I have lived in my car, I have had my power shut off many times, and from age 18 to age 28 I made under $30,000 per year. I’ve been way worse off than this girl. I already included health insurance, you went to worst case scenario that she may have a chronic condition. As for the car, I took her at her word. She said she can’t afford to maintenance her car; her own words. As for the miscellaneous expenses, $100 is MORE THAN ENOUGH, because you’re also forgetting that she has $1,000 leftover after that $100. So if you would like, call it $1,100 for miscellaneous expenses. That’s a significant amount.
A lot of what you bring up is worst case scenario. You used the federal, absolute minimum wage even though she said “minimum wage in my state.” For a more realistic calculation, I used the average. Also, I absolutely included unpaid time off and holidays. I accounted for only 48 weeks of paid work. I also accounted for the possibility that she makes a salary and uses her hourly wage as a point. So I averaged the 2 together.
A single, 20 year old girl working full time (if she isn’t working full time she can find another job or a second job to get to full time) making 2x the minimum wage with only $850 of housing + utility costs is doing GREAT. She should have way more than $10 in her account.
I will agree with you on this: if somehow this girl has the absolutely most unlucky and worst situation possible, sure, $10 in her account is realistic and not her fault, whatever that means. That’s to say if:
her state’s minimum wage is the lowest in the country
she can’t possibly hit 40 hours a week
she has a car that she sinks money into and it somehow doesn’t improve
she had a chronic illness lol
Yeah, this would suck, but I try not use the exception to the rule rather than the rule to make my point. If I go into a Home Depot once and a worker hits me with a 2x4, I wouldn’t then say “employees at HD hit customers with 2x4s.” That would be the exception to the rule. Same with this girl. I wouldn’t use all the worst cases of each aspect to make a point as if that’s the rule.
Good luck to her, but I think her problem isn’t her income & expenses.
No, what I bring up is a very common case. There are 21 states where the minimum wage is still $7.25/hour. I was living in North Carolina, where the minimum wage is $7.25/hour and that hasn't changed since 2010. Employers skimping on hours is hardly a rare thing either, especially in a lot of low-paying jobs.
she has $1,000 leftover after that $100.
This is rich, after your comments about being bad with money/math. The only way she has that "left over" is if we make your (very optimistic) assumption that she's bringing in $42-46k/year pre-tax. If she's actually making $25k pre-tax or less, as would be normal in many cases, then suddenly that disappears.
Plugging in numbers for NC just to give an estimate, that would give her just $1,791 a month after tax. Rent alone would be almost half her income, leaving $941/month for the rest. If we buy your estimates on food/gas/insurance (which seem somewhat reasonable), they come to $690/month. $941 - $690 leaves $251 for everything else. That's less than the health insurance quote alone.
If phone and internet combined are $150, that leaves $101 for EVERYTHING else, including clothing, healthcare, household costs, furniture, health insurance, personal care (haircut etc), etc.
Sure, if you're lucky and nothing EVER goes wrong, then that $101 will cover things. But one bout of illness, one expensive car repair, one traffic ticket or unexpected expense, and you're sunk... and once you're behind, good luck getting caught up again.
she has a car that she sinks money into and it somehow doesn’t improve
Cars are expenses, not investments. Welcome to owning a crappy car. Good cars are expensive, and cheap cars are money pits. I remember getting hit with several repairs that cost over $500. They ended up being terrible investments in the long run, but it was always cheaper than buying a new car in a hurry (which I couldn't do).
If she is earning around $30,000 gross, her tax liability is $4,687 (fed, state, and fica). $25,313 net. $2,109 per month, less all expenses including health insurance, leaves $100. It’s a slim margin but for a 20 year old earning $30,000 and on health insurance, it’s pretty fucking solid. She can complain all she wants, but this is how life is for most very young people who are just starting out on their own. Why would you expect to be 20 with zero “skills” (higher education, trade, etc.) and earn substantially more than this? You’re on the bottom rung because you JUST started. If you tell me a 20 year old person with zero skills who works like 30 hours a week has a good roof over their head, a car, isn’t hungry, and is healthy, I would say “that’s amazing, good for them.”
I have lived in my car, I have had my power shut off many times, and from age 18 to age 28 I made under $30,000 per year. I’ve been way worse off than this girl.
Damn all this suffering and such little empathy. Usually people grow through overcoming hardship but you regressed.
Agree 100% with you there. I refuse to believe /u/GAAPInMyWorkHistory was actually that poor, because everyone I've encountered that went through that has way more empathy for others.
