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Where exactly is the shocking part of this? This person has a stressful, inconsistently demanding job and life circumstance that make it difficult to plan financially, and a habit of relieving stress with small purchases.

Did you seriously not know this is how most people live?

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@ OP - no vitriol intended. This is just… really how many many people live, whether they are in debt or not. A huge hunk of the relationship between consumers and capitalism is predicated on this stress-trigger-buy cycle. It’s not noble or ignoble to live within or outside of that cycle, and people have different values and visions of the near and long term.

Imo her buying a couple plants and my weekly grocery list line item of a bouquet are the same thing. I make twice her HHI, so do I “deserve” flowers more than she does? Nah.

I’d say her expenses are super low for a 3 person family. She doesn’t put food into her expenses so maybe her partner pays for that.

She has some savings but would for sure struggle to finance a large emergency. She seems like most lower middle class people where it’s hard to save money and get too far ahead.

If your expenses are less that 1800 a month inclusive of rent, then you’re probably living pretty lean too.

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$560 of it is directly related to her child which skews things in my mind. But even 3000 doesn’t seem like a lot.

If you’re in a HCOL area and you’re single without a kid, you can probably do rent under 1000 if you have roommates. If that’s the case, then yeah 2200-3000 seems like a lot.

I live by myself in DC and spend right around 3k in a normal month. But 2/3 of that is rent.

Most Americans don’t save any money. They spend what they make because living is expensive. She also has a bankruptcy which makes anything with credit more expensive.

To answer your original question, I assume you’re probably frugal and don’t have a family to support. Her spending is unsustainable for her, but seems pretty normal for one person, let alone a family of 3.

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Her expenses seem low to me.

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Yes, many people live like this. But you can also see some results of decision making and follow-through. “That ended up not working out” when it comes to nursing after a full ride strikes me as hiding a story. The masters in library sciences isn’t going to get her much, either. The person I know with that had to use a family connection to get a Corp job to survive with a family.

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Yes that sentence also struck me as interesting. Why would she decide not to continue as a nurse after finishing her degree?

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This is nothing lol. Idk what you’re talking about

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Exactly - seems like a normal person with normal expenses.

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Hey rent is surprisingly high for Texas but that's probably due to being in Austin. Childcare expenses are really cheap. Seems like she's doing the best she can on limited resources.

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This ain't it OP

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OP I agree with you that her spending seems irresponsible. When you have a child and your income is that low unfortunately you can’t splurge on things every time you want to. I still try to keep my lunch costs low even though I make roughly 7x what she does.

Unfortunately this is how people tend to live. They don’t realize that the decisions to not spend that extra few dollars here and there makes a big difference. They will be pay check to paycheck their entire life, and will just increase their spending upon getting any raise. And she says in the article that she is trying for another kid. Insane.

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Why is this eye-opening?

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That’s a lot more than what I spend in a week for sure... this is a good read on how the poor stay poor. I was making her equivalent at some point and I certainly didn’t spend time buying $30 slippers, going to the movies, or eating out multiple times a week. (Closer to 1-2). Also incredibly irresponsible to be casually buying plan B ($50) when many women’s health centers will get you on BC for free or low cost.

Austin might be fancy to live in but she could easily pick a lower COL city like San Antonio right next door, and cut that rent in half.

smart

Anyway, moving cities aside (which I agree should be the last resort option), she still has way too many frivolous expenses in my opinion.

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Is this a serious question or do you live in a bubble? Spending actually not terrible, people make 10x and have less in savings (I'm not joking)

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Her expenses aren't that high, a large chunk is child-related. I hope her child's father contributes with Child support. For Austin her monthly expenses are low. And where do you live thats less than her part at $700+? Parents? College duplex?

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