- It's damn hard to get by in the US, when a $50,300 yearly household income leaves a family with $100-200 in discretionary spending per month, based on the following assumptions and average expenses:
1) Didn't overpay for his house
2) Made a 20% down-payment of $45K on his home purchase
3) Has no debt aside from his mortgage (so no credit card debt, student loans, etc)
4) Only has one car in the family and drives 15,000 miles per year
5) Keeps his energy bill reasonable
6) Does not eat out at restaurants ever/ keeps food expenses moderate
7) Has no pets
8) Pays for health insurance but has no monthly medical expenses (unlikely with two kids)
9) Keeps his personal budget under control regarding cable TV, Internet, and the like
10) Doesn't spoil his kids with toys, gadgets, trips to the movies, etc.
11) Doesn't take vacations.
- You can click here to read about and donate to a fund supporting abortions for low-income women. The organization doesn't always have enough money to help out, and these are some of the brainstorming questions they ask women to help them think of alternate funding sources:
- If you're having to think about checking your coat pockets, pawning your possessions, lying about unexpected utility bills, borrowing money or taking up babysitting to cover the costs of a one-time medical procedure, maybe it's a bad time to be forced to have a child you don't think you can care for. On the other hand, it's also moderately evil to suggest that sex and parenthood is only for the wealthy. Though social reactionaries never seem to quite get that consent is an important aspect of sexuality and reproduction, unless they just don't care. And in a just society, we should be embarrassed to deny meaningful consent to anyone because of poverty.
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