Off topic posts split from "How do u live on $700/month, truly?"

[Calaverasgrande]

My mother before she passed away had a limited income. Maybe close to $900 - $1100 a month.
It drove me and my sister crazy because she would do all these things cheaply, and we would help out by paying for things here and there. Doing the yard work or clearing snow so she didn't have to pay for it. (I hated having to pay $20 roundtrip to go out there shovel snow, eat dinner and go home but what are you gonna do? It's your mom!)
Then after all that effort to live within a budget, she would go on QVC or something similar and order some nonsense shirt she liked or some strange kitchen gadget that didn't really work so great.
At the time it really pissed me off.
But later on I came to realize, she was a woman in her 70s with not a lot to do. After she got sick she couldn't go out drinking with her other old lady friends. Should she just watch TV until she dies?
If those blouses and magic apple peelers brought her some joy or a moment of diversion good. I just wish the money could have come from me and not some credit card company. Don't ever go in debt to a credit card company.
So yeah, live within your budget, but don't spend your life just barely existing. Smell the roses, do something different every week to break things up.

When I was younger and always broke I had a rule, no matter what my bills were, I always went out and ate at a restaurant on pay day.
I may owe $600 to 3 utility companies and the credit card monster, but $8 dollars of this paycheck are going in my stomach first.

 

[JDub]

I agree about buying dirt. It gives you an address, that you don't have to fork money over every month, and yes, there are places with no restrictions and low real estate taxes (Arkansas, RE tax $7.17 - a year.)
And you can always hole up in your own "dirt' when things turn too hairy to be on the road.

Sofi, my son's mother (first wife) was from Springdale in NW Ark. Went back after I retired from the mil and during the ten years we were married in the service (everyone seems to get the Big D after they get out and actually have to spend TIME together ) We had accumulated 2 rental house, big chunk of wooded property, and a commercial rental. Total taxes was less than 700 a year then. That area has blown up and I don't want to know what it would be now. I'm actually a Razorback Alum - GI Bill.

Cheers!

 

[Sofisintown]

Sofi, my son's mother (first wife) was from Springdale in NW Ark. Went back after I retired from the mil and during the ten years we were married in the service (everyone seems to get the Big D after they get out and actually have to spend TIME together ) We had accumulated 2 rental house, big chunk of wooded property, and a commercial rental. Total taxes was less than 700 a year then. That area has blown up and I don't want to know what it would be now. I'm actually a Razorback Alum - GI Bill.

Cheers!

I am (snowed in) in Springdale right now. It's a very pretty town but the real estate here is rightfully quite expensive. The Walmart here is Macy's lever luxurious.

 

[JDub]

I am (snowed in) in Springdale right now. It's a very pretty town but the real estate here is rightfully quite expensive. The Walmart here is Macy's lever luxurious.

Wow! What a coincidence! Used to live over on Maple Dr when I was going to school. If you pass a large pizza place (maybe named Wild Hawg's now?) on Hwy 71 going East from the Bypass through town, my FIL owned that. Used to be a Jim's Razorback Pizza. It's where I learned to make em.

Be careful. Ice is a much worse hazard than snow in that area. Try the fresh corn tortillas at Victoria's Tortilla Factory if its still around - it was on 71 E too, just past the highway headed N to Rogers and Lowell.

Cheers!

 

[Dingfelder]

My figures are a reflection of my experiences living where I'm at. I'm in the Southern USA. I've lived on $150 to $200 a month and I have a number of friends who live on $200 or less a month now. I did it, and they do it, because that's what required. I bought in bulk, I cooked my food, and I ate simple meals.

What I provided was one scenario of how someone can live on $700 a month and in my scenario there was money left over too spend on additional food if that's what they wanted. At the end of the day, people need to do what their resources allow them to do. If someone only has oatmeal to eat, then that's what they're going to eat. This world doesn't guarantee everyone great food with indulgences and what's not living to one person is a blessing from the Universe to the next. Bob interviewed a lady on YouTube who's living on $400 a month and she says she's happy so our experiences are not all the same.

By that measure, though, living on dog food is enough. And that's plenty to grant each other through our political system too.

How far can this extend ... or do you want it to? Is 8 hours a day enough? Or 12? 16? 20?

Some work/safety regulations .... or none?

Adequate toilet facilities or ... if you don't like it, just quit and find another job? (always easy and producing different results)

 

[Dwellerose]

I really think folks with a smaller fixed income should look to pairing up with someone in a similar situation and splitting costs, I think that would be much safer than hoping and praying you don't have any breakdowns or unexpected expenses cropping up. And I think this is very doable given a van can easily pull a small cargo trailer which would be used as the other person's living quarters. Ez Pz, just gotta find someone you get along with.

