A lot depends on where you live. In New York, I really don’t know how I would survive for long without a real job.
In Chicago, I could definitely do it, but then, there is an enormous amount of rental housing near mass transportation.
Anyway, there was a time in my life when I was unemployed, and lived on unemployment (got a job before it ran out - never have had much problem finding work). Also, one job I had was at a non-profit and very low-paying. I brought in my lunch every day, spent $5 daily on food - total, shopped for clothes at thrift stores, on weekend, went out to places with drink specials only with $10 in my pocket and I have to say that I did not enjoy the experience, and promised myself I would never do that again if there was any way I could prevent it.
Thinking about where I live now, including the apartment I live in.
Rent: $440 (goes up to $455 in November)
Utilities: it’s cooling off, so electric will go down, figure $25 a month. No other utilities are required (water/sewer paid by complex, cable is not a necessity, though I pay $9 a month right now).
Vehicle: no car payment, car’s in good shape so no repairs at the moment. To go the cheapest route, and by watching my consumption closely, figure $10 a month in gas (it’s a little car that gets great gas mileage).
Insurance: Combined renters, life and auto runs me $69 a month.
Food: this is the kicker. I spend way more than I should at the grocery and the like. I should be able to get away with less than $20 a week in groceries. In reality, I probably double that…but figure on a limited budget, and if I only went once a week and cut it down to the necessities (cut out things like diet coke, buy store brands and watch the sales closely), I bet I could do $50 a month. Living this cheap, smoking would have to go away. If I simply have no money to buy them, then I can’t have them and I get over it.
$4 a week for laundry - 2 washers, 2 dryers at $1 each.
Looks like right at $600. Amazingly, I make about $700 a month currently between the stipend and the other job, but I also have funds in a savings account just in case - I avoid transferring funds as much as possible though.
in a small town i could probabaly make it on $600 a month. a 2 bedroom apt. is only about $260 in some small towns. So thats $130 + $10 for phone, 5 for internet, 15 for cable tv, 20 for electric, 10 for water/sewage assuming all are split.
Auto, assuming i need to buy a new one. insurance $50, payments $95, gas $40.
Food $120
Misc $200
I find this exercise fun for some reason. I realize people can survive for free technically, but i’m talking how much could you cut and still live a lifestyle you can tolerate.
Mr. Excellent - I intend to use this info to determine how much i can increase the tax rate w/o starving people to death. hope everyone likes potatoes, i don’t see any meat in your diets until 2008. You also might want to give up medical care for the next few years.
Well, if I were to share an appartment with a friend in a crappy part of town I could cut rent down to £300 a month (at the moment I’m paying less than that, but that’s because I’m in university accomodation).
Transportation: Free. I bike or walk everywhere. Maybe £5 every few months for repairs, but if neccesary I can get away with little more than a can of oil (and at the moment do, but I would need to bike more in this situation).
Internet access (no, this is not a luxury. It’s a freaking neccesity): £10 / month for dialup. Half that if I’m sharing with a friend.
Utilities: Dunno. £25 a month? I don’t pay for them at the moment. Maybe a bit more as I have long showers and tend to leave my computer on, but I could cut that down if neccesary.
Food: Hmm. I’m vegetarian, and I cook a lot of indian food. If I bought really large bags of lentils and rice, plus some discount cans of beans then suplemented with some sort of cheap multivitamins and reduced fruit & veg I could probably cut this down to £30 a month. If I were to add another 10 to that I could probably do fairly happily out of it.
Books: £5 / month. (This is another ‘no this is not a luxury’ thing.)
Washing: I could probably wash most of it by hand if neccesary, as my clothing doesn’t generally speaking get too dirty. Failing that, maybe another £5/month.
So about £360 - £380, depending on how ‘bare minimum’ I’m willing to go. At the moment I’m living on £500 a month, but I also have to pay for university fees which is an additional £250 / month (on the other hand I’m living with my parents for half the year, where I have to pay a lot less).
When I was in college I lived quite happily with my now wife, on 1000 a month. I bartended and brought in roughly 600 a month, she was an editor for thr news paper and made about 500 a month. We lived together in a small (very small) one bedroom place. Raman Noodles and potatoes were our favorites.
Now after finishing our grad school and establishing ourselves in our community and job arena we don’t have to worry too much about budgeting. Both my wife and I make more than enough to pay all our bills and save some money. We do to some extent budget but I am very happy we went through living in veritable squalor to where we are now. It makes us appreciate it much more.