OT: Can You Live On?
 

Can you live on a $1,000.00 dollars a month?

Asume you have rent and an average car payment plus insurances: (renters, full coverage auto, and basic health).

Can any of you survive on whats left? Oh, don't forget the phone and ISP bill. Visa's, and the cost of food, gas, and medicines.

Let me know if any of you can aford to live on whats left.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

You're kidding aren't you? That's less than £550 sterling. That would barely cover my mortgage on my (very) small 2 bedroom flat. Well, mortgage+rent actually: My place is shared ownership. I'd have no money left for food, bills, beer, ISP, beer, food, wine, beer, absynthe, food, beer or any of the other essentials.

God... no beer...

*shudder*


EDIT: I see you mean, could I do it if I had to. If I was single, and prepared to live in a rented room or studio flat- I might just do it round here. Not sure I could afford a car though. If I moved a few hundred miles north it would probably be enough.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I am not joking. That is the going rate for many on Unemployment and or those who are disabled and on SSI or SSD.

In fact in many cases it is much less.

This is unfair to those who by no fault of their own are out of work or unable to work. I feel that laws should be placed into practice that would protect people from loosing what they have gained while being forced to live low income style.

It is a very hard living to say the least, and the cost of living keeps going up while the means to live goes down. This is a real problem for millions of people in the US and I am sure around the world.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

There's no way I could live on $1000 a month without making some major changes:
- find 2-3 other roommates and share a cheap apartment
- get rid of the car and take public transport
- most meals consisting of only water and bread
- stop going to movies, buying games, books etc.
- use the public library for internet access

Wait, is that $1000 US? I was thinking $1000 Canadian... well, $1000 US is better but still wouldn't be enough.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

On average

$370.00 Rent (With Room Mates) Expenses included
$85.00 Phone and ISP
$110.00 Auto Insurance (Auto Paid Off)
$65.00 Suppalmental insurance for Auto (Required)
$110.00 Medical Insurance (Not counting prescriptions)
$80.00 Visa
$40.00 Renters Insurance

$860.00

Now Gas and food and you have nothing left. I don't see how any one can live on this. It is unlive able.

Minimum wage = $7.13 X 40 X 15% Tax = $242.42 weekly X 4 = $969.68 a month.

Live on that!

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Maybe I can live on $500 a month by buying an old van and parking it near the university. I won't actually park in the campus parking lot because that would cost money. Then I'll live in the van but won't actually drive it anywhere. I'll use the shower in the school gym every morning. I won't have to buy soap or toilet paper and there will be no electric bill. Sometimes I'll sleep on the sofas in the study areas like I used to do when I was a student. I'll use free phone in the student lounge to make calls and also use the microwave oven there to cook my food. I'll go to the public library for free internet, because you can't use the university computers unless you're a currently a student. I'll buy my clothes from garage sales and used-clothing stores like Value Village. My meals would consist of bread, water, bananas, and no-name brand cereals.

Then my monthly expenses would be:
$0 rent
$0 electricity, heating
$75 monthly bus pass
$200 food
$225 left for clothes, entertainment, and everything else

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Yes, but living in your car is considered "non residence" status. You would most likely not be able to obtain a divers license or employment. At best you would most likely have to pop for P.O. box.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I currently get $536 cdn/month on the solidarity assistance program (fancy name for wellfare in Quebec) and I share the cost of living with two other people. My brother and Mom. The bills look like this..

$ 395 Rent
$ 112 Hydro
$ 60 Phone
$ 72 Cable
$ 40 ISP
$ 520 Food
-----------
$1199 (rounded to 1200 and divided by 3 = 400/month

I have no car, and the remaining 136 goes to clothes, computer needs, and the rare occasional outting with friends. Every once in awhile I go into debt when something big breaks. Like recently I had to buy a new matress $375 which I'll be paying off over the next 3-4 months. (of course I might have to skip a month to take care of some xmas shopping, but I should be paid by feburary at the latest. Oh, and come January the government has decided that we people on wellfare are getting too much money, so I'll be getting about $100 less/month. This 'cut' is supposed to 'encourage' us to go out and find jobs.

