News and sports reporter (Fitchburg, Mass.)

Sure 30K is doable, if you've got a second income or a roommate/roommates sharing the bills.

But you probably won't put much away for savings.

The key mistake I never made, but often saw friends my age making $30K or less do, is buy a new car. Pretty useless waste of money.

Like an earlier poster said though, it would take a lot more than $30K to make me go back and work under the McMenemy administration again.

It's not the amount of work (a lot) at all. It's the fact you just can't ever have any fun there and are perpetually in fear for your job, even if you're doing great work.

 

Uh, I'd love to make about $450 after taxes per week. I currently make $300 to $350 a week work, although I'm only paying $200 in rent a month because I'm living with my parents. Before that though, I was normally getting $375 a week, and that still worked economically, although barely:

Monthly income: About $1500
Rent: $625
Elec: $30 (I was never home)
Cable and Internet: $40
Student Loans: $125
Car Loans: $100
Insurance: $75

That left about $500 a month for some combination of heat, eating and laundry. It's not a great way to live, but it's manageable, and I wasn't eating ramen and pasta sides every night. Pretty much everyone in this business has some sort of horror story about breaking in, so while I think we might be at a historic bottom right now, it's not like being a journalist was full of champagne wishes and caviar dreams before.