$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.