Can you survive on a $9/hour job? PLAY THE GAME. LIVE OR DIE.

doesn't 1st year IB pay $9/hr?

I ended with 141..

damn dude this game makes me out to be the worst parent ever

I think like 6.8 billion people survive on less than $9/hr. So, yea. It can be done.

Now, if you define survival as an 8 bedroom, 9000 sq foot house, with a garage that can hold your twin Ferrari's and the McLaren F1, then no, $9/hr isn't going to cut it.

Lots of decisions and options that one should be making in those kinds of financial situations, but the game wont let you. You were supposedly renting in the boonies for $700 a month, but you had a $7k mortgage bill out there that you didnt pay? That being said, I did pretty well.

No kids, but I lived on 7.25/hour only getting about 35 hours a week for ~1 year

Having a $9/hr job and being in debt is the result of poor life decisions. Sure, there are exceptions to this generalization but if you are only making $9/hr you don't need a cell phone bill, TV, etc. Go to the library, learn something, build new skills, network, work hard, make sacrifices and eventually you will find yourself in a better place. The problem is instead of doing any of the aforementioned things these people makes excuses or go occupy Wall Street and fck up my commute.

And they talk about having to share housing as a bad thing. That's retarded. Sharing housing is by far the best way to save money not only on rent, but groceries as well. On top of this, they're assuming only 1 person is working. The other person should be working too. The reason everyone is so in debt is because they spend their money on shit like buying food at McDonald's or wherever every day. That and knocking up their girlfriend

I made the tough decisions and ended at $193!

$310

So did I and I ended at 776 (enough to pay rent). All you have to do is get health insurance and say no to the qualitative stuff (kids'/friends' feelings etc.)

Jesus...

Thanks Barack Fucking Obama.

Made it through with $880 with the IOU, toothache, and killing my dog.

942 pussies. Dont let your kid join sports or the gifted program, and let your dog suffer

Ended up with $1115, but had to steal money from my kids, give my pet away and not give my mom her meds.

i let my kid join the gifted program as i felt it was the only opportunity to thrust the family out of a generation of poverty!

I lived on $12 per hour paycheck in Grad School (it would be less if you consider actual hours spent). That is an OK amount of money to survive if you are frugal and plan how to efficiently spend every cent.

The game is a bit rigged because so many emergencies are happening in a month. That is usually not the case in real life. However I still ended up with $100+ while doing every single thing that was required for the kid. Even the piggy bank stayed intact.

Babyj,

I may be a douche bag for a variety of reasons but the fact that I believe in sacrifice, hard work, personal accountability and not relying on others is NOT one of them.

You represent everything that is wrong with this country.

I ended up with $532, so I'm pretty frugal. But IlliniProgrammer will probably beat my score.

I was left with $967 dollars. Plus, I have food stamps coming in next month. I will be King of the Trailer Park in no time...

No one but myself is responsible for the costs accrued by the car that I bought, the mortgage I took out, the kid I'm legally obligated too, and the dog. Cut those out and I've got a nice cushion for a rainy day. The $200 that the government takes from me at the beginning doesn't help either.

Anyone above the age of college, making minimum wage for an extended period of time is there because they cannot do the basics right. They can't show up on time, be sober, perform their basic duties. They say "fuck this job, it is only minimum wage", but they fail to realize that you will never make anything more than minimum wage unless you change that attitude.

Life owes you nothing. Survive, prosper or simply don't. Praise be to what makes you strong.

Have to agree that this website is rigged. I have a lot of friends who are bartenders, waitresses, etc. Honestly, any waitress that works at a halfway decent restaurant pulls in $300-$750 a week, and they certainly aren't paying taxes on most of it. These people regularly blow their money on booze or other life luxuries and they don't have problems (and yes, some of them have kids). Emergencies come up every now and then, but definitely not $100+ emergencies on a daily basis.

I remember this. I think Eddie posted this last year.

I ended with $352. Put my kid in the gifted program, gave money on the street back, fixed my car, made all monthly payments and the minimum credit card one, and took the temp job as a clerk.

I just played. This thing has such a political agenda it makes me sick. Kids used to work on farms with their parents and grew up with morals, work ethic and love. This "simulator" makes it seem like a kid can't be happy unless it gets to do everything under the sun.

$293

Paid my bills, health insurance, gave my kid everything, paid my speeding tickets obeyed the law etc. but had to give up the pet :(

Game is heavily biased. First off, if you're broke you don't need a phone, car, cable bills. What is this lol? If you're that poor go read a book. They're free and entertaining. Screw cable t.v. it's a luxury.

I didn't buy a cell phone until I could afford one. Same with my car and my cable tv and place to live. Who the fuck owns all this shit and only makes $9 an hour? According to this game poor people lack patience? I'm confused and I want my time back!

Gave the kid the things that had to do with opportunities (sports, G&T) and NOT image (took free lunches, thrift store shoes). Ended with $500 some dollars.

I love how even when you make the "right" decision to save money it judges you: Brand name shoes are important! Eating a burger from McDonalds while working a physical labor job will make you fat! To poor people the lottery seems like an investment in the future!

