What does living paycheck to paycheck mean to you?

I hear this all the time and think, aren't the majority of Americans living pay check to paychecK?

 

i dont think it is nearly as bad as people are making it out to be... the media always has to make things look worse then they are in order to sell news.

 

For me it meant working off the books on my time off. It meant deciding which bill absolutely had to be paid and which could be put off for awhile. It meant going to McDonalds for my anniversary. It meant vacationing backpacking in the mountains or going to visit friends who had room to put us up.

What it did not mean? It did not mean getting a check from the government each month. It did not mean (*)(*)(*)(*)ting in the street and cursing those who were doing better. It did not mean think you owed me anything.

I almost choked when I heard an American congresswoman, almost in tears, saying, "There are popel in my district so poor they can't afford cable TV." I* almost broke down and cried. And then I heard on NPR, "You don't have to live poor just because you don't have any money. That's what credit cards are for." And then the unnamed woman, "Obama will pay off my mortgage and my credit card."

 

Well the (recent) subject was food prices going up and one lady mentioned she won't be able to buy food if costs keep rising b/c shes live payday to payday.

Anyway I've heard this since I left the nest and always thought we were bad with our finances b/c we don't have stocks/bonds or a lavish amt in savings. I'm older and wiser now(not that old and realize that the majority probably live the same way. We personally have a little extra left over for misc, or small emergencies, but that's it.

 

None of the above.

Living pay check to pay check is usually a choice made by people that live beyond their means. Getting ulimited everything package for their cell phones, buying new cars, trying to get the biggest house they can find, etc when they work at McDs or some other low paying job.

 

For real?

 

According to who's standards, yours??

Yea because Machy D's pays so good everybody who works there drives a brand new car and own their own home. The girl who makes fries at our local Macky D's just had a cement pond and a Jacuzzi with a waterfall put in the back yard of her home in the gated community she lives. I just don't know how she does it??
　
　
Oh and don't forget about those drug dealers getting rich off of their $280.00 welfare check every month. I heard the local drug dealer with the four bedroom 2 bath, ranch model brick home ($350,000.00 value) out by the mail box cussing and yelling cuz his check didn't arrive, promptly at 9 am so he could get it to the bank to cover the payment on his brand new caddie, since he didn’t want to cash in his food stamps, stopped in mid cuss, cause he didn't like the song on his I-pod, and being the spend thrift that he obviously is, didn't just change the song, he changed I-pods.
　
　
[sarcasm off]

 

I love nitwits who pretend that minimum-wage jobs are a career path. I'm sure they know who the minimum wage workers are but it doesn't fit the liberal meme so they lie and pretend.

 

The majority of people start out their working lives at minimum wage. The reason-they have no skills. As they get more experience and more skills, they are worth more money. This is as it should be and people who complain are usually young and unhappy about having to pay their dues. Employers pay for skills, that's what makes them money. Everyone seems to want to start out with top wages even though they have no skills to justify their demands. Employers will pay for skills. It is their bread and butter. So, don't be in such a hurry, learn how to do something (in an employers opinion) and you will be compensated. No employer is entitled to support you.

 

There are people who believe a minimum wage job is a career?? I guess that means the myth about everybody/anybody can be successful is just that a myth. Anybody with that mentality is already mentally deficient, and probably shouldn't be handling sharp objects or implements of destruction. Guess that explains the spork.
　
Of course anybody who believes it isn’t a part of the pathway to success, for anybody who is not born with silverware sticking out of every hole in their body is an idiot too.
　
You gotta start somewhere. Unfortunately placing yourself in that position for too long will assure you will be there for life.

 

What do you for standards on your question there boss? If you get paid $2000 a month, you should only be paying ~$1700-$1800 in bills. This includes water, house, food, trans, electric and communication. The other $200 should go to savings for "incase emergencies". You should be saving 10% of your take home income.

If you are not doing this, you are living "beyond your means" because eventually you will need to dip into savings to pay for an emergency.

I get ~$4000 a month in pay. I have a family of 4. I pay $2700 in bills each month. The rest I have set aside for savings. But I only allowed my bills to get that high cause of how much I made. When I was only getting paid $1000 a month, I only spent $900. It is finding a lifestyle to fit your income, not an income to fit your lifestyle.

