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At $12/hour, you make $1920/month. That's not small. I can easily live on that wage.
Not so fast, I only make 12 an hour infrequently. I'll get to that later. I make $11 an hour at 35 hours a week or 1.6K a month GROSS in my normal 9-5 job. This is about $787 a check every two weeks. We have taxes, I pay about $110 each check for withholding, Medicare and Social Security. That drops my check down to $677 From there because I work in a public school district, I have to pay into the Arizona State Retirement System at about 90USD out of each check. That drops me down to $587. I could take that home BUT I also pay for Dental (for now) and Short Term Disability, leaving me at about $560 a check. Not complaining, just stating.
Right now, I got a health bill at $225 per month for the next oh 7/8 months, Insurance at about $90, a car payment at $204. Gas and groceries is about $150-225 for me, depending on everything. I also put $100 into savings each check I don't even touch it for bills. That leaves me with $670-745 a month. That said, savings wise I'm taking a beating though. In March I had a car accident and a $1000 deductible, several doctors appointments at $90-120 each, nearly got prescribed a $200+ migrain headache medicine and a CATscan for migrains a month ago, while today, I had to get an oil change but some how within a day, the inside door mechanism doesn't work, I needed front tires due to separation and eventually an AC that is going down the tubes ($800-1200).
Oh and because I'm in a school job, my summer is unpaid. My 12 an hour job gives me anywhere from 6 to 12 hours but not as frequent and maybe two days per check but there's a good number of no checks too... The check can range from $65 to $130 a check after taxes.
just a thought...maybe you don't have the skill, are too young or old, but it cant hurt to try
jobs are out there
Age: 30 as of June.
Skill: teaching assistant, security, retail, have a management bachelor's degree and a general business associates degree.
Security: I am a licensed Arizona Unarmed Security guard and possess an Arizona fingerprint card so I don't think clearance should be a problem.
The Tolleson job you linked is about 35 miles away (both ways) and I'm not an agricultural life expert, don't have those skills so sadly can't do that.
The Luke Medical Technician job, I don't have the skills for at all, so that's out.
The Luke Quality Assurance job, I never worked in that role at all but I'll chalk this as a maybe. My mother did this right out of high school...
The Luke Logistics Management job, I too never worked in it though I did a Supply Chain management section in NAU's MGT 301 and GCC's GBS 220, so maybe.
The Luke Information Technology job, I could possibly do but don't have proper IT training (especially with design of IT systems like this position is looking for), so this out.
The Range operator is WAY above my grade. I'm not an existing federal employee, veteran, etc. so I'm out before looking at the duties.
All of these "just work hard" responses are all not accounting for real life set backs. One that many can understand...let's say your car breaks down and you have to fork over a $1000 because of bad gasket. Or lets say your neighbor in your apartment decided to leave the space heater on while they went to work and burned down the whole apartment building. What if you're wrongly accused of a crime and you have to pay for a quality lawyer? Let's say you come down with some illness and you have to fork over some money for your insurance deductible or for medication...now tell us where this money is supposed to come from working $8/hr?
Some people in here really are out of touch and you can tell they're talking about things that they've never had to do themselves but they're suggesting other do. All these "just work and save" responses" are laughable. Go ahead rattle off more "bootstrap" crap.
This is what I don't get from the bon marts of "Life's tough, get a helmet" or "Bills are a fact of life, get use to it." These canned lines are heartless and show no empathy. I do thank the posters that did offer suggestions, but most are out of touch jerks that never really had to deal with bills they can't pay for. I was depressed for an entire month and a half after my gallbladder surgery in February 2015. I had a great paycheck but it was still not even one-sixth of the $6.5K bill. I didn't have a steady job then so I was worried and contemplated suicide. I couldn't get AHCCCS (Arizona Medicaid) due to living at home with my parents.
All of these "just work hard" responses are all not accounting for real life set backs. One that many can understand...let's say your car breaks down and you have to fork over a $1000 because of bad gasket. Or lets say your neighbor in your apartment decided to leave the space heater on while they went to work and burned down the whole apartment building. What if you're wrongly accused of a crime and you have to pay for a quality lawyer? Let's say you come down with some illness and you have to fork over some money for your insurance deductible or for medication...now tell us where this money is supposed to come from working $8/hr?
Some people in here really are out of touch and you can tell they're talking about things that they've never had to do themselves but they're suggesting other do. All these "just work and save" responses" are laughable. Go ahead rattle off more "bootstrap" crap.
