Did You Take a Paycut This Year?

My husband has a yearly salary revision. The raise is usually to adjust his salary to reflect the increase in the cost of living. This revision is around this time and considering how much the cost of things has been going up I have been wondering what type of increase he will get.

My husband won’t let me tell you the exact number but let’s just say that it is below the inflation rate for the period of Feb 07- Feb 08 as calculated by this calculator= 4.03%. Basically this year we will enjoy a lower standard of living due to the loss in purchasing power.

Good thing we are still very proactive about cutting corners to save money. We still won’t let this little mishap damp our efforts. We are still going ahead with our plan to use this “raise” to put money away in a Roth IRA for my husband. We may just be saving less than what I had initially planned. It’s not that I was expecting a huge raise, it’s the combination of a smaller raise and the still increasing cost of living. I can’t imagine how high gas will get this summer. It’s only the beginning of spring and it’s already well over $3.

We are also grateful for this raise. I know there are a lot of people who don’t get this type of raise at all. I know hourly employees usually don’t and they are usually the ones in most need.