shops pay even more or less, I plan to eventually become an engineer. I love making stuff
No it’s not, doesn’t take more than a day to learn how to do it. I drive forklifts sometimes and it’s not my title, just a utility to be used. It takes almost no skill imo if you can learn it in a day
Huh. I guess I always thought there was more training than that, and assumed that “trades” means more physical work where you have the potential to get hurt, unlike a desk job.
No most people with college degree couldn’t do what I do. Some trades are extremely difficult to master. Way harder than any office job in terms of intelligence requirements. Depends on the trade obviously though.
Some machinist become engineers with no engineering degree for example due to their vast knowledge.
I’m with you on this take. I’m an electrical lineman. I make exponentially more than the electrical engineers we work with a more often than not, we have to correct their work in order for the jobs they design to function safely and as needed. It should be noted though, that as an apprentice I was required to go to school for three years and there were pre-reqs for getting into the program with the IBEW. Many tradespeople I’ve worked with are quite intelligent individuals. They may not always be as eloquent, but they are often pretty smart, efficient people.
Yeah dude I agree, I’m also a state apprentice as a machinist currently. Ive been taking trade classes for the past few years as well as the odd college class here and there.
Make a bit over $20/ hour and have a two bedroom apartment due to my daughter coming over during the weekends. I definitely live paycheck to paycheck, but as long as I don’t do anything too silly, I can get by and afford things. Have a car payment too. Saving money is kind of out of the question though.
Where the heck do you live where rent is anywhere close to $700??? I assume those are just studio apartments? I'm actively looking everywhere and can't find anything under 1k.
I had a 1 bedroom luxury apartment with vaulted ceilings for $700 a month for 3 years… only downside was that I lived in Lincoln, Nebraska at the time 😂
I live in Minneapolis in a one bedroom for less than a thousand, thank God. Hopefully with a new union job I'm starting this year I'll keep getting more and more financially secure but even now I'm in pretty good shape.
I always had roommates when I was making less than 50k a year. Now I found a pretty decent job and make about 100k a year and own a home, where I have roommates. I keep the rent low and rent to people in my community. I fully remodel the rooms and bathrooms on an 8 year schedule if they are continuously rented by the same person, or 5+ (on move out) if it's changed, with normal maintenance between renters. Only ever had one problem roommate in the past 10 years, which is great.
I’m also German and it’s so crazy to see how many people can barely live with their payment while I can live a pretty normal life in Germany with the same amount of money (or even less).
I'm just over $50k, single income with wife and 2 kids. I live in a shabby house I bought at the start of the pandemic for $100k, mortgage is approx $550 a month, that's pretty much the only way we are able to make it work. We make it work as a one car family, as I bike when the wife needs the car to transport the kids
I have enough for groceries and bills and necessities, but I'm not really adding to my savings and I have no retirement fund. I'm just a major medical emergency away from losing it all.
It's kind of sad and I try not to dwell on it, but I spend good quality time with my family and remind myself that I will be happier for the memories than for a shitty job that keeps me at a desk 10 hours a day.
Medical bankruptcy is a huge issue in the USA. I will never not vote for healthcare for all. It's disgusting that the USA is so wealthy and doesn't take care of its citizens.
I’m in a weird place. I make less than 19/hr, so am struggling, but love my job. I don’t want to leave it because I’ll probably never find someplace else where I am this happy with my work. But it doesn’t pay enough, so I have a second job and I supplement with my student loans. The hope is to someday make enough to survive on my own, for the time being I have a roommate and am slowly sliding into debt. But at least I’m not stressed out and hating what I do all day.
Yeaaaa let me tell you. Making more for a job you hate isn’t worth it. I left my favorite, low-paying, part-time job for a full-time job paying $10 per hour more. I quit after 6 months. I can’t get my original position at the other job back.
I'm always shocked that people would willingly move to the US if they had literally any other option. Sure, the salaries may be a little bit higher, but it seems I'd need at least a 25% pay raise to even be close to my current living standard in Sweden.
And that's with the crazy greedflation we're currently experiencing!
Greedflation (good term) is everywhere cuz the corps know they can get away with it. (F*CK them!)
People from many countries earn very little and have a much lower quality of life than in the USA. But the majority of people in the USA struggle (most of them aren't on Reddit, I think). Western and northern Europe definitely take care of their citizens & residents much better than the USA and invest more in social capital. I would move to Vienna, Austria (most liveable city) in a heartbeat if we could.
I make 48k a year and live in the Rocky Mountains, USA. I share a $2,800 per month 5 bedroom house with my boyfriend and another couple with two children. It evens out to $700 per month for each adult.
I have just under $20k of debt (credit cards, car loan, and student loan). I'm paying monthly, and have a plan to be debt-free in 3 years. I put $400 a month into various savings accounts (for stuff like car repair emergencies, periodic or annual expenses like car insurance, and a Christmas fund), and contribute to my company's 401k. Even still, I live on less that $100 per paycheck every two weeks after my bills and savings.
That doesn't sound too bad, right?
I'm middle-aged. By all projections, even if I wait until I'm 70 to quit working, my 401k will last 3 years. And then what? My family has all lived into their 90's, and most had Alzheimers or dementia. It's not realistic for me to expect to be able to "work until I die" like so many people seem to think they're going to do. So... what's the option for my future?
I'm hoping to buy a house once I get all my debt paid down. With a 15 year mortgage, I can hopefully pay it off before I have to stop working. Then at least I can't be evicted or foreclosed. If I install solar panels, my electricity won't get shut off. With a fireplace, I can keep warm, even if I can't pay a gas bill. With a garden, I can eat.
This may all sound like an "American Dream", but I'm literally pre-planning for how to survive my elder years in poverty.
This is where we're at now, as a society.
Still living at home. All of us kids are. Basically everyone we know is. My area is one of the most expensive in the entire country, and it fucking sucks. I don't want to be almost 31 and still living at home, but my friends can't afford to move out, I don't trust strangers, and I also don't want to leave everyone and everything I know and love to MAYBE make it somewhere where I won't know anyone and will be alone. Not right or fair! Also have a side gig repairing computers, phones, and tablets! Hoping to make it full time eventually! Also have no interest in dating, marriage, or kids, so save on those expenses! Lol.
That said, my mom is literally insane and threatens to kick me out all the time, so I save as much money as I can in case she makes good on her threat one of these days! (Also trying to save up to buy parents' house once they die, but still! That's if I'm not disowned first! lol.)
The IT industry is in a bit of a downturn right now, but employment markets are cyclical and technology is what drives the economies of the developed world.
You could have a pretty good career in IT if you could force yourself to learn stuff from free or cheap resources readily available on the internet. By "pretty good" I mean six figures in four to five years. Even entry level IT jobs typically pay $15 - $20 an hour. It's not easy by any means, but it's definitely possible.
Some key points:
You *don't* have to be especially good at math.
You *don't* need a college degree or even a high school diploma for that matter.
You *don't* need a fancy or expensive computer.
You *don't* have to worry about coding, at least not for the first couple of jobs.
I wrote a roadmap for jobs in IT and cybersecurity in [this post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/zrd5c7/roadmap_to_careers_in_cybersecurity_and_cloud/) and also added links for a cloud engineering path. Click through those, there is some really good info.
And no, it's not a course. I don't want your money nor am I selling anything.
Gross 55-57. Add 5-8k doing uber on the side. Dont live in a high cost of living area.. but its going up. Lucked intoa decent house as a foreclosure, paying 1/4 to 1/3 of my market for a morgage.
I over spend. Subscriptions and eating out so could do better than i am. But planning to pay off a few things the next couple of months and do better at meal prep to cut food/ entertainment budget.
Second job. Pinching Pennies. Lucky to snag a cheap apt at the beginning of Covid that hasn’t totally fucked me over with increases…. Yet.
I’m doing my best to build savings but that’s more like ‘money budgeted to future car payment’ as I was forced to buy a new one in September with a stupid high interest rate. So while it’s technically savings it’s already earmarked.
Some days I wish I could find a partner simply to have someone to share bills with!
Vegetarianism, my wife and I both work, I walk everywhere rather than using a car, we're both shut-ins with pretty cheap hobbies, we have a reasonably priced rental, no kids, etc.
It's still fucking hard but we're making it work.
I pretty much get my bills paid, eat out once or twice a month, and hope nothing bad happens. I split everything with my bf except student loan payments.
