how do people survive off of minimum wage?

I worked @ Amazon during the holiday's & made $11.50 an hour & $17.25 (overtime) working 55 hour weeks = $500-$600 every Friday.


Looking for another warehouse job & I'm not taking anything less than $11/$12 an hour.


Making that kind of money, even for a month or two & going back to $7.50...NEVER!
How do you get a holiday job for amazon and what exactly do you do at the job?
 
You gotta really experience it to find out but to be simple there's all types of hustles out there on and off the books you can do to make up for the lack of 9-5 income.
 
**** I got a kid I'm 21 I make $9.25 a hour and clear just over 200 on a good week after taxes and $69.23 a week in child support ***** hard Forreal but I still make it buy my own kicks and own my own car... I always wondered how people make it but its all will power motivation is key

damn I'm probably one of the most heartless dudes on this message board, but I feel for you kid.

Then again you're only 21 don't make any more mistakes (especially kids) and go get the skills for jobs in need cause no matter what these people saying it's cutthroat out there and businesses now don't want somebody to work for them for $30 years plus.

They outsourcing, cutting back, hiring part time or not at all. They say 40% of americans work at retail jobs and recent grads find out their degree isn't worth the paper it's written on.

This is not the old america land of opportunity that all the baby boomers harp about all the time.

thats real, i graduated and my degree got me nowhere and nothing. I didnt expect to get much especially with my degree of choice but i thought I would atleast be in a better standing to qualify for basic jobs, NOPE. Literally every job ive applied for ive gotten the rejection email, most jobs i applied for didnt even require a college degree.

Ive been out for 6 months and instead of wasting time trying to find jobs or working dead end jobs making next to nothing, hoping for more i went back to school.
 
i was talking to this dude that works in sears and he said he makes 7.25 an hour
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has a kid and his baby moms does not work. the sad thing about it he said hes been with the company over 6 years and dude is making that kind of bread
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 Sears pays commission too tho. I used to sell TVs there and had a $1000 check (net) as a senior in high school. Balled with that check cuz I aint have no responsibility
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**** I got a kid I'm 21 I make $9.25 a hour and clear just over 200 on a good week after taxes and $69.23 a week in child support ***** hard Forreal but I still make it buy my own kicks and own my own car... I always wondered how people make it but its all will power motivation is key

damn I'm probably one of the most heartless dudes on this message board, but I feel for you kid.

Then again you're only 21 don't make any more mistakes (especially kids) and go get the skills for jobs in need cause no matter what these people saying it's cutthroat out there and businesses now don't want somebody to work for them for $30 years plus.

They outsourcing, cutting back, hiring part time or not at all. They say 40% of americans work at retail jobs and recent grads find out their degree isn't worth the paper it's written on.

This is not the old america land of opportunity that all the baby boomers harp about all the time.

thats real, i graduated and my degree got me nowhere and nothing. I didnt expect to get much especially with my degree of choice but i thought I would atleast be in a better standing to qualify for basic jobs, NOPE. Literally every job ive applied for ive gotten the rejection email, most jobs i applied for didnt even require a college degree.

Ive been out for 6 months and instead of wasting time trying to find jobs or working dead end jobs making next to nothing, hoping for more i went back to school.

Invest into another field... One of my close buddies graduated in Criminal Justice, it didn't take him anywhere and eventually he lost passion for the field.

Enrolled into a PTA program (Associates) and now is making around $65K/year.
 
im baffled at the discrepancy. You got ppl on here barely making over minimum wage with kids, while others are posting their newly purchased infiniti's, beamers and challangers with da hemi.
 
**** I got a kid I'm 21 I make $9.25 a hour and clear just over 200 on a good week after taxes and $69.23 a week in child support ***** hard Forreal but I still make it buy my own kicks and own my own car... I always wondered how people make it but its all will power motivation is key

damn I'm probably one of the most heartless dudes on this message board, but I feel for you kid.

Then again you're only 21 don't make any more mistakes (especially kids) and go get the skills for jobs in need cause no matter what these people saying it's cutthroat out there and businesses now don't want somebody to work for them for $30 years plus.

They outsourcing, cutting back, hiring part time or not at all. They say 40% of americans work at retail jobs and recent grads find out their degree isn't worth the paper it's written on.

This is not the old america land of opportunity that all the baby boomers harp about all the time.

This. Specifically the last sentence. I hate it because the advice by the older generation is to "go to school" like its a sure thing still but it just doesn't hold the same weight it did during their time.

I know someone who has a BA from UW who works a random teriyaki spot because they havent been able to find work.
 
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Invest into another field... One of my close buddies graduated in Criminal Justice, it didn't take him anywhere and eventually he lost passion for the field.

Enrolled into a PTA program (Associates) and now is making around $65K/year.

I get where you're coming from.

