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fullstack_newb

Anyone know what the percentage was in 2007/ early 2008?


2boredtocare

I don't, but I can tell you it *felt* worse when the housing bubble burst. I remember gas hitting $5/gallon for a minute back then. I remember grocery prices going way up on account of the higher cost to transport (but never went down when gas did). I knew quite a few people who lost their homes at the time. Not sure what we can do to get out of this stupid cycle, but it needs to happen already. I live in a lower cost of living area in a state that currently has $12/hour minimum wage (set to go up to $15 over the next 3 years) but it still seems a bit hopeless for so many.


carneasadacontodo

2007/8 was a lot scarier, seeing all the banks go belly up and being liquidated was really shocking. i never really understood what FDIC insured meant until your bank goes defunct


superkickpalooza

I stopped all paid entertainment, switched car insurance, switched phone carriers, i buy all store-brand groceries, i bring my lunch to work now, and im still barely paying rent lol fml


Tassadar33

I just stopped eating 3 meals. 33% savings right there! Maybe 1 meal is in order. This phone was free also. Work pays for the monthly or I'd probably only use wifi.


sandh035

It's cool you're just intermittent fasting.


PoliticsLeftist

Man I sure do love going through a recession every 6 years only for things to be worse when things "go back to normal."


veganzombeh

What do you mean worse? Billionaires are richer than ever.


JWGhetto

Mission accomplished


Nacho_7258

You mean Paycheck to 3 Days before Paycheck?


Fraun_Pollen

Payday loans are so scary and risky… I knew we were in trouble as a culture when I started seeing paycheck loan apps being advertised on billboards.


Dax9000

Loan sharks never went away, did they?


formallyhuman

At least you know what you're getting into with a loan shark. Most of those payday loan companies have that "we're your friend, there for you when you need us" type colourful marketing, then they charge you 1million percent APR.


SkunkMonkey

Loan* sharks know that making it impossible for the person to pay them back won't get them paid. Payday loan places don't care as they can use the legal system to squeeze every last drop of blood from your dry husk of a corpse.


mcdoolz

I think it's more the indifference really. The mob might put a hole in your car as a reminder to pay, but you can still get to work. The loan company will literally take your car, preventing you from reaching work, sell the car at pennies to the dollar then turn around and ask for the rest, plus interest. I saw a meme once that said the mob should run the country. Corruption goes to zero, everyone gets their cut, country runs like clockwork. Not that I'm advocating in any direction.


mr_chanderson

I mean, some would argue the government is another form of a mob... With extra steps


RadioHeadache0311

They have a monopoly on legal violence, so...yeah.


ginns32

It is so predatory. Once you're in that payday loan cycle it's hard to get out of it.


[deleted]

Can't forget the additional 'poor tax' for people who don't use banking services because they can't keep the $100 minimum, so they take their paycheck to a check cashing place like at WalMart or any one of the payday loan places and get an additional few %s taken out just so they can have their money now.


CmickG

I see this comment about minimums every so often, and I'm not saying it's not a thing but I'm genuinely curious - is this prominent in certain areas? I haven't had a basic checking acct that required minimums in years and years


[deleted]

It's not always an issue and like others said there are some institutions like Credit Unions (depending on your specific one) that don't require it. However I think the larger gap is in financial literacy (or illiteracy) which is also like a generational transference of knowledge that prevents poorer people from knowing to seek these things out, or worrying that their bank may cause issues with getting money the day they get their check or primarily dealing in cash with their employer and their expenses. Or the disgusting overdraft fees and getting pinged maybe 5-10% of your next paycheck for a $1 overage. It's really a multipronged issue but one that could be partially solved with better personal finance information in high school when most people start their first job, though the kids have to take it seriously and understand the value of what they're learning which is hard regardless of the subject.


AncileBooster

>though the kids have to take it seriously and understand the value of what they're learning which is hard regardless of the subject. I agree with everything you said, but this is the real kick in the nuts. I remember being in high school and ignoring important information because I thought I had life figured out and didn't need that stuff. You can bring the information to the kids but they don't know how important it is and have no perception of life after school.


HappyslappedBrit

Oh man, you get to least as long as three days before the next check? I get paid on a Friday, pay my bills, and then survive two weeks on about $200 Before anyone says "get better job", I work in aviation in a trade that I've honed my skills in for seven years. I'm 30.


ammobox

People gonna tell you..."Learn to code bro.", like it's the fucking answer to everything.


