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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

#711

Post by troupo »

pastage wrote: post #697
troupo wrote: post #682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even hosting friends at your house incurs a cost, however small: for extra food and drinks. Literally every human activity incurs a cost. Well, you can become a Hikikomori, so your only expenses will be electircity and internet.

If you equate a good time with spending money it is always going to cost money. I do almost nothing with my time that cost money, I have a lot of perks paid by work that I do not use because I just see no use for them.

> If you equate a good time with spending money it is always going to cost money

I'm not equaling anything with anything. I'm pointing out the reality to people claiming that "oh it's so easy to maintain any kind of hobbies and/or social life without spending a penny"

> I do almost nothing with my time that cost money

Oh, I'm sure you do plenty, you just don't assume there are expenses in what you do. I'm not claiming they are huge expenses. I'm just saying things not free

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

#712

Post by sarchertech »

tuna74 wrote: post #563
wyclif wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the OP was suggesting it would be a good life if by "good" you mean a life of relative comfort. I think his claim was much more modest. The point is that at that time a farm laborer was valued by the local community.

Farm laborers were probably at the bottom of the social ladder for working rural people. They were usually fully dependent on the owner of the farm that they worked on. Think of the cowboys in the bunkhouse in "Yellowstone" except way worse.

That’s exactly right. Especially during the time my great grandparents were young—the Great Depression. A farm laborer certainly wasn’t a respected member of society. Many of them became hobos traveling from town to town looking for any work they could find.

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

#713

Post by sarchertech »

kingstoned wrote: post #461
owenversteeg wrote: post #305

Like other people here, I have my quibbles with the exact math. But the general premise is true: yes, you can live in rural poverty for cheap. The problem is the vibes. A hundred years ago, you would have a community, a place in society, and all of your family and friends nearby. In 2025, the only actual local job the author of the piece can come up with is at a gas station. Top ten occupations, 1920: Farmers, farm l…

"Today, though, a young man working at a Walmart or a gas station will struggle to attract a stable partner or the respect of the world around him." True if they are not good looking. If a guy is really handsome, he could attract a partner easily and people will like him due to halo effect.

It’s very easy for someone hard working to move up a few ranks at Walmart. Spend a little of that extra money on clothes, and a $29k house. Then a little of your spare time on grooming, and maybe a little working out, and you won’t struggle attract a stable partner.

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

#714

Post by sarchertech »

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…

>

If you’re making a just a bit over the poverty line, you’re in the sweet spot for ACA subsidies, which would put you at close to no premium.

Even making 150% or the federal poverty level (about $40k for a family of 4) you’d pay very low premiums for a cheap plan after subsidies.

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

#715

Post by sarchertech »

999900000999 wrote: post #285
xp84 wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that his deliberate deletion of a car and Internet access from the example budget undermines his point, but adding $200 to support the cost of owning a cheap car and $45 for a prepaid cellphone plan with ample tethering doesn't change the overall equation significantly.

It's less click bait-ish. The max SSI payment is 967$. https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/amount So you have a ton of people trying to make it off that. The cold weather is really the red flag for me. >Considering that the property has a well on-site, water is free, and as far as heat goes, well, one could either pay a little extra in electric for that — or they could have the Amish deliver their scrap wood from their sawmills…

> He glosses over heating, but for a full house that can easily be 200 or 300$ dollars.

Not at $0.04/kwh for a 600 square foot house it won’t.

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

#716

Post by johnnyanmac »

HPsquared wrote: post #481
johnnyanmac wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's a perception that young people (for probably 60 years now) see "getting out of this town" as a major life goal. It sort of is. Opportunities in the small towns is limited compared to urban areas. As well as other social aspects like night life, entertainment, the culture of the residents, etc. The people argument of being irreplaceable works both ways; you're simply going to get more options when you're arou…

Does anyone actually like nightlife though? Same for local entertainments, sure they're a nice extra sometimes but nothing worth sacrificing for. It's all some variation of "crowded into a dark room with hundreds of strangers with deafening music, can't see anything, can't hear anything".

Nightlife isn't limited to the traditional "fun party" activities. As some examples, I love going to various tech Meetups, but it being a 20 mile drive does mean I sometimes miss some of them compared to if I actually lived downtown.

Whether thars worth wanting to move closer is a personal opinion. But a notable one in my eyes.

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

#717

Post by sarchertech »

999900000999 wrote: post #276
coolcase wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm going to guess that you're a really good shape that a 2 km walk isn't a big deal, but I don't think most Americans can do that. Shit that's horrifying. I have health issues and walking 2km a day to try to help fix. So I see 2km a day as basic. 6-10km run a day would be "fit" IMO. things as humans are designed to walk. Living in suburbia means I have to walk "for the sake of it" although I cam make it useful e.g…

77% percent of young Americans aren't fit for service. 2 km of walking in a day, even in great weather is exceptional for me. I probably average 1km or less. And I'm not a car owner. My family members will literally hop in a car and drive 30 minutes over walking .5 km to the grocery store. They like the other one more they say.

The average American walks 2.4 miles per day per the CDC.

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

#718

Post by amluto »

hiatus wrote: post #690
amluto wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget cannabis. I always found it hilarious that NH is supposedly libertarian but bans privately run businesses from selling bottles of alcohol.

I found it surprising that they allow at least one private sale license. https://web.archive.org/web/20171028042531/http://info.nhpr....

It seems like Massachusetts should consider a low tax zone within 10 or so miles of the NH border. Why let NH capture all the revenue from MA residents?

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

#719

Post by sarchertech »

Aeolun wrote: post #279
titanomachy wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s similar to the billionaire thing, this guy is apparently living the way he describes full-time. And he does sort of have a point. You could probably afford an apartment _somewhere_, just not in any of the places you consider desirable.

I think the problem that most millenials have is that their parents could afford a house, for a pittance, in those desireable areas.

My parents bought our house when I was in 3rd grade in 1993 for $80k. A new similar house in their area would probably cost $250k now. But they don’t make 1200 square foot houses anymore so you’d probably need to spend $350k for a 2200 square foot house.

So new houses have more than doubled the pace of inflation in my hometown.

But when we moved in there was no mall, no Best Buy, few jobs. It was much more rural. This happened all over. Things got more developed. Areas that are desirable now weren’t necessarily desirable 30 years ago.

Plus the houses now are so much more insulated and air tight that heating and and cooling costs a fraction of what it did 30 years ago. And the houses are much bigger.

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

#720

Post by aianus »

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…

That's like asking why would anyone buy a Mercedes when they can take the bus for $2.

US healthcare is extremely high quality and timely if you can pay for it unlike the crap "free" Canadian "healthcare" I used to have with 12 month wait times for procedures and 50%+ marginal tax rates.

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