Hi there
Long time lurker from Europe here. Some of the things that I have seen here have baffled me beyond belief and it makes me happy to see that people are making their voices heard.
I came across a comment yesterday night on a recent post. The commenter said that they had to live “paycheck to paycheck”. Further down the comments, they clarified that that meant “after spending money on my rent, utilities, food, and necessities like media subscriptions and saving the monthly $250, I have nothing left”. As I said, I am from Europe so I am not sure whether this is a typical American thing or way of saying things in English (not my native language). But to my ears, the expression “living paycheck to paycheck” implies that you cannot save. This made me wonder how this expression might be different for everyone.
Now, I am aware that everyone is different, has a different life style, and needs a different budget to accommodate that. So the idea of this post is to ask you: what does living paycheck to paycheck mean for you? If you are or were in such a scenario where you felt you were living paycheck to paycheck, what were you able to afford? Or perhaps a more important question: what did you need but couldn't you afford?
I'm hoping to hear more of your stories, and I do hope that they are from the past and that you are in a better place now – although I am not naive and I am aware that unfortunately many people have a hard time getting around each month.