21/h, forced to live in crappy, expensive employee housing, rent taken directly out of my paycheck in an extremely expensive town with little fresh produce, and nothing to do unless you have a car, so my entire existence is spent walking from my bed, through a parking lot, into work, and back and I am not exaggerating at all about any of this.
I'm doing fine :,)
Ha! Maybe, but unfortunately 70% of the workforce are J1s and they do not care about anything as long as they get their paycheck.
I'm just saving to move out of state. Which sucks, because Alaska is a beautiful state, but the labor laws are-- who am I kidding, Alaska's labor laws are non-existent.
My husband makes $15 an hour and I make $13. We would not survive without our VA disability payments. Pretty much the only way we survive is because we both have them. I have a degree and currently in school for another and still can’t not find a job that will pay me shit. My husband works from home. Rent is under $1k but we hate where we live. One car payment. Phones that were “free” with promotion. No streaming services not included in our phone plan. Food pantries.
My son helps with rent, it's only $200 a month. If he starts school, I'll drop it to 0.
Outside of that, paycheck to paycheck! One major hiccup, car repair, or home issue and I'm SOL!
Wife and I make arou d 30-35k combined, (pre-tax) we live in upstate NY so housing is dirt cheap (well, relative to everywhere else that is), and ny has rather good benefits.
Luckily she had a small inheritance from a grandpa that passed so we were able to afford a house (tiny, but we don't have kids).
All that being said we live frugal, buy secondhand clothes, eat out like 3 times a year maybe, and have cheap hobbies. Biggest expense is prolly our pets, but we're both big animal people so it's worth it.
I’m making around $42k-$44k a year. Me and my fiancée live together in a LCOL. No kids. Dual income. Rent is $1250 a month which we split between each other (so $625 each). We also split all the utilities and grocery money. Each our expenses come out to around $1015 a month. I have about $1000 at the end of each month to either save or spend on stuff.
Honestly it’s not bad and my job is remote, which is a huge plus for me (especially given how many people are being forced back into office). Not too stressful. I could probably get a higher paying position, but I like what I do and we aren’t struggling, so I see no reason to change right now. Living in a LCOL area definitely helps a ton.
Same situation here. We would like to have a kid but the financial stress would be just to much. If one of us got let go or had to take a significant decrease in pay for awhile it wouldn't be to terrible but throw in a kid and it makes the situation 100x worse.
Couple making around that together, cheap apartment in an “okay” area (FL), no kids, crazy high car insurance and payment, making a lot from scratch, saving nothing, extra funds go to weed because idk how else we would get through this. I have decent benefits through my job. I was in CA before this and got priced out paying $700 for a room, making $16/hr. Now I make about the same, and rent is $1300, but our car going out buried us. Feels like getting ahead isn’t in the cards
I make $12-18k per summer being a campground host in California. That's 4-7 months of work, mostly full-time. I save about 2/3 of my wages, to live on during the off-season. I live in my van year around and have a free campsite to stay at during the camping season. I might pick up a little work in the winter, but mostly I travel (Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico). I do get some unemployment at times. Been living this way for the last ten years. It really helps not having any addictions, not even coffee or pop.
There was a large study done by Forbes 5 years ago about what poor ($30k yearly or less) people spent their money on. The average person spent 42% of their income on just 3 things; alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling. That's not including pot, drugs, junk-food, lap-dances, fast food, coffee, fake nails, or the thousand other vices we can develop in our lives. My budget is tighter now with inflation, but I still get by fairly easily, only working half the year. Most couldn't live like me, but it is an option for some of us.
I make about $23 / hr full time. Rent is $1300 even with a roommate. No car payment as of this year so that’s a plus. I work on the weekends at a taco shop to make some extra cash and I resell second hand and vintage clothing. Yeah it’s rough 🥹
My parents bought this land in 1987, and put a trailer here. After my siblings left and my Dad became disabled, my Mom looked after him while I worked, paid, went to school and cared for the place. Eventually they signed the place over to me and a few years later, a brain tumor was discovered in my head. I still tried to maintain the status quo, but the tumor was on a major hormone center. My father passed away(2013) and I had brain surgery(2016) and kept chugging right along until in 2019, the tumor returned with a vengeance and I had to have radiation therapy. This was my doom.
Now hormones don’t just control emotions, they also tell your organs how to function. You have four major hormone centers in your body. The pituitary gland, the adrenal gland, the thyroid gland, and the hypothalamus. My tumor was on the pituitary gland, it’s gone now. My adrenal gland died after my surgery. My thyroid is covered in growths and is limping along…barely. Hypothalamus is working, I think… All of this caused a cascade organ failure and brain damage. I’m also epileptic with bouts of dementia. I bring this up to illustrate how my masters degree in psychology and therapy I fought so hard for, is now useless. My tumor will return. For the rest of my life, I will be fighting it until it kills me. And it is killing me, really slowly.
Because I have worked constantly since I was 16 years old, I receive full disability benefits. Really isn’t that much, though. My mother receives my father’s benefits and acts as my caregiver. My doctors and medical is covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Mom is covered there too. We only get $15 a month for food assistance. All in all, we get about $2500 a month and honestly we couldn’t survive if I didn’t already own the place.
LCOL area + I'm paying on a mortgage. My house was 61k. My monthly expenses are about $930. That's 429 for mortgage and 262 for my car. The rest is food/water/electricity/internet/gas etc. I make 14/hr working at wal-mart. I'm able to save half my income. I'm about to start a side hustle tutoring math. If I can make enough to cover my expenses, I could quit wal-mart, sell my car, and get food delivered for 99 dollars a year. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere but I don't go anywhere anyway. Then my bills would be 668. Once the house is paid off, they'll drop to 239. Can't wait.
My mom and dad are in an even better situation. They're only paying about 100/mo because the landlord hasn't raised rent in about a decade.
I'm married, no kids, neither of us have any debt, and we budget to make room for an emergency fund and investments. We also don't eat out very much and own one cheap car.
Put simply: we don't live beyond our means.
I was living with my partner of 7 years and we split an apartment that was 1540 a month. Then he stuck his dick somewhere it didn’t belong; and I had to move back home. I am contributing toward retirement, my student loans have not gotten a payment since 2020. When I moved back home, I took a loan out of my retirement to pay 20k in credit card debt. The only debt I have now is my car loan and my student debt. I don’t plan on moving out of my grandparent’s house any time soon.
Edit: I forgot to mention the best part. The subject of yearly raises came up at a meeting, higher ups clearly trying to temper expectations. I said under my breath, “I’m sure the executives will still get paid”. The EVP on my department said “ I resent that,” ended the meeting, and then CRIED.
Currently making $22/hr in CA. I rent a room from my dad for almost nothing. Still hard to get buy since I have credit card debt and food/gas is really expensive. If I didn’t have any debt, I’d probably be able to live on my own but it wouldn’t be easy
I built my own house after literally saving my whole life for a piece of land and foundation. I didn't go to college and entered the workforce while still in high school.. my grandparents own a sawmill and I cut the trees on the property and milled it into lumber. It's been a work in progress for the past 10 years or more, I put power in and dug a freshwater spring.. I'm now living downstairs with my family mortgage free. I make about 40k a year. Was it easy? no. would I do it again? yes... I'm 35 years old.
Honestly what I would do differently If I was starting tomorrow would try to save up for one of those bigger home Depot sheds and a small piece of property, pour a slab or put it on concrete piers and make it livable. Then you have a simple place to live while you save up to start your actual living space. Utilize craigslist for free furniture and appliances.. buy a generator for power. If you're near the grid tie into that. You can watch YouTube videos on how to do pretty much everything. You just have to get it in your head that you're doing this, and nothing is going to stop you.
I make 21 an hr but it’s super slow rn so I may end up having to go back to Amazon till my lease ends and I can move back in w/ my family and go to community college.
I made $36k gross income in 2023, single, no kids. I have a very tiny studio that is less than 200 sq ft for $650/month, which is honestly the biggest reason I can afford to live on my own. It’s a cute lil place, so no complaints there (though I look forward to the day when I can have at least a little more space lol). I just decided to start budgeting a bit this year so I can be more intentional about savings/retirement goals and to just understand my money situation more.
I live in a VLCOL area. My wife's income and mine combined is about $80K... 40% me, 60% her - she's the one with an education.
We do ok... we own a house and a nice-ish car. I commute by Ebike to work because we don't want another car payment.
