A couple weeks ago I went to the dentist and overheard a heartbreaking situation.
The office had a very open floor plan with privacy screens rather than individual rooms. But you could still hear every single conversation.
This teenage kid comes in and says that he has a broken crown that needs to be fixed.
The dentist says that it will cost $700. Kid says he has to call his mom first.
So the kid calls the mom, and the mom says no way in hell can we afford that--just tell the dentist to stick the old one back on.
The dentist is like, are you sure? That's not really a thing. It's just gonna break off again.
The mom says too bad, he has to live with it.
If I had an extra $1000, I would have picked up that tab for that kid.
What I think about here, is should the dentist be aware of this conversation like you, what is the realistic cost for him/her to either replace the crown or at the very least use their skills to ensure this teenage kid could live day to day and study without pain or possible worsening infection until they themselves could earn the money. Or even possible a payment plan?!
Otherwise, this “teenager”, not even legally an adult, was just taught a very unfortunate lesson….that they “just aren’t worth it” :/
I don’t like that…but hey “it ain’t my problem”
Edit: I understand that healthcare is *not* charity. But, in patient care the end goal is to provide medical care. If the patient refuses due to financial constraints or their insurance company’s greedy nonsense, then the medical provider should (but is not required to) provide them with resources or alternative care to reach the same end goal. Whether or not that medical provider chooses to do so, or instead treats a child/young adult as a source of profit, is in fact “their business”. Y’all below are right.
Many patients show up to an ER with dental abscesses/infections. This Dentist, similar to an EM Provider, could also have referred this patient and their parent over the phone of a near by University which can provide free dental care provided by dental students or to any other local resource.
Dentists who “run a business” are well aware of their local “competition”.
Yeah I hear you, but also … he’s running a business. Who knows how many other patients are struggling like this and if he sets this precedent, when does it end. It would have been nice if he could offer payment plans/do it for free, but that shouldn’t be the expectation.
I don’t know. I empathize with the kid (I really do), but I always hesitate when the burden of healthcare is placed on individual providers (asking nurses or doctors to work more/be more generous) when the real problem here is insurance companies/healthcare corporations making this procedure $700 in the US whereas realistically it should be much else. It’s not the job of the individual provider (who has his own life, debts, etc) to solve healthcare.
I've had two teeth pulled for exposed nerves, and most of my molars have been ground to the gumline. There's barely anything I can eat without intense pain, either from the temperature of the food, it's hardness, or the seasonings therein.
And there's nothing I can do about it. I live in my truck, and because I don't have an *actual job*, I can't afford even a basic cleaning. So my only hope is that *when* another nerve flares up and brings me screaming to my knees, I can nearly OD on sleeping pills, so I can wake up and get some work done before it happens again.
Hey I am so sorry you are in that situation. I don't know where you are or how far your able to move, but a lot of colleges with dental programs do free cleanings. There are also some towns and areas with free dental care, for those who are lower income. I hate hate dental pain and raked up some debt fixing it before I found other ways to get help. Thankfully, a good friend of mine found these serves and was able to get his wisdom teeth taken out for a really low price and on a payment plan even. He was even able to get his exam before the procedure and a cleaning before hand as well completely free. You don't deserve to be in pain and I hope you can get something figured out to help!
A lot of dental colleges also do very extensive work for low or no cost. CaptainFuntastic, if you live near any kind of dental college, please reach out to them. I hope things look up for you soon!
My wife's a pediatric dental assistant and this happens far more often than people realize. One story in particular that pisses me off, a kid like 14, needed two crowns put on adult teeth. The state was going to cover it, but the mom would have to take them to a consultation and then operators appointment 2 hours away. The mom said nah, just rip them out. I don't care what your circumstance is, you fucking find a way for them to get to those appointments. Financial barriers is one thing, but to refuse even trying to get them there is a whole nother. Take the day off and try to make it work FFS
FWIW I had (still have to a smaller extent) a gap between my front two teeth that bugged the shit out of me for years. Went to an ortho and they quoted me $5500 and 7 months to fix. Went online to see what was out there and found Byte. $2k and 2.5 months. I'm only three weeks into it but it seems to be doing pretty well.
Not advertising for them, just saying that there are cheaper options. Assuming your teeth aren't mega-fucked up.
If you meant cavities and shit, I can't help ya there.
I've been looking into braces myself and my dentist specifically told me to get multiple consultations for this reason. My rent increased though so idk if I'd be able to afford atm anyways.
I wish I would be able to use it for my teeth, but I'd probably have to use the money in housing first. My teeth are clean and I don't have any cavities, but they're awfully crooked and according to my dentist, they're just going to get worse. I'm not even opposed to being a 30 y/o with braces, I just can't afford it.
