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This challenge was created as part of a campaign to raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t

increased since 2009. The campaign encouraged politicians, bloggers, and others to try living for one week on minimum wage

and write about it. The organizers set up a discussion on Twitter

at #LiveTheWage for people to share their experiences. Their goal was to show people firsthand how difficult it is to live on

$7.25 an hour and encourage them to support the wage hike.

All those who took the challenge say they learned from the experience. Mostly, they say, it helped them understand how difficult it

is to get by on minimum wage. But also, they learned to distinguish between wants and needs – to recognize which of their

expenses were truly necessary, and which were extras they could cut if they had to. Ultimately, they came away from the

experience more gra- teful for the little luxuries they once took for granted. Weekly Income. The challenge gives you a weekly
budget of $290 ba- sed on 40 hours of work at $7.25
per hour. The Live the Wage website didn’t explain
Rules of the Challenge what to do if you come from a two-income
household, but most couples who took the
The official website for the challenge, which has now been taken down, outlined both the purpose challenge simply multiplied this number by two,
of the challenge and the rules for taking it. In a nutshell, you get $77 per week for each adult in pretending that they both earned minimum wage.
your household to pay for everything except your housing expenses.

Taxes. From your $290 salary, take out
$35.06 for taxes. The website said this
was the average amount that minimum-
Here’s how the website explained that figure:
wage workers pay in tax each week,
including federal and state income
taxes and the Social Security payroll
tax.