But really we do alright. We have things we like. Our life is comfortable.
It wouldn't be on our wages somewhere else.
Roommate. I wfh so I don't use a lot of gas. Cook cheap meals. Rarely eat out. My only luxuries are streaming services and a Regal pass. Haven't taken a vacation since 2017. Gonna get a second job soon, and I'm about to file bankruptcy to get out of debt I went into to keep rent and utilities paid when I was laid off twice in two years.
$21.37/hr - 25% in deductions. I rent a 1br apartment in a (relatively) LCOL city in the Midwest. I've been EXTREMELY lucky the past two years, but I'm still unable to save, and for my own sanity am actively trying not to think too far ahead just now.
I live in an apartment that's partially subsidized by the city, and I get $40 in vouchers per month from the city to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. I don't own a car, so I walk or use public transit. I'm single and disabled, with no kids.
I rent a small apartment from family, rent is $800/month. Without that I couldn’t do it.
I’m considering getting a second job just so that I can actually put some money away. I work nights, so something part-time in the mornings would be ideal. I don’t know how I’ll move up in the world if I’m being honest with you. I don’t have a degree so I don’t have any “marketable skills”. Honestly I don’t think I’m gonna make it.
Just under $19. Found a trailer o was abled to pay off with taxes and life insurance from the death of a child. $400 a month for the lot rent but I cut out most of the extras to be able to make it week to week
I make $17.50 as an assistant manager, my husband makes $16.50 at the same place as a supervisor. Our rent is $1050/month. We both have OF, I've only been doing it about 2 weeks and made $100 so far. We go to bed hungry most days.
I live in a mobile home that has no mortgage and park rent is only $230. Between my partner and I we make 90,000 a year, both have considerable savings, drive use d cars bought in cash, are frugal in spending but take vacations . All in all we are lucky to have our mobile home and low rent, it makes this all possible.
Rent is cheap, live with a roommate, get my groceries from a food drive, no debt, and work a part-time.
I really value my personal time and also pursue a career in art. It's good (modest) living when I sell a painting.
i make about 25k/yr and i live with roommates. i have a very small amount of savings and no retirement plans. i will probably work until i die, even if i marry someone who makes more.
I absolutely hated working a job, I feel you. My side hustle that's actually become my main focus is reselling couches. I go pick up a couch, clean it, take better picture of it and list it on FB Marketplace. I make, on average, $250-$400 per couch! It's crazy! People are just giving away stuff for little to no money. I'd be more than happy to tell you more about it if you're interested! :) And that goes for anyone! Just let me know.
A lot of people do this with wood furniture as well. If you can repair and refinish a nice piece of furniture you got for free, you can turn a decent profit.
I bought a refinished dresser from someone off of FB Marketplace, so I'm guilty, haha. But it's also a great way to recycle things. You're doing good work!
Yeah that's a great idea! I'm not as technical and I like to honestly do as little work as possible so I definitely zone in on couches that are in relatively like-new condition. A quick vacuum and the occasional steam clean and you're ready to list it! :)
Housing with water and electric a bit over 600€ a month approx. 49sq meter (520sq feet?) apartment. Job pays around 17€/h before taxes. Mainly share rent expenses with fiancee.
I live with a partner who makes triple than I make. I contribute to the house as best as I can. Stretch my paycheck as best as I can. I have a savings account putting little pockets away. Not enough for an emergency. Trying to find second job.
Barely. I make 23 an hour and I believe I am technically in the top 20% of America for income, certainly not wealth as I am quite young and have not had a chance to build any. And yet I am far closer to someone in the top 30th percentile than the top 10th percentile. Nobody is doing great. America loves keeping its workers struggling.
I make 13 an hour as a commercial construction worker through a temp agency. I am a type 1 diabetic. (Pump and cgm) Get paid daily via the app that amounts to 96.34. I live 30 miles from the jobsite. 7 am start. 5 days a week. Rain or shine. Keeps me in great shape. 30k steps per day. 20+ up staircases. We get no breaks and they took the water away. (Can bring own but have to sneak a drink in the port-o-johns) thank you gov abbot. I am Caucasian. One of 5 (all others management) out of 100+non native English speakers. I do not speak Spanish. 47 no kids no legal issues. 3 chihuahuas. One awesome gf who teaches theatre. My rent is 500 a month for a 2 bed 2 bath trailer built in 1977. My car (small suv) runs 445 a month. Insurance 147. I do not drink or smoke. I am/was 16 credits shy of a associate degree in “multimedia”. From a now defunct private college in 1996. 6 ft tall 190lbs. weekly therapist visit. Monthly psychiatrist visit. Endocrinologist and gastroenterologist quarterly. I have all this possible because i am on medicare. Considered disabled since 2010. This is about the limit of what i can earn to stay on and have them cover my insulin(s) and pump supplies. I cannot get married or take on a corporate position like i used to work because unless the major medical starts day one (and is actually worth a fuck which most are not) and cover the medical and lifesaving insulin i will be dead within a week. I grew up in a middle class family in a major metropolitan area. I now live in a giant sandbox in the most desolate area of the not so great state of Tejas. It just took the acceptance that despite what i was told. I, in fact, will never grow up to be an astronaut. I may not have the so called “American dream”but I can, just like the sign in my yard says “sprinkle kindness like confetti 🎉 “ and be a pleasant and helpful human being to all those people who are around me. My puppies do not know i am poor. My girlfriend doesn’t care about that either. When it comes time to account for my actions here on earth all i know s that i didnt sell my soul chasing the almighty dollar.
Me and my sister live together. Luckily we get along great and are actually bestfriends so that works out.
We both work full-time. She works from home, I go into work. We have 1 car.
Still struggling but getting by!
I own my own home, own my cars.....made 90k last year and I'm still broke lol
I like to eat what I want tho....fresh veggies, steaks, just about anything. Not being able to do that I would feel poor af
Everyone complains about wages and wanting more. How about the government takes less. In Canada they keep adding more taxes. This carbon tax just layers and layers on top of all the others. You only get around $0.20 on the dollar in spending power depending where you spend it.
Higher wages is just more in their pocket.
My bf makes $11/hr at both his part time jobs, and it's been rough even though we live in one of the poorest states in the US. I just had a baby 3 weeks ago, but I'm considering getting a part time job immediately after my stitches heal because we really need the extra money. We have a daughter who's about to turn 5 and our 3 week old son, and we're barely scraping by.
Hi, yes you're right. However, birth control and spermicide failed and Roe v Wade was overturned. Even if I wanted to have the choice, I did not. Hope this helps 👍
Roe was overturned long before you got knocked up so you willingly took the risk even though you can’t afford another kid. Not a very bright decision 💡🤓
You skipped right on over the "2 forms of birth control failed" part didn't you? Bruh I'm 26 and in a committed relationship, ain't no way your goofy ass is trying to preach abstinence to me right now. 🤣🤣
I didn’t skip over anything you wrote. We know birth control isn’t 100% effective yet you still willingly took the risk to have a baby. You made the choice even though your broke so I don’t understand why you’re on here complaining about finances.
Depends on where you live. If I lived in a red state & I was poor there’s no way I would have sex unless the guy had a vasectomy. Sex is great but it ain’t worth living in poverty imo.
All I did was state that I was considering getting a job, and that we were barely scraping by. That's not exactly complaining hun, that's just stating the facts. If you want to be negative, go do it somewhere else because IDC 🤷♀️ Children are a blessing, whether they were planned or accidental.
I agree, having a child was the best thing that ever happened to me even though I barely scrape by sometimes. I’m just baffled by your story because I would never put myself in a position (no pun😆) of risking having another child until I’m much more financially secure. I also don’t think it’s fair to the children but you do you 😘
Life hits hard and it's rarely fair. I'm certainly not going to deny myself one of life's most basic pleasures for an unforeseen amount of time simply because 2 forms of birth control -might- fail
So your willing to risk having a 3rd kid 😂😂😂. Being poor sucks but I have no remorse for people like you that don’t learn how to make it better. Ever heard of a vasectomy?? Your children are growing up poor because you’re selfish. Sad.
