Are you able to make a living off an LPN Salary

[mcclot1993]

I know it depends on the cost of living but where I live the cost of living is. Where I live the cost of living is between 40,000 and 50,000 a year. Can I make it off an LPN salary in that area. What is usually the starting pay for LPNs in general. Can they still work in hospitals.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I was an LVN for 4 years in Texas (2006 to 2010) and lived decently as a single person with no spouse or children. However, I'm somewhat frugal with my money.

I started out earning $18.50 hourly at a nursing home in 2006 and remained there for 2 years. My next job paid $23 hourly and I remained there on and off for 2 years.

During those years I lived in a newer construction 3-bedroom house, owned a car and a pickup truck, took occasional vacations, had a 5-figure savings, and never lived from paycheck to paycheck.

I've never worked in an acute care hospital and I do not intend to start anytime soon. Hospitals in this area pay horribly.

[brownbook]

All I know about work for LPN's that is not anecdotal is the ambulatory surgery center where I work is using more and more LPN's.

Any salary can be hard to make a living off of? Are you young or older? Are you the sole support for a family or live alone? Do you already have a lot of debt?

When my husband, infant daughter, and I were young I took a pencil and paper and guesstimated how much we spent each month on basic needs, rent, food, gas, paying back a small student loan, etc., compared with how much his paycheck was, we had $25.00 left over each month. We did qualify for a nice, low income, apartment unit.

We made it, we knew eventually he would get raises, we also knew we could get financial help from family if things got bad, which we never needed to do.