How does a person survive on minimum wage?

Question

I recently answered a question with this but I think it deserves it's own spot for proper focus.

A minimum wage job pays about 13k annually (before taxes) IF they get a full 40. So after taxes they have about 900-980 a month depending on filing status and children.

The cheapest apartment I could find locally was a 2 room efficiency for $375 a month (note not a 2-bed, a 2-ROOM)

food will cost at least $100 person per month

Utilities would be cheaper for a small apartment so lets say $150 for electric & heat. $20 for water.

If you have a job you'll need a car so $200 for a car payment and $30 for insurance throw in $40 for gas

$25 for a phone (cheap for a landline)

let's see I've covered rent, utilities, food and transportation what's left? Oh clothes, toiletries, cleaning supplies and other little things, hmm.... we'll go cheap here to and say $20 a month.

What do we have so far .... $960 a month to live in a 2 room hovel and eat raman noodles on a regular basis.

How would someone in your area do with a budget of $900-990 a month?

HA, food stamps that's a good one. A single person making minimum wage doesn't qualify for food stamps.

And I'll tell you My family of 4 has an income of about $1200 a month (barely above minimum) and we get a grand total of $225 in food stamps a month. So there ya go family of 4 on $1425 a month, do that budget. Find a place to live locally for a family (we need a 3-bed as my kids are the opposite sex) and make a car payment on that. If ya want to try adding in a job for me but don't forget childcare costs and a second car.

Oooooo.... college education, good point there, I have an accounting degree (assoc. for now and 10 classes from a BA)

To finish my degree I need about $3600 a semester and FA will pay $2050 of it. Don't forget the child care.....

Oh, I'm not talking about immigrants here, I'm talking about Americans who have no where else to go and are trying to compete with the illegals.

Answer 1

You don't, especially if you have children,that's why i'm living with family right now. I was making just a little above minimum and after struggling,starving and selling everything I had, I couldn't do it on my own anymore.

Answer 2

Yes but not with any sense of dignity! Truth is that the minimum wage should be raised to $15-$20 an hour this would have a great impact on the economy. Raising the minimum wage would be good because it will allow wages to keep up with productivity. This is one of the major problem that we have in our economy because if wages do not keep up with productivity the people that are making the stuff can buy what they are making and that causes recessions. Case and point Henry Ford raised wages for his employees and his business thrived because they were now able to purchase the cars that they made. The flooding of cheap labor into the United States from other countries needs to stop. Also the exporting of manufacturing jobs needs to stop. Wage inflation is a good and healthy thing as long as it is correlated with productivity. We should not be in a race to the bottom. When you hear someone say oh that will cause prices to increase that is nonsense. Look if a corporation know that you are willing to pay a certain price then that is what they are going to charge. They will simply increase profits not drop prices because they have a legal obligation to increase profits, right? Yeah I can use that argument against the corporation, corporation always use that argument for everything, well it goes both ways. Plus more importantly if you have a higher wage wont it be easier to pay a couple extra bucks for a product? Say that the cost of a certain product increases by $2 and your wages increase by $10 and hour, wouldn't you take that trade off? Ill tell you I most definitely would. Let's not compete against companies globally I say let's make companies compete against us globally by bring the manufacturing base and with that the purchasing power into the United States.Lets not allow China to take that power from us. That's what I say.

Answer 3

First of all you can't get foodstamps or welfare unless your wages are at or below the poverty level which is way below $13,000. It's somewhere around $9,000/per year. The only way to make it on minimum wage is too have a room-mate share the rent and expenses with you. You can get fuel assistance on heating fuel and a discount on the Electric bill. You can't afford any kind of luxury like cable TV or DSL and all of your furniture is second-hand (Furniture prices are crazy.). Most communities have something called a "Survival Center" where you can get free groceries once a month but you only get a small amount. It's usually day old bread, almost stale pasta, and canned fruit or vegetables. Sometimes they have fresh vegetables. As for a car forget it; you can't afford the insurance. The payments on a new or slightly new car are impossible and an old car breaks down all the time and the repair costs are too high. If you're living on min. wage you're taking the bus. Massachusetts has the highest rate at $7.50 per hour ($8 next year) and that's chicken feed. You can do it but it's a miserable existance. I know.

Answer 4

You cant live on minimum wage. Unless you share your home with another family member. Also if your illegal you cant get welfare or medical /dental/vision.
So, you have a junk car that you cant smog and so you cant drive it. you can get insurance in the US but its 80 dollars a month if your 23 and drive an old car with no real value.
You have no money because you had to go to the dentist to have a tooth pulled because you cant afford a root canal!
You also have bed credit cus you never have enough $ to pay bills medical/ traffic tickets/high utility cost depending were you live.
I guess what I'm trying to say is your broke with bad credit! No, new car/cellphone/Internet/cable/fast food. Most illegals come here and live that way because they can work jobs nobody else wants to barley make the rent. I'm Mexico there is no way to make $. Even if you have a degree. There is no $ in most areas and everyone has to work for 9 dollars a day, just to get dinner on the table! That's 9 dollars working 9 hours a day.
If your over 35 your considered unemployable and there is no unemployment or disability, not that illegals qualify for that aether. Here its different if you work you eat and save for your bills that's what counts right.

Answer 5

First, I wouldn't have a car payment. They have car auctions where you can get cars cheap or get a car you can pay off. You can get food supplies at certain Churches, check your area(even on Sundays).
Some thrift stores have excellent clothes, shoes, toys for children. My city pays for low income falilies the utility bill twice a year. Also garage sales offer good furniture & access. also. God bless & have faith for your family's sake.
One other thing, some cities actually replace appliances if there is a weatherization program. Other places offer free meals, My neighbor has 5children all under 12 and takes them all to free meals frequently.

Answer 6

Car insurance for $30!? No way. Let's see, skip the car (or get a junker) the bus is $40 a month to ride. That would save $270 in your budget. Then you might get to buy eggs and milk!! It'd be possible for 1 person here in Columbus, OH but I would not want to do it.

Answer 7

You are so right.

Government statistics state it takes
a minimum of $15 hr (nationwide)
to be able to support yourself.

For accurate current information --
The TANF Temporary Aid To Needy FAMILIES program
(welfare in USA) - welfare reform --
is only available for a lifetime maximum of 60 months.

Current average time on TANF in our state is 18 mo.

Answer 8

It's virtually impossible ...

After reading some other responses, I want to reply to the one who said "car insurance for $30? no way"

My husband and I are both insured on 2 vehicles for $32 a month. We also both have squeaky clean driving records, no tickets for ANYTHING, no accidents, etc, and we also have some safety features on the car which lower our rate.

Answer 9

min wage has done more damage to the workplace then it was suppose to help..
once u take away the supply and demand out of the equation
for entry level jobs.. then the amount of entry level jobs decrease and the workload of those in those jobs increase..
simple math... that is if you even finished school and know what math is..
lets raise the min wage to 25 an hour... and watch what happens...

Answer 10

I must say I am shocked at the amount of people talking about welfare. Living on minimum wage is extremely difficult but not impossible. Either you have to get a lot more hours then usual, and put in overtime. Or you have to get two jobs. Either way there are millions of people doing it. Its just hard.