LIVING ON $150 Per Week

[gtfpv]

judging by all the replies here . i'd say us felows who were 18 in the late 80's / early 90's . were better off, under which government you ask ???? i'll leave it here .
today i think to be equivelant you need an income of around $1000 / week clear, and be living at home . as some are accomplishing this i can see, however all of us were back then. in equivelant terms .

[Scott]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

judging by all the replies here . i'd say us felows who were 18 in the late 80's / early 90's . were better off, under which government you ask ???? i'll leave it here .
today i think to be equivelant you need an income of around $1000 / week clear, and be living at home . as some are accomplishing this i can see, however all of us were back then. in equivelant terms .

Sure, the recession was just dandy...

[poolkeeper]

I just turned 19..
Ive got 3 jobs, and I can get anywhere between $700- $1000
Board- $50/week
Phone- $25/month
fuel- $100/week

I dont do much, cause Im saving lol...

[Nickxb]

Im 21 and i have lived out of home since i finished school when i was 18. I am now on $700 after tax a week.

I half own a BA XR6 (the bank owns the other half) and i have an XB GS Hardtop project on the go as well. I also have my music career on the go but i havnt made any money from that. I had to buy a whole new bass set up recently, new bass guitar, new amp and effects pedal total $4000...eek!!!

At the moment i have a disposible income but soon i will have to give it all up to save for a house (unless my band gets famous first : )

[old_mate]

some cool stories here

back in 2002 when i was 17/18 i lived at home, went to TAFE and was paying off the EA. Earned about 240 a week and had money for grog every weekend. IF the car broke Dad fixed it

moved out at 19, moved to sydney for apprenticeship. Earned about 380 a week. Paid 130 a week in rent, plus fuel, plus food and all that. Now had EL that was also paying off. Got a personal loan for that and bought the XY. Still, i had money for grog. When car broke i fixed it myself. Awesome.

Then i met girl, moved back to Brisbane, got a job earning 800 a week (she earns the same) bought a house and have no money for grog. hahaha.

[shedguy]

You spend what you earn .... unless your much cleverer than me .... :togo:

I'm 39, wife and I earn a ****load of cash between us ..... yet we live in the red ??? :

BUT - three kids are all fed and ( reasonably ) happy, we can run our three cars and life is pretty comfy ... with good food ... AND BEER!!

It's all about priorities .................. and beer!!

[Schlimmeh]

When I was 18 I was so poor that I lived in paper bag in the septic tank!

[sheldzzz]

when i was 18 i went st8 to the mines taking home 1300 a week, spent it all on shares and now i am on apprentice wages earning bucklies, wishing i never left the mine where we got payd to sleep ahahaha

[MO]

Originally Posted by Schlimmeh

When I was 18 I was so poor that I lived in paper bag in the septic tank!

Luxury..sheer bloody luxury.

[RIPGMH]

Originally Posted by GTP006

Sure, the recession was just dandy...

So were 18% interest rates

[seXE]

well, im 20, so 18 isnt that hard to remember. I started at my job when i was 15, so ive always had money. But im still living at home. depending on if its holidays or whatever, i might work more hours some weeks than others. but on average, i think when i was 18 i earnt between $200 and $400 a week. i had my XE back then, and well, IT USED A LOT OF FUEL! thats pretty much where all my pay went. hardly ever went out. focused on school, and now uni. but i consider myself very lucky. if im low on cash, if i need something, my parents never ever hesitate to fork out.

[jimmy_c]

Well when I was 18 i was working for a small company on a traineeship. **** wages. 6.50 an hr. I found out the bastards had under paid me for about 2 yrs (nice big fat cheque when the auditors took a hold)

Fast forward to when i was 20 750 a week after tax living at home. ....... 23, 900 a week shineing my **** in a govt job. living at home rent free. Driving a V8.

Things have to change though I need to start buying shares and things instead of partying, Going out and on expensive holidays.

[Sick EB]

im am 17 at the moment and earn $20 to $100 a week. but i dont have to pay for anything just food at school sometimes. just spend it all on the car.

[fordxrtfan]

Can remember what I actually earned when I was 18 (now in mid 30's) but I did leave home when I was nearly 16, just started yr 11 and quit. Was working 3 jobs, paying rent, paying of a car (old Datsun 120Y) and still had money to party most nights, dont know how I survived on the small amount of sleep as I remember getting home a lot at 3-5am and leaving for work at 7:30am.
I'm showing my age now cause I need at least 6 hours sleep to function right, but must have done something right cause I have a great hubby, 3 lovely kids and went and purchased my new car without a loan recently.