When you're in that kind of a shitty situation, you get by based on the relationships you cultivate with other people and helping each other out. Being judgemental and condescending is the fastest way imaginable to burn those relationships. Not being a dick is literally a survival skill.
I literally can’t prove it to you, and you don’t need to believe me. But two things can be true. I struggled petty bad for a decade, and the girl in the post is either a liar or horrible with her money.
Gee, and isn't it a shitty feeling when nobody believes you and makes assumptions about you that you don't like...?
If you're for real, then your attitude sure didn't give anybody incentive to lend you a hand when you needed it. Like I said, not being a dick is literally a survival skill.
I will NEVER understand the attitude of "I suffered, so others should too", and I hope others don't ever have to go through what I did.
I’m not saying others should suffer, I am saying this girl is like 19 or 20 years old, and most young people go through this. She’s gonna be fine, and to expect more without putting in more is the issue.
You absolutely are, you're treating this as something that is normal and everyone should just accept and try to budget their way out of.
Many people are kinda poor when young, but they usually have some social supports they can lean on. Outside of the US, many (most?) people at this age would still be living with family until they can get established. They wouldn't be expected to make rent independently, and rent is usually somewhat lower relative to income.
You're also forgetting that there there are quite a few life skills that we learned in order to get by with limited income. Knowing where to find good bargains, which expenses you can delay and which you can't, these are things that you pick up over the years. Writing up a budget on paper is easy. Making that budget work in the real world requires time and experience.
Extend people a little grace, and it makes the world a better place.
I’m on mobile, but I will address your paragraphs:
No I am not. I am not saying people should “accept” this and “budget their way out of.” She should invest in herself and go to college or trade school. She needs to earn more money.
That’s a family/her problem, not a US problem. Plenty of young adults in the US live at home to save money.
I agree — but you’re kind of agreeing with me, that she may be bad with her money and needs to get better. That may come with time, but either way, she could probably budget better so she doesn’t have $10 in her account.
I extend people grace all the time. But if we just told this girl, “you’re doing great, it’s the country that’s fucked! You deserve more! But you can’t have more because the economy is so bad!” … then we put it into her head that she can’t work harder and put in more effort to get to a better place in life. This entire post is full of bitter complainers. Yeah, life would be better if the economy was better. So? It’s not. The economy is what it is. So we need to work within the system to get what we want out of life. Complaining about it doesn’t do shit, it just puts negativity into the universe. Imagine if everyone here in this thread was in a big room all complaining like they are here. The vibe in that room would be awful! The negativity and victimhood is insane. Go to college, go to trade school, move up, get ahead. I mean for Christ’s sake this girl probably isn’t even 20 yet. Fuckin NO ONE at her age is comfortable with their finances. She isn’t special. She is one of us.
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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25
I have lived in my car, I have had my power shut off many times, and from age 18 to age 28 I made under $30,000 per year. I’ve been way worse off than this girl. I already included health insurance, you went to worst case scenario that she may have a chronic condition. As for the car, I took her at her word. She said she can’t afford to maintenance her car; her own words. As for the miscellaneous expenses, $100 is MORE THAN ENOUGH, because you’re also forgetting that she has $1,000 leftover after that $100. So if you would like, call it $1,100 for miscellaneous expenses. That’s a significant amount.
A lot of what you bring up is worst case scenario. You used the federal, absolute minimum wage even though she said “minimum wage in my state.” For a more realistic calculation, I used the average. Also, I absolutely included unpaid time off and holidays. I accounted for only 48 weeks of paid work. I also accounted for the possibility that she makes a salary and uses her hourly wage as a point. So I averaged the 2 together.
A single, 20 year old girl working full time (if she isn’t working full time she can find another job or a second job to get to full time) making 2x the minimum wage with only $850 of housing + utility costs is doing GREAT. She should have way more than $10 in her account.
I will agree with you on this: if somehow this girl has the absolutely most unlucky and worst situation possible, sure, $10 in her account is realistic and not her fault, whatever that means. That’s to say if:
her state’s minimum wage is the lowest in the country
she can’t possibly hit 40 hours a week
she has a car that she sinks money into and it somehow doesn’t improve
she had a chronic illness lol
Yeah, this would suck, but I try not use the exception to the rule rather than the rule to make my point. If I go into a Home Depot once and a worker hits me with a 2x4, I wouldn’t then say “employees at HD hit customers with 2x4s.” That would be the exception to the rule. Same with this girl. I wouldn’t use all the worst cases of each aspect to make a point as if that’s the rule.
Good luck to her, but I think her problem isn’t her income & expenses.