If you really had to live on the cheap, what's the least amount of money you would need to survive?

Question

Let's say every month. Detail your expenses please!

Answer 1

IT DEPENDS WHICH PART OF THE WORLD YOU LIVE IN.

IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE, ONE CAN SURVIVE WITH 10 TO 15 DOLLARS.

RENT-------------------2 $
FOOD------------------6 $
OTHER AMENITIES 2 TO 5 $
RECREATIONS------0 TO 2 $.

ITS TRUE YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Well, it depends on your circumstances.
In the military your food, room and board are all paid for so you can survive on $20 a month (haircut, shaving cream,soap)
If I was homeless, I know of shelters that would feed me so I could get by on nothing. or the same $20 a month if you smoked.
It cost me $300 a month for room and board while I went to college.
As an adult I can live on $600 or less a month.
Rent $300
Utilities (phone/powerbill) $130 No air conditioning, heat at 60 during the winter.
Car: Paid for
Gas: About $100 month
Grocerys: about $40 month but I do a lot of dumpster diving for bread and canned goods.
That leaves me about $30 a month for movies and other stuff. I dont have cable but watch the local channels. I dont buy clothes that often and when I do Goodwill is good enough. The only thing I buy new is socks and underwear.
I fully realize in many areas such as Calif or New york city you could not find rent for $300 but I dont live there. If I had 2 I could do without the car but buses are always a pain in winter.

Answer 4

rent - the best you'll be able to do for an apartment is probably around $500 a month, if you can find one close enough to where you work for that cheap.

car payment - if u need a car to get to work - it'll probably be anywhere from $100-$400 a month, plus gas ($$$). if u wanna live cheap walk bike or bus. bus is like $60 a semester for anywhere in the city (pass).

car insurance - ****. loads. $100 a month depending on your age and location and history.

utilities/trash - if u live in a cheap apartment its probably not included in your bill. so probably around $60-$200 a month depending on if u use the A/C a lot, or heat, or have gas stoves etc.

food - for a family of three living cheap it runs around $300 dollars a month or so i believe. and its not gourmet quality, and your not gonna be full or snacking too much.

clothes - if u wanna save money only go shopping like 4-5 times a year for clothes, when they have massive blowout sales. and buy winter stuff in summertime etc. other than that check out goodwill etc. for good deals. uhhhh probably like up to $200 (max...gotta save the cash) each time u go shopping.

extras- movies, drinks with friends, clubs, music, Internet, dsl, cable, etc. a lot. im not sure. cable cost 30 a month. dsl is about the same. phone lines cost somewhere around 20 a month, cell phones - u can get one for free, but the plans gotta be shitty for the cheapness factor. im not sure how good of a deal you can get for that. one movie is like $8. Ill have to Gage how much you wanna spend.

college/school/tuition - $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'm not sure if that's everything, and its all estimates, i didn't do any actual research other than my own budget, so yea. i hope that helps.


oh yea - this is without foodstamps, or government help, or charities, or anything like that.

and **** insurance or medical expenses. you dont need that stuff.......(lets hope)

Answer 5

If you had to live cheaply then it is essential to create a budget monthly and try not to go over that cheaply set budget. What may be cheap to you may not be the same to another person. I read an article that listed Kokoma, Indiana as one of the cheapest cities to live in where homes average in the 90 thousand range. But be aware that where the cost of living is cheap often times crime rate is higher.
But lets say you have a budget set for 550 a month.
Pick out the top 10cities in the US where state taxes are cheaper, real estate is also reasonable ( I worked out a budget in Ft Worth Tx for a client at one time- I used to be a Social Worker)
Housing-250.00 a month ( this could be a roomate situation where you share an apartment or rent a room. Utilities is already included)
Granted you already had a car then $75 gas for a month. or take the bus and see if you could avail a bus pass. Food expenses: $100 a month ( hit your local church food giveaway assistance or food banks in your area to add to your food supply) $50.00 savings a month $25 miscellaneous expenses (matinee movie ,transportation fee to a free event like museums, art shows, festivals etc. ) clothing ( go to garage sales or thrift shop again hit your church for clothing assistance)
To live cheaply also utilize community resources available. It pays to know about this things. OK. Thats it, I hope I helped.

Answer 6

Well everyone here is quite different, but i'll list a best case scenario.

Rent $0 (you live at home)
Car expenses $ 45 (you decided to get a moped to get you around)
Food $50 (you work part time as a waiter, so sometimes you get free food)
Cell $ 20 (you decided to share a family plan with your best friend so you dont really talk to anyone else)
Random stuff $50 (hey, what's college without $1 beer night, have a couple once in a while, and head to the movies.)