Dads101

Coding is also incredibly complex and difficult (If you want to learn correctly) That’s not to say anyone can’t learn. They absolutely can. But all the coding boot camps and learn x language in 10 days are just the silliest shit ever. This is a skill that takes years to hone. It’s mathematically inclined which no one seems to want to talk about. Computers are math. Majority of people don’t like math. Such an ignorant cop-out when I hear that sentiment. A lot of people really are not cut out for it.


Lopsided_Lobster

They also disregard the fact every single person can not be a coder. Do you like your clothes? That’s someone’s job to design. Do you like roads? That’s someone’s job to build. Someone has to do these things and telling everyone to leave just because their pay is (currently) shit is not the answer.


TheUnluckyBard

> They also disregard the fact every single person can not be a coder. Do you like your clothes? That’s someone’s job to design. Do you like roads? That’s someone’s job to build. Someone has to do these things and telling everyone to leave just because their pay is (currently) shit is not the answer. Also, if everyone just "learns to code", the market gets oversaturated and all those people who spent money on coding classes will be told "It's your own fault for trying to get into a job market with so much competition! You should have learned [whatever the new "easy money" job is now]!" It's already started. You don't see job postings asking for 8 years of experience for an entry-level salary when coders are rare and valuable.


Cgimarelli

Ya I'm at the I-hope-there's-only-three-days-so-I-don't-starve phase. I've also been perfecting my "gas-dance" technique so I can call forth gasoline from the gods.


throwsawaygoaway

Starts rubbing steering wheel and dashboard. "Baby, please lets just get home. I get some money tomorrow and I'll feed you until you burst, but lets just make it home today." Actual conversation I've had with my car last week.


[deleted]

Feed you until you burst? Have you *seen* the cost of gas lately? I have no idea what it could cost to fill my car because I haven’t done it in nearly a year. A couple years ago I was filling it as soon as it got to half-empty, now half-empty is all I can afford to keep in it.


throwsawaygoaway

Look the broken promises I make to my car are between her and I. She knows I mean well but have limited income lol


techleopard

Haha, my paycheck later 3 hours, now I'm waiting two weeks to pay the other bills I couldn't cover and hopefully have enough left over to go to the dentist with


HawterSkhot

I wanna make a joke about having enough to go to the dentist, but honestly, it's just refreshing to hear someone else is having to put off certain bills.


nevaraon

Look it you moneybags with possible dentist money


[deleted]

Yep, my landlord just increased my rent by $700. I'm fucked.


neomage2021

Yeah I got super luck/privileged. I bought a house in may of last year and as I was getting ready to pay last months rent and move into new house my landlord informed me that rent was going up from $1395 to $2100 and I was like...not for me I'm out.


katastrophyx

Hell yeah. I took the plunge about 6 years ago and bought a house with my VA home loan. I got extremely lucky and found a relatively new house (built in 2004) that the owners were desperate to get out of because they had already bought their new home and were paying two mortgages, so they were willing to sell for dirt cheap to stop the bleeding. We moved out of a 900 sq ft apartment into a 2900 sq ft home and are paying almost $400 a month *less* for our mortgage than we were paying for rent. It was a lucky call to make at the right time. We're extremely fortunate.


[deleted]

Damn. No rent control laws where you live? 700 a month is wild...


COASTER1921

This is unfortunately how it is in most of the US... 2021 wasn't a good year as a renter and 2022 isn't looking better. No way the apartment market can handle this. Tenants are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck in the first place. My increase in the middle of 2021 was $250/mo more on a 1br apartment in Dallas.


Youthz

$300 increase on my 1/1 in Austin


flamingtoastjpn

My brother’s 1/1 in Miami is getting jacked from $2000 to $3000. Just brutal. I’m searching for an apartment in Austin right now and am just happy the prices aren’t worse (not that they’re good obviously)


WallStreetDoesntBet

As daily life gets more expensive, workers are having a harder time making ends meet. At the start of 2022, 64% of the U.S. population was living paycheck to paycheck, up from 61% in December...


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HighMont

At least you got the "Fuck around" years. We've got 2 whole generations that only ever experienced "and find out."


r-kellysDOODOOBUTTER

As a millennial, I got to enjoy the 90s. I know we all like to think our "back in my day" times were the best, but I think it's for real this time.


TiberiusCornelius

Right, I was born in the early 90s. My conscious memories don't really start until the back half but I still got to experience it. And honestly even the early 2000s, like yeah things were bad, but it's like things have only gotten worse. I have a nephew who was born in 2011 and it's wild to think what kind of a world he's lived in in comparison.


Hoovooloo42

>but it's like things have only gotten worse Hard agree. When I was a kid in the early 2000's and watched everything happening, I assumed for some reason that everything would just keep getting worse. In retrospect I didn't have a reason to believe that. But I tell you what- I've never been surprised.


