How do u live on $700/month, truly?

[bullfrog]

Anybody trying to live on little money will be doing so by doing as little travel as possible in a reliable, older easily repaired means of transportation they can fix themselves. That could be something as simple as buying a new pair of shoes!

 

[user 22017]

Anybody trying to live on little money will be doing so by doing as little travel as possible in a reliable, older easily repaired means of transportation they can fix themselves. That could be something as simple as buying a new pair of shoes!

Bullfrog,

There is no requirement that you must be able to repair the rig yourself. Most who don't have a reliable rig will not travel far UNTIL they have an emergency fund.

It will probably take a couple years to save up $3k for the fund (if they are not working). At that point, they can travel a little further. The more they save up the further they can travel.

 

[user 22017]

The tighter the money becomes because of hardships or inflation the more important it is to be able to cut costs. Simple rigs that have simple systems that anyone can repair or have repaired can save a lot of money. As an example a gravity fed water system fed by a 5 gallon water can and a camp stove to heat water with compared to a commercially build camper with a water tank with a level sensor, electric pump, accumulator and lines and valves as well as a water heater that have to be drained in freezing weather unless heated. If you run out of propane in cold weather a good sleeping bag can keep you alive and a water bottle in the bag with you won’t freeze and you will have very little damage with the simple system, the commercial camper trailer could have a lot of damage unless the owner knows how to drain and protect the total system. Freezing weather won’t wait till you can afford to buy propane or get into a shop to have the needed things done.

When you said 'reliable means of transportation', I thought you meant the vehicle. Not the water system or sleeping bag. Sorry.

 

[LauraNSasha]

I think once in our 13 years as full-time RVers, we had a month where we only spent $701. We volunteered for a site, had bought provisions the month before, and did not go out to eat once. This was for two people.

Libraries are great places to go to that cost nothing and you can learn so much. They usually have internet access too.

 

[VeggieCat4]

I talk to many nomads who will state (well, actually gripe or complain) that they're living on a "fixed income." Upon further inquiry they "get by" on $2k, have a home base somewhere - or storage with stuff.
How they manage to have no money left at the end of the month is beyond me.
What I would like to know is how you, dear reader, live on, say $700/month. Period.
Not after house/car payment, not "after" whatever.
Let's say you're a healthy senior on original Medicare, with no more than the $700 of SSI (after Part B withholding).
ALL your expenses come out of that amount, yes, food and drink, gas and vehicle insurance/maintenance (van or small RV, paid for), CC and other fees, clothing, everything.
How do you live with any degree of comfort on that?

If your income is actually $700/m, you can qualify to get the government to subsidize your Medicare Part B premium. If you stay within a certain geographic area, it's cheaper to get a Medicare Advantage plan as most have zero copays at that income level and 100% subsidized premiums. This year, that alone will add $154 to your monthly income.

 

[user 36413]

I've been doing some research on youtube.com for what it's worth.

You can cut out the cost of propane by using a rocket stove for cooking at least and maybe something similar for heat. There is a video I saw to make one out of a coffee can, a large soup can, and two smaller soup cans or you could buy one if you have the money from Amazon for about $80 or less. They use twigs, branches, or even pine cones for fuel. Pretty much any burnable biomass would work. These are sometimes called Hobo stoves also.

If you become part of a tribe or make a friend to share life with you may be able to save money by working together or sharing expenses.

There are some social services but they may require you having a physical address. There are food pantries that can help a bit and sometimes you can find free clothing and stuff at places like "Friends of the Poor". They may not be everywhere but I used to always donate my stuff there like bags of clothes when I gained or lost weight in the past. There is also Obama Care for health Ins but again you may need to have a physical address to qualify.

Check in with local church pastors even if you don't believe in them. They are kind folks with connections.

I can't imagine living off $700/month but people do it. I wonder how homeless folks can even survive these days.

May God bless and keep you safe.

 

[RearViewMirror]

Oh... And Jetboil camp stoves are great for just cooking a quick meal outside. The cost of entry is the barrier to those though. But the fuel canisters for them are cheap and it's a quick way to cook a small meal outside under the stars.

 

[user 36413]

Oh... And Jetboil camp stoves are great for just cooking a quick meal outside. The cost of entry is the barrier to those though. But the fuel canisters for them are cheap and it's a quick way to cook a small meal outside under the stars.

Oh, nice but yeah expensive. I was looking at this one on Amazon, it's currently $89 and fuel is free (sticks, branches, pine cones, scrap wood). It's also insulated which is nice.

I have a new Coleman camp stove I use myself. I still have fond memories of camping with my family when I was a boy. No one wanted to get up in the morning we were all so cold sleeping under a tarp tent my dad made. He got up and made bacon, eggs, and home fries from those little white potatoes in a can. The smell of his cooking was enough to get us up and moving.

Lots of folks use a small backpackers stove. It has a small footprint which is nice when you don't have a lot of storage space.