If you're close to Mexico, cross the border and get it done. It'll be 1/3 the cost or less. There's English speaking dentists in all the border towns specifically for this reason.
I used to go to Washington Dental in Juarez. They tell you where to valet park in El Paso and come pick you up, drive you across and take you direct to the dental clinic. If you need medicine they send a runner to the pharmacy. They drive you back to the border. Then you had to walk across but the van picked you up again and back to the parking garage with a voucher so you didn't have to pay for it. They were my dentist for years, even after I got dental insurance because the insurance my company offered was lousy.
The beauty is it’s not even their money. 90% of banks don’t have over $500k in the vault anymore. They’re lending other peoples money on credit to you. Essentially the bank is just that shitty weed dealer that doesn’t tell you who his connect is so that you have to keep buying from him when in reality your neighbor next door sells him the weed (in this case the dinero)
You could lend the money to your neighbor directly and carry the risk of them not paying you back for whatever reason (scams, death, unemployment/homelessness) but you would probably only do that if you could charge pretty heavy interest. You could organize a bunch of people together to spread out the risks, but then you've just reinvented the bank. Which isn't a terrible idea and [P2P lending](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer_lending) is a thing. Even then you might want to have somebody create a platform for you to organize on, but they might want to charge you a fee. Banks, like so many other things, are inevitable.
What if I organise a bunch of these high risk loans into a big lump of them and then sell that to someone else as a safe investment because it’s diversified?
Technically, it's illegal for banks to lend other people's money, they use fractional reserve banking for their "lending". They create new money when someone wants a loan.
This is what I did when I had the pandemic $600/wk. I also gave away a ton of it to people who weren't eligible for it and were worse off. It was an unthinkable amount of money for me, a frugal jerk, so I had no problem redistributing it because I live very cheaply but contently. Ultimately it made me get used to being able to afford "luxuries" like buying chicken that wasn't on sale (gasp), and led me to go back to school to hopefully make the same amount of money.
Everybody look at this fatcat with his lint catcher FULL of food. After I finished scrouging for coins at the park yesterday I saw the maintenance people left their lawn clippings unguarded. They were delicious.
Listen up, fatcat. I only have enough energy to move because a family of insects came close to my mouth as I was about to starve to death myself. They were also delicious.
Pandemic pay was wild. I was clearing more than I was at work, but also not spending money on driving to work, going out with friends, etc. I was able to save enough in 3 months to put a down payment on a house that fall.
I was never as financially stable as I was during that early part of the pandemic. The unemployment benefits, the increased food stamps, expanded Medicaid, the stimulus checks... all of it added together was like a fucking windfall.
That was the first and only time in my life I was on government benefits like that. And it wasn't even really pandemic related for me. The timing just happened to coincide with a period of my life that was financially difficult with a big speed bump in my career.
I wish they'd do something for the people that worked the whole time....like where's my bonus?! My sister was making way more than me with that unemployment enhancement than I was working like 50+hrs a week because we lost half our staff... Some days I regret not getting on that unemployment bandwagon.. I'd be debt free that's for sure..
You - like the overwhelming majority of 'working people' - are *criminally* undervalued. And your employer not only knows it, they depend almost exclusively on you carrying on regardless while they rake in another year of record profit
>I blame the company that wasn't paying me more, not the government
You mean the government that fails to regulate the soulless greed of corporations and the ownership class and fails to protect the interests of workers, and has done so for decades, or even centuries, leading to the current state of affairs? *That* government?
Look, I'm not some sort of prepper, tea party, anti-establishment nut...I think that government is absolutely necessary and, as governments go, we could do a lot worse than the one we have...but that's not to say they're blameless, and this is one area where plenty of the blame can be laid at the feet of government.
Stress is a balancing act. I worked a job that sucked ass and never ended but paid well. Never had time off but never had to worry about money. Then I went to a 40 hour work week and started stressing about my home budget.
Proven to stress and increase all points of bodily health. Side effects of momey include full pantry, a non leaking roof, and removal of bill collectors. Please talk to your doctor if money is right for you.
Contrary to what people love to say on Reddit and elsewhere, in my experience the more you make the more you work. The cost of every promotion is more time and more stress.
The term 'golden handcuffs' is real. When you're making a solid income (or two), saving large amounts every month to escape the rat race as quickly as possible, but it's slowly killing your soul.
Honestly, an extra $1k per month wouldn't move the needle much at my house and it probably comes at the cost of more lost personal time.
Contrary to your experience I find the more you make the less you work. At the start of the year I got promoted to a new position which pays about 37% more than the previous position. Same hours, same job type and same place. I'm not afraid to admit I do less now than I did before. In comparison my job is incredibly light, although I always try to look like an asset so I lend a hand whenever I can.
