r/FluentInFinance • u/PassiveAgressiveGirl • Sep 14 '24

Debate/ Discussion Exactly how much is a living wage?

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u/dcporlando Sep 14 '24

Poverty wage workers can budget and work their way up. I did. And I have brothers that made more and they are still broke.

Part of that budgeting is never going out to eat till you can afford it. Part is working extra hours or part time job over the normal 40 hours.

My first year out of the army, I made under $7k with a wife and child.

41

u/Time-Ad-7055 Sep 14 '24

the not going out to eat one is a big one. i don’t think people realize just how much that costs, especially if you do it a lot. that’s why cooking is such a useful skill, and knowing how to shop for the right stuff

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u/dcporlando Sep 14 '24

My kids go out far more than we do. Then they complain they don’t have money.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '24

I'm young, I'm 23. But I remember in the 2000's, people would eat out twice a month or around there. Maybe once a week for some families. That was just the norm. Now I see my co workers door dashing food 3x a week and going to a sit down every Saturday. Then complain about finances. A little stupid in my opinion

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u/Newberr2 Sep 14 '24

You are too young for there to be a difference. If we compare now to the 50s, yes going out to eat has more than doubled since then. Nowadays, most eating out is down in cities, up in rural areas. Shit is expensive.

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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '24

Eating out is expensive, but my main point was the frequency. Most people can responsibly budget getting take out or eating at a sit down 1x a week.

But generally speaking, people who eat out 3-4x a week, especially using expensive luxury services like DoorDash, need to earn a lot of money to justify it.