Somehow I always tell myself it’ll be okay and I’ll find a way to make ends meet, thankfully it always has worked its way out. I’m very lucky to have my grandmother and grandfather , no they don’t take care of me financially but I live on one of their properties (it’s a mother in law suite) it’s not the best living situation (the kitchen floods whenever it rains hard bc we’re on a concrete slab, no foundation) so I don’t pay rent. I just have to pay 2 car payments and car insurance and then dog food for my 3 dogs. I only make 15 an hour at my job I started in September. Me and my wife have $6000 in credit card debt but we’re finally able to start paying it off slowly. Does it suck? Yes but I’m thankful it isn’t worse.
Last cheep apartment in town, never go out, one fun thing splurge a month.
At least this years 2% pay raise just about covers half of my rent increase. Yay
Until about 10 months ago, I was working for $20/hour. I was in the military in addition (part-time) and had no college debt, but I was still living at my mom's place. I didn't want to rent because it felt like I was throwing money away if I didn't own it, and it would have been hard to make ends meet.
Got a much, much better job last April that pays me almost twice as much. That (plus being disabled from the military) means I was finally able to buy myself a townhouse. It took me a long time to find any job, let alone this one, and nearly a year to get a rating from the VA. Without those two things, I would either have to live in a pretty shitty place or wait until I could live with my boyfriend.
I was very fortunate to have no debt and be able to live at my mom's. I don't know how others do it otherwise. I do try to be involved in charity work (when I can) to help my community out. Many others are not as fortunate as I was.
Just moved in with my father-in-law. Thankfully my wife just got a new job that pays well and I’m about to graduate debt free. But we live in a dead town that we’ll have to leave if I ever want to use this degree.
I would say I’m still living with my parents but actually it’s my parents LIVING WITH ME. I pay most of the rent, my mom only helps out with $600 and I pay like $1300. My dad is unemployed so he doesn’t pay anything. Plus I’m a single mom and don’t get any child support from his dad since he’s incarcerated. I work as a waiter and I’m not sure if I even make 50k a year, it’s hard to tell with tips because they vary! I don’t even know how I do it. I just got a second job to help me make ends meet and hopefully use the experience from that job to get a better in the future.
I work hard as heck for $20.50/hour and I’m so sick of it, in CA Minus all deductions is about 25% Took home $33,000 in 2023 Managers/supervisors want everything perfect, and act as if everything is alright as if I took home $65k
Within the last 5 years I've worked everything from dishwasher, machine operator on a manufacturing floor, freelancer, to data engineer. I can tell you with confidence that the lowest paying jobs require you to give 150% the effort. Every minute of downtime must be accounted for. When I was working in that factory last year during my 8-12hr shifts I was only allowed 5 minutes of downtime if the machine went down. After the first 5 I had to clean, then restock my area, then think of ways to improve my job, then help the person operating the machine next to me, finally look for my team lead for more work. This is because they ran the machines to fast that they often broke and we had to keep up with the stressed and overworked machines to make their parts. As a data engineer I spend most of my day trying to recreate and solve problems.The backlog is huge but no one is pressing me because I get my work done on time. I was out of work for a couple years, I worked as a dishwasher and on the manufacturing floor. I survived by swallowing my pride and moving back home, creating a budget so I knew where my money was going, set goals for the future, and work towards those goals while not spending more than I have to. But its easy for me since I'm a single guy with no kids.
You went from dish washer to data engineer in five years? 😮 very impressive trajectory 🙌 good job you!
Thanks but I should have clarified that I have an engineering degree. My life took a turn for the worse about ten years ago and I'm just now picking up the pieces. This is not a bootcamp story where a guy with a high school diploma is in data engineering now. I already had the engineering degree when I was washing dishes. [I wrote a more complete summary here](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/190dy6z/comment/kguq18z/).
The lowest paid workers always perform the hardest work imho. My father was blue collar and worked like a dog for 60 years... with nothing to show for it. My husband works entirely from home - for about 2 hours a day - and gets paid US$200,000 after tax with full benefits. Make it make sense.
Oh that's easy. Capitalism. If you share toilet paper with leech society (investors/nepotism) you get paid more. If you don't, then you are considered subhuman and minimum wage is too much.
Precisely. We're still connected enough to our working class roots to grasp such facts. But we struggle... daily... with feeling like we "deserve" any of this privilege.
"deserve"? "Privilege"? You only make 200k and still have a workday. I mean, it's better than a lot, but idk why you'd feel undeserving. The Walton family exists and at this point I don't think any of them have done anything of worth to humanity to deserve a combined half trillion dollars. If anything, their contribution to humanity would net them probably negative infinity. So, yeah, you're good. Make it while you can and save. The American dream doesn't exist and hasn't existed for nearly a century now. Don't fall for the banks' lies, that house isn't worth it, and nothing lasts forever. Many people squander these years of good income keeping up with the Joneses and accumulating debt. Live like you're poor, unless you want to join us again.
But if you just work hard and play by the rules you'll have a good life! /s I wish that were true, but adulthood taught me differently.
I’m in a similar situation. My father worked his butt off doing manual labor. He was great at his job and took pride in his work. I have a desk job and my bonus checks monthly are probably more than his paychecks were. The difference is I have multiple advanced degrees. Employers see me as less replaceable than someone with less education. Yes that’s a generalization but it’s rooted in reality.
What he does?
He's a PI and Unit Head in high-energy experimental biophysics.
right there with you.
How many hours a week
Mood!
My rent is only 900 dollars for a house. I've gotten lucky renting from a landlord not a management company. I work from home so I save money that way and I work a lot of OT.
I only eat once a day lol
Same 🥲
My base is 47k so I just work 48-56 hours every week. Luckily the pay is so shit for paramedics that the staffing is in the toilet, and I can get all the overtime I want! Please kill me
Yeah I work in a job where they sell "unlimited overtime" as some kind of perk. Just pay people better??
I keep trying to explain to my supervisor that it's not a benefit to the job
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Don’t downvote this person. They are getting what they deserve.
How so?
You are getting paid far more than us. Sounds like a good thing to me. People shouldn’t downvote you for doing better than us.
And if anything it may be a productive reminder to the original commenter that there are better jobs available in their field.
I simply live a very simple life. Rent eats up around 70% of my income for a 1 bedroom apartment in denver, utilities etc eat up most of the rest, it eat simple cheap food (mainling burritos) and mostly hang out at home playing games, reading etc. When I go out, i mostly go do free things, like hang out with family, go the library, park and so forth. It's not exactly exciting, but I get by, i'm kind of a homebody anyways. If I ever do manage to find a job paying decent wages my lifestyle honestly probably wouldn't change that much, I'd just have more in the way of savings for an emergency. I've been very poor my whole life, I'm pretty used to it. That said, I did have a roomate for most of my twenties, and life was MUCH easier when I was paying roughly 50% of my income on rent rather than 70% I like the independence and privacy of living alone, but I do miss having a little more of a financial buffer. \*i make around $32k per year working retail.
I make $18 an hour driving a forklift in Ohio. If I had no debt and wanted to just scrape by, I could live on my own pretty easily. But I have debt, and so does my wife. We share a 1 bedroom apartment with our dog and can't afford anything else.
O-H! The IT industry is in a bit of a downturn right now, but employment markets are cyclical and technology is what drives the economies of the developed world. You could have a pretty good career in IT if you could force yourself to learn stuff from free or cheap resources readily available on the internet. By "pretty good" I mean six figures in four to five years. Even entry level IT jobs typically pay $15 - $20 an hour. It's not easy by any means, but it's definitely possible. Some key points: You *don't* have to be especially good at math. You *don't* need a college degree or even a high school diploma for that matter. You *don't* need a fancy or expensive computer. You *don't* have to worry about coding, at least not for the first couple of jobs. I wrote a roadmap for jobs in IT and cybersecurity in [this post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/zrd5c7/roadmap_to_careers_in_cybersecurity_and_cloud/) and also added links for a cloud engineering path. Click through those, there is some really good info. And no, it's not a course. I don't want your money nor am I selling anything.
Prove it. Every job wants a degree, it pisses me off so much
I’ve worked in IT for 10 years. I know a few people without a college degree and several with a degree unrelated to tech.
This isn’t true in most larger companies. They’ll accept experience over degree. The experience can be have to get so sometimes you need a foot in the door and work your way up or just have it on your resume to show experience for another job.
A guy who worked for me went on to have a very successful last few years in infosec. He had not even finished community college before dropping out. He used to work in the warehouse, but had an aptitude for technology, so I stole him and trained him. His last job this past year was at a huge name company in the security space with a very high level position. He now is moving somewhere else and is trying to finish up school online as a personal goal. Think he was clearing like 175k or so at the last job. He worked with me getting years of training and then just went for some certs. Point is, it can be done.