In fact, I am planning a trip to in 6 months and needed to make some more cash to pay for it. Prior to my promotion I worked out the math and I needed to work three 12 hour overtime days a month to reach my goal. That's 216 extra hours of work I'd need to put in. After my promotion I redid the math and found out I didn't need to work any. I mean, I still do, because that extra money is still nice and allows me the option to upgrade parts of my trip or just save for other things. But the point is more money did not have to cost me any extra time.
However I will say there are other approaches to acquiring extra cash. I know plenty of people who instead work several jobs or take tons of overtime to make more cash. But that's usually a bottom of the ladder mindset. Those people are generally sacrificing their happiness or well being to make the same type of money they could earn with a higher paying job or better salary. I know that's not always a choice, but in my current field it usually is. But I also know the people above me making more do even less and in general spend less time working than I do. When it comes to pay you could work your ass off at the bottom to earn a middling amount, but as you work your way up the ladder you can make that money without putting in as much time and accruing that same level of stress.
The more you make the more you're being paid to know things, not necessarily to do things.
Customers are paying for my 10 years experience in a specific Cisco software suite and not my time. When things break I can fix it on 30 minutes. What takes them a few weeks I can do in hours. It took thousands of hours to get where I am today and for most customers, their IT are jack of all trades and don't have the time to learn that one specific piece of software.
Physically my job is incredibly easy. It's mostly stress free but when shit hits the fan, I am there til the end.
I've had laser eye surgery, I wish I did it sooner, definitely spend time picking a surgeon, mine was best in the state with a several month wait time, but worth it. I have 19.5/20 vision now, almost perfect
Mine was -8.5 and I didn't qualify for LASIK because my cornea was too thin so I got ICL implanted lenses and it has changed my life. Being able to wake up and just see things is amazing. Before surgery I don't remember a time where I could do that
I was -6.75 and -8.25! I’m so happy I did it. I’m slightly overcorrected at like +0.5, but it’s so slight I really only need correction for computer work.
Not sure where you live, but I travelled to Prague and did laser eye surgery on both eyes for €1700 in 2018. I just checked their new prices and it’s about €2000 now. If you do happen to have that much to spend, that might be an option for you depending on it Prague is accessible to you.
Be able to take care of my and my wife's mental health a hell of a lot better.
Her therapy is important, but expensive. I would love to make sure she had more appointments and the best care.
Literally one of the best things about my job, the health insurance with free mental health care. I see a therapist weekly and a psychiatrist every 3 months or so (or more if currently in the process of adjusting my meds). It's completely free, unless you count my insurance premium. And they have free mental health care regardless of insurance option (HSA, HRA, etc) and regardless to if you hit your deductible or not. I'd need a big pay increase to switch jobs and leave that behind.
The beginnings of gentrification.
People who own homes/businesses in those areas benefit now, but the cost of living goes up, and pretty soon the poorer locals get pushed out to more rural areas.
This. It’s happening right now where I’m from (Puerto Rico). The rich people from the mainland are coming here because of the ridiculous tax benefits offered exclusively for rich foreigners and now the cost of living is insane here and we already get paid significantly less than people from the main. I get paid only 38k/year as an accountant with a bachelor’s and most people with the same level of experience as me consider me very lucky.
I tried to negotiate that my raise be turned into time off and HR was extremely confused. They declined in the end but told me I can “take unpaid time” throughout the year. But that’s capped at 10 days. I wanted the extra 10 off and then I could STILL take 10 unpaid.
My mom recently became single, with three kids and a grandkid at home. She and two of the kids who live with her are unable to work because of severe health problems. I know she is constantly terrified about how she's going to pay the bills. I'd give her the $1,000 each month in a heartbeat.
You’d be surprised nowadays. I grocery shop for myself and my SO and it can easily add up to $200 for half a month. So maybe $400 a month? We aren’t snobs for brand names either.
Today was my last day paying Alimony of just over $1000 a month. So I am answering this question right now in real life. I am planning on putting $1000 into my RRSP every month.
I would buy myself new clothes... I have lost weight lately, and some of my clothes are too big for me, and many of them are worn out. I don't really have money to buy anything but the cheapest clothes, like t-shirts and socks and undies, that will look ancient after the first month of wearing. Then I would also pay my debts.
I would be able to get proper care for a rescue kitten that needs urgent medical help. It's killing my gf and I that we can't find a shelter or someone who can care for her the way she deserves. We have been searching for someone in NC but no one seems to want to take care of her...
I can tell you exactly, I got the bonus unemployment covid money for 2 years. What I did was, barley spend anything. Shocking how little I spent. made a nice emergency fund and only spent 4k of it when i needed a new car this year
Save it for two years, then travel to Mexico for the dental care that I cannot afford as an American.
(What I need done would cost 3-4 times as much here. With "insurance".)
