Poll of the Day > What's your living situation?

(+) Yeah! (+)

miki_sauvester posted...

You cant put a price tag on growing up.

Too true. I've been in my own space for more than a decade now, and I never regretted it. I'm not so comfy relaxing around other humans.

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wwinterj25 posted...

Based on living with their parents? Reach any further and you'll break your fragile hip.

Struck a nerve, apparently? Failure To Launch seems to be becoming more common.

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dancer62 posted...

Struck a nerve, apparently? Failure To Launch seems to be becoming more common.

Not a chance. I'm just calling you out on your comment that holds no weight and the fact you feel the need to insult folk who are actually using common sense. The cost of living and moving out isn't a cheap one. This is probably why it's getting more common for folk to "fail to launch". Living with parents with cheaper rent or in some cases no rent at all to pay can help said person save enough money to move out. Also some folk might not want to live on their own and could be looking into moving in with a housemate or a SO. Another reason could be some folk have actually moved out before but it didn't work out so now they are back with their parents. The list goes on and on. Jugging someones situation on a poll result seems very short sighted.... mind you you probably are already at that stage.

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RoboXgp89 posted...

when i was in highschool if you found a room yes a room for 700$ you were lucky and the min wage was 7$

Now it's 13.50, your lucky if you get one for less than 1400$ and even then you still probably have to pay utilities unless it's in someone elses house or something

Where do you live Robo? Just the city don't need exact area.

Seriously unless it's manhattan NY, I can probably find you a room for less then $700. The min wage of $7 with those prices is crazy.

Here in Washington min wage is 13.50 now.......but you can still get 1 bedroom apartments for $1k at least.

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https://longisland.craigslist.org/d/apts-housing-for-rent/search/apa

most of these aren't apartments, they're the upstairs of some landlords house
you move into one of these things and you're stuck there for life

try living in one of these with min wage at 13.50 I dare ya

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Ahh ok, NY. Well my friend did find a nice room by Bushwick in Brooklyn for $500 a month, there are tons of other options around 600-700, but yes, that is one of the most expensive areas, with the lowest min wage in the country.

Least that explains it.

I actually really want to live there though lol.

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i wish i lived in the fantasy world wolfy lives in. life is just so easy there

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TheWitchMorgana posted...

i wish i lived in the fantasy world wolfy lives in. life is just so easy there

Nobody said it was easy, sure wasn't easy when I was in my 20's (or now for that matter), but it's doable.

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wolfy42 posted...

Nobody said it was easy, sure wasn't easy when I was in my 20's (or now for that matter), but it's doable.

You do make it sound like it super easy all the time, though. Not to mention, you never mention the bad parts. Like how people will have to adopt a new lifestyle, and have to love off of Ramen and stuff...
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LinkPizza posted...

You do make it sound like it super easy all the time, though. Not to mention, you never mention the bad parts. Like how people will have to adopt a new lifestyle, and have to love off of Ramen and stuff...

I actually have made posts about how to eat good food very cheap before, but yeah, $300 a month (what I mentioned above) is not anywhere near having to live off ramen. You can eat quite well that way.

And I did it while saving money, which is not easy. If you can work a 40 hour a week job, at about $15 an hour, you can live by yourself (renting an apartment) almost anywhere in the US, fairly easily. I did actually mention Manhattan NY was an exception (but not a major one) and to a lesser extent Long Island NY is as well.

You can do it mind you, you can find 1 bedroom apartments there for $1200 (usually studio apartments though...and thats long island not manhattan). Even in the Bay Area you can do it, but you might have to wait awhile and get lucky to make it happen (renting a room or using AB&B (which is often cheaper) until you get one.

The problem is you need to constantly try, and not just find a room quickly, and then just stay there, gotta keep looking till you find a good fit.

First room I rented after leaving my house was $500 a month, I stayed there almost a year until I found a really good 3 bedroom that we split 3 ways, it costs $1100 total, so it was $370 each (with utilities/internet split it was just about $400 a month total (the first room included utilities/internet). That was a REALLY good deal.