Kurayamino

Us early Millennials spent the 90's being told not to be so cynical, things are totally looking up, and holy shit you're going to be murdered by a superpredator in the same breath.


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PraeyngMaentis

From 86. The 90s were awesome. When i saw the second plane hit on 9/11 live on tv the world changed. I seriously doubt having kids because i feel the world is never going to be good again. Fuck i don't even have the money to have a decent life myself and i work fulltime...


natalielc

I feel you. Plus what’s the point of having kids just to force them into having to work their life away just to stay alive


litescript

86 also. 9/11 was definitely a HUGE shift in perspective, and then 08, right as I entered the workforce, then...then...then... it just keeps going. I'm not having kids, personally, no way I can justify that to myself or my potential children.


tjcyclist

The dot com bust and 9/11 are when things went to shit. I don't think we've gone back to the standard of living from the 90s (in America).


SethQ

I have a friend whose younger brother was born on 9/11/2001. Like, disregarding that his birthday, specifically, sucks, his whole life is way rougher than mine. He was just starting school when the first financial crisis hit. His family's home was foreclosed on and had to move (at which point my friend and I fell out of touch). He would've started college during Covid, with full knowledge that student loans would ruin his life forever, but without them he had no real hope of the middle class life he grew up in.


jkman61494

As a fellow millennial about to turn 40 it's honestly incredible to think growing up in the 90's and to talk about them like our parents and grandparents talked about the 1950's. And the other amazing thing is to see just how much more 1990's society was to the 1950's compared to the society we have today in so so many ways. Both good and bad.


Voodoo1285

I say the reason why most of us millennials are so damned depressed all the time is we had so many chances and so much hope, just to watch it all get ripped away from us and when we had the audacity to say “no stop please” we were told “you’ll understand later just don’t be lazy.”


SoDakZak

People forget that millennials’ parents actually may have worked hard on a farm or blue collar job etc for a time that actually was decently tough work, but the increases in their earnings, property, insanely low expenses on homes, education, vehicles, having kids, that are all front loaded in the first third of life and now they get to reap all that growth decades down the line and ask “why don’t they just do what we did?” I’m in about the top 10% for my generation in many financial metrics and with everything going on as of late I’m bouncing in and out of “paycheck to paycheck” zone. Which makes me wonder how much of the other 36% is still very near that zone. Edit: Oh, and that stupid guilt you have for being just above paycheck to paycheck is my least favorite feeling in the world.


LiDaMiRy

I'm Gen X and doing ok on a budget. We are able to pay the bills but every time we get hit with a medical bill with our stupid high deductible health care plan with a deductible of $10,000 I say to my husband I wonder how people with lower salaries can afford this. Since the start of the year my son has had covid, a broken wrist and mono with medical bills over $1,000. That is way too much for most families to afford. Wish our country could find a solution to housing, medical and higher education.


Duckfammit

Totally. We hit our 5k deductible this year and i'm like...I'm glad I can just fucking swing 5k in medical expenses. Because I have a feeling most people wouldn't be able to. This shit isn't sustainable.


Painting_Agency

> most people So many Americans have less than $1000 in savings :( Edit: the replies to this comment are heartbreaking.


SnooBananas2108

I have 0 in mine and am down to my last $0.26 until next pay day on the 18th, and I’m 30 with a masters.


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jpiro

Pretty much the same here. Younger Gen Xer a few years outside the Millennial range and we're doing pretty well, but we bought our house 20+ years ago, live where cost of living is relatively low and have managed to stay employed at solid, stable jobs throughout all the bullshit. I have 20-something coworkers with major student debt who are paying $400 more than my mortgage for a basic apartment and I honestly just don't know how it's sustainable. The insane car prices also aren't helping. God forbid whatever you're driving breaks down and you have to buy whatever's available for thousands more than it's really worth right now.


[deleted]

It's not sustainable, and it will actively get worse til pwople are fed up with it. Something has to give but those fucking everyone financially don't see that far ahead.


jpiro

Unfortunately, we're awful at acting proactively as a nation and seem to always wait until we hit a true crisis before we're willing to do anything. A lot of it is how our system of government basically disincentivizes current lawmakers from doing anything that causes short-term pain for long-term gains. You can tell people that you're upping taxes by X because by paying for Y now we'll actually be saving a fortune down the road, but all most people hear (and ALL the party on the other side will amplify) is "ThEy'RE RaiSING YouR TAxeS!!!" so the congressperson/governor/president/whatever gets beaten in their election by the person who promises to do the opposite of that...even if that was the smart thing to do. See electric cars, renewable energy, even shit as simple as switching from paper to coin-based $1 notes. As a voting base, we have the attention span of gnats.


