No raises this year.

[Renee in NC]

I guess it's just like everyone else, but it still stinks.:glare: So, $10.50 an hour and no insurance because, it, of course, went up quite a bit.

[holdoll]

:grouphug: I'm sorry Renee. None here either. Actually can't remember the last raise. Maybe 5 years ago?

[Guest momk2000]

My dh has not had a raise in two years. We really started to feel it this past year, and it's just getting harder. I can understand your frustration. :grouphug:

[clementine]

Add our family to this list as well. It's been 3 years for us. I keep hoping "This will be the year!!", but I know I shouldn't count on it. I just keep dreaming of what could be made a little easier by an extra bit of $ each month.

 

:grouphug:

[Greta]

I'm so sorry. My dh hasn't found out yet what his raise will be this year, but he is not optimistic. Last year, he was rated the top contributor in his department, and got all sorts of awards for some very important work he had done, work which had saved the company literally millions, and he got a 1% raise. One percent! Meanwhile, all the managers got 10%. :thumbdown:

 

This year, our health insurance goes from bad to terrible. But I am still grateful that we have health insurance at all.

[abrightmom]

This year, our health insurance goes from bad to terrible. But I am still grateful that we have health insurance at all.

 

:glare: To this I can relate . . . we avoid the doctor like the plague.

[BakersDozen]

My dh has not had a raise in 3 years and this year his income dropped by $224/mo due to increased health insurance premiums. I cried when he told me and do not know what we will do if it happens again next year.

[Greta]

:glare: To this I can relate . . . we avoid the doctor like the plague.

 

We try - we really try! I have hay-fever type allergies that lead to secondary infections every spring and every fall (usually sinus infections, once pneumonia). But I think I have gotten that under control with my diet. I did not get sick this fall for the first time in years! :party:

 

 

Daughter is generally very healthy. And normally, so is hubby. But just this year we found out he has an atrial fibrilation, and on his most recent check his blood pressure was high. So, yeah, great time to have your medical coverage reduced. :glare: What's really annoying about it is that his employer and/or the insurance provider is benefiting from these major cut-backs in coverage, but they're passing none of that benefit along to us -- our premiums stay the same even though our coverage decreases drastically.

Edited November 18, 2010 by GretaLynne

[Greta]

My dh has not had a raise in 3 years and this year his income dropped by $224/mo due to increased health insurance premiums. I cried when he told me and do not know what we will do if it happens again next year.

 

Oh my. :grouphug: And I thought a 1% raise was bad.

[HRAAB]

The last job my dh had he was advised to negotiate for the best salary he could because that would be it. It was. Three and a half years and no raise. That company lost their contract May of '09. My dh just NOW found a job with a company doing the exact same work for the exact same company - only $6.00 less an hour. I'm not complaining. I'm thankful for the work. I've heard the same thing from many different people in different parts of the country. It's just rough. I'm sorry. Hard to live on it.

[TravelingChris]

I don't think we are getting a raise this year either. What I am worried about is the call to not increase food or housing allowances for three years regardless of what the economy does. So if inflation rises to 10% a year, we would be getting less and less salary even though as military, we have no choice in when or where we move, thereby greatly decreasing our freedom to choose housing.

[Jennifer in MI]

I'm so sorry. My dh hasn't found out yet what his raise will be this year, but he is not optimistic. Last year, he was rated the top contributor in his department, and got all sorts of awards for some very important work he had done, work which had saved the company literally millions, and he got a 1% raise. One percent! Meanwhile, all the managers got 10%. :thumbdown:

 

This year, our health insurance goes from bad to terrible. But I am still grateful that we have health insurance at all.

 

Every year we've had a decrease in our insurance, resulting in thousands in expanses for us. Combine that with no raise, and we've essentially had a pay cut. I, too, am VERY thankful that we still have insurance and a job though.

 

We just found out that our insurance for next year is BETTER than this year!!!! We joined with another pool and the rates are the same and WE pay less!!! And, the benefits are BETTER!!! Woohoo.