[aye you]

clearing $750 a week after tax. $125 for the car, $250 savings, $100 bucks on fuel. whatevers left over goes to flying or the missus....

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by GTP006

Sure, the recession was just dandy...

the biggest losers in recession is not the public . its big business. i done very well thankyou in the recession . i had around 30k invested in the bank . @ 17.5 pa. for around 18 months . i had more work to do , and prices were going up, people were taking 2nd jobs because mortgages and inflation were rising fast . after around 12 months i came into work one day and my pay went from 330pw to 460. i was an apprentice . the good thing was everyone elses pay suddenly went up around 20 to 30% also over night , then everything was ok . i ost out investing my money at a mere 17.5 % too, and still made heaps . during this time my friend bought a unit for 43k he sold it 6 moinths later for 76k that was about 176% pa. divided by 2 += 88% in 6 months less capital gains of 50 % = 44% net gain .
most people were in front directly after recession because they paid less than 1/2 of what their house was worth and thier pay went up 20+ % making mortgage payments easier . most people regreted not buying a better house earlier on . i lived through it and missed out . 3 years later i had to pay top dollar compared to my friends who bought 3 years earlier for thier homes instead of paying 75 to 80k for a house in erskine park like they did . i had to pay a whopping 167k . and i only had 50k deposit cause i lost out during the recession and only saved a lot of cash inste4ad of investing . so i was stuck with a 120k mortgage at 23 years old and a measly income of 70k between us with ot . yep that recession was horrible .

i'd like ot see wages keep up with that today . ( but wait !!! ) we get tax cuts of about 20 bucks a week given back to us ebvery year , whilst our regos go up and healthcare go up annually along wiht all our bills around 6 to 8% per annum . and lucky if we get 4% pa , as now fair pay has come in .
but we've never had iot so good because plasma tvs and chinese goods are cheap with free trade, and the immigrants can come here and take our jobs , because the union bludgers have pushed thios country too far .

[Scott]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

the biggest losers in recession is not the public . its big business. i done very well thankyou in the recession.

Good for you, my family was bankrupted because we, along with most of the population, relied on the prosperity of "big business" to keep us going either through trade (in our case), investment or employment. Not to mention family friends losing jobs by the dozen. Don't you remember the amazing stats on bankruptcy during the recession? Unemployment doubled IIRC.

Originally Posted by gtfpv

but we've never had iot so good because plasma tvs and chinese goods are cheap with free trade, and the immigrants can come here and take our jobs , because the union bludgers have pushed thios country too far .

Oh oh, I smell a contradiction somewhere here.

Oh, here it is:

Originally Posted by gtfpv

I'd say us felows who were 18 in the late 80's / early 90's . were better off, under which government you ask ????

So, in summary, you remember the recession as a great time where only big business suffered and everone else had a great old time. Everyone wished they had more debt during such a prosperous time because 18% was completely manageable by taking on a second or third job - ref

Originally Posted by gtfpv

most people regreted not buying a better house earlier on .

But the thing that has bought it all undone is the FTA's (huh??) and the "union bludgers" who, incidentally, are a product of "which government you ask" philiosphy that the tail should wag the dog.

[MITCHAY]

Well my finances are ****ed all over the wall as I just checked them. God damn school holidays :

**** when am I gonna grow up :

[V3RSAC3]

Originally Posted by webby_191189

$250 a week after tax lol. Apprentice diesel mechanic. Still crappy wages lol.

thats what im doing next year, apprentiship wages are crap, but it sure pays off when ur done!!!

atm im living at home, free board, free well pretty much everything ... i dont pay for fuel, rego or insurance on my car ... when i go out my parents give me money, i dont like taking it, but they insitst becasue they want me to save all ov my money for a house ... currently on an average of $350 a week ... depending on how much work i do ... and if i sell something at our business i get $50 commision ... i don't take it for granted, but i know how lucky i am to have my parents like that

[tex]

You blokes that are all bitter and twisted about your partners / wives and their associated running costs need to trade them in, or mod them heavily.

Get a model that will return on your intial investment down the track. Mine started out costing me a bit for the first few years but it's now all good. Early on in our time together I saw the potential, now I (and her) reap the rewards.....

She earns nearly 100% more than me now, and I don't earn peanuts.

So they do exist, the challenge is to find one. And manage to hang on to her.

Oh, 17 years ago I earnt 115 per wk net.

I for one don't want to rewind the clock.

[BURGE]

I think I was doing ok at 18. Owned my ute AUII Marlin outright, Had about 20G in shares & did what ever the hell I liked on second year apprentice carpenter wages arround $280 in the hand a week. Makes it easy when your still at home.

