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Hollywood legend Hedy Lamarr was a tech innovator whose inventions quietly changed the world

Hollywood legend Hedy Lamarr was a tech innovator whose inventions quietly changed the world
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File:Hedy lamarr - 1940.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

This article originally appeared on 11.09.15


Hedy Lamarr was a movie star, and a total hot commodity in Hollywood. If you look around the Internet, you'll find lots of images of her makin' out with famous dudes from the '40s.


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But Lamarr was also an incredible inventor.

She had a room in her house that was dedicated to tinkering, inventing, and just figuring out whatever she wanted!

She once said, "All creative people want to do the unexpected."

Let's be real: It was the 1940s, and no one was expecting a famous movie starlet to up and invent a torpedo radio system with the goal of fighting the Germans during World War II. But she did!

When she heard that a a German sub had torpedoed two boats carrying British children to Canada to avoid the Blitz, she was horrified.

Before Hedy became a famous movie star, she was married to an Austrian military arms merchant. And while her arms-dealing husband was chatting about weapons ... Hedy was listening. So when she got fed up with hearing about all the crappy news of the war, she called upon her own talents to make a difference.

First stop: torpedoes!

Torpedoes back then were controlled by radio signals, which meant they were easily jammed easily by evil German submarines. And Hedy was not there for that.

hedy lamarr, women in scienceUS Patent 2,292,387 - Lamarr & Antheil | Frequency Hopping: … | Flickrwww.flickr.com

So she teamed up with George Antheil, a pianist and composer, and they came up with a solution. Using a player-piano mechanism, they created a radio system that could jump frequencies, making it essentially jam-proof.

Lamarr and Antheil got a patent for their idea in 1942, in the middle of Hedy's career as a Hollywood star! And even though the U.S. military didn't use the technology until the '60s, the work they did laid the foundation for the complex radio communications that are behind cellphones, Wi-Fi, satellite tech, and more.


Not only did Hedy make space in her life to play and invent, but she took herself seriously.

She saw something she wanted to change, so she did it. She got her patent. She made a difference.

On what would have been Hedy's 101st birthday, artist Jennifer Hom celebrated her legacy creating this Google Doodle (below). Hedy's life is a masterclass in following your passion, no matter what.


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The most inspiring pet stories of 2024

Leading pet brand Nulo knows every cat and dog has the power to be incredible.

via Keswick Mountain Rescue Team/Instagram, Cat Protection/Youtube

Incredible pets deserve incredible food.

2024 was a year filled with heartwarming stories that reminded us of the incredible bond between humans and their furry companions. From acts of bravery to heartwarming gestures, these pets made a huge impact on the lives of their owners… and the lives of many, many more.

It’s stories like these that continue to inspire leading pet nutrition brand Nulo, which is committed to helping pets live their best lives with functional, delicious and nutritious food. Through their innovative and intentional formulas, Nulo fuels incredible cats and dogs just like the ones below each and every day.

Enjoy some stories below of 2024’s goodest boys and girls — courageous dogs, trauma-informed kitties and much, much more —that really show the unwavering love and loyalty animals bring into our lives. Their inspiring actions fuel incredible.

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When a 71-year-old man went unconscious and collapsed during a steep hike, his golden retriever and a black labrador instinctively broke up into a rescue team — the smart and resourceful labrador going off to look for help, and the loyal goldie staying by its owner's side. Sometimes it’s smart to have two of “man’s best friends.”

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Marley, a seven-year-old, black and white feline known for his "incredible gift of empathy” won Cat Protection's National Cat of the Year 2024 for the way he comforts women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked and staying at the Caritas Bakhita Safe House in London. He’s known to often leave a reassuring paw on guests’ legs to “let them know they’re not alone,” a gesture often called “the first kindness they’ve experienced in years.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

In early 2024, Kobe, a four-year-old husky with an extraordinary sense of smell, began digging obsessively in the yard. At first the pooch’s owner, Chanell Bell, thought this was just typical behavior, but soon discovered that Kobe had indeed detected a dangerously large cloud of natural gas that would have not only been seriously life-threatening to her, but the entire neighborhood. It’s like they say, “the nose knows.”