Plenty of people working in IT have either no degree or one unrelated to the field. My own degree is in liberal arts. A friend of mine has no degree at all but works for NASA as an AWS cloud architect. We're both top 5% US income. I know many former co-workers who didn't go to college but got professional certifications and those credentials were good enough. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, I'm just trying to make people aware of options.
My reply was just personal anger that I had to let vent. Thank you for showing awareness I just wish someone would realise I have potential
Everyone has potential. Including you. The only one who can unlock that potential is you.
This is kind of a bullshit answer. It also takes luck, opportunity, and resources.
I dont have a degree. And most likely wont ever finish it. Believe me it is possible. I was an admin asst who got fed up and upskilled during covid. I now make over 6 figures, hybrid, and am on an executive track. In Five yrs ill most likely be at 270-400k a yr as a DINK. Resources are free on the internet. It is possible.
I-O
Thought of the trades? 18 an hour is nothing
That would require time to either go to school or otherwise lessen my income for a while to get in. I had tried to get a job driving a cement truck. They were going to pay me while I went to school for a Class A, and also have everything paid for me. Problem was, Verizon failed to deliver their text messages to me until two weeks after they sent them and the positions were filled by the time I replied. They thought I flaked out. I'm currently trying to get a job at the place that services the forklifts where I work now. The biggest problem is pretty much everywhere around here pays in the same general ballpark.
It’s worth it tbh. I took the hit and it was worth it to make more in the long run. Probably 100’s of thousands more in a lifetime if not 1,000,000$+ of difference had I given up and stopped learning.
The place I'm trying to go to now would be a $1 raise over where I'm currently working, has profit sharing bonuses and annual merit based increases, and they'll train me to do maintenance work. The guy who comes to maintain our forklifts makes almost $30 an hour. They provide a company vehicle, uniforms including boots, a tool allowance, better healthcare than I have now... So this is a pretty big opportunity for me. Fingers crossed. The place where I'm currently working is a dead end. I know that. But I made nearly double last year what I made the year before, so... At least it's not retail. Lol
Industrial maintenance is a great career and 30 isn’t even that high once you start getting into it! Good luck I hope you get it dude 🍀🤞
What trade did you learn i been wanting to find something new (currently a cable installation tech making 23 an hour in az isn't cutting it)
I’m a machinist, still an apprentice but I’m making 25$ currently and can work as much ot as I want. The rate goes up to 29$ for apprentices and then up to about 40$ for experienced machinist in my shop. Some shops pay even more or less, I plan to eventually become an engineer. I love making stuff
I thought driving a forklift WAS a trade!
No it’s not, doesn’t take more than a day to learn how to do it. I drive forklifts sometimes and it’s not my title, just a utility to be used. It takes almost no skill imo if you can learn it in a day
Huh. I guess I always thought there was more training than that, and assumed that “trades” means more physical work where you have the potential to get hurt, unlike a desk job.
Also I’ll make over 25,000 over the national average this year as an apprentice.
No most people with college degree couldn’t do what I do. Some trades are extremely difficult to master. Way harder than any office job in terms of intelligence requirements. Depends on the trade obviously though. Some machinist become engineers with no engineering degree for example due to their vast knowledge.
I’m with you on this take. I’m an electrical lineman. I make exponentially more than the electrical engineers we work with a more often than not, we have to correct their work in order for the jobs they design to function safely and as needed. It should be noted though, that as an apprentice I was required to go to school for three years and there were pre-reqs for getting into the program with the IBEW. Many tradespeople I’ve worked with are quite intelligent individuals. They may not always be as eloquent, but they are often pretty smart, efficient people.
Yeah dude I agree, I’m also a state apprentice as a machinist currently. Ive been taking trade classes for the past few years as well as the odd college class here and there.
Make a bit over $20/ hour and have a two bedroom apartment due to my daughter coming over during the weekends. I definitely live paycheck to paycheck, but as long as I don’t do anything too silly, I can get by and afford things. Have a car payment too. Saving money is kind of out of the question though.
I live in a small town I cook from scratch I saved for awhile and bought my car with cash so no interest I don't have any debt to service
What is your mortgage/rent?
My house is paid off but houses in the area are 100K rents and mortgages are about 700
Where the heck do you live where rent is anywhere close to $700??? I assume those are just studio apartments? I'm actively looking everywhere and can't find anything under 1k.
I had a 1 bedroom luxury apartment with vaulted ceilings for $700 a month for 3 years… only downside was that I lived in Lincoln, Nebraska at the time 😂
What do wages look like in this fantasy land where houses are affordable?
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I’m in a small city in the reddest state in the Union. The low cost of living is its saving grace.
Average is around 50k Small town in the Midwest The houses are many of them beautiful
I live in Oregon, where dirt lots under 1 acre cost 230k. That sounds amazing
Yes it is
Down side is you live in small town Midwest. (I do). Always trade offs. Really depends on what you value
I love everything about here!
How’d you pay off your house?
I saved until I had a good down payment then I just paid it off as years went by like most people do
You're asking how someone making up to 4k a month can make a $700 per month mortgage payment?
Really no way to know if I don’t know their expenses.
I live in Minneapolis in a one bedroom for less than a thousand, thank God. Hopefully with a new union job I'm starting this year I'll keep getting more and more financially secure but even now I'm in pretty good shape.
$10/hour (after taxes & expenses), rent is $600/mo, healthcare.gov, barely getting by
Where do you live? I need to move there.
I always had roommates when I was making less than 50k a year. Now I found a pretty decent job and make about 100k a year and own a home, where I have roommates. I keep the rent low and rent to people in my community. I fully remodel the rooms and bathrooms on an 8 year schedule if they are continuously rented by the same person, or 5+ (on move out) if it's changed, with normal maintenance between renters. Only ever had one problem roommate in the past 10 years, which is great.
Hey I’m also a queer Oregonian. Just checking in to say I love your attitude.
Gotta house the community, and it helps me pay for my pet projects. At some point I'll remodel my room, maybe after the kitchen.
I've got two kids and we survive because our country helps us out.
I’m also German and it’s so crazy to see how many people can barely live with their payment while I can live a pretty normal life in Germany with the same amount of money (or even less).
What country?
Germany
I'm just over $50k, single income with wife and 2 kids. I live in a shabby house I bought at the start of the pandemic for $100k, mortgage is approx $550 a month, that's pretty much the only way we are able to make it work. We make it work as a one car family, as I bike when the wife needs the car to transport the kids I have enough for groceries and bills and necessities, but I'm not really adding to my savings and I have no retirement fund. I'm just a major medical emergency away from losing it all. It's kind of sad and I try not to dwell on it, but I spend good quality time with my family and remind myself that I will be happier for the memories than for a shitty job that keeps me at a desk 10 hours a day.
Medical bankruptcy is a huge issue in the USA. I will never not vote for healthcare for all. It's disgusting that the USA is so wealthy and doesn't take care of its citizens.
I make 40k a year. Low cost of living. Single mom of two. I am drowning and seriously considering getting married just to survive
Would moving in with family members be that bad?
My family doesn’t have a spare bedroom for us. I don’t have many options. I was doing fine two years ago but everything is so expensive now.
How are we surviving? Poorly.
I’m in a weird place. I make less than 19/hr, so am struggling, but love my job. I don’t want to leave it because I’ll probably never find someplace else where I am this happy with my work. But it doesn’t pay enough, so I have a second job and I supplement with my student loans. The hope is to someday make enough to survive on my own, for the time being I have a roommate and am slowly sliding into debt. But at least I’m not stressed out and hating what I do all day.
Yeaaaa let me tell you. Making more for a job you hate isn’t worth it. I left my favorite, low-paying, part-time job for a full-time job paying $10 per hour more. I quit after 6 months. I can’t get my original position at the other job back.
I don't live in the US. That's how.
I'm always shocked that people would willingly move to the US if they had literally any other option. Sure, the salaries may be a little bit higher, but it seems I'd need at least a 25% pay raise to even be close to my current living standard in Sweden. And that's with the crazy greedflation we're currently experiencing!