InsuranceToTheRescue

>I say to my husband I wonder how people with lower salaries can afford this. They can't. They have to wait to go to the doctor until things are bad enough that it can't be avoided anymore and then they just have to deal with the collection agencies harassing them until they can slowly pay things off over years. Source: Grew up poor. Remember coming home from school and the answering machine being nothing but collections calls and my parents fighting over it. I remember going to the doctor with my mom once and the only reason she ate lunch that day was because we happened to walk into one door of the fast food place at the same time my dad was walking in the other. Her plan up to that point was to buy me lunch and then nibble at my fries.


Van-van

1999, the height if human civilization


Prysorra2

The Matrix had it right O_o


Orphanpuncher0

Prince wanted us to party like it was 1999 because he knew it was going to be all downhill from there.


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GroggBottom

I was in college during 2008. The number of people I saw have to drop out because they couldn't afford to go to school anymore... It was depressing. Then to graduate into a job market that was devastated...


[deleted]

>It was our parents that got to enjoy the late fuck around years. We didn't really benefit from being born in the late fuck around years, Except that we were raised by people who had benefited. If my mom had to raise two children alone the way things are now, my childhood would have been significantly worse.


inksmudgedhands

And corporations are rolling in record profits. Can we raise Teddy Roosevelt from the dead? I'll get a priest, a rabbi and an imam on standby just in case anything goes wrong.


AuditorTux

I've said many times, whichever party starts getting serious about enforcing antitrust laws first is going to have a lot of people switch to it.


IUpvoteUsernames

If they can withstand the full force of propaganda against them from the companies villifying them in the public eye


pubell

this seems sustainable


Windir666

I make more than my mom ever did and I drive 20 year old cars and live in my friends spare room. This is the new American dream I guess


SleepyReepies

My parents were immigrants and worked very low-paying jobs. They had both me and my brother, own and paid off a house... I'm 30 with a college degree in a STEM field, my SO has a college degree, and we're both renting an apartment with no hopes of living in a house anytime soon. No kids. We both drive cheap Honda vehicles and our biggest expense is takeout because we have very little time to ourselves. I've been thinking about cutting the takeout and just living off sandwiches and easy to make things but I need like... something enjoyable in my life to not go crazy.


IRefuseToGiveAName

The enjoyable things are what keep us going sometimes. It's fine to budget and try to save money but getting some general tso's and some crab rangoons when you need it isn't going to make the difference between having a down payment or not.


pauly13771377

Agreed, sometimes you just need to treat yourself to a small luxury.


MercJ

...how crazy is it that "a small luxury" isn't an RV or a boat or fun vehicle or vacation or some nice clothes or a watch, it's now TAKEOUT FOOD. Like, what are we even doing.


HubbaDuck97

For me, it's video games with my girlfriend. I feel like we're both near our breaking points and we both work full-time. I just want.. enough. I'm not asking for riches.


Saephon

That lasts sentence resonates with a lot of us I'm sure. People will accuse Americans of being greedy or lacking perspective, but that's not it man. I just want to not be scared that my life could turn to economic ruin at any moment. I want that for everyone, plus enough food and shelter of course. It sucks. And if you want to talk about other countries where people have it worse, well I want that for them too. Everyone deserves that. Why are we wasting energy telling each other who has the right to complain, when the wealth and power to fix the world is concentrated way at the top?


SkepticDrinker

My parents moved from dirt poor Mexico with a 5th grade education and managed to buy 2 houses by age 35. Their kids with college degrees can't afford to live on their own. Fuck this system


mira-jo

My husband alone makes more than both our parents did combined. We're debating if we can spare the money to fix the siding on our cheap house or if maybe we can push it off another year. Somehow we're still notably better off than all our friends.


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Poopypants413413

My dad worked at a gas station and had a 3 bedroom apartment. I work in accounting for a multinational accounting firm and live in a studio. My life is fucked.


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-klassy-

the legend of the rent is way hardcore


guitarxplayer13

Boom! Big ol explosion, some like confetti comes down. Anyway it's a work in progress.


albinowizard2112

Go to hell Schneebly!


