I'm dropping out of college. Is it possible to live off of $1000 a month?

Question

I figure that it'll be rough the first few years, but then after I get my life together and my "strategic plan" kicks in, I'll be set for life.

I'm 20 years old, btw

Staying in school is NOT an option

Answer 1

done it - it can be done.

1st and most important is where you are. The cost of living isn't as important as the cost of housing. Housing costs will eat nearly half of your budget in the cheapest of communities. Your budget target is 33% to rent or 50% to rent with utilities included if you're paying it all yourself. That means you need to be living in a pretty inexpensive town.

Next is that you must eliminate all recurring debts. car payment, loans, credit cards, etc... have to be gone. The car has to be paid out. An older model car will cost you less in insurance. You're going to need a car because living where housing is cheap usually means no public trans (except in the major cities)

Next is food. No eating out and no massive snack food purchases. You have to shop efficiently to keep this under 10% of your budget. Eating out once will kill a whole week's food budget.

Savings, you must have enough in savings to replace that old car with another old car.

It can be done - old disabled veterans do it every day. Single mom's who dropped out of high school and can't find a job do it every day. Mentally ill people who have fallen through the cracks do it every day. Immigrants that can't speak English yet do it every day.

The real question is, why would you want to do that? Even fast food workers earn more than $1K a month FT. Expect it to be a very difficult life indeed...

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those who say it can't be done:
my real world is:

rent - $425
electric - $70
water - $20
cable/internet - $100 (can cut this any time)
car insurance - $70
no recurring debts
total non-discretionary = $685 per month

food and gas and asst. discretionary costs easily eat the rest of $1000; if I had to though, I can survive in this situation with $1000 per month (which happens to be the amount I get monthly forever from a perpetuity)

Answer 2

Hahaha. It would be nice if a person could survive with 1000 dollars a month...only in an ideal world...but...I don't think so.

Take these factors into consideration.

1. Are you living with some one or your own? Rent is going to take a big portion of that 1000.
2. Do you drive? Gas prices are 3 dollars+ just about everywhere. I myself drive a gas friendly sedan and have to fill 35 - 40 dollars every 4 or 5 days.
3. Are you planning to eat? hahaha. With 1000 dollars, plan on losing weight cause you're not going to be eating a lot.
4. Are you paying for Car Insurance?
5. Utility bills: Gas, water, electric, phone, DSL?, Cellphone, etc.
6. Most importantly, you're not going to have enough for a savings plan. You'll never know what money problems will hit you in the future.

If you have all those responsibilities to take care of, 1000 dollars isn't going to do it buddy.

Take my advice my friend, you might probably want to just stick it out in college. I myself will be done with school in 1 1/2 year and will be making the same amount you make in a month. Wouldn't that sound better?

Anyways. Good luck in your life plan.

Answer 3

Sure, it's possible, but not necessarily going to be enjoyable. Find a small comfortable place to live, and get a roommate. Apartments or anywhere else that sinks dollars into advertising and community features (like pools) probably won't work. Find a duplex or townhouse for rent. If you live in a large city, or can't handle a roomie, consider looking for house rooms for rent by owners. If you commit to more than $400 a month for housing, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Other than that, keep a close eye on your expenses, especially eating out. If you're not paying for a car, you can probably afford a bit of an entertainment budget, like a movie a couple nights a month. Also know that once you quit school, you'll be forced to start making payments on any student loans you might have in deferral, so factor that in. Good luck!

Answer 4

Factors to consider:

(1) Where you live; the higher the cost of living, the more or less likely it is.
(2) What your living situation will be: alone, with friends, a roommate? That changes things.
(3) What you will do; if it's $1000 a month now, but it will go up soon, then growth is good. In coming years, living off $1000/month will be harder
(4) Your debt - if you quit school, six months after that, you MUST start paying student loans and such back. Add that to any credit card debt, bills, etc, etc...

Possible? Yes. Difficult? Probably.

Good luck.