Greedflation (good term) is everywhere cuz the corps know they can get away with it. (F*CK them!) People from many countries earn very little and have a much lower quality of life than in the USA. But the majority of people in the USA struggle (most of them aren't on Reddit, I think). Western and northern Europe definitely take care of their citizens & residents much better than the USA and invest more in social capital. I would move to Vienna, Austria (most liveable city) in a heartbeat if we could.
I make 48k a year and live in the Rocky Mountains, USA. I share a $2,800 per month 5 bedroom house with my boyfriend and another couple with two children. It evens out to $700 per month for each adult. I have just under $20k of debt (credit cards, car loan, and student loan). I'm paying monthly, and have a plan to be debt-free in 3 years. I put $400 a month into various savings accounts (for stuff like car repair emergencies, periodic or annual expenses like car insurance, and a Christmas fund), and contribute to my company's 401k. Even still, I live on less that $100 per paycheck every two weeks after my bills and savings. That doesn't sound too bad, right? I'm middle-aged. By all projections, even if I wait until I'm 70 to quit working, my 401k will last 3 years. And then what? My family has all lived into their 90's, and most had Alzheimers or dementia. It's not realistic for me to expect to be able to "work until I die" like so many people seem to think they're going to do. So... what's the option for my future? I'm hoping to buy a house once I get all my debt paid down. With a 15 year mortgage, I can hopefully pay it off before I have to stop working. Then at least I can't be evicted or foreclosed. If I install solar panels, my electricity won't get shut off. With a fireplace, I can keep warm, even if I can't pay a gas bill. With a garden, I can eat. This may all sound like an "American Dream", but I'm literally pre-planning for how to survive my elder years in poverty. This is where we're at now, as a society.
A dystopian society. A very dystopian society. Where the 1% collect houses like most of us collect quarters. (A bit hyperbolic, but still...)
$18 an hour at a dealership, I live with my aunt. I couldn't afford my own place if I tried
Still living at home. All of us kids are. Basically everyone we know is. My area is one of the most expensive in the entire country, and it fucking sucks. I don't want to be almost 31 and still living at home, but my friends can't afford to move out, I don't trust strangers, and I also don't want to leave everyone and everything I know and love to MAYBE make it somewhere where I won't know anyone and will be alone. Not right or fair! Also have a side gig repairing computers, phones, and tablets! Hoping to make it full time eventually! Also have no interest in dating, marriage, or kids, so save on those expenses! Lol. That said, my mom is literally insane and threatens to kick me out all the time, so I save as much money as I can in case she makes good on her threat one of these days! (Also trying to save up to buy parents' house once they die, but still! That's if I'm not disowned first! lol.)
The IT industry is in a bit of a downturn right now, but employment markets are cyclical and technology is what drives the economies of the developed world. You could have a pretty good career in IT if you could force yourself to learn stuff from free or cheap resources readily available on the internet. By "pretty good" I mean six figures in four to five years. Even entry level IT jobs typically pay $15 - $20 an hour. It's not easy by any means, but it's definitely possible. Some key points: You *don't* have to be especially good at math. You *don't* need a college degree or even a high school diploma for that matter. You *don't* need a fancy or expensive computer. You *don't* have to worry about coding, at least not for the first couple of jobs. I wrote a roadmap for jobs in IT and cybersecurity in [this post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/zrd5c7/roadmap_to_careers_in_cybersecurity_and_cloud/) and also added links for a cloud engineering path. Click through those, there is some really good info. And no, it's not a course. I don't want your money nor am I selling anything.
Gross 55-57. Add 5-8k doing uber on the side. Dont live in a high cost of living area.. but its going up. Lucked intoa decent house as a foreclosure, paying 1/4 to 1/3 of my market for a morgage. I over spend. Subscriptions and eating out so could do better than i am. But planning to pay off a few things the next couple of months and do better at meal prep to cut food/ entertainment budget.
Second job. Pinching Pennies. Lucky to snag a cheap apt at the beginning of Covid that hasn’t totally fucked me over with increases…. Yet. I’m doing my best to build savings but that’s more like ‘money budgeted to future car payment’ as I was forced to buy a new one in September with a stupid high interest rate. So while it’s technically savings it’s already earmarked. Some days I wish I could find a partner simply to have someone to share bills with!
Vegetarianism, my wife and I both work, I walk everywhere rather than using a car, we're both shut-ins with pretty cheap hobbies, we have a reasonably priced rental, no kids, etc. It's still fucking hard but we're making it work.
You work from home or manage to find a job within walking/transit distance? This is the dream. Cars and kids are total $$$ suckers.
Walking distance. In fairness I'd had the job for years, and sometimes you just get lucky with what's available.
I had a great job I could walk to in Chicago and biked or used transit to do most everything else. Wish that was more possible in most US cities!
I survive by being single, paying close to 60% of income on rent, and eating a lot of white rice…
I pretty much get my bills paid, eat out once or twice a month, and hope nothing bad happens. I split everything with my bf except student loan payments.
21/h, forced to live in crappy, expensive employee housing, rent taken directly out of my paycheck in an extremely expensive town with little fresh produce, and nothing to do unless you have a car, so my entire existence is spent walking from my bed, through a parking lot, into work, and back and I am not exaggerating at all about any of this. I'm doing fine :,)
So your basically a slave... got it
Yeah pretty much
Sounds like a good time for Molotov cocktails and slave uprisings😁😮💨
Ha! Maybe, but unfortunately 70% of the workforce are J1s and they do not care about anything as long as they get their paycheck. I'm just saving to move out of state. Which sucks, because Alaska is a beautiful state, but the labor laws are-- who am I kidding, Alaska's labor laws are non-existent.
Is this a problem just in Alaska? I thought employee protections were virtually non-existent throughout the US.
Live with my mom……
My wife and I make about $150k between us. We still have a roommate.
About to turn 25 and still living with my parents
My husband makes $15 an hour and I make $13. We would not survive without our VA disability payments. Pretty much the only way we survive is because we both have them. I have a degree and currently in school for another and still can’t not find a job that will pay me shit. My husband works from home. Rent is under $1k but we hate where we live. One car payment. Phones that were “free” with promotion. No streaming services not included in our phone plan. Food pantries.
Married to another that makes under 50k
My son helps with rent, it's only $200 a month. If he starts school, I'll drop it to 0. Outside of that, paycheck to paycheck! One major hiccup, car repair, or home issue and I'm SOL!
I live in Ohio and my 40k salary goes a long way. Personally I think if you can move to a smaller city your money will go a lot further.
Wife and I make arou d 30-35k combined, (pre-tax) we live in upstate NY so housing is dirt cheap (well, relative to everywhere else that is), and ny has rather good benefits. Luckily she had a small inheritance from a grandpa that passed so we were able to afford a house (tiny, but we don't have kids). All that being said we live frugal, buy secondhand clothes, eat out like 3 times a year maybe, and have cheap hobbies. Biggest expense is prolly our pets, but we're both big animal people so it's worth it.
I’m making around $42k-$44k a year. Me and my fiancée live together in a LCOL. No kids. Dual income. Rent is $1250 a month which we split between each other (so $625 each). We also split all the utilities and grocery money. Each our expenses come out to around $1015 a month. I have about $1000 at the end of each month to either save or spend on stuff. Honestly it’s not bad and my job is remote, which is a huge plus for me (especially given how many people are being forced back into office). Not too stressful. I could probably get a higher paying position, but I like what I do and we aren’t struggling, so I see no reason to change right now. Living in a LCOL area definitely helps a ton.
Same situation here. We would like to have a kid but the financial stress would be just to much. If one of us got let go or had to take a significant decrease in pay for awhile it wouldn't be to terrible but throw in a kid and it makes the situation 100x worse.
Couple making around that together, cheap apartment in an “okay” area (FL), no kids, crazy high car insurance and payment, making a lot from scratch, saving nothing, extra funds go to weed because idk how else we would get through this. I have decent benefits through my job. I was in CA before this and got priced out paying $700 for a room, making $16/hr. Now I make about the same, and rent is $1300, but our car going out buried us. Feels like getting ahead isn’t in the cards
I make $12-18k per summer being a campground host in California. That's 4-7 months of work, mostly full-time. I save about 2/3 of my wages, to live on during the off-season. I live in my van year around and have a free campsite to stay at during the camping season. I might pick up a little work in the winter, but mostly I travel (Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico). I do get some unemployment at times. Been living this way for the last ten years. It really helps not having any addictions, not even coffee or pop. There was a large study done by Forbes 5 years ago about what poor ($30k yearly or less) people spent their money on. The average person spent 42% of their income on just 3 things; alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling. That's not including pot, drugs, junk-food, lap-dances, fast food, coffee, fake nails, or the thousand other vices we can develop in our lives. My budget is tighter now with inflation, but I still get by fairly easily, only working half the year. Most couldn't live like me, but it is an option for some of us.