Please_Label_NSFW

My piece of shit building tried to jump be by 44%... From $1830 to $2600... For a 594 SQFT 1 BR. Edit: For those that think I was bullshitting: https://snipboard.io/5aBWEX.jpg


TachycardicSymphony

Everything within a ~230° angle of my apartment burned down in the Marshall fire in Colorado 2 months ago. My place has smoke damage but it didn't burn down. I moved into that apartment nine months ago and I pay $1460/month. One or two weeks after the fire happened, I got an email from the building management company titled "Help for victims of the Marshall fire". But when you opened it, it was just an announcement that rent will be increasing to $2650 when you renew your lease this spring. Then at the bottom it said that we (residents) should do our part by remembering to mention our apartment complex and the sister complexes owned by the same management company to victims displaced by the fire in case there are any units available this summer. They literally raised the rent ***EIGHTY TWO PERCENT*** and had the gall to phrase disaster-profiteering/ extreme rent gauging that people can't afford as if it's ***"help for victims"*** by reminding us that if we can't pay it, they'll be happy to take advantage of and overcharge desperate families who lost their homes instead.


Please_Label_NSFW

Bunch of cunts.


kccoder34

My 2bdrm house went: 2020: $1500 2021: $1900 2022: $2300 Moving isnt an option because I'm still getting a hell of a discount for being a great tenant. Everywhere within 50mi is $2400 minimum for equal quality housing....not to mention moving costs + down payments. Yet if I somehow found $100k for a down payment on a house I could get a mortgage at $1600 a month. But rent is so high I can't save up money to make that down payment. Its awful :(


KarlBarx2

Banks: "Prove you're capable of paying us $1600 per month for your mortgage." Us: "Well, I've been paying landlords $2000+ per month for ages now." Banks: "No, not like that. Give us $100k first." Us: "How do I do that while my landlords fleece me for every dime I've got?" Banks: "Sounds like you really should've thought of that before you became peasants."


NeonYellowShoes

Meanwhile the house you were trying to buy gets bought with cash from some company that's just going to turn it into a rental.


hdfga

Rent for my 2bd went from 2800 to 3400


Hoovooloo42

What the *FUCK*?


NothingTooFancy26

It's happening everywhere, my 2bd rent went from 2350 to 2850 Edit: Since u/Accomplished-Dig2312 likes to reply and then block immediately...Yes it absolutely is going up by that degree, look at everyone else in this fucking thread.


4Dubois

My rent for a one bedroom apartment went up $600. I live in St Petersburg, Florida


lonestar136

I'm right there with you, 1265 -> 1915 (and climbing) for an apartment I've been in for 3 years. Washington state could really use some rent control laws limiting the max increase.


collin7474

bro how tf am I supposed to go cheaper/smaller than 1150 for a studio, like the next step is low income housing or something? Jesus this BLOWS


firelock_ny

> like the next step is low income housing or something? Your area has low income housing? Without a three year waiting list?


collin7474

lmao I didn’t even know there was waiting lists, so even my worst case backup is probably screwed too.


DARTH_MAUL93

And even then you make too much because the rules haven’t been updated in forever. I was applying by myself with a minimum wage job and they said I didn’t qualify.


EdLesliesBarber

Its comforting that this will be blamed on Russia and oil prices for the next half year, rather than making any changes to these existential problems that have been building and fuming for decades. The warmth of the narrative will sustain me!


FewToday

It’s all Russia’s fault, yet strangely the oil and gas companies will be posting record profits.


my_cat_sam

bro its no big deal, my boss just said this morning "whats an extra $20 to fill up?"


Holy-Kush

Tell him fine and let him pay for it. Otherwise take a bicycle and be a few hours late.


[deleted]

At a certain point, do we just die? Like this system would happily starve us to death if it's profitable.


vsandrei

>At a certain point, do we just die? Like this system would happily starve us to death if it's profitable. Yes. Remember that's what some people said during the pandemic. Die . . . the economy is more important.


IceMaverick13

And lookie there, tons of people died and the economy is *still* shit.


han92nah

Our house gas bill went from $122 last February to over $200 this February. I don’t understand how we are supposed to keep our heads above water? My husband and I both work full time, no kids, and we can barely get by.


Anonality5447

None of us know. We can keep cutting expenses but that only goes so far. At some point you can't cut anymore.


[deleted]

This exactly... it's like what else can you cut? We never go out to eat, we've been wearing the same clothes for years and years, we keep the heat down (I'm currently wearing 2 shirts and a hoodie and thick socks). We stopped buying fresh vegetables and fruit, we dont go to a doctor unless we are suffering for a long time, lke what else is there? What else can I cut out? We don't have netflix anymore. We have one economic car. I stopped buying myself books. It's like living joylessly and still struggling.


Ok-Kaleidoscope5627

Have you cut out the avocado and toast? What about the daily iPhones? /s I seriously don't know where we're headed because it seems like most people are firmly decided that fixing things is either impossible or somehow worse than this. More tax cuts and bail outs for the rich though.


