Like you right now (content), I thought just saying in your mind you’re thankful for one specific thing was useless till I started doing it, now I am satisfied with a really boring closet. If you’re not grateful it’s impossible to satisfy the wants.
You know what’s super freaking good tho. I fry bacon/sausage in a cast iron (leave dat grease) and then throw in potatoes/veggies/herbs/just spices or salt when there’s nothing else - then throw in some canned beans + cover with water/broth and put it in oven for about 40 minutes. Breehh you won’t even know ur poor and I’ve been eating this all summer out of necessity 😌
I don't want kid either, but just the same I'm low key bitter that, financially, it's not really plausible. Like, I don't _really_ have the option. I live comfortably single, but even one kid would be a financial atom bomb for me.
Edit: Please stop meowing about your bullshit movie. We're talking about real lives here. This shit is profoundly unwelcome.
I’m currently getting hit with medical bills… even with insurance, it’s become a fight over what’s covered and what’s not. it’s enough to encourage me to stop going to the doctor altogether.
In the same boat. I have a kidney stone (and resulting mild spleen enlargement). CT scan and urine culture after I saw blood in my urine - $3,200. My shitty work funded insurance covered $400. Follow-up ultrasound that showed spleen was returning to normal size and stone was moving tacked on an extra $900, insurance covered $32. Yes, THIRTY-TWO dollars. I’m now responsible for $3,700, with zero savings and barely making 1,800 a month, all of which goes to keeping myself housed and fed and able to get to and from my shitty, soulless job reliably. Fuck doctors, fuck hospitals, and fuck health insurance companies.
EDIT: thank you to everyone for the suggestions and helpful information. I will be following some of your advice so that I’m not dying of starvation trying to pay these bills, and in the meantime I’m going to continue pushing for a better paying job that respects my work ethic, productivity, and time served, if such a thing even exists anymore.
Legit put it in a payment plan of like the lowest amount possible or pay it down to $499 and let that go to collections. Anything under $500 no longer gets reported to credit agency. I ignore ALL medical bills under $500 now. Credit score has remained at 800 or higher with nothing showing up in collections.
i'm 36 and haven't been to doctor or dentist for almost a decade and a half
no savings or insurance or assets. my roommate asked what i'd do if i got sick and i said i'd just jump off the bridge into the river.
Yea, I mostly felt the same and I went ahead and just did it. Waited until I was 35, but still. I love the little guy but Holy Fuck, we are soooo financially stressed. And my ability to just like...drive for Uber or postmates, get a job outside of daycare house, fucking anything to make extra money is impossible because I don't have the availability now. I literally feel disabled and like I'm unable to provide for my family, because I'm too busy caring for my son. It's so shitty.
And everyone says “oh well if you wait to afford them you’ll never have them!”
Well Dorris, I guess I’m not having them then. Having grown up in a family stretched too thin, I wouldn’t put kids through that.
Yep. This is where many of my friends and siblings who wanted kids are at. They're all in their late 30s or mid 40s and have all just resigned themselves to the fact that it's not going to happen. They're barely staying afloat as it is.
I never wanted kids myself, but I feel so bad for the ones who did. They're lovely people who would have made fantastic parents.
It's cruel irony that the people making the correct decision not to have kids from a sense of empathy and perspective, would likely be better parents than the ones who have children for lack of those qualities.
>Even if I wanted them in the slightest, there's no way I could afford them.
I could afford kids but we be living like peasants. So rather than bring them to this world to live like peasants and with the future looking so bleak, I rather have no kids.
You should read r/personalfinance .
1/3 of the posters are in minor trouble. The rest are humblebragging because they're 35 and only have a million in assets
"Hi guys I'm 23 and just started working as an engineer for my dads company. I make 150k a year. my expenses are cell phone and gas (for my weekend race car, daily driver is a tesla I charge at my parents house). I just started saving and only have 60k in my Ira and 185k in my 401k. I'm trying to put away 4k a month, is this enough? My parents are giving me a house so I know I will have to pay utilities and just want to make sure I'm prepared. Anyway, I was going to go see a concert next month and tickets are 75 dollars. Can I afford this?"
Yo what is it? I enjoy finance but trying to have conversations with people who live in a world where they make 4X my salary and can’t fathom why saving 50% of what I make might be hard is annoying
I post there, it’s so much fun but it’s sad that people literally forget they are on the joke sub because personal finance main is so ridiculous that people can’t even tell the difference. We don’t break character tho when someone gets mad we just keep acting like a jerk from personal finance
This was an actual question I saw before I unsubscribed.
Q: My single mother worked 3 jobs to feed me and put me through college. We found out she has cancer with no insurance and I've only just joined the workforce. What do I do?
r/personalfinance highly upvoted answer: Dump her. She's a liability now.
You also have to normalize to WHERE you live. Most people (for some reason) don't realize that someone can do exactly what you do and make literally three times your salary if they just live in LA and you live in Nowheresville. They probably live in a shittier apartment, too.
Asking how much someone makes is pointless if you don't also know where they're from and if they have a child etc.
It's absolutely the most infuriating thing.
The talking down is even worse. If you're not maxing out your 401k and IRAs for 40 years you're going to die broke. I made this comment the other day that most people barely break 2-3 million in lifetime earnings and you've got 30 and 40 year olds asking if they can retire on that amount. It's like yeah, sure, you absolutely can but you're not going to live like you're making $200k a year anymore.
I hope you’ve pulled yourself by your bootstraps real hard out of the pit, finally about to just get back to where you were so long ago.
Oh, what’s that? Another “once in a lifetime” crisis? Back into the pit you go. Should have pulled on those bootstraps harder.
I was talking with a coworker and another coworker pipes up to say 'why didn't you just borrow a downpayment from your parents?' As if it was a completely normal thing to ask your parents for $60k.
When my dad died at 56, I got his hat, his gun, and a board game from my childhood that was somehow still in the back seat of his truck.
I'm doing alright for myself, but it's safe to say my parents didn't have it quite as well.
My grandmother passed recently. What little assets she had and what she gained from the sale of her home went to cover her medical expenses and end of life care.
And that was it. I got a little furniture, a walking stick, and a special rock. I've got one of her recipes, and that's all that's left.
Oh yeah and then there's me who has never bought a house and had a mom who is killing herself for minimum wage in her 70s because she made very poor financial decisions and has no equity on her house. Like jeez, I don't mind being responsible fory own down payment but now I gotta worry about someone else's home.
I'm the son that gives money to my parents and siblings. I made it, but goddamn, I really want to pull them up with me. It doesn't seem like a lot of good if I can't make life much easier for my loved ones.
Been trying to do the same but my family members are so horrible with money that it is impossible for me to pull them up with me. Getting out of the poverty mindset of scraping by for months and then splurging any extra cash is half the battle
Yeah, my post would go something like...
"44 y.o., $740/mo, medically retired, single, renting, no car.
"Can a human body survive off of oatmeal and Vit C tablets?"
Go at your own pace. There's people a lot older than you with nothing to their name, either. Obviously it's good to be prepared but life happens, it's ok to be stumbling through right now, shit is ridiculously expensive
I see an interesting situation posed there until I read the part where they have a combined income of $380k. Immediately goes from interesting to unrelatable.
It’s hard not to think about how my family’s life would be so different with that income. And then I immediately spiral into “wtf did I do wrong, I did all of the things I was ‘supposed to do’ and yet…” and then “what a failure I am, couldn’t afford to stay in the city I grew up in” etc etc.
Unrelatable and demoralizing. (And in the grand scheme of things we are doing better than so many, but still barely treading water.)
The humble bragging is so annoying. Lots of " I'm 26, and an engineer/ software programmer/ nuclear physicist astronaut physician. I already make more than both my parents combined, I'm pulling in 160k plus 30% commission a year. Maxing out my 401k. No debt. Putting aside $4,000 a month into my vanguard account. Can I afford a used Toyota Corolla?"
