Replying in the spirit of the OP - Yes, I live paycheck - paycheck! Got a Phd and work in academia. My field does not pay well. Single parent by choice (adopted through foster care cause I felt I had enough to share). Please don't lecture me on how to buy a house or whatever unless you also make well under 100k. Some of us have sacrificed financial security for our chosen careers, and the financial stress SUCKS.

Anonymous wrote:My employer changed my compensation from salaried to 100% commission. We get paid on the 27th of the month for the previous month. Sometimes the paycheck is enough, sometimes it's not. It averages out to about $60k a year for a mid career engineer in the construction industry, which is not such a good place to be looking for work right now.
It sucks and is stressful and pretty much none of my social friends can relate.

I feel you. My DH is in this field and looking. Hang in there.

Me! Hello there. Single income of about 90K supporting three people. Which, honestly, is a healthy income. It is. It really really is. Most folks in this country do not make this much.

Anonymous wrote:in the DC area most people do at 0k to 350k

At the lower end, perhaps. But we're at $180,000 with healthy savings/retirement and 3 college funds. Anyone living from paycheck to paycheck at $350,000 doesn't know how to say no to themselves. We take at least one nice vacation a year, have a house with love and two older cars that are fully paid for and don't drive ourselves crazy trying to keep up with the neighbors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do. HHI around $250k. I won't cut retirement, but will the 529s. After having kids I have no money.

If you are contributing to retirement, you are not living paycheck to paycheck.

Hmm, I dunno. DH and I contribute to retirement and a tiny amount to 529s. (The latter we just started, 9 years into parenthood.) But we don't have emergency savings and we run out of money every month. Our CC bill is approaching 9k. We earn 160k together, which should be fine, but we live in DC. I think we still qualify.

Holy cr@p 9K - are you charging daycare or tuition on your card?

DH and I charge EVERYTHING - even $1.99 at CVS for rubber gloves so we know how much we spend each month. Most months our cc is $4 - 5K. A really bad month might include airline tickets or vacation reaches $9k - and our HHI is 7 figures.

My credit card balance would knock you out if $9k is shocking.

mine too ffs

We don't live paycheck to paycheck. HHI around 120k. Fortunate to live in a city with low real estate prices. Bought our 2500 sq. ft. house for 182k, mortgage 540 biweekly.
We save into retirement and education funds. Have two used cars that we paid cash for (under 10k each).
We are in Canada so our health insurance is paid for by the government (Single payer universal system). So no medical bills.
We do have a spending problem and credit card debt. Restaurants, clothing, entertainment, etc... Trying to nip that in the bud using YouNeedABudget's system.

We are just coming off a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle and it was rough. Dh and I both got significant pay raises over the last year which has helped a lot. We had $30k in credit card debt at one time which we've been able to get down to less than $10k thanks to increasing our income. I still spend like we are living paycheck to paycheck though because I never want to be in the situation again of having no money.

My employer changed my compensation from salaried to 100% commission. We get paid on the 27th of the month for the previous month. Sometimes the paycheck is enough, sometimes it's not. It averages out to about $60k a year for a mid career engineer in the construction industry, which is not such a good place to be looking for work right now.
It sucks and is stressful and pretty much none of my social friends can relate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do. HHI around $250k. I won't cut retirement, but will the 529s. After having kids I have no money.

If you are contributing to retirement, you are not living paycheck to paycheck.

Hmm, I dunno. DH and I contribute to retirement and a tiny amount to 529s. (The latter we just started, 9 years into parenthood.) But we don't have emergency savings and we run out of money every month. Our CC bill is approaching 9k. We earn 160k together, which should be fine, but we live in DC. I think we still qualify.

Holy cr@p 9K - are you charging daycare or tuition on your card?

DH and I charge EVERYTHING - even $1.99 at CVS for rubber gloves so we know how much we spend each month. Most months our cc is $4 - 5K. A really bad month might include airline tickets or vacation reaches $9k - and our HHI is 7 figures.

For someone with such a high HHI, you are pretty dense - the PP is talking about their credit card balance, not their monthly bill. I'm guessing your DH makes most of that HHI, huh?

LMAO @ PP! Me too!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do. HHI around $250k. I won't cut retirement, but will the 529s. After having kids I have no money.

If you are contributing to retirement, you are not living paycheck to paycheck.

Hmm, I dunno. DH and I contribute to retirement and a tiny amount to 529s. (The latter we just started, 9 years into parenthood.) But we don't have emergency savings and we run out of money every month. Our CC bill is approaching 9k. We earn 160k together, which should be fine, but we live in DC. I think we still qualify.

Holy cr@p 9K - are you charging daycare or tuition on your card?

DH and I charge EVERYTHING - even $1.99 at CVS for rubber gloves so we know how much we spend each month. Most months our cc is $4 - 5K. A really bad month might include airline tickets or vacation reaches $9k - and our HHI is 7 figures.

Wow, why didn't I think of that?! I'll start making 7 figures tomorrow! Thanks!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do. HHI around $250k. I won't cut retirement, but will the 529s. After having kids I have no money.

If you are contributing to retirement, you are not living paycheck to paycheck.

Hmm, I dunno. DH and I contribute to retirement and a tiny amount to 529s. (The latter we just started, 9 years into parenthood.) But we don't have emergency savings and we run out of money every month. Our CC bill is approaching 9k. We earn 160k together, which should be fine, but we live in DC. I think we still qualify.

Holy cr@p 9K - are you charging daycare or tuition on your card?

DH and I charge EVERYTHING - even $1.99 at CVS for rubber gloves so we know how much we spend each month. Most months our cc is $4 - 5K. A really bad month might include airline tickets or vacation reaches $9k - and our HHI is 7 figures.

My credit card balance would knock you out if $9k is shocking.

Will people making $1M please stop commenting on this thread?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do. HHI around $250k. I won't cut retirement, but will the 529s. After having kids I have no money.

If you are contributing to retirement, you are not living paycheck to paycheck.

Hmm, I dunno. DH and I contribute to retirement and a tiny amount to 529s. (The latter we just started, 9 years into parenthood.) But we don't have emergency savings and we run out of money every month. Our CC bill is approaching 9k. We earn 160k together, which should be fine, but we live in DC. I think we still qualify.

Holy cr@p 9K - are you charging daycare or tuition on your card?

DH and I charge EVERYTHING - even $1.99 at CVS for rubber gloves so we know how much we spend each month. Most months our cc is $4 - 5K. A really bad month might include airline tickets or vacation reaches $9k - and our HHI is 7 figures.

Anonymous wrote:I do, but that is after savings comes out. I make sub 6 figures and have a child.

+1