does 'paycheck to paycheck' basically mean having no savings?

[Kroze]

living paycheck to paycheck is:

You have $0 left each month after paying

Housing
Utilities
Food
Car Insurance/Gas

 

[BoomerD]

When I got hurt 4-1/2 years ago, we had well over 6 months gross wages tucked into savings. Living on work-comp disability caused us to drain that fairly quickly...nowadays, we are definitely living paycheck to paycheck, although there is a bit left over to go back into the emergency fund.

 

[AlienCraft]

Yes, although I will pay off the credit card next payment.
I plan on buying a new motor and transmission before they break this time, and it's always cheaper to shop around.

I am contributing 17% of gross to 401K, and since the New Corporate Overlord, oops, I mean OWNER cancelled the 50% matching contribution and put an annual cap of $360.00, I am SOOOooooo working on stashing pre tax dollars NOW before they decide to screw with the program we've got going.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Baked
Never. I save more than I spend.

Originally posted by: radioouman
Fun times... but that's the life of an engineer.

No it's not, you suck at finance. I know plenty of engineers, shit there are close to a dozen of them in my family and they never go paycheck to paycheck. They are however, all cheap motherfuckers who are frugal as hell.

keywords there... i know a guy with 5 kids that lives fairly well (enough to buy a boat, travel and still live in a fairly decent neighborhood) on less than 40k a year.

i live basically check to check right now since my wife left. two incomes was very comfy, and even with my savings buffer if i miss a check or two id be in dire straits. wouldnt lose the"farm" or anything, but would be in a place i dont want to be. once i pay off my truck, student loan and get my kids out of after school care next year ill be golden again tho. would be way better if i got any support payments from the ex tho.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: jaqie
Nitemare: See the first response in this thread.
Yeah, I understand your situation, but understand mine to see why I posted what I did.

still don't see how you do it and you don't live that far away. The cost of living is sky rocketing here. I'm paying significantly more for rent then when I was living in the good section of Phoenix.

all those new neighborhoods on the far west side are still advertising new houses in the low 120s, east valley is skyrocketing. mesa, where i am, is still fairly cheap overall, but the racial tension is supposedly high here. i dont see much of that, since i work in phoenix and kids go to school in tempe. while the cost of living is definitely rising here in the valley, lots of places in phoenix are as cheap as ever.

 

[Ronstang]

I have been a net saver since I was a kid. I can't remember a time in the last 20 years when I did not have a years worth of living expenses in my bank account and that is completely separate from my investments that have grown at a steady clip in that 20 years. It is all about discipline and not spending money on stupid things. Funny thing is I have tons of fun stuff yet I don't spend a lot of money. The real secret is to make every expenditure deliberate and have a budget.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: Duddy
We didn't live paycheck-to-paycheck until 3 months ago. All of a sudden people stopped buying cellphone service (I'm at AT&T) so are commision checks were literally $10. So I've just been making $7.00/hr since then.

We are broke as hell and it's getting worse by the week.

Hope things start looking up for you man. I know that feeling very well.

 

[JackBurton]

Man, this is a pretty depressing thread.

 

[Scouzer]

I have 8 months of savings right now at my current expense level...but I'd obviously sell my car if I got into dire finances, so more like 11 months

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
I have been a net saver since I was a kid. I can't remember a time in the last 20 years when I did not have a years worth of living expenses in my bank account and that is completely separate from my investments that have grown at a steady clip in that 20 years. It is all about discipline and not spending money on stupid things. Funny thing is I have tons of fun stuff yet I don't spend a lot of money. The real secret is to make every expenditure deliberate and have a budget.

very true.

Living at my parents place for nearly 3years after I graduated has meant I could save a lot of money. More so because my first job paid poorly!

I can't say I have had a years expenses saved for years but I have a years expenses in a high interest account, and a fat stash in stocks.

My car is a beater, £600!!! So no bills there. I can buy most toys but don't. I only get the stuff is more important to me.

Drinking is a huge expense also, but I rarely drink as it isn't for me, so going out is pretty cheap!

So no I do not live paycheck to paycheck.

I have always been disciplined with saving money became I didn't have much of it. Now that I'm making more it means I am saving even more, whilsting spending a hit of it to enjoy myself.

Koing

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
Man, this is a pretty depressing thread.

no doubt.

I would say no... but they way my wife spends money it's more of a yes.

I need to take her fucking check card + check book away and do the bills myself... and we'd be in a lot better shape (savings wise)

 

[Kadarin]

In the last 8 years I have gone from being $35k in credit card debt to having about $70k in the bank. Although right now you could laugh and say I'm living paycheck to paycheck because I'm currently paying two car payments: $960/mo for BMW and $660/mo for GTO. The GTO one will go away once I sell the car and then I can go back to saving over $1K/mo.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: Duddy
We didn't live paycheck-to-paycheck until 3 months ago. All of a sudden people stopped buying cellphone service (I'm at AT&T) so are commision checks were literally $10. So I've just been making $7.00/hr since then.