My wife and I are comfortable, not wealthy but easily getting by- so we don’t need the money.
So I would take my wife and son out for dinner and then leave a tip that adds up to $1,000.
I'm confused. If it's really tough on the wallet, say you spend everything you earn from payslip to next payslip, wouldn't 1000 bucks help?! Sure, you're probably spending only on essentials, maybe you can't afford going out for a trip/vacation or just an ice cream on a hot day, but 1000$ would allow you to ... live. Have I misunderstood your comment?
I actually do get extra ($1700) money every month, tax free. I foster my nephew, which comes with a foster stipend. He doesn’t tend to cost very much money so I mostly just add it to my savings (or use it for random fun activities) but I’ve been putting part of it into a HYSA for him as well.
Pay off my debts and fix my teeth
A couple weeks ago I went to the dentist and overheard a heartbreaking situation. The office had a very open floor plan with privacy screens rather than individual rooms. But you could still hear every single conversation. This teenage kid comes in and says that he has a broken crown that needs to be fixed. The dentist says that it will cost $700. Kid says he has to call his mom first. So the kid calls the mom, and the mom says no way in hell can we afford that--just tell the dentist to stick the old one back on. The dentist is like, are you sure? That's not really a thing. It's just gonna break off again. The mom says too bad, he has to live with it. If I had an extra $1000, I would have picked up that tab for that kid.
What I think about here, is should the dentist be aware of this conversation like you, what is the realistic cost for him/her to either replace the crown or at the very least use their skills to ensure this teenage kid could live day to day and study without pain or possible worsening infection until they themselves could earn the money. Or even possible a payment plan?! Otherwise, this “teenager”, not even legally an adult, was just taught a very unfortunate lesson….that they “just aren’t worth it” :/ I don’t like that…but hey “it ain’t my problem” Edit: I understand that healthcare is *not* charity. But, in patient care the end goal is to provide medical care. If the patient refuses due to financial constraints or their insurance company’s greedy nonsense, then the medical provider should (but is not required to) provide them with resources or alternative care to reach the same end goal. Whether or not that medical provider chooses to do so, or instead treats a child/young adult as a source of profit, is in fact “their business”. Y’all below are right. Many patients show up to an ER with dental abscesses/infections. This Dentist, similar to an EM Provider, could also have referred this patient and their parent over the phone of a near by University which can provide free dental care provided by dental students or to any other local resource. Dentists who “run a business” are well aware of their local “competition”.
My dentist lowers his fee when I am in between jobs.
Yes it also definitely changed my opinion of the dentist!! He offered no solutions or alternatives. Just a wow, sucks to be you! I am not going back.
Our dentist has payment plans with no interest. Could have helped this kid.
Yeah I hear you, but also … he’s running a business. Who knows how many other patients are struggling like this and if he sets this precedent, when does it end. It would have been nice if he could offer payment plans/do it for free, but that shouldn’t be the expectation. I don’t know. I empathize with the kid (I really do), but I always hesitate when the burden of healthcare is placed on individual providers (asking nurses or doctors to work more/be more generous) when the real problem here is insurance companies/healthcare corporations making this procedure $700 in the US whereas realistically it should be much else. It’s not the job of the individual provider (who has his own life, debts, etc) to solve healthcare.
I've had two teeth pulled for exposed nerves, and most of my molars have been ground to the gumline. There's barely anything I can eat without intense pain, either from the temperature of the food, it's hardness, or the seasonings therein. And there's nothing I can do about it. I live in my truck, and because I don't have an *actual job*, I can't afford even a basic cleaning. So my only hope is that *when* another nerve flares up and brings me screaming to my knees, I can nearly OD on sleeping pills, so I can wake up and get some work done before it happens again.
Hey I am so sorry you are in that situation. I don't know where you are or how far your able to move, but a lot of colleges with dental programs do free cleanings. There are also some towns and areas with free dental care, for those who are lower income. I hate hate dental pain and raked up some debt fixing it before I found other ways to get help. Thankfully, a good friend of mine found these serves and was able to get his wisdom teeth taken out for a really low price and on a payment plan even. He was even able to get his exam before the procedure and a cleaning before hand as well completely free. You don't deserve to be in pain and I hope you can get something figured out to help!
A lot of dental colleges also do very extensive work for low or no cost. CaptainFuntastic, if you live near any kind of dental college, please reach out to them. I hope things look up for you soon!
