Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980
Funny you mention that, since as I said, I'm a LIBRARIAN! 
So don't hate on us for making a "decent" living, when we're the ones providing FREE services to people who cannot (or don't want to) afford things like computers/internet, books, movies, language instruction, kids' programs, etc. Without us, you'd have to find a way to pay for those things yourself - right? I'm not saying this to be rude, just reminding you that you're taking advantage of the services we provide, while simultaneously implying we earn more than we deserve. For the record, I'm thrilled that we can help people like you, but please don't make us feel guilty for earning a living while doing it. I can't work for free, you know.
And also not saying this in a rude or judgemental manner, but WHY are you struggling so much? What is your educational background, and what line of work are/were you in? I worked my butt off to earn two degrees (BA and Master's), so I wouldn't have to struggle... and then I find myself barely able to cover the basics, while private-sector tech workers are living large with fewer degrees and less experience. So it's a fair gripe, especially since I'm only comparing myself to other professionals in the Bay Area. Of course I'm better off than a minimum wage worker, and of course my salary is higher than even professionals in cheaper areas. But that isn't my point.
Furthermore, can you acknowledge that your estimate of my wages were WAY off? You did assume I was taking home like $7000/mo, when I only actually take home about half of that. So you might be aware of our high COL, but apparently forgot we still have to pay taxes and other deductions before getting those paychecks. If I really did have $5000 left after rent, I would be living VERY comfortably and not complaining one bit! |
I hate to whiz in your Cheerios, but I was also making a decent living in two states before the rents went out of control. I worked for 35 years supporting myself and believe it or not, I paid taxes then and I still pay taxes whenever I buy something that is taxed here where I live.
Please don't tell me I'd have to find a way to pay for computers/internet, books, movies, language instruction, kids' programs, etc. I pay for my own internet, get books from the library (available to
everyone), learn languages online (and I also learned German, Spanish, French, and Russian in high school) and as I said, I have neither kids nor TV. When I worked, my taxes also went to social programs that helped others, along with money that went to public schools, infrastructure, and other things I'm sure you and yours enjoy.
Why am I struggling? So many reasons and sometimes things that just happened.
I left an abusive home and started back to high school after quitting in the 10th grade when I was 17. For my last semester in high school, I was taking a full load of classes plus extra (a normal year's worth of units was 60 - I did 50 in one semester) while working full time to support myself and also working 12 hours a week for CETA. Yeah, I worked MY butt off.
I worked for BofA in the Bay Area when I graduated and gradually rose up to become head vault teller, but in the late 80s, BofA decided to cut all their salaried employees to hourly employees and this was at a time when rents were just starting to go up. I had been going to community college at night and now that I had almost all my units for a lower degree, I decided to try court reporting. This meant I needed to have a flexible work shift which I couldn't get at BofA, so I quit there and started waitressing and lived in my truck because the salary and tips of a waitress just weren't going to pay for an apartment. I then went to work for 7-11 for $5.50/hr at a time when rents were $500/month.
I ended up living in my truck for 6 years, paying for an appendix operation (no health benefits) and a new engine for my truck in the meantime. At about this point, the community colleges started charging tuition for the first time ever and I simply couldn't afford to continue any longer.
I tried going into the Army Reserve in '91 and was accepted into their training program at the Monterey School of Languages. I was on the delayed entry program - joined in May and expected to ship out in October. During the fall, a number of vets were coming back from the Gulf War and the Army then had more people than they knew what to do with, so they started cutting out positions left and right. Guess who got cut?
I eventually left 7-11 for Kinko's and worked there, working my way up and getting a room to rent and then a small trailer out in the boonies, making enough to support myself. And then, after I bought a new truck to replace the 17 year old one I had, my landlord dropped a bomb on me and said my new rent was going from $450 to $800 a month.
So I took all the money I had in savings and rented an apartment in the NW, where rents were still reasonable, transferred my job to Seattle, and rented a U-Haul and a trailer for taking my car. I settled in and commuted to Seattle by ferry for the next couple of years.
Things were going well. Then several things happened again. First, I decided to buy a house. This was great, but almost as soon as I had signed the papers, the building my job was in was torn down. I managed to find another job for the same company further away (the company had just said, sorry, we can't help you with anything). I now had a commute of 30 hours a week while I was working 40 hours a week.
I eventually quit that job and sold the house, moved to a trailer park, and started working for another bank. That lasted from 2005 to 2008. After that, I used what savings I had to support myself until 2010, when I could finally find another job. That lasted for all of 3 months, but I was rehired there in 2011. Unfortunately, it really was a bad job and after they let me go 3 months later again (actually, over a period of 2 months, our entire training class was let go), I qualified for unemployment for a year. To let you know how bad that job had been, the unemployment office automatically granted unemployment to everyone who was let go from there, whatever the reason. That was Sprint and they sure had a bad rep.
Anyway, a bad fall in 2009 and an aneurysm in 2014 sort of finished my working days. I can no longer stand or sit upright for more than about 10 minutes without excruciating pain. It took from December 2012 to May of 2017 for me to become declared disabled. Meantime, I was living in subsidized housing and on food stamps and state disability of about $200/month for that entire time.
I now have my $1300 coming in every month (and it looks like a fortune to me) with some back pay coming in from disability and I'm looking forward to possibly buying some land next June and putting a small house on it one day. The money will just be enough to pay for the land, so I'll be living in my car again while saving for the house.
But right now what I get every month isn't enough to pay rent on anything here in this area. I could buy a trailer in a park, and I suppose I'd be able to pay the space rent there for about another 10 years before it also goes up beyond what I can afford, but I don't want to scramble for another place again when that happens. So if you have any suggestions, feel free. I have one more shot to get myself in a decent place to live. If this one goes downhill, it's over.
By the way, you said, and I quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980
I'm a public librarian in the Bay Area, and earn right around $80K - which sounds good, until you realize our average rents (on a ONE bedroom) are over $2000/mo.  |
I can does math.
I divided your $80,000 by 12 and the result is you get $6666.67 a month. Close enough to $7000 for me. I realized that didn't include taxes and other expenses, but who ever figures taxes when talking about their pay? I mean, we all pay taxes. That's understood. You also said you paid for your car and everything else, well, so did I when I was making $10/hr in the Bay Area and after paying my rent, I was buying my own food and my own car insurance and my own cable and everything else, out of the left over $1150 I was making in the Bay Area from my salary there (before taxes) and later the same things from the $1278 (before taxes) I had left over after paying rent in Washington state.
It's not easy for anyone. I'm sure if I tried I could find people who are way worse off than I was or am and there are some things I could have done different (I wouldn't have bought the house now, knowing what I know, even though I could afford it at the time). But it's not like I can go back and change anything, just so you understand. I wish things had turned out different. But that doesn't help either.
By the way, Mods, I know this is WAAAAY off topic for this thread and I posted it only because it looks like the thread has run its course and also because Gizmo asked. If you want to delete the whole thing, that's fine with me.
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