Could you live on $1000/month?

I think it really depends on where you live In some parts of the country, the cost of living is low enough that you could make ends meet on $1,000/month. If you rented a room in a house or had roommates, for example, that would mean a lower rent....groceries cost different amounts depending on where you live (my grocery bill dropped 30% when I moved to Utah from VA - same foods, same stores, lower prices )... utilities are different prices depending on where you live, etc.

If you lived someplace that had good public transportation you could give up your car (no car payment, maintenance, vehicle tax, inspection fees, gas, etc) and ride the bus for a lot cheaper. But if you lived someplace that had terrible/no public transport, you'd NEED that car.

When I was in college I lived on way less than $1,000/month. Of course that was in the 90's . But I made an effort to live frugally and I still think it can be done today, depending on the circumstances.

If he has Aspergers and he isn't able to work, he may qualify for SSI benefits. However most Aspies (since they are HIGH functioning Autistic) can get a job doing something, even if it's sorting clothing at the Goodwill. My DD is an Aspie and I'm pretty familiar with the condition. Is he not able to work at all?

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we can and often do. hubs works sometimes very steady, but then things in construction take a dive. that means (self-employed) no income for weeks sometimes. BUT we are not a young family, and that would be way different. we have no mortgage, low property taxes, no credit cards, no fancy tv cable. that leaves a small electric bill, phone (includes internet), food, and the ever present money eating health insurance. that eats up the grand, but does cover all costs we have in our life. heat with wood, but we do buy a 250 gal. tank of oil every 3 years or so for back-up of the furnace. hub will be retired in April. funny, but we'll feel kind of sweet with that steady income for a change. we have savings, but thankfully haven't had to tap in to any of it yet. I figure we won't when he retires either. our truck and car are paid for, we try to maintain them well. so far that's been worth it. too bad those darn tires are so pricey, tho, eh? lol

I've been living on my savings since spring of 2011 when my unemployment ran out. My savings was intended for building a home on my homestead when I retire. I was putting money aside since 2001 when I bought my homestead. Now I'm living off that money. At my age I can't find work so I will take early retirement this fall when I turn 62 years old. After taxes I estimate I'll be getting around $900 to $1000 per month. My house in town and my homestead land in the country are paid off, so my biggest expenses will be health, auto, and homeowners insurance bills. I live alone so my other expenses like food, utilities and gas for the autos average less then $300 or so per month.

I feel for you folks who still have a mortgage. I pay cash for everything...I didn't purchase my homestead until I had saved up the money to cover it's cost. I was getting estimates on building a home/barn on my land when I got laid off from my job in 2009.

I figure when I start getting my SS in the fall that I will build a small cabin to live in, heated with a wood stove. There is an old unheated mobile home on the property but it is uninhabitable in the wintertime. I installed a septic system and ran city water back to the MH years ago. I have electric installed as well so I'm all set as far as utilities go. One of my largest expenses living here in town is the sewer and drainage bills that keeps going up year after year. The other large expense here in town is for natural gas. My homestead is 10 acres of mostly woods so I have plenty of free firewood even though most of it is scrub pines...it all produces heat. I will be able to live a LOT cheaper on the homestead than I am here in the city...that's for sure.

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Um... my daughter and I lived off less than that for the majority of her childhood. Now there is my husband added to that mix for the last two years. The elderly and disabled in the U.S. are expected to live off of $500-$700 AND pay premiums for all of the B.S. medical programs that are "made available" to them. It is a poor life. You go to the foodbank. You get foodstamps when you can, if the state says you don't make "too much money", which is hilarious, because apparently having a car or a phone is not considered a necessity, but an asset that could be sold before they give you foodstamps. If you live out in the sticks, they expect you to move into town and get on a waiting list for subsidized housing where, I'm sorry, but... most of the druggies live. Ya, that's the environment I want MY kid in! NOT.

