So, I’ve applied for a job that means a substantial cut in pay, but is much more in the field I love.
I’ve been crunching numbers back and forth, and I’ve figured out that I could, possibly, live off as little as $900 a month (including $500 a month for Rent).
That leaves no cushion whatsoever for anything, bag lunches, coupon clipping, etc.
But it’s doable.
What about you?
i have a wife and two kids and a mortgage that is a lot more than your rent. I’d estimate we could live off $3300/month, that would cover the mortgage, power bills, water bills, gas bills, rates, food, and fuel for the car.
As a single person (I’m not, I’m married with a mortgage, but let’s just say), I could manage on about $500 easily. But now this would be living in east Texas, working as a waitress and staying in a travel trailer with a paid off car. Not the greatest accomodations or employment, but I was happy whenever I did it before.
Kind of impossible to answer. I could ‘live’ off far less than I do currently. But it wouldn’t really be living, more just existing.
My last job paid £700 ($1100) per month after taxes. About half went to rent, council tax and utilities. The remainder was for everything else. It was certainly liveable, but I did have to plan very carefully if I wanted a couple of nights out, a trip or two to the pub or to treat myself to anything. I could get by £450 per month but it would be pretty miserable; I’d have to quit smoking and boozing. 
Thankfully, my house and van are paid for, so ‘all’ I have to worry about are utilities, food. pet care, insurance, and my loan for the privacy fence. $1100/month would be bare bones minimum for me.
Without moving or getting rid of a car we need $2000 per month for our family of three.
If I were single and childless I could manage pretty well here in Baltimore for $1000 a month, and that includes Netflix and an occasional dinner out. I could pare it down to $900 if it meant I’d have a job that fed my soul.
I have told my son repeatedly that as soon as he graduates from high school we’re moving a mile south where the apartments cost half as much, but the schools are not so well rated.
Depends on how you live and what you are willing to give up. I have given a lot of thought to this issue (yeah, I’m cool like that).
If you are willing to share an apartment and only use public transit, you can get by pretty cheap.
Back in my college town the bus system was only $30/month and you could share an apartment (with your own bedroom) for $250/month since 2 bedrooms started at $500. So transportation (bicycle and the bus), rent and utilities would come to about $330/month.
Then food, catastrophic health insurance and minor misc expenses like clothes, medicines, household would probably add $300/month.
So a total of $600-700 for a basic lifestyle. Throw in a paid off car and abandon the bus and it’ll add about $80/month in insurance and fuel costs.
My thing is I like buying electronics and gadgets (medical gadgets, electronic gadgets, etc). I usually go through $200/month on those. I’d have to give those up.
Then again, it depends how you define ‘live on’. A person can live in a tent, live off a very basic diet cooked on a propane stove and only use a bicycle to get anywhere. In that lifestyle you can get by on $100-200/month. But most people aren’t willing or able to live like that (myself included).
It is unrelated, but Elizabeth Warren said that is what is mostly driving the increases in housing costs, parents are trying to get their kids into good schools and viewing where they live as a tool to do it. She supported a school voucher system to deal with the problem.
For us as a couple we could manage on about $2800, maybe closer to $2200 if we found a cheaper apartment, but keep in mind we live in Manhattan so it is much more expensive to live here.
I currently have no wife, kids, mortgage or outstanding rent.
I also currently have no rent(housesitting)
The utilities I share with my roommate.
So call it $125 for power, $40 for water, and $30 for internet.
Another $40 for insurance
Probably $50 for gas.
Probably about $100 for food, but I could cut that back a lot if I stopped wasting money on eating out, prepackaged meals, etc.
So call it $400 i currently live on, with the potential to cut that back to maybe $$250-$300 with sacrifice.
What he said. I’d have to have a definition of “living”. I could and have survived on less than I make now, but I couldn’t take a pay cut and stay where I am with my mortgage and vehicle payments.
In the amount of money considered enough to “live on” does the person get to have fun? Splurge once in a while? Eat out ever?
Myself, my wife and my kid could live off $1500 per month if we had to. But it’d be pretty crappy life - I’d especially miss eating out.
I have AU$1100 a month rent to cover. I only need around $500 a month to live my current lifestyle, though, so $1600 should cover it.
I envy those who own their home.
I’d be really careful about that, if that is what you’re planning to do. Do you own a vehicle and do you need it to get to work or for other things? What if it breaks? What if an existing cost goes up? What if you get sick or have some other unexpected cost. Your minimum livable wage should account for some contingencies. This is a big mistake that many people make when they set out a budget for themselves, and a reason why a lot of people get into bad debt situations.
If you are thinking about that, you should perhaps taking another secondary job as supplemental (if possible) that would allow you to put aside something for an emergency and possibly live a little bit better.
It depends on what you mean by “live” - we live in a house that is paid for, so no mortgage. Cars paid for and pretty functional, so cars are down to needing gas. So only food, heat, electricity, etc NEED to be paid to sustain life. But health insurance would be a big deal if it were not supplied (at least partially) by our employers.
I figured, when playing “what if the economy collapses” games that we could live off around $1000 a month - that assumes that we’d be eligible for property tax credits for having a “low” income and wouldn’t pay any income tax. But that would be day to day living - with extra blankets on the bed and multiple layers, not any sort of situation that I’d want to sustain.
Trust me, I don’t plan to live on that little. I fully intend to have a second and even third source of income. But I needed to know a drop dead number of what I needed to survive a given month barring anything else.
My goal is to have an income stream of at least $2,000 net which I think is doable given certain parameters in my life.
Given current mortgage, car payments, food, electricity, property taxes, TV, phones, etc? Probably approaching $5,000 per month.
$1000 monthly would cover rent, electric, health insurance, and a very tight food/pet food budget. It wouldn’t cover my phone bill, or my usual grocery, pet and non-categorized spending.
Those are all my expenses - I don’t have a car, cable, internet, gym memberships etc. I have a lot of disposable income most months. Where the heck does it all go?
Heck, single folks could live in a dump, sell the car and get a bike, and live on a few hundred a month. Of course, then you would never, never reproduce.