You might say "aren't you working on SE5? So why are you on wellfare?" Well, I'm under contract, but I'll get paid when Aaron gets paid, and that is only after SE5 is released. So I got to survive untill then.

On another note, I'm not looking for 'regular' type employment, my primary priority is taking care of my mother, I'm doing the work from home type thing right now. After she passes it will be another story.

anyway, to me $1000/month seems like a hefty 'raise' so Yes I could survive on that, and even square away a bunch of money for the lean times.

Nuf said, Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I live on 1,145 a month. Down 500 do to insurance company changing of policies concerning defination of Long Term Disability. Was until death, now 24 months. Go figure.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Man, I would love to have £550 a month (well, if I could get a job I would be getting more, but still, thats not the point lol)

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Spend your life working then in one fair swoop, its all gone. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Imagine how much harder it would be if you had a kid or two...I'm going to avoid the less obvious political statements I could make here...and instead just mitigate for more tax breaks for the rich! (just kidding)

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I guess this poll only make sense for US-Canada-EU people.
Because I used to live on 100-150$/month.
270$/month now (found better job).

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I voted barely, but it would really depend. If I lived in Pennsylvania, then I could do it easily. If I lived in Los Angeles, I most likely couldn't, I'd be going over the $1000/month line a lot. Differences in cost of living pretty much, since in urban California, you would need a bit over minimum wage to get anywhere, probably around $9/hour minimum. The area of rural Pennsylvania where my parents live, someone could easily get by on the minimum wage of $5.15 there... and some people do (although usually it's bumped up to somewhere in the $6 after a year).

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I live on less than that now and consistantly add to my savings. My car was paid off, and insurance only ran me $250 every six months. The mortgage runs around nine, I have a three-hundred-dollars-a-month personal note, and all the stadard services (phone, water, power, gas, broadband) only run around $250.

I have filled my five-bedroom house with roommmates, so things are exceedingly tolorable. When I finish school and get a job, rather than relying on the unemployment insurance checks, I'll be putting away a lot of money. Even a crappy $9/hour job will allow me to really stack up the bank.

No credit cards (though I just picked up a few for emergencies), no health insurace (every now and then I have to go to the doctor's, and that's about $70 for the visit and they give me 'samples' for medication), somewhat expensive eating habits (Atkins, more or less), no eating out, no movies, no new games (still playing D2:LoD, SE IV, and SMAC), no television, no real problems.

Here in Colorado unemployment is paid by your former employers through an insurance system. I know there is welfare, but it isn't any way to get by.

I don't know what's running you up so bad, man. But once again I invite you to move to Colorado. It's nice here.

(I didn't vote, CC bills, auto note and whatnot just out of my paradigm)

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

For me, luckily I have military retirement. Not much of a check but the medical coverage and other benefits help out alot. Every once in awhile they try to mess with it so its abit of a worry whether it will be there when Im really REALLY old. One of my sons gets SSI and still lives with us. It does cover his needs as long as he stays with us (he is 27 now). But it really ties us to California since his benefits would be less elsewhere.

My primary "duty" now is caring for him but I can do spot jobs from home (thank you DSL). And my wife has to work 2 jobs. With the current economy we are squeeking by but every month is a balancing act. Luckily Bush has only messed with the disabled vets money and not mine. On the other hand Schwarzeneger is messing with my sons ssi.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I could make it on that amount each month but it would be pretty tight. Although probably not as bad as I think it would be if I'd budget and not eat out so much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif

I make just a little bit more then that each month at my current job and make it just fine. Although that is with the fact that I still live at home...Hey, leave me alone, I'm only 19. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

