How do you people survive financially???

fullrudder said:
...and food(600) there just isn't going to be any disposable income
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Holy shmoly! We have a family of 5 and our grocery budget is $250 per month, we generally eat high quality/organic food. I cannot imagine $600. Do you eat out a lot or is it convenience food? I understand an FO on the road needs portable food but I think making trail mix, taking make-your-own sandwich ingredients, making energy bars, taking fruit, etc.... you should easily be able to cut that food budget at least in half. Just a place to work on maybe and give yourself a $300/month raise. Hope that's encouraging.
 
rframe said:
Holy shmoly! We have a family of 5 and our grocery budget is $250 per month, we generally eat high quality/organic food. I cannot imagine $600. Do you eat out a lot or is it convenience food? I understand an FO on the road needs portable food but I think making trail mix, taking make-your-own sandwich ingredients, making energy bars, taking fruit, etc.... you should easily be able to cut that food budget at least in half. Just a place to work on maybe and give yourself a $300/month raise. Hope that's encouraging.
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Depends on where you live, I'd imagine. By myself, if I'm at home all month I spend about $400 on groceries.
 
dasleben said:
Depends on where you live, I'd imagine. By myself, if I'm at home all month I spend about $400 on groceries.
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Same here, I spend $400 at the grocery store for just myself and I don't buy any expensive junk food, chips, soda, or beer. I eat a lot though. :(
 
rframe said:
Holy shmoly! We have a family of 5 and our grocery budget is $250 per month
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I don't know where YOU shop, but I need a strip map to THAT place. I have a family of 3, and I spend EASILY $4-500/mo on food. Maybe it varies a lot more by region. Then again, I have a 15 year old walking garbage disposal in the other room.
 
lstgnfghtr said:
I don't know where YOU shop, but I need a strip map to THAT place.
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Don't get me wrong... it's not easy and it takes some time, but we've made it a game/challenge to work the best deals possible. It's entertaining for us and we eat awesome. It's not about going to a particular place, but rather it's about how to get maximum value by combining offers legally and understanding store policies. Then you stock up on what's a great deal each week and pretty soon you have a pantry stocked with great food and you spend very little on it.

If you just walk into the store with your shopping list... yeah you pay through the nose.
 
AKcharger said:
How long before you can expect to make a good (like $60K+) wage
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I'm going on 7 years in the airlines and I've yet to break $45k a year, granted, I've been at two airlines and had I gotten on with my current airline when I first tried to I'd be making $65,000 at the 7 year CA pay level..

It will take me 20+ years at my current company to come close to $100k a year..

To anyone who would ask me my advice on being an airline pilot, it's don't..
 
Aviation can be difficult but flying in AK is maybe the better pay with companies like grant aviation but really out of the system flying and mostly single engine which is fine if your just looking to make money and then there are companies like Dyncorp // blackwater // KBR which pays vary well. I got out of flying and went back to HWY construction and did vary well but now construction is tanking so I am trying to return with a 10 year gap in the industry lol.
 
