Comment on I'm working on it, ok?

• fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  There are other ways to cut expenses too. I’ll bet a lot of people (not all, but a lot of them, maybe even a majority) are paying for things they don’t need when they’re living paycheck to paycheck. Things like Spotify, Netflix, fast food, car washes, probably even car payments on a car that is beyond their means or at the least way more car than they need.

  Every friend of mine I’ve helped get to a financially stable and responsible point in their life could do it without having to increase their income. Obviously an increase in income makes it a lot easier to do this, but if you don’t have the behaviors down, then you’re just going to creep your lifestyle when you make more money.

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  • FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    paying for things they don’t need

    What you mean by ‘don’t need’ is ‘don’t need as long as they don’t want to have a slightly better level of life quality than if they were dirt poor.’

    You don’t literally need things like Netflix or fast food, but they make your life more tolerable right now so that you don’t die of the endless stress and misery before you can retire.

    Sure, there are ways some people can cut expenses. There are also ways people could cut expenses, but at the expense of their own basic mental health.

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    • fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not having Netflix and the like does not make one dirt poor. That is such an entitled view to have. Literally first world problems if your mental health can’t handle not having the latest entertainment. Go to a library for goodness sakes.

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      • FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I didn’t say they were. Please re-read what I wrote:

        What you mean by ‘don’t need’ is ‘don’t need as long as they don’t want to have a slightly better level of life quality than if they were dirt poor.’

        Yes, you can go to a library. I love libraries. My wife is a librarian. That doesn’t mean I don’t think people shouldn’t spend $7 a month for a lowest tier Netflix account just to make their lives a little better. Maybe Netflix wouldn’t make your life better. Someone with kids who wants them to be able to watch Teletubbies or Peppa Pig whenever they want, that makes both the parents’ lives and the kids’ lives better.

        You are doing something no different from the “stop eating so much avocado toast” guy. Maybe not having avocado toast is a first world problem, but those people don’t live in a third world country. So why should they live like they do?

        I was super poor in the 1990s. I still bought CDs and DVDs because they made my life better so I wasn’t unhappy all the time. Sure, I could have gotten all of my music and movies from the library. On the other hand, I couldn’t have listened to the music I liked any time I wanted. Could I have instead saved that money for an emergency or for retirement? Sure I could have. It would have made my life worse and, yes, been damaging to my mental health. I’m not sure why you think libraries existing cure any mental health issues brought upon by not being able to afford to have a better quality of life in a first world country.

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  • PatMustard@feddit.uk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You are correct, of course; I’m being facetious because half the comments here seem to be from people who are renting somewhere that costs their entire salary

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    • fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I figured as much with death being one of the options. Haha.

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