How the hell does a single person live on minimum wage?

Get rid of minimum wage like you have in other countries and you will have people working for $3/hr

lol, no.. They give you money based on what you earn. If you earn to much you can't get it.

- stop driving and ride a bike everywhere. use public transit, and fly southwest
- work local 'events gigs' and 'adult gigs' on craigslist that pay same day when possible
- don't waste your time job hunting on in person. costs time, money, and health.
- get a big sack of rice for $25 and a rice cooker for $10. eat off it for 2 months
- get roommates or move in with family/friends
- join a gym for $1/day. shower, hot tub, and workout there. save on utilities/health ins.
- join a sperm bank and donate 3 times a week for compensation and free health checkups
- sell everything you own on ebay including your clothes, shoes, cars, and gadgets
- use your paypal and epass money to pay for as much as possible
- keep all your receipts. pay with cash. return everything that you are not using
- save some cash, buy some gear to film with, hire some chicks, and sell the footage



then 6 months later write some self-help books about how you made it

There is a Federal minimum wage but minimum wage varies by state. In my state the minimum wage is $8.45 per hour. $8.45 x 8 hour day = $67.50 per day x 22 work days per month = $1487.20 per month. After witholdings it would be a little more than $1000.00 per month take home. If a person is a single mother of two she would end up paying zero in federal and state income tax so she would have a substanial tax return from those two entities and in addition about a $5000.00 earned income return from the federal government. Plus she would qualify for low income housing, a certain amount of food stamps, free day care for the kids, free preschool for the kids, and free medical for her and the kids.

Thus cash wise she would have approximately an $18,000 dollar per year take home income...low rent and the other benefits as outlined.

My sister has two children with one in preschool and she pays $1650 per month for day care and the preschool cost.l

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It's a very good question and something I think about a lot. Besides getting help from the state how could they possibly afford to live.

I spend roughly 2,500/mo and don't even have cable and rent a very small apartment. I don't go out a lot. Really bare minimum stuff. Though I did just buy a new 2009 car.. but payment is only 230/mo.

Same here. My first real job in high school was minimum wage. I worked it most of my senior year and for about 6 months after I graduated. Then I got a better job. Didn't make much more than minimum, but a little more. I worked it for about 1.5 years then I got my first real job.

I saw on the news here the other day a company opened up and needed to hire 20 more people. They were offering $8 an hour and on the day they were taking applications they had 400 people show up. It was pretty wild. People with bachelors degrees willing to work in a warehouse.

I think if you are in real estate or any financial or banking stuff times are very tough right now.

for sure it really does depend on where you live. I saw a show a few months back where a guy and his wife were moving. They were living in the San Fransisco area and saw the average house was around 300K in their area. He was starting out just out of college making 42K a year. He got offered the same job in Austin, Texas making 37K a year, but the average home there only cost 120K so they were moving because even making 5K a year less they would have a lot more extra money and a better quality of life.