The place I live in is a total trash heap. My husband is kind of a slob, and needs constant motivation to stay on task. He is mentally disabled and really has a hard time holding down a "normal" job, but he refuses to go on disability because he wants to be a productive member of society. We live on my money, and he gets temps and part timers and brings in extra, and once in a while, he hits paydirt and pulls in a full timer with overtime and we live like kings for a bit, and try to put some aside. It seems like we're always broke, always scraping by at the end of the month. He scraps metal often to get to work. His last job, he finally ran out of money to get there, and when he got his paycheck, it was less than what he spent in gas to drive there by $20. He had to cut his losses on that one. Now the goal is to get the internet (we homeschool for safety reasons and there are drugs and school problems, so internet is required), car insurance (required by law, just like our upcoming Obamacare issue... Hmmm... I see a pattern, here), and hubby's traffic ticket (cited for no insurance- we had to pay power bill or car insurance, and got caught), and the rest of the power bill for this month. Joy...

BUT.....

He owns his own property. It is the ONE good thing we have going for us. Thus the reason we don't move into town to the drug apartments. His yearly property tax is $400. It is about an acre, and we keep a couple sheep, about 12 doe and 3 buck rabbits, a bunch of chickens, a few cats, and a big dog. Oh yea, and a couple of male ducks run around aimlessly. I (try to) grow a big garden. We barter for animal feed, so for most of the year I do not buy feed, just a bit of protien grain for the bunnies when there is extra. Bought feed is really minimal. Last fall I scored a whole flatbed truckload of free hay that fed sheepies and rabbits clear through winter. I get industrial boxloads (fills my little truck) every few weeks of tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. and often that much bread too, from a foodbank that throws away food that is past the pull date. Sometimes there is milk. It's not my ideal feed for my critters, but they like it and they grow well. I hope they're not (too) full of artificial crap chemicals.

I wanted to be self sufficient, so that I could get off of the government system, the American way, as it were. We have two old beater cars that are paid for, and we pray a lot that they don't break down, and if they do, we just park them until we can fix them. One commuter car for hubby, and the pickup that is mostly so I can go pick up feed and such. We make extensive use of bartering, and Craigslist free stuff. Nothing gets wasted here, either. Remodel material torn off of our mobile home goes into a scrap heap, and then hubby takes it in to cash it out so he can get more gas. Last winter, we traded pigs for fencing. Someone let me borrow their ram to breed my ewes, and I am somewhat sure I've got a lamb in there coming out in March that I can use to get something else. I have two smaller pigs (less feed, less digging and moving them around, won't hurt me as bad when they misbehave...) that will give me babies probably next year, that will get me something else.

Do we get ahead? Probably not. We have debt out there, but it's just not getting paid on much. When you are living paycheck to paycheck, that's just the way it is. We have had some issues with family and some government people have tried to come into our property and tell us our house is not safe and we need to move, not taking into account that it is under construction. Hubby has all the materials needed, because we bought them at tax time last year. He works on the house when he is not working at his job. It takes time. So far I have fended off these people, but eventually we will have to let them in, because they will come back with a search warrant and a cop, but by then hubby will have some quick fix cosmetic things put into place. We are blessed to have a certified contractor and electrician in the family. Whew!

It seems with us, it is moving from one expensive catastrophe to another, but we get by. I have absolutely no idea what Obamacare is going to do to us. I would like to just continue to do what we have been doing, and pay out of pocket for medical expenses when needed. I don't go to the doctor much, because I don't need to. I don't take any medications, and I won't be starting either. For me, health conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, things like that, can be dealt with by food, because that's how they got started, by what I ate, or how much I ate. Ever heard the term, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" ?

On the flip side, my mother in law makes about $1600, lives in a nice, big house in yuppy rural-ville. Her house is paid for free and clear, too, but she has considerable medical expenses because she has Parkinsons. She also doesn't manage her money very well and has credit card debt and charge accounts for stupid stuff, like TV's and mail order Nike shoes. We tried and tried to get her to sell and to downsize before she officially went on disability for her disease, but she wasn't having it. Hers is a situation that may benefit from Obamacare. For now she is paying anywhere from $400-$1000 in medications per month, with a few premiums for Medicare and supplemental Medicare mixed in. That puts them down to $1000 or less to live on per month. They don't really qualify for foodstamps, even with those expenses, and they don't qualify for the medically needy spend down either, because she has to make $1200 in bills first before the state will help her. She doesn't consistently have that kind of expenses in meds because.... she gives up meds for other things. And then she wonders why she can't get any help. It's a nightmare. Their property tax is almost $2,000 per year and this year she won't qualify for the exemption, but next year, maybe. It would suck for her to lose that house that is paid for free and clear to taxes and STILL have to scrape along like that. But she wouldn't listen to us... Even so, when she dies, the state will take her house to do what they call "estate recovery", to offset the expense of the medical help they supposedly gave her (didn't give her), but they wait until she dies. They are also ripping off her other disabled son for medical that he doesn't even USE, nor is mentally competent enough to refuse or use. He constantly loses foodstamps because he isn't mentally there enough to keep them going and use them, or do the paperwork again, and doesn't cooperate with his state guardian anyway. This son lives on even less... about $500 a month.