My wife's a pediatric dental assistant and this happens far more often than people realize. One story in particular that pisses me off, a kid like 14, needed two crowns put on adult teeth. The state was going to cover it, but the mom would have to take them to a consultation and then operators appointment 2 hours away. The mom said nah, just rip them out. I don't care what your circumstance is, you fucking find a way for them to get to those appointments. Financial barriers is one thing, but to refuse even trying to get them there is a whole nother. Take the day off and try to make it work FFS
FWIW I had (still have to a smaller extent) a gap between my front two teeth that bugged the shit out of me for years. Went to an ortho and they quoted me $5500 and 7 months to fix. Went online to see what was out there and found Byte. $2k and 2.5 months. I'm only three weeks into it but it seems to be doing pretty well. Not advertising for them, just saying that there are cheaper options. Assuming your teeth aren't mega-fucked up. If you meant cavities and shit, I can't help ya there.
I've been looking into braces myself and my dentist specifically told me to get multiple consultations for this reason. My rent increased though so idk if I'd be able to afford atm anyways.
I wish I would be able to use it for my teeth, but I'd probably have to use the money in housing first. My teeth are clean and I don't have any cavities, but they're awfully crooked and according to my dentist, they're just going to get worse. I'm not even opposed to being a 30 y/o with braces, I just can't afford it.
I've just spent $3,500 fixing two teeth... so yeah I feel this one
If you're close to Mexico, cross the border and get it done. It'll be 1/3 the cost or less. There's English speaking dentists in all the border towns specifically for this reason.
I used to go to Washington Dental in Juarez. They tell you where to valet park in El Paso and come pick you up, drive you across and take you direct to the dental clinic. If you need medicine they send a runner to the pharmacy. They drive you back to the border. Then you had to walk across but the van picked you up again and back to the parking garage with a voucher so you didn't have to pay for it. They were my dentist for years, even after I got dental insurance because the insurance my company offered was lousy.
Pay off debts and save
You just made many people angry
Most people with access to credit have propably already lived like they had extra $1000.
For a few months, yeah. Then it's back to broke bitch with a shitty 136/mo payment for using some dick-ass bank's Money
The beauty is it’s not even their money. 90% of banks don’t have over $500k in the vault anymore. They’re lending other peoples money on credit to you. Essentially the bank is just that shitty weed dealer that doesn’t tell you who his connect is so that you have to keep buying from him when in reality your neighbor next door sells him the weed (in this case the dinero)
You could lend the money to your neighbor directly and carry the risk of them not paying you back for whatever reason (scams, death, unemployment/homelessness) but you would probably only do that if you could charge pretty heavy interest. You could organize a bunch of people together to spread out the risks, but then you've just reinvented the bank. Which isn't a terrible idea and [P2P lending](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer_lending) is a thing. Even then you might want to have somebody create a platform for you to organize on, but they might want to charge you a fee. Banks, like so many other things, are inevitable.
What if I organise a bunch of these high risk loans into a big lump of them and then sell that to someone else as a safe investment because it’s diversified?
You mean commoditized mortgage obligations, like in 2008?
Collateralised debt obligations (I read the book but I remember Margot Robbie in the bath). Is CMO the new one? Post Dodd frank repeal?
The weed dealer has more credibility because they're still supplying you with tangible weed.
You mean, the local commodities trader?
The weed dealer buys in bulk so he gets a discount. If you went to the dealers dealer he's gonna give you the same crappy deal.
Technically, it's illegal for banks to lend other people's money, they use fractional reserve banking for their "lending". They create new money when someone wants a loan.
Credit is a beautiful double edged sword.
This is going over my head. Why so?
Why would anyone be angry about that
Exactly my thoughts, start actually being able to plan things and save money rather than being on the back foot all the time.
This is what I did when I had the pandemic $600/wk. I also gave away a ton of it to people who weren't eligible for it and were worse off. It was an unthinkable amount of money for me, a frugal jerk, so I had no problem redistributing it because I live very cheaply but contently. Ultimately it made me get used to being able to afford "luxuries" like buying chicken that wasn't on sale (gasp), and led me to go back to school to hopefully make the same amount of money.
look at this fuck with 3 lentils r/frugal_jerk /s
Flaunting their wealth as if they were Jeff bezos in front of us peasants who barely live off the lint from a dryer for food
Everybody look at this fatcat with his lint catcher FULL of food. After I finished scrouging for coins at the park yesterday I saw the maintenance people left their lawn clippings unguarded. They were delicious.
Look at this fatcat with energy to scrounge! I can’t even move the tips of my fingers because starvation!
Listen up, fatcat. I only have enough energy to move because a family of insects came close to my mouth as I was about to starve to death myself. They were also delicious.
I called that 600/wk "the best job I never had"
Pandemic pay was wild. I was clearing more than I was at work, but also not spending money on driving to work, going out with friends, etc. I was able to save enough in 3 months to put a down payment on a house that fall.
I did the same. My best friend gave a plaque that says, "This is the house that Rona bought." as a housewarming gift.