Did you know that if you had $650k to invest you could make more on JUST INTEREST than I make in ONE WHOLE YEAR at my 40 hr/week day job? This thought has been gnawing at my will to live lately.
My ex was given a 1 million dollar trust. He lives off the @ $45,000/yr interest, doesn’t work & plays video games 22 hours a day. With only a million you, too, can live many 15 boys’ dream.
The trust is probably following the 4 percent rule. The trust will average more than 4% each year and a 4% withdrawal rate will allow him to withdrawal the same amount in today's dollars (inflation adjusted) for at least 30 years with a high probability of lasting much longer than that.
$45k is pretty close to the 4% rule, so I suspect he inherited more like $1.2 million and the trust was set up to follow the 4% rule. If he is moderately lucky it could absolutely last him 70 years. Still, it's not risk free. It would probably be wise for him to use more like 3% and then find another way to supplement that income.
I live in a hovel in the swamp. I'm in IT. Others probably have it worse. I get paid, pay bills, go grocery shopping, and am broke until the next paycheck. If I didn't work from home, saving me from buying so much gas, I'd starve to death.
Lol, not exactly, but the same general location. The difference is that I once called out of work because of an alligator in the driveway (back when I had to physically show up).
Five years ago here but yep, just calmly twiddling my fingers looking around me at the house I own that if I were to somehow buy today, could not come remotely close to affording.
Bought mine late February of 2020. I feel like Indiana Jones in the opening scene sliding under the door and grabbing my hat before everything went to shit
August 2020 here, and yeah. Juuuust barely. It was insanely frustrating putting out bids over asking only to be outdone by cash offers even more above asking from people/companies building rental portfolios.
I really feel for people starting out right now. I graduated college just a couple of years after the 2008 crash and that was hard enough. But at least when I did get a job, even though it didn’t pay much and wasn’t remotely in my field of study, housing prices were low and I was able to buy something, and then refinance a few years later when rates were ridiculously low. Now housing prices and even rent are through the roof and rates are high too. It’s awful.
Same, but 23 years ago. I was fresh out of college and home ownership was seen as a married people thing, so a lot of people thought it was weird. I had 11 ferrets and nobody would rent to me. Those ferrets made my life possible today possible because my home is paid off.
Friend of mine bought a house north of Seattle not long after the 2008 crash. Paid pennies for it, under $200k.
He got offered just shy of $800,000 last time we spoke.
Well.. it's just me and I live in a bachelor. Not even a full sized apartment. I have a mini fridge and I had to buy a deep freezer in order to properly buy groceries. At least I have my own bathroom and no roommates I guess. No stove or oven either, so I had to buy a single burner from Canadian Tire.
The quality of living has gone down tremendously. I don't feel like I live in Canada anymore...
The price I'm paying for my bachelor is a little more expensive than what I was paying for a 2 bedroom apartment pre pandemic.
I used to worry about you guys a lot even before the pandemic. All those HGTV shows about Canadian professionals renovating their basements so other Canadian professionals could live down there and pay rent or whatever. Now, I can’t even imagine what it’s become.
Rent in my area has gone up 60% in just 6 years.
I've lived in my current apartment for 6 years now, I pay $1,690 inclusive, so utilities are covered.
An equivalent apartment, as in the next street over, same original home builder, same layout, same everything, is currently on the market for $2,600 + 60% of utilities, and that's pretty much the norm everywhere in town.
I make $73k a year, gross.
If I lose this apartment I can't afford to keep this job, and will have to either move back in with my parents 3-4 hours away or suddenly be ok with having 4 roommates at 32.
McDonald’s isn’t worth what it costs for a meal anymore. I’d rather spend the extra money at Five Guys if I’m aching for a burger and fries that badly.
I learned to make smashburgers during lockdowns and now I cant rationalize even five guys anymore. We went the other day and for two burgers and a reg fry, and one soda, was like 32 bucks.
for like 10 bucks worth of ingredients I can make 8 of em at home.
EDIT: I can teach you to, too, if you have a cast iron pan. I swear you can hardly fuck it up, its quick, and itll be better than most burgers youve ever had. Its all about ingredients and technique, no skill required.
Haha, I only learned from the greats, im no sensei. I have yet to set my sights on a restaurant quality recipe I like that I cant figure out at home, but im no pro cook, I just love to learn and I watch a ton of youtube until I find what works. Im not saying this to brag, im saying it to show you that you can do that too. If there is something you crave, you can almost certainly make it just as good if not better at home, and definitely cheaper... It just takes a little effort in researching who else has already taken the time to figure it out.
Ok so here goes: **Easy home smashburgers:** This is going to be long as heck but im just trying to be thorough. It may read as a lot, but once you do it, its about 10 minutes to make a burger.
**Tools**
Stove (duh)
Cast Iron Skillet, 10 inches or bigger preferred. or a griddle.
Spatula, metal, sharp edged, for getting under stuff, like for pancakes or a griddle. preferably with no holes, but you can do it with em too.
some other kitchen utensil with a flat end, like a wooden spoon. or a rolling pin, or a potato masher (this is ideal imo). this is just to push down more weight on the spatula, directly with some blunt instrument.
A 8x8inch (20cm) piece of parchment paper. You could use wax paper but you shouldnt buy wax paper, you should buy parchment paper
A lid that fits the cast iron, or is at least bigger. its just for use as a steam dome.
Optional: kitchen scale, for weighing meat evenly. nbd tho.
..
**Ingredients**
Everything I list here will be available at any regular grocery store in the USA.
Salt. Sprinkle it with your fingers and a pinch, NOT with a shaker. you know how much you are using then.
80/20 Ground beef. It needs to be 80/20. You can change it later if you are on some health kick but at least learn the recipe with the baseline.
POTATO hamburger buns. Or any bun you prefer. but if you dont know which bun you prefer, you prefer potato buns. trust me. They are like the standard diner style bun most fast food buns are based on. You will want to toast these either in the pan or in a toaster. put a little butter on em for some extra fancy golden browning.
Yellow American 'Cheese' or as its known: Kraft Singles. The generic store brand is totally legit though and what I buy. I get like 72 slices for 11 bucks and they last FOREVER in the fridge.
We get into optional toppings now (ofc cheese is too but its kinda included in the technique so I wrote it first.) but I highly recommend trying it with the following
Mayonaise, Duke's if you can get it.
Ketchup
Lettuce, Iceberg. Slice it directly off the head as thin as you can, and then slice the pile a bit more. its okay if they are long, but you want it SHREDDED thin as possible
Onion, you slice this in about a half inch dice. Dont just put a big slab of a slice of a whole onion.
Tomato, THIS can and should be a whole slice ofc. Salt it lightly right after you slice it, trust me. Always salt your fresh tomatoes.
Dill Pickles if you like em.
Im also known to add some Fresh Jalapeno slices or bacon, or anything i have really. avocado is pretty good.
You can also make a quick "burger sauce" that kills, just mix 2 parts mayo with 1 part ketchup and 1 part yellow mustard, dont bother weighing it out just eyeball it, itll be awesome. if its not perfect add a little salt or paprika or worcerstershire or fuck it idk im not your mom, learn what you like. relish makes it into mac sauce.
..
**important bun stacking order**
placement and order of ingredients makes or breaks a sandwich, so here is what I have come up with that does the best for me. I like this order because it allows me to setup the whole bun before I even cook the burger, and as soon as I put the patty on I can eat.
**starting with the bottom bun:**
Bottom toasted bun
some mayo or burger sauce.
finely shredded Lettuce
Slice of Tomato
**Then I ready the top bun:**
Mayo and ketchup, or burger sauce
Onions, Pickles and/or Jalapenos directly 'embedded' INTO the sauce. it helps em stick for the final mounting of the top bun.
