By PAULA GARDNER | MLive.com

April 17, 2018

Nothing was going to make Jennifer Folsom-Hartley pull out her credit card again.

She and Ian Hartley, her husband of three years, already weathered the stress of thousands in medical bills. The Redford couple took each overtime shift available last year. And while watching every dime coming into their bank accounts, they managed to set aside 10 percent of his pay into a retirement account.

Then a car hit them.

They were fine. Their vehicle wasn't. And because it was a hit-and-run, they only saw one way out of the $500 deductible.

"Thank God Jen had her credit card," Ian said.

That's not easy for Ian to say, nor for Jennifer to hear. They know it will take up to six months to pay that off, right as they'd started the year, finally, without a balance.

"It's always one step forward, two steps back," Jennifer said. "Through a series of catastrophes, that's where we are."

This is what the middle class looks like in Michigan. The couple's $65,000 annual earnings puts them between the state's median family income, which is about $63,000, and the national figure of $68,000.

But while Jennifer says she believes she and Ian are 'relatively typical middle class for Michigan," the income classification ends at the math. To be in the middle class, she said, would mean more savings. More stability. Less struggle. And a clearer sense that retirement will be possible.

That's not their world.

Experts know the couple isn't atypical. Michigan's average payroll fell 3 percent from 2005 to 2015, while factoring for inflation. During that time, manufacturing employment lost 11 percent of its work force, enough to bump it out of top-sector position. And it lost 16 percent of its overall payroll.

The sector wasn't alone in the pay decline - information workers, professional services and construction workers lost ground, too.

But the loss in manufacturing speaks to Michigan's history of building the middle class through the production line. And it offers insight into what it means that the state's middle earners now struggle.

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"We want to see a thriving middle class, but many middle-class people are just a major car accident or illness away from catastrophe," said Peter Ruark, senior policy adviser at the Michigan League for Public Policy.

Manufacturing, he said, used to mean "a really solid, skilled job that can take you through life.

"A lot of the jobs aren't like that anymore."

Jennifer can't argue that. She and her husband's income come from two jobs - hers, a 30-year job close to home; his from a commute to Novi. Jennifer's pay stagnated after taking a promotion at Kroger to manage an in-store Starbucks. Ian is hoping for a promotion soon, after three years on the job cleaning ductwork. Both work as many six-day weeks as possible to boost their take-home pay.

Yet Jennifer looks at her income, her time on the job and her frugal lifestyle, and expresses a range of emotion. She's grateful for what she has, including strong benefits through her union at Kroger. She's optimistic that more hard work will keep her home afloat. She understands how some of her choices affect her today. And she grapples with expressing anger, disappointment and puzzlement.

"I don't even think of myself as middle class," she said. "... We are absolutely 'working poor,' and we are literally two missed paychecks away from bankruptcy."

She didn't expect to struggle this much.

They don't go to movies. They don't go to concerts. They don't drive new cars; they don't eat out, unless they cut corners somewhere. A treat is a walk with the dogs or a visit with Jennifer's mom. The numbers stay the same.

When she considers the rest of the state, that's when the puzzlement kicks in. Statistically, they're doing better than half of the households in Michigan, where the median household income, which includes single people who live alone, is closer to $52,000.

She sees the unemployment rate hover around 4 percent. She's watching home values rise, hitting an average of 17 percent across Michigan in 2017.

But, like Greg Pitoniak, she recognizes the gap between those gains and what workers see in their paychecks.

"As we've come out of the recession into a full recovery, the wage growth has not kept up with economic growth," said Pitoniak, CEO of Southeast Michigan Community Alliance.

He adds: "It's almost a baffling situation."

Other experts point to national wage data going back to the 1970s that, when adjusted for inflation, shows that average hourly wages went up 0.2 percent from the 1970s through 2017. The distribution of income gains shows that lower-wage workers may even have seen payroll declines.

"I feel the economy has really bounced back," Jennifer said. "You see it in Detroit. I can't believe the changes in Detroit in the last year. But I feel it has sort of left the good, hardworking people of Michigan ...," she pauses.

"It's just left us behind."

Choices and circumstances

Folsom-Hartley, 48, grew up in Chelsea, between Detroit and Jackson. Her father worked for Kroger for 45 years as a meat-cutter. He's now retired, along with her stepmother, who worked for 25 years in a Kroger bakery.

