gingersmom Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I was watching Suze Orman on Oprah the other day. And they were discussing money and the current economic environment. One of her suggestions was to live on 1/2 your income (whether you are single or a couple). This way you will be prepared (and have savings in the bank) if you or your partner were to be laid off. I have 5 people on my street who are currently unemployed. It got me thinking maybe this is not such a bad idea. Then I started thinking I might be eligible for food stamps if I only lived on half of my income. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma2Many66 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) My first immediate thought is I don't see how I could, I really don't, we are just squeezing buy on what we do make. My husband is our only wage earner at $ 34,000 a year (before taxes) and we have 5 children still at home. We do not get food stamps, Wic or any government help of any kind even though we could qualify, but his fulltime job (groundskeeper/landscaping at a state college) does give us really excellent medical benefits and free four year college schooling for all of our children and ourselves. With my oldest daughter's medical diagnosis (ovarian cancer) these medical benefits have been a lifesaver for us, as well as paying for all her college classes as she works towards her degree. We live on an 11 acre farm, we grow a lot of our own foods in our gardens and orchard, we live very simply, rarely eating out (once every other month), we shop thrift stores and yard sales, live on a strict budget and spend only $ 500 monthly for all grocery items including paper products, diapers, health and beauty, cleaning supplies ectera. We buy almost everything secondhand and we use the Dave Ramsey envelope system to cover our bills (no credit cards or loans of any kind, we pay everything in cash). Despite only having a very modest income and a large family of 7, we managed to completely fill our 6 to 8 month emergency fund, 15% into retirment fund, get ourselves debt free except for a small mortgage yet on the farm, and have put away money to fully fill sinking funds for car/tractor maintence, another used (read beater) car should either of ours break down, homeschooling fund, fixing roof fund, and home/farm maintence funds. We also put away money for property/school taxes, and a year ahead of money to cover car/home insurance and heating oil for the following year. When I think about it more, If I really had too and I cut all exspenses to bare bones, stopped filling additonal sinking funds, and lived on rice and beans and what we grow in the garden and orchard, we could probably survive on 3/4 of our income ($20,000 after taxes). But that would be really living tightly and a big hardship, but not impossible. We already have our bills really cut down, no cable/satelite, no cell phones just basic land line, no air conditioning, and I am going to start hanging our wash out on line next week, winters we keep the heat low, 2 vehicles and tractor were purchased used and paid in full. Yes, I could probably do it, it wouldn't be fun, but we could do it in a short term situation if we had too. Yet, when I think about it further, I am always very surprised at what we can do when we are put in the situation, so I am sure we could do it with team effort on everyone's part. Now that I re-read the original question again, I guess we did/do indeed live on half our income to put away the money for our emergency fund and all our sinking funds, I just never thought about it as living on half of our income. I just thought of it before as living very simply and squirrling away money "just in case". So yes, now I can say that I can do it and survive, because we are living it daily. See how my answer changed three times during my explanation <smile> as I pondered this question and thought outloud, I went from no, to maybe, to yes we can/did. ............learn something new everyday indeed ! Edited July 17, 2009 by Momma2Many66 adding in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Not without breaking our lease and breaking our promise to help pay for our son's college education and stopping paying off a credit card. WHy would I do that? We know that if dh retires, he will get about somewhat less than half of his current pay here but if he did that and didn't get another job for some reason, we would move to a much lower cost area of the country and have a great life. No reason to worry for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I don't think we could live on $8000 a year!:lol: I have determined that we need about $40K, but we do have debts that have to be paid. If we had made better decisions in the past, had access to good medical benefits at a low cost, and budgeted carefully, we could live on $30K. We are already living on less than half of what we need - does that count?:tongue_smilie: ETA: By "what we need" I mean enough for to start an emergency fund and some sinking funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 We weathered a nearly 50% pay cut a few years ago (40% cut plus health care benefit changes that cost a bunch). God provided for us through those times and I have no doubt that if we rest and trust in Him He would bring us through anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 It isn't reasonable for us to do so right now because we have medical bills, student loans, etc. Could we? Well, if you didn't have any choice a lot of people could... Just because of no alternative. I know there are families around us that exist on 1/2 what we make. We'd definitely have to move but there would be nothing keeping us in this area if DH didn't have a job, so..... There are still farms in Iowa you can rent for $300 a month. So, yeah, we could probably make it. And Amish live without electricity, etc. so that would save us a lot too. What one COULD do if forced (live without electricity, live on rice & beans, etc.) is entirely different than what one is comfortable doing. