thekidsarenotallright: jean-luc-gohard: Let me...

thekidsarenotallright:

jean-luc-gohard:
Let me elaborate on that last reblog, just to make it clear for people who haven’t worked at or near minimum wage.
My last retail job paid $10 an hour, one of the highest starting wages for a entry-level retail position in NYC at that time (and still higher than the current NYC minimum wage of $8.75). I had the occasional forty-hour week, but mostly, I worked thirty-two hours. If we assume that as the standard week, it’s $320 a week.
Between state, federal, and city taxes, at this level, you end up paying around 26% of your wages in taxes. If your paycheck for two weeks is $640, you actually take home $473.60. Your yearly pay after taxes is $12,313.60, or $1,026.13 a month.
You find an apartment to split with four roommates. Your individual rent is $700. That leaves you with $326.13 for the month. You collectively decide not to get cable and only get internet, so your bill is $75 split four ways–$18.75 for you. Your power bill is around $100 and your cooking gas bill is around $30–$32.50 between the two. That’s $51.25 for bills. That leaves $274.88. You get a cheapo phone plan and pay $50 a month. That leaves $224.88. You get an unlimited MetroCard because individual rides make no sense with you working nearly full time, especially if you go literally anywhere else in your week besides work and home. $116.50 per month. That leaves you $108.38 for the month.
You have $3.60 a day to feed yourself, clothe yourself, do anything for fun, deal with medical emergencies, and so on. And that’s at a full $1.25 above city minimum wage, or $2.75 above national minimum wage.
1. 700 for an apartment is ridiculous and financially irresponsible of you, that’s all on you. I was making 8.00 an hour and paying 450 a month living just fine.
2. That’s an entry level job. If you keeping working for a year or 2 you will be making much more.

You can find a $450 apartment in the backwoods nowhere you come from, but not in NYC. The only way you’re paying less than $700 for rent in this city is if you’re living with family, a rich friend who’s cutting you a deal, in an apartment you’ve been in for more than five years (and if you’re not in a neighborhood that gentrified around you, more than ten years), or your apartment is illegal in some way and your landlord is taking advantage of you to monetize the space.

Seriously, if you find me an apartment/room that’s a lease (not a desperate attempt for a one-month sublet) within forty-five minutes transit of Manhattan for $450, I’ll send you $20 over Paypal. If you don’t find it, you have to admit that you’re a fucking idiot and stop talking about this subject forever. Deal?

(via thekidsarenotallright)