Jennifer Folsom-Hartley (Jake May | MLive.com)

She never considered her family wealthy. They didn't struggle, thanks to the stable jobs with benefits. But they also didn't expect a lot of extras.

"It was pretty clear growing up, as we became teenagers, that if you wanted a car, you"d get a job and pay for it," she recalled.

Jennifer went to work at Kroger when she was 16, working part-time through the end of high school and early college because the company let her transfer closer to her classes at Wayne State University. She dropped out after running out of money. She married her first husband at 20, and a year later gave birth to her only son.

The next years were spent caring for her son, now in his mid-20s, as he grew up in their homes in and around Livonia. She stayed at the nearby Kroger, since it offered flexible hours for a second income while her husband worked full-time.

By 2009, the value of their home had dropped dramatically and they had charged thousands as they headed toward divorce. Jennifer left the marriage with $18,000 in credit card debt, her car and her clothes, leaving her ex the house, since they owed more than it was worth. And she had her job.

That's when she found the house where she now lives with Ian, and dogs Obie and Bella. The three-bedroom bungalow in Redford with a big deck and koi pond was listed for $59,000 - and Jennifer paid about 15 percent less.

"At the time, it was cheaper to buy than to rent," she said. "I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to do that. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford a house on my own."

Jennifer and Ian married in 2015 after meeting years earlier. They each brought a dog to the marriage, and say they appreciate simple times together.

"We're hard workers," Jennifer said. That's true at home, too, where they look for inexpensive ways to enjoy their lives together.

When Jennifer decided to convert a bedroom for a sewing and craft area, she had an idea for a fold-down counter where she could work. Ian designed it and they installed it together.

Their shifts don't match. She's at work at around 5 a.m., while he works more traditional hours. Their overtime cuts into their time together. When they're home, they're enjoying movies on TV, hanging out with the dogs, or working in their yard.

But they hope "life doesn't get in the way again," she said.

Life has a way of doing that.

Jennifer lists her examples, each pegged to a dollar amount.

There was the day, months before their wedding, when Ian woke with eye pain. He was a landscaper at the time, insured through Obamacare and unprepared that Thursday to come up with $1,800 for the uncovered portion of treatment on Monday.

"That was the start of our troubles," she said.

As his detached retina required more and more procedures, the couple moved up their wedding from fall to spring so that he could get onto Jennifer's insurance. They still had thousands in medical bills, and he ended up blind in his left eye.

"That all settled down," she says. But soon they had to find thousands more after their car was stolen from the parking lot at work and an insurance settlement didn't cover the full loss. That price tag: about $6,000.

And "then my dog got sick," she said. Obie looks healthy today, thanks to homemade food made with the best value Jennifer can find for ground turkey. The treatment to get there didn't involve a single obvious moment, like surgery, even as Obie's condition further deteriorated.

It never became an option for Jennifer, who loves the dog, to stop Obie's immune system medication and doctor visits. Yet, like 49 percent of Michigan residents without rainy-day savings, the couple found the expenses accumulating into debt that weekly earnings couldn't cover.

The Rottweiler will be on immune suppressants for the rest of her life, Jennifer said. The $100 in monthly costs feel minor compared to the cumulative $7,000 in vet bills.

"All of that extra stuff had gone onto credit cards," she said. "We still have medical bills that we're responsible for."

She's always worked, and paying your own way is what she says she need to do. Plus, she said, she chose the treatments.

By about 5:30 a.m. on payday, Jennifer is working the banking and bill-pay apps on her phone. They get paid, every month.

"We just keep paying and paying and paying, and just not getting anywhere."

Interactive map: Wage growth or loss 1990 to 2017

'We're not saturated with debt'

As a couple, Jennifer and Ian look at the world and wish there was more accountability. They see situations where people take advantage of loopholes, and it's something that weighs on them.

That's why it's frustrating to get delayed medical bills two years later, just as the couple think they've caught up on payments.

"You don't know if you're being taken for a ride or not," he said.

Even with good insurance, they still owe about $2,000. After the car was stolen, they bought a used Fiat. The $150 per month payments seem affordable, and the better mileage cut gas costs.