Eight-year-old golden retriever Roger, may have failed his drug-sniffing training in Taiwan, but it turns out he has a knack for rescue operations during natural disasters. After a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck, Roger dug through the rubble of a collapsed building to locate the body of one of the 13 people killed in the quake, offering closure to a grieving family. This earned him the nickname of “the pride of Taiwan” on social media.

Dogs don’t only save humans — sometimes they rescue other animals as well.

When folks scrolling through the X account called “Animals Dying” saw a video of a creature swimming through murky water with a deer fawn in its jaws, they probably assumed it was an alligator enjoying its latest meal. But to everyone’s surprise and delight, it was actually a Labrador Retriever making sure the sweet little fawn didn’t drown.

Once a stray, 12-year-old Cilla found her home at Outwoods Primary School in Warwickshire, England, where she calms anxious students, inspires a community of cat lovers on X, and has even used her social media celebrity to help raise £5,000 to restock the school library — a place she loves to lounge in.

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In July, Bloodhound puppy and K-9 unit member Remi used his powerful nose to help an autistic and non-verbal boy who had gotten lost find his way back home. Deputy B. Belk, Remi’s partner, used a piece of sterile gauze to collect the scent from the boy’s forearms and the back of his neck and had Remi “reverse” track backwards for about half a mile to locate the child’s home in a nearby neighborhood.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

When a beautiful pooch named Gita saw her 84-year-old owner fall and hurt his leg, she ran down to the main road, and refused to move until someone stopped to help. Eventually she was seen by a man named Deputy Wright, who tried to get Gita into his patrol car, but the dog wouldn’t budge. When Gita did finally bolt off, Wright followed her down to where the man had been stranded, and was able to help him. Without her protection, who knows if the man would have been found in time? “The loyalty and heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us,” Wright would end up writing on Facebook.

If there’s an incredible furry friend in your own life, nothing says “thank you” quite like a nourishing meal. Check out Nulo for a variety of recipes sure to be loved by your beloved pet.

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Science

'Forgotten' water harvesting system transforms 'barren wasteland' into thriving farmland

The half moons even help replenish the water table.

Credit: Andrew Millison/YouTube

Half moons allow water to be retained for agriculture and even replenish the groundwater table.

When the Great Green Wall initiative began in 2007, it was just a vision of a big, beautiful wall of greenery spanning the width of Africa to keep the Sahara Desert from encroaching on the rest of the continent. Despite years of successes and failures, celebration and criticism, we can see the progress being made as an inspiring example of how local and global collaboration can help counter the effects of climate change.

Just a few years ago, the Sahel region at the northern edge of Senegal was a "barren wasteland" where nothing had grown for 40 years. But the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and local villagers teamed up to regreen the area, bringing back agriculture, improving the economy of the people who live there, and preventing the climate migration that desertification ultimately leads to.

How do you hold back the world's largest hot desert?

According to Andrew Millison, a permaculture designer and instructor at Oregon State University, the Sahara desert has expanded by about 10% in the past 100 years. The idea behind the Great Green Wall is to build a barrier of vegetation to stop that expansion, which threatens the ecosystems and economies of the Sahel—the region south of the Sahara that separates the desert from the savanna.

In a video from February of 2024, Millison shared the collaborative nature and progress of one Great Green Wall project in Senegal, including the rejuvenation of 300,000 hectares (about the equivalent of 600,000 football fields) of seemingly unusable land.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

"The process started with the community-based participatory planning," WFP program policy officer Bakalilou Diaby shares in the video. "By the end of this process, it was agreed that one of the major action is the land reclamation or land recovery project."