"Out of touch" is right , these Republican right-wingers seem to be stuck in the 1950's with their thinking and "life strategies". No, even simply "working harder" or more hours is often not enough for an individual person in 2017 to survive on their own, with cost of living SO much higher than what minimum wage type jobs can afford. Traditional strategies such as "I'll mow a few lawns over the summer to pay for college" are simply out-dated at best, outright DELUSIONAL at worst
It is mathematically impossible to survive on minimum wage $8/hour type jobs in 2017, here's the math:
Assuming the person works for $8/hour and 40 hours a week
($8/hour x 40 hours) x 4 weeks in a month = $1280 before tax = $1088-ish after tax (assuming 10-15% tax bracket)
Assuming the "typical" cost of living for an average American with NO kids or welfare assistance
$800-$1000/month - Average rent in most cities for a 1-bedroom apartment
$75-$150/month - Average car insurance payment, depending on age of car etc
$150-$300/month - Average gasoline expenditure depending on vehicle and commute distance
$200-$300/month - Average food/grocery bill for one person, assuming a somewhat healthy diet
$50-$100/month - Average cost of miscellaneous household items such as toilet paper, etc
$150-$300/month - Average health insurance bill depending on a number of factors
$75-$150/month - Average utilities depending on several factors
$40-$70/month - Average cell phone/internet bill
+???/month on TOP of all this - If there is any debt service (car loan, student loans, etc) or kids involved
...and all of this is without saving any money whatsoever.
Grand totals for "typical" cost of living on $8/hour minimum wage
$1550ish-$2370/month on the typical $8/hour wage $1088ish take-home pay
$1088ish pay - $1550ish-$2370ish cost of living = negative $462-$1282 every month, literally mathematically impossible
And in many recent threads on here, Republican right-wingers have actually been advocating for no minimum wage at all
Now before you say "well, those types of jobs are only for teenagers anyway", I just want to remind you that it's the year 2017 and many full-grown adults wind up working these poverty level McJobs. We need to have some sympathy, because people end up in $8/hour type jobs for a variety of reasons.... they were laid off from a good-paying job, their bills went up and they needed more income, they couldn't find anything better in the area, no other jobs called them back, etc. The point is, the economy is much worse in 2017, and we don't live in the 1950's anymore.... plenty of full-grown men and women are working minimum wage or close to it. It's not "just for teenagers" anymore.
The cashier at the nearby 7-eleven down the street? The guy who rings up my coffee? He's like in his early 40's, but I've talked to him here and there and he says he works there because "times are tough and i need the money", so i know that these people are out there and that's just one example. If Republican right-wingers had their way, these honest hard-working people would be rounded up and shot - they would rather "brush the issue under the rug" than address it
Meanwhile America more and more resembles a Mexico-style 98% poor / 2% rich stratified society every year. But right-wingers have 0 issue with 8 individuals having more wealth as 50% of the human population, or paper-pusher executive types raking in $500k+ salaries. Instead of noticing this very real problem affecting average and lower-income Americans, republican right-wingers seem to have this tunnel-vision regarding "brown people" and other economically un-important issues..... as if the very complicated and nuanced economic issues of the day can be boiled down to "brown people", while a CEO makes more money than all his employees combined
Maybe someone making 8 bucks an hour should live at home or do what everyone else does... get a roommate.
"Out of touch" is right , these Republican right-wingers seem to be stuck in the 1950's with their thinking and "life strategies". No, even simply "working harder" or more hours is often not enough for an individual person in 2017 to survive on their own, with cost of living SO much higher than what minimum wage type jobs can afford. Traditional strategies such as "I'll mow a few lawns over the summer to pay for college" are simply out-dated at best, outright DELUSIONAL at worst
Yeah remember the one about businesses forcing a city to stop a boy for mowing lawns or that city that forced a little girl to give her lemonade stand money because she "didn't have a permit." Even the summer job for what two, two and a half months would only get a half of semester at community college by me.
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My 12 an hour job gives me anywhere from 6 to 12 hours but not as frequent and maybe two days per check but there's a good number of no checks too...
The check can range from $65 to $130 a check after taxes.
, these Republican right-wingers seem to be stuck in the 1950's with their thinking and "life strategies". No, even simply "working harder" or more hours is often not enough for an individual person in 2017 to survive on their own, with cost of living SO much higher than what minimum wage type jobs can afford. Traditional strategies such as "I'll mow a few lawns over the summer to pay for college" are simply out-dated at best, outright DELUSIONAL at worst 