I had a job here teaching (I thought) so moved to Tacoma a bit over 6 months ago. The job fell through, but I have a whole basement (like an apartment), for $575 a month. Still I don't need all that space, and $370 was way better. Utilities/internet is included at least, so it's not horrid.

I could look and find something better, but I'm tired of moving, the roomates (never see them) upstairs are easy to live with, and I wouldn't save THAT much. Also I am thinking of traveling this spring/summer, and who knows may move to a cheaper area all together.

Anyway the point isn't that it's easy to do, just that you can do it (which some people are currently saying is impossible). It's not even close to impossible. There are a few areas where it's quite hard (IE Long Island with 13.50 min wage and min $1200 for a 1 bedroom (even studios are usually that much), you won't be saving money or not much at least if you just get min wage).

I just use logic to point things out, if it seems easy when I say it, that is not my fault, it's just the way it is.

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yeah but dude you're leaving out a big thing which is that these $500/month spaces are little more than broom closets. they are not livable spaces. in NYC a broom closet would be more like $1200 a month. that is the reality and i doubt it was a whole lot different 20 years ago. your room in tacoma is not applicable when we are talking about NYC-type cities.

we can talk about "doable" all day but quality of life is also a factor. just because you can barely make rent doesn't mean it's a doable lifestyle. yes there are ways to save but you're approaching "just pull yourself up from the bootstraps" level stuff when you talk about budgeting your way into a higher rent.

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They are all pretty much at least 10x10, many are larger. That is renting a room as well, not an apartment, which even studio apartments usually have a fairly large main room +kitchen/bathroom.

There are a few places it's harder, that is true, but the min wage is higher in most of them (except NYC), and even if it isn't, the actually average wage is higher.

The point isn't that you can just leave your house at 18 and suddenly be on easy street working 30 hours a week, and kickin back eating 20$ + a day in food, smoking pot/drinking etc to your hearts content.

I get that most people actually spend money to enjoy themselves and living on almost nothing is hard for them.

But @ 15$ and hour and min 40 hours a week, you can live most places in the US fairly comfortably by yourself, that is what I said, and I stand by that.

A few, like manhattan (and to a lesser extent long island) NY are a bit more tricky and you need to get lucky in the place you find, but..they also have higher paying jobs in the area as well (even without an actual higher min wage mind you).

$2200 take home (About what you get with $15 an hour and 40 hours a week), is enough to pay $1200 a month and still have $1000 for other expenses. I freaking spend LESS then $1000 a month total, and the rent in tacoma, while less then the bay area etc, isn't THAT much less anymore (and I might as well have my own apartment).

Yes, this isn't normal, it's a good deal, but it's a good deal I searched for. The last place was a better deal ($400 total, but just a room, about 10x12 and a shared bathroom with 1 other person (really hate sharing bathrooms).

I'm not saying everyone needs to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but seriously people have been doing just that for decades with less (much less often) then people have today. Everyone is like, boomers had it great, and maybe they did as a whole, but I'm sure there were many who didn't, and I know I started off living on rooftops at 16, went in the AF at 17, worked 2 jobs while going to a vocational school for 8 hours a day for 9 months at 19, and then slowly went from job to job, making more at each one over years (and saving half of what I made....while living with roomates to keep costs down), before eventually getting some decent paying jobs.

It wasn't cake, and I certainly wouldn't have the motivation to do it now, but....you could do it, and I did.

You don't have to be that extreme, you don't have to try that hard. You have to be willing to work a 40 hour week (Which mind you I don't think we need anymore. I think we should split most jobs in 2, boost pay so that every american works 3.5 days on average a week (covering all 7 that way for all jobs). That would be 28 hour week for everyone.

But that is not the current sitch, for now, you gotta work a 40 hour week in many areas (at least at min wage).

If you get a tip job though, heck I know one girl who LITERALLY works 1 day a week at a pizza place because she makes enough in tips to pay her living expenses while going to college (in WA though you get min wage + tips...but it's obviously the tips that are making that possible). Another friend worked 6 hour shifts and was upset if he got less then $200 in tips a day (very upset). So yeah, many tip jobs at least can let you work way less then 40, and still make enough to live comfortably.

