Teacher who lived in a car puts spotlight on teachers’ low pay

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/texas-teacher-launched-gofundme-page-after-homeless-speaks/story?id=113233475

17 points · 9 comments · view on lemmy.world

9 Comments

jordanlund@lemmy.world · -10 pts · 2y (12 replies)

$54,000 a year in Austin.

It really sounds like more of a "guy sucks with money" problem than anything else.

$54,000 / 12 = $4,500 a month.

No more than 1/3rd of your income to rent, so $4,500/3 = $1,500 a month rent.

https://www.apartments.com/marquis-at-barton-trails-austin-tx/evn7ezp/

$1,219, $1,239, $1,339, $1,359, $1,389, $1,399.

This is all do-able on his income.

MotoAsh@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2y (11 replies)
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jordanlund@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 2y (10 replies)

This is all back of the envelope math, but yeah, I've made it work on less money than that in a more expensive market both in terms of taxes and cost of living.

MotoAsh@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y (7 replies)
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jordanlund@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 2y (6 replies)

If you make $54,000 a year and can't find a place to live other than your car, that's a "you" problem.

I'd also be super worried about what he's teaching kids, hope to god not Personal Finance.

MotoAsh@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y (5 replies)
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jordanlund@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 2y (4 replies)

As an adult who has made a living on less money in a more expensive market without being forced to live in a car, yeah, I do know what I'm talking about.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 2y

No, you were lucky.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 2y (1 reply)

I've made it work

False consensus says what?

Now let's add chaos:

  • car troubles
  • car accident
  • non-car accident
  • recurring injury like a back strain
  • COVID and 10 day quarantine

That's a thousand- to a million-dollar hit. What's the plan for absorbing that?

Teachers in Canada make less, but don't have the spectre of financial ruin from injury or illness hanging over them.

jordanlund@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

I was making $50,000 a year when my spine tried to kill me and I ended up taking 10 vicodin a day just to survive. 2 to get out of bed, 2 when I got to work, 2 at lunch, 2 when I got home, and 2 to be able to sleep. I didn't miss work. I made my rent payments.

I was miserable, but I figured it out.