 

[RearViewMirror]

Thanks. She worked very hard to get to where she is right now and I couldn't be more proud of her accomplishments.

I've found that living in such a small space that it really makes you think twice "do I really need this?" 99% of the time the answer is no. Honest the only fluctuation that we really have to deal with (at the moment) is fuel. Can't control the price of diesel and the further West you go? The more expensive it is. Everything else pretty much stays the same. We have a budget set up that allows us to go and do things we would like to do while also putting money back into our investments. I would be lying if I said we didn't go over budget sometimes because there are things that come up. But that is what our emergency fund is set up for. If we dip into that? Then the next month we just put the money we would have invested back into the emergency fund.

Like I said... It's a balancing act. But not much different than owning a home. Things go wrong in your home all the time that must be repaired. And that must be paid by you. Things can and will go wrong in our van. That is inevitable. But that is what the 6 year 150,000 mile warranty that we paid for comes into play. Only issue there is, when warranty work is being done on the van, we will have to foot the bill for a rental car, hotel (or Airbnb), for the time period that the van is being worked on. But tis part of life. I wouldn't trade it. And I hope we can do this for as long as possible before we have to settle down once again. At least I can say that I tried and can die without regretting that I didn't try when I had the chance.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

We all "labor" for things we don't use. It is not slavery.

If I send men with guns to make you mow my yard, repair my car, or stitch up a cut in my arm, that's slavery.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Well... You took that to the extreme didn't you? Slavery? Really?

Here's the deal... There is no magic bullet that will fix what is now almost a century old problem. And NO ONE is arguing that a Dr. shouldn't get paid for their time, expertise, or whatever they specialize in. In fact, they should be paid very well.

Yes... I "personally" think that quality healthcare is a basic human right. The issue becomes how do we pay for it? And for that I don't have an answer. Insurance companies have spent decades lobbying Congress and what we have is what we have right now.

I mentioned the chargemaster for the hospitals in a previous post. Each and every hospital has a chargemaster. And between those hospitals? Those charges could vary wildly. God forbid you have to go out of network. You will be stuck with that entire bill. And if you can't pay that bill? They can garnish your wages until that bill is paid. Which means that some are never able to pay that bill depending on what service was provided. To be clear... I am not for "socialized" healthcare (even though we have forms of that built into our system already).

But to give you an example of what and why hospitals charge what they do? It all has to do with insurance. I mentioned that my wife was over the billing dept. for the largest hospital in the state. Insurance companies send people that are insured with their company to specific hospitals. primary care physicians, specialist, etc... with the expectation that they will get a certain amount of money for sending those covered patients to their specific in network facilities. Those facilities in return pay the insurance companies a set amount for patients being sent to them. So to make up the revenue associated with those cost? The chargemaster comes into play. There is a reason that an IV bag that cost literally $1 is charged at almost $140, Tylenol is charged at $37 a pill, etc... It has nothing to do with the hospital. It all has to do with the insurance companies. And if you are truly in a life or death situation? You don't have the option of what hospital they transport you to. So we are in a no win situation. That goes for all of us. Plain and simple.

I'll give you an analogy... I worked for the FD for 28 years. The FD is paid for by your taxes. What if we showed up to fire only to find out that the family that lives in that structure didn't pay their real estate tax, personal property tax, etc... And since they didn't pay those taxes? We don't put the fire out. Or... they have the option of us putting the fire out but we will charge an exorbitant amount of money to do so? Would you stand for that? In a life or death situation, honestly, would you stand for that??? Same thing applies to healthcare.

I agree with everything you say. The only money we can "earn" has to be under the table and that isn't right. We have, in the past, traded for working on campsites just for the free camp. But that can't be counted as income.

There is a reason that the ultra wealthy are able to take advantage of special tax advantages "we" are not able to access. We fall in the middle. We make enough to live comfortably but not enough to take advantage of what is afforded those with much more money. That said... I'm still not complaining as we are still able to do what we want to do when we want to do it (within reason). But I have a spreadsheet of everything that is being brought in and everything that is going out. Turns out... We are actually making money just by traveling and living in the van. But that could change at any point. All it will take is one emergency and we could be screwed for the rest of our life.

Like you, we are putting our 17 year old daughter into college and that is just another thing that we have to take into account. Luckily, she has a full ride. But she will be in college for 8 years. And how long that full ride will be in effect remains to be seen.

Wherer I live, there is a volunteer fire department only, and they have no obligation to put out your house fire. They do it because they want to help the community. They should not be forced to. It's YOUR responsibility to protect your own home. You can ask for help, but to demand it, to force someone, whether it's a fire, healthcare, or a sack of hamburgers, it's fascism. You are not entitled to the fruits of another's labor.

 

[user 22017]

If I send men with guns to make you mow my yard, repair my car, or stitch up a cut in my arm, that's slavery.

I just reread your post. Sorry for skimming. So I missed the compensation part: "You'd be forcing someone to labor for you without compensation. That's the very definition of slavery."

