How do low income people survive? (degrees, temporary, company, health insurance)

[Jesse69]

No, $15/hr is a pathetic wage to me but I'd do it PT between jobs while collecting unemployment for maybe 16 hrs a week so I can eat good food. I graduated from the 6th best college in the nation for a Mechanical Engineering degree so I can have a great salary and good life buying NEW things. Well, I have never bought a new car or housing yet. I was a minimum wage engineer in my 20's and had to live at home rent free with my parents. I had jobs in the early 90's that paid me $10, $12.50 / hr as an engineer, and life sucked and I felt worthless and not worthy of a pretty chick. If $15/hr gets you $425 take home per week - that sucks too. Oh, I thrift shop too, but the best stuff is new from stores or ebay.

$20/hr & 44 to 48 hrs per week, my take home was around $765
$25/hr, 40 hrs, split per diem - take home around $860
$28/hr, 40 hrs, split per diem - take home around $984

last job - $32.10/hr, 40 hrs, split per diem - take home around $1069 per week - life was awesome!

worst job - bike messenger for 1 month for only maybe $900 the whole FT month.

I expect way more out of life than a minimum wage job; I'd do it if I was desperate of if I was curious about how it was to work a fast food job, or if I couldn't rely on family or savings. Right now, it seems better to not work a $7 retail job, not spend money except for food and rent, and live off my $12000 in savings. I should spend my time studying up on skills needed for my next professional $30+/hr job, not waste time at a minimum or low wage job. So I'm lucky having a good useful degree, and I studied and sacrificed hard for it. But I think my career sucks, and it surprises me when employers say I have a good resume! I just don't know how my resume compares to others!

Yeah, I wouldn't like having 3 jobs, massive overtime, or living everything so cheap and only thrift. And it amazes me many people do this. Worst is when they try to have kids!

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by Jackyfrost01

Exactly. I'd never take that risk. I need my car too badly and sure can't afford to get another one right now, let alone pay for yours

Yeah... my car was hit last November and totaled. My son's leg was broken and I had minor injuries. Because I had no health insurance, I ended up with emergency room bills I couldn't pay (for me, my son was covered)... and of course, the other driver was not insured and it was his fault (he rear ended me, sent us flying forward a good 75 feet).. I was in the left lane waiting to turn, had my signal on and everything... I don't think he even saw me stopped until right at the last minute. I didn't even hear brakes or anything, just BAM!

The car was "only" $1500 but that's a lot to me and it was an excellent car, reliable and good on gas. Even had working A/C. . I'd saved up and paid cash for it and had only had it about a year, so I had to suck up the loss and be without a car for a while since I could only afford liability insurance, and I am still trying to pay off the ER bills, and the guy who hit me? Who knows.

My mom wants me to sue but why? If he had no insurance I doubt he has anything worth suing over. I definitely struggled to pay my insurance, thankfully I have USAA due to family members before me so it's a bit cheaper than most but still, there have been times when I was really pressed to come up with the $, thankfully it's always been scraped up one way or the other.

I'm terrified of something like that happening again and I'm hoping to upgrade to collision coverage as soon as I can on my current vehicle since I can't afford to just eat another loss like that due to dumba$$ uninsured drivers.

[TKramar]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Do not even get me started on this. Car insurance is optional--if you plan on NOT DRIVING!!! People who think it's OK to tool around town without it just *&^%$* me off so bad I can't see straight. And they're usually smoking a damn cigarette while they're pulling out of the Mickey D's drive thru. No matter how tight times have been, that is the one bill I have always had "auto-deducted" from my account. ALWAYS. Since I was 17 years old, and I'm 44 next week.

Please, if you can't pay your insurance bill you have absolutely no business on the road with the rest of us responsible people. Thank God Texas is FINALLY getting fed up with these losers and towing their cars on the spot. Grrrrrrrrr I can not emphasize how mad this makes me.

Take a damn bus while you save up your money to get back on the road.

If you don't own a car, why have insurance? I had a car break down on me (just one of a long list of reasons I don't even LIKE to drive), and the cost of repair exceeded the cost of a new "used" vehicle. Which I couldn't afford either. So I stopped coverage. Why pay for something you're not using? State of Florida wanted to suspend my license because I had no insurance. Incredible!

[TKramar]

I'd even take $7 an hour.

SOME money coming in is always better than NO money coming in.

[POhdNcrzy]

Sorry to get into politics here, but what is the DUMBEST out of these three options?

1. Poor people skip out on car insurance and cause major financial problems, state government responds by increasing penalties for driving without insurance and blows money on marginally useful computer programs that attempt to identify drivers who might not be insured. The problem remains unsolved.

2. State gov't legislates that insurance companies must pool the risk of uninsured drivers amongst themselves and pay out coverage in cases where there is inadequate insurance.

3. Some other idea that's not totally senseless and brain-dead and helps solve the problem.

Oh yeah, I guess the insurance company LOBBYISTS always foil those kinda solutions....

[Cindy15161]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

Surely y'all aren't talking about peanut butter and Ramen in the same dish...?

Yeah, that does sound kind of gross. Peanut butter and soup?!

[Jesse69]

What is stupid is that poor people without insurance should then be really careful not to get in an accident because they have no insurance and would really be screwed. Yeah, they are poor because they stupid and get in accidents too, which is greatly preventable by careful and conscientious driving.

Yeah, if my unemployment checks are messed up I might take a miserable $7 /hr job for only 16 hrs a week, so I can eat good food and stretch rent and savings.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

What is stupid is that poor people without insurance should then be really careful not to get in an accident because they have no insurance and would really be screwed. Yeah, they are poor because they stupid and get in accidents too, which is greatly preventable by careful and conscientious driving.

I disagree, and so does the law. You absolutely are not supposed to be driving without liability insurance at a minimum. Why should I have to pay for damage YOU caused to my car???? It's been said a million times--driving is not a right, it's a privilege.

[gardener34]

NOT together, although some professional chef somewhere could make it work...

This was my diet through my last 2 years of college:

Ramen noodles
peanut butter + bread - cheap and filling and protein!
soup - again filling, and cheap
mac and cheese in a box
eggs
spam
cheap bologna
bread / toast
pasta and sauce in a jar

and multivitamins - cause I found if I didn't take them, I got sick more often ... since this is not the optimal diet.

[BOBBB17037]

Watch if you drop car insurance after if you no longer have a car. I did this when I had a company truck with company insurance about 10 yrs ago. I then bought a car and needed insurance.I checked with several insurance agents and all told me my premiums would be very high for a year because I was considered a "new driver" because I was without insurance in my name for a period, even though I had been driving for 15 yrs and had insurance before.