this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
529 points (96.6% liked)

News

23646 readers
3100 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] RBWells 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Household income not personal income? And gross not net, correct? After healthcare, taxes and retirement deductions my net is 50% of gross so let's say that calculates to 6,250 a month. It is a lot of money! But for a household of 4, 2 paid off cars 3 drivers and one college student with no tuition costs, and one high schooler in a school that gives everyone lunch(so it could be much worse) here the average community monthly costs are:

2.5k mortgage with the tax & insurance in there, make that 3k if you are renting.

800/ month car insurance

600/month electric, water, internet

200/month family cell phone service

50/month streaming and donations to community radio

600/month average repair & maintenance on home and cars

Leaving 1700 for food for 4, gas, vet bills, credit card payments (because if someone is making bank now, they got there by making less for years). It's certainly reasonable but here it's about the least you can make household - wise and be solid, so if you are making 50k, you need three people working not two. And I can see how a family could get behind. That 2.5k plus $600 housing cost can be much more if you bought a house in the last year or so, and car loan or tuition could also blow this up, as could a medical emergency.

[–] interceder270 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

800/ month car insurance

The fuck? Why is your car insurance so expensive?

600/month electric, water, internet

The fuck? Why are you water and electric bills so high? I live alone, but my water bill is always <$40 and my electric bill is $70-$150 depending on if I'm running the A/C or heater.

Internet for me is only $25/month because I use my phone for Internet and have unlimited data with Visible.

200/month family cell phone service

Switch to Visible, like I said. $25/month per line and you all have unlimited data so you can cut your cable Internet.

50/month streaming and donations to community radio

Complete waste of money. You don't get to do these and then complain you don't have enough.

600/month average repair & maintenance on home and cars

Lol, what? Are you constantly hitting your walls with hammers? Do you do offroading in a sedan? No way you're spending $600 per month on home/car repairs (on average) unless you're driving a Benz or BMW.

That said, thank you for listing out your expenses. It's a way more fruitful discussion when we talk actual numbers instead of vague "I don't have enoughs."

[–] RBWells 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Nope. 2 cars and 3 drivers here with one of them 18 years old. Highest cost car insurance market in the nation. But without that third driver our household income wouldn't hit the $150k.

Electric, Water, Internet. That's mostly electricity. Electric bill is higher since I'm working from home, and everything in the house is electric (no gas bill) we don't eat out much, cook a lot. Very high in the summer. Big windows, high ceilings, old house. Water includes garbage and is usually $100 or so. Internet about $75 FIOS so I can work from home mostly (2 cars not 3 that way).

The $200 is a legacy t mobile plan covering 8 people so if needed I could get the grown kids to cover half of it, that one is high but not per line, we just pay it because if we cut them off it would still cost us $200 for 4 lines.

House is older and cars are too. Tenting for termites has to happen every 10 years and costs 10k, we've had to fix plumbing, electric, replace an old porch, need blinds to help with the electrical cost, and the cars won't last forever - I honestly think the $600 may be underestimating the cost of maintenance, not overestimating.

And of course every month something happens. Vet bills, or some medical cost, or car repair eats the 600 AND the plumbing springs a leak, or I have to work weekends and we buy restaurant food - no month is just bills.

It's easy to go cheap for awhile, I have done that plenty. We have dry beans, rice, a garden. But things fall apart. I am putting here the cost of maintenance because if we don't accrue this $600ish, it will end up costing even more. It's a real cost.

Oh, and I know this isn't poor, lol. In my 20s lived with 3 families in one house and dumpster dived to make ends meet. Then raised 4 kids with a guy who, halfway through, decided he couldn't work. 6 people living on what I could make, we are paying that deficit now too. Even so, this is is an awesome life, I am not complaining at all. Just saying that the bills do take most of the netpay if the real cost of housing and transportation is included.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm driving a 26 year old car and don't even spend $600 on maintenance in a year. $600/month ($7200/year) sounds crazy high. That's like replacing an engine or transmission every year.

[–] RBWells 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Correct, it's mostly house. For a year, cars are about $400 in oil changes plus $300 in regular maintenance (brakes, etc.) and usually one repair or tires purchase of high cost, $600-1200. Its staying way below the cost of a new one.

The house is the real money eater.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ah, I didn't realize you were lumping home and vehicle maintenance together. My water heater recently died after 19 years of solid use and that was more than a $2k project. I'm dreading the day the furnace goes out. Homes aren't cheap.

[–] SCB 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm buying whatever I want and putting 10% in my 401(k) and that's exactly the same as being poor

These people lol