Who is being forced? And who said anything about no compensation? Now your post (and this one) make even less sense to me.

 

[user 22017]

Wherer I live, there is a volunteer fire department only, and they have no obligation to put out your house fire. They do it because they want to help the community. They should not be forced to. It's YOUR responsibility to protect your own home. You can ask for help, but to demand it, to force someone, whether it's a fire, healthcare, or a sack of hamburgers, it's fascism. You are not entitled to the fruits of another's labor.

You forget that our towns and cities evolved into what we have today, because the majority of citizens decided they wanted these things. Like a paid fire department in larger cities. It's democracy, not slavery. Not saying the system is perfect, but it is not slavery.

 

[bullfrog]

Reply to post #560. This is a discussion on living on $700 a month and the cost of healthcare is a consideration. Many places offer health care as a benefit of simply living in a civilized society. If you wish to discuss forced labor I would suggest you start a new thread although we have had discussions on working as a campground host for a full hookup site being filled by workers possibly being subjected to financial slavery which was debunked as there are several other good paying jobs indicating the workers have options.

 

[RearViewMirror]

Wherer I live, there is a volunteer fire department only, and they have no obligation to put out your house fire. They do it because they want to help the community. They should not be forced to. It's YOUR responsibility to protect your own home. You can ask for help, but to demand it, to force someone, whether it's a fire, healthcare, or a sack of hamburgers, it's fascism. You are not entitled to the fruits of another's labor.

My friend... You and I will have to agree to disagree on this.

I don't even know where to begin with you but I'll give it a shot. Going so far as calling things "slavery" when they clearly are not? I don't know what post you read that made you think that anyone on here is advocating making someone do something for nothing in return but whatever it was? You took it and ran with it and took it so far off base that I not even sure what to say. Misguided at best is the best answer I can come up with.

I worked on a "Professional" FD and it was our job to be professional, well trained, and educated on every aspect of the job. It was our job to run each and every structure fire, rescue, car wreck, swift water rescue, fire alarm and even BS calls that clearly didn't need to be made. Believe me, I've seen it all. But we were paid to do so by the residents of that city that paid taxes in the city that I worked for. So it was my job to make those runs. No one "forced" me to do them. I chose that profession. And because that is what I signed up for, then that was the job I was paid to do. And yes... when we showed up on scene it was "demanded" that we do everything in our power to keep things from getting any worse than before we arrived on scene. Is that slavery / fascism in your eyes??? To expect something that they have paid for (in taxes) for me to actually do "MY JOB" that I am being compensated for????

Volunteer FD's work slightly different in different parts of the US. So I cannot speak for everyone of them. But I can speak for the ones we have here. People pay dues to the Volunteer FD and those people that pay dues fall under an "expected response" for that area. Those that do not pay dues? The Volunteer FD is under no obligation to make that run (though they usually do anyway).

You have an expectation to take care of your home just like you would for anything else you own. But if we made a run on someone that clearly did not, we were still required to do our job. Doesn't mean they were right. Just means they were dumb and we had to take care of their issue. So I suppose by your line of thinking if we made a rescue on a drunk driver we should be under no obligation to do everything in our power to save them even though they made a horrible decision even though I was being compensated for doing the job?

But calling things slavery or fascism when what we are talking about clearly are neither? Man... You have taken it to a new level.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Please try to stay at least within 'spitting distance' of the original topic.

Which is: living on a very limited budget.

 

[tx2sturgis]

There's a lot of good (but off-topic) stuff here that we may move to another thread...it will take awhile to sort thru everything.

OP and others, please be patient.

 

[RoamerRV428]

had to hit grocery store again.

GEEZ

I recommend anyone living on a budget to NOT GO to a grocery store.

 

[RearViewMirror]

had to hit grocery store again.

GEEZ

I recommend anyone living on a budget to NOT GO to a grocery store.

No kidding right? It's amazing how much more expensive some things have become.

 

[VanGrrl57]

Well, I'm on Original Medicare and I receive Social Security. Before Medicare is taken out, I get $965.00, and once Medicare and my Part D are taken out, I get around $776.00. After my health issues are finished with, I'm on my way to the 2023 RTR which I'm looking forward to since it will be my first one. I had planned on finding a seasonal job while there, but I know someone in HR at Wall Drug which is where I'll be at starting April 1st through October 31st. Since I'm a South Dakota resident I plan on collecting unemployment after my season ends at Wall Drug. After the 2023 RTR, I'll probably stay either in Arizona or go to Orlando, Florida, which is where I was born, until I report to Wall Drug. My two oldest kids, my brother, and his sons live in Orlando, and it will be great to spend some time with them. My youngest also plans to go to Orlando for a visit if she gets the okay from her employer. I more than likely will go to Orlando, though.

Living on $776.00 is not easy, so I had to do some serious budgeting which is why I've decided to do gig work to help my financial well-being. I was out at Yellowstone for the 2017 season and I loved it.

With all this being said, living on Social Security only is just not an option for me, although I respect those that can.