Victoria is a preschool teacher's assistant in New Jersey. She's struggling to make ends meet—and weighing whether to get her teaching license. If you want to be on What We Spend, we'd love to hear from you. Write us at [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Victoria and what challenges does she face as a teacher's assistant?
At 30, Victoria is starting to feel desperate for a little more stability than 35K can give her. And there is one thing that would change her salary dramatically, getting that teaching license. But that costs money. It costs time. And Victoria doesn't have either right now.
This week, we'll hear what it's like for Victoria to get by on a teacher's assistant wage while she tries to answer some big questions. How do I make my situation better? How can I set myself up for the life that I want? I'm Courtney Harrell, and this is What We Spend. What was money like growing up? Tight.
Like it was it was bad.
It was bad. What does that mean?
Yeah. No, it was like, you know, I was I had like a lot of like hand-me-downs and it was always like arguments in the house about like finances. Oh my gosh, you spent A, B, and C without telling me? Oh my gosh, the mortgage was due. What are you going to do now? So growing up, I knew money was like an important thing. Did you worry about money growing up? Yeah, all the time.
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Chapter 2: What was Victoria's financial situation growing up and early career?
And my mom would tell me everything, every little detail. This cost this, this cost this, I can't do this. And then like, I mean, even in my college life, I was in college and I had no laptop. And then I was a resident assistant trying to save money for that. But then you would have to like walk a mile to get to the computer lounge at like midnight. And like it affected my studies. Yeah.
So like it was just like a struggle.
Victoria graduated with a degree in art administration. She thought she might be a curator in an art gallery. But she quickly found that those jobs didn't pay enough. So after college, she experimented with a lot of different ways to make money. From working as an assistant, to teaching piano lessons, to teaching yoga, to learning to code.
So, like, I've been doing around, like, trying to find, like, a niche or... It's just difficult, you know? Sometimes you just want to rely on that salary.
So how did you end up getting to preschool teacher assistant? So...
I was working actually at one of the mayor's offices. I was having some health issues. And so I was just like, I need to, I just wanna take a step back and maybe find a different profession. I still felt kind of empty. And a lot of the coworkers that I've worked with throughout the time, they were all like, oh, Victoria, like you should, you should be a preschool teacher.
You're like so kind and caring and patient. Like, I don't know why you're here.
So like that moment for you was in part like, I'm going to go find something where I feel more engaged. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Victoria did think being a preschool teacher might be a good fit because she knew that she loved being with kids. Growing up, her mom was actually a home daycare provider.
I was also, like, I was her little helper. I loved reading to the kids. I loved, like, you know...
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Chapter 3: How did Victoria become a preschool teacher's assistant?
Well, I mean, you know, I'm trying to budget and save and I just, I don't know, taking the time to go all the way to my parents instead of just like, I'll just eat like cereal or like make an egg or have like a potato, you know? Yeah. So like, yeah, I just try to make it work.
Do you talk to them about your financial situation now?
I mean, now it's been pretty embarrassing. Like I'm like, Mom, I need a hundred bucks. It's so bad. Like I want to cry every time. I'm like, I don't want to even bother them. Or she won't even like I don't even ask her. Sometimes she'll just put a little bit like fifty dollars, whatever, because she doesn't make much.
But she'll put a little bit in there and be like, Victoria, just thought you might need it.
Chapter 4: What does a day with four-year-olds look like for Victoria?
Let's go into Victoria's numbers. As you know, she makes $35K a year before taxes. She lives with her boyfriend, who tends to cover the rent and food. His income varies. He works on cargo and with cars. But it's always less than $80K before taxes. And their expenses?
So starting with housing, $1,340 for utilities. Then I have, for my phone bill, the $125K actually has Netflix included.
She drives almost an hour to get to the preschool, so she spends about $100 a month on gas and tolls. She does own her car, but it's on its last legs.
Yeah, an animal chewed through the wire on Monday. Then I took it in. They said they fixed it. And then as I'm about to get on the parkway, the whole thing, like, it's like a Christmas show. It's, like, flashing. And then, like, the car starts shaking. And I'm like, oh, my God. Next trip is to the junkyard. I'm done.
Groceries, $400. Wi-Fi, $120.
Okay, gym membership, $50. But my boyfriend's company kind of like gives us money back at the end of the year for that. Crunchyroll. I love my anime. Wait, what is Crunchyroll? It's a streaming platform. It has just a bunch of anime.
Crunchyroll is $12 a month.
Turtle care. Like a pet turtle? Yeah, I have a pet turtle, yeah.
His name is Sir Wallace. Turtle care is $20 a month. Digital storage, $1.99. Therapy, $60. Medication, $25. And she's got a few different debt payments. $525 a month for student debt, $300 a month for credit card debt, and $125 a month for medical debt. And then there's insurance.
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Chapter 5: What are Victoria's current income, expenses, and financial struggles?
I mean, like I put like, I still put a lot of money in my 401k, my Roth IRA. The Roth IRA is only like maybe just $2,000. And then like my other stuff is like $10,000. I somehow got like really...
What would not behind look like to you? Like, where is it that you think you should be?
Like, I mean, I'm 30 years old. It would be nice to have like the 10 or the 20,000 in my account for emergencies. But now I have like nothing. I really feel like I should just continue with the license and not get distracted like I keep doing. But it is very, very scary, like just the financial aspect. I have so much debt already. I don't want to take out more loans.
