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davepamn davepamn
 

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M$1.00  Funded By Mahalo ? |  April 30, 2009 03:12 PM

Do you survive on minimum wage?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/664175/could_you_survive_being_paid_minimum.html

2008, minimum wage was $5.85 an hour, 40 hrs a week, $234 dollars a week.

Do you survive on minimum wage?

Do you feel like your living in a famine?
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mrnemo mrnemo
 
 April 30, 2009 05:03 PM
I don't know how anyone could live on minimum wage. I constantly wonder this. I make many times more than minimum wage, yet I live in a modest condo and have one new car and one that is paid for, my wife is a student, and we are basically perpetually broke, even though we never go out and basically make all of our food. We seem like a pretty typical recently married couple.

I don't know HOW anyone can do it. No idea. Let alone live in half-a-million dollar condos or drive a Mercedes S Class. $2000 a month car payments for 5 years? SERIOUSLY? How can anyone afford this?! I make as much as a crappy lawyer or a general practitioner and I could NEVER afford the type of cars I see them driving.
Asker's Rating:
• It is possible. I'm starting to read a book about person who survive on minimum wage. If you become unemployeed, you receive a payment slightly more than minimum wage, after taxes. The challenge is to figure how to survive on minimum wage.


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lindsaylau... lindsaylau...
 
April 30, 2009 04:02 PM
I don't live on minimum wage.
However, I once saw this episode of a show called "30 Days" that talked about minimum wage. I think you might find it interesting, as it answers both your questions.
You can watch it here:

30 Days - Minimun Wage
Here's an episode summary:
Morgan Spurlock and his fiancée Alex leave their fabulous New York
lifestyles behind for the heart of the Midwest, Columbus, Ohio. Morgan
and Alex work at multiple minimum wage jobs for 30 days earning $5.15
per hour. They get to experience first hand the struggles minimum wage
earning families face as Morgan’s niece and nephew come to live with
them.

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dcanswerer dcanswerer
 
April 30, 2009 04:05 PM
I do not anymore, but I did when I got out of high school. I was living on my own and had to try to live on the minimum wage.

The only reason I was able to do this was because I was young and healthy. I had no dependents, and very few expenses. I also had no health insurance. So I could survive on that wage, but I couldn't do very much or save for the future. There was also no way I could maintain a family with dependents.

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srgothard srgothard
 
April 30, 2009 04:12 PM
I don't think you live on minimum wage. You accept a minimum-wage job only if you are a teenager with your parents supporting you, or if you are drawing retirement, or as a second job, or if your spouse makes more, etc. Each of us strives (by virtue of education, experience, and hard work) to earn more than minimum wage.

The problem with minimum wage increases is that businesses invariably lay off low-skill workers. I might agree to pay a 14-year-old who lives at home $6/hour to greet people as they enter my business, but if the minimum wage was raised to $15/hour, I would have to lay him off. He wasn't trying to live off it, but was probably using the money to buy things he wanted. Now though, the government is telling me I can't pay him $6/hour, so he gets nothing.


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tracebooks tracebooks
 
April 30, 2009 05:14 PM
On minimum wage, if you have a family in particular, you do qualify for lots of social services like food stamps, WIC, CHIP (healthcare for kids and pregnant women) and some food banks. But you don't have any disposable income, which really reduces your choices in life. You will probably be using the Internet at the library, for example, and probably don't have an Ipod or MP3 player; you might not be able to have a car. Your clothes probably come from yardsales and Goodwill. If you have a cellphone it's pay-as-you-go and only for emergencies.

I've only made minimum wage as a student, and can't imagine having a family on it, even with two wage-earners.

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