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Life is horrible, sometimes you have no options. MW is terrible, there is no hope for any of us. Might as well slit your throat and bleed out since the human condition is so bad.
Rent a house from an absentee landlord, overcrowd it with schlubs paying you inflated room rents, live for free, sock away the money you no longer have to spend on housing, and voila you're rolling in money.
Get a second job and save up some money? When you want to do something, you find a way to do it.
Oh wait, I tried that. Worked great until a major holiday when I was scheduled to work BOTH jobs at the same time - and NOBODY was willing to trade shifts with me, so I had to choose which job to keep and which job to give up. I thought I had found "a way to do it" but my bosses had different ideas and you know who wins when that happens.
We get by like anyone else- live within your means.
we own a home He works a 9-5 job and i nanny
retirement looks a long time from now
similar living later in life
we dont have medical care until later this year with open enrollment.
we have 5 people on 1 income ( less than 40k/yr). NO government help!
??? You list 2 jobs, but say 1 income. $40K/year is about $19/hour. That's the beginning salary for my position, which requires a specialized 4 year degree. That's not minimum wage.
Have you ever worked two MW or near-MW jobs? I have... trying to coordinate them so that the perfect hour set up is very difficult; jobs demand flexibility more than anything else these days... a bunch of retailers will do these b.s. "call-in" shifts where you have to clear your schedule *in case* they want you to work. Your manager at job 1 does not give a flying F*** about your job 2. Holding multiple jobs at the same time will not last forever.... one will demand more than the other sooner or later. Not to mention that a person can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. Eventually something will give... most likely you'll have to reduce hours at one of the two to make it work.
The only way it's possible would be to beg, borrow or steal from relatives or friends. I joined the military, so my Uncle Sam helped me out. These days they are more stingy about health problems and ASVAB scores, so this may not be a possibility for everyone.
If a MW earner is trying to live on his own, he's not going to have anything left over. 50-60% goes to housing. A MW-style job is going to net you 1200-1500 a month tops. Most areas of the country, 500-700 is the clearinghouse rate for rental housing. Food will cost someone around $200 a month if they're at all trying to eat healthy. What's left over is what they have to work with.
There used to be a 'zero-down first time homeowner' mortgage program. I think it was through FHA.
In 1985 my wife and I were living in California where we both attended college. Our tuition was paid using the GI-bill benefit I had from serving 6 years in the US Navy. As I recall I got $550/month from the GI-bill.
I was working full-time digging tunnels and mortaring stone walls in tunnels. My wife was working full-time as a waitress in a truck stop. We were both getting MW for our salaries. Her take-home was a bit more [tips].
With that income we bought our first home. It is a Tri-plex. Three tiny separate houses on one lot. Two were filled with tenants and we lived in the third house.
We had to pay the closing costs and escrow account fees. When the first mortgage payment was due we already had rental income that covered the mortgage payment.
Once we were in that house, we lived for 'free'. The rental income covered the mortgage, the escrow covered insurance, property taxes, etc.
Within the first few months we began making extra principal-only payments every month to buy down the outstanding mortgage.
Have you ever worked two MW or near-MW jobs? I have... trying to coordinate them so that the perfect hour set up is very difficult; jobs demand flexibility more than anything else these days... a bunch of retailers will do these b.s. "call-in" shifts where you have to clear your schedule *in case* they want you to work. Your manager at job 1 does not give a flying F*** about your job 2. Holding multiple jobs at the same time will not last forever.... one will demand more than the other sooner or later. Not to mention that a person can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. Eventually something will give... most likely you'll have to reduce hours at one of the two to make it work.
Yes, I did it for years, while also taking classes and paying for them. There was one summer I worked 3 jobs all summer long. I did work some retail, but mostly I cashiered. Gas stations and convenience stores, fruit stands, etc. I also did some janitorial work late nights.
Oh wait, I tried that. Worked great until a major holiday when I was scheduled to work BOTH jobs at the same time - and NOBODY was willing to trade shifts with me, so I had to choose which job to keep and which job to give up. I thought I had found "a way to do it" but my bosses had different ideas and you know who wins when that happens.
So you gave up one job and after the holiday...what? There were no more minimum wage jobs to be found?
Giving up the moment one encounters an obstacle is a poor strategy. Seldom is the path to anything worthwhile completely smooth.
^minimum wage shouldn't be so low that working 2 or 3 jobs should be necessary. Temporarily, when you are young, fine. I did that for a while. For anyone else, it doesn't make for a very good quality of life. Working 2 jobs leaves no time for rest or family, and adds the stress of trying to coordinate schedules. A lot of you are taking pride in working multiple jobs for low wages. We, as a community and a country, should want better than that.
No he won't.
Granted having that cushion would make it simpler... but there are many, many ways.
...he has an unrealistic expectation and understanding of what MW allows for.
And thus we get back to what I said a number of pages ago. If you're on MW you need subsidy from someone....A family member, roommates (probably multiple), the government, or some other source.
Yes, I did it for years, while also taking classes and paying for them. There was one summer I worked 3 jobs all summer long. I did work some retail, but mostly I cashiered. Gas stations and convenience stores, fruit stands, etc. I also did some janitorial work late nights.
That's all well and good... But the cost of college has risen so much that MW would not even pay for community college today. College became unaffordable about 20 years ago. A MW worker over age 24 (or under 24 from a poor family) would qualify for Pell grants which puts comm. college or low tier university in play... But again we're talking subsidies; the MW alone is not adequate.
No. Don't be absurd. But you will need more than just the single MW job.
---
Are we still talking about the single and/or young?
Then you're going to be sharing a home with others.
How many others will vary.
If that single/young person has any hope of rising above that level,
as in marriage and kids and a real future... they'll need to rise above those limited skills
and/or relocate to where the skills they have will yield the rest.
BUT!! If you can't, or worse WON'T, do what's needed to rise above that MW level of life...
don't go looking for anyone else to blame but you.
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