It's not cake, it's not easy and you can just kick it and the world takes care of you, but at the same time it's not impossible either, there are solutions, and many people just seem to think it's not even worth trying because it's impossible.

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You say you use logic, but your logic is flawed. People have to adapt a new lifestyle. And like TheWitchMorgana says, it seems like a low quality of life factor is in play. Especially changing to a lower quality of life. Things like too small, noisy neighbors (for apartments), living conditions, the area where the place is located), etc... Also, not everybody have weeks to look for a new place to live to find the perfect fit. And you can't just say move in somewhere until you can find a better place, because a lot of places have leases that you have to sign into. And if you find a good place, better hope your lease in up before someone else gets it. Also, your plans always leave the person with barely any money to save or have afterwards. Which may sound good to you, but not for people who know about unexpected cost. Also, these life plans are tailored to you. You talk about getting a cheap car. But why would people who already have a car and have making payment for a couple years already sell it (wasting the money they already paid) to get a cheaper one (that's probably worse than the one they had) just to not make payments to make payment on a different place to live. It works for you if you don't have a car or whatever. But most people already have them and are already making payments. Even when talking about food, it seems more tailored to fit what you like. Which makes sense since it's the deals you see. But that doesn't work for everybody. People have different taste and levels of cooking. You've seen that some people here have trouble cooking. Or some can cook basic meals, but not the more "complicated" stuff. It's just hard to just go by what you say and hope we'll be able to find happiness making barely any money, living paycheck to paycheck, and having no way to make money when an unexpected problem arises...

Not to mention, when picking a place to live, you have to consider more than city and price. Location in the city is important. Like is it close to work, or on the other side of town? Or being in what is considered a bad neighborhood. Like shootings happening frequently, or people breaking into cars, or people stealing packages. Or what's around based on your needs. Like a store to buy food or school for your kids and stuff...
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wolfy42 posted...

But @ 15$ and hour and min 40 hours a week, you can live most places in the US fairly comfortably by yourself, that is what I said, and I stand by that.

You say this, but then why would 78% of Americans be living paycheck to paycheck if that were true? Because paycheck to paycheck isn't comfortable. And some people make more than that, and families sometimes have an extra paycheck because of more people in the same house...
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I'm really not tailoring things to myself.

The car thing is sadly a mistake many make, and if you already made it, it's really hard to get out of. Even if you sell the car, it probably won't cover what is left on it, but I was also talking mostly about people just leaving home, and hopefully they have not already bought a new car and saddled themselves with 300-400$ payments a month etc.

I can't help everyone, but I can say through a life of buying and using cars, and friends who have done the same, you DON'T need to buy a new car and make payments, it's a bad investment and a waste of money.

As far as food, heck man, seriously, I could eat fairly well on $10 a day and never cook at all, but I'm good at finding deals and I also don't mind eating just once a day (somewhere with all you can eat food especially!!). Not everyone is down with that. But most can mmke eggs, or bagels for breakfast, or eat cereal I guess, and make sandwwches for lunch, and then eat pasta, or chicken etc for dinner most nights, and you can easily do that for $10 a day.

As far as location, seriously you want a place near where you work, and in most cases, you can do that pretty well. This place for instance was 3 blocks from where I was gonna work. You gotta spend time (at night mind you, internet now is a wonderful thing), to find a good fit, and plan in advance. I helped tons of friends and past roomates find places, I'm good at it, not everyone is, and often they have to move suddenly which means taking whatever they can get as fast as possible. Usually doesn't end up with a good deal that way.

And kids dude, kids are WAAAAY different, if you have kids everything I said is out the window, but hopefully you made the choice to have them, and I really hope you have someone to support you while raising them (a partner etc). Kids are a life choice, and a responsibility, and yeah, at that point I believe you need to buckle down and do what you have to, in order to give them a good life.