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anissa Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Only if we ate mac and cheese for every meal and stayed home each day. I can't believe what sports and music lessons cost! I often dream of starting my own soccer league where I can charge families high fees to kick a ball on a mowed lawn. I'd be set for life. Oh, sorry I went off on a rabbit trail.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Not without breaking our lease and breaking our promise to help pay for our son's college education and stopping paying off a credit card. WHy would I do that? We know that if dh retires, he will get about somewhat less than half of his current pay here but if he did that and didn't get another job for some reason, we would move to a much lower cost area of the country and have a great life. No reason to worry for us. Suze Orman actually said she has now changed her position and you should pay the minimum balance on your credit card and put the rest into your long term savings. The idea being that if you lose your job you will have a nest egg to keep you going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I HOPE we're able to live on half of our income. My hubby was laid off 2.5 weeks ago. Actually, Unemployment isn't quite half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dobela Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Then I started thinking I might be eligible for food stamps if I only lived on half of my income. :confused: Your total income and how much you have in savings would effect eligibility for those things. If you are chosing to live off half, you still wouldn't qualify. A few years ago we lost 75% of our income. And, yes we did it but it was tough. We really had to change how we looked at money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 It isn't reasonable for us to do so right now because we have medical bills, student loans, etc. Could we? Well, if you didn't have any choice a lot of people could... Just because of no alternative. I know there are families around us that exist on 1/2 what we make. We'd definitely have to move but there would be nothing keeping us in this area if DH didn't have a job, so..... There are still farms in Iowa you can rent for $300 a month. So, yeah, we could probably make it. And Amish live without electricity, etc. so that would save us a lot too. What one COULD do if forced (live without electricity, live on rice & beans, etc.) is entirely different than what one is comfortable doing. :D This is very true - it's amazing what you can do when you have to! My dh's income right now is about 57% of what it was before we bought our business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) ...without miraculous provision from God, I don't think we could live on half of half. We're well under $20,000 now, and we get no government assistance (no food stamps, etc.) except that our youngest child is on Medicaid, while the rest of us have no medical insurance at all. Edited July 17, 2009 by ereks mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Dh's job is in the service industry (professional cleaning), so we've lost a great deal of business over the past 2 years. Without food stamps, no, but since we get them, we're surviving on very little. Our landlord has decreased our rent and we just don't spend a penny we don't have to. We live on about $1500/month right now. I hate it. I wish it were so we could save money :) But, at least I'm still home, we have our basic needs met. We used to live on about $4000/month....singing, those were the daaaaays! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Dh's job is in the service industry (professional cleaning), so we've lost a great deal of business over the past 2 years. Without food stamps, no, but since we get them, we're surviving on very little. Our landlord has decreased our rent and we just don't spend a penny we don't have to. We live on about $1500/month right now. I hate it. I wish it were so we could save money :) But, at least I'm still home, we have our basic needs met. We used to live on about $4000/month....singing, those were the daaaaays! Yes, to add to my previous post - we could not live on what we do now without food stamps. Or at least we wouldn't be eating much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 No. We feel we are being very smart with our money and I wouldn't want to deprive myself of the few luxury items we have such as cable tv, cell phones, and the children's education (K12 costs us $112/month). Now honestly, I do hate paying that amount as I could homeschool for much less, but my DH believes it is the best choice at this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 NO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 umm no. my total income for 2008 was $9400 cutting it in half is not happening. OF course that does not take into account the nontaxed monthly income, but even then that would men living on $1100 a month and covering everything, in this area where cost of living is so high, only if I stopped paying all my debts, we lived on potatoes and pasta only, got rid of my van and we stayed housebound with no outside activities, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Suze Orman actually said she has now changed her position and you should pay the minimum balance on your credit card and put the rest into your long term savings. The idea being that if you lose your job you will have a nest egg to keep you going. I saw this episode, too. I think she was just telling people who had been laid off that they shouldn't use their severance pay to pay down their credit card, because they wouldn't have any income to live on. Correct me if I'm wrong... Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 No, not ours. But I could live on half of Suze Orman's income. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 No, not ours. But I could live on half of Suze Orman's income. :D :smilielol5:You and me both!:smilielol5: :blink:Live on half of our income!:blink: No, I couldn't do it.:blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 No, not ours. But I could live on half of Suze Orman's income. :D For real. I love these kinds of statements coming from anyone who makes more than $50K (which we haven't in a long time) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senunk Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 No. I wish, but our mortgage is just too high. And to top it off, my dh works for the State of CA. They keep giving him furlough days, and I'm wondering when we will get an IOU instead of a paycheck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 We'd have to have all our utilities cut off, then it would come down to making the house payment or havign enough gas in the car to go to work. We'd honestly end up living out of our car.... or a tent in the yard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I suppose we could since our income fluctuates (being self-employed can do that for you), but I see absolutely no need to do so. Yes one should have some $$ set back in case of need, but most people don't need tons. I see no reason to die with a million or more in the bank. I'd rather enjoy the time I have with my family doing the things we enjoy. Fortunately, we don't enjoy shopping or 'stuff' so our $$ stretch nicely to do what we do around our house and with our traveling. I've told my mom and dad the same thing. I don't expect them to die with millions in the bank either. I'd rather they go places and do things. Spend my inheritance - with my blessings! My grandparents and my in-laws spent a good bit of their time working and saving figuring they'd do things in retirement. My grandpa died at 61 of a sudden heart attack. My MIL has Alzheimers... short trips now mean nothing compared to what they could have enjoyed in her younger days. In school I see quite a few kids who 'know' they are getting what mommy or daddy has built (generally a business). They seldom have any incentive to work for themselves and are among the worst when it comes to 'plays nicely with others' traits. For those who have indeed taken over the business, quite a few have run it into the ground. My kids know we will pay for half of their college education - they are responsible for the other half. Then they know not to expect an inheritance... If there happens to be some, great, but our goal is not to make our children millionaires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I think we could once our non-mortgage debts are paid off. Right now, while paying down those debts, helping dh's parents, and doing work on the house, it's just mathematically impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I say you should be doing the show instead of Suze!! So disciplined. I'd watch yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumping In Puddles Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 We weathered a nearly 50% pay cut a few years ago (40% cut plus health care benefit changes that cost a bunch). God provided for us through those times and I have no doubt that if we rest and trust in Him He would bring us through anything. My husband changed jobs and we also weathered a 50% pay cut but we were not making it without credit and the generosity of my parents. Eventually, my dh made more money and had, essentially, a 75% salary increase over 3-4 years so we weren't in bad times for more than a few years but we amassed a lot of debt during those few years. When we are debt free, we will easily be able to live on 50% salary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 My first immediate thought is I don't see how I could, I really don't, we are just squeezing buy on what we do make. My husband is our only wage earner at $ 34,000 a year (before taxes) and we have 5 children still at home. We do not get food stamps, Wic or any government help of any kind even though we could qualify, but his fulltime job (groundskeeper/landscaping at a state college) does give us really excellent medical benefits and free four year college schooling for all of our children and ourselves. With my oldest daughter's medical diagnosis (ovarian cancer) these medical benefits have been a lifesaver for us, as well as paying for all her college classes as she works towards her degree. We live on an 11 acre farm, we grow a lot of our own foods in our gardens and orchard, we live very simply, rarely eating out (once every other month), we shop thrift stores and yard sales, live on a strict budget and spend only $ 500 monthly for all grocery items including paper products, diapers, health and beauty, cleaning supplies ectera. We buy almost everything secondhand and we use the Dave Ramsey envelope system to cover our bills (no credit cards or loans of any kind, we pay everything in cash). Despite only having a very modest income and a large family of 7, we managed to completely fill our 6 to 8 month emergency fund, 15% into retirment fund, get ourselves debt free except for a small mortgage yet on the farm, and have put away money to fully fill sinking funds for car/tractor maintence, another used (read beater) car should either of ours break down, homeschooling fund, fixing roof fund, and home/farm maintence funds. We also put away money for property/school taxes, and a year ahead of money to cover car/home insurance and heating oil for the following year. When