At first, it took some time to convince the community that the regreening of the degraded landscape was even possible, but after learning about how to improve the land, "the people believe and they are convinced, and they are also committed," says Diaby.

The 'forgotten' half-moon method of harvesting water

One of the keys to this particular regreening project is using long-forgotten techniques for harvesting water. When soil is crusted and sunbaked and hard as cement, rainwater doesn't penetrate and it's impossible for plants to take root. The solution? Half-moon shaped ditches dug in such a way that water flows into them on the straight side with an embankment built on the rounded side to hold the water in. Each half moon is 4 meters in diameter and takes about a day for one person to dig.

Local vegetation domesticated on the Sahel thousands of years ago, such as sorghum and millet, are planted in these half moons, rehabilitating the land and feeding the local community at the same time.

"This is nothing new—we have not invented a technology here," explains Sebastian Muller from the WFP resilience team. "The half moon technology is actually an endogenous technology to the Sahel and has been forgotten over time. We have rescued it from the past."

Not only does capturing water in the half moons help with the immediate need to grow food and contribute to the Great Green Wall, but 10% to 15% of the water will actually soak into the ground to replenish the water table, creating a more sustainable agricultural process.

"That way we actually achieve a balance of water. So we are not depleting the water resources, but we're making sure that we keep enough water in the ground for future generations," says Muller.

Other crops such as okra and tomatoes are grown in horizontal horticulture beds, and between those ditches grow trenches with fruit trees in them.

Engaging indigenous wisdom for sustainable farming

"This is just a very first step in this pilot," adds Muller. "We'll also be using other native species that will be planting in the pits that will drive the rejuvenation of the soil and the protection of the soil as the system starts growing into abundance and producing food and life for the people here."

According to Muller, the "syntopic farming" methods being employed were developed in Brazil and are based on global indigenous practices that mimic the way natural forests grow and thrive. These natural growing dynamics make agriculture more sustainable, continually replenishing the land rather than continually depleting it—truly a testament to global collaboration carried out at the local level with local community support.

"This project was really, really interesting because the World Food Programme wanted to demonstrate how you could take the most devastated areas and turn them back into resilient, food-producing locations," says Millison. "And they specifically placed their project on a very degraded landscape that had been taken down to bare, compacted earth."

If this desertified "wasteland" can be rejuvenated so successfully, it provides hope for recovering other land that many people might write off as useless or barren. As climate change continues to alter the Earth's landscape—literally—we'll need to keep working together both locally and globally to find solutions like the Great Green Wall and support their implementation.

You can learn more about successful permaculture practices on Andrew Millison's YouTube channel.


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Health

Doctor explains those annoying eye twitches we all get (and when to seek help for it)

It's called "myokymia" and the causes range from totally benign to potentially serious.

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What causes those tiny throbs in your eyelid?

You're just sitting there living your life when all of a sudden your eyelid starts going haywire. It's kind of a twitch, but more like a rapid pulsing or a fluttering—almost as if a tiny creature were trying to pound its way through the skin around your eye.

Not the most appealing visual, I know, but most of us have experienced those annoying eye twitches at some time and been baffled by them. Some of us may even have them on a regularly basis due to causes we either haven't pinned down or addressed. (I recently tried out monovision contact lenses for the first time and my eyelids twitched like mad for a week, which my optometrist confirmed was due to eye strain from my vision trying to adjust.)

Those pulsing twitches are known as facial myokymia, and the primary reasons for it were broken down by Dr. Joe, MD, an ER doctor who shares health information on his social media channels.

"Have you ever had this?" he asked, showing a video of someone's lower eyelid pulsing. "This is something called facial myokymia and it's a persistent twitching of one of the muscles around your eye. The common causes associated with this include too much caffeine, stress, anxiety, poor sleep, dehydration, and some electrolyte problems." According to the Mayo Clinic, other common causes of eye spasms include alcohol intake, bright light, fatigue, nicotine, wind or air pollution, dry eyes, or other irritation of the eyes.