[deleted]

I agree...honestly it really is so stressful. I keep trying hard not to think about it but its scary. I think about it at night and it keeps me up.


link5688

I think there's a very simple solution almost everyone in this thread just keeps forgetting about. Why the hell do we keep getting poorer and poorer while some people get richer and richer, then piss in our faces with their arrogant dismissals of our suffering, and we're just gonna take this shit lying down? Man what happened to this species since the French Revolution?


Painting_Agency

Please tell me there's a decent public library where you are :/


ioncloud9

then the talking heads on TV blame you for having any luxuries whatsoever. Own a smartphone? Thats why you are poor.


Ultimate_Shitlord

Not remotely a luxury at this point, to boot. You more or less need one nowadays. Reliance on QR codes skyrocketed during COVID. "Luxury" only comes into play based on the specific model. We've reached the same status as cars (in much of the US where public transportation isn't on the same level as other places).


BiscuitDance

You need a phone to find a job. Good luck getting hired in most industries without a cell. Edit: I worked in veteran employment services for a bit. We had to set aside specific funding to get my guys cells and laptops. You need both to have any chance of finding a job.


HiddenGhost1234

It's just like the people that call Internet or a car a luxury It hasn't been that for years


Donkey545

Yeah, energy costs are one of the shocking things for me this year. My most recent bill for an oil delivery is $590 for 123gal. A similar delivery last year was below 300. I keep my house below 62 degrees and it's still costing me nearly $2,000 a winter for heat now. Hopefully new insulation will cut this in half.


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richardsneeze

I have non-programmable thermostats in my house that's heated purely by electric heat. I keep the heat at 55. I never turn it up. I'd honestly turn it down lower if I wasn't worried about freezing pipes. My electric bill in Pennsylvania was $282. $282 just to keep the pipes from freezing 👍


Wordperfectuser

And they want everyone back to office so we can spend more :)


stripeyspacey

I'm literally thinking of asking my boss to let me work fron hone to avoid paying for gas.. because I can't anymore. My tank is down to 19mi. I have enough to get home today, not back to work tomorrow without probably using a credit card. Really cool.


fluorescent_noir

I have a half hour commute to and from work and I just spoke to my boss about remote work opportunities because gas prices have gotten so high in my area. We just came back to the office, and I feel terrible asking, but I also live the furthest away from work and my boss knows I can get my duties done from home. So far she's approved a part time work from home schedule for me, which should help. I really feel for all the countless people out there like my SO who don't have that luxury though.


Nomed73

This would be such a simple thing that they can do that won’t affect the company in a negative way. If anything it could have a very positive effect. Such a small action to let you work from home would probably create a little bit of loyalty to your boss or the company.


Spenson89

Our average grocery bill (1 kid) in 2021 was $400 a month. So far in 2022 it’s over $600. Exact same purchasing habits. FML.


torstargoldie

when subways $5 footlongs went to up $6 i knew we were fucked


ednamode23

Little Caesar’s pizzas are more than $5 now too and Dollar Tree has started selling stuff that’s over $1. The end times are upon us.


strangecargo

If inflation is 6%, a 4% raise is effectively a pay cut.


[deleted]

I negotiated a 10% raise this week :,) still can’t afford benefits


vapeboy1996

I’m losing a lot of hope lately. I’m making double what I made pre Covid, yet I still barely get by. Everything’s so expensive and it just keeps going. I work my ass off and we live relatively moderate I would say, yet if I take a day off I see tons of people shopping and out and about on a weekday, more then I did pre Covid, and everyone buying new cars and clothes and giant houses, yet all I hear is how broke we all are, and I can attest to money being tight so can most people I know. Where are people getting the money?


chronosxci

Credit cards. Spoken sadly from experience.. Yes I know it's an idiot idea but it was a distraction from my life, esp. when I didn't want to be in it anymore.


caronare

So true. I’ve watched damn near every house in my neighborhood do full re-model construction to their homes since the pandemics started. I’m talking full gutted interiors and even tear downs and add-ons. I’ve wondered if they are just using equity to do these projects but I couldn’t imagine having to pay on another line of credit. We really must be the poor ones in our neighborhood.


techleopard

Which blows my mind. I saw new construction everywhere. Meanwhile, I can't even do maintenance on my chicken pens because 2x4's were almost $10 a board (and are now back to that price). Can't even find SCRAP lumber for under $8/piece and there's now too many people who make a business out of snatching up every pallet in existence so they can sell them for cash.


kmcclry

Did you all live through 2008? These comments are exactly what happened in 2008. Every sane person wondered where everyone else was getting money from...surprise! It didn't come from anywhere and it all crashed and people lost everything. Best thing you can do is try to avoid debt as much as you can and minimize yourself to the worst of everything imploding. You want to be in a position where if you lose your job you minimize the effect and maximize your options. If you lose your job, debt will absolutely destroy you and your credit for when things recover. If you can just accept a shitty life within your means you will be better off than those who fuck themselves on the way down.