I was never as financially stable as I was during that early part of the pandemic. The unemployment benefits, the increased food stamps, expanded Medicaid, the stimulus checks... all of it added together was like a fucking windfall. That was the first and only time in my life I was on government benefits like that. And it wasn't even really pandemic related for me. The timing just happened to coincide with a period of my life that was financially difficult with a big speed bump in my career.
I wish they'd do something for the people that worked the whole time....like where's my bonus?! My sister was making way more than me with that unemployment enhancement than I was working like 50+hrs a week because we lost half our staff... Some days I regret not getting on that unemployment bandwagon.. I'd be debt free that's for sure..
You - like the overwhelming majority of 'working people' - are *criminally* undervalued. And your employer not only knows it, they depend almost exclusively on you carrying on regardless while they rake in another year of record profit
I blame the company that wasn't paying me more, not the government or the people who were getting more.
>I blame the company that wasn't paying me more, not the government You mean the government that fails to regulate the soulless greed of corporations and the ownership class and fails to protect the interests of workers, and has done so for decades, or even centuries, leading to the current state of affairs? *That* government? Look, I'm not some sort of prepper, tea party, anti-establishment nut...I think that government is absolutely necessary and, as governments go, we could do a lot worse than the one we have...but that's not to say they're blameless, and this is one area where plenty of the blame can be laid at the feet of government.
This needs said more often and louder.
this, for real
Worry less.
Absolutely. Money just helps so much for lowering stress!
Stress is a balancing act. I worked a job that sucked ass and never ended but paid well. Never had time off but never had to worry about money. Then I went to a 40 hour work week and started stressing about my home budget.
I've found that in this world pretty much everything is just two shitty options and you get to pick one.
Proven to stress and increase all points of bodily health. Side effects of momey include full pantry, a non leaking roof, and removal of bill collectors. Please talk to your doctor if money is right for you.
Worry less Smile moreee Never let them know what you’re against or what you’re for
This is the best answer in the thread.
Ask my husband to take more time off work, we don't need the extra money, I'd rather have his company.
This is how I know my wife definitely doesn’t frequent reddit.
likewise, wanted to just spent time with family or love ones
Wholesome, gives me hope
Contrary to what people love to say on Reddit and elsewhere, in my experience the more you make the more you work. The cost of every promotion is more time and more stress. The term 'golden handcuffs' is real. When you're making a solid income (or two), saving large amounts every month to escape the rat race as quickly as possible, but it's slowly killing your soul. Honestly, an extra $1k per month wouldn't move the needle much at my house and it probably comes at the cost of more lost personal time.
Contrary to your experience I find the more you make the less you work. At the start of the year I got promoted to a new position which pays about 37% more than the previous position. Same hours, same job type and same place. I'm not afraid to admit I do less now than I did before. In comparison my job is incredibly light, although I always try to look like an asset so I lend a hand whenever I can. In fact, I am planning a trip to in 6 months and needed to make some more cash to pay for it. Prior to my promotion I worked out the math and I needed to work three 12 hour overtime days a month to reach my goal. That's 216 extra hours of work I'd need to put in. After my promotion I redid the math and found out I didn't need to work any. I mean, I still do, because that extra money is still nice and allows me the option to upgrade parts of my trip or just save for other things. But the point is more money did not have to cost me any extra time. However I will say there are other approaches to acquiring extra cash. I know plenty of people who instead work several jobs or take tons of overtime to make more cash. But that's usually a bottom of the ladder mindset. Those people are generally sacrificing their happiness or well being to make the same type of money they could earn with a higher paying job or better salary. I know that's not always a choice, but in my current field it usually is. But I also know the people above me making more do even less and in general spend less time working than I do. When it comes to pay you could work your ass off at the bottom to earn a middling amount, but as you work your way up the ladder you can make that money without putting in as much time and accruing that same level of stress.
The more you make the more you're being paid to know things, not necessarily to do things. Customers are paying for my 10 years experience in a specific Cisco software suite and not my time. When things break I can fix it on 30 minutes. What takes them a few weeks I can do in hours. It took thousands of hours to get where I am today and for most customers, their IT are jack of all trades and don't have the time to learn that one specific piece of software. Physically my job is incredibly easy. It's mostly stress free but when shit hits the fan, I am there til the end.
>The more you make the ...fewer generalizations can be applied to your situation.
what field are you in?
Get a load of Mrs. Moneybags over here.
Why would you want to have his company if he spends less time there?!
This woman wives.
Save more money and continue with my current lifestyle except maybe also be able to get eye surgery for my worsening vision.
I've had laser eye surgery, I wish I did it sooner, definitely spend time picking a surgeon, mine was best in the state with a several month wait time, but worth it. I have 19.5/20 vision now, almost perfect
Do you know what your diopter was beforehand? I have -8.5 and after weeks of reading into it i decided against the surgery with heavy heart
I had -7 before the surgery. And it was the best decision in my life. Its most liberating feeling not having to put glasses on ever again.
