Inori
NAWF
It matters a lot.
If you live in an area where the cost of living is high as shit, then it makes a difference as to how far your paycheck stretches.
Back in 2015, I did a breakdown on how a single person making $8/hr could live in Phoenix at that time.
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^^^ This statement right here made me log in...
So... let's dissect this, shall we???
We'll use a single person without kids making $8/hr at 40hrs a week.
$8hr/40hrs wk = $320/week gross pay.
I'll use my city and state for the example: Phoenix, AZ. Using this as our locale and 1 federal witholding we can get our net pay:
Weekly Gross Pay $320.00
Federal Withholding $20.96
Social Security $19.84
Medicare $4.64
Arizona $8.64
Net Pay $265.92
Ok... so.. we need housing, right?
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/apa/5367611504.html
1bed/1 bath apartment, $485/month. Water and heat are included, electricity is not. Figure in about $100/month or so for electricity for a small apartment like this.
Now, you wanna eat, right? Aiight... We budget in about $225/month for food (the max a single person could get in SNAP benefits is $194, so we'll take that and add a few bucks to it just to be nice).
Aiight... let's see where we're at, let's (incorrectly) assume 4 weeks per month:
$265.92 x 4 = 1063.68
and we'll deduct from it our expenses up to this point:
$1063.68 - (485+100+225) = $253.68
Maybe you want a cell phone in all of this. Well, if you're intelligent (y'all ARE intelligent... right?) you already know that it would be stupid as fuck to even consider a smartphone with a plan... But let's say you're convinced that you, somehow, cannot live without a smartphone:
http://www.net10wireless.com/#/phone-detail/lg-optimus-fuel
^^^ there's your phone. You cop the $35/month unlimited talk and text plan that has limited data speed. I'll assume you've already bought the phone and we'll simply account for the plan itself:
$253.68 - $35 = $218.68
Transportation? You're on the bus fam... You ain't stuntin in shit except the 40 seat limo. A monthly buss pass outchea runs $64.00 for a 31 day pass:
$218.68 - 64.00 = $154.68
$154.68 is what you're left with every month after you've accounted for pretty much everything. Broken down that's $38.67 a week. It's all about budgeting. No you ain't ballin, no you ain't up in the club every week (though technically you could... you do have a few dollars left over). No you ain't dressing in the latest fashions... in fact, if you're smart about it you're dressing in Walmart shits for cheap.
And that, my friends, is how you live on $8/hr.
Now... if you were to drop from a full-on 1 bedroom apartment to a studio, you can save about $100 a month at that same spot. This could be used for a cheap home phone and internet bundle ($61.95/month through Centurylink) or for any number of things.
I know housing prices are different all over the country, but this is viable in quite a few major cities if people lowered their expectations as to what they expect out of the money they make.
This is why where you live matters. $8/hr was doable in 2015 in Phoenix. Unless you were living in an expensive ass city, $10/hr in 2011 should have been doable for you as well.
Alll of that is going off of the assumption that someone is able to acquire a FULL TIME job... sometimes in those low paying jobs... part time or on call is the only option...