But it's so easy to say go back again, when you're already in debt working some dead end job just to pay it off and make ends meet for the moment. It's too much really.

Everybody has a degree now, so it's like nothing.

The thing is Colleges need to stop making programs and degree's that ain't about s**t just to get money.
Make real degree's and training that people need and if they want to pursue something else then so be it.

Like another guy said in the Jackie chan thread, american isn't a country it's a business and everybody is just looking to make a buck.
 
That's basically all they can do is survive. Living to pay bills. Hoping that one day it will get better, but it doesnt until that one day they decide, you know what.... $%%# this %##% and they go back to school or start hustling.

When you making that type of money. You are doing what you have to do to make ends meet. Some settle, some rise.
Maaaaan, the story of life right here. Hard times = the supreme catalyst
 
All the nters out here struggling hold ya heads. Its easy for people to jus say go back to school but its not that easy when u got a kid, have u seen child care cost? Im lucky enough to have a good support system with my family and a determined bm, who wont settle for just making it like me. All i can say is find a lil hustle on the side that was my only option and it worked out perfect for me. I bought 2 cars cash, everything paid on time, my sons straight and i can still cop kicks or whatever when i feel like it. 
 
6 years holy crap...i just got a job like 5 months ago and i get payed 10 bucks ,but i guess it depends on the state also..he really shouldn't continue with the company if they don't wanna raise his wage ,thats ridiculous
 
Dg I'm working a terrible job and I can barely afford college I'm contemplating dropping out this semester and working if I can't get the other half of my tuition in a few weeks.
 
it's easy if the only bills you have are rent plus utilities. Problem is, peeps have car payments and credit card payments and hundred dollar a month phone bills, expensive cable bills, etc. Just paying rent plus food is easy off $8.75 an hour if you're working 40 hours a week. I did it while in school back in the day, but def couldn't eat whatever I wanted and sometimes had to wait to get paid before buying groceries.
 
That's basically all they can do is survive. Living to pay bills. Hoping that one day it will get better, but it doesnt until that one day they decide, you know what.... $%%# this %##% and they go back to school or start hustling.

When you making that type of money. You are doing what you have to do to make ends meet. Some settle, some rise.
That sums it all up right there.
 
Dg I'm working a terrible job and I can barely afford college I'm contemplating dropping out this semester and working if I can't get the other half of my tuition in a few weeks.

i was in the same boat, i had to apply for a credit card just to pay the rest of the balance that wasnt covered by my financial aid. The due date for fees were due today and i really had no other choice.
 
i was in the same boat, i had to apply for a credit card just to pay the rest of the balance that wasnt covered by my financial aid. The due date for fees were due today and i really had no other choice.
I'm gonna go get a card today my job cut my hours by a 2 /3 and I'm down to my last few bucks either I sell a crap load of shoes and get eaten up by eBay fees or go to the blood bank and sperm bank today,
 
Minimum wage wasn't always $7.25. He probably started lower and only got a raise as the federal minimum wage went up.

Still don't understand how it's still that low after 6 years.
 
Overall, the majority who are living in the United States is struggling to survive especially, in these economic times. Why do you think those who were laid of making $50,000 a year will stay home and collect unemployment? Pending on what State you reside in, $ 7.25 an hour can be looked upon as poverty level in 2013. I recall making $7.00 an hour in retail around 1995, which did not take into account commission.

Don’t assume school will automatically guarantee you will get a high paying job for employers pay college students fresh out of school low wages due to lack of work experience. Not to mention, many college students take idiotic classes out of interests, which will offer no economic value in the job market. Having 10 or more years of experience in a particular field still supersedes college education with no real world work experience.

Jobs that offer commission, as a means of incentive is the only way to make money these days. If you are single that is the only alternative for the United States tax single people the highest and, I can assure you, you will never get it all back in tax returns. It is not unusual for many to accept staying in a job for 4-5 years and accept a low wage when they have medical benefits, which is needed when you have a child. Medical benefits means nothing to a single person that is young and healthy.
 
The worse part is people who are on minimum wage jobs like the person you're talking about and have kids. 

Don't they know kids are ******g expensive? I swear I don't understand humans sometimes 
You're not familiar with the tax code then.

Someone making poverty wages has an incentive to have children as a result of various tax credit incentives.

During college, I worked at a warehouse for a few summers and I knew folks there that regularly got back 3-5k more than they paid in taxes. In other words, they paid 0 taxes (except for FICA/Medicare which are the smallest of all fed/state taxes) and got a bonus from the Feds.

The only way they can survive is with government assistance like this. It's government subsidizing employers who pay poverty wages.
 
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I was working 3 jobs last year to make ends meet. It was stresfull. Had a lil baby and had to work for her. I ended up quitting 2 of em and now just have one. Making 13.00 is low but I try to get as much ot as I can. Also trying to finish school by the end of next year. I don't want to see myself working for minimum wage
 
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