Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aldi and Liddle's cheap food is I would say a false economy.
I would like to know more, can you elaborate?
They are a snob. There’s loads of good quality food in Aldi or Lidl. Plenty of crap too. Don’t buy the crap.
Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
281–290 of 390 posts
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#282For the majority of Americans the simple fix is to spend less than you make and stop acquiring debt to impress people you don’t like.
Cost of living and wages, of course, are factors to consider, but relocation to a more affordable area is an option for many. It’s a matter of going through with it.
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not “fear mongering” when 800,000 people aren’t getting paid purely because the President was getting bashed by right wing media.
And the US is an outlier any other democracy not getting a budget though would result in a vote of no confidence and a new election at the least a new government.
Not directly budget-passing related, but Belgium went 589 days without an elected government due to disagreement between the parties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_Belgian_govern...
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#284I was getting paid 150k a year and living paycheck to paycheck...
Depression, debt and "education" can really blind you. Add in a gf/wife who can't budget for anything, sick family members and some bad luck...
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
The majority of people who are living paycheck to paycheck don't have enough assets to cover debts. Furthermore, paycheck to paycheck living outside of poverty and disability is rarely the result of a one time mistake, it's usually due to an inability to budget and save day-to-day. Which is the reason they end up with more debts than assets. Not to mention people who can't afford their house can often not afford to t…
Upkeep’s a killer. I kept having people tell me to buy in my 20’s, and I couldn’t fathom their logic. I could rent a 4 bedroom house for less than a mortgaged, let alone alone a mortgage plus upkeep. I kept doig the math, and I’d have to tie up a huge chunk of capital, and hope the house appreciated faster than upkeep costs, and that I didn’t piss away all gains again in realtor fees when I next needed to move. But r…
I know it’s a terrible answer but buy a newly constructed house. That’s all I’ve bought and the maintenance on them is close to nothing. Plus the house will be a lot more energy efficient and save even more money. Just stay away from an hoa or condo.
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's because all the surplus goes into rents. If your job depends on you living in a big city, then you need to pay a fortune to get a tiny fraction of the quality of life that your parents had and that you had as a child growing up. A lot of corporate jobs these days force people to live like rats in big cities.
A lot of corporate jobs these days force people to live like rats in big cities. This is a problem with zoning: https://www.amazon.com/Rent-Too-Damn-High-Matters-ebook/dp/B... , not with "corporate jobs." If we fix zoning, costs will go down. Los Angeles is instructive. In 1960, it was zoned for 10 million people: https://la.curbed.com/2015/4/8/9972362/everything-wrong-with... . Today, it is zoned for 4.3 million. Ha…
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Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#287For the majority of Americans the simple fix is to spend less than you make and stop acquiring debt to impress people you don’t like. Cost of living and wages, of course, are factors to consider, but relocation to a more affordable area is an option for many. It’s a matter of going through with it.
I credit watching Fight Club at an influential point in my life for teaching me this lesson.
"We work jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need"
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#288There is a way out. Use cash. My wife and I struggled with this, we do well and found our expenses increasing with our income. Our solution was to take a small windfall (tax refund) to bootstrap two months of basic expenses, and dump money from direct deposit into a specific account. We did that to get current. That eliminated many dopey expenses (Starbucks, shiny things in the grocery, etc). It’s harder to spend mon…
I'm actually the opposite. Cash is free money in my mind. But yes, it's important to use money from the source where it disappearing will bother you.
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#289There is a way out. Use cash. My wife and I struggled with this, we do well and found our expenses increasing with our income. Our solution was to take a small windfall (tax refund) to bootstrap two months of basic expenses, and dump money from direct deposit into a specific account. We did that to get current. That eliminated many dopey expenses (Starbucks, shiny things in the grocery, etc). It’s harder to spend mon…
This just sounds penny wise, pound foolish. Starbucks isn't breaking the bank, something larger is. And your credit card policy hurts your family, to the tune of thousands of dollars every year.
Starbucks might not be breaking the bank, but it and the 10 other "not breaking the bank" habits all added together very well could be.
Also in order to same "thousands" every year, you either need to be spending a significant amount of money, or be carrying a significant amount of debt. Neither are strictly necessary. Avoiding it is a good plan for a lot of people.
Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the very fact that people in wildly different circumstances are living paycheck to paycheck is a huge flag that this isn't as simple a problem as "they don't get paid enough". Income and expenses are intricately linked by psychology. It's almost irrelevant what your paycheck is, if you're prone to this problem then somehow expenses will always rise to meet it. If expenses weren't actually determined by payche…
I think a lot of people misunderstand. Before I had a nice tech job, I literally could not afford to do my dental work or take care of my car. So later on, when I started, it costed a lot more. And I spent it, because it's important. Same can be said about many expenses. When you don't have the money, you make it work even if you can't. When you do, you gotta balance it out again. Saving your money isn't as important…
Rent and cars are a major culprit. Boomers worked all summer selling lemonade when they were teens then bought a home so they can rent it out to this generation for 2100/month. They'll makeup lies about how they have to charge that because they're losing money! Yes, it costs 2100 a month to do basic maintenance on a house. Hmhm.