$30K Salary With A $500 Belt

$30,000 Salary, $500 Belt

Standing in the mirror, profiling, fresh to death because my swag is officially 1K!! I’ve been waiting for the fall season to drop, nobody is gonna be rockin’ this belt. It was a strong price but worth every penny. I need to step out tonight for sure. Let me call my dude so we can get ready to roll out.

“Yo, Dee what’s up my dude?”

“Aint nothing, what’s up”

“Yo, we stepping out tonight right?”

“Yea we can do that, where you trying to go”

“Anywhere that’s free to get in!!”

“Not too many clubs let dudes in free, and if they do it’s a sword fight”

“Well, can you cover a brotha at the door?? You know things are a little tight around here…. Bills and all!!”

“Damn, dude you always broke!”

“I don’t make that much money my dude relax.”

Now one could look at this conversation and wonder why this guy brought a $500 belt but can’t pay his own way into a club. Well this guy just spent half of his check on a belt… duh!!

Last week on FB we had a discussion that surprised me. Some people thought it was okay for a person to spend 2% of their annual salary on a belt. The sentiment was sometimes you have to reward & treat yourself to things that make you happy and I couldn’t agree more. There is nothing like working all the time with no feeling of reward. However this does not excuse irresponsible budgeting.

Let’s break down the numbers & life style of 30K salary. First thing is you will not take home all 30k but more like 23-25K, so lets use 25K just for the sake of round numbers. If you get paid twice a month (1^st & 15^th) your check will be somewhere around $961 per pay check.

Now you have three types of people, one lives with mom, roommate, or on their own. All are totally acceptable depending on their situation. Different people are at different stages in their life which causes for different things to take place in order to survive.  

Person 1: Has a room in their mother’s house. This person is normally in this position because either they are young and haven’t left the nest yet or fell on hard times and need to regroup. It’s not likely a young person will be making 30K so we will go with fell on hard times. Their purpose is to save money, pick themselves back up and get back out there to try it again. If this person spends 2% of their salary on a belt, most likely this is the reason why they are back at home with mama to start with.

Person 2: This person shares a household with a roommate. Normally they are either in school or just got out of school. It is quite difficult to work a job paying 30K while in school but not impossible. Either way they choose to live with a roommate because it makes things more affordable which also tells you they don’t make that much money (30K). Normally roommates are a temporary thing like 1-2 years depending on the situation. Either way this person is gearing up for their own place and should be living under this perception. Spending $500 on a belt at this time would be immature and irresponsible.

Person 3: This person has their own place, which brings a lot more bills. They will normally have a slightly older smaller car with a nice smaller apartment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this by any means. It’s quite respectable for a person to live on their own seeing many people fail at it. Things are normally tight for the simple fact that the cost of living in most cities are over 30K, but some how they manage. They simply don’t have any room in their budget to buy a $500 belt, and if they do it will be money from another bill or placed on a credit card. Neither solution is responsible and will just cost more in the long run. 

Items such as $500 belts are intended for the upper class of society. The funny thing is that the upper class of society are not the ones interested in such items. It seems to be the mid – lower class that like $500 belts. I guess it makes us feel more high class or something.  It is perfectly fine to treat yourself to the fruits of your labor, but with something inside of your means.

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. This behavior is what got America in the problem it’s in right now. People bought houses they shouldn’t have and when they couldn’t pay, well recession. People are in debt up to their eyeballs and can’t understand why or how they got there. They often blame it on the economy but it’s really because you spent money you didn’t have. We have to learn not to eat with our eyes and make proper decisions. Yes it’s your money and you can do what you please with it, but that doesn’t mean be irresponsible.

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Children or Marriage: Which Comes First??

Times are surely different and I don’t believe anybody will argue against that fact. Today’s traditions are not text book as they once where in the past. The evolution of marriage has taken things in a new direction. That which was deeply valued at one point is more of the icing on the cake in present day. So I ask you, what is the foundation in your life? Children or Marriage.

