Can you live off $800.oo dollars a month

Discussion in 'Financial Cents' started by hank2222, Jan 9, 2012.


  1. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    I made some bad choices in my life at a time when i should have been a little more carefull when it came to handling money that i was making at the time in my life but that life and i'm not crying about the past .

    Plus given the fact that my old job from the hawaiian group cost me more money out of my personal 401k to have to hire a top notch lawyer to defend myself from a witch hunt and lawsuit that was bought againest me by one of the members of the group

    The only basic saving grace of the matter is that in the years of 08-09-10-11-i was building up a major amount of long term supplies that i was going to need for the future .

    So right now with a basic part time job with a big box store and working 32.hours a week at night cleaning the floors when they are closed for the night . Right now i'm living on less than $800.oo a month for my monthly bills after taxs and medical is taken out of the check month and taking only $600.oo a month out of my retirement check from my former job and the rest goes saight into the 401k fund to build it back up for my late in life retirement .

    I change my own oil and filter on my smart .I mainly eat at buger king or other fast food places that have a dollar menu when i do eat out when i'm out and free wifi for use with my ipad .i try not and drive to have doctor vist on my off days and try and get them on the days i work and it on my way home that day from work .

    When i do grocery shop it right after work to get what i need on the way home from work .When i'm off work and it not a payday weekend i do not leave the house .

    Plus going to local walmart having them price match the other stores when i'm shopping there for my food .I brown bag my lunch everyday i work and buy a large 2.lt soda from the wally world before going into work that night

    The only good thing i have going for me is my house & land & car is completely paid off along with only owning land taxs on the place each year and my major preps are done and now it the little thing's i need to prep and keep my basic knowage base growing with manuals and books i see .

    Here is how i break it down into two sections .

    First section is for my personal preps and that amount is about $250.oo dollars a month for books and manuals and movies & other supplies i like have for the place.

    Second section breaks down in the following areas of personal outlaying of cash per month since i get paid every two weeks now in my part time job so some are paid in full that payday and the other paycheck is used for something else .
    -food-$250.oo
    -cellphone bill-$45.oo
    -gas for vehicle-$60.oo
    -misc item for the house hold like dish washing-soap-t.p-papertowels-laundry soap-$40.oo
    -gas & oil & other misc items for the honda generator for use as it need in the winter time -$40.oo{
    This goes away in the summer months and the solar takes care of my everyday power need's there where i'm at and the money is put toward something else in the summer .The winter months can be a little hard on the solar and i need to have a way to charge my battery bank when the sun has not shined for a few days .So i have a small honda eu 3000 gas powered generator to charge the battery's as they are need in the cold weather months from nov to march up in the high country of northern Az }
    -doctor copay's and monthly meds i need-$30.oo
    total for the money is about -$715.oo a month

    about $85 dollars a month to go out to dinner at buger king and a movie every two week when i'm off .

    I do have a extra $600.oo dollars every month that goes in a fund to pay the following extras that comes do every year
    -taxs on the land
    -car insurance
    -personal health insurance
    -oh cr--p fund after everything else is paid for and i need to buy tires or have the vehicle worked on .
     
  2. CATO

    CATO Monkey+++

    I don't want to sound like a ninny, but here are a few things that, if we were friends, I'd tell you to change immediately:

    Cut out the sodas (luxury) and drink water (necessity). Get one of those self filtering bottles and just carry it with you everywhere.
    Cut out the fast-food--it really is killing you. Yeah, it's cheap, but a 30# sack of rice and similar sack of beans would be much better for you. You could supplement this with buying bruised/ugly fruits/veggies from local store (or barter for services). Yes, this will be added work and a pain in the @$$ in general, but it will be better for you in the long run AND you will already be in a routine with the beans/rice when TSHTF.

    I don't say these things to preach. I had those same habits and it caught up with me. What I write above is similar to my daily food intake...just add Cheerios and some occasional freshly caught trout. Preps don't matter if you're dying of heard disease or so out of shape you can't walk 5 miles with a 35# pack on short notice.

    ...and thanks for sharing the story. (y)
     
  3. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    In my daypack i carry a water filter bottle that i fill with water and drink it when i'm waxing the floor's when i'm working .The soda is a personal treat and i buy the socalled 1.5 sized for a dollar and it for my lunch the rest of the time it water or the free coffee or tea that we have there if do drink something

    i can not do rice because of the high carb's because of beening a borderline diabetic .So rice is out in large amounts
     
  4. ditch witch

    ditch witch I do stupid crap, so you don't have to

    A guy here at work was doing fine on $500 a month before we hired him. Now that we're supplying his cell, vehicle, insurance AND a paycheck, he thinks he's in high cotton.
     
    TwoCrows likes this.
  5. CATO

    CATO Monkey+++

    Then definitely stay away from the fast-food!!

    Check these out:

    (not sure of the cost or effectiveness) Fenugreek - Diabetes Health

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirataki_noodles

    Beans/legumes, bean sprouts, veggies, and those noodles...a little soy sauce or peanut butter...you'll be as fit as a fiddle.
     
  6. strunk

    strunk Monkey+

    I'm biting my tongue hard here but I've spent some time living under desperately poor conditions, and this life sounds pretty comfortable compared to that time of my life. The Burger King, the movies, the pop, and absolutely the cell phone... all signs of life in America: home of the richest poor people on earth.

    With your income in India, this lady would be your personal chef:
    Indian village cooking - YouTube

    When I was living a harder life than what you're describing, I cut some corners:
    * The cell phone plan was dropped and I picked up a prepaid phone. It stayed shut off almost all the time. One-time cost up front, one monthly bill demolished.

