How do low income people survive? (credit, tips, transaction, work)

[YBF]

Originally Posted by NEOhioBound

Seriously.. if you can't afford to live on 15$ an hour, you have what I like to call priority and budgeting problems. 15.00/hr is good pay

So true!! If you cant live on that then you seriously dont know how to manage money or you choose to live outside your means.

$15/ hour is good pay in NY too. Dont let ppl fool you. First there is more to NY than Manhattan. Someone living in Manhattan maybe having a hard time living off these wages but they need to move their A$$#$ out Manhattan....go live in Brooklyn or Long Island somewhere. And I know plenty of ppl making that or less and live just fine. They are not rich, they cant go shopping or eat out all the time but who cares? Especially if they have no kids. Then if you move down south that is good money for sure. Now ppl making $7/hour I cant speak for them they need roomates, no kids for sure. Or govt assistance.

[GloryB]

How do low income people survive?

Walmart

Seriously, $15 an hour is a comfortable amount if properly budgeted. There are times in my life when I've made less.

[artsyguy]

$15 an hour isn't bad.

Originally Posted by GloryB

How do low income people survive?

Walmart

Seriously, $15 an hour is a comfortable amount if properly budgeted. There are times in my life when I've made less.

[Colddiamond102]

Originally Posted by CA central coast

The worst was buying four books for one class and not even opening two of them. That used to kill me. Maybe there is justification for the cost, but to me, it's borderline criminal.

What d'you mean borderline?! Its robbery...

Originally Posted by Fnix

You can get free college books if you're low income so I dont understand why you had to pay. My mom makes $12,000 a year and they pay everything for her and she gets a check of $700 every 2 months to spend on whatever she needs.

I got screwed out of my pell grant b/c my grandmother left me 1000 on a CD. I couldnt collect until I was 21. When I collected it, I had to claim it on taxes. Then they said I made too much money. Now I am dependent on SCNB ( South Carolina Need Based Grant), Lottery assistance, and a Hope Scholarship. Even with these I had to pay $600 out of pocket for the remainder of my tuition this semester, PLUS books.

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

Isn't that entirely dependent on where you live?

Sure, where *I* live it's excellent pay. Where I live, $10 an hour is quite do-able if you're not careless. I would imagine it doesn't go as far in CA or NY or Seattle.

HA!
Ya'll try paying for books, food, gas, cell phone, clothes, groceries for the house, and credit card bills on 6.85 an hour.
PLEASE give me 10.00 an hour! I'd feel rich!
And no, I am on no sort of govt assistance other than my grants and scholarships. No food stamps, nothing. Everything else is budgeted to the 9's and planned for down to the penny.

[BrunetteBeauty]

Originally Posted by Colddiamond102

I got screwed out of my pell grant b/c my grandmother left me 1000 on a CD. I couldnt collect until I was 21. When I collected it, I had to claim it on taxes. Then they said I made too much money. Now I am dependent on SCNB ( South Carolina Need Based Grant), Lottery assistance, and a Hope Scholarship. Even with these I had to pay $600 out of pocket for the remainder of my tuition this semester, PLUS books.

I have a full-time job where I earn a very decent wage, but I was fortunate in that, although my classes were $20 a unit, I received a BOGW and had my tuition covered. I only had to pay for books and always purchase mine on cheapesttextbooks.com.

[jwiley]

Hell right now I make $14 an hour, and we live damn good. Of course I work 70 hours a week and I go to school at night, but my wife is able to do what she has always wanted and stay home with the kids. Last year I worked two full time jobs one paying $11 an hour and the other $9 while going to school at night, no it is not easy but it is not impossible, like others have said, learn to cook, no drinking, and no car payments.

[Cinnabunz]

Originally Posted by GloryB

Seriously, $15 an hour is a comfortable amount if properly budgeted. There are times in my life when I've made less.

Yup me too...and shoot with this economy that extra $2000 per month can help out a LOT!

I gotta quit procrastinating with my textbooks and buy them used online nexttime!

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by Colddiamond102

HA!
Ya'll try paying for books, food, gas, cell phone, clothes, groceries for the house, and credit card bills on 6.85 an hour.
PLEASE give me 10.00 an hour! I'd feel rich!

You need some scissors to cut that cell phone line and your credit cards. That might free up some cash every month.

[gardener34]

20years, that might be your experience, but I am currently stuck with an animal that was abandoned when the neighbor/owner foreclosed and had to move to another state. She just abandoned it. It was starving and full of fleas and in our yard constantly and would not leave. Of course, I had to start to feed it eventually, as I am an animal lover.

My problem now huh.... I did not want a pet, I would have gotten one if I did. Now I need to worry about what is going to happen to this animal when winter comes. We can't let it in the house because of severe animal allergies. So I may end up spending the $75 fee to surrender it to a shelter...

All because a loser decided to dump their pet when they couldn't afford to keep one in the first place.

It is a complete pet peeve of mine when people do not have the means and will not take care of their pets in the correct manner. i.e. no spaying (there ARE low cost programs for this that many refuse to seek out), no vaccinations, tags, collar, etc.

[gardener34]

"although my classes were $20 a unit" do you mean $20 per credit hour? Where do you go to college, I want to go there! Our local community college is $90 per credit hour and that is cheap for our state anyway. Or was this some years ago?