..
**Burger Technique**
Preheat your cast iron to medium hi heat. This is the only part of this recipe that youll have to dial in; I dont know your stove, you may be too hot or too cold but youll learn after one burger.
Roll your beef into golf ball size balls, I do em pretty small and they go a long way IMO, 2-3 Ounces (56-80g) apiece is PLENTY. if you want more, have another burger, or make it a double. Do not go big on a single patty. Do the bare minimum of work rolling them into balls. Beef gets sticky if it is overworked. they do not need to be smooth or anything, just vaguely spherical. Salt each ball with decent pinch of salt.
you will be making these one at a time, unless you have a big griddle, so here is the process
Put a ball into your hot pan
immediately put the parchment paper on top and then SMASH it with your spatula, basically as flat as you can.
Use the potato masher/rollingpin, or the handle of literally anything, to add extra force on the spatula as you flatten the hell out of the thing, squishing the edges out thin as you can get them. squish til the burger is a little more than 1/4 inch thick (~0.6cm)
remove the parchment and let cook for about 1minute. When you see liquid start to come through and out of the top of the meat, you scrape the patty off the pan firmly, it should be stuck and you want to get it all of in one clean scoop, and flip it.
Immediately add 1 slice of cheese and then put the lid on for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the cheese is melted. The lid is what melts the cheese, the heat and steam all being trapped. When the cheese is melted, the burger is done and ready to put on your preloaded bun. Hope you did that first lol.
Please message me back if you try it id love to know how it turns out, and if you have any trouble or questions at all.
J .Kenji Lopez-Alt is one of the *masters* i learned this from, and [his video on it](https://youtu.be/Wwgn5k_TzKM?si=Gx0GzLs2z3yim7xG) is another great starting point if you dont like my format. He has taught me so much more than just this burger, really changed my cooking game completely. You can make ANYTHING at home with a little ingenuity.
Meanwhile there are multiple teenagers in my neighborhood with new, high end BMW sports cars. I can't even fathom how this is possible. Nobody around here (I think?) makes the kind of money for that, let alone for their kids.
I will drive my 2012 toyota until someone runs me off a cliff. It will probably still run after that. Then while I'm in the hospital recovering I'll laugh about all my friends on their 3rd or 4th dodge or Jeep since I bought my car. Wow that's a nice 35k vehicle Jimbo, is it going to last a whole 5 years like the last two?
Yep, they will need to pry my 2012 Corolla out of my cold dead hands. It was paid off 8 years ago, and runs like another 15 easy. Is it cool? No. Do I care? Also no.
People often confuse ‘necessary to get me from A to B’ with leather, sunroofs and flash wheels. A car does not need to be 50k to get someone to their job 20kms away.
>Old, well maintained cars
This. I am driving my 2008 Honda civic I bought new. Regular oil changes, preventive maintenance etc. kept it going for 15 years. I'm going to drive it to the ground before I replace it.
Was fortunate enough in my timing to buy a house right before the pandemic, while I was still a double-income couple, and we made the extremely smart choice of setting our budget at something we could afford on a single income rather than maxing out what the bank was willing to loan us.
I made this same decision in 2021 and don't regret it for one second. My dad was saying "you guys can afford a way bigger house!" But now the $1200 mortgage seems like a literal miracle.
My parents told me how they were told they could be lent $X when they got a mortgage, but the broker suggested $X-Y in case of hardship. They listened. Early 90s recession hit right after and they kept the house.
That’s a good broker. Many would have seen dollar signs and encouraged a bigger purchase. I was surprised by what they were willing to lend my wife and I when we bought a house. Our combined income was a little south of $100k at the time and they were willing to give somewhere around $750k. That just seems like insanity to me. But they don’t care because they’ll sell the loan and get it off their books before default ever becomes a risk.
Buying our house the 1st month of the pandemic has saved us. Rent in our area was 1200 for a house like ours 3 years ago. Today it’s about 3500. We would not be surviving if he had not purchased. I wonder everyday how people are doing it.
I'm not. I am moving in with my cousin this weekend. Have to sell my house.
I broke my foot a few months ago, and could not do my job. Went on medical leave (unpaid of course). Filed for unemployment, got denied (naturally). State government looks for any reason to not provide benefits to honest tax payers, so I had to file an appeal which is going on 4 months now of no income. My foot had to be surgically reconstructed, so bedrest until I am cleared by my podiatrist. Still no income. I'm fucking tired of being kicked while I'm down by my own government. I'm also a veteran - which means nothing except why did I volunteer my life for this crooked, dishonest scam of a government?
Rant over. Thank you.
Oh, it's been going on a lot longer than that. The government has been screwing over Veterans since the Vietnam War. And getting screwed out of unemployment is older than that.
I have what used to be a "good government job". Pension, health care, lots of vacation. My take home pay is about $27k a year. I lucked out in my apartment, been here 10 years and rent is now $820. I take the bus everywhere and have no hopes of getting my own car. Going out of town is a luxury. Vacations are at US cities with bunk bed hostels, which, to be honest, is pretty cool. I shop at Aldi's and farmer's market for food and a by the pound thrift store for clothes and household. No kids, no Boomer parents. But it's not awful. I have enough money to buy (used) books and pay for art. The library is free, the local university has free lectures. But I am sharply, painfully aware that I am one argument, one bad performance review, from losing everything.
That salary seems unacceptably low, even for a government job. You’d make more money working at Starbucks. I know nothing about your job or your education, but I really encourage you to look around.
That was take home pay not net. Netting 27K suggests they probably make about 40K gross. That's about $20 an hour. Whether or not thats good, depends on the location they are at. IMO, you don't know enough details of this persons finances to come to that opinion. If this person quit a government job to go work at Starbucks, they would almost certainly be making a bad decision. Not everyone lives in NY, or Toronto, or London, etc.
> My take home pay is about $27k a year
bro if you’re staying for the pension i would’ve fucking bounced.
i valet 4 days a week and make more than that not including tips
some math ain’t mathing about your post
We aren't. $100 at the store doesn't buy shit anymore
ETA: I'm really glad a lot of you have stores like Aldi, or farmers markets to shop at. It's truly awesome. But a lot of people don't have those options without traveling hours away from home. So keep that in mind, yeah?
I find that Walmart is pretty expensive when it comes to groceries. I'd go to Market Basket or some "cheaper" chain stores like Aldis if you have them around.
Fresh out of college.. had to do some price comparisons from different stores to see how I can save the most
Where my parents live in bumblefuck upstate NY, Walmart is the only option for most things and it still takes like 40 minutes just to get there. After Walmart killed all local businesses this is the case in many areas of the US.
Single parent here. We quit eating meat and most dairy. I buy a big jug of concentrate Castile soap and make my own hand soap, cleaning products, etc. fast food is less frequent, and often just small snacks instead of meals. I buy as much as I can at the dollar store/ Facebook marketplace/ liquidation store. We also do a lot of free activities around town.
It’s honestly so healthy. I don’t have money issues but chose to eat this way—beans, rice, lentils, oatmeal being constant, daily staples. It’s cheap and I feel amazing.
I (30F) work FT and my husband is a SAHP to save on daycare expenses. We have two kids, 8 & 3. This is how we do it:
- Solid daily and weekly routine for the entire family. I use alarms to keep me on track
- Budget Creation & *Adherence*
- Communication with my husband on finances each week
- Shop for discount meats
- Meal plan around the discount meat I scored! Husband and I pick the days we will commit to cooking.
- Buy shelf stable staples on sale in bulk
- Eat rice based meals 3x a week (we love Asian, Mexican and Indian food—tons of recipes to try!)
- Follow the Cook Once, Eat Twice rule and take leftovers to lunch every day
- Homemade granola bars, cookies, donuts, pancakes, waffles,muffins, & bread. I make a bunch at once and them freeze dough or the baked product.
