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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

#611

Post by amluto »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #479
throw27263w wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also noticed the author's budget did not include health insurance. I also wonder how close it is to the nearest hospital or urgent care.

Hello stranger! No need for a throwaway account for such an insightful comment. I thought exactly the same when I read the article. Yeah, it is a bullshit/clickbait article. No healthcare? Yeah, let's see how long his wife will put up with that. And, literally, there is zero cost for heat. Do you know how cold that place is in the winter? Here is what he wrote: > as far as heat goes, well, one could either pay a litt…

To be fair, at $0.04/kWh, even at very low outdoor temperature, a heat pump at COP only a little bit above 1 or even an electric resistance heater is not very expensive to operate. If you have anything resembling decent insulation and you heat only a small space, heat can be very inexpensive. Even in an old, uninsulated, drafty house, you can fudge it cheaply with window insulating film and by hanging fabric on the walls. (Those cheap cut-to-size cellular window shades sold at many home improvement stores also have excellent thermal performance.)

It gets tricky if you want a civilized humidity level, though. You need to control leakage to achieve decent humidity and you need to control condensation to avoid damaging the window trim or other parts of the structure and to avoid growing mold.

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

#612

Post by rightbyte »

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…

It is quite cheap to build a small prefab guest house. Room for guests is not a concern I think.

Rather, the friction is making them endure the travel time is, I would say .

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

#613

Post by aqrit »

pqs wrote: post #468

I like this proposition, but the article didn't mention health services in the area. I'm European and I don't fully understand the US health sector but I want to know what would happen in case of severe illness, living this way.

> health services in the area

Massena Hospital is a 25-bed hospital. Might have to go to Canton or Ogdensburg for a family doctor (45 minutes by car). Most things serious get referred to Syracuse or Burlington (3 hours away by car).

AFAIK, Cost[1] is "theoretically" nothing if annual income is less than the federal poverty line ($15,650 for an individuality). And might as well be free for an income up to $39,125.

[1] https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/EssentialPlan

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

#614

Post by jeffbee »

AngryData wrote: post #577
dmurray wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15 acres? It should take far less than an acre. The house isn't well insulated, but it's also small. A few big trees, say 40-year Sitka spruce, should last the whole winter, and you can plant a thousand of those on an acre. Of course it depends on the land and the house. But here's some Reddit comments also estimating the need at https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/comments/1jnpbug/how_much...

As someone who has been burning wood for heat for 35 years, those people are out of their damn mind if they think 1 acre will supply them their fire wood. 1 acre will absolutely not grow enough wood to heat your home unless you are cutting it all down and moving away in a few years. It takes a decade of growth just to get a tree to the point where it is growing at a reasonable rate, it needs a root system built up be…

There's also the small matter that the guy to whom you replied was suggesting that "free wood" means burning trees worth thousands of dollars each.

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

#615

Post by nkurz »

bregma wrote: post #509
skyyler wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I live just over an hour north of this place. Until recently I heated my log cabin exclusively with wood. It takes somewhere between 7 and 9 cubic metres of wood a year to heat about 800 square feet of house. It costs about CAD 1500 for a tandem load of sawlogs plus the cost of fuel and maintenance of the chainsaw and hydraulic splitter plus about 100 hours of labour bucking, splitting, hauling, and stacking. And sti…

Good points. I also heat with wood in a northern clime, and this seems accurate. I'm a little confused by the units and the costs, though. I cut my own, so I'm not sure how much a tandem truck holds, but am I right that your $1500 CDN load of sawlogs ($1100 USD) is enough for several years of heating? My quick search suggests that a tandem load might be around 12 full cords (44 m^3), and thus be enough for 5 years for you. Is this about right?

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

#616

Post by Diesel555 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #315
fullStackOasis wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hope you don't need to see a doctor for anything serious, or go to a dentist for that mater. That's the first thing I thought about. His budget of $432/mo doesn't include health insurance. But $5K/y probably gets him Medicaid eligibility. Let's assume he's on Medicaid, then. In NY state, that covers quite a lot of dental care, if you believe this: https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/program/denta... Not…

>> But $5K/y probably gets him Medicaid eligibility. Let's assume he's on Medicaid, then. If he is on medicaid then he isn't "living" on 432/month. That would be living on 432/month PLUS whatever medicaid is worth, likely well north of another 500/month. Then the kids need schooling, either in-person or remote. that is another 10k/year/kid. And you need some sort of local police/justice system to ensure nobody boots…

That’s a fun topic. The US government pays just over 19k per person. This means you need to make 100-150k (I came up with 126 with a standard deduction and normal credits) to “break even.”

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

#617

Post by axiomdata316 »

stickfigure wrote: post #580

On one hand I agree with the general premise of the article, which is that you can live a lot cheaper than you choose to. Homes in the passably-cute downtown of Massena are under $100k; you could live on $40k/yr comfortably and if you're here on HN you can probably earn at least than that with a remote job. Cutting it to $5k/yr is just trying to prove something. The missing thing is health care. If you're young and i…

Is that Massena NY or Massena Iowa?

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

#618

Post by polishdude20 »

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 family and friends part is what gets me. I'd love to move somewhere 4 hours away in a rural town but nobody else will follow me there.

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

#619

Post by AstroBen »

andrewrn wrote: post #528
AstroBen wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying I agree with the premise of the article at all but making life decisions based on how much others will respect it is a terrible way to live

We're wired to yield to social pressures, it is what allowed us to create civilization. You're right, the energy spent to overcome it is well spent, but its not as trivial as you make it sound to be low-status and feel fulfilled.

Status is relative to who's doing the judging.. and everyone views things differently. I'd argue you don't have much of a choice whether you're low or high status in some people's eyes. Whether you feel it regularly heavily depends on who you surround yourself with

Your career = your social status is a very American point of view

Eat meat and vegans will look down on you

Ride a bike for transport in America and you're poor, do it in Europe and it's normal

Nomads will judge you on your experiences and travel, not your career. Wealthy CEO thats invested everything in their work but never left their home country? Low status

Go out on your own and take a risk of starting a business in Asia and people will be confused why you'd do that vs the safe path

Invest a tonne of energy into making money and anti-consumerist folk will laugh

Skinny? Better bulk up lest the bodybuilders see you as low status.. but wait, if you bulk up people will judge you for being vain. Shit

The status game isn't winnable. Best thing you can do is surround yourself with people of similar values

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

#620

Post by cozzyd »

andriamanitra wrote: post #559
tshaddox wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

47 people died in a blizzard in Buffalo, New York in 2022.

..in what National Weather Service described as "once-in-a-generation storm". Walking 2 km on a normal winter day (or even a mild blizzard) is not dangerous.

And to be clear, driving in a blizzard is very dangerous too. But blizzards happen a minority of the time.
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