It is why I was very careful to never have kids by accident, even though I always wanted to have children. My wife was too sick for us to do so though, by the time I felt we were secure enough for it to be a resonsible decision.


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LinkPizza posted...

You say this, but then why would 78% of Americans be living paycheck to paycheck if that were true? Because paycheck to paycheck isn't comfortable. And some people make more than that, and families sometimes have an extra paycheck because of more people in the same house...

Because people:

Buy new cars and have payments.
Buy things on credit cards and have payments.
Live in much larger places then they need.
Have kids (big expense).
Spend ALOT on extras (starbucks, cable (god knows why now adays), vacations/trips, expensive food etc.
Many smoke (cigs or mj) and many Drink (both are expensive. Dating is expensive (specially for guys.
Many have expensive hobbies (my friends blew $2000+ on magic cards for instance when it came out)
They also blew a ton on VR machines (back in the day) when they were $1 a minute.

People blow money. I made $14 an hour as an electronic tech in 92 or so...my friend made $24 an hour. I saved half of everything I made. My friend had NO savings when he finally lost his job a few years later. HE bought a new saturn back then, and blew money on cigs + drinks + magic + VR etc...we went almost everywhere together (core group of 5). I had as many magic cards by winning games and tournaments and spent total $200 (mostly to enter tournaments).

People spend WAY more money then they need to quite often. Things like Starbucks, everyone laughs at buying 2 coffes a day for freaking $5 a cup, that is $300 a month in coffee!!! It's super common for people to do that!!

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New cars aren't a mistake for most. For me, the used car is a mistake. I'd rather buy a new car that I won't have to work on or fix every other month (and then every month later on). Even with good used cars, they always seem to start having all kinds of problem. I can only based this on what I've seen which is myself, my brother, and many people on base. Most who are good with cars. I've probably spent more on my last used car then I have on my new one in total. And definitely more in repairs as I've only have to replace the battery once on my truck after like 5 years, and my turn signal bulb. So, that "mistake" is one reason I have more money than I would have if I had bought another used car... At least, from what I've seen...

And the same in my brother's case. he was going to have to drive further. And because of the car, he didn't feel safe having to drive it so far. Now he has a new car, and it's much better. Nothing has had to be repaired on it. And it's not even that expensive a month. Every time I see a used car, it's almost never as low as the ones you find. And the ones that are that low are always pieces of junk. Even according to the car people. And knowing how they are with their cars, I do trust their judgment... In the end, for me, a new car was a much better investment than a used one. Others may feel that way, too, Especially the ones who have been burned one too many times...

Not everybody wants to eat once a day. And depending on the area, you may not live in a place where you have stores with good deals. We have like a few "supermarkets" here. And Wal-Mart is probably the cheapest (excluding the base commissary). And that;s if they have tome for that. I know I never have time for breakfast at home anymore. Also, eating the same thing gets tiresome. I made sandwiches for lunch everyday, and literally got sick of them. I made a bunch of different ones, too. Not the same one. And still got sick of them pretty quick. And many people are like that. Where eating the same thing every week gets pretty boring. And they get sick of it. And depending on where you live, it might not be $10 a day. Maybe if you can catch it on sale. And even then, to get everything at it's cheapest., you have to go to like every store in town, as everyone of them have different deals and different prices...

The problem is if they do have to move suddenly. And you can only find the good places, but don't always know how good or bad it really is. Like I found a place where the house was great, and price was great (compared to everywhere else), and the location was pretty good. Seemed great. And it was... at first. Now I realize the landlord is a super shitty one. And the house it pretty old. Which wouldn't be a problem if the landlord kept up with it. When I move, she's gonna have so much shit to fix before she can rent it out again. The heating/cooling unit, probably the hot water boiler, maybe another plumbing issue, etc. But even then, it was a great place at first. Not to mention the stuff that's not in housing details or online reviews of the place. Like a recent rash of crimes. Or just the area in general. A quick look can't always tell you if the area is good or bad. Not until you live there, at least... And getting trapped in a lease can be bad if you find a better place, because you can't always just break the lease. But waiting means you may miss out on a good/great deal. Plus, the quality of living. I can find an apartment (a couple) that are like dirt cheap. But my quality of living would go way down. Not to mention I'd then have to get a storage unit for everything that doesn't fit. And I have a house worth of stuff. My SO is getting one down here for a little for something he's doing (unless I get the house first). And a co-worker of mine was going to get one with his daughter once. Though, I believe they changed their mind.

