http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/22/news/economy/furlough-defense-paycheck/index.html?iid=HP_LNFor Vroman, a normal bi-weekly paycheck puts $984 in the bank, after taxes and benefits. Furloughs trimmed $142 from each paycheck, bringing her take-home down to $842.
When furloughs hit on July 8, she continued paying critical monthly bills -- $985 for rent and a $250 car payment. But she quit paying the federal government $250 owed on some $10,000 in Stafford student loans.
Vroman said she spent a lot of the summer coming up with ways to entertain her kids for free or as cheaply as possible. Her sons are ages 9 and 5, her daughter is 7.
In preparation for slimmer paychecks, she had already traded in her Hyundai Santa Fe for a more fuel efficient Sonata, and had cut out dinners with her family.
OK....so she brings home $984 x 2 times a month, plus 2 months of the year it's a triple paycheck month.
Normal month is: $984 x 2 = $1968 / month.
Less 985 rent, less 250 car payment. Right there that's $1235 gone in a typical month, leaving $733. Then she's paying $250 / month on a student loan, leaving $483 a month for everything else - food, clothing, medical expenses, fuel for the car, car insurance, electricity and other utilities, etc. Furlough dings $284 out of that, leaving $199 / month for "everything else", but since she stopped the loan payment, that comes back up to $449 / month.
2x a year, with that third paycheck, it's easier. If these 2 paychecks were "peanut butter" spread over all 12 months, it would work out to an extra $164 / month.
Given how close to the margin she was before the furloughs, one has to wonder why she wasn't already "coming up with ways to entertain her kids for free or as cheaply as possible". And spending half (!!!!!!) her take home on just rent......wow. OK, I understand you have 3 kids, but really? And you can especially not afford to go out for dinner, ever!
And sorry there, you can NOT afford a car that has a payment on it. You should have sold the Santa Fe. Just checked, 2013's are $28k on the Hyundai site, while the Sonata is a still expensive $21k - WTF on a 37k / year gross with 3 kids - Hellllooooo, try on Financial Samuari's 10% rule for car prices - you can "afford" about a $3,700 car.
But hey, it's the fault of the Congress critters and the sequester. There are no sub-optimal choices at all in what is probably the unspoken bad back story to how she ended up with 3 kids on 37k / year. Nope....it's all the fault of the sequester.....