Dr. Joe said that the condition is usually harmless, which is true. However, on rare occasions eye twitching can be a symptom of a potentially serious condition. If eye spasms are persistent, it's a good idea to talk to your doctor about it.

How do you know when it's time to see a doctor about an eyelid twitch?

What does "persistent" mean when it comes to eyelid spasms? Are we talking hours, days, weeks, months?

The Mayo Clinic says eye twitching usually goes away on its own within a few days or weeks with enough rest, stress relief and decreased caffeine, but you should schedule an appointment to consult with your doctor if:

  • The twitching doesn't go away within a few weeks.
  • The affected area feels weak or stiff.
  • Your eyelid completely closes with each twitch.
  • You have difficulty opening the eye.
  • Twitching happens in other parts of your face or body as well.
  • Your eye is red or swollen or has discharge.
  • Your eyelids are drooping.
Many people shared that stress is the biggest and clearest trigger for their eye twitches. Others had success with changing their diet or supplementing to balance their electrolytes. A few shared that their eye twitches were early signs of a chronic condition, such as Bell's palsy or multiple sclerosis. (But again, most eye twitches are benign and most serious causes are accompanied by other symptoms.)

Some cultures assign meaning to eye twitches

People have tried to explain the unexplainable for millennia, which has resulted in various meanings being assigned to random eye twitches across different cultures.

According to All About Vision, in many cultures, a twitch in the left eye is often said to mean something bad is going to happen, while a right eye twitch indicates something positive will. For instance, in the Caribbean, a left eye twitch means someone is talking badly about you or that a friend is in trouble. A right eye twitch means someone is talking positively about your or that you might reunite with an old friend soon. However, the opposite is true in China—left means good and right means bad (except it might depend on the time of day as the meaning gets calculated with the Chinese zodiac and almanac).

In some parts of Africa, a spasm in your upper lid might mean an unexpected arrival and twitching in the lower lid means something will happen to make you cry. n India, a twitch might mean good or bad news, losing or gaining money or even a child being born, depending on where the twitching takes place.

What can you do to stop eye twitches?

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much you can do once a spasm starts. One recommendation is to apply a warm compress to the eye to relax the muscles, but most of the tips for stopping myokymia come down to prevention.

Reduce stress and engage in more stress-relieving activities. Avoid drinking too much caffeine. Get enough sleep—even napping can help minimize eye twitches. Stay hydrated. Keep your eyes lubricated with drops if they tend to get dry. Basically, all of the things that contribute to overall health can help prevent eye twitches along with caring for your dry eyes.

So if your eyelid starts wigging out on occasion, don't be alarmed, but do see it as a sign that you may want to adjust some of your health habits. (And, of course, consult a doctor if they truly become problematic in your life.)

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Conflict experts share the 1 sentence that can stop an argument before things get heated

Here's how to shut it down before it starts.

via Canva/Photos

A woman skillfully stops an argument.

Has getting into a heated argument with your significant other, a coworker, or a child ever solved anything? Probably not. Heated arguments often lead people down the dark path of personal attacks, animosity, and getting so riled up that they stop making sense altogether. However, conflict is a natural and healthy part of our daily lives, so it can be very productive when we know how to have productive disagreements.

"If no one ever argues, you’re not likely to give up on old ways of doing things, let alone try new ones. Disagreement is the antidote to groupthink,” organizational psychologist Adam Grant said, according to Psychology Today. “We’re at our most imaginative when we’re out of sync." So the big question is, how do we prevent heated arguments from happening and steer them to more productive territory instead?

How to stop an argument from happening

A group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that it’s essential for people to create a safe environment to have a discussion, and the key to doing so is to ask open-ended questions that lead to points of agreement. Specifically, the researchers say to use “I” statements, such as “I feel frustrated” or “I feel concerned” when expressing yourself during the disagreement. But the best phrase is one that clearly directs the discussion toward agreement.

