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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

#171

Post by paulryanrogers »

dsadfjasdf wrote: post #131
energywut wrote: post #122

> any American could live an earlier iteration of the American Dream If (and only if) you aren't socially different from the communities you'd be moving to. Being gay or trans, for instance, might mark you out as a target in a lot of the places where you could live this cheaply. Plenty of race, religions, or political beliefs that would make it untenable. It's hard to claim that any American can achieve this.

[flagged]

Having lived in a small town in the South East, it's true. Even being white and male may not be enough. You have to be able bodied, not too ugly, not too short, not too nerdy, the correct religion and denomination for the area. Unless you want to live like a hermet.

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

#172

Post by wombat-man »

Loughla wrote: post #147
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?

If you’re around or on the way to a popular hike I’ve seen buses run out to some more remote spots. But probably really depends on the county.

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

#173

Post by silisili »

K0balt wrote: post #117
silisili wrote: post #103

Higher income employees would pay way more than that in taxes alone. This is why properties in low and no income tax states skyrocketed. Assuming it's not high income but a real scrounger, this is leaving out way too much. Out of pocket health insurance will easily quadruple that number. Utilities could too, depending.

Out of pocket health insurance 1400 a month? Really? It that’s true, that is criminally ridiculous. Why do people accept that, when even in developing nations basic health care is free, and there are plenty of private choices. Decent health insurance costs about 150-300 a month the world over, except in the USA where it is ten times that for no reason whatsoever besides greed and the fact that healthcare is a basic n…

I don't know what a healthy young person pays these days. 20 years ago I paid 80/mo for basic catastrophe coverage.

All I know is that it's gone up tremendously since then, and my family plan costs about $2100 a month.

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

#174

Post by potato3732842 »

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…

Might be a slight of hand? Maybe he has a moped like the DUI people do.

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

#175

Post by rconti »

skyyler wrote: post #154
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…

The lack of a budget for heating in an article that uses the term "American Siberia" is so hilariously out of touch that it makes the rest of the article farcical.

Apparently it's "free Amish wood" or "a little extra in electricity"... which, as someone who lives in a temperate area, is a stunningly low price to imagine for electric heat in somewhere cold.

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

#176

Post by energywut »

dsadfjasdf wrote: post #131
energywut wrote: post #122

> any American could live an earlier iteration of the American Dream If (and only if) you aren't socially different from the communities you'd be moving to. Being gay or trans, for instance, might mark you out as a target in a lot of the places where you could live this cheaply. Plenty of race, religions, or political beliefs that would make it untenable. It's hard to claim that any American can achieve this.

[flagged]

Are you asking for data on whether intolerance ore pejudice _exists_ in small towns in the US?

Well, I would have assumed that was well understood, but you know what? Here's some data that shows that rural communities do, in fact, have measurably higher prejudice against others (In this specific case, hispanic immigrants): https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1409896/FULLTEXT...

And here's a study demonstrating that outgroup identity, particularly in rural communities, can lead to worse outcomes including worse allocations of scarce resources: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-021-09680-3...

If you want more data, there's plenty of research out there.

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

#177

Post by potato3732842 »

xp84 wrote: post #96
bluefirebrand wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And when those gas station jobs fill up but there's still empty houses around?

Have you not read the article? The whole point of it is once you get your costs down to this manageable a number, you have a lot more options for "how you're going to support yourself." You could clear $5,000-10,000 a year, which I should remind you would be tax free money simply due to the standard deduction, doing any number of things either local or remote. Ideas I'm just making up: 1. Buy, repair, and flip MacBoo…

The problem with these lifestyles is that when you have it all finely tuned to live on $400/mo you have no capacity to absorb a $400 water heater expense.

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

#178

Post by cozzyd »

Loughla wrote: post #147
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?

Rural transit exists in some places but certainly is not common in the US like it is in e.g. eastern Europe

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

#179

Post by rufus_foreman »

alexjplant wrote: post #39
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've had the opposite experience. Having moved from the boonies to a downtown in a Tier 2 US city has caused a lot of my old friends and neighbors to point out that I could buy a 27-bedroom house on a 100 acre lot in the country for what I pay in rent in the city. They fail to realize that not having to drive two hours each way to have fun is worth the 35% premium in housing for me. Before I moved I owned a house and…

>> my old friends and neighbors to point out that I could buy a 27-bedroom house on a 100 acre lot in the country for what I pay in rent in the city. They fail to realize that not having to drive two hours each way to have fun is worth the 35% premium in housing for me

Good point. There's no possible way to have fun in a 27-bedroom house on a 100 acre lot.

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

#180

Post by energywut »

nkurz wrote: post #169
energywut wrote: post #122

> any American could live an earlier iteration of the American Dream If (and only if) you aren't socially different from the communities you'd be moving to. Being gay or trans, for instance, might mark you out as a target in a lot of the places where you could live this cheaply. Plenty of race, religions, or political beliefs that would make it untenable. It's hard to claim that any American can achieve this.

Maybe you have more direct experience with this than I do, but I'm not sure I agree. I don't follow the lifestyle the author describes, but I do live in an economically and culturally comparable town in Vermont that's much smaller than Massena. The town is full of gay and lesbian couples, and it really doesn't seem to be an issue. The few racial minorities seem to be well accepted. Religion is a surprisingly small fa…

I think Vermont is, in my experience, perhaps more accepting of different identities. I've lived in small towns, and spent plenty of time in small towns. Some have a "don't ask/don't tell" or "live and let live" sense to them. As long as you aren't loud about your identity, you'll be left alone.

But plenty of places will absolutely run you out of town for having the wrong religion, race, or sexual preferences.

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