How I live on $7,000 per year • Hacker News Board

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#181

Post by ahsanhilal » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 10:05 PM UTC

nirvana wrote: post #175

ahsanhilal wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not trying to be dismissive, but I am trying to talk with some theoretical base. Initially Nirvana derided my claims, in my opinion, without producing an actual theoretical base for his claims. He also said I should learn economics from Hazlitt's economic philosophy, rather than from a university, which is quite demeaning.

I'm sorry you feel demeaned by my advice to read Hazlitt's book in order to learn some basic economics. I didn't think that it would be appropriate to advocate that everyone should go to a university to learn economics, especially given, as as you later made clear, that some universities don't even teach economics to those who get degrees in it. You have no theoretical base. You are regurgitating a political ideology…

If you really want to have this argument with me: lets do it privately, my email address is in the profile. I will even invite some economists into the midst for some discussions, and you are welcome to invite whoever you want. I always appreciate counter points, and counter arguments. So I think it will be a very interesting debate. Lets keep it civil.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#182

Post by icebraining » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 10:11 PM UTC

dpatru wrote: post #91

ahsanhilal wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that is NOT at all what my argument is. My argument is that people can produce as much as they want, but you still need someone to consume your product. Just being productive gives you only the supply side, but what about demand, why make would make something when people do not demand it. Remember PG's rule: Make something that people want. Want is demand. You cannot make things without taken into contention…

> You cannot make things without taken into [consideration] who would consume them and by how much. A business is based on how many people actually USE what it makes, and are ready to pay for it. Exactly. Perhaps a good way to view this would be to resrict the definition of supply to be only something that has a demand. So a fisherman that "supplies" rotten fish that nobody wants is not providing a supply, he is just…

You're just redefining terms without adding anything new.

Parent's question is: what if people are stated, and like OP, they don't want different kinds of food, or anything else? What if, like OP, they're happy consuming only a small part of what can be produced by all those entrepreneurs?

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#183

Post by icebraining » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 10:12 PM UTC

leot wrote: post #76

ahsanhilal wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that is NOT at all what my argument is. My argument is that people can produce as much as they want, but you still need someone to consume your product. Just being productive gives you only the supply side, but what about demand, why make would make something when people do not demand it. Remember PG's rule: Make something that people want. Want is demand. You cannot make things without taken into contention…

> but you still need someone to consume your product Do we? We're not trying to make a lot of money, just enough to get by. And we're talking about an entire economy here, not about the profitability of an individual business. The whole point is that people in this model don't really care about how much money they're making (or, put another way, they place a very high value on their time). The question is whether the…

But you still need "enough to get by", and OP's living might not reach that if everyone was following it. What then?

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#184

Post by ohashi » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 10:39 PM UTC

erejacob wrote: post #149

ohashi wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose my biggest objection is I hate his lifestyle. I like going out, I enjoy activities which are more often than not paid, I don't have a girlfriend who sits at home and cooks for me all the time. Just because one person is happy with a certain way of living doesn't mean everyone will be. I could do it like he does and simply be miserable.

You could just do something else then. I'm not saying "everybody copy me". There are paid versions of my activities, but I eventually found the versions there were free or almost free. This holds for almost everything unless you insist on a particular paid version. For instance, when it comes to going out. Lots of people like that, but why are they really going out? Probably not to sit in a particular restaurant and…

There are examples which cannot be done free as far as I know. For example, I love to go paintballing. To make it cost less, you can buy your own paint and own your own equipment. But it still costs money because I don't own a giant plot of land or have 100 friends with their own gear. Then I have to buy the paint itself on top of that. Can you find me a non-paid version that matches that experience?

I suspect most people go out to have fun. What is fun? Meeting people and creating experiences/memories. Sure, you could sit with your friends at someone's home every night but that gets boring honestly and turns into the same people and patterns.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#185

Post by Cl4rity » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 10:45 PM UTC

I was going to complain about how this was extreme, but that would be redundant given his URL. The point isn't that we all can/should live off of ~$7,000/year, it's that we can cut down on the crap we don't need, or things that will be gone or obsolete in a year or less.