lstgnfghtr said:
I make just under $80k a year, and I'm on these forums trying to research how I can get out of the Flight Engineer seat (I fly full time for the Air Guard) and get into the Civilian Pilot's seat. The more I read about the money in the civilian world for newbie pilots, the more I have to ask myself "WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?" But...I'll probably jump off the pier, just like the rest of y'all. :-/ On the upside, I still can make more as a weekend warrior once I give up the full time gig than most people seem to be making at their full time pilot gig while low timers. I fly with a Regional FO who makes $50k or so at the job sucking up his FO time, and then goes to fly Drill or AFTP's with us, and drags in Lieutenant Colonel pay...bagging all PIC time in a 4 engine turboprop. Strange business, this aviation thing.
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Istgnfghtr, I think you and I are in a somewhat similar situation regarding about whether to jump into a civilian pilot career. I am currently an Air Force O-2 Mx Officer on Active Duty. I like you am thinking about jumping into the civilian career pilot realm. My thought was to save up money while staying on active duty and pay for all my certificates/ratings in cash. I am thinking about getting up past the CFI/II/MEI point and then go into the AF Reserve or Guard while continuing to instruct for a year. The goal being to build hours in hopes of landing a job that could build me even more time (such as freight or regional). Here's the kicker though, my wife wants to start a family (currently no kids). I would like to have kids too (Age 25 right now), but knowing the impending doom that is the low paying regional FO/freight jobs, and having to possibly pick up and move to some other location would just wreck the bank account, and having kids would be really tough on our family. I'm very hesitant about doing this and don't want to ruin my marriage. I know that working one weekend a month while doing the mx officer job in the reserves would get me about $550. I think that amount helps out significantly considering the $22K that FO jobs are paying. I also see that you have said you work with a LtCol who is currently doing the Reserve/Guard thing while flying at a regional (so i know its possible to deconflict the schedules). Any more details on how you think you will transition to this lifestyle with your three kids and your wife while staying on the Reserve/Guard would help fill in some questions i have in my head. The ultimate end goal for me would be to work for a fractional/corporate gig that if you stayed there long enough, would make in the 6-digits. Let me know your thoughts, and anyone else in this same situation please advise.
 
Hmm.. i had spaces in between a lot of the information in the above post... guess it didn't post that way :-/
 
600 a month on food? If you have a family cool, but if you're single? Damn! I eat a ton and still don't spend more than 250 a month on food - and I live in the DC area.

Anyway, I would think one could survive financially on low pay by basically living like a bum. Just rent a room off of CL and suck it up. It sucks sometimes, I know. I had to spend a long time living in a nasty house that had mice (that I got rid of, thankfully) and stinkbugs, and there was an old Filipino grandma who lived downstairs and was strange/creepy. Her and her granddaughter lived in the same room and would cook nasty "vinegar fish." They would take fish, put it in vinegar, and then boil the vinegar. I'm all about new foods and cultures but holy crap that stunk. My landlord was a complete scumbag, too. But hey, it got me through and I commuted much less.

I'll probably get a CFI in a few years and I reckon I could skim by. I think I would have a flexible enough schedule to at least try to have a smaller, second job on the side if I didn't have many students. Granted, I look at my instructor's schedule right now and she is booked every day and hardly has any time off.

Debt has a lot to do with it, too. I have minimal debt from my four (technically five) year degrees from an accredited institution. Since I only need certificates it's not really racking up much more debt at all. I won't be anywhere near six figures in debt when I'm all said and done.

I also think getting by has a lot to do with where you live. 26K a year in Raleigh, NC is totally doable to live on your own in a 1br downtown and still pay your loans, bills, and entertainment. However, living in the DC area 26K a year is super rough and you will struggle. I'm still a noob-a-roony so I don't know if 121/135/91s offer COLA adjustments, i.e. since you live in the DC area we pay you a percentage more to get by.
 
Please don't take this as an insult, but what you just typed, paints a very telling picture about this industry.

Live like a bum to fly airplanes...

There is a pilot shortage coming, because not all people will live in squalor to fly planes..
 
Haha it's not insulting. It's just the truth. It's probably more of an insult to this industry. I mean, you spend a pretty good chunk of change to become a pilot only to make diddly when you get out (for the most part).

I've been lurking in other threads and have seen opinions from both sides of the spectrum. It seems that those who really have a drive to fly will put up with the sub par living. Those who just don't have that drive and mistakenly went into aviation because they thought it might be neat and make them money soon get a reality check when they can't eat anything but spaghetti with Ragu. It's a pretty general generalization (haha) but it's just what I've seen on here and is solely an opinion based on observations. Like I've mentioned before, I'm a total noob and have basically zero experience in this field. Therefore, I have equipped my flamesuit.
 
Hahahah it was kind of a knee-jerk response/general inquiry. I wouldn't let that get under my skin though. To me s/he's just words on the interwebz.

Edit: I think I see the humor in it... Maybe. Hahah
 
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