He does, however, live in the drug apartments in town.

Can you live on this much? It's possible. There are measures that can be taken to make it possible, make it even a pretty good life, if the government people leave you alone. But it's a different way of life. We don't have cable tv. We don't wear name brand clothing. We don't even rarely shop for clothing. We get a lot of hand me downs, but then we hand down the hand me downs too, and trade them for wool or handmade goods like jelly or whatnot. We don't have a nice looking car. We don't have all those baubles that people fill their houses with to look nice. Our Christmas tree gets ripped off from public lands, or we cut a cherry branch from our own back yard. Our dog gets fed raw meat, supplemented with cheap farm brand dog food. If she lived on the dogfood alone, she would be riddled with moles and lumps, and have health issues. She does pretty well with her rabbit diet. The foodbank has a lot of starch foods and empty box food, so we supplement what we can. Once in a while it's a treat to buy whole, raw, milk. That's $10 a gallon though, so that's a treat. We don't eat out much, if at all... once a month, tops. My husband and I go to Home Depot and dream for our date night. My kid goes to youth group. We spend a lot less money now that she's not in a sport or in public school, but I feel she's missing out, and would like her to go back into sports. The student ID card for sports is $35. Band instrument rental was $5 a month. You pay to get into the game to watch your kid play at $5 a pop, twice a week. It gets kind of old, fast when you are on a budget. That, and because we are poor hick rednecks and Mom wears barn boots and jeans and tshirts all the time... I apparently embarrass her. She should be happy that I didn't go ALLL natural and make her use natural soap, deoderant, and hair conditioner.

But I save money with things like that, too. A bar of good soap lasts longer for our hair than a bottle of soap with plastic molecules in it and chemicals, stored in a plastic bottle that we have to dispose of. That, and it comes in a paper wrapper. Burnable or recyclable. Toothpaste is supplemented with baking soda, which works better anyway. We make a lot of our own washcloths and dishcloths out of wool from my sheep. Slippers and socks are made from wool from the sheep. Gifts for Christmas are socks, potholders, hats, etc. made from wool or recycles from the rag bin.

It's a way of life, I suppose. People say "how can you live that way?" I consider a few years ago when I was working a job at a company that provided cell phone service. I did customer service for them, so I fielded complaints from ticked off customers all day. The company was not always honest, not always ethical, and I had to often lie or B.S. customers into thinking they were getting something for nothing, or that they were in fact NOT being ripped off. During that time in my life, I started drinking a little bit. I wasn't very happy. My then 13 year old started failing in school (again), and having major behavior problems. Because of her age, she was left to her own devices a lot while I worked 10 hour days and drove an hour each way to work, so 12 hours without parental supervision and only 7 of those in school, and 2 or 3 of those in an after school program that still didn't curb a lot of trouble.

Funny thing is... I still had the same amount of money, after all that stress and driving gas in the car, and extra expense for stuff like convenience food because I was just too ---- tired when I got home to do jack. We lived in a tiny postage stamp apartment and shared a bedroom and I paid over half my monthly income for it.

Nah... I think I'd rather be broke, thank you very much.

I don't really think I could spend 1200.00 on groceries every single month if I tried hard. Not judging just amazed at that amount.

Just had to say that SS was NEVER intended to be a person's only income when they retire.