I think about it more, If I really had too and I cut all exspenses to bare bones, stopped filling additonal sinking funds, and lived on rice and beans and what we grow in the garden and orchard, we could probably survive on 3/4 of our income ($20,000 after taxes). But that would be really living tightly and a big hardship, but not impossible. We already have our bills really cut down, no cable/satelite, no cell phones just basic land line, no air conditioning, and I am going to start hanging our wash out on line next week, winters we keep the heat low, 2 vehicles and tractor were purchased used and paid in full. Yes, I could probably do it, it wouldn't be fun, but we could do it in a short term situation if we had too. Yet, when I think about it further, I am always very surprised at what we can do when we are put in the situation, so I am sure we could do it with team effort on everyone's part. Now that I re-read the original question again, I guess we did/do indeed live on half our income to put away the money for our emergency fund and all our sinking funds, I just never thought about it as living on half of our income. I just thought of it before as living very simply and squirrling away money "just in case". So yes, now I can say that I can do it and survive, because we are living it daily. See how my answer changed three times during my explanation <smile> as I pondered this question and thought outloud, I went from no, to maybe, to yes we can/did. ............learn something new everyday indeed ! I say you should do the show instead of Suze! I'd watch yours. Very disciplined - Great job!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Maybe we could live on 3/4 of our income. I think this question depends on how much of your income goes to your mortgage and things like taxes--things you can't really change. If you live in a house with an expensive mortgage you're sort of stuck right now. You can try to move, but it's pretty much guaranteed that no one is buying right now, so where will you find a buyer? I'm thinking of getting a part-time job just to start paying off the mortgage, because that's the one thing that takes most of our money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Since we have aggressively been paying off stuff this year as of October we will be able to live off of 40% of his take home pay. We will be banking the other 60% for emergency/retirement. I would like to have 1 years worth of living expenses in the bank for emergencies and the rest in retirement savings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildflower Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 never in a million years could we live off of half of what we are making now. i'm cringing at the thought of when we will need to sell our house. we've run out of credit and between the economy and this rainy season we're out of savings and have run out of credit thanks to advanta who closed our credit card (all accounts everywhere not just us) and now we can't get credit anywhere because of it- black stain on what was a perfect credit score. ugggg! thanks for the vent. my prayers are with everyone trying to weather this and everything else they have to deal with. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) If we move. Edited July 20, 2009 by LibraryLover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxMama Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Yes we could. We've been following the All Your Worth money plan . Our must-haves are less than 1/2 our income so we could very easily lose 1/2 of income and survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Since we have aggressively been paying off stuff this year as of October we will be able to live off of 40% of his take home pay. We will be banking the other 60% for emergency/retirement. I would like to have 1 years worth of living expenses in the bank for emergencies and the rest in retirement savings. Well, we won't be at that point in October, but we are also using a huge amount of our income to pay down our mortgage. We're on track to have zero debt in about 7 years (this includes our mortgage), at which point we will be able to live on half. If crisis hits before then, we will just need to stop doubling up our mortgage payments. Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommylawyer Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I recently figured out a way that we could be debt-free (with the exception of our student loans which we only pay 3% interest on anyway) in 7 years. At that point, depending on what life throws at us in the mean time, it may be possible for me to stop working part-time. But we can't live on 1/2 of what we earn right now - impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I could live on half of Suze or Oprah's income for sure. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathmom Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 No, we don't have enough as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I was watching Suze Orman on Oprah the other day. And they were discussing money and the current economic environment. One of her suggestions was to live on 1/2 your income (whether you are single or a couple). This way you will be prepared (and have savings in the bank) if you or your partner were to be laid off. e. :confused: I bet Oprah could live off half her income. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I bet Oprah could live off half her income. :tongue_smilie: I know I could live on 1/2 of Oprah's income.