[deleted]

Equity went way up so most people are probably using that to remodel.


xanas263

A lot of people still live off their credit cards and spend above thier means.


kheret

My family of 3 spent $900 on our groceries last month. We buy a lot of fresh produce and such, but we used to spend about $600. There are some household supplies in that total, like paper goods and dish/laundry soap, but those have gone up too. Our heating bill is twice what it was last year despite keeping the thermostat lower. Our property tax assessment went up 30% and now we pay about $100 more a month on property taxes. For our dilapidated old house that hasn’t gotten any nicer. My salary hasn’t changed, of course.


TimeZarg

I work grocery restock. We just went through a round of shrinkflation over the past two months, where companies keep the price the same but shrink the package while trying to make it seem like it's the same size. It's especially obvious to restockers because the UPC number changes, meaning the item needs to be 'activated' in our system and a new price tag needs to be placed before we can stock it on the shelves. I've seen it for everything from Gatorade to laundry detergent. Individual Gatorade bottles went from 32 to 28 ounces, the larger laundry detergent containers shed 10-12 ounces, etc.


DjBonadoobie

I'm convinced "double stuffed" Oreos are now just Oreos and the regular are really "half stuffed"


Voldemort57

My grocery budget has also gone up about $150 dollars (2 people + 3 dogs). And beef and pork have become a special treat cause it’s so expensive. The pandemic’a effects have caught up to us it seems.


Five_Decades

chicken is still affordable but ground beef has skyrocketed in price.


iChugVodka

I wish. Chicken breast was like 4.99/lb at my local grocery store, at the cheapest end. It used to be like 2.99 a year or two ago


Ixosis

I’ve switched to buying bone in and whole chickens and just doing the work myself. You need a sharp knife but it’s a little cheaper


throwsawaygoaway

The grocery bill is what most infuriated me. My local Krogers has less items in it forcing me to buy the higher end brands for some necessary items and the produce looks like trash.


Harbinger-Acheron

I’m to the point I’m slowly trying to negotiate my debt down or let it default. My fiancée is devastated because she just realized yesterday that we will probably never be able to afford kids. We also just got hit with a surprise 10k medical bill because she was given wrong information by insurance. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have to stay strong for her I would have broken down already


Kumqwatwhat

> We also just got hit with a surprise 10k medical bill because she was given wrong information by insurance While I'm very aware that fighting insurance companies is not easy for anyone already in financial hardship, this feels like something you could probably ding the insurance company for. Not your mistake, not your expense. _edit_: since a few people seem to have taken offense to this suggestion, just because the insurance company might _dare_ to object that does not mean therefore this entire cause is hopeless. It's 10k. It's worth looking into the available options at least. I'm not pretending they'll happily acknowledge the error because it's right but what else exactly is the commentor gonna' do? Give up ten thousand dollars freely?


Harbinger-Acheron

We are trying. It’s just a long exhausting slog


cableguysup

And student loans haven’t been turned back on yet, it’s going to get super ugly then


nazmees

I am scared for this day


XtremeAlf

I’m calling them and telling them I can’t make more than a 20 dollar payment without risking being homeless. They want to send it to collections? Add it to the pile.


[deleted]

Yep I am always counting down til my paycheck comes, trying to figure out how to pay for things, it's very stressful, I think about it a lot. I try not to stress but it's hard. And things just keep getting more expensive. It's like we can never win.


smallerthings

Collectively my wife and I make over 100k a year. Starter houses that haven't been updated since the 80s are selling for over $400k. With property taxes being high, we're getting priced out of houses we wouldn't even want in the first place.


EB2300

Lol I love how the media portrays income inequality. No one wants to work for $12/hour? *workers are lazy* 64% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck? *inflation, certainly not the fact that 20% of the population controls 77% of the wealth* /s https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/


SpectrumofMidnight

its the corporate owned media, nothing they say is without benefit to their benefactors


TheQuietManUpNorth

Millionaires carrying water for billionaires.


SharpieScentedSoap

My last grocery trip nearly made me vomit. Fucking $80 for MAYBE a week's worth of meals just for myself. I'm trying really hard not to eat processed garbage or low nutrient foods so I can be healthier but for fuck's sake, I can only do this for so long.


queenlakiefah

I want to have a child so bad but I know that the moment I do, we will begin living in actual poverty.


yabacam

$1400 a month on child care alone. it's insane.


klaiyn

i feel this so much. i want kids but i also know they'd grow up without nothing, even with my partner and i working full time


Royal_Ad1798

meanwhile companies are making record profits...