 

I didn't say it was not a good idea to live responsibly, now pay attention to this part, in a free society people have the right to be as reckless with their income as "they" see fit, it's not up to you to dictate what is wrong or right for them. If they want to get paid on Friday, smoke, drink and run whores, until Tuesday when they are broke and live off of ketchup packages to make tomato soup for the next few days, that's their business not yours.


Yes I know, if we as tax payers are footing the bill it becomes our business, but according to the law, it's not. I don't make the rules, kay.

 

Yep, I agree.

Actually, that rule was made by some DA liberal who is trying to buy their vote. I will fight against providing for this type of behavior until it is changed or I die. I find it quite astonishing that there are people like you that will fight for them, or try to ignore the situation as just being "the law" with out trying to fix the broken law.

 

it means not having enough to pay for neccessities that others take for granted like snacks and cable tv

some people are forced to live welfare check to welfare check because they are not given enough to climb the ladder only remain at the bottom

this is seen in the working poor as well as the free market decides to pay them minimum wage with no raises

 

None of that is a right for you to have.

I see few flaws and somethings that are really telling about your frame of mind.

You think a paycheck is just "given" to you, not something you earned. This would explain why the left is so willing to have other people taxed more cause they don't see the money as being earned over given. But when you are used to welfare, I guess you can get confused on the difference of "earned" vs "given".

Two, you think the amount of money you have is the reason why people get promoted or climb the ladder. Sorry, it is your work ethic. You could actually spend every last dime you make of a $10,000 paycheck every week and still get promoted. You don't climb the ladder because of how frugal you are with your own money, but by how much you mean to the company you work for.

You no that is a total lie. If you stay put, and keep working at the same place, you will get a yearly payraise. If they are willing to keep you working even if slack ass you will get a raise. Even women at walmart get yearly raises.

 

Where in the world did you get that I am fighting a personal crusade for irresponsible behavior?

 

Seriously, snacks and cable tv are a necessity?


I consider paycheck to paycheck to mean you are only able to afford basic bills [housing, food, medical, basic utilities (not cable)]perhaps have a little emergency savings. I would not use the phrase for someone who squanders their money and by choice does not have significant savings after bills are paid. That is not a judgment, people can do what ever they choose with their own money, I just would not consider them as living to paycheck unless I added by choice to the phrase.

 

You see that little punctuation mark at the end of the quote? That doesn't indicate that I was putting you squarely into the actively fighting crowd. Passively fighting is different though. And brushing it off as "its the law, what can we do" is passively fighting.

 

snacks and cable are NOT neccessities!!!

 

I've never in my lifetime seen this country struggling like this and I'm 52.
I've never seen people doing without on a regular basis for so long.
I've never seen a pall of sadness over the nation that was so prolonged.

It sucks
I blame Obama and the dems for making it WORSE, not better. FAR WORSE.
I'm angry and I'm not the only one. There WILL be hell to pay next year on election day.
Get ready.

 

Wjoker;

　
　
Reaching a bit aren’t we??
　
　
Everyday I'm on here I am trying to make a "real" difference. Every time I post my signature is clearly visible for people to read, and hopefully comprehend the ramifications of their actions.
　
　
The problem "IS" the corporate owned two party system. If anybody is passively doing nothing about the problems this country finds itself in, it is somebody like you who buys into the two party scam, votes the party line each and every time, and continues to expect better results the next time around.
　
　
"Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results"



That is the corporate owned two party system in a nutshell, and the sheeple continue to not learn from their mistakes.

 

Speak for yourself, I'm addicted to M&M's and the Okra Channel.

 

Don't tell me let me guess. You are going to fix the problem with the polidiotic idiotology of this country by voting for the other corporate owned political party, and hope thing will be different than the last time they took advantage of us and mislead us?
　

 

its abusive to withold snacks and cable from the poor, they need some basic pleasures to make their lives tolerable.

 

No, this country - especially the working middle class is reaching a boiling point that will shock both parties. No longer will we stand by and LET them rob us.

I'm not talking about OWS or some violent revolution, or riots either.

I'm talking about a demand for accountability that will be too big to ignore.

The corporations didn't just buy Washington. Washington sold themselves. They makes the rules and the problem starts with them.