The best way to stop an argument is with the phrase: “I’d actually like to focus on all the things we agree on.”


conflict, arguments, disagreementsCoworkers come to an agreement.via Canva/Photos

There are 3 big reasons why the phrase is so effective at stopping arguments from happening. First, the phrase immediately changes the mindset of both people from the areas where they disagree to one of agreement. We are no longer arguing about why we like or don’t like pineapple on pizza. Instead, we’re not focusing on the toppings we enjoy, such as pepperoni or black olives. The person we disagree with is no longer an enemy but a collaborator.

Another big reason “I’d actually like to focus on all the things we agree on” is such an effective phrase because it extinguishes the other person’s anger. When we search for a way to agree, we suddenly become an unappealing target for the other person’s rage.

Finally, this phase makes you the good guy in the disagreement because you are looking for a positive solution. You’ve just taken a right turn onto the high road and have become the rational party in the conversation. This tactic is especially effective when a third party, such as a boss or sibling, is involved in the disagreement and wants to see who is acting in good faith. This will encourage the person you’re having a dispute with to be more cooperative to save face.

conflict, arguments, disagreementsCoworkers come to an agreement.via Canva/Photos

The key is to be genuine about looking for agreement and have a sincere tone when stating your approach. Once the potential fight has been quelled, you can work together to reach the best possible agreement.

Learning how to prevent heated arguments can strengthen the relationship with the person you disagree with. Resolving a conflict together makes their relationship stronger and more enduring. So, a conflict can be a gift that you can use to skillfully bring yourself closer to someone. The key is to focus on the areas of agreement and to be sincere so you can resolve the issue together without leaving any lingering resentment.

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Family

Millenials share their boomer parents’ 15 quirky (and frustrating) habits they just don't get

"They act jealous of us traveling but refuse to go anywhere."

via Canva/Photos

Boomer parents who don't like to travel, but say they do.

When it comes to intergenerational conflict, you never hear too much about Gen Z having a hard time with Generation X or the silent generation having beef with the baby boomers. However, there seems to be some problem where baby boomers and millennials just can’t get on the same page.

Maybe it’s because millennials were raised during the technological revolution and have to help their boomer parents log into Netflix. There’s also a political divide: Millennials are a reliable liberal voting bloc, whereas boomers are the target demographic for Fox News. Both generations also have differing views on parenting, with boomers favoring an authoritative style over the millennials' gentler approach.

A Redditor asked Xennials, older millennials, and younger Gen Xers born between 1977 and 1983 to share some quirks of their boomer parents, and they created a fun list of habits that can be both endearing and frustrating. The users shared that millennials are frustrated with their parents' abilities to use technology but are touched when they send them a greeting card.



Of course, it is reductive to reduce generations into a series of stereotypes, whether it’s millennials or baby boomers. But, for many, hearing that they aren’t the only person who gets frustrated with their boomer parents can be pretty cathartic and make them feel less alone.

Here are 15 boomer parent quirks that Millenials just don’t understand.

1. They save everything

"They save EVERYTHING (containers, jars, boxes, etc.) just in case they might be able to use it for something later. I feel like this habit was handed down from our grandparents' Great Depression upbringing."

"Absolutely! Shopping bags, empty yogurt containers, boxes that some product came in…..although I love me a 'good box!' I have all my iPhone boxes for no reason."

2. Scary texts

"Will text something foreboding like 'we need to talk;' then turns out she forgot a recipe."

"My dad will text me 'You need to call me right now' when it’s nothing. And not tell me major life events until well after the fact. Like my aunt had a heart attack and I found out a week later from her son. (And my dad did know.)"



3. Stranger death toll

"My mom is ALWAYS telling me about dead people I’ve never met. I really do not care. I know that sounds awful, but I don’t have it in me to be sad for everyone on the planet when they pass."