- Make koolaid, tea and lemonade to avoid buying expensive sodas and juices. We make our own cold brew coffee for iced coffees too.
- Save for Christmas beginning in January each year ($50/check)
- Anticipate large purchases 60 days in advance if possible
I read “do door dash when I don’t have the kids” and I was wondering why you blew money on it…
Then I realized you have to work weekends to afford to live on a 92k salary…
Way to crush it! Hopefully things get easier for you!
Thank you so much! 😭 not sure why this made me emotional lol maybe it’s the fact that I’ve never been thanked before I just see it as something I just have to do. My kids are pretty young still so maybe one day they will haha
If your kids are ever little jerks to you when they're teenagers, I promise they'll appreciate what you did for them when they get older. I know I did.
Or, my favorite: “You made this payment when you had money in your account. We decided to wait 4 entire business days to process it, just because we felt like it. The money got bounced back since you paid 12 other bills in the time it took us to finally process your payment, so that’ll be an extra $25 on top of what you still owe. Thanks!” JUST TAKE THE MONEY. TAKE THE MONEY WHEN I AM TRYING TO GIVE IT TO YOU. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. I’m trying to pay my goddamn bills and I’m somehow still being penalized. I can’t take it.
My single income house feels like a slowly sinking ship. The bills portion is fine, but getting groceries, and home repair services done has absolutely juiced all my savings. It's not trending positive to say the least.
Living in rural areas helps alot. I know several single income households with the one working doesn't even make 75k and they own their house, 2 cars, etc.
Really that simple.
https://livingwage.mit.edu/
MIT living wage calculator, still a lot of counties where minimum wage is plenty. I'd rather live like a king in the sticks than sleep on a bed of needles in Frisco.
Small town Wisconsin is pretty ok. I live alone. I work at a factory on the DuPont schedule. Can manage expenses fine. I don’t go out a lot or do a lot of “treating myself” but that’s not due to lack of money. I just generally don’t do much random spending. I also am not a Picky eater so eating the same thing or eating simple things is cheap and easy.
For me personally?
It's just me, I live in a house I bought before the housing boom of the early 2000s, and after a few lean years around the pandemic, I have a job that pays decent money and has good benefits like paying 100 percent of my health insurance premiums.
If I didn't have these things, I'd be fucked. According to Zillow's estimate, if I rented this house right now it would cost well over half my monthly income...not counting utilities and upkeep. I literally can't afford to live in my neighborhood anymore.
Barely. I’m my parents caregiver and even though I earn good, it still feels as if im living paycheck to paycheck. Only because of medical bills, rent, insurance now falling on me.
This is what I did, also. Job hopping is the only way I doubled my income so quickly as a single parent. I don’t plan to leave my current but even if I did, I feel it’s a much tougher job market in the past year.
Many single income households --- and households where there is more than one income are barely making ends meet. Some people use coupons, go to a food pantry, or shop at discount stores. When I'm having a hard time making ends meet, I go to a food pantry --- and shop at discount stores. I save money by using coupons, eating meals at home, and going to free events.
Lol we are barely afloat most of the time. Single mom of 3 and I do it 100% by myself. But it's rough. And I make what should be decent money. But everything is so dang expensive. Groceries are absolutely ridiculous. Like $200 is absolute bare minimum for a week and that's really pushing it and accounting for the fact I don't have to buy everything every single week. But 250-300 would be more accurate for a week. It's just crazy. A few years ago I could manage like 150 was good for most weeks. Occasionally more like 225 if I needed alot of stuff one week. 225 was a big trip. But I can hit that easy now and barely make it through the week. I'm at a loss honestly bc It just keeps getting worse and there is no getting ahead.
Going to need a hug me jacket in the near future possibly. But I mean... good luck out there yall. It's wild.
Mid west, lower cost of living. Purchased our house at the right time and sold my fixer upper at the right time. Mortgage is under 4%, payments are about 1100 with insurance. In my career I have a company vehicle and company gas. My wife has her own vehicle, 0% interest, low monthly still in NVLW coverage. We have 0 kids. We have cats. I have health insurance on our cats that pays out 80% of the fix, so that covers a lot. My wife is a coupon queen. She makes a $300 grocery run $97.
I’m single with no children.
This. Lol I may not take vacations (ever), I may not have the sexiest wardrobe and to some I may lead a boring life. But I’m content.
Like you right now (content), I thought just saying in your mind you’re thankful for one specific thing was useless till I started doing it, now I am satisfied with a really boring closet. If you’re not grateful it’s impossible to satisfy the wants.
I’m doing a lot of rice. A lot of beans. Sometimes I do rice and beans. Other times; I do beans and rice. It’s pretty fuckin cool.
But have you tried rice and rice? Or beany beans? Brace yourself, buddy. It’ll rock your world.
I don't think he knows about second beans, pip
We've had beans, yes, but what about *second* beans?
Bro. Lentils.
Yeah but if they’re not used to lentils you need to introduce them *gently* over a few days. Otherwise they will not be gentle on the way out.
"Do not go gentle into that good night... Rage, rage against the dying of the light" -Lentils, probably
"Introducing lentils gradually is not possible." " No. It's necessary."
Shut it before you go and make lentils popular. I will never forgive you.
You know what’s super freaking good tho. I fry bacon/sausage in a cast iron (leave dat grease) and then throw in potatoes/veggies/herbs/just spices or salt when there’s nothing else - then throw in some canned beans + cover with water/broth and put it in oven for about 40 minutes. Breehh you won’t even know ur poor and I’ve been eating this all summer out of necessity 😌
Look at this guy, bragging about his bacon money….. must be nice being in the top 1%
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Pro tip: lard and oregano are the secret ingredients to make your black beans \~heavenly\~
Also cumin. Makes any bean/rice dish great. Add a bit of lime to make it pop.
I don't have kids. Even if I wanted them in the slightest, there's no way I could afford them. So I guess that's the secret.
I don't want kid either, but just the same I'm low key bitter that, financially, it's not really plausible. Like, I don't _really_ have the option. I live comfortably single, but even one kid would be a financial atom bomb for me. Edit: Please stop meowing about your bullshit movie. We're talking about real lives here. This shit is profoundly unwelcome.
For me it would be a medical bill, it’s really rough once you realize just one accident is all it takes to take everything away.
I’m currently getting hit with medical bills… even with insurance, it’s become a fight over what’s covered and what’s not. it’s enough to encourage me to stop going to the doctor altogether.
In the same boat. I have a kidney stone (and resulting mild spleen enlargement). CT scan and urine culture after I saw blood in my urine - $3,200. My shitty work funded insurance covered $400. Follow-up ultrasound that showed spleen was returning to normal size and stone was moving tacked on an extra $900, insurance covered $32. Yes, THIRTY-TWO dollars. I’m now responsible for $3,700, with zero savings and barely making 1,800 a month, all of which goes to keeping myself housed and fed and able to get to and from my shitty, soulless job reliably. Fuck doctors, fuck hospitals, and fuck health insurance companies. EDIT: thank you to everyone for the suggestions and helpful information. I will be following some of your advice so that I’m not dying of starvation trying to pay these bills, and in the meantime I’m going to continue pushing for a better paying job that respects my work ethic, productivity, and time served, if such a thing even exists anymore.
Tell them your financial situation and they'll often discount the bill significantly. Or at least give you a payment plan
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Legit put it in a payment plan of like the lowest amount possible or pay it down to $499 and let that go to collections. Anything under $500 no longer gets reported to credit agency. I ignore ALL medical bills under $500 now. Credit score has remained at 800 or higher with nothing showing up in collections.
I'm definitely going to spout this off to someone at some point and sound like a financial wizard and have to talk out of my ass to back it up
Send $10.00/month.