My son is mentally delayed. Not a lot, but he can not manage his own money. He couldn't make change if his life depended on it. A slow thinker & slow to react in certain situations. He receives SSI, but also has a job milking cows on a local dairy. You just gotta find the job that fits them. It took us a long time, but this job is perfect for him.

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We get good tv with an antenna which actually surprised me when we first moved here. No monthly bill.

I just gave examples not absolutes but although we don't "have" to live on $1,000.00 a month the question was "could" you live on $1,000.00 and I still think it could be done by myself or any of my family members because we enjoy a frugal being. It keeps things interesting. We almost compete at who can get by on less and still have more, so to speak.

Our taxes are around $300.00 a year on our property. I know that depends on where you are located. A lot of folks would think being able to save $50.00 a month would be a good start.

I have seen many high deductible insurances that still have the $35.00 doctor visit co pay and in my calculations you would have that $35.00 each month.

As far as repairs? I have never paid anyone to repair anything, that is why I have to admit my DH makes life much easier. Parts, etc. sometimes would have to come out of savings. If you needed it barter with something.

I have always paid income taxes so I don't know much about EIC or child tax credits as my children were pretty much grown...I think we got a child tax credit on our youngest 1 year.

BTW I am with you on the flat tax. It would save a lot of headache and prevent a lot of tax cheating.

Remember, could you not do you?

Should the dollar crash what are some going to do

Well for us it is cabbage and cornbread for supper and if the electric was out we would just move down stairs

Most debt we ever had was things that made us a living now i'm parting with all the equipement . I didn't retire i just quit

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Here is my budget for a minimalist lifestyle
Food $220 - have 5 chickens thats all the livestock I can justify - I sell enough eggs now to pay for the feed. Other protien hunt or trap =$5 bullets or trap repair
Property taxes 863 year = $71 mnth
Car and house ins $1000 yr = $83 month - this is plpd on a paid for car
Health ins = $40 - 4% of income on Obama care. Right now at my job I pay $90 a month
Elec $60
Heat $5 Chain saw gas and maintence
Gas $40
Phone $5 - prepaid tracphone
Savings $25

total = 550 a month

Now I havent added in Rx meds - which for me is $16 a month, nor maintence and replacement cost on a car $25 for me at present [ My present car was bought three years ago at $1000, we put less than $200 into it when we bought it and replaced tires and brakes with routine oil changes ect. I can sell the car for $800 today so the net cost as of today for me to own this car is less than $75 mnth] . The house is 20 yrs old so maintence has been pretty low and we do it all ourselves so add in another $50 mnth. This still puts us well under the $1,000 mark

I think you can for one or two people for as long as there are no major health issues. When I first started work, I made it a point to rent an apartment within walking distance to work and shopping. My clothing was bought to be interchangable and simple but well made to last. I never went out to eat, except an occasional takeout as a super treat.
I had a one bedroom, not too expensive appartment. I did pay for the health insurance through my employer. Had the least expensive utilities I could manage. And had money left over.
The minute I got a car, things changed. Even though I paid next to nothing for the car and fixed it up myself, I had insurance, and maintence and fuel to by. And I went places where I would find things to buy. If you are walking, you simply do not pick up old furniture at the second hand store. At least not more than onec.
Once you own things, like a vehicle or home, you have things that must be fixed or changed.
With a house psid off, property taxes at a low rate, ordinary living expenses could be met on a thousand a month. But it would only take one or two unexpected repairs to put a person on a slope of more debt. And once debt starts eating at your income, it's hard to stop it.

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How do you who live on $1000 or less per month handle your medical expenses. Our mortgage on our farm is about 900.00 a month, and if DH didn't work for the major company he does, we'd be paying nearly that much out every month for health insurance. No, we couldn't live, responsibly, on $1000 a month. I could survive on it, but I couldn't live on it.

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Family of 6

House paid off. Still have to pay my rent to the government (taxes).

We easily live "FAT" for 2500.00 a month (not counting savings in that... just "living").

Biggest expense is food, tithe, gasoline, electric - in that order. tithe is simply that... not any additional giving. Food is biggest cost because because... well, food is medicine. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies.

2500 include discretionary spending, internet, phone, cell phones, medical spending, newspaper, trash pickup, auto insurance, etc.