$120

Answer 7

The are people all over the world living on barely a $1.00US a day. Since we are in the USA & being from the So. California Region I would need at least $750-rent, $100-food, utilities, insurance, medical-$250 & just for good measure $100. In total $1200/month or $14,400/year. Just don't have any ambition to do anything else.

Answer 8

Okay, this is going to vary by location. Since I presently reside in Central TX. This is how I live monthly. I receive federal student loans at a junior level. That is about $3,500 for both fall and spring sessions of class. I take anywhere from 12 to 18 hours of classes. My school bill is at about $1,300. Not including books. Which is another $300-$500, buying used text books. I receive GI Bill benefits of full-time hours of 1,034. I set that aside in my account. My apartment is $400 monthly including internet, cable, garbage disposal and close proximity to campus. About 1.5 miles walking distance to campus. I pay $30-$50 in water and $10-$40 in electricity. I spend around $50-$80 for my cell phone bill. I spend $40-$70 on a full tank of gas at least twice a month. My truck is paid off. So, I do not have to worry about a car note. The apartment complex is close enough to the campus I can walk or take university shuttles to class. I spend $30-$60 on groceries monthly. I work a part-time job on the weekends at about 20-30 hours. So, that is set aside into a different account to pay solely for the rent and utilities. I usually pay a few months in advance on my rent, so through out the school year I do not have to worry about not having the rent. I hope that helps.

Answer 9

My husband and I own a house in California...so assuming that wouldn't change, here is a bare minimum per month detailed list of what it would take to *survive*.

Mortgage: 1,689.87
PGE: 55.57*
Water: 48.67*
Garbage: 21.54
Phone: 42.69*
Food: 362.00*
Doc/Dentist: 23.00*
Medicine: 10.00*
Bike Maint. 20.00 or
Bus Pass 20.00
Postage: 3.90*
Misc. 100.00* ^
_________________
Total $2,377.24

* These numbers are based on our average expenditures over the past 12 months.

^ Misc. expenditures include everything from lightbulbs to shampoo to underwear. Just basic household necessities.

What has been cut out of the equation:

Car maintenance, car insurance, car registration, gasoline, life insurance, tithe and charitable contributions, cell phone, internet, NetFlix, Costco fee, AAA fee, Starbucks, gym fees, golf (greens fees and equipment expenditures), other recreational equipment costs, entertainment of any sort, meals out, snacks and dessert, coffee and tea, soda, gum, vacations, trips out of town, airfare, hotel costs, clothing budgets, make up, haircuts, physical therapy, massage, piano tuning, 401K, IRA, savings and investments, books, magazines, television, and anything else that isn't an arguable necessity.

Now, assuming we didn't have the house, or we had to sell it. Living on the cheap would require moving to a small, probably run-down apartment. For our area, the numbers would be something like the following:

Rent: 800.00
PGE: 55.57
Water: 48.67
Phone: 42.69
Food: 362.00
Doc/Dentist: 23.00
Medicine: 10.00
Bike Maint. 20.00 or
Bus Pass 20.00
Postage: 3.90
Misc. 100.00
_________________
Total $1,465.83

If our income were low enough, we'd qualify for Section 8 housing and food stamps. That would probably slash another $600 off the total, bringing us to a bare minimum of approximately $866/month. That's ... wow. I'm speechless. We live too indulgently.

Answer 10

Live in a free shelter for the homeless - $0
Free food from the shelter or nearby Salvation Army station - $0
Wear clothing found in apartment trash bins or the local dump - $0
Wash off in the local river or lake - $0

Hygiene wouldn't really be an issue if you're talking bare minimum survival needs.

Answer 11

As an adult, I have designed my life on the cheap. This has allowed me to take a year off from working and to travel. I own a house with a fixed rate mortgage and I have a 13 year old car that has been paid off for over 10 years. I have never had cable TV and I don't get fancy gadgets.

If you live under your means and choose not to buy every shiny gizmo that comes along or do stupid things financially like get a cell phone with a 2 year plan (get a pay as you go phone instead and use it wisely), you will find you can live on very little money. this gives you flexibility in your life and frees you from the paycheck to paycheck syndrome. You might even be able to put money away for retirement.

The number one way to live cheaply is to get out of debt and pay off your bills every month. That sounds easy but it's not. It took me 7 years to pay off $10,000 of student loan debt and if delayed my getting a car (the one I still have, by the way). But getting myself out of debt allowed me to carve out a quality life for myself and also allows me to quit jobs if I am unhappy and not have to worry about paying my mortgage. It took me a long time to get out of debt but now that I am (except for what is owed on my house), I will not ever allow myself to get back into those financial deep waters. Owing creditors just eats away at your life and makes you feel desperate and overwhelmed. I hated that feeling.