Marriage!! Your marriage should always come first with your children following a very close second. Well that is how things used to be I should say. Think about the kissing song:

“Boy & Girl sitting in a tree.

k-i-s-s-i-n-g

first comes love then come marriage

then comes a baby in a baby carriage”

Well there is a clear problem. We had kids first and now we are looking for our spouse, quite backwards I would say. I could use this point to drive home the fact that waiting for marriage before children is best but I don’t believe much good would come from it.

Allow me to provide some analogies. Bad ingredients produce bad products and you can’t have a nice house on a bad foundation, therefore, practice what you preach. The best way to raise your children is by providing a good example of what to do in life. You can talk to your child until they are blue in the face but at the end of the day they will mimic what mommy & daddy does. For this reason alone it is in the best interest of your kids to ensure the foundation is rock solid.

The day will come when it is time for your children to spread their wings and take flight in the place called the world. They will leave home in search of a new one with the skills you have shown them over the years. This will leave you sitting at your nest with a question mark on top of your head thinking “what now?” If you think focusing on a marriage 20 years after the fact is easy try asking some of the single 40+ year olds. There is quite a selection to choose from.

There is life after your children and if you do not prepare for it you will get caught blind sided by the reality when time comes. If you are a parent that lives through your children you are only handicapping your child and yourself. Build a solid foundation before having kids and for those who have had children already but not married yet, there is a bit of a challenge for you. First, don’t have any more children without being married. Secondly, when you do find a mate that you want to marry, focus on that foundation. Focus everything you have on that marriage and raise the children as a two-headed, eight-limbed organism working in sync with each other. I believe your product will be pure because your ingredients where pure.

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Top 5 Reasons Men Have Problems Dating

The most common complaint I get from women about men is that we do not know how to step up and be a.... Well... A man!! I'm a firm believer that when addressing a problem you always look for the commonality in the problems. This one is obvious, men do not know how to be men anymore. So I decided to dig deeper and provide you with the "Top 5 Reasons Men Have Problems Dating."

1. Role Reversal: The 2010 woman is running things and in a major way. Women now have a voice and will not hesitate to speak it. Coming from a world where men have always rules this is quite a change for my testosterone carrying brothers. There is no "do as I say because I am man" mind set anymore. Women are making more money than men, women are in higher positions than men, & women are not accepting the flaws of old man. The sorry, just doing enough, lazy attitudes of man will not fly anymore. Guys have to step up accept that women demand more from us and will not bend.
2. No Positive Role Model As A Child: We all know that my generation is the "Fatherless Generation" and suffer because of it, but what we do have is a negative role model. Now the smart guys figured out that hey this is what NOT to follow. While others thought this negative example was the correct way to be a man. Never the less if a man burns his hand enough he will soon learn that this stove is hot and not to touch it anymore.
3. No Commitment: This is no new problem for men once so ever. The problem is just no longer accepted my our women. Before, when man was king women had no choice but to accept this lack of commitment. I mean after all what were they going to do, move out, find another man so they can be in the same boat? Now in 2010 women do have this option to do things by their self hints the quote "I can do bad all by myself." Men have to commit and mean it.
4. Poor Communication: Again another famous trait or lack there of for men. We are not good at talking about OUR feelings. We can discuss your feelings, business feelings, or any other feeling in the world BUT our own. It makes us feel exposed and weak and that is not a place a man is not going to willingly put himself in. The major difference is, NOW we are no long king so we are forced to be diplomatic.
5.  Lack Focus: The simple mind of man is so easily disrupted. We get side tracked by the smallest of things normally located in between the legs of a women. Hell in today's world sometimes even in between the legs of a man. We will be on a good path and something comes along that is new and unknown and our little minds can't resist. Again nothing new about men but no longer accepted because women can not and will not deal with it. They would prefer to be by them self than to deal with that nonsense

Lesson Learned:
The only new problem is the Role Reversal. Clearly all the other problems have been around for years. The only difference is that women do not have to deal with this poor performance from man. We will get it together one day just not today. 

View my thoughts in detail on the video below:

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