How much $ do you make?

Liba

Wed, Mar 28 2012, 5:40 am

I can't see what is unhealthy about home made pizza.

FWIW I make a couple weeks worth of crusts at one time. My kids like individual pizzas and it takes a long time for each one to cook their own pizza in my toaster oven if they are using raw dough so I precook them in my pareve oven. I can get 3-4 on my large baking sheets.

I make the dough and then shape the crusts, put pizza sauce (home made from tomato paste) on the dough and then cook them at 425* for 15-20 minutes. Then I cool and freeze them.

When we want to use them they don't really have to cook, just put cheese and vegis on and heat until cheese is melted and vegis cooked like you like them. It takes about 10 minutes each unstead of half an hour. Smile

emhabanim

Wed, Mar 28 2012, 7:10 am

What people who earn lower incomes often do not realize is the huge chunk taxes take away. A person earning 50k will pay a far less percentage in taxes than someone earning 100k . This means that the guy earning 50k and bringining home 43k is wrong to assume that the man earning 100k is bringing home 86k or that the man earning 200k is bringing home 172k. The man earning 100k is bringing home more in the range of 75k. The man earning 200k is bringing home more in the range of 135k.

Add to this the tution for yeshivas which is not tax deductible. Tuition is the great equalizer in the frum world. A family earning 80 -100k a year with three or more kids in yeshiva will get a scholarship to pay for tuition. So if the 100k family brings home 75k and gets a scholarship. A family earning 150k a year may not get a tuition break. At the end of the day, the family earning 150k does not have much more discretionary income than the family earning 80k .

amother

Wed, Mar 28 2012, 12:01 pm

I have lived on 16K annually and felt rich.

For the first three years of my marriage, our gross income was between 15K and 18K each year. We were never on any government programs during those years nor did we receive any regular financial support from our families. I got pregnant soon after we got married, so I was either pregnant or a mother of one during this time. We did receive generous gifts of money from my husband's parents from time to time; the gifts were not regular or something we counted on having to pay bills. They did come in handy when we did get them, but it was not expected or essential to our solvency.

We tried to increase our income, but it was difficult. We both had college degrees by the time our first was born. Dh was not able to find employment in his field except as a contractor. This meant he sometimes brought in a full-time income, while at other times, sometimes for weeks, he had no work at all. He took on odd jobs outside his field in an attempt to fill in the gaps, but they usually paid poorly. I worked full-time before our first was born, then quit to stay home with her. I got a part-time job when she was a few months old, but I paid most of my income to the babysitter and the metropolitan transit authority. At some point, I started taking classes I needed to apply graduate school. Somehow we managed to pay my tuition for these classes in full, but it wasn't too bad, since I was only taking a class or two at a time at the state schools.

This was ten to eight years ago, so, obviously, things were cheaper then. We lived in Brooklyn in a small 2-bedroom apartment in a less desirable (read: ghetto) area of our neighborhood. The rent was $650 per month when I moved in. Our utility expenses were minimal because most were included in the rent. We paid a small amount for electricity, maybe $30 a month. We also paid for our phone line and internet, but not so many people had cell phones then and neither did we. I guess food was cheaper then and we were only a family of three, but I remember that we were able to afford better food than we can now. I ate probably 90% organic food then. We also somehow continued to pay back my student loans from my undergraduate degree despite our low income.

The only thing I can think of that we did not have that I missed was health insurance. I had health insurance through my job during my pregnancy. When I went on maternity leave, I paid for Cobra to extend the coverage. Once I was no longer eligible for Cobra, we had no health insurance. B"H we were all young and healthy, and so didn't suffer without it, but I wished we had it, just in case.

amother

Thu, Mar 29 2012, 8:54 pm

[code]I can't see what is unhealthy about home made pizza. [/quote]

I don't mean to be OT here - just saying, it's all the extra carbs and cheese (when you could be getting full on a chicken/fish protein, veggies, and a baked potato.) It's not so unhealthy per se - we eat only whole wheat, put on loads of Pam-fried veggies, and use low-fat cheese - but it's double the calories and half the full feeling of a typical protein/carb/veg supper. We're eating so many carbs already, must we eat more at supper? I use wraps or luffas for base. A five-minute dough still needs fifteen minutes to be rolled out (two minutes per pizza) and I do pizza when I don't even have five minutes to make supper :-)

Also, once you're putting on veggies (even from the bargain/rotting rack in the supermarket) and cheese and tomato sauce, you're spending as much as chicken again.

Anyhow... back on topic.

[code]The only thing I can think of that we did not have that I missed was health insurance. I had health insurance through my job during my pregnancy. When I went on maternity leave, I paid for Cobra to extend the coverage. Once I was no longer eligible for Cobra, we had no health insurance. B"H we were all young and healthy, and so didn't suffer without it, but I wished we had it, just in case.[/code]

... and prices have doubled in the last five years (THANK you, Mr. Obama) as well. I know there are people who don't have insurance, but I can't afford not to. We were in a major, major medical emergency soon after our marriage (think a quarter of a million bucks in two days) and without the insurance I had then we would still be in debt and penniless today - even all my chasuna money wouldn't have paid it all. After that, we agreed that our hishtadlus is to buy health insurance. We just can't afford not to. It's too terrifying. So I fork out 1200 plus copays and coinsurance and deductibles each month.... while some of my friends work part-time, save 15-20K a year and get JerseyCare for free with benefits I can't yet afford :-)

Nu, nu, B"H we are all healthy. But after our experience I have learned that young and healthy does not necessarily mean that one will remain so, and insurance is not something we have the luxury of refusing.