They make their own bread, and take lunches to work. Dog treats are homemade. English teabags arrive in bulk. Their new refrigerator is covered in magnets, including one lower than the rest. It covers the dent, which saved them $400.

Ian Hartley prepares a loaf of homemade bread Feb. 26, 2018 in Redford. (Jake May | MLive.com)

Cellphones were purchased used and online. Furniture might come from a yard sale.

Jennifer brews her coffee at home, taking it with her on her drive to the Starbucks store.

Their consumer debt went up to about $500 early this year, as Ian added close to $100 on their Kohl's credit card as he bought sweatpants and slippers. There's also a Home Depot credit card.

"We're not saturated with debt," Ian said. "We're careful with what we're trying to do.

"You don't try to frivolously waste money. That's not how life is like for us."

Jennifer knows exactly how the next few years should look for the couple. She's got a plan.

They took out a $21,000 home loan at the end of 2017 that kept their debt payment the same but cut interest and duration. It also provided some windfall cash to pay off credit cards used for the medical bills and tackle home repairs.

At 48, she's looking ahead five years. If the credit cards can stay unused and the couple stays healthy, they'll be debt-free when she turns 53. She could start paying down the house. By 55, she could freeze her pension from Kroger and start to consider what other type of work would be fulfilling.

But that might depend on health insurance, and what's available to her at that time.

Jennifer knows her ability to talk about pension and insurance make her fortunate - they distinguish her career from lower-wage jobs, and have long been a hallmark of the middle class. The benefits at her job are at the top of her list of reasons she stayed at Kroger, working in the same store for 24 years. They include 401k savings, vacation time and retirement.

But there's also health insurance. It's a good plan, she said. And it covered the couple for $18 per week in 2017.

"I'm incredibly privileged to have the insurance I have," she said.

Ruark says that benefit is one of the distinguishing aspects of a middle-class job, even one where a wage-earner feels financial struggle.

"A lot of the lowest-paying jobs have no health benefits, no sick time - and family leave is very unpredictable," he said.

Yet by Thanksgiving, insurance became a setback for Jennifer and Ian. That's when the couple learned that Ian's work was planning to offer health insurance, as long as enough people signed up. It wouldn't provide the same coverage, and it would cost more - but declining a spouse's coverage meant Jennifer would have to pay more.

Taking the worse plan would cost them $300 per month. Staying on her plan would cost them $200 more than they're paying now

That news cast a shadow over Thanksgiving.

"I honestly have no idea where that money will come from," she said shortly after learning about it.

But the insurance expense didn't happen. Ian learned right before enrollment deadline that not enough people at his workplace wanted it, so their choice to stay on the Kroger plan was, in the end, their cheapest option.

They spent the holidays enjoying their decorated home, time off with family and the dogs, and sharing small gifts.

Their favorite: Matching coveralls, so they can learn to work on their cars together in their garage. The ultimate goal is to keep their second car, an 11-year-old Ford Escape, running for two more years.

As they hope their unexpected medical expenses recede during 2018, the couple take stock in their lives and see themselves in a good place. They have their plan. They have their home. They have each other.

Obie is visiting the veterinarian less frequently, and there's hope her medications can be cut back. Bella, a shepherd, is 13 and only gets a few medications to help manage arthritis pain.

Ian is working through depression after losing his eye, but expresses gratitude for friends, coworkers and his home. He looks at it as an oasis, where he can use his landscaping skills or bartering to create a haven from stress. Each portion of the yard, from the creek at the lot line to the pond built with a coworker, is a point of pride.

"Our dogs and our house," Ian said. "That's what we want out of life."

Jennifer looks back to where they've been and what they've done to build stability. If something else happens, she'll come up with a way to solve it. Again.

"I feel like this is the hard part," she said, after describing her hopes to eventually retire and listing her steps to reach that.

"We're in a good place as a couple," she says. "The struggle is just money."

Over the course of the next several months, MLive will explore issues of economy, education and infrastructure, and what Michigan leaders need to do to create a better future. We'd love to hear from you, about your struggles and your wins, as you navigate Michigan's economic landscape. We want to use your voice and your questions to frame the conversation with candidates as we head into midterm elections. Send us an email to michiganbeyond@mlive.com