Quote:
Originally Posted by AlphaFrog
Even if your mortgage/rent was $1200/month (would be very middle class where I live), that still leaves you $1,200 for expenses. Can you live large on that? Obviously not, but you could live economically on that. Might mean no cable and no eating out. But no one owes you that stuff.
I know what I'm talking about, because my husband and I together don't make much more than $23/ hour since he had to take a huge cut in pay when the restaurant he was working for shut down. We luckily have a low mortgage payment, but we also put money in the savings account every month as well.
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I'm sorry, Jess, you don't know what you're talking about. You may be able to live comfortably on this where you live. I know you've lived in Illinois before, but you don't now. You don't live in Cook County, I do, and after taxes and benefits, I'll make about 31,000.00 this year. My husband lost his job a while ago; he is able to make some money teaching on a per diem basis at one of the community colleges. I don't know what gas is where you live, but it's $4.23/gallon here. We try and fill up in Will County when possible, since it can be anywhere from .10 to .45 cheaper, depending on the day. My monthly train ticket runs $149.50. Driving downtown would be much more expensive. We have cable and internet, our mortgage is $1150 and our oldest is in preschool, which is running us about $290 a month. Do we have money left over? A bit, but it's hard. We cut coupons, follow sales, and get a lot of the kids' clothes at second hand stores. I don't know what's gonna happen if we have a major problem with our cars or an illness.
As for the CPS strike, I know several CPS teachers. They don't want to strike, but they feel they don't have a choice. They simply cannot be effective as things stand now.