Natter 32 Flavors and Then Some
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
I'll disclose my salary (I have the same type of job as Allyson)
Salary: 25K
Rent: $650/month
debt: 16K (mostly credit cards, so it is bad)
last year I made 17K, and all the years before it, much less. Every time I start to look like I want to leave, I get a raise, until it is pretty much impossible for me to leave and find work that pays comparably.
Salary: $13.92 an hour; adds up to $28K. I feel some shame at how little it is for how educated and bright I am.
Rent: $800 for a small 3-bedroom house in a pretty great location (frat boys next door notwithstanding). I am not the sole income earner in my household, of course.
Debt: none. I've paid off my student loans and have never carried comsumer debt. I am very conservative financially - I was saving (a little) money when I made $12K a year as a graduate student.
I'd disclose mine, but it varies depending on how much work I get in a year. Last year I earned about $15k more than I did the two previous years, because there was less time between gigs.
This year, I expect with the masses of unpaid time off I'll be taking, I'll earn about $15k less than I did in those years.
The mortgage is about $1500, I think.
Debt = a lot. See mortgage. (See also: the year-I-was-without-work, which doubled our credit card debt, because we had to pay the mortgage and still eat.)
Hmmm. My rent as a percentage of my salary is much smaller than other folks. I blame that on me being single, and on me buying crap I don't need.
Americans generally treat money the way the Victorians treat sex. Which is to say, they talk about it with shame, and only in situations of extreme intimacy.
I swear the scariest thing was telling Tom exactly how much debt I had. When he asked, I so didn't want to tell him. I felt so much closer to him afterward though. I'm still getting used to talking about money all the time with someone else.
Also, I think Tom and my mom knows how much I make. And I didn't tell anyone except my grandmother that Tom got a raise (OK, I guess and now y'all too) because we have a weird feeling that my family thinks that Tom is Mr. Moneybags because he doesn't have debt. Which has begun to lead to weird resentment (so I perceive) when I say we can't do something or go somewhere because we don't have the money to. So there's a weird vibe going on, but I think it will be better soon.
I think my dad was shocked to find out I had debt, debt I could pay off. As opposed to worried, when I had debt I was still paying down on. How far I've come since I was all "Loans? For university? Absolutely not!"
My debt is 0% APR, but I think it's a principle (har) thing. He buys his cars in cash too.
Maybe not dinner, maybe Bride and Prejudice.
Ooh, also good. Arclight, or near you?
In a way,
I
don't even know how much I make. I know my base salary, of course, and how much I will get paid for each overtime hour I work, but the number of overtime hours can change drastically from paycheck to paycheck, and I have no idea what it will be overall for the year.
You know, I don't think anyone knows how much I make. A girlfriend knows approximately, but not exactly. She's also the only one who knows approximately how much debt I have.
My salary/rent ratio is okay. It's about 25% of my take-home.
My rent is bit under a third of my take-home, which I'm fine with. What wasn't fine were the years I was living in the same place with less than half the salary.
I don't even like to let myself know how much debt I have. I used to make payments all the time without even checking the totals. Now I make myself look at it and keep a running tally. It is depressing and scary.