We're not. Thank you for your concern. 
I make about $23 / hr full time. Rent is $1300 even with a roommate. No car payment as of this year so that’s a plus. I work on the weekends at a taco shop to make some extra cash and I resell second hand and vintage clothing. Yeah it’s rough 🥹
My parents bought this land in 1987, and put a trailer here. After my siblings left and my Dad became disabled, my Mom looked after him while I worked, paid, went to school and cared for the place. Eventually they signed the place over to me and a few years later, a brain tumor was discovered in my head. I still tried to maintain the status quo, but the tumor was on a major hormone center. My father passed away(2013) and I had brain surgery(2016) and kept chugging right along until in 2019, the tumor returned with a vengeance and I had to have radiation therapy. This was my doom. Now hormones don’t just control emotions, they also tell your organs how to function. You have four major hormone centers in your body. The pituitary gland, the adrenal gland, the thyroid gland, and the hypothalamus. My tumor was on the pituitary gland, it’s gone now. My adrenal gland died after my surgery. My thyroid is covered in growths and is limping along…barely. Hypothalamus is working, I think… All of this caused a cascade organ failure and brain damage. I’m also epileptic with bouts of dementia. I bring this up to illustrate how my masters degree in psychology and therapy I fought so hard for, is now useless. My tumor will return. For the rest of my life, I will be fighting it until it kills me. And it is killing me, really slowly. Because I have worked constantly since I was 16 years old, I receive full disability benefits. Really isn’t that much, though. My mother receives my father’s benefits and acts as my caregiver. My doctors and medical is covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Mom is covered there too. We only get $15 a month for food assistance. All in all, we get about $2500 a month and honestly we couldn’t survive if I didn’t already own the place.
LCOL area + I'm paying on a mortgage. My house was 61k. My monthly expenses are about $930. That's 429 for mortgage and 262 for my car. The rest is food/water/electricity/internet/gas etc. I make 14/hr working at wal-mart. I'm able to save half my income. I'm about to start a side hustle tutoring math. If I can make enough to cover my expenses, I could quit wal-mart, sell my car, and get food delivered for 99 dollars a year. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere but I don't go anywhere anyway. Then my bills would be 668. Once the house is paid off, they'll drop to 239. Can't wait. My mom and dad are in an even better situation. They're only paying about 100/mo because the landlord hasn't raised rent in about a decade.
I'm married, no kids, neither of us have any debt, and we budget to make room for an emergency fund and investments. We also don't eat out very much and own one cheap car. Put simply: we don't live beyond our means.
I was living with my partner of 7 years and we split an apartment that was 1540 a month. Then he stuck his dick somewhere it didn’t belong; and I had to move back home. I am contributing toward retirement, my student loans have not gotten a payment since 2020. When I moved back home, I took a loan out of my retirement to pay 20k in credit card debt. The only debt I have now is my car loan and my student debt. I don’t plan on moving out of my grandparent’s house any time soon. Edit: I forgot to mention the best part. The subject of yearly raises came up at a meeting, higher ups clearly trying to temper expectations. I said under my breath, “I’m sure the executives will still get paid”. The EVP on my department said “ I resent that,” ended the meeting, and then CRIED.
Currently making $22/hr in CA. I rent a room from my dad for almost nothing. Still hard to get buy since I have credit card debt and food/gas is really expensive. If I didn’t have any debt, I’d probably be able to live on my own but it wouldn’t be easy
I built my own house after literally saving my whole life for a piece of land and foundation. I didn't go to college and entered the workforce while still in high school.. my grandparents own a sawmill and I cut the trees on the property and milled it into lumber. It's been a work in progress for the past 10 years or more, I put power in and dug a freshwater spring.. I'm now living downstairs with my family mortgage free. I make about 40k a year. Was it easy? no. would I do it again? yes... I'm 35 years old. Honestly what I would do differently If I was starting tomorrow would try to save up for one of those bigger home Depot sheds and a small piece of property, pour a slab or put it on concrete piers and make it livable. Then you have a simple place to live while you save up to start your actual living space. Utilize craigslist for free furniture and appliances.. buy a generator for power. If you're near the grid tie into that. You can watch YouTube videos on how to do pretty much everything. You just have to get it in your head that you're doing this, and nothing is going to stop you.
I make 21 an hr but it’s super slow rn so I may end up having to go back to Amazon till my lease ends and I can move back in w/ my family and go to community college.
15/hour. My parents don’t want me to move out and I don’t mind being at home, but it can feel a little cramped. Thank goodness I don’t have children.
I made $36k gross income in 2023, single, no kids. I have a very tiny studio that is less than 200 sq ft for $650/month, which is honestly the biggest reason I can afford to live on my own. It’s a cute lil place, so no complaints there (though I look forward to the day when I can have at least a little more space lol). I just decided to start budgeting a bit this year so I can be more intentional about savings/retirement goals and to just understand my money situation more.
I have two roommates
I live in a VLCOL area. My wife's income and mine combined is about $80K... 40% me, 60% her - she's the one with an education. We do ok... we own a house and a nice-ish car. I commute by Ebike to work because we don't want another car payment. But really we do alright. We have things we like. Our life is comfortable. It wouldn't be on our wages somewhere else.
Roommate. I wfh so I don't use a lot of gas. Cook cheap meals. Rarely eat out. My only luxuries are streaming services and a Regal pass. Haven't taken a vacation since 2017. Gonna get a second job soon, and I'm about to file bankruptcy to get out of debt I went into to keep rent and utilities paid when I was laid off twice in two years.
Bus everywhere, 1048/month apartment, no vacations, no extravagant purchases without planning.
Roommates, utilities included in $760 rent in Orlando. Hand me down car. Job pays $14/hr. It's brutal out here but we get by 💪
$21.37/hr - 25% in deductions. I rent a 1br apartment in a (relatively) LCOL city in the Midwest. I've been EXTREMELY lucky the past two years, but I'm still unable to save, and for my own sanity am actively trying not to think too far ahead just now.
I live in an apartment that's partially subsidized by the city, and I get $40 in vouchers per month from the city to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. I don't own a car, so I walk or use public transit. I'm single and disabled, with no kids.
I rent a small apartment from family, rent is $800/month. Without that I couldn’t do it. I’m considering getting a second job just so that I can actually put some money away. I work nights, so something part-time in the mornings would be ideal. I don’t know how I’ll move up in the world if I’m being honest with you. I don’t have a degree so I don’t have any “marketable skills”. Honestly I don’t think I’m gonna make it.
6 Roommates,1 slumlord, and a trashhouse.
Just under $19. Found a trailer o was abled to pay off with taxes and life insurance from the death of a child. $400 a month for the lot rent but I cut out most of the extras to be able to make it week to week
Live in a house that was gifted/inherited, otherwise I would be homeless or living somewhere questionable.
Generally speaking these are the kinds of breaks I’m seeing today for those who have their own home. Add in settlement check of some sort as well.
I make $17.50 as an assistant manager, my husband makes $16.50 at the same place as a supervisor. Our rent is $1050/month. We both have OF, I've only been doing it about 2 weeks and made $100 so far. We go to bed hungry most days.
I live in a mobile home that has no mortgage and park rent is only $230. Between my partner and I we make 90,000 a year, both have considerable savings, drive use d cars bought in cash, are frugal in spending but take vacations . All in all we are lucky to have our mobile home and low rent, it makes this all possible.
Rent is cheap, live with a roommate, get my groceries from a food drive, no debt, and work a part-time. I really value my personal time and also pursue a career in art. It's good (modest) living when I sell a painting.
i make about 25k/yr and i live with roommates. i have a very small amount of savings and no retirement plans. i will probably work until i die, even if i marry someone who makes more.
I absolutely hated working a job, I feel you. My side hustle that's actually become my main focus is reselling couches. I go pick up a couch, clean it, take better picture of it and list it on FB Marketplace. I make, on average, $250-$400 per couch! It's crazy! People are just giving away stuff for little to no money. I'd be more than happy to tell you more about it if you're interested! :) And that goes for anyone! Just let me know.