I wonder if it wouldn't be worthwhile creating a sub category or channel for this purpose, like a type of "room mates" situation where people amenable to the idea could find each other.

Now there Tango, that is an EXCELLENT idea! I was thinkin' that myself, as I read your post.
If we had a way to find each other, we could make contact

 

[Sofisintown]

Wow! What a coincidence! Used to live over on Maple Dr when I was going to school. If you pass a large pizza place (maybe named Wild Hawg's now?) on Hwy 71 going East from the Bypass through town, my FIL owned that. Used to be a Jim's Razorback Pizza. It's where I learned to make em.

Be careful. Ice is a much worse hazard than snow in that area. Try the fresh corn tortillas at Victoria's Tortilla Factory if its still around - it was on 71 E too, just past the highway headed N to Rogers and Lowell.

Cheers!

Thanks J! I know about the ice, I came down here from Wisconsin. I stayed in both days. And thanks for the suggestions!

 

[scaredycat72]

By that measure, though, living on dog food is enough. And that's plenty to grant each other through our political system too.

How far can this extend ... or do you want it to? Is 8 hours a day enough? Or 12? 16? 20?

Some work/safety regulations .... or none?

Adequate toilet facilities or ... if you don't like it, just quit and find another job? (always easy and producing different results)

I'm sorry but I can't follow or understand your thought process here. All I can say is there are people eating 2 bowls of rice a day because that's all they have. You have to do what your have to do to live. Take care.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

By that measure, though, living on dog food is enough. And that's plenty to grant each other through our political system too.

How far can this extend ... or do you want it to? Is 8 hours a day enough? Or 12? 16? 20?

Some work/safety regulations .... or none?

Adequate toilet facilities or ... if you don't like it, just quit and find another job? (always easy and producing different results)

Agree with scaredycat72.
I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[user 423]

Oh,that Kaylee. I remember donating to her blown engine fund a couple of years ago.

Needing a motor replaced will bust your budget for sure!

She mentions the V7 engine club. On an old '66 Chevy van I had the same thing happen. A pushrod wore a hole thru the rocker arm in west Texas. I just removed both pushrods for that cylinder and ran on 7 cylinders all the way to Houston.

 

[Dingfelder]

I'm sorry but I can't follow or understand your thought process here. All I can say is there are people eating 2 bowls of rice a day because that's all they have. You have to do what your have to do to live. Take care.

That is a medieval Japanese peasant's starvation ration. Are you proposing this for the richest nation in the history of the world as adequate or representative of the true wealth of the nation, or that it should be?

 

[frodo2222]

That is a medieval Japanese peasant's starvation ration. Are you proposing this for the richest nation in the history of the world as adequate or representative of the true wealth of the nation, or that it should be?

i THINK YOU ARE TAKING Averages as USA the richest nation but if you take out the 10% of the rich then we are not the richest and what they make has no bearing on what the other 90% makes for the most part....The wealth is being concentrated more and more in the top and the less fortunate are making a larger and larger part of the population...this is why there is more and more working poor and why our current society is the first to have the standard of living be less then previous generations and why the length of life is declining...If 1 person makes a million dollars and 9 make 0 the average is is 100,000 which is great BUT the 9 still can't eat or pay the rent...Also we are the Largest debtor nation in the world not the richest by far BIG DIFFERENCE

 

[user 22017]

That is a medieval Japanese peasant's starvation ration. Are you proposing this for the richest nation in the history of the world as adequate or representative of the true wealth of the nation, or that it should be?

He/she wasn't proposing anything, Dingfelder. People are just stating how they manage on under $700 a month.

 

[Sky]

i THINK YOU ARE TAKING Averages as USA the richest nation but if you take out the 10% of the rich then we are not the richest and what they make has no bearing on what the other 90% makes for the most part....The wealth is being concentrated more and more in the top and the less fortunate are making a larger and larger part of the population...this is why there is more and more working poor and why our current society is the first to have the standard of living be less then previous generations and why the length of life is declining...If 1 person makes a million dollars and 9 make 0 the average is is 100,000 which is great BUT the 9 still can't eat or pay the rent...Also we are the Largest debtor nation in the world not the richest by far BIG DIFFERENCE

Cheers nice to find someone well informed ~

 

[Sky]

I'm sorry but I can't follow or understand your thought process here. All I can say is there are people eating 2 bowls of rice a day because that's all they have. You have to do what your have to do to live. Take care.