For the second post:

Not everybody, though. Even I had trouble with my $15/hr job with overtime. And the only thing out of that list I have in a car payment. Which as I explained is much cheaper than when I had a used car. If I still had that used car, I don't know if I would have made it, tbh...

Some people just don't have any luck. And taxes in the places I've lived take a good amount out. You keep saying that with a $15/hr job, you'll take home $2200. And that have NEVER been the case for me. EVER... Even with overtime, I'm sometimes barely over the $1000 per paycheck mark. And when I was getting a little more, it was because they somehow mess up my tax shit. So, I ended up owing because of that.
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I've heard that before and I still don't get it, I mean the tax code is the tax code, even if they do take more out, your supposed to get it back (and I do know that depending on what you put on your w-2 they can take like 30% out).

It's messed up when they do that, especially when your making a significant amount, cause that is a decent amount of money you could make in interest between the time you would have been paid it, and you get it back from the government (if you file taxes, I've had friends who paid 30% and didn't even file to get the money back!!).

I mean, I can't convince yoo that used is better, you do need to know a bit about cars or have a friend who does, but even now, I just spend $60 to have a mechanic look at it (I used to be able to do it myself).

Point is if you get a used car for $1500 that a mechanic looks at for $60 and doesn't see any big problems (and isn't super old etc so you know things will need to be replaced). Even if you do end up having to spend some money later, it's WAAAY less spent then even buying a newish car for $10k, and then making payments (especially because insurance on a $2k valued car is significantly less as well).

But that has not been your experience, which I am sad about, but understand.

Also for most $15 /min wage jobs, you can basically get one near where you live, or use public trans, so don't actually need a car......I'm guessing your jobs pay a bit more then min wage for you to commute to them (although I certainly know people who have ccmmuted 30 minutes to work at safeway...for 20 years).

Yeah, it's all a mix. I'm really good at helping people get set up, finding good apartments or rooms, good jobs and manage their money. Always have been. It comes from having nothing as akid and taking care of my self, working under the table jobs etc, and getting by with as little as possible. It was ingrained in me when young, and even when I made more money, I was still always very careful.

Thank god most people don't have that experience, or live like me. I'm happy that is not the case, but it does hurt me to see people wasting money, or ending up homeless etc, when there are tons of options out there that could have worked. I used to volunteer at the Wellness center in Gilroy CA, helping people get set up etc. Sadly they have nowhere like that in Tacoma (or Olympia etc), and I have mostly just helped people individually on facebook instead.

I lived a long life, with all the responsibility for everyone always being on me. I might make things sound easy, but compared to what I had to deal with most of my life, it seems easy to me (not trying to make it seem that way, just trying to show how to do it....easily...so people can take advantage.

It's goes over better in person when I am literally helping you find a place to live etc....just posting on a board about abstract ideas, and how to rent cheap etc, really doesn't help much I think.

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Too much reading in this topic.

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You get some of it back. But not all of it.

Also, I don't know where you bank, but the amount you would get back wouldn't make you that much in interest. And interest is a moot point since you would probably be living paycheck still, meaning you wouldn't have anything really left over to make interest on...

The problem wasn't that the car wasn't looked at. It was. And it was fine... for a while. After like almost a year is when shit started to fall apart. In the end, I probably paid a couple thousand in repairs for everything that was wrong with it that only started happening after a while of driving it.

Another problem is that people around here know how to sell cars. The ones that have expensive parts and are harder to fix on you own sell for cheap. But he easier ones to fix with cheaper parts, to boot, sell for more because of that. they know what they're doing. People around hear know cars.