SD

Answer 5

I live off actually live off $990 a month from my youth payment and scholarship. I have to say I do have to ask for my parents help when I need some ink for my printer or to buy a CD that I like. Its pretty hard, you always have money on your mind. I always have problems going out with my friends because I can't pay for their meals. Rent is $80, the cheapest I could find, electricity and gas bills around 200 every three months, thats about it for compulsory money.
Now when I calculate how much money is left for food, I find that $20 a day for food will end up in nearly $8000 a year! So you might have to think about eating like you're really poor. I honestly can't stand eating cheap food so my bank account is always low in cash... you just can't seem to save enough money in this budget. Get a tutoring job and you'll get an extra $200 a month and it will be sweeter.

Answer 6

Hi: It totally depends on the economy of the place that you are living in (the city). I live in Calgary, where a (very basic) one bedroom apartment rents for no less than 800 per month. If you are willing to share an apartment with two other people, you can probably make it here on $1000 per month, but it would be tough. There is no "strategic plan" that compensates for spending everything you earn on basic lving expenses. You should try to buy the place that you live in (apartment, townhouse, condo), and be willing to live in a less-classy part of town. Then, instead of paying off someone elses' mortgage with your rent payment, you will be paying your own mortgage, and the mortgage will be going down as hopefully the value of your property is going up. Don't get a bigger mortgage than you can pay for with $400 if you are going to live on $1000. You should also find out what housing prices have been doing in the part of town you want to live in. Next, create a budget which puts 10% of your money into savings, and consider entertainment costs (because everyone needs entertainment of some kind, and will spend money on it unwisely if they don't plan for it). Entertainment may simply be a cable conection and a decent TV. My father watched TV every night for five years after he lost a chunk of his life savings in a bad business deal. He saved a lot of his income by not going out to restaurants etc.

If you drop out of college, you will decrease the average amount of money that you will be making on a yearly basis for the rest of your working life, but if you can be self-employed, doing something that you really enjoy, and you are careful with your money, you may be able to come out ahead in the long run. However, the first thing you should do is get a newspaper, see how much it is going to cost you to get shelter, and make a plan to see how much it will cost per month for food and clothing, and figure out if you will have any left for savings. The savings will get you through times when you can't work, and believe me, those times come. You can live on any income if you are willing to spend less than you make. I know of a restaurant owner in Vancouver who lived on $3 a day eating rice at every meal while the value of his restaurant went through the roof.

Answer 7

I think you should stay in college, there are so many people that do not have a college degree and struggling to find a decent job to support myself and young daughter. So many companies are laying off every year, my advice is be careful because down the line you may regret dropping out of college. Living on $1000 depends on what state you live in and if you have any other bills such as car note, credit cards etc. Good luck and I hope you DO NOT DROP OUT!!

Answer 8

I believe it might be Possible... but I doubt you'll be making enough money to SAVE money to "get your life together" unless you made more money.

The way I see it, you could live on $1000 dollars if you were living with a LOT of roommates that would allow for the splitting of bills. You should probably only spend 500 dollars on rent/bills, or else you will not have enough for your car/car insurance (if you have one), or for groceries, and other miscellaneous expenses. (Trust me, a lot of little things can add up)

As for being "set for life"... you better be planning on saving 10% of your money per month.... than being 100 dollars.... and for someone living on a tight budget like your proposing, it would be near imposssible.

If your stategic plan involves going BACK to college, getting a degree, and getting a higher paying job, than yes, you probably can make it living poor for a couple years until you get a degree. If that's NOT your plan, than you are screwed buddy. You're never going to get out of the "slump" you're putting yourself in.

You can't live on 1000/month indefinitly. YOU need to be making more money. Try finding a different job, or get a 2nd job... but without HIGHER education, and a degree, with a better paying job, you are DOOMING yourself to a life of hardship.

Answer 9

Depends on where you plan to live. I expect many people live on $1,000 a month or less, but in many places it is tough to live well on that much money, and even tougher to raise a family on that much money. It would be below the poverty line. If you plan to live with your parents rent free, you can do it, of course, but to pay rent, utilities, telephone, food, insurance, car payment, etc., it would not be easy.

You may be able to rent a room in a boarding house and live on that much money, especially if you don't need a car.

I have known people who lived on much less than that, but they chose to live outside much of the year in Florida.

My main question is "Why do you need to live on $1,000 a month?" I expect, even without a college degree, there are jobs you could get that pay considerably more than that.

Answer 10

I would try to live at home rent free if possible. I don't think you have sustainable income. Even $20 an hour is not enough for a single person to live on.