Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

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Nickel and Dimed In-Class Essay

Throughout high school, I was financially stable because of the support that my parents were able to provide. However, once I was enrolled into college, “reality” started to hit. It was May of 2013 when I had applied for my very first job at the age of 18. It took the workplace a while to get back to me, but two months later I started my training. In the ten months that I have been working there, I was paid minimum wage for one month and a dollar over minimum wage for nine months. I thought that I would be able to save my money while I had the job. I realized when I began paying my bills, I had to really limit my spending. Even though I lived at my mom’s house, my paychecks barely covered gas, textbooks for school, cellphone bills and other basic necessities. It made me think, if I were to work full time and pay for rent from a paycheck that a minimum wage adds up to, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to pay for everything that life requires in the modern day.

In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich suggests that living on minimum w...

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