This kind of stuff just floors me. I can't fathom spending that kind of money on a phone, never mind someone working a job that while it is admirable, is low paying.
A single woman with kids and a low-paying job....will also receive welfare. Her apartment will be practically free, and most of her other expenses will be paid by us taxpayers. Plus she will get free cash. So she can uses her money for things like expensive cell phones.
Yes is is. Why pay that kind of money out when you don't make much?
I got a smart phone included in my plan with T-Mobile. My phone and several months of service don't come close to that.
The poster above you gave some good information as to how these women get by, but regardless you should save up some money, no one needs an almost $800 phone and shouldn't have on unless they're making a high salary.
I live in LA, the average CNA salary is around $12 an hour, that's not a high salary, anywhere, but especially here.
If that's how you're gonna look at things then nobody needs a cell phone PERIOD. Any cell phone. People lived for centuries without any phones and then lived for app. 100 years with landline phones before cell phones were even invented. And they all survived.
=== When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.
How did you come up with that comment? I have a cell phone, I think people should have cell phones these days, just for safety reasons.
You do have a point about landline phones, but many people now just have the cell phone as their only phone.
However, you don't need one that costs almost $800. Most people need cars, but you don't need a luxury car, you need a car that is reliable and gets you from Point A to Point B and back again.
I find that people who have items like $800 phones are the same people who can't make their rent on time, or whine about their car insurance coming due, but spend $5 every morning at Starbucks. Well that's $40 a week, a $120 a month, there is their car insurance and than some...understand?
I was raised to "keep your overhead low", meaning "don't spend money on crap you don't really need or really can't afford".
Let me ask you this: how many times in the past month have you used a cell phone for safety reasons? How about past 6 months? Past 12 months?
Cell phone is not mandatory, simple as that. I'm at the different country every month and even I don't need it. I still have one because of convenience.
So there are a lot of things in life that we buy that we simply don't need. Where do you shop for clothing? Goodwill and Wal-Mart sells clothes very cheap, right? But I'll bet you anything that you shop at at least Khols, Boston Store, etc., correct?
You think that a luxury car is not a "need", but non-luxury car is a "need"? Why? People also lived for centuries before cars were invented. There are buses, taxis, bicycles, etc.
I'll agree with you that a lot of people spend money of things that they don't need, but lets face it - most of Americans are in debts because they spend more than they make. However, just because somebody spends a lot of money on one thing doesn't mean that they do that on everything. For an example, my wife loves nice clothing and she mostly wears Michael Kors and his stuff is pretty expensive. But she doesn't spend a lot of money on other things because those things don't interest her. I also spend a lot of money on diecast car models - another thing that's not needed in life. But I barely spend any money on clothes, cell phone, etc, so that pretty much balances things.
=== When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.
I live in LA and after 3 massive storms one after the other I hit a deep pothole at night just last week, and guess what? Flat tire within a minute or two, I needed my phone to call Triple A to get help. I call that an emergency.
It depends on where you live, some places you need a car to get around in. Even here in LA the mass transit has expanded over the last 10 years, still in order for me to take one of the train lines I still need to get to train station about 2 miles away.
I agree with what you're saying, and do the same thing. I will spend money on a certain item I like, but am thrifty in other areas.
But I can think of two people I know who spend money on stuff they don't need than whine when they have a bill coming due, one was short on their rent one month, but is always buying clothes and got a new couch, their old one was fine.
I like Kohls but I also go to Goodwill. Not familiar with Boston Store.
Just out of curiosity, why would you consider a flat tire (even at night) an emergency? Couldn't you change the tire by yourself and continue driving?
I also don't understand why you need a car for 2 miles only. Couldn't you walk? Or take an Uber/Lyft? It would cost you much less than the ownership of the car every month.
=== When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.
I can well afford a car, I bought it in 2014 and have no car note, and who would want to use Uber everytime you need to go to the supermarket or Target?
As far as the flat tire, as I said I live in LA, I had gotten off the freeway and was driving through was is called East Hollywood, it's a little bit sketchy and especially at night(lot of homeless), on my way to a friend's house. Not the best part of town, so in another words I don't want to be working on a tire with someone possibly coming up behind me. Had it been during the day, different story. Besides my insurance covers roadside assistance.
I didn't mean use Uber/Lyft and/or walking all the time; I meant just during those short trips. Back when I still lived in the USA (multiple years ago) my work was app. 1.5 miles from my home and I walked every day to and from work. It was my exercise for the day. If weather was sometimes too cold/hot, I would've taken Uber/Lyft. I kept my car at the parking lot of my company. So even taking Uber/Lyft every now and then it was cheaper than paying $100/month for parking. I did the same thing for grocery shopping. Sure, I often went to the larger stores where car was needed. But I did most of my shopping by walking to the store, which was very close to my place of work.
=== When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.