What Does a Minimum Wage Budget Actually Look Like?

Can a family really live on two minimum wage incomes? Or even better, one income? This seems to be a hot topic right now. Check out this post to see what that looks like in reality.

Recently there has been a resurgence of the infamous, mockable sample budget that a couple of large companies put together to prove how a family can survive on a minimum wage budget. (If you don’t know what I am referring to, go search “ridiculous minimum wage budget spreadsheet” and you will find it.) This budget was originally published in 2013 when my husband and I were right out of college and living in a large city on two minimum wage salaries. I thought this may be a fun time to bring out our budget and show people what it really looks like to survive on minimum wage. read more