Comments on: Preparation: Minimum Wage Challenge

By: Gpaxton

Gpaxton — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 23:19:47 +0000

When we were going to take a 40% pay cut, I did a grocery stockup with his last bonus he got. I bought 1 year of grocery products and 2 years of HBA, non perishable items. So yes a stockup would be in order if you are treating it like this type of event. I realize I’m coming in late to the conversation but a true minimum wage challenge would/should incorporate everything a person living on minimum wage would do to stretch their money.

By: Fe2o3ez

Fe2o3ez — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:22:25 +0000

Looking forward to this! Good luck.

I can see both sides of the arguement, but frankly, if I knew that a drastic change in income was coming, I dont think you went far enough. (I agree with Chris about the government prgrams.) Here’s what I might have asked for in that situation:

* Visa/Walmart gift cards – why worry about the luxury items when you can’t pay for necessities
* canned goods
* Gas cards
* bus/subway tokens, if convenient for you

if you prefer to go the route of more ‘luxurious’ items
* a new bike – cheaper and healthier than a car
* movie tickets – usually good for matinee shows, and may make up for not being able to afford cable
* connections to a resume-writing service – usually garners better paying jobs
* pre-paid phone – for job search and emergency calls (not many pay phones around anymore)

By: daytime

daytime — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:26:26 +0000

All this talk about minimum wage drives me crazy. One person can hardly live on the minimum wage. Henry ford had it right whats the point of paying your workers so little that they cannot afford your product.

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:53:38 +0000

I disagree with your sister on this one~ If you were already living on minimum wage you would still be getting Christmas gifts, and asking for things to stretch your budget would be a reasonable thing do to! Gift cards are a great option to be able to enjoy something you couldn’t otherwise afford. If you were low on socks & underwear and asked for those so you didn’t have to budget for them, would that be cheating?? Of course not!

By: jeffrey

jeffrey — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:47:21 +0000

FAQs

By: creditcardfree

creditcardfree — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 15:18:49 +0000

I too don’t think your requests are cheating. Your requests may be different because of the challenge, but that doesn’t mean you are cheating. You win. Your sister loses on this one!

By: LuckyRobin

LuckyRobin — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 11:39:43 +0000

I don’t think it is cheating. My SIL is on minimum wage and she asked for gift cards for Christmas according to her needs or wants. It is pretty normal.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 11:22:31 +0000

So, the challenge is to live on minimum wage in California? For a whole year?

Such a person would be eligible for at least some type of government program, which (I assume) you won’t be able to tap into. If you were able to (like you were doing this for real), would your sister think you were “cheating”?

If not, then your sister gets to shut up. Again.

By: Double N

Double N — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 07:20:01 +0000

I’m looking forward to your challenge, Jeffrey. I was thinking of your food challenge a couple of days ago when I saw some windfall fruit. Thanks for taking it on!

By: Jenna

Jenna — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 02:59:10 +0000

Your sister sounds stupid. I’d stop talking to her.