Pay more to live by work... still need a car? Cant walk / take the bus / train? Travel 50 miles for a job as a server? Landlord raises rent out of the blue while you are under a contract - anyone ever have that happen to you before? 50% of people cant help their children solve basic math and so you should feel guilty that you can. In order to exercise, you have to join a gym w/ a monthly payment plan. Feel guilty for those people who are stuck at home watching their own kids that they wanted and cant go hang out with their buddies. Having a roommate is bad? The lotto = only form of investment for poor people? lol.

Yeah, I really cracked up at the 'pay $25 for a gym or stay a fatass' option.

This could have all been avoided if you just bought some condoms. I also agree w/ Ant and Cookies with Milken

Here's how you live on roughly $900-$1000/month (from experience)

1) Shared a place w/one roomate ($400+$50 utilities/month) 2) Groceries are pretty much shared ($150/month) 3) Don't have a car (I lived about 1.5 miles from work, walked every day, good exercise. You can take the bus for ~$30/month) 4) cell phone (450 minutes was like $30/month) 5) booze/other random shit made up the rest of my budget. Wasn't too worried about saving at 18/19

You guys live together or what? How'd the happy hour go?

Edit: just saw Frieds' recap in the thread. Priceless.

Went on welfare, sold schwag,defeated all yawl.

i ended up with 1398 but my kid died in week 2

SEC,

In case I wasn't clear, YES, any able bodied above college age person working long term in a job earning less than $9/hour in the US is the result of poor life decisions. Even in instances of limited education, that person can bust their ass in various labor positions that pay on average in excess of $9/hour (construction, janitorial, etc.).

I recognize that not all people are created equal or given the same level of opportunities but we live in the greatest nation on earth where a better life is available to those who are willing to make the appropriate sacrifices.

Stop making excuses for people

yeah my dad is a HS drop out but got training as tractor trailer driver and can regularly find 20-25 hr jobs even now, with solid OT

Clarification makes it sound much better than what you initially said. Thanks for the follow-up.

$814 (enough to cover the $800 rent)

manufacturing job, sell plasma, have friend pay to crash in living room, take any odd jobs, dont miss work.

health insurance, pay for my gifted child (except for math apparently), kill dog, ramen and peanut butter.

but my guy is depressed, almost crippled, and has $xx,xxx in credit/college debt - case study in selecting a worthwhile major

$918 the second time around.

Didn't pay jack-shit in terms of bills, asked friends for whatever I could, got my kid the scholarship, still gave back the $10 on the street, got my car repo-ed, got fired because of it, and gambled with my pay at the warehouse to do it by output instead of flat rate (worked against me, -25% weekly).

Where is the "fall into subservience and get on welfare" option that everyone in real life is so eager to take?

duh, you gotta wait a month for food stamps.

i totally expected that if i took the 10 bucks someone would come out and kick my ass and my kid would die because i didn't have health insurance or something

Fun but unrealistic. Having a few things come up every month that I need to fork up 2-300 for is reasonable, but I don't see how I need to make a decision on making a 100+ $ payment every other day.

Toothache + Unpaid Bills + Grandfather's death + Mom's declining health + License plate renewal AND getting pulled over in a matter of 10 days is just bad luck LOL

My dad worked as a truck driver for 8 years making $9 an hour because his bosses were cheap assholes. He was too proud for welfare and bought and sold some cars on the side. It allowed me to be in AP classes, play on sports teams, get into an ivy league school and pay all of the normal bills.

It is 100% possible.

Also, he didn't choose this life and poor life decisions didn't lead to it. His mother got breast cancer and his sister had a stroke and his father was an alcoholic/wife beater so he had to quit school at 15 to take care of everyone.

However, I do agree that the vast majority of people could have had a better life but chose to be lazy asses. There are exceptions though

I made it through the month with $ 946

$1000 bitchez

I may have made my kid, dog, and self suffer but

Made it through the month with 1285, kid in the gifted program, toothache, and an IOU. Expenses coming up: 760 for rent and transport, 175 for cell and car insurance, 175 IOU to a friend. Income coming up: 200 from a roommate. Leaves me with $375 towards the non-necessary expenses. That's with getting pulled over (fought in court), renewing registration ($250? WTF, my real life registration is only 50-something) , grandpa dying and kid throwing a fit that he doesn't want to eat lunch with the poor kids (here's a solution buddy - start cutting lawns/babysitting and then do whatever the f you want with the extra money. Actually no, drop that shitty entitled attitude, and help out with the bills.). Gave back $10 on the street, but not $10 to the kid. He is getting his $10 and grandma is getting her $100 for meds at month's end. Which still leaves me with $265 in cash that I can start an emergency fund with.

Also where the f is my child support? That ought to be at least another $100 a month, even if my ex is a total loser.

I haven't made less than $9/hr since Jr year in high school. Shit that's about $1440 a month before taxes and likely net out about $1224. Hmmm...... yes, it's possible to survive on that, but you gotta be super frugal and know where to shop to stretch every penny.

My question to the OP is why do you have a kid?

I'd be interested in seeing how the general population handles some of the decisions posited by this game. Education for their child was obviously a top priority for people here, since it seemed the majority, if not all, of posters paid for their child to join the gifted program. I wonder if that would be the case for people outside of WSO...

made it through with $1040 i'm rich bitch