 

We don't find out about a raise until December though. We haven't had an increase in nearly 4 years.

[Renee in NC]

I don't think we are getting a raise this year either. What I am worried about is the call to not increase food or housing allowances for three years regardless of what the economy does. So if inflation rises to 10% a year, we would be getting less and less salary even though as military, we have no choice in when or where we move, thereby greatly decreasing our freedom to choose housing.

 

I just used a military calculator to figure out what dh's rank/service from back then paid now. $3742.77 a month! :lol: Too bad dh didn't stay in the Army 12years ago!

 

And before anyone suggests it - no, he won't go back in. I would live in a box first, with or without the bridge to live under, before we would go back to that. It was horrible then and it would be even worse now - I refuse to have a bunch of men with zero relation or care of me control my life.:tongue_smilie: I heard more than once, "If the Army wanted him to have a wife and family, they would have issued him one!":glare:

[Renee in NC]

Oh yeah - the Christmas party. The printed invitation handed out to them had "Employees Only" *highlighted*. Irritating, right? More irritating was when my aunt, who works on the white collar corporate side, told me that they *are* allowed to bring family.:glare:

 

I know that my dh is a dime a dozen. He knows that if he left his job, there would be a 1000 applicants wanting to take his place (because of where he works and the fact that $10.50 an hour is really good here for low-skilled labor.)

[cathmom]

My dh hasn't had a raise since he got this job over 3 years ago. Meanwhile our expenses keep going up (gas is creeping dangerously close to $3 a gallon here again), food has gone up AND we're eating more, dh turned 40 so our health insurance is going up in January, and he's pretty sure that he won't have overtime anymore next year.

 

But I sure am glad all those bank executives are getting their bonuses for putting us all in this position...

[Joaly]

We, too haven't had a raise in over 5 years, but everything else keeps creeping up.

 

4 years ago, we decided to switch our health insurance plan to a high deductible plan. It saves us over $250 per month on the premiums. We put the $250 each month into a Health Savings Account which earns interest. Even though we've had to dip into the health savings account to pay for sick visits, it still continues to grow and gives us a cushion against the deductible while saving a ton on the premiums.

[eternalknot]

I'm still earning in 2003 dollars.

 

I don't even care about the insurance because I get that through my husband. It's the cost-of-living increases that are killing me because my pay hasn't kept up - or even anywhere near close - to cost of living increases.

[Deb in NZ]

Dh never got a raise in the 20 years we've been together. When things got tough here, he offered to drop to 4-day work weeks to help the company. Instead they made him redundant.

 

Here the gov't just raised GST to 15% & that is on everything (food, taxes, everything). Gas is at almost $2.00 / liter again. Dd & ds can't find part-time work and Dh & I haven't been able to find work as well. With no income for over 3 months, we won't have turkey this Thanksgiving. I just can't justify the $70 it costs to get a 6kg turkey. We'll have chicken instead. But at least we're healthy & we have a great garden & we can fish, so we won't starve. Our house is freehold & our cars are in working order. That's something to be thankful for this year.

 

Blessings,

[bbsweetpea]

My hubby has not had a raise in the past 3 years due to the Economy. Last year they made them take off two weeks and everyone got a pay cut. It stinks!

[Renee in NC]

I'm still earning in 2003 dollars.

 

I don't even care about the insurance because I get that through my husband. It's the cost-of-living increases that are killing me because my pay hasn't kept up - or even anywhere near close - to cost of living increases.

 

I know wages have dropped all over! In 2000, dh was making $12.00 as a laborer ($14.50 in today's wages) and licensed plumbers were making $18-20. My dad said that plumbers are making $12-15 today if they have a job.:001_huh:

 

So, not only is pay lower, but everything costs a lot more. Gas was still around a $1.25 in 2000 and groceries were much cheaper. In 2005, I could feed our then family of 6 on about $300 a month.

