Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to live on $432 a month in America

shagbark.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 764 posts

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#71

Post by tacheiordache »

7thaccount wrote: post #15
HankStallone wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived most of my life in (or outside of) small towns, and some of it in a city. I've noticed that my small-town friends who moved to the city would often talk about all the culture and food choices, but when it comes right down to it, they mostly eat at chain restaurants and go to the movies, same as they could in a smallish town. They might occasionally go to a pro baseball game or the zoo or something that's o…

I recently visited New York City for the first time and honestly wasn't impressed. Outside of a few neat things like visiting the cronut place, I could do nearly everything the same back home. The bagel places were indeed good, but not noticeably different than the hipster bagel places in my city. Wood fired pizza was good at several places, but again...none were noticeably different than the wood fired oven fancy pl…

Time Square is a tourist trap, an area I always avoided at any cost.

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#72

Post by yupitsme123 »

7thaccount wrote: post #15
HankStallone wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived most of my life in (or outside of) small towns, and some of it in a city. I've noticed that my small-town friends who moved to the city would often talk about all the culture and food choices, but when it comes right down to it, they mostly eat at chain restaurants and go to the movies, same as they could in a smallish town. They might occasionally go to a pro baseball game or the zoo or something that's o…

I recently visited New York City for the first time and honestly wasn't impressed. Outside of a few neat things like visiting the cronut place, I could do nearly everything the same back home. The bagel places were indeed good, but not noticeably different than the hipster bagel places in my city. Wood fired pizza was good at several places, but again...none were noticeably different than the wood fired oven fancy pl…

NYC lives on the fumes of its former reputation. Corporate chains have changed the city into basically a shopping mall.

When I was a kid I was drawn to NYC by the little hole in the wall restaurants, delis, coffee shops, funky stores. All owned and frequented by colorful local people. Technically these things still exist but they're mostly corporate chain versions of what used to be there. The unique experiences that the city still has to offer are too expensive and exclusive to be accessible.

Ironically, if I want unique food or local weirdness nowadays, I can find more of it in my lame hometown than I can in most cities.

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#73

Post by viccis »

codeplea wrote: post #21
bluefirebrand wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone claims it's about living in a city with available services The reality is that it's mostly about living in a city with available jobs What's the job market like near this lovely little $432 per month place described in the article? How am I going to pay for it?

This is addressed directly in the article: >And for those who might be quick to point out that there could be a dearth of jobs there, note that when people say “there are no jobs” in a given area, they generally mean that there are no jobs that could produce a normal, upper-middle-class lifestyle there. Which, even in Massena and Ogdensburg isn’t entirely true. But even if it were, the Stewart’s gas stations in both…

Well yes, it's not a brilliant observation that in the US you are given the option to work at around $15-30k a year ($17/hr part time is going to wind up around there) and use that money to fund an impoverished lifestyle.

"Why aren't more kids embracing a life of poverty? How dare they ask for anything better in a country that produces more wealth than any other?"

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#74

Post by jeffbee »

jocaal wrote: post #58
Goronmon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, you just need to continually scavenge for "free" water and heat. Don't forget the free fishing rod/equipment.

In the article he mentions there is a well at the house. Also blankets and wood fires are free heat.

In what way is wood free? To heat even a tiny home purpose-built for high efficiency you'd need several acres of woods to sustainably harvest. For a falling-apart $30k hovel in upstate NY you'd probably need more like 15 acres, and you don't get a 15-acre stand of woods in the deal for that price.

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#75

Post by kemotep »

dmonitor wrote: post #65
kemotep wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They suggested working part time at a gas station or seasonally somewhere else which is incredible. I have had to travel across the country multiple times to “live where the jobs are” so I find it hard to believe that the whole time I could have not done that and just picked some remote isolated corner and live like my great grandparents homesteading?

All of these articles need to come with an "About the Author" section that describes how the author makes their living. They claim to be living the outlined lifestyle, but I doubt they are working part time at three gas stations.

I could live in my hometown, rent a studio apartment, have an iPhone and a car, and work at the pizza place like I was 23 again.

Have more amenities, not live in a shack, and sure it would cost 4x more per month but certainly not as decadent as the author claims living in “the city” (read city of 25,000 more than an hour away from anything larger) is.

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#76

Post by dmonitor »

keiferski wrote: post #22

Existing on the living standards of say, 1945, or even 1960, is very possible and allows you to make less money and presumably work on what you truly care about. But that means you don’t get the latest iPhone, cook basic foods at home and rarely eat out, repair your own appliances, and so on. The hardest part, I think, would be dealing with the social expectations of society at large. 1960 living standards were unive…

> that means you don’t get the latest iPhone

Why do people always have to call out "the latest iPhone". Most people can't afford the latest iPhone, nor do they try. You might as well say a Lamborghini. Why can't you be honest and just say "a smartphone".

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#77

Post by bluefirebrand »

aaronbaugher wrote: post #62
bluefirebrand wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone claims it's about living in a city with available services The reality is that it's mostly about living in a city with available jobs What's the job market like near this lovely little $432 per month place described in the article? How am I going to pay for it?

The thing about places with more jobs is that they also tend to have more job-seekers. The two tend to vary proportional to the population. It's really the ratio of jobs to job-seekers that matters. Of course, it depends a lot on the job. Some jobs only exist in cities, while others are almost exclusively rural.

The type of place being talked about in this article is a place with more houses than people. It's the sort of place that children move away from as they mature because there are few opportunities to build a life there

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#78

Post by Taikonerd »

ruste wrote: post #18
Goronmon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, leaving the "heat" part of the list just blank is pretty telling as far as how much thought went into this.

I've been following this guy for a while on X. He does live this way. This isn't a hypothetical. He lives on his writing and has plenty of free time to chop all the wood he'd ever need.

Sure, I think a certain rare type of guy can really thrive like this. But most people don't want to live like this, for understandable reasons.

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#79

Post by Goronmon »

jocaal wrote: post #58
Goronmon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, you just need to continually scavenge for "free" water and heat. Don't forget the free fishing rod/equipment.

In the article he mentions there is a well at the house. Also blankets and wood fires are free heat.

In the article he mentions there is a well at the house.

Wells are not "free water" unless you never have to worry about any sort of repair or maintenance.

Re: How to live on $432 a month in America

#80

Post by hollerith »

Goronmon wrote: post #13
AndrewOMartin wrote: post #7

Just make sure you don't get sick.

Also, you just need to continually scavenge for "free" water and heat. Don't forget the free fishing rod/equipment.

The OP says that electricity there "presently sells for just $0.04/kwh". If it were just me living there, I'd heat one room with electricity just for the sheer convenience (and lack of toxicity from combustion products) and keep the rest of the house unheated. (Yes, I'd probably have to make alterations to make sure the pipes don't freeze.)

And I'd use a heated vest.

Post reply on HN