“You remember my friend Carol? Her aunt had that above-ground swimming pool in her backyard. We swam in it a couple times one summer when you were about 9. Anyway, Carol’s mom just lost her brother-in-law. They were very close. Thought you’d want to know.”

4. They don't travel

"They act jealous of us traveling but refuse to go anywhere."

"Ooh good one. Mine act jealous of anything we do/buy that they can't solely because they can't get out of their own way and actually make things happen."

5. They print everything

"My Boomer FIL prints out EVERYTHING from his computer. I understand printing out instructions or recipes to help remember but do you really need a file cabinet full of forwarded emails from friends and sale adverts from 5 years ago? Oh well, at least he keeps it organized. Also, both TVs in the house run 24/7 playing reruns of 'CSI: Who Gives a Sh*t Anymore?'"

"I'm not on Facebook, but my dad is. Last year, he made a celebratory post on my birthday and all his church friends liked and commented on it. He printed up the post and all of the comments, stapled it into a little book, and MAILED me the printed Facebook comments..."



6. 'From, dad' texts

"My dad sends text messages with, 'From, Dad' at the end of them. It cracks me up every time. He also states who he is every time he calls me."

7. Irrational fears

"One quirk my dad had was that he was deathly afraid of the house burning down. Not from the standpoint of the danger of fire but when he was growing up, if your house burnt down, you were basically homeless and destitute. My mom is much more level headed about it. She always told my dad, that is why we have homeowners insurance."

8. Expired food

"My mother-in-law doesn't throw out expired food. She has food in her pantry that is several years past their expiration dates. Same with condiments in her fridge. You just can't trust any of the food she has on hand because more than likely than not it's way expired. When we have brought this up, that she needs to throw some stuff out, she insists it's absolutely fine. It's not. "

"My grandmother is the same way. Once, she opened her refrigerator, and there was a jar of pickles with mold floating on the surface of the liquid. I pointed it out, and she said it was still good. She would just scoop the mold out at a later time. She has an incredibly strong stomach and immune system."



9. Smartphone addiction

"You always hear a kids 'these kids always on their damn phones.' But when it comes to phone addiction, boomers are far worse."

"My mom drives five hours to see us, then spends the whole time texting people from her church or looking at Facebook."

"I once sat in their living room for over an hour before they decided to put their phones down and speak to me, only to phub me and pick them right back up."

10. Rigid gender roles

"My dad still clings to the traditional division of 'men's/women's work.' He'll fix a car, do any outside work, clean out a clogged drain. Cooking? If it's any more complicated than making coffee or calling in a pizza, he can't/won't. I don't think he even grills anymore. Laundry? Hell no. Taking care of small children? He'll play with them but that's it."

11. The TV is constantly on

"In-laws leave the TV on for all waking hours. And FIL gets irritated if someone talks over the episode of MASH or Walker, Texas Ranger, that he's already seen 50 times. Like clenching his teeth and stomping the floor."

"TV on 24/7. Constantly flipping between some version of Law and Order, HGTV, and Guy Fieri. Asking me 'did you see that commercial where…' No mom. I don’t have cable. I don’t see commercials. All of the time."



12. They are always right

"My dad...he's has to be right about everything and doesn't know what to do if you beat him to the point on something. He once was giving me a recipe that required cinnamon, cardamon, and clove and told me just to use Pumpkin Pie Spice! It's the greatest thing! 'Dad, I don't need to. I have all those spices on hand (I bake)' But...no! You have to use this. 'No, I don't. I don't need to buy something that I already have" It happens all the time."

"My parents are always right and they are not impressed about anything."

13. Obsessed with the weather

"Yes, my dad should have been a meteorologist. He used to have a weather alert radio that would sound off in the middle of the night and he would watch the weather channel constantly. We all had to quiet down when your local weather forecast on the 8's came on. He gets really excited about severe weather like when we might get thunderstorms or a tornado."

