Americans living paycheck to paycheck

According to a survey just released by Careerbuilder.com, about half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. To be honest, I'm surprised it is only 50%. What with our net negative savings rate, our high personal and national debt, and our current national economic situation, I would have suspected it would be much higher than 50%, more along the lines of 75 to 80%.

While I do not live paycheck to paycheck, I grew up in a household that did, so I do have plenty of experience with this way of life. My parents used the envelope system for budgeting their money. They did not get a credit card until I was in high school. The got the card because they needed to buy a new couch, as ours that they had for roughly 15 years, broke. I remember them being very nervous about using it. They still only rarely use credit cards. They do not even have a checking account for themselves. They pay everything with cash or money orders.

Living paycheck to paycheck is not easy on a family. For parents, they must feel so nervous that something could happen to themselves or the kids. One unexpected doctor or dentist bill or one unexpected repair on a furnace or car, or some other emergency, could send them spiraling toward a lifetime of indebtedness.

One thing I wonder, is how people define "paycheck to paycheck". Perhaps some people pay their bills then blow the rest of what is left on whatever they feel like, figuring why not, since the bills are paid. And certainly, paycheck to paycheck for a single guy making $80k a year and living in his parents basement while he spends his money on going to the bar, his car, entertainment, and clothing, is so very much different from a working parent or parents trying to pay the rent/mortgage, transportation, healthcare, and put food on the table, and clothe and shelter a family. I hate to say it, but I just don't have any sympathy for my pretend guy in this example. I would not define him as living paycheck to paycheck. I would define him as living like a juvenile who has yet to develop personal responsibility.

My parents did budget and did plan and maintained a small amount of savings (Christmas club, small savings accounts for me and for them). They both worked, and took overtime whenever possible. We did without most everything, but I was still better off than some of my cousins and classmates. We did not get fresh fruit and veggies in the winter. I did not get new clothes. My shoes were $10 KMart specials. But I did have a roof over my head, clothes on my back and bologna in my belly. The reality is, and their reality still is, that when you are trying to raise a family of four on $35-40k a year, you are going to be living paycheck to paycheck.

So perhaps it is just another meaningless statistic being thrown out there to float around with all the other statistics about the current state of the economy. But, being an adult who grew up as a child living in a paycheck to paycheck kind of environment, I can understand where people are coming from, and as a parent, I certainly hope to never have to choose between feeding my child, or clothing my child, or taking her to the doctor when she's sick. Those are choices a parent should not have to make.