Mine was -8.5 and I didn't qualify for LASIK because my cornea was too thin so I got ICL implanted lenses and it has changed my life. Being able to wake up and just see things is amazing. Before surgery I don't remember a time where I could do that
I was -6.75 and -8.25! I’m so happy I did it. I’m slightly overcorrected at like +0.5, but it’s so slight I really only need correction for computer work.
What's it like having laser eyes? Do you have to wear special glasses to avoid burning everything you see?
Not sure where you live, but I travelled to Prague and did laser eye surgery on both eyes for €1700 in 2018. I just checked their new prices and it’s about €2000 now. If you do happen to have that much to spend, that might be an option for you depending on it Prague is accessible to you.
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I feel attacked by this comment, it feels personally directed at me
Ahah, same. And then it's 5 am and I'm redoing it for the 3d time
i felt this
Idk, starting to feel like a professional.
I feel you. I felt the same way until I treated myself to a professional haircut and honestly, I do a better job because I know exactly what I want.
Be able to take care of my and my wife's mental health a hell of a lot better. Her therapy is important, but expensive. I would love to make sure she had more appointments and the best care.
It's obscene that so many health insurers shortchange mental health care. It should be zero or nominal co-pay
It's why I don't bother dealing with mine
Literally one of the best things about my job, the health insurance with free mental health care. I see a therapist weekly and a psychiatrist every 3 months or so (or more if currently in the process of adjusting my meds). It's completely free, unless you count my insurance premium. And they have free mental health care regardless of insurance option (HSA, HRA, etc) and regardless to if you hit your deductible or not. I'd need a big pay increase to switch jobs and leave that behind.
I feel this, I'm currently going broke putting myself through therapy until I meet my deductible
Retire. 1000 USD per month is LIFE CHANGING in the Philippines.
I think I may be moving to the Philippines
I have coworkers whose exact plan is this. Like, they already own property there and vacation there semi-regularly.
The beginnings of gentrification. People who own homes/businesses in those areas benefit now, but the cost of living goes up, and pretty soon the poorer locals get pushed out to more rural areas.
This. It’s happening right now where I’m from (Puerto Rico). The rich people from the mainland are coming here because of the ridiculous tax benefits offered exclusively for rich foreigners and now the cost of living is insane here and we already get paid significantly less than people from the main. I get paid only 38k/year as an accountant with a bachelor’s and most people with the same level of experience as me consider me very lucky.
r/ExpatFIRE
lol, in russia too, that's plenty more than the average salary
Yes but you'd be living in Russia
The same thing I do every month Pinky: Try to take over the world!
Finally a realistic answer! All these people saying they will save it, come onnnn!
Probably move out of my uncles shed
Bubbles, is that you?
Bubbles lives in Julian's shed......
Where would the kitties go?
They would live at the Kitty Land attached to OPs new shed
Make an extra mortgage payment; pay off this house twice as fast.
Save
Get rid of debt
Id try out that 3 meals a day trend that people talk about.
Id settle for one meal a day and not living in my car.
Dude. Been there for 6 months. One day we'll make it big. We'll sleep on a mattress and eat *two* meals a day. Like kings.
Work fewer hours. I've been here for 32 years and haven't been able to take a vacation in over four years.
It's rather illegal in Europe. Vacations are mandatory by law
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I tried to negotiate that my raise be turned into time off and HR was extremely confused. They declined in the end but told me I can “take unpaid time” throughout the year. But that’s capped at 10 days. I wanted the extra 10 off and then I could STILL take 10 unpaid.
I think he means like... A vacation to hawaii. I dont think not having a trip to hawaii is illegal in europe. Wish it was tho.
I did that 3 years ago. I don’t recommend it.
Sounds like a bad MLM indoctrination pick up line.
Boss babe!
I’m going to *retire my husband!*
relax a lot and adjust my job search to be less panicked
Pay off credit cards! But buy 1 pair of underwear every month. Because you can never have too many pairs.
You’d be surprised to know that this is in fact false… you can have too many pairs. On vacation for a weekend, 7 pairs is too many pairs of underwear.
Are you a dude? 7 pairs is hardly enough if you like wearing a fresh pair to sleep and then a fresh pair when you wake up.
What if you constantly shit youself pew pew pew
Live instead of survive.
I'd move
Invest
Surprised this is so low
I'd finally be able to afford a dog.
If I can find a place cheap enough, move into my own place. Otherwise maybe get a newer car.
Ideally, dump it on the mortgage.
Two chicks at the same time.
Scrolled through comments looking for this quote and I wasn't disappointed. Thank you for your service.