Public transportation around here only gets you so far. I would know, as I worked there. You won't be getting on base, fro example, on a normal bus. A para-transit van, yes. But those are more expensive. And they don't have the cheap all day or all month pass. They have a ticket book you can buy, but it cost the same as if you bought each ride individually. The actual bus stops are pretty spread out, though. And only run from 6 am - 6 pm. So not even that helpful if you have off hour shifts. The night vans (para-transit) run a little later. But only to midnight. So midnight to 6 am, you won't be going anywhere using them.

As for places to live, you might not be able to find them. For my job on base, there aren't actually many places around to live. There's a trailer park. And a few houses that haven't be vacant since I've lived here. Though they would be expensive anyway, as they have a shit ton of land. There is a nice town house complex. From pictures and reviews, it seems nice. Though, if you talk to anyone who's live there, they will tell you the same thing. "Don't ever live there. They're the worst." I know this to be true because I did live there. At first, i thought maybe it was just me that didn't like them. But as it turns out, everyone hates them. But you can tell from pictures or reviews. You can only tell from real people who have live their and left. You can't even tell from the people who currently live there, because they haven't seen all the bad parts yet...

For my other jobs, the houses are a little sparse. There's one across the street. It wasn't even livable until very recently. And I think it's section 8 housing or something now... There's another house close by, but it's huge, and will probably be given to one of the thousand children running around it. And another nice and small one. An old couple live there. And they will probably leave it to their kids. It is nice, and I would like it. Has a garage and everything. it probably won't be up for sale ever. Unless the kids don't want it. But I think they do. It would probably have a good price tag on it for rent or sell. Being so close to the bus station and all...

Not to mention again the place I currently live in. Which seemed great for the first year or two or whatever. Then I understood why it was probably pretty cheap. Which is the landlord... but whatever...

The main problem is while you've been to a lot of places, you haven't been everywhere. And you still haven't seen everything. Maybe you just get lucky. I do, too. That's the only reason i'm even still here. Luck. But not everybody has that. Not everybody has stores with cheap food or good deals. Not everyone can find cheap housing close to their job. One reason might be because everyone else who work there has found them all already. And when things are cheaper, there's usually a catch. Maybe expensive repairs, or a shitty landlord, or something you don't know about. You talk about money making schemes, but some of those require money to start. Like buying and selling cars, and working your way up. First, you need money to start, which can be hard living paycheck to paycheck. Second, that takes years to work your way up. Not to mention, special knowledge. Knowing how much a car should cost to buy, and knowing how much to sell it for. Also, knowing how to tell what's wrong with it. And being about to find these auctions, so....
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I mean, I've found places for many people, so not hundreds but alot of people, so it's not just the ones for myself.

And for cars there is Kelly Blue Book and a few other sources (Can't remember the name now), that you can go by, and most people do when buying/selling from a private party. You can also look and see how much people are selling the same car online in your for, and undercut it a bit (while still making a big profit).

Luck is also a part of everything, you can just be plain out unlucky and find nothing, no good jobs, no good places to live etc, but they are out there.

It's VERY easy to get stuck, to have say a car payment, and a credit card your paying off, some student loans you have to pay, meanwhile you don't even really like your job so you'll be damned if your gonna pass up getting your starbucks each day and eating a lunch out for $15 as well. When you do actually have days off you wanna go out and party cause your freaking young and you should, but it's almost impossible to go out even one night for less then $50.

Before you know it your working the same job you don't really like for years, with no savings, living paycheck to paycheck and actually going deeper in debt and hating it all.

It seriously, honestly, doesn't have to be that way, but if your in that boat, if your living it, it can seem impossible for people to get out of it.

But it is possible, you have to make some sacrrfices, take some risks, and most of all be motivated enough to even try, but if you keep trying, you can find something better. Alot of people don't realize that or don't believe that, or just don't have the energy left over for it (or in the process they get/get someone pregnant and have kids, or something else comes up etc that complicates everything)

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I mean, lets say someone actually makes $20 an hour, works 40 hours a week, but they pay 30% in taxes because EVIL (they get it back or some of it at least but usualll blow it on something fun when they do, or to pay off CC's etc).