6 years later, bought a house, still got the shares plus some more now & getting married in 5 weeks. So life is pritty good at the moment.

But still managed to have more money in the bank at 18 though...................
Didn't have the misses then either..............

[XR8Master]

When I was 18 I was making about $1000 a week after tax which was easy to live off, I lived at home and always had a spare $600 after I payed bills ect.

2 years later and now I need a grand a week just to live and pay bills

You need to earn a few k a week if you want to have your own house, which sucks

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by GTP006

Good for you, my family was bankrupted because we, along with most of the population, relied on the prosperity of "big business" to keep us going either through trade (in our case), investment or employment. Not to mention family friends losing jobs by the dozen. Don't you remember the amazing stats on bankruptcy during the recession? Unemployment doubled IIRC.

Oh oh, I smell a contradiction somewhere here.

Oh, here it is:


So, in summary, you remember the recession as a great time where only big business suffered and everone else had a great old time. Everyone wished they had more debt during such a prosperous time because 18% was completely manageable by taking on a second or third job - ref But the thing that has bought it all undone is the FTA's (huh??) and the "union bludgers" who, incidentally, are a product of "which government you ask" philiosphy that the tail should wag the dog.

you make some very good points , and sorry your family went bankrupt , i guess it wasnt all good . the only contradiction i have now , is that we aren't in recession, we are only paying 7% int . and are working 2 and 3 jobs to pay for it now . not far off the recession days with no relief in sight. before and after the recession lots of people who worked 60 to 70hrs a week got ahead . now they get by.

[Pursuit_chick]

i was getting $280/week FULLTIMEwhen i was 18. it was crap. i was getting ripped big time lol

[primo]

well as for me my parents from an early age made me realise how important money is. Left school at the end of yr 11 (was 17 at the time) and started my apparenticeship make about $200pw after tax and working 38 hrs. since i started my apparenticeship i budgeted my money. Nearly 4 years later i make nearly $500pw have a decent car that ive modified, just about have a deposit ready for a house as i put away about 30-40% of what i make, pay my car, phone and other bills and i still have cash to go out and have a good time. All becuase i sat down and worked out how to budget my money.

I always recommened to other people to sit down a work out how much they can allocate there pay to bills, going out, etc and they'll find something they can put aside to save.

[V3RSAC3]

u doin an apprentiship chris? i didnt know that .. what u doing?

[robbo_yobbo]

Originally Posted by tex

You blokes that are all bitter and twisted about your partners / wives and their associated running costs need to trade them in, or mod them heavily.

Get a model that will return on your intial investment down the track. Mine started out costing me a bit for the first few years but it's now all good. Early on in our time together I saw the potential, now I (and her) reap the rewards......

The beter the performance of the ride, the lower your economy is going to be, thats just how it is for any... er...... vehicle......

Where can I get a good discount for a trade in??? I wonder if the Hire yard would trade in for one of thier sports models

hahahaha, mod them heavily....... like some aftermarket headlights maybee? Real big ones,!!! but thats more money! :togo:

[Jesk]

12 months ago I was living on $130 a week, cos of stuff going on with now ex-wife, um i was quite literally living out of the back of my CB lancer plus a swag while working full time, got to know a caravan park that would let me use the facitilties and park my car with the swag next to it for $36 per week, which left me literally $20- $25 a week food then there was petrol of about $60 per week cos of extra travel with trying to sort stuff out the now-ex, then every 3 months I'd have to beg her an extra $150 for more rego. So now I'm quite happy with how I'm going now and I appreciate a roof over my head and a real bed.

[Mikey]

Thanks to all that participated and responded in this nostalgic piece. Sorry i couldnt keep up with the momentum of the convo's as i had to leave for the better part of the weekend.

Its always fascinating to know how the other half live or lived. You sometimes think youre the only one struggling to get thru life and bills.

What amazes me in these times is how F!!!!!G Much it costs for a good friday night out. I spend atleast $300.00 wthout even ending up at the Big House (Casino that is) Hence why i only indulge in this activity every 3 months. No wonder half the kiddies are on $50 tabs and Perrier. You can probably turn full circle and blame our savvy pollies and local publicans for societies drug problems... Its a whole new conversation so i'll leave it at that.

[Eb Barbie]

I currently work at Frankston Hospital doing a Business admin Traineeship which they pay for me to do and also pay me a wage.
I earn $650 a fortnight and pay $40 a week board to my folks as Im still living at home. With phone bills, board, petrol and insurance plus trying to save for my own place I have bugger all left over, still try to manage to go shopping once a week to get my retail therapy tho