    * Forget about changing oil in cars. I worked out the math and I did much better by buying cars in rough shape for $300-$500, driving them into the ground, and then starting over. I could buy a car for $500, drive it until the tires were dangerously bare, and sell it as-is for $300. I'd take that $300 and a budget of $100 or $200 more and buy another car that didn't need tires. I did get 3 years out of a K-car once, which I spent $300 for. When I sold it, I got my initial investment back.

    * Food - If you're eating at Burger King, even from the value menu, you're pretty comfortable financially. When things got really hard for me, $10 got spent at the thrift store on two bread machines, and I picked up a free bag of white flour from the classifieds. I filtered the weevils out of the flour, choked out anything left with dry ice, and it was fine. That flour became the basis for most meals, and the bread machines were not necessary but did save labor.

    * Growing a garden helped a lot. Gardeners tend to be friendly people, and if you're honest and up front that you're going through some hard times, you don't want money, you're just looking for heirloom seeds... you can get those for free just for the asking. Heirloom seeds are crucial to carry you through year after year (because you'll be saving seeds).

    * Figure out what's edible forage in your area. Nettles, dandelions, fiddlehead ferns... there are so many options out there to add some variety to your big bag of flour.

    * Fish & game helped sometimes, but getting the stuff often proved to be more work than it was worth.

    * This is ethically very shady, but if you happen to get the phone number of someone who works at the supermarket, key that number in as your shopper's card at the self checkout line. You'll get an employee discount. That discount goes farther on store brand goods. In my case, I used the phone number of a senior citizen employee. Once night a week there was a senior discount plus the regular employee discount. Go shopping that night after 8PM, and the butcher has marked down all of the meats that are about to spoil.

    * The pop is worse for you than the rice. I don't care whether it's the HFCS sweetened version or the "diet" version. Either way, that stuff is poison, and is probably doing more to throw you out of sorts than rice ever will.
     
  7. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    THE WHOLE POST IS MORE ABOUT NOT SCREWING UP WITH MONEY AS WE GET OLDER THAN ANYTHING ELSE BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME TO MAKE IT RIGHT IF WE ARE PAST THE AGE OF 60.The the point i'm trying to make right now

    I have lived in third world places from the my days in the military so i know about the conditions of living in some places i was stationed at the time .

    I also have done some of the things that you have said .But i refuse to do the one with the person discount card number because of that beening in the area of stealing from someone and that goes againest my personal brief's on that level of personal brief's .

    The soda is a personal treat to me along with my trips to a fast food place here and there during the month .Even in the worst of time's you have to give yourself a treat here and there to say that your alive and i'm going to make it no matter what .

    To me the soda and a trip to the buger king in the morning after work and i spend a $2.10 on a burger and a small drink and use the free wifi for the time i'm there .

    My cell phone plan is from saight talk and it unlimited talk with local & nationwide with text & data for my smart phone because i use free wifi on the cell phone when i'm at the cabin to get on the internet .
     
    STANGF150 and larryinalabama like this.
  8. Waz

    Waz Monkey+

    If you own your home it is doable, if there is two people it gets easier, we are on pensions, wife is on disability, used to have our own business and made a lot, but we weren't happy, now we own the home and vehicle, plus an old hilux 4x4 that I am trying to restore the body on, we are much more content, sure we had to adjust, but a lot of what we used to do was just wasteful. If we didn't own the home and car, then it would be tough
     
  9. larryinalabama

    larryinalabama Monkey++

    Will streight talk work on a desktop computer?
     
  10. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    I lived on zero a month for around 8 months back in 07-08 after my business (Construction/Real Estate) collapsed. I was only able to survive because of my cash stash and my investments in tangible, shiny, metal items. I still deposited the same amount my wife was used to budgeting our household on - I don't know that she realized the finite road we were on. I had a much larger machine to feed then than I do now. Zero debt is the way to go.

    I understand where you are coming from but with the current shape of market investments, would not fund a penny into a 401K (My opinion only and not to be taken as financial advice). My company matches up to 6% and I'd be fully vested from day one but I do not contribute. I just keep stacking coins away each month instead.
     
  11. hank2222

    hank2222 Monkey+++

    It should work if you have wifi set up on your desktop .The phone i have is a Android powered smart phone that has Wifi set up to run a laptop or ipad or other form of a tablet off it .
     
  12. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    $800.00 a month? that is less than I spend on gasoline on average. My monthly budget is roughly five times that and I wonder how I make it with that?
     
    hank2222 likes this.
  13. larryinalabama

    larryinalabama Monkey++

    Ive had many highs and lows in life, from a new house with new cadilliac in the garague, to being very close to homeless. Being rich is hard to maintain, and being poor is hard to maintain (althought its eaiser to be poor). Financial security is priceless, if living on 800$ keeps you secure do it, if you spend 5000$ and can be finacially secure do it.
    One thing I would recomend especially to those under 40 is to spend 3 to 5 years busting butt and living cheap so you can pay off all your depts including your home. Trust me its worth it.
     
    hank2222 and ghrit like this.
  14. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    A divorce will force that issue home. Took all of the 5 years, but it's done. Never had the caddy, and never will, but walking is no longer in style around here.
     
    Gafarmboy and hank2222 like this.
  15. larryinalabama

    larryinalabama Monkey++


    I was completely debt free when I married, divorced last year and had to take on debt to keep my home. So needlesst Im in a little bit of a struggle but I think I can get through it. Still got the Cadillac but its now 22 years old, but to me just has fun. Hope to finish the house Im building over the next 18 months. I will say living a simple life out here in the woods has its own rewards.
     
    hank2222 likes this.
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