We are broke as hell and it's getting worse by the week.

sorry to hear

I hear ya Duddy, T-Mob. here and its the same story. Luckily I'm already looking for an exit. Bach. degree should get me in the door somewhere right? Right?!?!? Oh god...

 

[Jester22]

If I was living alone, then yes, I would be living paycheck to paycheck. =)

But thankfully I still live with my mommy, so I?m not in that boat yet. Hopefully by the time I move out I?ll have a job with a little more income. I give $500 on rent and I try to buy some groceries and supplies for the house when I can, so not much spending there. Other than that I really don?t spend much, being the anti-social hermit that I am. College debts were also paid off in under a year, so now a fair portion of my money goes into savings.

I thank the lord everyday that I?m not in any financial constraints; because if I was living alone, I don?t think I could handle the burden with what little I make. And the economy is sliding here too (Toronto), but thankfully at my ?retail? job, I don?t work on commission. And I would rather live my ma? until I?m 30 and be called a dork than have to live with the added stress of my finances, combined with everything else that I have to deal with.

But I sympathies with those who have to live paycheck to paycheck and I hope that everything works out well. There?s a good chance I?ll be in that situation sometime soon.

 

[Eeezee]

I do not live paycheck to paycheck. I'm a grad student, I only make $22k/year, but my housing is cheap, I eat for cheap, and I don't throw away money on frivolous things unless I really want them and the price is right.

My savings is $10k and climbing every month Yeah, I'm poor, but at least I have a growing savings and I'm not in debt at all!

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Gothgar

Originally posted by: JackBurton
Man, this is a pretty depressing thread.

no doubt.

I would say no... but they way my wife spends money it's more of a yes.

I need to take her fucking check card + check book away and do the bills myself... and we'd be in a lot better shape (savings wise)

So do that! Is she dependent on you? If so, then she shouldn't be spending money without your approval anyway.

If she's working, then she should make sure the bills are paid before spending money on other things. And she should be socking some away...

Geeze

 

[thomsbrain]

I save nearly 2/3 of my salary, counting 401K contributions. I make what are considered very low wages for my area, so that gives you an idea how frugal I am.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: anxi80
i wont get into the specifics but lets put it this way... when i first started my job that paid monthly i had to remove athd from the categories list. it has since been restored, but as a person who enjoys saving money there is a half-second of hesitation before clicking. "do i really need to spend $20 on a remote farting machine??"

As someone who owns a remote farting machine, I can say that YES, you DEFINITELY need a remote farting machine. I used one during a company meeting.

 

[Duddy]

Originally posted by: cobalt

Originally posted by: Duddy
We didn't live paycheck-to-paycheck until 3 months ago. All of a sudden people stopped buying cellphone service (I'm at AT&T) so are commision checks were literally $10. So I've just been making $7.00/hr since then.

We are broke as hell and it's getting worse by the week.

I'm a sales rep for AT&T as well and business is definitely getting slower and slower each month. Used to take home $3.5K a month or more... Now I'm lucky to hit $2500. I make $11.63 an hour though so not nearly as bad as you.. What market are you in?

I work in the Bay City, TX store in the Houston Market. I finally had a customer come in today and activate a Blackberry with BBUnl Personal + Unlimited TXT. That was the 2nd best sell we've done all year.

I'm looking for another job now, in 2 days I'm going to run out of gas and I don't get a check until the 16th.

I heard Obama say that he has talked to people who can't get to work because they don't have any money to buy gas and I though, "My God, I hope I never get to that point."

I spoke too soon

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: jaqie
I live on disability... $657 a month for everything. I would love not having to live check to check, especially with the wrong address confusion when I moved before I got direct deposit. I am still working my way out of the hole that dug, but the rental agency is being very understanding. At this moment I owe them some $500 including late fees, and with my income level that's a *LOT* of dough.

I am curious what your disability is and why you can't work. You haven't been on AT very long but you seem to find a reason to state that you are on disability over and over and over.

 

[spittledip]

We can probably get by for 2 months without a paycheck. We are pretty tight with our money.

edit: we don't make much and have a mortgage

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

We live paycheck to paycheck, but we are working on paying stuff off. Right now my disability is my extra money and I work to pay bills. I'm working on getting it to the point that my bills are paid with my disability and I work for extra money.

 

[walkur]

I've got a 6 month buffer before I have to acces my fixed savings account, which should keep me going for another year

 

[Casawi]

I only been working for about a year and a half, and I live paycheck to paycheck. I make enough to support a family with kids and buy a home, and I manage to blow every damn paycheck. However I am paying stuff off I guess, I paid 5k of credit card debt last year. This year I paid 6k in tuition so far, and paying half a mortgage for a place I don't live in.
My only saving is 401k plan right now
I can't even go more than 30 days without pay. I am really going to try hard to not live paycheck to paycheck, I bet its a nice feeling.
I always have the option of living without a paycheck ...lol going back home and mooching off the parents...what, everyone else is doing it...lol

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
Man, this is a pretty depressing thread.

But a good reminder.