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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

#381

Post by rubitxxx15 »

xp84 wrote: post #270

I've commented (probably too much) to argue with the harshest critics of this piece, but I am surprised to not have seen much this criticism which is my main one: Supposing I've made peace with the main gist of this: Cut living expenses to a point where you can work ¼ or so of the time most of us spend working by living somewhere cheap and not being so materialistic. The missing piece here is social connections. Fami…

As an introvert, I believe I could live in a remote location without problem. I often wish I could switch off my hearing to just enjoy silence, and dream of getting a chance to spend time in an isolation chamber.

That said, I don’t know if I’d want to live in a depressing small town, unless it had a good diner.

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

#382

Post by ivm »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #334
xp84 wrote: post #270

I've commented (probably too much) to argue with the harshest critics of this piece, but I am surprised to not have seen much this criticism which is my main one: Supposing I've made peace with the main gist of this: Cut living expenses to a point where you can work ¼ or so of the time most of us spend working by living somewhere cheap and not being so materialistic. The missing piece here is social connections. Fami…

Rural living also looks cheaper because most people do not even remotely consider the costs of transportation. The IRS estimates per-mile deduction at well over 60 cents per mile. If you have to drive 15 miles to the grocery store and back, your grocery bill goes up $18/trip. If you need to drive 15 miles to work and back, take $90/week out of your paycheck. Then there's the fact that whoever is The Employer in that…

Exactly, as someone who moved to a rural area (in Chile) a year ago, I can say that you basically pay a shipping tax on everything you need, starting with construction materials themselves.

It's basically that ancap meme of building your own infrastructure: water, electricity, access roads, clearing the vegetation that constantly tries to reclaim your property. I've never owned so many things in my life until I moved here, many of them just to be able to tend the wilderness around me.

But shoveling and cutting things has been an eye-opening experience in terms of how many processes the high-energy urban civilization hides from us. Even with steel/power tools, it’s brutal out there.

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

#383

Post by sandworm101 »

barry-cotter wrote: post #371
starkparker wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the other unspoken side of the boomer-emulation argument, too. People's access to the world when boomers were buying houses and raising families was much less. Their families and friends were already close because few, if any, of them left where they were from (except to get drafted into wars). In some of those who left, they did so to enable the rest to follow. These things just don't happen anymore. To find…

> Their families and friends were already close because few, if any, of them left where they were from (except to get drafted into wars) Your original text, edited for sequence and clarity while preserving your voice: This doesn’t apply to the U.S. or Canada, nor has it ever since their foundings, possibly excepting some natives. The American frontier was declared closed by 1890, long before the post-WW2 population s…

>> peasant society where families remained rooted for generations.

I'd hazard that a few parts of Appalachia remained relative stable, and poor, across more than a couple generations.

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

#384

Post by rufus_foreman »

xp84 wrote: post #270

I've commented (probably too much) to argue with the harshest critics of this piece, but I am surprised to not have seen much this criticism which is my main one: Supposing I've made peace with the main gist of this: Cut living expenses to a point where you can work ¼ or so of the time most of us spend working by living somewhere cheap and not being so materialistic. The missing piece here is social connections. Fami…

>> The missing piece here is social connections. Family and friends

Silicon Valley is not populated by people who are there for family and friends. Silicon Valley is populated by people who left their family and friends to go participate in a gold rush.

Silicon Valley is populated by people from other continents who came to participate in the gold rush, family and friends be damned.

I really don't understand the antipathy towards the fact that you can live on $432 a month in America. I just really don't. With some tradeoffs, you can live on $432 a month in America, and this fact makes some Hacker News commentators very very angry.

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

#385

Post by Robotbeat »

jvanderbot wrote: post #288
xp84 wrote: post #270

I've commented (probably too much) to argue with the harshest critics of this piece, but I am surprised to not have seen much this criticism which is my main one: Supposing I've made peace with the main gist of this: Cut living expenses to a point where you can work ¼ or so of the time most of us spend working by living somewhere cheap and not being so materialistic. The missing piece here is social connections. Fami…

Any discussion of staying near family and friends on a forum predominated by startups out of the bay area is completely disingenuous. But that aside, I suggest this is front page and meaningful not because it brings up a third option (to stay home, move to a city, or move to rural NY), but instead because it advocates accidentally for just staying home . Your family probably already lives in an area that is more affo…

Yeah, Minnesota is awesome, particularly near the Twin Cities.

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

#386

Post by theendisney »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #185
theendisney wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem to be caused by his lifestyle as the posters above also cant divide by $7 per hour. Its 62 hours or 11 shifts. I think hé means one should do all kinds of small projects.

$17/hr is the rate

That makes it even more funny. No wonder we cant find a cheap place to live.

$17 x 26 h = €442

One 10 h shift per week is to much apparently.

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

#387

Post by Retric »

barry-cotter wrote: post #372
Retric wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren’t simply moving into the city locally the numbers just don’t work. The demographics of NYC require and support the idea of a huge and constant flux of people from distant areas moving into and out of the city which matches people’s observations. Even the gender divide is abnormal, the largest age group is 25-29 for women and 30-34 for men despite more men being born vs women living longer. https://en.wiki…

The metro area, not the city. That extends into New Jersey and Connecticut.

I’m saying the “local metro area” just doesn’t have the population to support that kind of migration pattern on its own.

Sure plenty of locals move into the city just as with any city, what sets NYC apart is it draws in people from much longer distances before most of them leave. The elderly population in NYC being relatively tiny.

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

#388

Post by geodel »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #379
jvanderbot wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any discussion of staying near family and friends on a forum predominated by startups out of the bay area is completely disingenuous. But that aside, I suggest this is front page and meaningful not because it brings up a third option (to stay home, move to a city, or move to rural NY), but instead because it advocates accidentally for just staying home . Your family probably already lives in an area that is more affo…

Not everyone has a home to go to. Broken families, dead families, there may no longer be room at a home, etc. Everyone's circumstances are different. And honestly, based on some cultures, home isn't free either. The moment I got back home, I was given a few months to find work, but had to pay rent in 3 months no matter what. I was doing temp work for one month while interviews finished

Good point. IME it is quite common all over the world for grownups to chip in towards family expense if they are staying more than a few weeks back home. If not cash it could be some other way.

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

#390

Post by zachlatta »

orzig wrote: post #188

The author mentions they’re just about to have a baby, and it’s notable that they don’t talk about the quality of the schools. Even if they homeschooled, I imagine they want their kids to have some friends, and they didn’t talk about how that would work without a car. Once they get a car, they might get a little bit unlucky and live an hour away from their kid’s closest peer. I hope they get along!

I checked and the quality of schools there are fine! 75% of students in high school at grade level in math and reading. Pretty normal.
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