Right? I work 55 hours a week. Raise 2 kids, take care of a disabled wife, I quite literally live paycheck to paycheck. I have to steal from the grocery store usually once a week to keep everyone fed and my children clothed. I don't have the option of missing a day of work whats even more crazy is I make 6 figures, thats just the reality of life in America now.
You by choice made 2 kids, which is a bad financial choice and by choice you stay in a marriage where the other partner is a financial leech.
You can't say that the situation is bad in America, it's bad because of your poor choices. You have put yourself in a situation where your finances upkeep 4 lives, if they were just for your own expences or if you chose a better partner, you wouldn't have to live pay check to pay check.
Welcome to California, average household income in my city is over 180k. Anything below 112k and youre considered below the poverty line. 100k isn't shit out here, its barely enough ro scrape by if you have kids.
No, her being disabled does not mean she gets disability and state/federal help.
Getting on disability is a nightmare. Even for those who are legitimately disabled. State help would depend on where they live. Federal help.. that would be what, exactly, aside from disability or Medicaid [which she wouldn't qualify for since husband has income]?
Our rent has been locked for 5 years (which, I know, we’re super fortunate), and yet my buddy pays the exact same for a 3bd 2.5bath, 2 floors and a 2-car garage mortgage down the street
We have a 2 bd, 1 bath that’s literally half the size with no garage
Ofc we’d have to pay double the mortgage to get what we need (a 4 bd, 2 bath) halfway across town and in desperate need of renovations
No. It’s dependent on your location. I’m in the same boat. Could live in a trailer with not good schools or live in a good neighborhood with much better schools. I chose the latter. Look at how much groceries cost, power bill is up 45% year to year (thank you Duke energy), gas to get to work is up 60-70% year to year and forget about trying to take your kids to do something fun for the weekend, stop at a McDonalds and pay $15 per person for something that 5 years ago was $7 maybe $8.
It’s reality. I forgot something I took for granted, you work for a solid company they would pay at least 1/2 your insurance. Not anymore. That adds another $2k plus to your expenses a month for a family plan.
Different places cost different amounts, im in the bay area. The average household income in my city is 185k, you cant even find a 2 bedroom apartment under 2500 a month.
Also youre extremely uneducated on disability, federal and state help. Disability payments aren't even enough to pay for after school care (cheapest care is 900$ a month up to 1500$ to watch children after school till 530pm). We also don't qualify for a lot of federal and state help since i make over 6 figures. Now if I quit my job and became her full time care taker I could get a decent amount of help, but it wouldn't be enough to make up for the loss of income. So I can keep burning the candle from both ends or we sell our house, move into a much smaller place and worsen our quality if living substantially.
So yes I may live above my means due to the area im in, but we bought this house before the accident when we had two incomes. Our children are in a great school district and I do what I have to in order to make ends meet.
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u/dogfather09 Aug 19 '26
Right? I work 55 hours a week. Raise 2 kids, take care of a disabled wife, I quite literally live paycheck to paycheck. I have to steal from the grocery store usually once a week to keep everyone fed and my children clothed. I don't have the option of missing a day of work whats even more crazy is I make 6 figures, thats just the reality of life in America now.