Nickel & Dimed summary

Searching for a new job and a new place to live is a challenge for everyone, no matter what. But as she embarked on her experiment, the author discovered just how big of a challenge they could be.

She started out in Key West, Florida. Assuming she’d be earning around seven dollars an hour, this put her limit for affordable monthly rent at $500. Immediately, this price ruled out just about everything except mobile homes, and even this category had slim pickings. One offer didn’t even come with air-conditioning or a ventilation system, which would make life unbearable in the hot and humid state of Florida. But it didn’t really matter anyway; the place cost $675 per month – well over her limit.

It makes sense that the easiest jobs to get are the ones that no one enjoys doing, but the author was still surprised by how high the turnover rate was for some of the minimum-wage positions she applied for.

She primarily responded to ads in the employment section of the local newspaper, where she found about twenty different hotels looking for cleaning staff.

The author’s time as a waitress wasn’t all bad. The service industry does have its advantages.

One aspect of the job that appealed to her was the opportunity to meet interesting customers and make their day a little better.

Working a full-time job of any kind can be exhausting, but it’s a little easier when you have a comfortable home to return to.

But as the author got to know her coworkers, she understood how little comfort their jobs provided outside of work.

There are some laws in place designed to protect workers, such as placing a limit on the amount of hours one employer can make you work. But when you earn so little, this means you have to find two jobs just to get by.

The author had to add another job to her waitressing gig after her first month when she realized one job wouldn’t cut it.

When you think of the impoverished, you might picture a homeless man or someone living out of her car, but the reality of the situation covers a much broader demographic.

Many people in the United States have been told that the nation’s poverty level has been stable, but this doesn’t tell the full story. These figures are based on an outdated system that estimates the amount of money a family needs by taking their minimum monthly food costs and multiplying it by three.