Does Your Family Earn a Livable Wage? - Page 3

[mylilmonkeys]

Nowhere near for a family of four, much less our reality of a family of 10.  We don't have child care, but we do have private school, with scholarship assistance, so it's a fraction of the estimated cost.  Our housing is in the ball park, but our transportation is way lower.  I guess they include a car payment, which we don't have.  I figure our transportation costs are way too high as it is, with dh's commute.  Hoping, once he's out of school a nice job falls in his lap. ;)

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife 

What's interesting, is that I looked at San Diego (I would LOVE to live there) vs. my current city in New Mexico, and that chart says for a family of 4 to have a liveable wage in San Diego it is only like $1 something more an hour.  How could that be, considering housing is so much more and everyone knows California is a more expensive place to live?  I could look at that, and think we'd make it out there - when in reality, we would have to downsize our lifestyle/housing considerably to even barely get by. 

I noticed some issues like that as well.  Like San Francisco, CA being shown as comparable to medium cost areas outside of Portland, OR.

[triana1326]

Originally Posted by justmama 

HA!  Maybe that's why I'm always broke.  Supposedly it takes $67k to live here.  I make $18k.  Awesome?????

This exactly! In our area, it says we need to have $50k for a liveable wage. DH made $21k last year after taxes. No wonder we're always scrambling to make payments on our bills...

[Ruthiegirl]

Yes, we are very fortunate.  I am also much older than many people on this board, so our income reflects years of working up the ladder.  There have been many, many years when we were well below a livable wage.  

[insidevoice]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

Yes, we are very fortunate.  I am also much older than many people on this board, so our income reflects years of working up the ladder.  There have been many, many years when we were well below a livable wage.  

I didn't like to look at this when I was younger, but it's really been a big shift since my husband is now closer to 40 than 30.  We are doing much better financially, but he's put in well over 15 years in his field- closer to 20.  He paid his dues- so to speak, and is finally reaping the rewards of all that time invested.  That ladder was painful to climb, but I'm glad we hung in there. 

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by insidevoice 

I didn't like to look at this when I was younger, but it's really been a big shift since my husband is now closer to 40 than 30.  We are doing much better financially, but he's put in well over 15 years in his field- closer to 20.  He paid his dues- so to speak, and is finally reaping the rewards of all that time invested.  That ladder was painful to climb, but I'm glad we hung in there. 

Yah, I wasn't sure how to phrase it.  I remember being young and so desperately poor while working hard and getting no where.  I never, ever wanted to hear that 'things will get better'.  And of course, now I have gone and said just that.  

I guess what I really wanted to express is that those 'livable' wages generally do not happen over night.  We have worked long and hard to be where we are and we still live very frugally to make up for years of not having money to save.  

And my heart is with all young families struggling to make ends meet.  You are my heros.  

[Dar]

Nope. Well, we haven't yet. This year I might actually squeak into it, though, since my daughter is now an adult and not a child and I'm taking on a couple of extra jobs in the fall. It'll be close.

And yet somehow I feel like we're doing fine... I lived in the California bay area during the late nineties when everyone was claiming that 50K was the minimum living wage for one adult and one child, and I was making about 60% of that and putting money in the bank every month. Granted my job included health benefits, but still...

[physmom]

Last year, no.  We were quite a bit under the livable wage but we did have the advantage of living in university housing (although ironically the subsidized housing price was more than the estimated cost of housing for my city).  The food costs for my city seemed way too low as well as the child care costs (but I'm guessing that is if you were able to receive some government assistance too?).  We have since moved outside the country and once my job starts we will be comfortable but in the meantime we're still watching all our pennies.

[Chicky2]

Yup, we are in the same place.  I'm close to 40 and my dh is 42.  He has been in his field for 23 years, and has climbed that ladder for years.  We've been dirt poor w/not much food, trying to figure out which bill to pay and which can wait so that we can feed our family.  It's hard, and I'm glad we've found so many ways to make things go more smoothly w/less.
 

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

Yah, I wasn't sure how to phrase it.  I remember being young and so desperately poor while working hard and getting no where.  I never, ever wanted to hear that 'things will get better'.  And of course, now I have gone and said just that.  

I guess what I really wanted to express is that those 'livable' wages generally do not happen over night.  We have worked long and hard to be where we are and we still live very frugally to make up for years of not having money to save.  

And my heart is with all young families struggling to make ends meet.  You are my heros.  