Yes I in fact have been doing that recently intentionally but add more than many others who do not have that choice. It started with a intestinal health problem whereby I had to limit what I was eating to a very small amount of choices. Then as survivalist we have been prepping for decades and it occurred to me that it would be better to practice having less so that in the event that it happens without choice, I would be more resilient. I always find it is better to self inflict situations to build resilience rather than to wait until it is imposed on me be by something or someone else.The health problem is finally resolved after many months and I am habituated to starting my day with a breakfast of a bowl of now, brown rice with sesame oil, hemp nuts, brewers yeast and salt. All organic and quite decadent compared to a large portion of the world living on far less. Cheers for your comment though.

 

[Sofisintown]

=

i THINK YOU ARE TAKING Averages as USA the richest nation but if you take out the 10% of the rich then we are not the richest and what they make has no bearing on what the other 90% makes for the most part....The wealth is being concentrated more and more in the top and the less fortunate are making a larger and larger part of the population...this is why there is more and more working poor and why our current society is the first to have the standard of living be less then previous generations and why the length of life is declining...

Such as we are, we are here in America and pretty spoiled too. A bowl of rice (and I don't care how finger-lickin'-good yours is) is not going to be good enough for dinner. And dog food is for dogs.
If I end up having to eat dog food, that would mean I d' have to get a job. As a working poor for many of my years, I always had enough to eat and to feed some good friends too. Where the wealth is concentrated, is irrelevant to the menu.

 

[JDub]

=

Such as we are, we are here in America and pretty spoiled too. A bowl of rice (and I don't care how finger-lickin'-good yours is) is not going to be good enough for dinner. And dog food is for dogs.
If I end up having to eat dog food, that would mean I d' have to get a job. As a working poor for many of my years, I always had enough to eat and to feed some good friends too. Where the wealth is concentrated, is irrelevant to the menu.

Yes we are spoiled rotten here... Been many places in the world where a really good meal is just a dream for many of the people who live there. My own mother lived out the last few months of WW2 with her family in a cave dug in a hill in Shizuoka Japan, they survived on boiled carrots and brown rice. They drank ditch water. Till the end of her days she could not stomach either food again.

Not sure that even a little job would pay for dog food anymore. Stopped off at WM this afternoon on my way home to pick up a few things. Needed canned dog food to add to Sam's dry. They've been out of Old Roy canned for a couple weeks. None on the shelves. They had some today. $1.08 a can. Last time I bought it - 72c a can. It's up from 54c a can 6 months ago... It's getting cheaper to feed him human food...

Cheers.

 

[Sky]

My figures are a reflection of my experiences living where I'm at. I'm in the Southern USA. I've lived on $150 to $200 a month and I have a number of friends who live on $200 or less a month now. I did it, and they do it, because that's what required. I bought in bulk, I cooked my food, and I ate simple meals.

What I provided was one scenario of how someone can live on $700 a month and in my scenario there was money left over too spend on additional food if that's what they wanted. At the end of the day, people need to do what their resources allow them to do. If someone only has oatmeal to eat, then that's what they're going to eat. This world doesn't guarantee everyone great food with indulgences and what's not living to one person is a blessing from the Universe to the next. Bob interviewed a lady on YouTube who's living on $400 a month and she says she's happy so our experiences are not all the same.

Cheers scaredycat72, it does not take all that much to live well and be happy aside from the brain washing that many have unknowingly been subjects too. Thanks for you sharing/input.

 

[flylo]

If people lived like my grandparents did we could all live cheap. My uncle in Tn had a 200 acre farm, got his 1st tractor at 55 years old & had to drive it 14 miles around the mountain to get to his back field. They grew what they ate & a bit more to sell. Now the more you make the more you spend or go deeper in debt. I've found in many cases people that have the least are the happiest. I think the"got to have it's" started with TV. Radio you can work or do most anything while listening to the radio but TV you have to give it all your attention.

 

[scaredycat72]

=

Such as we are, we are here in America and pretty spoiled too. A bowl of rice (and I don't care how finger-lickin'-good yours is) is not going to be good enough for dinner. And dog food is for dogs.
If I end up having to eat dog food, that would mean I d' have to get a job. As a working poor for many of my years, I always had enough to eat and to feed some good friends too. Where the wealth is concentrated, is irrelevant to the menu.

That is awesome but there are many people who work and still don't have money for enough food. Both my parents worked and we still had our utilities turned off and went hungry sometimes. The minimum wage is less than $8 an hour and that's literally what some families are living on so everybody doesn't have enough for them and friends also. Where the wealth is concentrated has a lot to do with the menu but that's for another group. I just wanted to highlight working in America doesn't guarantee food to eat.