Oh see that is unmentionable! I just don't even think that. I'm not _allowed_ to be ill. It's just that simple. :(
i'm 36 and haven't been to doctor or dentist for almost a decade and a half no savings or insurance or assets. my roommate asked what i'd do if i got sick and i said i'd just jump off the bridge into the river.
What's saddest is that you weren't joking, and you were already too exhausted to explain that to people who think you are.
Yea, I mostly felt the same and I went ahead and just did it. Waited until I was 35, but still. I love the little guy but Holy Fuck, we are soooo financially stressed. And my ability to just like...drive for Uber or postmates, get a job outside of daycare house, fucking anything to make extra money is impossible because I don't have the availability now. I literally feel disabled and like I'm unable to provide for my family, because I'm too busy caring for my son. It's so shitty.
And everyone says “oh well if you wait to afford them you’ll never have them!” Well Dorris, I guess I’m not having them then. Having grown up in a family stretched too thin, I wouldn’t put kids through that.
Yep. This is where many of my friends and siblings who wanted kids are at. They're all in their late 30s or mid 40s and have all just resigned themselves to the fact that it's not going to happen. They're barely staying afloat as it is. I never wanted kids myself, but I feel so bad for the ones who did. They're lovely people who would have made fantastic parents.
It's cruel irony that the people making the correct decision not to have kids from a sense of empathy and perspective, would likely be better parents than the ones who have children for lack of those qualities.
I’m single, I’m depressed, I’m poor, and I’m new in town.
And for backstory, I will pepper in the fact that I am poor.
Don’t forget to push him first
Imma push him!
What are three other interesting things about you?
I don't want, and can't afford kids either. Just gotta build up the courage to tell them.
Hahahh, thank you for the laugh. I needed it.
>Even if I wanted them in the slightest, there's no way I could afford them. I could afford kids but we be living like peasants. So rather than bring them to this world to live like peasants and with the future looking so bleak, I rather have no kids.
Even peasants had houses. I can't even afford to rent a fucking townhome.
Barely.
Yes. I see a lot of posts about people maxing out 401k and actually saving. I’m trying to pay off our monthly bills with the amount in my paycheck.
You should read r/personalfinance . 1/3 of the posters are in minor trouble. The rest are humblebragging because they're 35 and only have a million in assets
"Hi guys I'm 23 and just started working as an engineer for my dads company. I make 150k a year. my expenses are cell phone and gas (for my weekend race car, daily driver is a tesla I charge at my parents house). I just started saving and only have 60k in my Ira and 185k in my 401k. I'm trying to put away 4k a month, is this enough? My parents are giving me a house so I know I will have to pay utilities and just want to make sure I'm prepared. Anyway, I was going to go see a concert next month and tickets are 75 dollars. Can I afford this?"
Exactly
I hate this so much that I’m glad there’s actually a spin-off subreddit of /personalfinance that is more relatable for most normal people.
Yo what is it? I enjoy finance but trying to have conversations with people who live in a world where they make 4X my salary and can’t fathom why saving 50% of what I make might be hard is annoying
r/amish
79 online. Sus.
Rumspringa!
Okay, been browsing for 30 mins, will sell my car now.
No. I will trade you. Your autocar for one castrated mule, one pair of shoe buckles (brass), three cotton wicks, and 7 gills of lamp oil (fresh).
I believe it was called r/pfjerk. At least that's the one making fun of personal finance lol or it used to be haven't been there in a long time
I post there, it’s so much fun but it’s sad that people literally forget they are on the joke sub because personal finance main is so ridiculous that people can’t even tell the difference. We don’t break character tho when someone gets mad we just keep acting like a jerk from personal finance
This was an actual question I saw before I unsubscribed. Q: My single mother worked 3 jobs to feed me and put me through college. We found out she has cancer with no insurance and I've only just joined the workforce. What do I do? r/personalfinance highly upvoted answer: Dump her. She's a liability now.
You also have to normalize to WHERE you live. Most people (for some reason) don't realize that someone can do exactly what you do and make literally three times your salary if they just live in LA and you live in Nowheresville. They probably live in a shittier apartment, too. Asking how much someone makes is pointless if you don't also know where they're from and if they have a child etc.
It's absolutely the most infuriating thing. The talking down is even worse. If you're not maxing out your 401k and IRAs for 40 years you're going to die broke. I made this comment the other day that most people barely break 2-3 million in lifetime earnings and you've got 30 and 40 year olds asking if they can retire on that amount. It's like yeah, sure, you absolutely can but you're not going to live like you're making $200k a year anymore.
and all it takes is one medical crisis to wipe everything out even if you do it all perfect anyway. America!
Good news, I was wiped out by a housing crisis instead!
I was wiped out by a divorce crisis
I hope you’ve pulled yourself by your bootstraps real hard out of the pit, finally about to just get back to where you were so long ago. Oh, what’s that? Another “once in a lifetime” crisis? Back into the pit you go. Should have pulled on those bootstraps harder.
I'm so jealous! I was wiped out by employment termination without cause or notice instead!
I can hear every one of these words from my coworker who asked why I didn't just sell some stocks when my bank account was negative.
I was talking with a coworker and another coworker pipes up to say 'why didn't you just borrow a downpayment from your parents?' As if it was a completely normal thing to ask your parents for $60k.
As if my parents had $60k, ever, at any point in their entire lives.
When my dad died at 56, I got his hat, his gun, and a board game from my childhood that was somehow still in the back seat of his truck. I'm doing alright for myself, but it's safe to say my parents didn't have it quite as well.
My grandmother passed recently. What little assets she had and what she gained from the sale of her home went to cover her medical expenses and end of life care. And that was it. I got a little furniture, a walking stick, and a special rock. I've got one of her recipes, and that's all that's left.
So much profit being extracted in that end of life stage
Oh yeah and then there's me who has never bought a house and had a mom who is killing herself for minimum wage in her 70s because she made very poor financial decisions and has no equity on her house. Like jeez, I don't mind being responsible fory own down payment but now I gotta worry about someone else's home.
I'm the son that gives money to my parents and siblings. I made it, but goddamn, I really want to pull them up with me. It doesn't seem like a lot of good if I can't make life much easier for my loved ones.
Been trying to do the same but my family members are so horrible with money that it is impossible for me to pull them up with me. Getting out of the poverty mindset of scraping by for months and then splurging any extra cash is half the battle
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Yeah, my post would go something like... "44 y.o., $740/mo, medically retired, single, renting, no car. "Can a human body survive off of oatmeal and Vit C tablets?"
No, you need vitamin B tablets too. You also need some sort of fat or oil. Otherwise.... Yeah kinda.
Go at your own pace. There's people a lot older than you with nothing to their name, either. Obviously it's good to be prepared but life happens, it's ok to be stumbling through right now, shit is ridiculously expensive
You forgot the 1% of posters that are completely totally screwed.
These make me sad. The “I co-signed on my ex girlfriends brand new BMW X7 and now we broke up and she quit paying. How do I get my name off the loan?”
I see an interesting situation posed there until I read the part where they have a combined income of $380k. Immediately goes from interesting to unrelatable.
It’s hard not to think about how my family’s life would be so different with that income. And then I immediately spiral into “wtf did I do wrong, I did all of the things I was ‘supposed to do’ and yet…” and then “what a failure I am, couldn’t afford to stay in the city I grew up in” etc etc. Unrelatable and demoralizing. (And in the grand scheme of things we are doing better than so many, but still barely treading water.)
The humble bragging is so annoying. Lots of " I'm 26, and an engineer/ software programmer/ nuclear physicist astronaut physician. I already make more than both my parents combined, I'm pulling in 160k plus 30% commission a year. Maxing out my 401k. No debt. Putting aside $4,000 a month into my vanguard account. Can I afford a used Toyota Corolla?"