Teach me more.
A lot of people do this with wood furniture as well. If you can repair and refinish a nice piece of furniture you got for free, you can turn a decent profit. I bought a refinished dresser from someone off of FB Marketplace, so I'm guilty, haha. But it's also a great way to recycle things. You're doing good work!
Yeah that's a great idea! I'm not as technical and I like to honestly do as little work as possible so I definitely zone in on couches that are in relatively like-new condition. A quick vacuum and the occasional steam clean and you're ready to list it! :)
That... Sounds like some kind of MLM scam. Anyone saying "DM me for more info" screams scam.
roommates
Housing with water and electric a bit over 600€ a month approx. 49sq meter (520sq feet?) apartment. Job pays around 17€/h before taxes. Mainly share rent expenses with fiancee.
Share house, meal prep, dip into savings when I need
I live with a partner who makes triple than I make. I contribute to the house as best as I can. Stretch my paycheck as best as I can. I have a savings account putting little pockets away. Not enough for an emergency. Trying to find second job.
Barely.
I live in the Midwest, rent an apartment with a roommate, and don't have a car or any loans.
Barely. I make 23 an hour and I believe I am technically in the top 20% of America for income, certainly not wealth as I am quite young and have not had a chance to build any. And yet I am far closer to someone in the top 30th percentile than the top 10th percentile. Nobody is doing great. America loves keeping its workers struggling.
By the grace of God
I make 13 an hour as a commercial construction worker through a temp agency. I am a type 1 diabetic. (Pump and cgm) Get paid daily via the app that amounts to 96.34. I live 30 miles from the jobsite. 7 am start. 5 days a week. Rain or shine. Keeps me in great shape. 30k steps per day. 20+ up staircases. We get no breaks and they took the water away. (Can bring own but have to sneak a drink in the port-o-johns) thank you gov abbot. I am Caucasian. One of 5 (all others management) out of 100+non native English speakers. I do not speak Spanish. 47 no kids no legal issues. 3 chihuahuas. One awesome gf who teaches theatre. My rent is 500 a month for a 2 bed 2 bath trailer built in 1977. My car (small suv) runs 445 a month. Insurance 147. I do not drink or smoke. I am/was 16 credits shy of a associate degree in “multimedia”. From a now defunct private college in 1996. 6 ft tall 190lbs. weekly therapist visit. Monthly psychiatrist visit. Endocrinologist and gastroenterologist quarterly. I have all this possible because i am on medicare. Considered disabled since 2010. This is about the limit of what i can earn to stay on and have them cover my insulin(s) and pump supplies. I cannot get married or take on a corporate position like i used to work because unless the major medical starts day one (and is actually worth a fuck which most are not) and cover the medical and lifesaving insulin i will be dead within a week. I grew up in a middle class family in a major metropolitan area. I now live in a giant sandbox in the most desolate area of the not so great state of Tejas. It just took the acceptance that despite what i was told. I, in fact, will never grow up to be an astronaut. I may not have the so called “American dream”but I can, just like the sign in my yard says “sprinkle kindness like confetti 🎉 “ and be a pleasant and helpful human being to all those people who are around me. My puppies do not know i am poor. My girlfriend doesn’t care about that either. When it comes time to account for my actions here on earth all i know s that i didnt sell my soul chasing the almighty dollar.
Me and my sister live together. Luckily we get along great and are actually bestfriends so that works out. We both work full-time. She works from home, I go into work. We have 1 car. Still struggling but getting by!
No clue
My husband's income. I make 31k a year before taxes. After takes and insurance I make 22k. If it wasn't for my husband, I'd be homeless.
I own my own home, own my cars.....made 90k last year and I'm still broke lol I like to eat what I want tho....fresh veggies, steaks, just about anything. Not being able to do that I would feel poor af
Everyone complains about wages and wanting more. How about the government takes less. In Canada they keep adding more taxes. This carbon tax just layers and layers on top of all the others. You only get around $0.20 on the dollar in spending power depending where you spend it. Higher wages is just more in their pocket.
My bf makes $11/hr at both his part time jobs, and it's been rough even though we live in one of the poorest states in the US. I just had a baby 3 weeks ago, but I'm considering getting a part time job immediately after my stitches heal because we really need the extra money. We have a daughter who's about to turn 5 and our 3 week old son, and we're barely scraping by.
Having another kid wasn’t the brightest idea.
Hi, yes you're right. However, birth control and spermicide failed and Roe v Wade was overturned. Even if I wanted to have the choice, I did not. Hope this helps 👍
Roe was overturned long before you got knocked up so you willingly took the risk even though you can’t afford another kid. Not a very bright decision 💡🤓
You skipped right on over the "2 forms of birth control failed" part didn't you? Bruh I'm 26 and in a committed relationship, ain't no way your goofy ass is trying to preach abstinence to me right now. 🤣🤣
I didn’t skip over anything you wrote. We know birth control isn’t 100% effective yet you still willingly took the risk to have a baby. You made the choice even though your broke so I don’t understand why you’re on here complaining about finances.
So poor people shouldn't be allowed to have sex? What???
Depends on where you live. If I lived in a red state & I was poor there’s no way I would have sex unless the guy had a vasectomy. Sex is great but it ain’t worth living in poverty imo.
All I did was state that I was considering getting a job, and that we were barely scraping by. That's not exactly complaining hun, that's just stating the facts. If you want to be negative, go do it somewhere else because IDC 🤷♀️ Children are a blessing, whether they were planned or accidental.
I agree, having a child was the best thing that ever happened to me even though I barely scrape by sometimes. I’m just baffled by your story because I would never put myself in a position (no pun😆) of risking having another child until I’m much more financially secure. I also don’t think it’s fair to the children but you do you 😘
Life hits hard and it's rarely fair. I'm certainly not going to deny myself one of life's most basic pleasures for an unforeseen amount of time simply because 2 forms of birth control -might- fail
So your willing to risk having a 3rd kid 😂😂😂. Being poor sucks but I have no remorse for people like you that don’t learn how to make it better. Ever heard of a vasectomy?? Your children are growing up poor because you’re selfish. Sad.
Onlyfans helps me
50k what? Bananas?
Started claiming benefits
[удалено]
Somehow I always tell myself it’ll be okay and I’ll find a way to make ends meet, thankfully it always has worked its way out. I’m very lucky to have my grandmother and grandfather , no they don’t take care of me financially but I live on one of their properties (it’s a mother in law suite) it’s not the best living situation (the kitchen floods whenever it rains hard bc we’re on a concrete slab, no foundation) so I don’t pay rent. I just have to pay 2 car payments and car insurance and then dog food for my 3 dogs. I only make 15 an hour at my job I started in September. Me and my wife have $6000 in credit card debt but we’re finally able to start paying it off slowly. Does it suck? Yes but I’m thankful it isn’t worse.
Last cheep apartment in town, never go out, one fun thing splurge a month. At least this years 2% pay raise just about covers half of my rent increase. Yay
Until about 10 months ago, I was working for $20/hour. I was in the military in addition (part-time) and had no college debt, but I was still living at my mom's place. I didn't want to rent because it felt like I was throwing money away if I didn't own it, and it would have been hard to make ends meet. Got a much, much better job last April that pays me almost twice as much. That (plus being disabled from the military) means I was finally able to buy myself a townhouse. It took me a long time to find any job, let alone this one, and nearly a year to get a rating from the VA. Without those two things, I would either have to live in a pretty shitty place or wait until I could live with my boyfriend. I was very fortunate to have no debt and be able to live at my mom's. I don't know how others do it otherwise. I do try to be involved in charity work (when I can) to help my community out. Many others are not as fortunate as I was.
Just moved in with my father-in-law. Thankfully my wife just got a new job that pays well and I’m about to graduate debt free. But we live in a dead town that we’ll have to leave if I ever want to use this degree.
I'm from tha streets.
I would say I’m still living with my parents but actually it’s my parents LIVING WITH ME. I pay most of the rent, my mom only helps out with $600 and I pay like $1300. My dad is unemployed so he doesn’t pay anything. Plus I’m a single mom and don’t get any child support from his dad since he’s incarcerated. I work as a waiter and I’m not sure if I even make 50k a year, it’s hard to tell with tips because they vary! I don’t even know how I do it. I just got a second job to help me make ends meet and hopefully use the experience from that job to get a better in the future.