 

In perspective, though, I am really glad dh has a job right now. My 8yo's teacher showed me a turkey he had made in school where they wrote what they are thankful for on the tail feathers. He was thankful his Daddy had a job.:crying: His teacher asked me about it and I gave her a brief synopsis of what had gone on over the past couple of years - she said something about his being wise beyond his years.

 

So, I am going to work on not being so annoyed by his job and try to be thankful he has one.:D I'll just look towards the future when things *will* be better.

[Renee in NC]

We, too haven't had a raise in over 5 years, but everything else keeps creeping up.

 

4 years ago, we decided to switch our health insurance plan to a high deductible plan. It saves us over $250 per month on the premiums. We put the $250 each month into a Health Savings Account which earns interest. Even though we've had to dip into the health savings account to pay for sick visits, it still continues to grow and gives us a cushion against the deductible while saving a ton on the premiums.

 

The high deductible plan only saved us $66 a month. Even with the price increase, the insurance isn't bad. *We* just can't afford it. With the money we were paying in premiums, we'll be able to pay for our regular medical care out of pocket - one office we see every month has a $50 copay and we will have to pay $65 without insurance. The prescriptions are going to be free through the pharmaceutical company.

[Carrie12345]

Dh hasn't received a "real" raise in about 8 years. The only way his income has gone up (and down) has been by changing companies and positions.

 

We are switching to the company's "lesser" insurance plan for 2011, but we're very fortunate in our options there!

 

:grouphug:

[angela in ohio]

No raise and a 3% cut, thanks to the lovely people in Lansing, here.

[elegantlion]

Oh yeah - the Christmas party. The printed invitation handed out to them had "Employees Only" *highlighted*. Irritating, right? More irritating was when my aunt, who works on the white collar corporate side, told me that they *are* allowed to bring family.:glare:

 

I know that my dh is a dime a dozen. He knows that if he left his job, there would be a 1000 applicants wanting to take his place (because of where he works and the fact that $10.50 an hour is really good here for low-skilled labor.)

 

You know they are grinning because the economy sucks. Now they have a legitimate reason not to give raises. When my dh worked for them in 2000, yes 10 years ago, they gave him like a .50 raise AFTER they had promised all season to bring him up to union paygrade, which would have been a significant increase. They claimed they hadn't made as much as money as they had hoped or some other BS. It was a new venue, sold out for each event. Thankfully he had a lot of overtime that year. He gave his notice shortly after his review, we had held our breath trying to live on that small amount and couldn't do it anymore.

[cathmom]

You know they are grinning because the economy sucks. Now they have a legitimate reason not to give raises. When my dh worked for them in 2000, yes 10 years ago, they gave him like a .50 raise AFTER they had promised all season to bring him up to union paygrade, which would have been a significant increase. They claimed they hadn't made as much as money as they had hoped or some other BS. It was a new venue, sold out for each event. Thankfully he had a lot of overtime that year. He gave his notice shortly after his review, we had held our breath trying to live on that small amount and couldn't do it anymore.

 

That sounds like the hospital/university where my dh used to work and may soon be working again - they play shamelessly on the "team spirit" and "pride" to be working there, and then do everything they can to kill that in all of their employees!

[Renee in NC]

You know they are grinning because the economy sucks. Now they have a legitimate reason not to give raises. When my dh worked for them in 2000, yes 10 years ago, they gave him like a .50 raise AFTER they had promised all season to bring him up to union paygrade, which would have been a significant increase. They claimed they hadn't made as much as money as they had hoped or some other BS. It was a new venue, sold out for each event. Thankfully he had a lot of overtime that year. He gave his notice shortly after his review, we had held our breath trying to live on that small amount and couldn't do it anymore.

 

We're a little concerned about the overtime - it is very possible that there won't be any. It's cheaper to just bring in more temps at $7.25 an hour than it is to pay the regular guys overtime. We *need* that overtime - the Jan-Mar season will give us an extra $3-4K! We'll have to see what happens.