However, the great thing about this article is that it reminds me to find some kind of balance. The impression I got was that the author spends nearly half his time budgeting and penny pinching, with little room to enjoy life. Or, if I could be a little more presumptuous, convinces himself that he enjoys this life so that he doesn't have to go out and earn far more money.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#186

Post by alexallain » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 10:45 PM UTC

thenomad wrote: post #178

erejacob wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just do something else then. I'm not saying "everybody copy me". There are paid versions of my activities, but I eventually found the versions there were free or almost free. This holds for almost everything unless you insist on a particular paid version. For instance, when it comes to going out. Lots of people like that, but why are they really going out? Probably not to sit in a particular restaurant and…

In my experience, a lot of people do in fact enjoy going out to eat for the food, not merely the experience. You get a professional preparing excellent food, usually to a standard higher than you would easily manage at home (assuming you're going to good restaurants), and in a wider variety of cuisines than you can affordably stock up for, too. Expansion on the previous point: I bounce around national cuisines quite…

On the topic of food...it's interesting that Tabasco is specifically mentioned. I'm originally from Louisiana, and my family and I prefer Crystal hot sauce; we think it has more flavor.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#187

Post by erejacob » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 11:00 PM UTC

ohashi wrote: post #184

erejacob wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just do something else then. I'm not saying "everybody copy me". There are paid versions of my activities, but I eventually found the versions there were free or almost free. This holds for almost everything unless you insist on a particular paid version. For instance, when it comes to going out. Lots of people like that, but why are they really going out? Probably not to sit in a particular restaurant and…

There are examples which cannot be done free as far as I know. For example, I love to go paintballing. To make it cost less, you can buy your own paint and own your own equipment. But it still costs money because I don't own a giant plot of land or have 100 friends with their own gear. Then I have to buy the paint itself on top of that. Can you find me a non-paid version that matches that experience? I suspect most p…

Have you considered airsoft or reballing? I used to play airsoft, never played paintball. The land/playing area would usually be provided by someone one of the players knew, private forests, empty barns, junk lots, etc. We all had our own guns. We usually managed to scrape together 5-10 people for our games. Not sure about 100. That sounds rather ambitious for a game(?)

The general trick to owning expensive equipment is to find something with very little depreciation (usually top quality items) and buy used. This makes the carrying cost rather low. For example, my hand planes for woodworking are $300+ each, but I could sell them again for 90%+ of what I paid for them, so my effective cost is only thirty bucks. A brief search on the net reveals one can get 2000 paintballs for $30. Now I don't know if they're any good or not, but that sounds pretty cheap to me. How many shots for a game? 100? That's less than two bucks.

So I think you could do it pretty cheaply if you "invest" the money and do the organizing footwork.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#188

Post by erejacob » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 11:03 PM UTC

Cl4rity wrote: post #185

I was going to complain about how this was extreme, but that would be redundant given his URL. The point isn't that we all can/should live off of ~$7,000/year, it's that we can cut down on the crap we don't need, or things that will be gone or obsolete in a year or less. However, the great thing about this article is that it reminds me to find some kind of balance. The impression I got was that the author spends near…

Nah, after a while it just becomes automatic. Kinda how toddlers must concentrate on how to walk but adults don't. Actually, I have a hard time writing about money saving tricks these days because it's all automatic/subconscious to me.

As someone else noticed in this thread, it's more of an attitude.

Also to clarify a bit, the method I recommend is more about crushing pounds or dollars than pinching pennies. It's much easier to attack a few large expenses like housing, transportation, and food than worrying about hundreds of little things.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#189

Post by Game_Ender » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 11:04 PM UTC

erejacob wrote: post #158

dugmartin wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His plan must be subsidized by the state - I have a very similar plan (with an even higher deductible) for myself and my family and it costs $950 a month.

I haven't seen any indications anywhere that California provides funds to my insurance company. However, plans do cost different amounts in different states.

You are healthy and don't have any dependents. I don't think you could take care of the general population on $1100 per person per year, even if you cover the low cost stuff. My rough calculations show we spend about $7500 person/year right now. Obviously we have lots of cost issues and such, but even with efficiency savings, someone has to be making the difference up.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#190

Post by rorrr » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 11:39 PM UTC

fennecfoxen wrote: post #148

rorrr wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because most people get denied. $85 is only for healthy and relatively young, no pre-existing conditions.

Not surprised. This is insurance . You don't get car insurance after you've gotten in a wreck, and you should expect to pay more for it if you're more likely to get in a wreck (e.g. lots of speeding tickets, etc).

If you have a car wreck, your insurance usually punishes you only if it is your fault (which makes sense).

Your sickness, most of the time, isn't your fault.