We CAN live on 12,000.00 a year if we need to... and that would include a Samaritan's Ministries type insurance.

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I am not sure if I am reading this as you intend so you can let me know if I am off base but I do agree with you and it is part of the reason some folks can't imagine living off $1,000.00 a month. The more we have the more we want. I am not bashing at all because if you work for it you should be able to have whatever lifestyle you want. There are folks that could not and would not function without a television, cell phone (smartphone), internet, I pad, nail technician, hair dresser, name brand clothing (at best no second hand or clearance clothing), and much more.

Responsibly living is an opinion. Basically to me responsible is your necessities: food, water, clothing, housing. Those things first and then add what you can. I listen to stories my gf (92) tells and although he is very well off now he wasn't when he was a child. He had 12 brothers and sisters and the stories are awesome. People lived on very little but they survived. He is the third from the youngest. All have passed away except the last three but all lived to at least 95.

http://www.samaritanministries.org/

Couples: 220.00 month.

I know many families who use this and it works amazingly well... of course it's not standard insurance and it takes activity on YOUR part to negotiate the lowest price for your health care.

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One ruptured appendix or a complex fracture requiring surgery and all that "savings" would be wiped out. Been through enough emergencies where I never want to be without health ins. My ruptured ovarian cyst would have cost us close to $20,000. That was the same year I broke my foot.
Our health ins costs us over $500 a month, if we had to pay the employers portion it would more than double.

Post #91 i wasen't the question of do you make a $1,000 a mounth but can you live on a thousand a mounth . I think most are missing that part .

I can load and haul serval thousand in scrap metal on a moments notice but why should i .I have a 37' trailer that will bring a $1,000 more than i paid for it .Never spend your seed money

It's not what you make a lot of times it's what you spend . If you consume it it is gone . We have enough from last years garden for another year but we'll still plant a bigger one this year

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House insurance isn't for "repairs" and "fixing things". It's for major fire damage or loss. If you only have 1000 a month, how are you going to rebuild your home if it burns down?
So far as learning to care for your own animals, there are many things you CAN do, but there are other things you can't, or shouldn't, do. I couldn't diagnose Jonnes in my own sheep herd, or TB in my cattle if I had to. I can't do my own c-sections, and I can't vaccinate my own animals against rabies here in Ohio. "Natural" wormers and such only go so far. Sometimes losing animals you might be able to save with a vet visit is more expensive in the long run than calling a vet would be.

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I've done it before but doubt if I could do it again with the current economy. I can pull my belt in pretty good when I have to but these days trying to do it on 1000 with the economy the way it is I'd be pulling it in so tight my belly button would be saying hi to my backbone.

I shun trendy stuff. No barbers/hairstylists. We cut our own hair. We eat healthy. A treat for us is homemade cookies or a half gallon of ice cream from the store. I try to keep junk foods down to 0 around the house. I stock up on household necessities when they are on sale and try to keep a 6-12 month supply of canned goods and such on hand but rising food costs, health care costs and getting older so we can't avoid those health care costs makes 1000 $ a little unreal for us.

When my mother was dying and I was taking care of her full time 15 years ago, we got by on 850 dollars a month. 250 of that went to her medications and doctors. We didn't ask for any aid. When she passed somebody gasped and asked me how we did it and another person replied, she bought only what she needed, she bought it on sale and she bought their clothes at Good Will. The lady was correct. It is possible, but not easy.

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Not going to argue with you because I agree with you if you have the money to do it but if you have to live on $1,000.00 a month it is a choice you may have to make.

Just an example: Paying $800.00 a year for homeowners insurance with no roof coverage. Payed for 20 years give or take a little difference in cost and never needed any of it ($16,000.00). The insurance company did well.

Vet care? I don't know how I feel about that. I just haven't lost many animals so I don't worry about using a vet.(not trying to sound arogant because I know it can happen and I know we have been very fortunate) When the kids had show stock I called the ag teacher if we needed medical for the animals and they called the vet and got what we needed. We never took one of them to town for a vet visit. Valbazen, safeguard and such wormers do fine for our animals.

Again, could you live on $1,000.00 NOT would you or do you?