That is $3200 a month but 30% of that goes poof (again it should be less then 20% but whatever)..so lets say $960 flies away and your left with 2240$ total to spend.

Where you live is pretty expensive so the cheapest decent place you can get (and your don't wanna live in a horrid neighborhood) is $1200. You pay $100 a month for internet and utlities, $50 for car insurance and $200 for a car payment every month. That leaves about $650 total left over.

IF you eat a lunch every work day, and get 2 coffee's that alone is gonna put you out another $20 a day, or $600 lol.....so yeah, no money for food besides that. You basically have $20 a day total left after base expenses (But not including things like cell phone costs, gas etc).

Makes it seem impossible....but shrug, it really isn't, just things everything thinks you have to have....you don't.

The whole 30% of paychecks things is criminal, and dude, you can get a CD from a bank that gives 1.5-2% (have to invest it for 6months right now mind you, used to be only 3 months). 2% might not seem like a ton, but it's $1000 a month they are taking out, over the whole year (and remember you don't get the returns right away the next year, so while it's not actually 12k for the whole your, it's more than a year before you get the refund), at 2% of $12k that is $240 bucks your losing out on, because they took the money out of your paycheck instead of waiting for you to send it to them by april.

So yeah, it can really add up.

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im not reading all that but budgeting yourself out of poverty is not a thing and acting like people who cant do it are spending $20/day on food and smoking weed pretty much disqualifies you from giving advice on this

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Lol 15 dollars an hour on a 40 hour paycheck will just barley cover the rent of a one bedroom apartment in Alabama. But you'll still have utilities groceries, car insurance, etc to pay. Really need to make about 17 or 18 dollars to live comfortably.

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afrodude77 posted...

Lol 15 dollars an hour on a 40 hour paycheck will just barley cover the rent of a one bedroom apartment in Alabama. But you'll still have utilities groceries, car insurance, etc to pay. Really need to make about 17 or 18 dollars to live comfortably.

Where in Alabama? Like a specific city?

I just did montgomery AL, and here is a link for a 1 ba apartment for less then $500 (seems really cheap there).

Tons of apartments for less then $800 (this was the first I clicked on btw out of tons of options under $800.

https://montgomery.craigslist.org/apa/d/montgomery-right-around-the-corner-near/7063639488.html

Meanwhile here is a link to find a payroll calculator for any state/area

https://smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator

Take home after taxes on $15*80 hours every two weeks is $2000 (a tiny bit less but basically).

So if you rented the above, you'd still have $1500 left a month to spend on other stuff (obviously you have other expenses).

I mean, it is SERIOUSLY cheap, I looked at a few more options, there are 3 bedroom 2 bath apartments for $650.....We rented a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment when I was in my 20s (early 90's) and it was $600 lol (in Hayward CA mind you). You could have 4 people live there (1 uses living room as a bedroom like we did) and each would pay less then $200 a month including utlities/internet probably.

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FrozenBananas posted...

I live alone (with my cat)

This lol

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TheWitchMorgana posted...

im not reading all that but budgeting yourself out of poverty is not a thing and acting like people who cant do it are spending $20/day on food and smoking weed pretty much disqualifies you from giving advice on this

Got THAT right. I'm only seeing Link's half of the conversation, whoever they're talking to is on my ignore list, and boy, if this isn't reinforcing how right I was to make that choice! =P

Sociological research for decades has found again and again that it is nearly impossible to pull oneself out of poverty unless practically everything else - race, gender, sexuality, education, health, family background etc - in your life was good already. If, for example, you're chronically ill, or you have no family support in the background, or you had something get in the way of your graduating high school, you've pretty much no chance.

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I live in a Rolls-Royce limo custom painted plaid. And cheap liquor never touches my lips and my brandy is imported every week.

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Everything about modern society is designed to keep people poor.

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SunWuKung420 posted...

Everything about modern society is designed to keep people poor.

SunWuKung420 posted...

