An employee documented his financial struggles online with hand to mouth salary. Describing his ordeal, he said that his salary vanishes within 5 minutes after being credited to his account and left him with “ ₹7 balance.”
Narrating the expenses he has to make in a month, he said, “Room rent: 19k (single room with AC, heater, washing machine, and a kitchen to cook.)” Besides this, he owed a credit card bill worth ₹15,000 leaving him with just ₹9,000 for the entire month.
‘Life is dependent on paycheck’
Seeking solutions to budget his expenses, he stated, “I got 2 EMI’s that cost me about another 10k. So by the end of this week, I need another 1k to make the payment.” With a paycheck of ₹43,000, he found to difficult not only to cover his expenses but to payoff Wi-Fi and phone bill, costing ₹3,700.
He added, “These two are the bills which also needs to be paid as my sister pays for the rent at home(family lives in bangalore) which costs 19k. It’s so weird as to how your life is dependent on a paycheck and how important it is to make enough money for your yourself.”[sic]
Social media reaction
Social media flooded with budgeting advice and alternatives to improve his financial situation after this Reddit post went viral. A user wrote, “I hesitate to spend this much on accommodation even with 2x of that salary. Please shift to PG …. you’ll atleast save 10k. After clearing debts, you can take room again.” Another user sceptical of financial management skills said, “Why are you paying 1500 for wifi and another 2200 to airtel? Something tells me you are not careful with money. If you spend money without thinking no amount of salary will ever suffice.”
A third user remarked, “Match ur standard of living to ur salary….paying 19k as rent with a 43k salary is criminal.” A fourth comment read, “Try budgeting your expenses.” A fifth user wrote, “I earn 1.3L my room rent is 15k so u can get the idea from this and when I was earning 41k my room rent was 2.5k.”