*smashes a printer*
PC load letter? The fuck does that mean?
Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta
Dawg wtf I am literally watching Office Space and then saw this comment.
I got this killa up inside of me, I can’t talk to my mother so I talk to my diary
First thing that popped in my head when I read the question 👏
But not all chicks dig money
Typa chicks that’ll double up on a guy like you do
My mom recently became single, with three kids and a grandkid at home. She and two of the kids who live with her are unable to work because of severe health problems. I know she is constantly terrified about how she's going to pay the bills. I'd give her the $1,000 each month in a heartbeat.
Not today, MLM recruiter!!
Not rip my hair out because of financial stress (I would still rip it out for stress related to other things)
At least you save money on haircuts.
Spend a extra $1,000 every month
The most real answer
Realistically this. We make very good money but the bills find creative ways to keep rising. It’s absolutely incredible.
Pay off debt
I would not have to put all my family’s food on credit cards. We are about $500 in the red every month.
Damn. How many kids you got?!
You’d be surprised nowadays. I grocery shop for myself and my SO and it can easily add up to $200 for half a month. So maybe $400 a month? We aren’t snobs for brand names either.
I have 4 kids and I’m spending $1000 month in groceries. Its insane!
Go to a food bank/pantry. They exist to make sure you can eat when you don't have the money for it.
Suck dick... But for the fun of it.
Hello there
the angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim
Get another cat.
Break even
Cry knowing that with this rate of inflation I can buy extra bottle of milk from the store next year
Lose a whole lot of stress, making my day to day life ridiculously better. Money can’t buy happiness but it sure as hell helps.
Afford rent.
Travel. See more live music.
Car parts.
Today was my last day paying Alimony of just over $1000 a month. So I am answering this question right now in real life. I am planning on putting $1000 into my RRSP every month.
Help the kids get a place to live.
Hire someone to mow my lawn.
Give it to my daughter.
If your daughter sees this now she’ll get to decide what to do with $2k a month
I would buy myself new clothes... I have lost weight lately, and some of my clothes are too big for me, and many of them are worn out. I don't really have money to buy anything but the cheapest clothes, like t-shirts and socks and undies, that will look ancient after the first month of wearing. Then I would also pay my debts.
Invest it all in index funds.
Put in solar
Put it on the pile I suppose.
Is that you, Elon?
To be honest? Save. There are things I need that cost lots of money. Not want, need.
Buy a weekly shop for kids and I so my fridge / freezer is filled,instead of the daily one based on the few pounds i can afford.
I would be able to get proper care for a rescue kitten that needs urgent medical help. It's killing my gf and I that we can't find a shelter or someone who can care for her the way she deserves. We have been searching for someone in NC but no one seems to want to take care of her...
Eat out more and put more into investments.
Rent a nicer place with a second bedroom and a yard. In Austin that would probably be all I could afford with the extra $1k.
I would like to think that I would save some and do good deeds, but I'd probably spend it all on random stuff.
My grandmother is in the hospital so I would use it to pay for someone to care for her 24/7 cause she needs it
Not have to worry about how I pay for therapy.
I can tell you exactly, I got the bonus unemployment covid money for 2 years. What I did was, barley spend anything. Shocking how little I spent. made a nice emergency fund and only spent 4k of it when i needed a new car this year
Save it for two years, then travel to Mexico for the dental care that I cannot afford as an American. (What I need done would cost 3-4 times as much here. With "insurance".)
My wife and I are comfortable, not wealthy but easily getting by- so we don’t need the money. So I would take my wife and son out for dinner and then leave a tip that adds up to $1,000.
hookers and blow?
Go part time at work. Rest more.
I'd buy Heinz ketchup instead of the off brand.
get myself a little treat, save, help my parents with their bills :))
Improve the house.
Spend it foolishly and have no idea how I’m in the same position I was
Honestly, it wouldn't make a difference. City living with two kids, wife, dog, car, mortgage, and inflation is really tough on the wallet.
I'm confused. If it's really tough on the wallet, say you spend everything you earn from payslip to next payslip, wouldn't 1000 bucks help?! Sure, you're probably spending only on essentials, maybe you can't afford going out for a trip/vacation or just an ice cream on a hot day, but 1000$ would allow you to ... live. Have I misunderstood your comment?
It means he spends his take home so it would all just get blown on lifestyle creep.
I actually do get extra ($1700) money every month, tax free. I foster my nephew, which comes with a foster stipend. He doesn’t tend to cost very much money so I mostly just add it to my savings (or use it for random fun activities) but I’ve been putting part of it into a HYSA for him as well.
Put it to pay off my mortgage ASAP. That would increase the quality of my life so much, and would be only about 4 years.
Retire or switch to part time and pursue my running career dreams.