14. One more thing

"Without fail, every time I'm leaving my mother's house and backing down the driveway, she comes back out of her house and stops me to say something else, even though we'd just spoken."

15. Mail stress

"My mom has an anxiety attack during the entire journey of a package or piece of mail she dispatched to me. No, she doesn’t know how to track. She will not rest until she knows that a package has arrived or a nominal check has been cashed. She calls when she is thinking about sending something, when she sent it, when it’s en route, and when it’s expected to arrive. God forbid it’s late. And if I don’t issue a prompt thank you, she will guilt me."

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Middle class people are sharing how much they have left after paying bills and its revealing

"You have left over money?"

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Middle class people reveal what's left after paying bills

The economy is a bit of a struggle for just about everyone lately. Everything seems to be more expensive, from everyday essentials to the cost of housing. It seems there's nothing that inflation hasn't touched and the issue appears to be financially crushing the middle class. Throughout this increase in cost of living some families may be feeling alone in their burden of trying to make ends meet when on paper many are earning more than they ever have.

But as people become more comfortable with sharing salaries and financial status, it's becoming obvious that it's not just a handful of families who are struggling. Recently a social media page called Mid-Continent Funding shared a video of a woman sitting at a computer with text overlay that reads, "just curious how much money everyone had left over each month after paying for all their bills, mortgage and necessities. I've got about $72 and I'm debating on if it should go to retirement, savings or food."

The woman in the video appears to be a mortgage broker bravely sharing that she is also struggling with making ends meet. This theme is something that has become a normal struggle for middle class families. According to a 2024 Bank of America survey nearly 50% of adults report living paycheck to paycheck while 2024 Bankrate surveys report that only 27% of adults say they have an emergency fund.

Tax The Rich Stock Market GIFGiphy

"Roughly one in four Americans with credit card debt (24 percent) feel less confident in their ability to get out of credit card debt now than they did at the beginning of 2022. Furthermore, about one in six (17 percent) worry they might not be able to make their minimum credit card payment at some point in the next six months," according to another Bankrate survey completed in 2024.

There's also another factor to consider when looking at the squeeze middle class Americans are feeling, the income of middle class families hasn't risen at the same rates as upper income families according to Pew Research. So while people are earning more than they have previously, their earnings are not increasing as quickly as those in the tax brackets above them. This means post covid inflation is absorbing any extra income they may be bringing home and people are feeling it.

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Viewers of the video asking how much money people have left after paying their bills responded with eye opening results that give a glimpse into how folks are fairing. The revelations also serve as a reminder that people are not alone in their financial struggles.

One person writes, "Left over? We're supposed to have that??"

Another says, "you have left over money? after bills I don't even have enough to cover meds and groceries."

A different person says they only have $11 left to last until the next paycheck while another commenter admits to overdrawing her account every month.


@midcontinentfunding Just curious. #mortgage #homeowner #homeownership #firsttimehomebuyer #finance #bills ♬ sad SpongeBob music - michael

Someone chimes in, "It used to be thousands now I’m always waiting for our paychecks to hit our account," with another person replying to their comment offering solidarity, saying "legit same here. nothing has changed, actually make more than we used to, yet scraping for pennies every check nowadays. idk how people do it."

Saving money for an emergency fund or freeing up money so you'e not living paycheck to paycheck may seem impossible but credit counselor and head of community at Self Financial, Inc. Monique White shares a few tips with NPR that people may find useful. One of the first tips she shares is to contact your creditors to see if they can lower your monthly payments or lower your interest rates to help free up monthly cash.

Episode 12 Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy

First Financial Bank advises people struggling with finances to participate in weekly money saving challenges, use money saving apps, make grocery lists, utilize rebates and shop in bulk. The prospect of looking at your personal finances just may make some people queasy but hopefully a few of these tips can be beneficial to someone's financial situation.

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