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmeg Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I see no reason to die with a million or more in the bank. I'd rather enjoy the time I have with my family doing the things we enjoy. I understand what you are saying, but I think this is a bit of a strawman argument. I don't hear Suze saying to be a miser now in order to leave a huge inheritance. I'm no Suze fan, but I did happen to watch the show this week. She suggested this 'living on half' to get folks in the mindset of being able to survive if they lost half their income, which is not such an outrageous scenario. ------------------------------ We could survive losing half our income, thanks to Dave Ramsey and our own commitment to frugality. We have no mortgage, no debt, nice savings, and the freedom to go places and do things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) It would depend on what the income, family size, and region of the country are. If the income is low already, considering the family size and cost of living, there will be no room to maneuver because there are no purely discretionary expenses to cut. We are currently living on 1/3 of the income we had 3 years ago. We are hanging on by the skin of our teeth, so I'm sure we couldn't live on half of what we have. Edited July 17, 2009 by RoughCollie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Yes, we can. It would require us to drop a few things like investments,401K, extra payments on things like our mortgage... but we could do it without going backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I understand what you are saying, but I think this is a bit of a strawman argument. I don't hear Suze saying to be a miser now in order to leave a huge inheritance. I'm no Suze fan, but I did happen to watch the show this week. She suggested this 'living on half' to get folks in the mindset of being able to survive if they lost half their income, which is not such an outrageous scenario. ------------------------------ We could survive losing half our income, thanks to Dave Ramsey and our own commitment to frugality. We have no mortgage, no debt, nice savings, and the freedom to go places and do things. You might be right... I might just have too many of those 'save millions for retirement' folks on my mind. Obviously, I disagree with them completely. I don't know this specific person or what she says. Debt is not always bad either. It depends on the circumstances and what the debt is for as well as the plan for paying it off. Going deeply into debt is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 When I left the workforce (with dc#3 one year old, and before DC#4 arrived four years later), our income dropped by 40%. We can't drop further than that, although if a crisis occurred, we would rise to the occasion -- somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricket Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I understand what you are saying, but I think this is a bit of a strawman argument. I don't hear Suze saying to be a miser now in order to leave a huge inheritance. I'm no Suze fan, but I did happen to watch the show this week. She suggested this 'living on half' to get folks in the mindset of being able to survive if they lost half their income, which is not such an outrageous scenario. ------------------------------ We could survive losing half our income, thanks to Dave Ramsey and our own commitment to frugality. We have no mortgage, no debt, nice savings, and the freedom to go places and do things. I agree with you on that. Too many people live beyond their means and it is always a good idea to prepare for hard times. But...she seems to be assuming that families have two incomes. If a dh makes only $25,000 or $30,000 per year and is the only wage earner in the family, I think it is unrealistic to expect a family to live on half of that, especially by choice rather than necessity. It is possible but I don't think most families could do it. I know a family that lives on very little but they have created their own solar electric system to generate their electricity and raise much of their own food (both vegetable and animal). Right now we are living on less than half of our income. Dh is out of work so we are living on what I make. However, my job as manager of an RV park provides us with free housing and utilities. If we budget carefully we can just manage to squeak by. Because we save most of what dh makes we are still able to pay for the boys tkd out of our savings, otherwise we couldn't afford that either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle T Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 But not if we were going to continue to live (and pay for) our house, utilities, and food. Michelle T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRAAB Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 We are currently living on less than half of dh's income since he lost his job in April. We have gone from $26.00/hr. to $9.00/hr. We've always lived frugally, have no debt, and have been planning for this outcome for quite a few years. Also, we bought our house in '91 when real estate prices were low here which makes a big difference. We've never had car loans, credit debt, etc. I also want to say that I can see where our situation could easily be different, and we would not be able to live on less than half of dh's income. The biggest thing for us is being mortgage free, especially with the huge mortgage payments most of our friends are making now. Other than that, we made choices to drive used cars, do without and such. We've also been fortunate that we haven't had any health issues or major losses. So it's partly choices we've made/hard work and also that we've been fortunate. Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Yesterday, a "factoid box" on the BBC news station cited George Lucas annual salary -- of around $172 million, I think it was. I could live on a fragmentary fraction of his earnings ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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