If my car payment was a little bit lower each month I would not have any problems at all making it on that amount each month if I had my own apartment. Living in rural Indiana is nice in that regard. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I usually pull in about eur1300 a month which works out at about USD1600 and I still have to be very careful with my money or I'll run out before the end of the month.
That 1300.00 usually breaks down as:
350.00 rent (which is bloody cheap for Dublin)
180.00 food (also eating cheaply by Dublin standards)
150.00 credit card
85.00 pension fund (government one is rubish)
60.00 transportation (bus or train to work, owning a car in Dublin is prohibitively expensive.
80.00 on repayments on my PC
80.00 on the loan I had to take out to pay hospital bills.
60.00 medical insurance (I learned my lesson)
50.00 mobile phone bill (if I'm lucky)
90.00 electricity/phone/heating bills
30.00 for ISP (only one in the house with a PC so I foot the bill myself.

Which leavs me with about eur80.00 after everything is payed for which isn't too bad but it doesn't go very far over here. Ah well, once the loan, PC and credit card payments are done that'll free up another 300... Only 2 more years to go.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

voted NO F***ING WAY! because...well...there no F***ING way. $1000 is only half my current mortgage payment, nevermind cars, food, etc...
Even renting isn't possible, the house down the end of my street is currently renting for more then my mortgage and my Last 2 bedroom apartment rented @ $800 so maybe in another part of the US but certainly not in Massachusetts.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Wow - insurance is eating a huge amount of your expenses: $325 is 38% of the total!

I hate insurance. Especially "mandatory" insurance.

PvK

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

With my 2 jobs and my wife's, we barely make double that $1000 a month. Well, maybe a little more than double, it just depends on my wife's income, which can fluctuate depending on how many hours she works a week. Fortunately, I don't have any car payments, or I'd really be screwed. But I do have a mortgage, with built-in insurance. But I don't have insurance on the contents of my home. I barely have enough to afford car insurance, which is mandatory in Florida. Then my electric bill, which runs around $125 (until winter, when it goes up). Then my phone and cell-phone bills, and my satellite bill is around $100. then a couple of credit card payments. And I took out a home equity loan on my house awhile back, and that's around $250 every 2 weeks. And besides all that, I still need money for food, gas, and whatnots. So we squeek by, but barely.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Not in the citys. $1000 isn't what you need to make it in Colorado Springs let alone Denver.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

I live in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area of Virginia, so the living costs aren't all that bad. About a year ago, my dad went on disability pay for nearly eight months which meant he only got 66% of his normal paycheck. take that into effect that we are buying our house and i live in a family of four kids...

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Not here, no way. Studio Apt. is $825 a month. Buy a crappy town house you say........$175,000. How about a bare lot to put a mobile estate home (sic) on? $250,000 and there is a law against houses with wheels. 35 year old split level 4brm 2bath, $485,000.00 Nice big new house.....more than a million.

I have a conservative house and my property tax is $285 a month.

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

That's not so difficult to live on where I am (small town/rural Midwest), but I'm sure it's very difficult to live at that level on either coast where the cost of living is so much higher. It would be tight here, but it's doable for a single individual. I bet both unemployment and welfare benefits are less out here, though.

Edit: Hmm, I ended up responding to Loser. Now why can't you change who your message replies to?

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

And yet that's fairly cheap for Europe from what I hear. What about living away from Dublin, in the western and more rural parts of Ireland? Would it be lots cheaper or does it not make much difference anymore?

Re: OT: Can You Live On?
 

Nonesense. I've lived on less than that for years at a time, putting money away even.

Of course when I lived on <$800 I was living in squallor: no car, no broadband, shared appartment, ate at work.

Seriously, though. Downtowners don't even need a car here in the Springs. They live downtown in small apartments that are part of what used to be the homes of millionares (1890s), they work downtown in the resurants, shops, and hotels, they party downtown at their friends houses or on CC campus (real downtowners apparently never go to the clubs downtown). They can live on less than a grand.