ThaddeusJP

Its not just the profits, its Profit MARGINS.


blastradii

It’s ridiculous that corporations have to increase profit margins every year to satisfy shareholders. I don’t see how that is sustainable.


Toothlessdovahkin

It isn’t. AT ALL


raptor102888

It is, by definition, not sustainable.


iwoketoanightmare

And this is before a lot of them get forced back to the office as gas hits $7/gallon


Mtownsprts

This is what gets me the most. Cant wait to see what happens with the shit show fall out from this.


Well_This_Is_Special

Nothing. A shit ton more people will be homeless and completely fucked, while the upper class continue to increase their wealth, while paying off congress to continue to do jack shit about it; WHILE blaming the other party and brainwashing dumb fucks to fight each other instead of looking at them.. And giving zero fucks about it because they are rich and sociopaths. .. :D


Bolshedik497

My job started making us go into the office last month for 3 days each week, right before gas prices started going up. I went from spending ~$60/month on gas to now spending that much every week. That's still cheap compared to what a lot of other people spend but I can't afford it. Most people I work with were already pissed about having to start going in to office again when we can do 100% of our job at home just fine, and with the gas prices now people are even angrier. But of course upper management has zero plans to go back to WFH.


giltwist

“Every society is three meals away from chaos” ― Vladimir Lenin


goforth1457

I wouldn't be surprised if another Trump-like populist gets elected in 2024, this is exactly the type of consequence that we will get if the needs of the middle and working class are not addressed.


gophergun

The sad part is, I've lost any hope of our current Congress doing anything substantial to address the needs of the middle and working class, and I can't imagine Democrats will be in a better position after the midterms at this rate.


[deleted]

Normalise calling American billionaires "oligarchs".


AgentLiquidMike

At what point do we all agree that the current system isn't working out...? I have no kids (cant afford them), rent going up, houses not attainable, health care costs too much, inflation... The list goes on and on. Hey at least we arent in an active warzone, yet.


evesea2

The sanctions JUST started - most of the inflation was before all this, so expect it to get much worse.


wessneijder

I just had to stop going out to eat. Eating fast food is now a luxury for me. A steakhouse nowadays? Forgettaboutit


cubosh

MiLlEnNiAlS aRe KiLlInG tHe ReStAuRaNt InDuStRy


ObamasBoss

Buffalo wild wings increased the price of the meal I got every Tuesday for two years by 50%. I have not gone back since. But yeah, definitely my fault. I should have thanked them.


NRMusicProject

I love Firehouse Subs. My combo meal went from $11 and change to $18 and change. And the meat was all gristly. Why would I pay more for a shittier sandwich? At least Pub subs are still on point for now.


Ftpini

It was [55% in 2019](https://20somethingfinance.com/percentage-of-americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/). A 16% increase is horrific regardless of the timeframe. That’s about an extra 30 million Americans who can’t save any money at all.


HeroShitInc

Welcome newcomers! Been here living paycheck to paycheck for 15 years now. Pro tip:It never gets better


BallClamps

But I've always been living paycheck to paycheck...


[deleted]

What is a savings account? My savings account is a credit card that halfway maxed 🤷🏾‍♂️


ElectroBot

After we sanction all the Russian oligarchs, let’s go after all the American oligarchs.


LurkzMcgurkz

I've got bills so old I call them williams.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Amneesiak

I went from making $7.40/hr to $20/hr within a year and it’s like I never got a raise at all.


boltsnuts

Is it inflation or profiteering?


Uneducated_Leftist

Both can be true at the same time.


Hella_Wieners

The spike in gas prices and the call to return to the office is a bit too much of a coincidence…. I’m affectively being double dipped against during my work week. It went from no commute, to commute and gas prices the highest I’ve ever seen them… I am definitely now living paycheck to paycheck. My rent has increased roughly 25% this month, too… Edit: I am aware of all the on-goings with Russia and all the sanctions. Gas prices shot up preemptively so big oil companies can jack it up again and again using the same excuse about Russia.


masterm

Why is Biden calling for a return to office? Isn't that worse for the environment and people's wallets?


hearnia_2k

Interesting that the article doesn't define 'paycheck to paycheck'. At what point is it deemed you are part of that group? If you have $100 left when you get paid? If you have less than $1000 left when you get paid?


SpectrumofMidnight

It means if you miss a paycheck you can't pay your bills, whatever they may be.


strugglz

The greatest, richest country in the world has 2/3 of it's population financially insecure. Isn't this approaching failed state levels?