Yeah.
I don't know. It's overwhelming.
After the break, we'll dive into Victoria's Week.
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Chapter 6: How does Victoria manage health insurance and medical costs on her salary?
Audio diary day two. Today is Monday, and I had a bit of a rough start in the morning. Usually I wake up at 5am, but I slept until 6am. My boyfriend Also works a part time job as a loader. So he only came home around 1am and it was hard to sleep without him near me. So anyway, woke up, I put the Keurig on, made a cup of coffee, got dressed and I ran out of the door.
Once I got to school with some time to spare, I went and ordered a bacon cheddar omelet bite for $4.99. The tolls going and coming back ended up being $3.55. So usually a day for me is I go to school, find parking. Today I was at work at 7.50. As a teacher's assistant for the four-year-olds, part of our job is to set the table for breakfast, put out the placemats.
Victoria's preschool provides breakfast and lunch for the students, which means Victoria can often get a free meal too.
Today, I'm lucky the school is serving tuna and salad, and being gluten intolerant, I can eat that for free. And then when I get home, I end up doing another food shop, this time at Stop and Shop, And then my total bill comes up to $52.54. And then at night, my credit card was set to auto pay, so $74 came out of my account. And overall, today I spent $135.08.
By the end of day two, Victoria is getting by as she normally does. But then a couple of things shake her off her balance.
Audio diary day three. Car insurance. I have a bundled policy. Car, renters, and life insurance. But right now, today, I found out my car insurance increased by $42.22 with some kind of a New Jersey PLIGA surcharge, which I still don't know what that is, but I'm going to call them tomorrow about it. Then comes dental insurance. My plan cost $41, but I found out yesterday it will increase to $45.
And this doesn't cover adults' orthodontics, which was the primary reason for enrolling in it. And, um... It seems like I call everywhere, like Aetna, Cigna, and it seems like only Delta Dental has the adult braces, orthodontics coverage.
It's not just that Victoria wants braces. She really needs them. Her problem started with some tooth pain about eight months ago.
I don't know, my mouth started killing me. I couldn't chew. Like, it was painful. It was really, really intense pain. And sensitivity, there was the whole, like, colds, hots was affecting me. Could you eat? I could eat, but it was like, I was slowly toward, especially by July, like, I was getting, like, I just wanted to eat soft things, but slow chews and just... Yeah, trudging through it.
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Chapter 7: What is Victoria’s financial safety net and savings situation?
I'm like dying here. She eventually got on the dental plan that she's paying for monthly now and she rushed to the dentist.
They did the x-rays, they found a cavity. And then they told me, Victoria, if you don't get prop, like you don't need like just straight teeth. Like you need to like fix your overbite because I could lose my teeth because of how much pressure is going under. Because there's like, it's an overbite and there's crowding and then there's like some other stuff.
so now that's still pending right now like braces or you know something to fix my teeth so that that's in pending mode right yeah um but the worst thing that i found out with all these insurance companies was that uh you the only one delta dental like you it takes like a year of having it and only then adult orthodontics coverage kicks in through private insurance But a year is a long time.
A year is a whole long time. And most of the dental companies, like, don't even, like, cover adult orthodontics. And I'm like, why? Why?
In addition to paying for her insurance, on day three, Victoria also paid rent, her internet and utilities, bringing her day's total to $1,840.19.
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Chapter 8: What are Victoria’s hopes and fears about getting her teaching license?
Audio diary day four. For the first time, I hung out with one of my friends, and I actually hadn't seen her in three years because, you know, I've been cutting everything. I've been cutting hanging out with friends. I've been cutting out going out to eat. I, like, do my own waxing, my nails, my hair. I've tried to cut everything, so I save. It's, uh, yeah, quite isolating.
Yeah, and it's also, like, personally, in my personal life, like... I'm just, I am stressed about being 30 years old and only making $35,000. I'm also stressed that I found love, but I cannot afford marriage or children. It's a massive sacrifice, everything.
Are there other people in your life that have a similar relationship with money and financial situation as you right now?
You know, actually, most of my friends are doing really well. They're doing, like, they're doing amazing. I'm really happy for them. You said it's really isolating. Yeah, because there's still that, like, shame and guilt. At one point, I'm, like, telling some people, and then they're still like, oh, man. Like, people are getting married.
Like, so many of my friends, married, kids, like, yeah, it's hard. Yeah.
So Victoria was sitting with that feeling. And then she thought about this experience she had that made her feel like she was even more underwater than she thought. Recently, she was talking to someone at the bank and they told her a stat she hadn't heard before.
If you're middle class, you're making 100K. And I'm like, holy shit, I've just been like low class the whole time. maybe there was like a few months where i was feeling really good about myself um but then going walking into the bank my god like that was the most like face slapping moment like i don't know like Tell me why. Because, like, I thought 55, 60, 80 was great. Yeah.
It was kind of like this moment of realization that maybe my friends who are doing well, like, I'm in some kind of, like, a bubble, like, because we're all doing 50 to 80K, right? Oh, this is great, right? But, like...
Then it got me like when he said 100k is like middle class I was like I guess all my friends are lower class so that means there's gonna be like 100 to 200k people and then there's gonna be millionaires. It was definitely like a holy shit like there's a whole middle class and then there's a whole like different playing field.
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