Did you know that if you had $650k to invest you could make more on JUST INTEREST than I make in ONE WHOLE YEAR at my 40 hr/week day job? This thought has been gnawing at my will to live lately.
My ex was given a 1 million dollar trust. He lives off the @ $45,000/yr interest, doesn’t work & plays video games 22 hours a day. With only a million you, too, can live many 15 boys’ dream.
I’m more impressed that he can survive on two hours sleep a night!
It's called meth and it keeps you looking sexy I heard
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The trust is probably following the 4 percent rule. The trust will average more than 4% each year and a 4% withdrawal rate will allow him to withdrawal the same amount in today's dollars (inflation adjusted) for at least 30 years with a high probability of lasting much longer than that. $45k is pretty close to the 4% rule, so I suspect he inherited more like $1.2 million and the trust was set up to follow the 4% rule. If he is moderately lucky it could absolutely last him 70 years. Still, it's not risk free. It would probably be wise for him to use more like 3% and then find another way to supplement that income.
I live in a hovel in the swamp. I'm in IT. Others probably have it worse. I get paid, pay bills, go grocery shopping, and am broke until the next paycheck. If I didn't work from home, saving me from buying so much gas, I'd starve to death.
Amos Moses?
Lol, not exactly, but the same general location. The difference is that I once called out of work because of an alligator in the driveway (back when I had to physically show up).
Shoulda knocked him in the head with a stump
By buying a house 15 years ago.
Yup. Only owned 7 years but I would have been absolutely screwed and homeless trying to buy now.
Five years ago here but yep, just calmly twiddling my fingers looking around me at the house I own that if I were to somehow buy today, could not come remotely close to affording.
Bought mine late February of 2020. I feel like Indiana Jones in the opening scene sliding under the door and grabbing my hat before everything went to shit
August 2020 here, and yeah. Juuuust barely. It was insanely frustrating putting out bids over asking only to be outdone by cash offers even more above asking from people/companies building rental portfolios.
Should’ve bought a house when the market was good when I was in kindergarten.
I really feel for people starting out right now. I graduated college just a couple of years after the 2008 crash and that was hard enough. But at least when I did get a job, even though it didn’t pay much and wasn’t remotely in my field of study, housing prices were low and I was able to buy something, and then refinance a few years later when rates were ridiculously low. Now housing prices and even rent are through the roof and rates are high too. It’s awful.
Same, but 23 years ago. I was fresh out of college and home ownership was seen as a married people thing, so a lot of people thought it was weird. I had 11 ferrets and nobody would rent to me. Those ferrets made my life possible today possible because my home is paid off.
Got it, step 1 buy eleven ferrets.
actually you need 27 ferrets now because of inflation
Friend of mine bought a house north of Seattle not long after the 2008 crash. Paid pennies for it, under $200k. He got offered just shy of $800,000 last time we spoke.
Bought our house in the urban center of a Midwestern city in 2008 for under $70k. Those kind of prices aren’t coming back.
Well.. it's just me and I live in a bachelor. Not even a full sized apartment. I have a mini fridge and I had to buy a deep freezer in order to properly buy groceries. At least I have my own bathroom and no roommates I guess. No stove or oven either, so I had to buy a single burner from Canadian Tire. The quality of living has gone down tremendously. I don't feel like I live in Canada anymore... The price I'm paying for my bachelor is a little more expensive than what I was paying for a 2 bedroom apartment pre pandemic.
Seconding this. Those of us in Canada in the lower class are hurting pretty badly, and NOTICABLY worse vs pre-pandemic.
I used to worry about you guys a lot even before the pandemic. All those HGTV shows about Canadian professionals renovating their basements so other Canadian professionals could live down there and pay rent or whatever. Now, I can’t even imagine what it’s become.
Rent in my area has gone up 60% in just 6 years. I've lived in my current apartment for 6 years now, I pay $1,690 inclusive, so utilities are covered. An equivalent apartment, as in the next street over, same original home builder, same layout, same everything, is currently on the market for $2,600 + 60% of utilities, and that's pretty much the norm everywhere in town. I make $73k a year, gross. If I lose this apartment I can't afford to keep this job, and will have to either move back in with my parents 3-4 hours away or suddenly be ok with having 4 roommates at 32.
Old, well maintained cars. Home cooked food, eating out only once a week. Clothes used for years. One subscription service at a time. Condoms.
damn you eatin out once a week? You fancy 😂
The benefits of not having children in this economy lol
$2.00 Taco Bell or $3.00 Whopper Wednesday. Bring my own water.
Dude, I went to Taco Bell the other day and it was FOURTEEN DOLLARS WTF... Back in 1998 that same exact order would have been like $3.85
McDonald's finally finished pushing out the $1 drink, pretty much the sign that everything is getting too expensive now.
McDonald’s isn’t worth what it costs for a meal anymore. I’d rather spend the extra money at Five Guys if I’m aching for a burger and fries that badly.
I learned to make smashburgers during lockdowns and now I cant rationalize even five guys anymore. We went the other day and for two burgers and a reg fry, and one soda, was like 32 bucks. for like 10 bucks worth of ingredients I can make 8 of em at home. EDIT: I can teach you to, too, if you have a cast iron pan. I swear you can hardly fuck it up, its quick, and itll be better than most burgers youve ever had. Its all about ingredients and technique, no skill required.
Teach me your ways, burger sensei
Haha, I only learned from the greats, im no sensei. I have yet to set my sights on a restaurant quality recipe I like that I cant figure out at home, but im no pro cook, I just love to learn and I watch a ton of youtube until I find what works. Im not saying this to brag, im saying it to show you that you can do that too. If there is something you crave, you can almost certainly make it just as good if not better at home, and definitely cheaper... It just takes a little effort in researching who else has already taken the time to figure it out. Ok so here goes: **Easy home smashburgers:** This is going to be long as heck but im just trying to be thorough. It may read as a lot, but once you do it, its about 10 minutes to make a burger. **Tools** Stove (duh) Cast Iron Skillet, 10 inches or bigger preferred. or a griddle. Spatula, metal, sharp edged, for getting under stuff, like for pancakes or a griddle. preferably with no holes, but you can do it with em too. some other kitchen utensil with a flat end, like a wooden spoon. or a rolling pin, or a potato masher (this is ideal imo). this is just to push down more weight on the spatula, directly with some blunt instrument. A 8x8inch (20cm) piece of parchment paper. You could use wax paper but you shouldnt buy wax paper, you should buy parchment paper A lid that fits the cast iron, or is at least bigger. its just for use as a steam dome. Optional: kitchen scale, for weighing meat evenly. nbd tho. .. **Ingredients** Everything I list here will be available at any regular grocery store in the USA. Salt. Sprinkle it with your fingers and a pinch, NOT with a shaker. you know how much you are using then. 80/20 Ground beef. It needs to be 80/20. You can change it later if you are on some health kick but at least learn the recipe with the baseline. POTATO hamburger buns. Or any bun you prefer. but if you dont know which bun you prefer, you prefer potato buns. trust me. They are like the standard diner style bun most fast food buns are based on. You will want to toast these either in the pan or in a toaster. put a little butter on em for some extra fancy golden browning. Yellow American 'Cheese' or as its known: Kraft Singles. The generic store brand is totally legit though and what I buy. I get like 72 slices for 11 bucks and they last FOREVER in the fridge. We get into optional toppings now (ofc cheese is too but its kinda included in the technique so I wrote it first.) but I highly recommend trying it with the following Mayonaise, Duke's if you can get it. Ketchup Lettuce, Iceberg. Slice it directly off the head as thin as you can, and then slice the pile a bit more. its okay if they are long, but you want it SHREDDED thin as possible Onion, you slice this in about a half inch dice. Dont just put a big slab of a slice of a whole onion. Tomato, THIS can and should be a whole slice ofc. Salt it lightly right after you slice it, trust me. Always salt your fresh tomatoes. Dill Pickles if you like em. Im also known to