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How to live on $432 a month in America

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

#141

Post by pempem »

yupitsme123 wrote: post #72
7thaccount wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Name that town!! --

There is a growing divide and there are many towns (and many parts of metropolises) where its a weird class inverted food desert. There are tons of boutiques and vintage shops, and more tatoo shops than you'd think is necessary. Maybe there's a upvamped "bodega" with fishwife tinned fish, and apples for .80 each. "Main street"s that seems pulled out of Disney's imagination and Rick Caruso's execution. Six coffee shops and a bunch of restaurants but no grocery without driving, no affordable gas without driving, no public schools without driving etc.

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

#142

Post by hyperpape »

celestialcheese wrote: post #45
Goronmon wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are both vague and completely different ways to handle heating. Also, conveniently, neither appear to have an associated cost so we don't have to worry about whether the financial math works out.

It's because when you live rural like this, wood stoves are common, and wood is free. I live in the northwest, so I can't speak to upstate NY, but downed trees on state and federal land near roads is free to take. Every day there's people posting rounds of wood for free to take. It's hard work, but it's good exercise and rewarding. There's some upfront investment: $200 chainsaw, an old maul, and an old pickup truck,…

The author makes a big deal out of not having a car, and the math gets a heck of a lot worse if you add a truck.

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

#144

Post by monroeclinton »

fzeroracer wrote: post #120
999900000999 wrote: post #87

>Though I and my wife do not presently live in Massena, we live nearby, and we’re doing exactly this — we do not have an automobile, nor do we want one. We use the rural county transit bus, which we have found to be extremely cheap and quite reliable; and it has certainly saved us thousands and thousands of dollars by liberating us from the onerous expense of keeping a car. This part has me screaming shenanigans. Unl…

Agreed, looking at the map of Massena this seems like bullshit. I've lived without a car for my entire life across multiple states and it is incredibly onerous in even mildly dense areas.

https://www.slcnypublictransit.com/transit-schedules

It seems like they have a good number of routes and do route deviation within 3/4 of a mile of the bus stop.

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

#145

Post by weard_beard »

aeturnum wrote: post #116

Some of the claims here are pretty intense, but I do think his closing statement is true enough: > there’s never been a better time to try to “make it” in America and live the older version of the American Dream. If we can’t see that now, it doesn’t necessarily mean that things have gotten bad — it might mean that our perception has become grossly skewed by an era of hyperabundance, marketing, reality TV, and social…

What I don’t understand is the authors antagonistic framing. The complaints about moving backward because of boomer greed aren’t any less valid just because caves exist, fire remains “discovered”, and we can clone wooly mammoths.

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

#146

Post by skyyler »

xp84 wrote: post #115
skyyler wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1. Buy, repair, and flip MacBooks on eBay No internet at the house in this scenario, so that's a lot of trips to the library. >2. Do stuff on Fiverr See above. >3. Mow lawns 4. Clean gutters These are both viable in the summer, provided there is some "landed elite" in the area that makes more than the $17/hr the gas stations pay. I guess you could shovel snow in the winter. >5. Set up a little stand and sell baked g…

My smartphone plan is $45 (happens to be same company as article suggests, US Mobile) and supports 50GB of tethering which is plenty. This doesn't appreciably change the cost of living but yes, obviously you'd have that as an expense. Who cares? Yes, it would enable like half those work ideas. You could afford it. What's the problem. > licenses and stuff What? No, nobody selling tamales outside in the country (or pro…

"Just break the law, it'll be fine"

Great financial advice happening on the orangesite.

Really good stuff.

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

#147

Post by Loughla »

TrackerFF wrote: post #134

I looked through those numbers, and immediately thought to myself - hope you don't need to see a doctor for anything serious, or go to a dentist for that mater. FWIW, I grew up in rural nowhere (population 150, nearest town 45 miles away) - and I honestly don't know how anyone can live out in the boonies without a car. Taking the bus that goes 3 times a day is one thing, needing to move stuff is another thing. I mean…

What small town even has a bus? The closest bus line to me is in the closest large town (40k) about an hour away.

Are there bus lines in the middle of nowhere?

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

#148

Post by pempem »

viccis wrote: post #73
codeplea wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?"

YES! this is the question.

How are we the homes of the largest economies in the world, cities known not just by name but by brand, around the world and: - day care worker can't make enough to move beyond improverished and day care is expensive - teacher can't make enough to move beyond lower middle class and school (even public once you add in all the trips, certs, childcare for non-school days) don't make enough - your burger is $15! but the person making it apparently should live in a wifi-less shed.

Not very long ago at all, this economy was about finding opportunity. Now it seems to be about aiming to reintroduce feudalism.

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

#149

Post by theendisney »

An expert told me there are places to earn and places to spend in the world. In the cheap places to spend you might want a fun job with very little pay and few hours. You for example earn 400 and spend 600 per month. In the places to earn you should try not to live at all. Ideal is to work 84 hour weeks for 15-20 bucks, rent a bunk bed with a shared kitchen and bathroom and eat whatever cheap crap you can stomach. 50 for the bed 100 for food, save something like 1400. Every week not living like that buys 6-7 MONTHS in the afordable location. Two weeks is a year. Clearly you dont actually need to live. You do 2 to 12 weeks of pure work, enough to slightly burn out. This will make the 1 to 6 year vacation all the more enjoyable.

You also have money in the bank so if you feel the need to burn a few thousand on something you can. It will shorten the vacation but who needs 6 years seriously?

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

#150

Post by nkurz »

sandspar wrote: post #140

Interesting how the author says that people tend to react bitterly when he says stuff like this. And sure enough, the HackerNews comments are mostly people reacting bitterly.

Even beyond the comments, this article was immediately flagged dead despite many upvotes. Then enough people vouched for it to bring it back. I don't find it controversial or inappropriate, but many people apparently do.

If you (generic you, not parent) happen to be one of those who flagged it, maybe you could explain why?

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