Everything about modern society is designed to keep people poor.

America wasn't set up for the masses to succeed because the elites view that as meaning less for them in regards to wealth.

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BUMPED2002 posted...

America wasn't set up for the masses to succeed because the elites view that as meaning less for them in regards to wealth.

Yes it was but then we let corporations behave like individuals and it all went to shit.

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I live in my daughters house :)


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wolfy42 posted...

I just did montgomery AL, and here is a link for a 1 ba apartment for less then $500 (seems really cheap there).

Tons of apartments for less then $800 (this was the first I clicked on btw out of tons of options under $800.

https://montgomery.craigslist.org/apa/d/montgomery-right-around-the-corner-near/7063639488.html

place is filthy, tiling and wood floors are dented and clearly old, paint falling off the walls, the kitchen is behind exposed wood pillars that look like theyre rotting

like you really need to stop trying to double down on this lmao

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I live in an extended stay hotel.

TheWitchMorgana posted...

place is filthy, tiling and wood floors are dented and clearly old, paint falling off the walls, the kitchen is behind exposed wood pillars that look like theyre rotting

like you really need to stop trying to double down on this lmao

It was literally the first one I clicked on out of hundreds of options and it looks fine to me. I'm not that picky. I lived on rooftops at 16 lol. I also said there was a 3 bedroom 2 bath for $650, you can obviously find a much nicer 1 bedroom for that.

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wolfy42 posted...

It was literally the first one I clicked on out of hundreds of options and it looks fine to me. I'm not that picky. I lived on rooftops at 16 lol. I also said there was a 3 bedroom 2 bath for $650, you can obviously find a much nicer 1 bedroom for that.

I think the point they were making is that you picked the first one. And for saying it was a good place, it definitely wasnt. Whether its not close to where they want to be, or because of the things they named. Basically, like I said, its more than price and city. Location in the city, what they need, quality of life, etc...
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Currently living with my mother. I pay a "rent" of $500 per month and take care of house maintenance.

dancer62 posted...

Struck a nerve, apparently? Failure To Launch seems to be becoming more common.

I'd admit I do find it bothersome that some feel one must move out just to move out. I can accept there are many of reasons to justify moving out and renting an apartment. But to move out just to prove one is capable of wasting money on an apartment seems just that, wasteful. Now moving out to a condo or house is a separate matter. I kinda see it as an all-or-nothing thing despite the cost of housing. At least a condo or house can be a worthwhile investment if one can afford it. An apartment is just a waste of money.

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DirtBasedSoap posted...

i live in a van down by the river

came here to post that

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InfestedAdam posted...

Currently living with my mother. I pay a "rent" of $500 per month and take care of house maintenance.

I'd admit I do find it bothersome that some feel one must move out just to move out. I can accept there are many of reasons to justify moving out and renting an apartment. But to move out just to prove one is capable of wasting money on an apartment seems just that, wasteful. Now moving out to a condo or house is a separate matter. I kinda see it as an all-or-nothing thing despite the cost of housing. At least a condo or house can be a worthwhile investment if one can afford it. An apartment is just a waste of money.

If you have family and you get on with them, that's cool. My parents are both dead (mum when I was a teen, dad just a few months back), & my father had NPD & was an abusive alcoholic, so living with him was a nightmare no matter how many other family members shared with us. He used to deliberately blast music at six in the morning to wake up everybody who was still sleeping, even when we had no need to be up yet, and he knew only too well that being woken by loud sounds gave me migraines back then. Not all of us can endure living together.

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Trialia posted...

Not all of us can endure living together.

Exactly. Besides your situation I have read other life stories on GameFAQ where I agree moving out is for the better especially when it comes to one's mental health and happiness. But if there is no friction and no desire to live alone, why spend the extra several hundreds to thousands of dollars per month on something that one will never make a return on.

That being said, I'd admit because I have this safety net with living with my mother it can and probably have made me soft. We oughta always try and better ourselves so we can get that promotion we want or a better paying career but the pressure on me to do this is definitely lower than what others are probably dealing with.

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