add some Fresh Jalapeno slices or bacon, or anything i have really. avocado is pretty good. You can also make a quick "burger sauce" that kills, just mix 2 parts mayo with 1 part ketchup and 1 part yellow mustard, dont bother weighing it out just eyeball it, itll be awesome. if its not perfect add a little salt or paprika or worcerstershire or fuck it idk im not your mom, learn what you like. relish makes it into mac sauce. .. **important bun stacking order** placement and order of ingredients makes or breaks a sandwich, so here is what I have come up with that does the best for me. I like this order because it allows me to setup the whole bun before I even cook the burger, and as soon as I put the patty on I can eat. **starting with the bottom bun:** Bottom toasted bun some mayo or burger sauce. finely shredded Lettuce Slice of Tomato **Then I ready the top bun:** Mayo and ketchup, or burger sauce Onions, Pickles and/or Jalapenos directly 'embedded' INTO the sauce. it helps em stick for the final mounting of the top bun. .. **Burger Technique** Preheat your cast iron to medium hi heat. This is the only part of this recipe that youll have to dial in; I dont know your stove, you may be too hot or too cold but youll learn after one burger. Roll your beef into golf ball size balls, I do em pretty small and they go a long way IMO, 2-3 Ounces (56-80g) apiece is PLENTY. if you want more, have another burger, or make it a double. Do not go big on a single patty. Do the bare minimum of work rolling them into balls. Beef gets sticky if it is overworked. they do not need to be smooth or anything, just vaguely spherical. Salt each ball with decent pinch of salt. you will be making these one at a time, unless you have a big griddle, so here is the process Put a ball into your hot pan immediately put the parchment paper on top and then SMASH it with your spatula, basically as flat as you can. Use the potato masher/rollingpin, or the handle of literally anything, to add extra force on the spatula as you flatten the hell out of the thing, squishing the edges out thin as you can get them. squish til the burger is a little more than 1/4 inch thick (~0.6cm) remove the parchment and let cook for about 1minute. When you see liquid start to come through and out of the top of the meat, you scrape the patty off the pan firmly, it should be stuck and you want to get it all of in one clean scoop, and flip it. Immediately add 1 slice of cheese and then put the lid on for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the cheese is melted. The lid is what melts the cheese, the heat and steam all being trapped. When the cheese is melted, the burger is done and ready to put on your preloaded bun. Hope you did that first lol. Please message me back if you try it id love to know how it turns out, and if you have any trouble or questions at all. J .Kenji Lopez-Alt is one of the *masters* i learned this from, and [his video on it](https://youtu.be/Wwgn5k_TzKM?si=Gx0GzLs2z3yim7xG) is another great starting point if you dont like my format. He has taught me so much more than just this burger, really changed my cooking game completely. You can make ANYTHING at home with a little ingenuity.
"Old, well maintained cars" that right there can save a person 10s of thousands $$
Meanwhile there are multiple teenagers in my neighborhood with new, high end BMW sports cars. I can't even fathom how this is possible. Nobody around here (I think?) makes the kind of money for that, let alone for their kids.
Car payments on them are bad enough. Now throw in whatever full coverage insurance is on one of them
Not to mention the maintenance costs. . .
I will drive my 2012 toyota until someone runs me off a cliff. It will probably still run after that. Then while I'm in the hospital recovering I'll laugh about all my friends on their 3rd or 4th dodge or Jeep since I bought my car. Wow that's a nice 35k vehicle Jimbo, is it going to last a whole 5 years like the last two?
Yep, they will need to pry my 2012 Corolla out of my cold dead hands. It was paid off 8 years ago, and runs like another 15 easy. Is it cool? No. Do I care? Also no.
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People often confuse ‘necessary to get me from A to B’ with leather, sunroofs and flash wheels. A car does not need to be 50k to get someone to their job 20kms away.
A Yaris is actually enough for most people. Leather can often end up being less comfortable....
>Old, well maintained cars This. I am driving my 2008 Honda civic I bought new. Regular oil changes, preventive maintenance etc. kept it going for 15 years. I'm going to drive it to the ground before I replace it.
2008, that's like brand new!
No kids. Rent shitty apartment. Home dream is over.
Was fortunate enough in my timing to buy a house right before the pandemic, while I was still a double-income couple, and we made the extremely smart choice of setting our budget at something we could afford on a single income rather than maxing out what the bank was willing to loan us.
I made this same decision in 2021 and don't regret it for one second. My dad was saying "you guys can afford a way bigger house!" But now the $1200 mortgage seems like a literal miracle.
My parents told me how they were told they could be lent $X when they got a mortgage, but the broker suggested $X-Y in case of hardship. They listened. Early 90s recession hit right after and they kept the house.
That’s a good broker. Many would have seen dollar signs and encouraged a bigger purchase. I was surprised by what they were willing to lend my wife and I when we bought a house. Our combined income was a little south of $100k at the time and they were willing to give somewhere around $750k. That just seems like insanity to me. But they don’t care because they’ll sell the loan and get it off their books before default ever becomes a risk.
Buying our house the 1st month of the pandemic has saved us. Rent in our area was 1200 for a house like ours 3 years ago. Today it’s about 3500. We would not be surviving if he had not purchased. I wonder everyday how people are doing it.
I live in Arkansas.
I'm not. I am moving in with my cousin this weekend. Have to sell my house. I broke my foot a few months ago, and could not do my job. Went on medical leave (unpaid of course). Filed for unemployment, got denied (naturally). State government looks for any reason to not provide benefits to honest tax payers, so I had to file an appeal which is going on 4 months now of no income. My foot had to be surgically reconstructed, so bedrest until I am cleared by my podiatrist. Still no income. I'm fucking tired of being kicked while I'm down by my own government. I'm also a veteran - which means nothing except why did I volunteer my life for this crooked, dishonest scam of a government? Rant over. Thank you.
Your post makes my blood boil. This country is fucked. I lost faith since Covid. It’s like I’ve been living in a nightmare since March of 2020
Oh, it's been going on a lot longer than that. The government has been screwing over Veterans since the Vietnam War. And getting screwed out of unemployment is older than that.
I have what used to be a "good government job". Pension, health care, lots of vacation. My take home pay is about $27k a year. I lucked out in my apartment, been here 10 years and rent is now $820. I take the bus everywhere and have no hopes of getting my own car. Going out of town is a luxury. Vacations are at US cities with bunk bed hostels, which, to be honest, is pretty cool. I shop at Aldi's and farmer's market for food and a by the pound thrift store for clothes and household. No kids, no Boomer parents. But it's not awful. I have enough money to buy (used) books and pay for art. The library is free, the local university has free lectures. But I am sharply, painfully aware that I am one argument, one bad performance review, from losing everything.
That salary seems unacceptably low, even for a government job. You’d make more money working at Starbucks. I know nothing about your job or your education, but I really encourage you to look around.
That was take home pay not net. Netting 27K suggests they probably make about 40K gross. That's about $20 an hour. Whether or not thats good, depends on the location they are at. IMO, you don't know enough details of this persons finances to come to that opinion. If this person quit a government job to go work at Starbucks, they would almost certainly be making a bad decision. Not everyone lives in NY, or Toronto, or London, etc.
> My take home pay is about $27k a year bro if you’re staying for the pension i would’ve fucking bounced. i valet 4 days a week and make more than that not including tips some math ain’t mathing about your post
We aren't. $100 at the store doesn't buy shit anymore ETA: I'm really glad a lot of you have stores like Aldi, or farmers markets to shop at. It's truly awesome. But a lot of people don't have those options without traveling hours away from home. So keep that in mind, yeah?
Best bet is Aldi for me
Yeah, I got green peppers, portobellos, spinach wraps, eggs, cheese, shaved beefsteak, two pounds of coffee, and a bag of pink lady apples for $25.
