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With three children, one expense or another has always popped up, but health care costs have always been the heftiest, as for many families. But other times, it's too close for comfort."įor the Lemieurs, after the amplifier fight, budgeting became serious business: a painstaking accounting of birthday presents and vet visits, car payments and utilities, that ran 12 pages long. "I'm able to stay above water miraculously sometimes. Robi has relied on unemployment benefits since May and Andrew leaned into his work at a restaurant.įinancially, "it feels kind of like going up and down on a roller coaster," Andrew says. The pandemic undercut both of their careers. Andrew is now baking at a restaurant for $17 an hour.Īndrew and Robi walk their puppy, Libby. Robi hasn't done much massage therapy since the spring, relying on unemployment benefits and occasional side hustles. Canceled live events meant no work for Andrew. The pandemic has undercut both of their careers. "Once the shows stopped coming in, I was completely at a loss," Andrew says, "and I have been kind of pivoting ever since." In Austin, he struggled to book enough gigs, even after slicing his rates. Back in Houston, a phone call or two had him running visuals for big oil board meetings or shepherding rock stars to concert sets. America's music capital lured him with the promise of lucrative opportunities for his line of work in audio and video tech. The move to Austin proved more difficult for Robi's boyfriend Andrew Mentzel, 30. I was like, 'This is a whole new world for me.' Still living - more comfortably - paycheck to paycheck." #Everybody has bills to pay upgrade#"When you start making more money, you can upgrade your bills just a little bit. "I didn't know what to do with myself," she says. #Everybody has bills to pay plus#That debt relief plus full-time massage therapy work - $24 an hour with generous tips - had Robi feeling solid financial footing for the first time in her life. She now owes more than $10,000 in student debt, but has kept it in forbearance, or on hold, "trying to get to a point where paying my student loans wouldn't actually break me," she says. The younger one needs that soccer gear.Īfter moving to Austin, Andrew Mentzel has struggled to book enough gigs as an audio and video tech, which only got worse as the pandemic meant canceled live events. ![]() Her oldest starts driving and needs car insurance. Rhonda has deferred her mortgage and some utilities life trudges on despite the global crisis. Or like losing that new job at the very start of it. She cashed out her retirement savings early and paid some of them off. When her personal crises piled up, and the sale of the dental practice where she worked pushed her into a new job, Rhonda felt overwhelmed by her loans and bills. ![]() A bankruptcy and a divorce.ĭebt can also bog you down. Then culinary school, with another student loan, and food-service jobs. Pressure to be the first in the family to attend college. #Everybody has bills to pay series#After never going to the dentist until she was 18, she now geeks out learning about gum surgery, earning about $45,000 a year.Ī series of false starts came first. For Rhonda, a loan helped her discover a dental assistant career she loves both for the work and for the pay. "Or you do after you've done it - you're like, 'God, what did I do?' "ĭebt is powerful, which is why most Americans have it. "You don't think about it," says the 45-year-old. Rhonda Alvarez, a mother of two teenagers in Ohio, is a dental assistant trained for "expanded functions" like assisting with fillings. Over a year ago, more than a third of Americans said they could not cover an unexpected $400 home repair or hospital bill without going into debt - or at all. While people with the lowest incomes face the biggest challenges, even some households making above $200,000 are straining to pay basic expenses.įor many families, walking the tightrope of financial stress, with little to no savings, is hardly a pandemic-specific condition. adults say they are having difficulty covering everyday costs such as food, rent or car payments. Today, amid the pandemic, a third of U.S. In fact, survey after survey for years has found that most people in the U.S. "To me it was like, oh my God, how much will this screw with our budget?"Īn unexpected bill like that is what separates millions of Americans from financial disaster. "He didn't tell me he hid it in the trunk of the car, and I found it," Debi says, laughing, 14 years later. But they both remember one purchase - Nick's $600 bass amplifier - that prompted one of the biggest fights in their four decades of marriage. Debi and Nick Lemieur had all the markers of a middle class life. Debi and Nick Lemieur stand together at their home in Havertown, Pa.Ī house. ![]()
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