Clarissa's Blog

I have no idea how a family of four can live on $23,498 per year. I don’t even know how a family of one can live on it.

I lived for the last 2 years of grad school on $21,000 but I was constantly running short and had to run up a debt. Every unexpected expense would turn into a major hardship. Once I needed a root canal, at another time the bank made a mistake and kept punishing me for it, then I had to make an unexpected trip, then my laptop died, then Greyhound lost the suitcase with all of the books I was using for my dissertation and I had to buy them all over again, etc. I knew, however, that grad school would soon be over and I’d get a real job, so the debt I was accumulating wasn’t that scary.

How people manage to live permanently on that kind of money is beyond me. And I come from a 3rd world country, so it isn’t like I’m spoiled by a life of luxury.