[sailorscout]

according to that we are exactly at "livable" wage.  but it seems like the number is really low for my area.

 

[doubledutch]

i do, just a hair over what they suggest.  since i'm one adult with two kids, i ran the numbers a couple ways - adding for the second child, and subtracting for one adult from the "two adults, two children" numbers.  it worked out about the same either way.

it's odd though, because when you have two adults but a sole breadwinner, the other adult contributes financially by keeping childcare costs down.  i mean, the cost of feeding, clothing and otherwise supporting ex was a wash with childcare.  so my finances are not that different now (except i earn more money than i did when we were together).  looking at the numbers for "two adults, two children" we were about $13k below a living wage, this time last year.  when our first child was born, we were $20k below.  anyway, having one parent earn a living wage while the kids are at home with the other parent is way, way different from having both parents combine their earnings to make a living wage for the family, while needing to pay for full time care of their children out of that "living" wage.  so even though i'm doing better, i'm not doing that much better.

[mommy2chloerae]

We are 2 adults, 3 children and make a little more than half of the 2 adults 2 children living wage for my area.

Strange since I know we're not rich, but we own a home, 2 vehicles, and eat well. I must be better at living frugally than I thought. At least $2k of the monthly expenses are not something we worry about. I am a sahm so no childcare expenses and we stay local so spending $900+ on transportation a month is just unreal.

[MissMaegie'sMama]

Nope, at least not according to the wage calculator in the article. We are a two-adult, three-kid family. My DH is the near-sole income earner in the family (I work outside the home about 10 hours per week). He manages a small business. If I found a full-time job in my field (food science), our income would likely double. I don't plan on going back to work full-time any time in the near future, though.

That said, we own our home, make very, very modest contributions to an IRA, have paid-in-full health and dental insurance through my DH's employer, and have two vehicles that are paid off. But we don't take vacations often, we haven't saved much for our kids' college educations, and we don't have much money set aside for an emergency if one arises. So I guess we're doing better than some, and not as well as others.

[mommatooth]

I earn exactly 21% of the living wage for my area.  That seems about right, we are really struggling and I often have to answer mommie why can't we... all my friends... why don't we just DRIVE there, etc.  I moved to this area because I knew I would be a single sahm and the cost of living IS low.  Hopefully things pick up a bit this summer :)  this article helped me feel a bit better though, justified at least, for what that is worth.

[justamama]

We have 2 adults, and 3, soon to be 4, kids. We make less than half of the recommended amount for a family with just two kids. Which, at a time when we so desperately need money that we're considering selling the only vehicle we have that we can all ride in at once, is really, really depressing. And this is after DH's COL raise...an entire $0.42/hr.

[Queermama]

it's interesting to see the numbers.  We make more according to that site for our specific location, but the estimates are low.  they list $1000 for housing.  It's much higher.  and for childcare they list $600.  I work out of the home 12 hours a week and we have a nanny come in for 14 hrs.  we pay close to $800 and that's just for 14 hours. not 40 hours.  it's in our values to have in home one-on-one care, but i still know many moms who use daycare and it's far more than $600.

but we live confortably.  we sacrifice where we need so that we can spend on things that match our values.  ie: nanny, organic foods, etc.  and we have in-laws who love their (1st) grandchild and pretty much buy everything our ds needs for him.  we are blessed.

[JudiAU]

I make almost twice the liveable wage for our area and family size but we still can't afford to live in anything other than a rent controlled apartment. I big part of that is child care though. As PP said, we have a nanny and spend about 3x daycare.

[sweetpeppers]

No. Well, we live on what I earn, but it's not what they call a livable wage. :-) Sometimes it's not even what I call a livable wage. :(

[major_mama11]

Interesting calculator!

With both of us working (DH full-time, me part-time) we make just under what is listed as annual living wage for our area. But we work opposite shifts instead of paying $800/mo for daycare, so that makes a significant difference in our budget.

My DH does not make a living wage for our area, even though he qualifies as "skilled labor" and has nearly 20 years experience in his field. The reason for this has little to do with hourly wage, and a lot to do with simply not getting 40 hours every week. I make almost exactly the living hourly wage, but I only work part-time. Add us together, and we squeak by.

[AllyRae]

We make above the living wage for our area, and it's really only because DH has been with the same company for over 10 years.  We are very fortunate, and we realize that and are grateful for that for sure.  My heart goes out to those that are struggling.