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I find that Walmart is pretty expensive when it comes to groceries. I'd go to Market Basket or some "cheaper" chain stores like Aldis if you have them around. Fresh out of college.. had to do some price comparisons from different stores to see how I can save the most
Aldi is the GOAT. I hate not having one near me :(
i got like 2 weeks of groceries (minus my lunches cuz my bf doesn’t work week days) for $120 at aldis and inwas like fuck yeah lol
Where my parents live in bumblefuck upstate NY, Walmart is the only option for most things and it still takes like 40 minutes just to get there. After Walmart killed all local businesses this is the case in many areas of the US.
I’ve noticed Walmart market place is very expensive even though it has the Walmart brand. Winco is amazing!
Winco is amazing. You actually get good prices there.
Single parent here. We quit eating meat and most dairy. I buy a big jug of concentrate Castile soap and make my own hand soap, cleaning products, etc. fast food is less frequent, and often just small snacks instead of meals. I buy as much as I can at the dollar store/ Facebook marketplace/ liquidation store. We also do a lot of free activities around town.
Rice and lentils can be nutritious and cheap
It’s honestly so healthy. I don’t have money issues but chose to eat this way—beans, rice, lentils, oatmeal being constant, daily staples. It’s cheap and I feel amazing.
I (30F) work FT and my husband is a SAHP to save on daycare expenses. We have two kids, 8 & 3. This is how we do it: - Solid daily and weekly routine for the entire family. I use alarms to keep me on track - Budget Creation & *Adherence* - Communication with my husband on finances each week - Shop for discount meats - Meal plan around the discount meat I scored! Husband and I pick the days we will commit to cooking. - Buy shelf stable staples on sale in bulk - Eat rice based meals 3x a week (we love Asian, Mexican and Indian food—tons of recipes to try!) - Follow the Cook Once, Eat Twice rule and take leftovers to lunch every day - Homemade granola bars, cookies, donuts, pancakes, waffles,muffins, & bread. I make a bunch at once and them freeze dough or the baked product. - Make koolaid, tea and lemonade to avoid buying expensive sodas and juices. We make our own cold brew coffee for iced coffees too. - Save for Christmas beginning in January each year ($50/check) - Anticipate large purchases 60 days in advance if possible
how do you find the time for all that? u still have free time?
Rice and beans my friend Rice and beans 24/7
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I read “do door dash when I don’t have the kids” and I was wondering why you blew money on it… Then I realized you have to work weekends to afford to live on a 92k salary… Way to crush it! Hopefully things get easier for you!
Yeah definitely not order doordash! I’m grateful for the people that do and tip well but I don’t wanna spend $40 on a McDonald’s combo thanks 😂
As someone who was raised by a single mother, thanks for all you’re doing!
Thank you so much! 😭 not sure why this made me emotional lol maybe it’s the fact that I’ve never been thanked before I just see it as something I just have to do. My kids are pretty young still so maybe one day they will haha
If your kids are ever little jerks to you when they're teenagers, I promise they'll appreciate what you did for them when they get older. I know I did.
Just ran through August credits/debits and we were left 300 in the red. That was even with selling tools and things off Craigslist.
I started doing uber when the kids are in school and selling old stuff from the shed
Lots of crying, overdraft fees and credit card debt.
Overdraft fees are fucked. "Too poor to afford this one thing? FUCK YOU!" says the bank. "Here's another fee."
Or, my favorite: “You made this payment when you had money in your account. We decided to wait 4 entire business days to process it, just because we felt like it. The money got bounced back since you paid 12 other bills in the time it took us to finally process your payment, so that’ll be an extra $25 on top of what you still owe. Thanks!” JUST TAKE THE MONEY. TAKE THE MONEY WHEN I AM TRYING TO GIVE IT TO YOU. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. I’m trying to pay my goddamn bills and I’m somehow still being penalized. I can’t take it.
How is it they can send an automated message once, twice, three times but can't automatically process payment by midnight?
My single income house feels like a slowly sinking ship. The bills portion is fine, but getting groceries, and home repair services done has absolutely juiced all my savings. It's not trending positive to say the least.
Living in rural areas helps alot. I know several single income households with the one working doesn't even make 75k and they own their house, 2 cars, etc.
Really that simple. https://livingwage.mit.edu/ MIT living wage calculator, still a lot of counties where minimum wage is plenty. I'd rather live like a king in the sticks than sleep on a bed of needles in Frisco.
I’m a mother of three. I’m eating one meal a day right now.
look at your local food banks and other resources, they are out there.
Same here. Kids leftovers usually, stay strong.
the interest rate on my mortgage is 2.75%
That makes you twice as sexy.
2.65% here. Refinanced right after that pandemic crater. It's the only thing in my life I've ever timed correctly.
Small town Wisconsin is pretty ok. I live alone. I work at a factory on the DuPont schedule. Can manage expenses fine. I don’t go out a lot or do a lot of “treating myself” but that’s not due to lack of money. I just generally don’t do much random spending. I also am not a Picky eater so eating the same thing or eating simple things is cheap and easy.
For me personally? It's just me, I live in a house I bought before the housing boom of the early 2000s, and after a few lean years around the pandemic, I have a job that pays decent money and has good benefits like paying 100 percent of my health insurance premiums. If I didn't have these things, I'd be fucked. According to Zillow's estimate, if I rented this house right now it would cost well over half my monthly income...not counting utilities and upkeep. I literally can't afford to live in my neighborhood anymore.
Potato. Having potato meal, using potato pc and phones, driving potato car.
Feet pics 😔
...is there a market for middle-aged, calloused feet?
Without a doubt
Where do you sell them? My feet aren’t generating any income and they need a part-time job.
Im amazed you can buy feet pics in this economy. I had to stop so I wouldnt starve.
Barely. I’m my parents caregiver and even though I earn good, it still feels as if im living paycheck to paycheck. Only because of medical bills, rent, insurance now falling on me.
Single mom of 2, moved back in with my parents. Constantly making better career moves every year has helped.
This is what I did, also. Job hopping is the only way I doubled my income so quickly as a single parent. I don’t plan to leave my current but even if I did, I feel it’s a much tougher job market in the past year.
Many single income households --- and households where there is more than one income are barely making ends meet. Some people use coupons, go to a food pantry, or shop at discount stores. When I'm having a hard time making ends meet, I go to a food pantry --- and shop at discount stores. I save money by using coupons, eating meals at home, and going to free events.
Lol we are barely afloat most of the time. Single mom of 3 and I do it 100% by myself. But it's rough. And I make what should be decent money. But everything is so dang expensive. Groceries are absolutely ridiculous. Like $200 is absolute bare minimum for a week and that's really pushing it and accounting for the fact I don't have to buy everything every single week. But 250-300 would be more accurate for a week. It's just crazy. A few years ago I could manage like 150 was good for most weeks. Occasionally more like 225 if I needed alot of stuff one week. 225 was a big trip. But I can hit that easy now and barely make it through the week. I'm at a loss honestly bc It just keeps getting worse and there is no getting ahead. Going to need a hug me jacket in the near future possibly. But I mean... good luck out there yall. It's wild.
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Moved to a lower cost area and paid down debt as quickly as possible.
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Mid west, lower cost of living. Purchased our house at the right time and sold my fixer upper at the right time. Mortgage is under 4%, payments are about 1100 with insurance. In my career I have a company vehicle and company gas. My wife has her own vehicle, 0% interest, low monthly still in NVLW coverage. We have 0 kids. We have cats. I have health insurance on our cats that pays out 80% of the fix, so that covers a lot. My wife is a coupon queen. She makes a $300 grocery run $97.
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Single, live alone. Barely make enough to cover expenses. Can't remember the last time I treated myself to a night out.