… what? Serious question? Like, what?
Hey, why do you need a job? Just like, stay at your parents, live under an overpass. You know. If you need a place to stay just find a box.
I do just fine on my mountain bike and renting a car only if needed to go far. And I live in the northeast that gets some crazy winters. I’ve been using the mountain bike for over 2 years without major issues. I obviously don’t use it during snowstorms or rainstorms… but I also wouldn’t drive a car during those.
$13.50 in 2010 dollars would be $19.30 an hour now. That’s the difference between making $33k a year and $40k a year. Not to mention that in 2010 the median rent was $1000 (paid for in 74 hours of labor at $13.50 an hour), compared to $1700 now (paid for in 106 hours of labor at $16 an hour).
That’s also not counting all other expenses that have also risen at rates higher than inflation, benefits deductions, payroll taxes, etc.
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How far do you commute to work? How much time is your commute? Do you go in daily?
About 6.8 miles one way to work. And it’s not daily so not a big deal. I also make passive income from the dividends in my Blackrock Municipal fund that helps.
I have a basket in the back for groceries that drags down the battery more than I want. But I can also peddle a bit to help out. Planning to get a newer bike in a year or two. Had this one for over 5 years. Better models out now. Had it for 5 years but been using it for traveling without the car for 2 years.
Responsible planning for your own future means something as well. If you’re going to swap careers then plan to save money ahead of time. If you’re just starting in the real world then expect to struggle like the rest of us.
I mean yeah that’s not a luxury everyone has. To be clear, that is a luxury. I used to walk to work but I also only lived a mile away. You live 10, 15, etc miles away you’re not just getting a bike and calling it a day. If the vast majority of your life revolves around that small of an area then sure, bike away.
oh right. struggle and save money at the same time. the classic solution!
That’s what a lot of us have had to do over the years. Unless you are born wealthy or get lucky and run into some money then you’re likely going to have to suffer as well. You aren’t entitled to an amazing life right off the wagon.
Just so you know, you’re going to be riding on asphalt, where the air temperature is 80º-115ºF during the spring, summer, and fall. The roads are literally going to absorb that heat, and you’re going to be riding a bike over that. The roads will be literally 30º-45ºF higher than the air temperature.
This is actually extremely dangerous to do in SoCal.
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A few comments on this
I think your math (remainder) is off or I’m not reading this right, but I get the jist. I also wouldn’t factor 401k contributions because people in low income are either not offered it (less true these days) or won’t take it either out of ignorance or money being too tight to rationalize contributing.
Does food mean eating out? Because $275 a month for groceries is slim, but not ramen. That’s roughly $70 a week to do some meal prep that can go very far. If you make $16 an hour you can’t afford to eat out daily even if you are only dropping $9.
And finally…yeah it’s tight no matter how you slice it. I’m not saying it’s a great way to live, but the biggest expense (rent) can potentially be halved or at least reduced by like a third by getting a roommate. That also should come with reduced utility costs as well.
My point is if you make crap pay because your job is not in high demand/not a high skill set you are going to be making sacrifices and one of those is you aren’t going to be living by yourself. But as you’ve clearly demonstrated as tight as it is it is actually mathematically possible.
…Until you factor in debt. I can accept an affordable car payment as “necessary” debt but the goal should be to get out from it because that really starts to make the math work more in your favor. But a lot of people are also saddled with student loan and credit card debt if no other things like personal or payday loans.
Once you start throwing those in it’s absolutely game over and that was my point. If you have ZERO debt, not even a car payment…the math you laid out still isn’t glamarous but you could probably pull off living by yourself if you really wanted to.
$16 per hour? I wouldn’t do that even if I could work from home. And I don’t have to work, it would just be for something to do. But not for that pay. Sheesh.
For the area, it’s just not livable. You can get by with around $25/hr and a roommate and have a decent QOL. You’ll still be P2P, but at least you can save a little something of your paycheck. But if you have to sacrifice your health, it’s not worth it. Poor health leads to more bills eventually.
Yearly raises at Blizzard are pretty low too. 3% if you’re lucky. That hasn’t kept up with inflation. And profit sharing for the lowest bracket, but best performers, is like $2500 year (halved or so, semi-annually). They also consider “swag” as income, even if you never receive it, instead of a department expense.
Mm yeah typo in my transpose (1981 vs 1891). The correct remainder is $83. So even worse.
A bit of hyperbole, but still you’re shooting for $3/meal and that’s very tight.
It’s a 1 bedroom. Go to a 2 bedroom and yeah add a roommate and it improves.
I mean I can set all the goals I want, but they’re not going to magically provide me a reliable car without a loan.
I mean sure, you can take the bus, forego internet, never travel or do anything. You can totally occupy a space in the world if you want.
My local Dunkin Donuts is hiring high-schoolers for $17.50 an hour
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you must live somewhere pricy
i had a job at autozone for 12.50 an hour
not the best pay but i didnt know anything about cars and basically sat behind the counter on my phone or eating for the majority of my shift
Think of all those kids spending so much on college only for companies to treat them this way and want to replace them with AI. The American dream dies more every year
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There’s a reason it’s called a dream 
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For the really expensive areas like Los Angeles or like a New York City…yeah absolutely not. Funny I just had dinner with a friend tonight who has lived in a lot of different places including California cost of living somehow got brought up (unrelated to all this). His point was that the really expensive areas (like Los Angeles) was definitely crazy from a rent perspective, but the way he made it work was living outside of the area and driving in because the cost of living there beyond the rent wasn’t anything any more different than anywhere else he’s lived.
Ultimately yeah $16 an hour doesn’t work everywhere, and I realize that. If we’re making blanket statements across the county it becomes tough because every area is different, and here (Iowa) I’d say I could survive off $16 an hour if I really needed to, but it still wouldn’t be fun.
My confusion was just in whether or not that $275 was for groceries or for eating out during lunch, appears to be groceries. When you’re at that low of a budget you basically have to go some sort of meal prep route and there’s tons of content out there that highlights affordable budget meal prepping.
I’m going off memory here, but I want to say my monthly rent was like $800 or so when I picked one up and I was actually at $1100 before in a single BR. That’s a lot margin to gain in that situation.
Car loans don’t have to be forever. I did finance my first two cars, although my second one was at a whopping 0.9% interest rate and 7 years ago or so when I bought my first home I had to pay it off to qualify for a 15 year mortgage and I haven’t had a payment since.
My point about getting rid of the car payment isn’t about not having it’s a car, it’s about not having a car payment.
If you have to get a car loan you have to get a car loan. I’m not going to Dave Ramsey you into telling you that you can’t get a loan for anything besides a mortgage, but your car payment should sunset eventually and allow you to get breathing room to accumulate wealth, build an emergency fund, etc.
Yeah, I dunno why fresh grads expect much higher wages unless they’re looking at serious jobs.