Paycheck to Paycheck

I hear the phrase “living paycheck to paycheck” on TV a lot, usually implying that the person in question is poor or is about to be.

Think about that, though. Do you know anybody who doesn’t live paycheck to paycheck? Personally, I don’t. Everyone I know has to work everyday, for pay and their checks are pretty much spent before they get them for the necessities of life: housing, transportation, food, clothing, etc.


Do you know anyone who is independently wealthy? Only those with that kind of money would not have to live ‘paycheck to paycheck’. Paycheck to paycheck seems to me to be the normal way of living. Most of us have a little savings put by for a rainy day but not enough to live on for very long if we lost our jobs.

If you live within your means, you are doing well. And you are also living paycheck to paycheck. If you’re living beyond your means and racking up credit card bills, you’ve then got quite a problem. Then you’re living paycheck to next week’s paycheck. You’re spending future monies. And you are usually paying exorbitant interest to do so.

So, how is paycheck to paycheck a bad thing, again?? I don’t get it…