30 Days on Minimum Wage- Truman Job

1. Morgan and Alex do a good job budgeting and handling their money. They buy the least expensive food and avoid paying for the bus by walking to and from work. They saved as much money they could but they still had trouble. Both Morgan and Alex hurt themselves and had to pay a bill for the hospital which costed them over 500 dollars each. There are always unexpected costs that you have to plan ahead for and try your best to budget. They also had two kids for a weekend and during the weekend they spent much more money than they had budgeted. They did a  good job all together but if they had their own kids it would have been tough to survive.
2. Budgeting was everything for Morgan and Alex. Alex worked two jobs and even with the combined pay from Alex and Morgan they still hardly got by everyday. If they hadn't budgeted they would not have been able to handle their money and would most likely would not have made it on the salary they had.

Courtney Gregori - Living For 30 Days on Minimum Wage

2.  What role did budgeting play in survival for Alex and Morgan?
Budgeting played a very heavy role for Alex and Morgan in their 30 days of living off minimum wage. It was able to help them plan what they needed to in order to make it through those days without something happening that could be detrimental to them. Without it, they may not have been able to afford what they needed and their amenities. It was a necessary action for them to take so they could live as best/successfully as they could without running out of money.

11. Observe how easy it was for Morgan and Alex to get into an argument over finances. What is the underlying feeling that you think it at the cause of the conflict?
Alex and Morgan were able to get into arguments very easily over finances due to their situation. I think being in a situation like that is very stressful, and both people are kind of at a loss for what to say or do. That being said, tensions run very high under pressured situations, so just one little thing could ignite the fire and set them into an argument. Also, not knowing what to do or what will come next because they're living week by week, puts stress on them and a little bit of panic as well. It can be hard to keep calm in situations like they were in, so arguments are much more easy to come by.

Alex Wilcox's Blog Response to Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days

2.) The budgeting of Morgan and Alex's lives dictated everything they did. They hesitated to even spend a dollar. Money was extremely tight for them, and so they had to be extremely conservative and protective of the little amount of money that they had.

9.) If I was was barely in the b
lack but was also was injured enough to think I need medical treatment, I would probably hold off unless I thought it was infectious. If I had a kid, it'd be a lot tougher. It's tougher when it is no longer a personal decision but someone else's well-being is at steak. Sometimes kids may fake being sick, but if I thought it was legitimate, I wouldn't hesitate to take them to the doctor.

Noah Bearman - 30 Days on Minimum Wage

2. Budgeting played a crucial role for Alex and Morgan in Living for 30 Days on Minimum Wage. Since the two were making very little money, they had to estimate what their expenses would be so they would not spend too much money. Additionally, they had to severely limit the amount of items they bought on impulse. As Morgan said in the movie, there were a lot of times that he was hungry and had to restrain himself from buying food because that would compromise their budget and cause financial trouble. If Alex and Morgan had not done any budgeting, they would have had a lot more debt than they could carry and would not have been able to afford the things like the medical care they each required.

10. I was not very surprised at the request for a deposit that the electric company called Alex and Morgan with. It is reasonable for them to want a deposit on a property that has had a lot of residents leave without paying the electric bill. However, I would think that the electric company would have contacted the landlord for a request on the deposit, because he should be ultimately responsible for making sure his tenants pay. It is typical of an electric company to seek a way to make sure they don't lose money on a customer, and a deposit is a fairly standard way of doing so.

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Maryluz Flores 10. Yes I am surprised about the electric company deposit request. It was only about 5 days that Morgan and Alex just moved in and they were already receiving electric bills extremely high for the time period they’ve lived there for. Yes it is a bad neighborhood and it is more likely that the tenants living there before did not pay it off before they left, but I never imagine they would make the new family moving in pay for something they cant. It surprised me!
 7. The “working poor” are people who work extremely hard yet are living a life of a poor person. Why? Because the amount of money they are winning in their minimum wage job is not enough for all the expenses they have to make. For example rent, bills, and other expenses they have to make with NO INSURANCE!!

Grace Colbert- Living For 30 Days On Minimum Wage Responses

8. I think Alex became so emotional about the services that were given to her and Morgan at The Free Store because she had never experienced generosity of this degree before. At this point on their 30 day experiment, Alex was tired and stressed out from this physically and emotionally taxing lifestyle. Alex and Morgan were desperate for resources, and when the Free Store was so hospitable and generous with their resources, she was simply overcome with emotion and gratitude. Alex was also probably emotional because she began to realize that for many people, living like she was is not an experiment. She was probably saddened by the reality of these hardships many Americans must face.

11. It was very easy for Morgan and Alex to get into a fight over finances. On the surface, their argument seemed to be about wasting money on a movie and treats for the kids. However, the problem was most likely rooted in stress and the fearful uncertainty that their budgeting wouldn't be enough for them to make it, given their current situation. Tensions quickly arose when it came to the topic of money and finances because on one hand, Alex knows that budgeting is crucial to their well-being, but on the other hand Morgan knows that it is important that the kids are healthy and happy and sometimes it takes a little splurging to make that happen.

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Molly Conover 30 days blog posts

7. The “working poor” are people who have incomes below the poverty line, but are still working. Most of these people receive minimum wage for their work and do fairly medial jobs. These people are often homeless and some of them are educated, though their jobs don’t reflect it.

10. No, the electric company deposit request did not surprise me because the neighborhood that they were living in was not full of the most admirable people so the fact that the previous tenants did not pay the bill, resulting in the deposit for Morgan, and Alex does not surprise me.